Photo by Erik Hess

​Shuga Records has had somewhat of a tenuous run in Minnesota. With a heavy emphasis on developing their online store, they seemed to struggle to connect with the community on the same grassroots level as longtime local staples like Treehouse Records or Roadrunner. More >>

​With Record Store Day's Black Friday sales just around the corner, Moon Glyph is issuing a new split 7" from labelmates Food Pyramid and Deep Earth, Kollider / Kontraband, which marks the first time Food Pyramid have ventured away from the cassette for a vinyl release. (Does a transition from tapes to records mean they're actually moving backwards in time, technology-wise?) They're making the most of the format, too: Label head Steve Rosborough says that, "Each tune grooves for over 5 minutes, making this about as long a 45 RPM 7" can physically contain."More >>

Photo by Stacy Schwartz

​We already knew Craig Finn was laying down some solo tracks, and now we've learned more about when we'll be able to hear some of them: Finn will debut his first solo single, "Honolulu Blues," on November 25, and the only way to get your paws on a physical copy is to head to an independent record store on Friday, November 29, and pick up a 7" of the single as part of Record Store Day's nationwide Black Friday sale.More >>

Photos by Erik Hess

Hastings 3000 and Brother Ali at Down in the Valley on Record Store Day

​Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent music shops, returned this Saturday for its fourth and largest citywide celebration yet. The metro area is thankfully still home to a long list of record stores, with several in Minneapolis alone, and many of the retailers marked the occasion by holding sales, hosting in-store performances, and giving out free snacks to shoppers.More >>

​Record Store Day, the annual celebration of good ol' fashioned mom-and-pop music shops, seems to balloon into a bigger event each year. Now in its fourth go-'round, RSD will overtake 18 different businesses in the Twin Cities tomorrow--and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak has even gone so far as to proclaim Saturday, April 16, "Hymie's Vintage Records Day" in honor of one of the city's longstanding stores.

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​It's no big secret that Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong is invested in the Twin Cities -- after all, he met his wife, Adrienne, at a show in Minneapolis, and has long cited both the Replacements and Hüsker Dü as major influences.

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Jerry Raskin's Needle Doctor is set to vacate its space on 14th Ave. in Dinkytown this Friday, after 30 years spent repairing turntables and selling audio equipment in its current location. The Minnesota Daily got the scoop today from manager Ken Bowers, who said "It just doesn't make sense for us to be here financially."

The store will relocate to an expanded location on Excelsior Blvd. in St. Louis Park.

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Rolling Stone listed their "Best Record Stores in the USA" this week, and amongst the winners were two local shops: Hymie's Vintage Records on Lake Street and the Electric Fetus, which has stores in Minneapolis, Duluth, and St. Cloud.

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​Cratediggers, a unique record show that will feature 7-inches and 45s, will take over Club Jager this Sunday for what the organizers are billing as a "first annual" event. "That's right, just the small ones with the big holes!" reads the press release. "Our ode to the 2:30 perfect pop 45."

To serenade the digging, a rotation of DJs will be spinning 45s throughout the evening, and Jager will be running drink and food specials all night. See below for all the details.

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​The third annual Record Store Day is quickly approaching! The yearly celebration of our vast nation's stalwart independents arrives this Saturday, bringing to early-rising hands ultra-limited releases from John Lennon to Joy Division, in-store performances everywhere, free food, and a lamentably brief return to the record store experience of yesteryear. Roadrunner's Amy Myrbo described it as such: "In my nigh 25 years of working at record stores, [Record Store Day] is more what it used to be like. It's definitely a different atmosphere [in stores now] than it was before the digital age."

Buoyed some by the revival of vinyl but still struggling under the weight of electronic ubiquity, listener iPodery, and schizophrenic consumption habits, an event like Record Store Day scratches an itch we obviously have for haptic connection to music, an art we relate to most frequently via the Matrix. It also gives us all good reason to spend a grip of money at places that need it, appreciate it, and pay it forward.

Read on to see how stores around the Cities plan to party...

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