Saturday is Record Store Day!

Image from Record Store Day

It's record store day again! We love our independent record stores in Austin, and this Saturday marks the third year in a row where consumers and musicians get a chance to give big ups to their favorite hot spots for discovering new sounds, digging through crates of vinyl and otherwise geeking it up within the wide world of sound.

Our record stores are more than destinations for recorded music, though. From listening parties to in-store performances to just chatting with a friendly salesclerk, independent shops like End of an Ear and Trailer Space Records foster community as well as a lifelong love of music.

And while we don’t need an excuse to visit our favorite record stores on Saturday, the stores themselves are sweetening the deal with live performances and limited edition releases from participating artists. End of an Ear is presenting a day of live music beginning at 1pm, which includes local favorites Ume and Lovely Sparrows. The latter have an EP entitled Languages Were Lost coming out on Saturday.

Waterloo Records has an incredible day planned, starting with a Roky Erickson Autograph session at noon, rock star guest employees, and the astounding Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba performing live at 5pm. Waterloo will also be selling a number of releases in limited numbers just for Record Store Day. The list is a little exhausting, but highlights include a Fucked Up 7” release of their Daytrotter Sessions, a Joy Division box set on 12” vinyl, a box set of Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs (all on 10” vinyl), Pantera’s Far Beyond Driven on 12” vinyl, etc. etc.