What comes to mind when you think of record stores? A huge, impersonal megamart, reeking of the latest in  warehouse infrastructure textiles, and crammed with billions of albums that do nothing but repeat a endless litany of top-40 hit factory crap?

Or do you think of a shop, vinyl and poster paper, exposed brick, eccentric section headings, cute clerks whose dense musical knowledge and tattoos are simultaneously intimidating and alluring, and more, discoveries, rarities, imports, singles, limited issues, shit that’s so old it’s new again, and new shit that instantly, instantly restores your faith in humanity. Music.

When we’re cheering the downfall of the plasticized, genericized, monster-sized major label and its megamarts, it’s easy to forget about this second kind of record store. Which is at least part of the reason why, since 2008, the third Saturday of April has been marked to celebrate Record Store Day. This year, that day falls on April 17^th. Mark your calendars!

Carpe Diem!

In the U.S. there are over 700 independent record stores. Whether this sounds like an amazingly big number, or a depressingly small one, it represents a long history of people who have always supported independent music, stuck behind local artists, and turned the quest for finding new, meaningful sounds into an artform all its own.