So, April 16th finally rolled around. The makeshift Christmas day for record collectors, I have never been to one before so I was understandably incredibly excited. My alarm went off at 8 and me and my Girlfriend started to get ready as we left just before 9. Now, being lucky enough to reside in Birmingham whilst at University I had the choice of 2 record stores to go to, my Girlfriend had the great idea of splitting up so as to get the best chance of buying what I wanted. I went to Swordfish records which opened at 9:30 and she went off to Ignite records which opened at 10.
So I rocked up to the queue of about 20-30 people outside, all obviously very excited at what could possibly be inside the store. There was a certain essence of magic at seeing these people of all ages almost bouncing with ecstasy (and coldness) at the thought of picking up whatever was on their personal lists. I had a few interesting conversations in the queue about things like the Doctor Who exclusive which was the only thing this one guy wanted, a risky manoeuvre which paid off because he did manage to find it inside. Eventually, 9:30 rolled around and quickly as the line of people slowly meandered into the shop, it was about 10:20 by the time I actually got to flicking through the exclusives and I was completely underwhelmed, I found 1 record I wanted and something else quite exciting actually, read below to see what I got from Swordfish Records on Record Store Day.
Jack U Feat. Justin Bieber - Where Are U Now
Now this, like the other item I got there, wasn't actually on my list. Well, technically it was at first but then I took it off because I found 11 other items and I didn't really have the money to get all of them if the opportunity arose so I sacrificed this off my list. But as soon as I saw it there sandwiched between the Madonna Greatest Hits EP and the Star Wars picture disc it was immediately stuck in my head and I just had to buy it there and then. The cover is quite cool although that writing in the top right is absolutely vulgar. This album was a lot of fun when it was released and if you've not heard this song check it out because it's absolutely infectious.
As crudely stated on a fair few websites this comes on "piss coloured vinyl", although they may need to see a doctor, this does come on a quite dark, disgusting yellow, see through vinyl. In the picture above however it looks quite a bright, solide yellow because it's placed on the white record sleeve. Apart from that this is all you really got with this record apart from 3 remixes which I've not listened to yet and don't really feel the need to go out of my way to listen to. This costed me £12 on the day, relatively cheap for a 12" RSD exclusive I think!
Run The Jewels - VRTJ
This is the aforementioned 'quite exciting thing' I found. This is mainly due to the fact that I wasn't expecting the stores near to me to actually stock this on RSD. This visor is something not seen in the music world yet as far as I know because Run the Jewels released the video for their track 'Crown' in full virtual reality 360 degree viewing which looks cool ordinarily but it was made specifically for this RTJ labelled VR Visor.
This cost me £25 on the day and when I bought it I was a tad sceptical about paying that much for what is effectively cardboard with some concave glass in it, but I'm so glad I bought this now as it was abit of a impulse buy just because it looked so cool on the shelf I could not help myself. Not to mention that it comes with an exclusive song aas it says on the sticker on the outer casing of the visor.
Now I have an iPhone 6 and I don't think it's quite big enough for the visor's two concave eye holes to actually make one whole picture so I need to try this with a bigger phone, as when I watch the video for 'Crown' at the moment I have to actually close one eye. But if you get a chance to get one of these visors, I know there are a fair few RTJ emblazoned one son ebay but you can purchase plain ones elsewhere then definitely do it. It's more than worth it.
As I mentioned before, my girlfriend went to join the queue for Ignite Records just to give me the best chance of picking up those sweet exclusives I was searching for. Now Ignite announced the list of records he was stocking on Facebook the day before RSD which was perfect because I knew exactly what he had and within that list was 10 of the 11 Records on my list so I was incredibly hopeful of getting those that I wanted. Ignite didn't actually open until 10 and my Girlfriend was practically as far back in the queue as I was at Swordfish, even though it opened half an hour later. This is obviously the effect of stocking an incredible amount of RSD exclusives. I got back to her, waiting in the queue, at about 10:30 (She was NOT happy that we missed McDonalds breakfast). And when I got to the front of the queue and handed in my list, what he arose from behind his counter with was basically the same feeling kids get at Christmas. So thank you Ignite for being amazing.
Bastille - Hangin'/Overload
What I love about this is the fact that this song isn't technically available elsewhere, apart from the fact that it is by far the best song on the Fifa 16 soundtrack (With the exception of Dreams by Beck). This album was limited to 1000 copies worldwide which makes me feel even luckier to pick up this one.
The record is solid white, and even though it isn't shown on the picture well I promise it is there. This 7" also contains a Sugarbabes cover in the form of Overload which was on the 2015 film Kill Your Friends soundtrack, once again not released elsewhere. I haven't had chance to listen to this song yet or see the film so I'm really looking forward to giving it a spin. Not to mention that the cover of this record contains a cut out man falling which looks extremely cool but I'm just so scared of ripping it everytime I touch it. This record was £12, quite expensive for a 7" but extremely rare so I guess it evens out.
Bring Me The Horizon - Drown/Throne (Live from Maida Vale)
I'm not claiming to be a humongous Bring Me The Horizon fan but their latest album was actually half decent in my opinion, and two of those stand out tracks were Throne and Drown which were thankfully released on this absolutely beautiful picture disc, with swirling colours and the Umbrella and rain symbol from the That's The Spirit digital album cover. Also, this is arguably the thickest 7" I have ever held, it's literally like a block of vinyl. I'm not sure whether that was just how mine was printed or all of them are this thick. Now I have no idea how many of these were printed but this was also £12, which I suppose once again for an incredibly thick picture disc is half decent albeit a little bit more than I would usually pay.
Ezra Furman - Songs By Others
Ezra Furman is an artist that I have only gotten into relatively recently, his album Perpetual Motion People has been played a ridiculously amount of times by me lately. So when I was re-looking down the list a few days before Vinyl Christmas I was happy to see this EP was to be released by Ezra. Not only that but it's a reworking of his favourite songs decade by decade from the 50's all the way to the 10's which is a brilliant idea and it's these sorts of releases that make RSD what it is.
Now I haven't had chance to give this a spin yet so I've not heard any of these songs before and I've not even heard the originals before so this will be a completely new experience for me when I drop that needle on it. Not to mention that this comes on a beautiful translucent record, much like The 1975 release earlier this year. This cost me £15 and I think for an exclusive EP with a fair few tracks on it that is an absolute bargain.
Foals - Rain/Daffodils
Foals' 7" was something I was definitely looking forward to when the list was initially released mainly due tot he fact that I love Foals so I would have picked this up anyway and the fact that Daffodils by Mark Ronson features Kevin Parker of Tame Impala and is a wonderful record mainly due to Parker's illustrious vocals, so I'm incredibly intrigued as to how Foals are going to put their heavier spin on this, or maybe they'll try to recreate the original just with them performing it. Either way I'm excited to hear this.
There's nothing special about this 7" at all, it is literally your typical 7", albeit a little bit more flimsy than I had hoped for but then again it was only £9 so in comparison to the rest of the RSD releases it was quite cheap and hopefully will be well worth the money I paid for it when I finally get to give this a spin.
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - El Mexicano
The Mexican, off Chasing yesterday, is not particularly one of my favourite songs off the record because it's just not particularly special. However, this wonderful picture disc by one of my favourite artists is a must pick up no matter what song it is. The worst bit about this is probably that it doesn't even come with the original song, even though I already have Chasing Yesterday on vinyl but the picture disc alone is beautiful, and obviously with it being the Mexican flag it just matches perfectly. I was so excited when the guy at Ignite handed this over, this was my must buy for the day and I did. This record was expensive at £16, but like I aid before. For Noel Gallagher it is more than worth it.
The Weeknd - The Hills (Remixes)
If you have read my review for The Weeknd's latest album, Beauty Behind The Madness then you will know how much i love it, it was a masterful mix of commercial success whilst sticking to his roots. This song, particularly, is no exception it's dark, moody and oozes deceit. It is a long time rumoured that the song is in fact the story of his supposed affair with Ariana Grande whilst she was dating Big Sean. Nevertheless, this song is amazing.
There's nothing particularly special about the record, it is just plain black vinyl with normal amount of weight. Of course, this being The Hills remixes means that it only contains the two songs featuring Eminem and then Nicki Minaj on side B. I love these remixes, I actually think it was a perfect match to put these two on it. Eminem brings out that dark and disturbed Marshall Mathers LP side to him on this song and the Nicki provides a womans perspective on the whole situation and then The Weeknd kicks in with his illustrious vocals. Brilliant. I wanted this so so badly, I'm so glad that I managed to pick this up. It cost me £13, which is ridiculously expensive for two songs layed on wax, but then again I'm hoping they really bring forward the vocals in the mixing and that would make this the perfect purchase.
So that was what I picked up on Record Store Day 2016, I think I was incredibly lucky but spent about £120 in total on all these items. A small price to pay for once in a lifetime exclusives (Unless you pay the disgusting prices by traders on eBay). I would love to hear what you picked up, what you missed out on (I was devastated to miss the Slaves record) and what you hope to see in future Record Store Days. Thanks for reading.