Crate diggers, take notice! This Saturday, October 28 from 8 AM to 5 PM, KEXP will host our 2nd Annual Record Fair in our Gathering Space. It's a chance to peruse through stacks and stacks of LPs, singles, and all the vinyl you could ever imagine.
Wondering if you'll find that rare gem you've been hunting for forever? We caught up with some of the vendors and asked them some of the most unique and hard-to-find records they plan on bringing to the fair tomorrow (as well as their own first record purchases!). Vendors aren't limited to the names listed here — you'll also be able to sweep through sales from stores like Sonic Boom Records, Bluebelle Records, Easy Street Records, labels like Hardly Art and Light in the Attic, as well as individual vendors Erik Gelke, Christian Peetz, Planet33, Erik Freeman, Brian Naron, Steve Davis, and Karl Zwick. What records are you hoping to find tomorrow?
It's the third singles club that Sub Pop has done and includes 12 45s, all released in 2008/9. Bands include OM, Mika Miko, Unnatural Helpers, Black Mountain, Blues Control, Circle, Tyvek, Arthur & Yu, Black Lips, Deerhunter, Thee Oh Sees, and The Dutchess and the Duke. $75. Somewhat of a warehouse find and not available anywhere else.
One of our most unique releases comes from Ravenna Woods. Around this time last year, we released their Alleyways and Animals EP. The 7-inch pressing of 500 copies comes in random color vinyl. To mix it up even more, each copy has 1 of 10 different photo inserts — meaning no two copies are identical.
What’s the first record you ever bought?
The first vinyl record I ever purchased was World of Noise by Everclear. I picked it up from a little record store called Love Garden Sounds in Lawrence, Kansas. It's pressed on coke bottle clear vinyl and was the first time I realized that vinyl didn't have to be just black.
Freakout & HockeyTalkter Records recently reissued The Bumps' Please Come Down/Baby Blue 7-inch for the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love. The Bumps were a 1960s teenage rock n' roll band at the nascent of the Northwest's psychedelic scene, opening for the Beach Boys and The Standells. "Please Come Down" was the band's debut single, backed with a cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue."
What’s the first record you ever bought?
Skyler Locatelli: The first record I ever bought was Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle.
Along with new releases, catalog favorites and merch, we're gonna have the following test pressings:
The Coathangers - Parasite EP with a b-side etchingThe Coathangers / Black Lips - Freedom Fries 7"Elliott Smith - "Division Day" 7"Guantanamo Baywatch - Desert CenterHinds / Los Nastys - El Sueno En Benilandia 7"L.A. Witch - L.A. WitchMinus the Bear - Highly Refined PiratesMinus the Bear - Menos El OsoModest Mouse/764-HERO - Whenever You See FitTy Segall - Sentimental Goblin 7"
What’s the first record you ever bought?
Meg Ternes: I bought The Allman Brothers' Beginnings used at Manifest Discs and Records in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Nik Christofferson: I dug out a bunch of test presses in order to bring something a little special for tomorrow. A copy or two of nearly all of the Good to Die releases will be available — all extremely rare! I will also have three copies of the SOLD OUT Sandrider/Kinski split that I found hiding in the warehouse recently, the last three copies of Rabbits' Bites Rites on cassette, as well as a handful of copies of a very limited Absolute Monarchs 7" that was a split release with a UK label. Lastly, I have a stack of releases from one of my favorite labels — Learning Curve Records, out of Minneapolis — all noisy, heavy, weird bands.
What’s the first record you ever bought?
The first vinyl record I bought was a copy of Pearl Jam's Ten from the Bellevue Tower Records in 2001 or so — I was around 21 at the time (the first CD I ever bought was Pearl Jam's Ten in 1991 at the Everett Costco). Tower had a very small vinyl section in 2001, a couple crates if I remember right. That was immediately followed by a first pressing of Mad Season's Above, I special ordered it from Easy Street Queen Anne. It took me two more years to finally purchase a turntable and it's been all downhill from there.
Probably an original copy of David Axelrod’s 1969 LP Songs Of Experience
What’s the first record you ever bought?
The first record I ever bought with my own money was The Bee Gees “Nights On Broadway” 7” single that I was going to give a girl in school I had a crush on, but chickened out at her front door. I still have that single.
Bringing an original copy of The Louvin Brothers' Satan Is Real, as well as an original pressing of The Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique (with an eight-panel gatefold sleeve), a sealed copy of Screaming Trees' Clairvoyance and Love's self-titled debut (1st press in gorgeous condition!).
What’s the first record you ever bought?
Mark Pickerel: My first purchases probably won't do much to expand my reputation with the record snob contingent: The Beach Boys' Endless Summer, Kiss's Christine 16 (7" single), and Elton John's Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player.
One of the rarest records I will be selling is an original copy of Syl Johnson's Dresses to Short.
What’s the first record you ever bought?
The first record I purchased in 1971 was the Allman Brothers' Live at Fillmore East.
I have Jandek records for sale. Some are still sealed. I will also be selling two Lou Reed records (signed by Lou Reed), which were purchased from the estate of former Fantagraphics co-publisher, Kim Thompson.
What’s the first record you ever bought?
When I was six years old, I checked out the The Muppet Movie soundtrack from the local library. I left the record on my parents’ turntable (in the sun), something they told me a hundred times not to do, and of course the record became badly warped and would not play. My parents made me do hours of house chores and yard work to earn enough money to reimburse the local library for their replacement copy.
The first record I bought as an adult was a second press of Son House’s Father of Folk Blues. I recently found a mono first press of this record and I will be selling the second press tomorrow.
Dead Kennedys' Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, first US pressing on IRS with the orange cover and fold-out poster. There is a great episode of The Vinyl Guide podcast covering the controversy with the early pressings of this record.
What’s the first record you ever bought?
I grew up in the cassette and CD era, but I can distinctly remember my first record was acquired by a friend on my behalf from his uncle’s record shop in Wenatchee, it’s still in my collection now - Pearl Jam's Vs.
Although it's not super rare, I'm selling a picture disc 12" of Bauhaus' Bela Lugosi's Dead that glows in the dark!
What’s the first record you ever bought?
The first record I ever bought was King Crimson's In The Court Of The Crimson King.
I am selling a sealed copy of outlaw country folk psych masterpiece Man in the Moon by Mark Ayers. As well as a sealed copy of Robbie Basho's Basho Sings, a deeply haunting acoustic record, perfect for Halloween.
What’s the first record you ever bought?
The first record I ever purchased was The Violent Femmes' Why Do Birds Sing? and “American Music” is still my go-to karaoke song.
I will have many very cool older Jazz,R&B Soul, 50's, 60's Rock Lps. As well as many rare Blues and R&B 45s, including The Coasters' first Lp on Atco/Yellow Label, beautiful condition, Tal Farlow's A Recital By Tal Farlow with a David Stone Martin LP Artwork cover, Al Tousan's The Wild Sound of New Orleans, and some hard to find reggae LPs!
What’s the first record you ever bought?
One of the first LP's I ever purchased was a Partridge Family LP! Up to Date at Pay N Save! My mom and I used to go record shopping sometimes three times a week in the Central District in Seattle, getting the latest blues, soul, and R&B 45's. Good times and great memories!
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