SĒN Baltimore Magazine - Nightlife, Local Music, Events and Podcasts

This Saturday, April 19, has been proclaimed Record Store Day. "But record stores are open every day!" you say? Not for long, unless you get your sorry butt to independent shops like El Suprimo in Fell's Point and buy your music from them.  Buying music on the internet is convenient, and buying at a big-box store is cheap, but you can't find oddities and obscurities (not to mention vinyl, unless you count this pitiful selection at Amazon) at Best Buy.

You don't meet other music lovers shopping on iTunes or even in the aisles of Target. You meet true lovers of music digging through milk crates of dusty records at El Suprimo and The True Vine. In fact, I was out yesterday burning through some of my hard-earned duckets and met a guy who, like me, loves finding killer classics and modern oddities on vinyl. We didn't trade names or email addresses, we just talked about our passion for music and the ritual of digging. I've never had that conversation in the aisles of the Virgin Megastore.

To sweeten the pot, Merge Records is offering up a free split 7" featuring Wye Oak and labelmates Destroyer (Dan Bejar) at a limited number of stores on Record Store Day only.

Tags: Baltimore, Destroyer, El Suprimo Records, Fell's Point, Merge Records, Record Store Day, The True Vine Record Shop, Wye Oak