Jam of the Day – Save a Record Store, Get Limited Edition Vinyl

Well, we already know that it’s impossible to buy records at the Virgin Megastore anymore, given that it closed yesterday. But even though it’s a tough world out there, some groups of independent record stores have started to collectively organize in order to try to save themselves.

One such effort is Record Store Day, which was founded in 2007 by a group of like-minded individuals in the San Francisco area. Record Store Day, which celebrated it’s second anniversary recently (it is celebrated on the third Saturday of every April), was inaugurated on April 19, 2008, with events and performances throughout the country, including at our very own Sound Fix and Other Music.

Since it seems like the biz is in need of some serious help (like the kind of help that comes more than one day a year), the “consortium” behind Record Store Day recently announced a new program called Vinyl Saturday, which will be a self-described “new monthly unveiling of limited special vinyl pieces, [and] an irresistible lure to your local indie record store, where treasures of all sorts are glittering on the shelves.”

The first Vinyl Saturday kicks off this Saturday, June 20, and features new releases (available exclusively on vinyl for now) from Modest Mouse, Wilco, Green Day, and Pete Yorn’s new project with Scarlett Johansson. Quite a few record stores from the East Village to Brooklyn are participating. Apart from Sound Fix and Other Music, the NYC list also includes Academy Record Annex, Basement Mix Records, Black Star Music & Video, Bleecker Street Records, Downtown Music Gallery, Earwax Records, Etherea, Fat Beats, Generation Records, Gimme Gimme Records, Halcyon the shop, and Rock and Soul. You may want to give the places a call beforehand if you’re looking for one particular record, since these are all very limited releases and are likely to go fast.

Personally, I’m most excited to hear the new Modest Mouse tracks, which will be their second recent vinyl release following the failed attempt to participate in Record Store Day this year. I’m hoping that this one will be far better, given the disappointing “Satellite Skin/Guilty Cocker Spaniels” 7-inch effort. Seeing as “Satellite Skin” wasn’t released until May 26, and you may not have heard it yet (like me earlier today), you can check the video out here.

But since we’re looking to maintain the integrity of the Jam of the Day archives, the official Jam today is going to take you back to the Mouse of yesteryear. Enjoy.

Modest Mouse – Edit the Sad Parts:

Finally, I suppose it’s going against the whole point of Record Store Day, but if you can’t make it to an area record store, you can pick up a copy of the forthcoming Modest Mouse 7-inch online here.

Maybe you’re an indie fan on crutches, OK?

-Drew