On April 21, 2012, record stores across the United States and around the world will be taking part in Record Store Day, a celebration of music publishing and the shops that carry our favorite tunes. This annual celebration of independent record shops (currently in it’s fifth year) happens on the third Saturday of April every year and features numerous limited-run releases (vinyl, CD, box sets) from artists large and small that you can find at participating shops around the word. While in past years the music surrounding this event came mostly from the indie rock side of the spectrum, this year sees limited releases from some exciting artists such as Shabazz Palaces, Run DMC, M83, and Nicolas Jaar.

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Why a celebration of record stores, you ask? At one point in recent history, record stores were the cornerstone of social culture for many people, a place to find the music you love and people who share this passion. But in recent years record stores have been evaporating at an alarming pace as online retailers and mp3’s have become the standard method of finding music. This can be convenient but very much lacks the physical and social experiences of enjoying music.

The original idea for Record Store Day was conceived by Chris Brown, and was founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner as a celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally. This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances.

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Below are some highlights from the releases that will be available on April 21 at selected shops around the world. For a full list of releases available and the shops participating, head over to the Record Store Day website for details.

• Afrika Bambaataa/MC5 “Kick Out The Jams (Warner Bros) 7″ white with splatter 5000 copies
• Abba “Voulez-Vouz Extended Dance Remix” (Polydor/UMe) 180g 12″ 45rpm blue glitter vinyl 890 copies
• Atmosphere and The Uncluded (Aesop Rock & Kimya Dawson) (Rhymesayers) 10″ Picture Disc 1200 copies
• James Brown    ”There It Is”/”Pass The Peas”    (UMe)  7″ single    3000 copies
• The Dave Brubeck Octet Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals (Fantasy) 10”red vinyl 2000 copies
• Common TheDreamer, TheBeliever (TCM) LP 3000 copies
• Miles Davis Forever Miles (Columbia) 12″ 4900 copies
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. We Almost Lost Detroit EP (Warner Bros.) 12″ 1000 copies
• M83 “Mirror” (Mute) 7″ etched disc    2000 copies
• The Pharcyde Bizzarre Ride II The Pharcyde: The Singles (Delicious Vinyl) 7×7″, double CD box Collection
• Lee “Scratch” Perry “Blackboard Jungle Dub” (Get On Down) Limited Edition 3x 10″
• Shabazz Palaces Live at KEXP (Sub Pop) 12″ 1200 copies
• Sigur Ros Hvarf-Heim (XL)  2x LP, colored vinyl 1250 copies
• Tortoise    ”Lonesome Sound”/”Mosquito” (Thrill Jockey) 2×7″ doublepack 1000 copies
• Various Artists Music That Changes the World (David Lynch Foundation) LP box set 1700 copies
• Battles Dross Glop 4 (Warp Records) 12″ 750 copies
• DJFood & TheAmorphous The Illectrik Hoax (NinjaTune) 12″ multi-coloured 300 copies
• Gravenhurs “The Prize” (Warp Records)    10″ White Marbled Vinyl    400 copies
• Nicolas Jaar and 78 Edits Mike James Kirkland 12″ Edits (Ubiquity) 12″ 250 copies
• School of Seven Bells “Kiss Them For Me” (Vagrant) 7″ 600 copies
• Peter Tosh Legalize It: Echodelic Remixes (Delicious Vinyl) 12″ Picture Disc    510 copies
• Thievery Corporation Cosmic Game (ESL Music) 4 x 12″ clear vinyl 500 copies

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On Friday, July 29 legendary Philadelphia-based producer, DJ, and remixer King Britt stopped by Dubspot with singer and collaborator Rucyl Mills for a music production and performance workshop with Ableton Live. The duo performs live and release music under the name Saturn Never Sleeps, and this video, they share insights into the recording process for their debut album Yesterday’s Machine, which is out now on their own SNS imprint. The bulk of the record was constructed in a live, improvised, one-take fashion, combining the duo’s intuitional musical sense. The two point to the work of avant-garde jazz revolutionary Sun-Ra as a major source of inspiration, drawing from his value in art’s of-the-moment process. Read more about King Britt’s history, as well as what Rucyl calls, “the Chakakhantroller,” a MIDI controller that she wears on her body, over on the Saturn Never Sleeps website.

Saturn Never Sleeps Ableton Live workshop is part of an exciting series of live streaming workshops on production, performance, DJing, VJing, improvisation, drumming, and more, held at Dubspot NYC HQ on a regular basis. In July, Dubspot’s Live Streaming Workshop Series also feature Percussivo Mundo Novo, a project led by percussion innovator Mikael Mutti, whose equally genre-busting infusions of Brazilian rhythms and music has led him to digital percussion wizardry that includes analog drums and video game controllers. In August, London-based, Deep Medi Musik artist Silkie stopped by  for a special presentation and  offered insights into the PC-only FL Studio, while Holland’s DJ Irie demonstrated his use of Serato and Ableton Live for his work as a battle VJ and turntablist.

Ableton Live users, do yourself a favor and download King Britt and Rucyl’s Saturn Never Sleeps’ Ableton Live Pack here.

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The recent remix EP by Nguzunguzu does more than act as a marketing tool by introducing their name to the remixers’ audiences. It helps spread the ideas the duo have been developing with their DJ sets, studio mixes, and their own production. The EP’s cues come primarily from club hip hop and juke but move far beyond those starting points. Brenmar’s mix is a chopped R&B crossover riding on 808s, comfortably striding along at a halfstep gait. Mixed with some verses or another record by an adept DJ, it could evoke cheers from the floor coupled with some up close and personal bouncing. With this track in mind, it’s no surprise that he played a set consisting of nearly all hip hop at Trouble & Bass this weekend. Then there’s the Girl Unit contribution, which builds on his success blending dirty South beats and UK dance sounds. Here, he leans more towards old school hip hop and sets the pace at 135 BPM. The throwback drum machine and early ’90s sirens get mixed with some future house rhythms, adhering close to a 4/4 but burying that with flourishes, fills, and offbeats. Near the end he introduces some of those colorful synths that have been coming out of the bass music scene lately. The Canblaster and Berou remix also begins with rap foundations, but takes a ravier, house infected approach. Most of the rest of the EP is juke-inspired, such as the Subterranean-signed DJ Pierre and the mabmo/juke jump off that screams Munchi. - MS

Shabazz Palaces – “An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum”

Shabazz Palaces is one of the most enigmatic rap projects to emerge over the last 18 months. There’s a lot of hype about the group, which is lead by Palaceer Lazaro (otherwise known as Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler from early ’90s alt-hip hop/jazz futurist group, Digable Planets). After two impressive, well-received EPs in 2009, Shabazz inked a deal with legendary Seattle indie rock label, Sub Pop Records, and unleashed “An Echo from the Hosts That Profess Infinitum”, the first single from the group’s upcoming album Black Up, which drops June 28th. This track offers a glimpse of things to expect: densely textured poems, verses delivered with Butler/Palaceer’s signature measured cadence, swirling and chewed up synths and samples, ridiculously good beats, and more mbira solos, courtesy of Zimbabwean multi-instrumentalist Tendai! - LF

Mr. Mageeka – “Different Lekstrix”

“Different Lekstrix” is permeated with a feel of elasticity. The main synths stabs, those effected stings, and even the strummed bass line – they all have a rubbery quality, a quick snap back and rippled return. Combined with the unpredictable but satisfying soul claps and drifting snares, 4/4 kicks, and the rolling cycle of additional percussion, it’s a track that’s hard not to dance to when mixed properly. It’s very loopy, but the loops are so dense it takes a while to figure out what’s going on, which keeps it interesting, and the hits are often placed in slightly different spots on the beat. The record came out on Numbers last year.

Kode 9 & The Spaceape – “Love Is the Drug” from Black Sun

“Love Is The Drug” is a fairly simple composition, but gallops along like a ghost horseman mesmerizing anyone that gazes upon it and roping them in for the ride. Although “love” is in the title, the mood is pretty menacing and grey. In fact, the vocal threatens that “this love is gonna tighten round your neck,” with variations of that layered throughout. It stays energetic without aggression though. The quadruped kicks are matched with bass drums at the beginning of each measure and oscillating highs at the end. Droning synths fill the void beyond, occasionally rising slowly in scale to emphasize the propulsion. Very difficult to resist looking into the eyes of this creature, even though it might turn you to stone. - MS

Peverelist – “Dance til the Police Come”

Peverelist is without question of the most distinctive dubstep producers – he’s your favorite producer’s favorite producer. He’s notable not simply for his unrelenting adventurousness with rhythms and structure, but also for his remarkable restraint when it comes delivering and maintaining understated but highly effective and memorable synths and basslines. On this new 12″ single for Hessle Audio, Peverelist is in absolute top form, picking up where he left us with “The Hum”/”Rrrrr” with Hyetal, and “Better Ways Of Living”/”Fighting Without Fighting”, which were both released by his own label, Punch Drunk Records. It also furthers the sounds we heard on his debut LP Jarvik Mindstate. On the A-sdie, “Dance Til The Police Come” is an hypnotic, polyrhythmic techno exercise carried out with a certain amount of ease and elegance only few producers top. Peverelist himself describes it as, “Wholly or predominantly characterized by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats,” a type of music the UK government considers anti-social. B-side “Fundamental” delves even deeper with a more relaxed swing to rhythms, all reinforced with hazy, intoxicating synths, bass, and effects that dissolve by fading in and out. Fascinating stuff! - LF

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