Julien Baker, Kool Keith, Third Man, More Announce Record Store Day Releases

The 12th annual Record Store Day is coming up on Saturday, April 13, when independent record stores across the city will join others throughout the country in offering up special limited-edition titles. The full list was released Thursday, and there are quite a few goodies on offer to entice you to visit the mom-and-pop shops that are there for you every day.

Some of the most exciting releases include new material from Julien Baker, who will be releasing a 7-inch single featuring “Red Door” and “Conversation Piece,” and The Flaming Lips, whose new album King’s Mouth: Music and Songs will be released on the day. (Both are “RSD First” releases, meaning they’ll be made available through other outlets later.) 

You may recall that famously surreal MC Kool Keith did a full LP with then-Nashvillian L’Orange called Time? Astonishing! in 2015. Kool Keith, aka Dr. Octagon, aka Black Elvis, has waded into the Music City talent pool once again, cooking up a fascinating release with Nashville hardcore punk duo Thetan that’s an early front-runner for the coolest tangible artifact. The 12-inch single “Complicated Trip” features something called a multi-groove cut, meaning there’s a 50/50 chance of hearing the vocal version or the instrumental version of the track whenever you play the record. There are also multiple etchings on both sides of the record, including an animated image. Seriously.

Other local highlights include the first vinyl release of Soccer Mommy’s 2016 For Young Hearts EP, previously only available on Bandcamp, as well as John Hiatt and Lilly Hiatt covering each other’s songs on a 7-inch. There are also some unique collectables from Third Man Records. The label helmed by Jack White will release a special pressing of Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica and a long-out-of-print LP called Kins from Detroit jazz ensemble Griot Galaxy. They’re also releasing a collection of 3-inch records (a format that was only briefly available in Japan) as well as a special Crosley record player called the Triple Inchophone.

As far as titles to play on the petite turntable, there will be a boxed set of six White Stripes singles (not released in this format before — different from a set of eight singles available at the merch table during the 2005 tour for Get Behind Me Satan). The turntable and box set will be available only at the Third Man storefronts in Nashville and Detroit. A set of four other TMR singles — The Raconteurs’ “Store Bought Bones,” The Dead Weather’s “Be Still,” Jack White’s “Love Interruption” and The White Stripes’ “Candy Cane Children” — will be available in “blind boxes” (meaning you won't know which one you've bought until you open it) at other stores participating in RSD. There will be a few other non-Third-Man 3-inches available, as well: Foo Fighters’ “Big Me,” The Interrupters’ “She’s Kerosene,” Bad Religion’s “My Sanity,” Culture Abuse’s “Dip” and Rancid’s “Ruby Soho.”

There are various flavors of ’70s-vintage prog, psychedelic and experimental music, from a repress of an obscure Goblin single to live recordings of Gong, Hawkwind and Emerson Lake & Palmer. There will be a deluxe edition of John Paul White’s forthcoming LP The Hurting Kind (with a bonus 7-inch). Anderson .Paak’s band The Free Nationals titled “Beauty & Essex,” and Elvis Costello has a 12-inch EP called Purse featuring two co-writes (with Burt Bacharach and Paul McCartney) and two covers (of Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan).

There's plenty more to peruse, so check out the full list right here.