News

We’re always excited when the next round of Record Store Day titles is announced, and this week has already seen a flurry of notices about a slew of great Black Friday RSD Exclusive and RSD First titles that will be available at participating Record Store Day shops on November 24. Read on to find out what some of our early RSD Black Friday favorites are, what their respective limited-edition pressings are capped at, and if they’re being offered on black or color vinyl. . .

We have so many vibrant discussions about our turntables, personal listening systems, and the music we listen to that we here at AP decided it was time to see and hear about them in much more detail. Read on to see how you can get your turntable and personal listening system featured in a new section on AP called Table Toppers. . .

Has it really been 75 years since Columbia Records released what’s generally agreed to as being the first commercially available 12-inch long-playing record — or LP — in June 1948? Indeed it has — and a new 192-page hardcover book, titled In the Groove: The Vinyl Record and Turntable Revolution, is set to be published October 17. In the Groove covers our favorite format’s history from the first LP needle drop to the ongoing vinyl resurgence of today — and it also includes a chapter penned by a noted AnalogPlanet contributor to boot. Read on to find out more about , and how to pre-order your own copy today. . .

Praise be to the almighty press! In this case, we’re referring to the all-important process of vinyl pressing, the end-of-creative-cycle production procedure that’s become even more in demand of late and somewhat difficult to schedule in a timely fashion for many an artist as the vinyl revival continues. To that end, Onyx Record Press has just opened its doors in the Los Angeles area, with an impetus to help independent artists get their music onto vinyl at affordable rates and reasonable wait times. Read on to find out about the Onyx team’s pressing plans, and what specific machines they’ll be utilizing to do so. . .

Our dime dancing is officially through, as we just got the news that the eagerly awaited LP reissue of Steely Dan’s indisputable September 1977 masterpiece Aja has now been given an official release date of September 29. The 180 1LP edition comes via Geffen/UMe, while the 30,000 numbered-copy limited-edition 200g 45rpm version on Ultra High-Quality Vinyl (UHQR) comes courtesy Analogue Productions. Read on to glean more about the source material for the new vinyl versions of Aja, as well as what the respective SRPs will be. . .

The well-respected entertainment data company Luminate recently released their Midyear Music Report, which confirms vinyl sales are on the rise yet again. Therein, Luminate reports that vinyl sales saw a 21.7 percent increase in the first half of 2023. Read on to see more about how our favorite format is doing this year to date, along with some other key vinyl-specific data stats of interest. . .

Texas-raised alt-country singer/guitarist Dale Watson likes to keep things authentic, and that’s exactly what’s he done with the 12 songs on his upcoming gutbucket-rockin’ Starvation Box LP on Cleopatra Records. AP has been asked to exclusively premiere “Streets of Gold” from the upcoming LP edition of Starvation Box which is set to be released as a 140g LP, so read on to get a taste of Watson’s patented deep baritone in action. . .