We’ve been really focused lately on selling records this holiday season, but we did have a show not long ago, here is a pic from that (sorry I don’t know what band this is). We only have hardcore shows on our calendar currently, sorry again.
This Friday’s hot vinyl releases! – SNOOP DOGG and his twentieth studio album “Missionary”… it’s a picture disc made to look like oh dear. – THE NATIONAL have a new live album coming out called “Rome” and we should be getting a few copies of the indie exclusive white version. – The MARIAH CAREY CHRISTMAS craze continues this time with a release of her Merry Christmas album on zoetrope vinyl. – A re-issue of 3 DOORS DOWN’s greatest hits. – the NEIL YOUNG “On The Beach” 50th anniversary pressing had gotten pushed back to this Friday. – DAFT PUNK with a “Interstella 5555” pressing of their “Discovery” album (it’s Japanese or something?)
This week Pepperoni picked Nightmare Before Christmas
“Mind if I squeeze one last little holiday pick in before the year is over? What kind of holiday pick? One that covers Christmas AND Halloween! It’s The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack (composed by Danny Elfman)! We were having some sort of debate here at DR headquarters about if this record should get filed in the Christmas section. YES, it is both a Christmas record and a Halloween record, that is the whole point! That is why this movie is so popular because it covers the two best holidays, DUH. Pick up your copy of this double LP bone and aqua colored vinyl today at Dumb Records today!
We had a great black friday time with everyone. It seemed everyone knew the assignment and lined up at both downtown and the mall. Some weirdos even lined up the night before in 20 degree weather. I don’t know why, it’s so much more comfortable lining up at the mall and there’s Auntie Anne’s.
We gave out lots of free shirts and tote bags and there was no pushing and shoving. Everybody did a good job.
Here are your hot Friday vinyl releases! – SABRINA CARPENTER has a Christmas record out! The “Fruitcake” EP, we will be getting the exclusive “fruit punch” colorway! – RUN THE JEWELS 2, 10th Anniversary edition on double black vinyl! – STEVIE WONDER’s “Ultimate Stevie Wonder” hits compilation! (This one would make a good Christmas gift wouldn’t it). – TOM WAITS’s 1974 album “The Heart Of Saturday Night” getting a 50th anniversary re-issue! – THE ROLLING STONES “Welcome To Shepherd’s Bush” – this is a live show from 1999, on double black LP! – 20th anniversary re-issue of OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW’s “O.C.M.S.” – HOZIER “Unreal Unearth Unending” – Deluxe edition of their newest album, there is a 3LP version that has it ALL, then looks like a single LP version with just the bonus tracks.
This week Pepperoni picked this essential Christmas album
“It’s December. Our Christmas music bins at both stores are already picked clean. We are out of Charlie Brown, and the only thing left in the dollar bin is the Lettermen’s Christmas album and the other is a North Central High School 1969 record of just bells. So ho-ho-ho, I guess I better act fast with a good holiday pick! Why not pick Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas – you hear this song everywhere you go right now. It’s playing on the radio on every station, playing on the speakers at the gas station as you pump gas, inside every grocery store on the speakers, it’s even playing inside the mall as you walk into our mall store. So why not order 20 copies of it so you all can buy the vinyl and listen to it at home too! Great!”
Did you know we have green elephant and Pepperoni tree ornaments now??? They don’t have to be ornaments but they sure are cute! They’re locally made and hand painted. They’re going to be pretty limited. We ran through the first batch really fast and more are on the way!
Just wanted to mention again about all our Black Friday Record Store Day stuff, which is coming up next week. Here is all the info on one image, how’s that for convenience!
We recently added Tekken 5 to our downtown arcade! We know you all thought our arcade was ok but needed some fightin’ games, so ya’ll can go an fight now.
This week’s Friday releases!
There are a LOTTTT of releases to go over for Friday release day this week! (Why are they doing this, it is one week before Black Friday Record Store Day!?!) – ZACH BRYAN “The Great American Bar Scene” – vinyl release for REAL this time, after getting pushed back. – THE SMASHING PUMPKINS “Aghori Maori Mei” – this new Pumpkins album was surprise released online earlier this summer around the time they played our fair and Billy surprised us ALL by stopping by our very own store! Now it’s getting a physical release! – MÖTLEY CRÜE “Dr. Feelgood” 35th Anniversary pressing with fancy splatter vinyl and alternative artwork! – A bunch of early albums from SABRINA CARPENTER are getting re-pressed! “Singular I”, “Singular Act II,” and “Evolution” are the ones we anticipate getting. – New album from FATHER JOHN MISTY, “Mahashmashana”? – New album from black metal group OPETH, “The Last Will And Testament” (this one was also pushed back). – Re-issue of LA DISPUTE’s 2006 EP “Vancouver” – KILLER MIKE’s new album “Songs For Sinners And Saints” clear red vinyl. – WICKED soundtrack??? – (Not pictured), but there are re-issues for every EARLY BEATLES ALBUM?!?? “Early Beatles,” “A Hard Days Night,” “Something New,” “Beatles ’65,” “Meet The Beatles,” “The Beatles Second Album”.
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY releases the week before Record Store Day we can’t keep up!?!!
This week Pepperoni picked Evermore
“First of all, I know I am running out of Taylor Swift albums to pick (very few are potentially left). Folklore remains Taylor’s hottest selling album here at Dumb Records and probably plenty of other record stores around the world, so it is probably long overdue that I pick “Evermore,” the follow up album to Folklore, both released in the same year of 2020 when Covid-19 kept us all at home. This one starts off with the hit single “Willow.” There are features on here from HAIM, The National, and Bon Iver. Oh yeah, this is the forest green vinyl edition. Enjoy!”
Boy that big shopping day is coming up and now we have 2 stores so what the heck are we gonna do??? Well we’re gonna have Record Store Day Black Friday at BOTH LOCATIONS.
Downtown, you can expect the usual event. We’ll have ALL TITLES (except the silly 3″ beatles records). We’ll have coffee from Graba Java available for free and Johnnie O’s Mini Donuts truck will be selling donuts there as well. AT THE MALL, we’ll have 35 of the biggest titles available and the freebies until they runout but sorry no donuts or coffee there.
BOTH LOCATIONS will have 50 free shirts and 50 free tote bags, first come-first serve. Both Locations will open at 8am. The line can start whenever you want downtown, however the mall does not open until 6am so that’s the earliest the line can start there. We will have our team ready at both locations to limit how many people can shop at a time so there will not be a stampede.
And besides hosting all the exclusive Record Store Day titles, we’ll also be having a 10% off sale on everything that’s not the new RSD exclusives. Also all of our old RSD items will be marked 30% off!
So that’s all there is to know about RSD Black Friday this year, now on with this Friday’s hot new releases!
– MF DOOM “Mm… Food” 20th Anniversary re-issue on purple marble vinyl! – GWEN STEFANI is out with a brand new solo album called “Bouquet” and we shoooould have the indie exclusive version with a SIGNED insert – also for this we will be hosting our first ever “album listening party” at 6pm Friday at DUMBER records in the mall – stay tuned for more info on that! – LINKIN PARK have a new album, “From Zero” !?!? (With a new signer) – a couple of different color variants of this one should be rolling in, we know we at least will have “sea blue”. – ALVVAYS selt-titled masterpiece of an indie-pop album on Polyvinyl records is celebrating it’s 10th anniversary with a special colorway. – 2009 MAJOR LAZER album “Guns Don’t Kill People, Lazer’s Do” on double black vinyl, re-issue – IRON MAIDEN’s “Power Slave” gets a special zoetrope vinyl release, how cool!
This week Pepperoni picked Linkin Park
“Did you know Linkin Park have a new album out this week? That’s right, their first in 7 years and first with a new vocalist (R.I.P. Chester Bennington). We’ll be getting a few copies of that in, but I figured now was a good time as any to re-visit and stock up on some of that classic Linkin Park! This is their second album “Meteora” – originally released over 20 years ago in 2003, this one had many hits on it such as “Numb,” “Faint,” “Somewhere I Belong,” etc. Those songs certainly hit hard if you were a middle schooler riding the school bus at the time, and I am sure they are good now! Pick it up at Dumb or Dumber Records!
I’d say our new location opening in the mall last weekend was a big success! Lots of people came to check it out and many of our local media outlets have been reporting on it. I don’t think the mall was ready for a TV news crew to come in to talk to us and we weren’t prepared for the overwhelming public support either I suppose.
Now of course comes the challenge of keeping fresh vinyls poppin in both locations. Our record farmer is certainly working overtime now.
Here’s the big Friday releases coming out this week:
– CHARLI XCX “Brat And It’s The Same But There’s More Songs So It’s Not” – (basically “brat” but with 3 extra bonus songs, on double white vinyl) – NEIL YOUNG “On The Beach” 50th anniversary on clear vinyl. One of the best. – MARIAH CARREY “Merry Christmas” 30th anniversary pressed onto a special picture disc. – TALKING HEADS: 77 – deluxe edition where one LP is a remastering of the album and the second disc is rarities and bonus tracks! – LARRY JUNE “Doing It For Me” ( a picture disc that looks like a wheel)
Pepperoni hasn’t had a chance to pick out a record this week but that’s probably coming soon. We just had that big Glare show yesterday when Pep is usually making the sausage.
Also this Saturday is our downtown neighbor Good Heart Tattoo’s 5 year anniversay party! We will have activities happening for it in our downtown location as well as the party going on within Good Heart.
Hot off the press, we’ve been working on our little secret project all this month and it was just recently announced, we’re opening a 2nd location in White Oaks Mall!
This will be located on the 1st floor, near the middle. You’ll find us next to Off the Wall and across from Kay’s.
We’re still running our downtown location. Both stores will have about the same records, CDs and Turntables. Downtown will still host live shows and the arcade like always. Dumber Records in the mall will not have live shows but will be a prime spot for listening parties when hot new albums release! This is something we haven’t tried tackling yet and this will afford us a nice space where more people can spread out and have a relaxing listen. Also we plan for both stores to participate in Record Store Day events including the one coming up on Black Friday! And our mall store does not have a full arcade but will offer Dolly Parton pinball and our Galaga arcade machine completely free to play. Oh and also we have new shirts with our Dumber logo.
It’s been a lot of hard work to get all this done plus Brian getting married all at the same time. We look forward to seeing everyone on opening day this Friday November 1st!
In other news, we’re having some troubles with this week’s shipment from our distro so we’re unsure at this time what new Friday releases we’re gonna have just yet. However in all this chaos Pep did find time to pick a new record.
This week Pepperoni picked Freewheelin
“Yes, I heard the big news. That there is going to be a Bob Dylan biopic coming out to theaters this Christmas staring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan called “A Complete Unknown.” Timothée Chalamet is my big celebrity crush so I will be the first in line at my AMC theater with Chili Bowl Mullet man to see this film. And Bob Dylan? I can’t believe I haven’t picked any of his albums as pick of the week! This one of the most prolific folk artists of the past century, leading the way in the 1960’s folk revival and anti-war movements. (I personally appreciate his song-writing the most and my favorite versions of his songs are oftentimes covers by other artists, such as Peter Paul & Mary). I have not seen the new movie yet of course but I DID see the trailer and it looks as if Bob Dylan’s girlfriend Sylvie Russo played by Elle Fanning plays a big role – I picked early Dylan album “Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” as my pick this week because it features her on the cover walking with Bob through a snow-covered New York. (Do you think they will re-create this photo in a scene in the movie, I think they will). You KNOW all of the kids are going to be coming in asking for Bob Dylan this holiday season to play on their new turntables that mom and dad bought them from Dumber Records in the mall, so we better be ready!”
The Dumb Records old man has already moved in and made himself comfortable at the mall and somehow there are now two of them.
Oh and there is a hardcore show this Saturday featuring Ablaze, Jagged, Grid, and Totalled but no one sent me the flier. Just imagine a black and white flier with hard to read fonts and probably made in microsoft paint going right here.
Last weekend we celebrated the marriage of our founding owner and that girl from Taylorville on the roadsigns.
They did a good job at getting married.
Here are your HOT Friday Releases!
– GREEN DAY “American Idiot” 20th Anniversary!!! Double red and black splatter vinyl with alternative artwork for this 2004 album! – 311 with “Full Bloom” – their 14th studio album – we ordered orange and also exclusive blue versions and have been told our order got cut some… we will see what happens! – SOCCER MOMMY “Evergreen” out on exclusive light blue vinyl. – HALSEY with “The Great Impersonator” just black vinyl! – EMINEM with “The Death Of Slim Shady” (physical release) on red and blue double LP. – BLUEY “Rug Island” on “orange sunset” vinyl. – Australian punk band AMYL & THE SNIFFERS with “Cartoon Darkness” (just black vinyl)
This week Pep picked Gorillaz Plastic Beach
“Welcome to Plastic Beach, an imaginary beach created by imaginary cartoon band “Gorillaz” for their third studio album which came out in 2010. This double LP is packed with songs with guest features like Snoop Dogg, De La Soul, Lou Reed?? Gorillaz are continuing to do their thing blending elements of pop music and hip hop. The song I think most of you listeners out there might be most familiar with on this album is “On Melancholy Hill” but other singles were “Stylo” and “Superfast Jellyfish”. Enjoy!”
Over on the Facebook, we’ve been asking people if they can tell us about any past record stores that have existed in our town as we’ve been on a history kick lately. It started with trying to figure out all the music stores that have been at the mall and it’s expanded since then. This has prompted lots of discussion and we’ve been compiling a list of all the stores. I love this picture Kyle sent us of The Music Shop. I don’t know the year, probably 70s, but I just love the wood paneling. If only we could setup a store that looks like this! I’m not sure where we would get all that paneling. I would for sure wear my shirt tucked in all the time if I worked at a store like this and keep my pens in my shirt pocket.
Here are this Friday’s hot new vinyls!
– The PHISH re-issues continue, this time with their 1996 LP “Billy Breathes” on double “green trees” vinyl! – TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS with the 1982 album “Long After Dark” being pressed on turquoise vinyl! – Rock duo JAPANDROIDS have a new album, “Fate & Alcohol” – TIM HEIDECKER of Tim & Eric fame has a new music album coming out called “SLIPPING AWAY” on exclusive teal vinyl. – THE SPECIALS – their 1979 self titled album, actually being released on clear vinyl (sorry it’s black in the picture) – AMERICAN FOOTBALL have a “Covers” record coming out?!? – last but not least it’s CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING TIME, this time it’s on purple vinyl!
This week Pepperoni picked Sufjan Steven’s Carrie & Lowell
“It’s fall. As the weather gets colder and I put on my fall jacket I like to grab a cup of coffee, put in my earbuds connected to my 2008 ipod shuffle and get more in touch with my indie rock side. This is my second time picking a Sufjan Stevens album – Sufjan knows how to really deliver those face melting, balls-to-the-wall indie rock acoustic bangers. Listening to this just makes me want to mosh as softly as I can in my bedroom alone. “Carrie & Lowell” came out in 2015 – Sufjan had a realization he was never going to pull off writing a whole album for every single U.S. state and got extremely depressed because of this and locked himself in a wooden cabin for a full year. He finally came up with a solution and that was to write an album about his two parents instead, Carrie and Lowell. So that is what we got.”
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: This is one of my favorite records even tho I don’t listen to it often. It’s very impactful each listen and gives the listener the feelings. I don’t make it to big production shows often but I was very fortunate to have seen this live during the Carrie and Lowell tour which shall always be my favorite concert of all time. Hearing this performed live really gave it a new dimension as much more development happened on stage than could fit on this record. If you find the live album of this, it’s certainly worth it. During the encore Sufjan performed all his past hits and every adult over 35 stood up for Chicago.
Yes it’s spooky season here at the ‘Records, we just wrapped up Star Wars Episode 1 Phantom Menace season and have rolled out the Halloween stuff.
This Week’s Friday Vinyl Releases (Brian really messed up the listing this time, that date is supposed to be 10/11/2024): – ZACH BRYAN “The Great American Bar Scene” – EDIT: this release has been DELAYED to 11/22!! – JELLY ROLL “Beautifully Broken” popular country rap artist with face tattoos with his 10th studio album, we will have the indie exclusive clear vinyl with gold splatter. – DAWES “Oh Brother” the 9th studio album from this American rock band, on exclusive “turmeric” vinyl. – OPETH “The Last Will And Testament” **update, this release has been DELAYED to 11/22! – THE OFFSPRING “Supercharged” the 11th studio album from this long running California punk band, we should have the exclusive electric blue version and maybe black! – LADY GAGA “Harlequin” being in Joker 2 just wasn’t enough for Lady Gaga she had to go and make a whole new surprise album about how she was the real Joker afterall.
This week Pepperoni Picked a Mac Miller release:
Mac Miller? All of the kids love this guy. I am blown away by how much he has even seemed to grow in popularity even after his tragic death in 2018 (R.I.P.). Watching Movies With The Sound Off is his 2013 album with some of my favorite hits like “Someone Like You” and “Gees.” featuring Earl Sweatshirt – many other artists such as Tyler The Creator and Schoolboy Q are featured on this album as well. Essential for any fans of Mac’s music.
This Friday we’re hosting Free Jazz
Oh and in case you haven’t noticed lately, we’ve been really stocking up on shirts! Including our newest design, the extra drippy logo!
We had a great time last weekend with the Central Illinois Vintage Fair. Over 20 vendors filled our alley with lots of neat stuff to see and buy.
This coming weekend is Car Show Weekend when a lot of streets are closed downtown and filled up with classic cars. Hopefully it won’t rain too much!
Here are this Friday’s vinyl releases!
– BILLY STRINGS has a new album “Highway Prayers” on green-inside-of-clear vinyl (double LP), wow-ee! – MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE greatest hits compilation “May Death Never Stop You” is coming out on double black LP! – SHABOOZEY, up and coming country artist who played our state fair has a debut album “Where I’ve Been Isn’t Where I’m Going”! – BIG STAR and their 1974 album “Radio City” – celebrating it’s 50th anniversary with this new red and white split pressing! – LIVING COLOUR with their 1988 album “Vivid” being repressed – BALANCE & COMPOSURE 2011 album “Separation” out on transparent green vinyl. – Not pictured but we will have a couple of copies of the triple LP of THE LUMINEERS “Live At Wrigley Field”.
This week Pepperoni picked Sleep Token
“Sleep Token is a band everyone has been asking me about. What is this band? I look up photos and I see a hooded creature with a mask and full body paint on stage with a fog machine going looking like he is about to cast a spell on the crowd! I have been told that it is metal. Is this true? I listen to it and it just sounds like pop music for people who want to pretend they are listening to metal. Well we have plenty of it now and I hope you all enjoy!”
Dumb Records 