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!”
Boy do we have a busy and exciting week. We’re currently running a drawing for people to put in their names to win some pretty rare Taylor things such as a signed Folklore CD and a rare 12″ single, plus a cardboard standup. The winner will be announced Friday at 7.
Also this week we’ve announced a new game for our arcade, a submarine adventure called Battle Shark! It’s pretty rare to find these to play. It’s got cool lights and force feedback controls, pretty hi tech for 1989.
Here are this Friday’s hot new vinyl!
– CHAPPELL ROAN “The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess” DELUXE EDITION, on peach colored vinyl! We took many pre-orders for these – if you are one of those pre-orders look out for a text or phone call from us when your copy is ready! – BRIGHT EYES “Five Dice, All Threes” Is this a new Bright Eyes album? It’s a new Bright Eyes album! – Another PHISH re-issue! This time it’s their 1994 album “Hoist” on fancy color vinyl. The Phish re-issues from a couple of weeks ago were also delayed and we are hoping they show up this weekend. – POWER TRIP and their 2017 album “Nightmare Logic” on red and black splatter vinyl. – THE DANDY WARHOLS “Come Down” re-issue of the band’s 1997 album on bright yellow vinyl.
This week Pepperoni picked Alice In Chains
“Everyone knows the 90’s are back. Grunge is back. Jnco jeans are back. Alice In Chains is back. And this… is their 1994 EP, “Jar Of Flies”. Seven songs, and is it true this is the first ever EP to top the Billboard charts? This one’s got mostly acoustic guitar and the guy is singing in his whiny grungy voice. You got your faded jeans on at home, maybe your oversized flannel or band t-shirt on, and your hair is getting long and it’s parted down the middle and hanging a little over your eyes and you are looking up like this as your hair is hanging down and you are listening to Alice in Chains in your bedroom.”
This Friday we are hosting a show with hardcore band Strange Joy from Colorado and local hardcore bands Innervision, Worldview and Discern. Oh right Discern is not hardcore, just has all the same people in it from all the other bands.
This year we’ve sponsored the local collegiate baseball team, a ITPA tractor puller, and now a local youth soccer team. We sure do have a lot of sports going on around here for a record store.
Also this week Pepperoni turned 6. Look at all these treats his fans brought in!
New vinyl releases this Friday!
– COLDPLAY’s 2002 album “A Rush Of Blood To The Head” being re-issued on black vinyl! – More of an official and non-surprise release for JACK WHITE’s new album “No Name” – just on plain black vinyl, we know we can get plenty of copies this time. – The 10th anniversary edition of MAC DEMARCO’s hit album “Salad Days” complete with poster, booklet, and double LP hOloGraPHiC vinyl! OooOOOOOooo – the 20th anniversary for butt rock band VELVET REVOLVER’s album “Contraband” – SUKI WATERHOUSE “Memoirs Of A Sparklemuffin” on indie exclusive pearl colored vinyl. – THE JESUS LIZARD have their first new studio album in 26 years called “Rack”!!! We should have plain and silver exclusive versions on vinyl!
This week Pepperoni picked Billie’s latest record
“Hello all and thank you to everyone who came into my store to wish me a happy birthday, gosh I am getting old. We’re long overdue for a Billie Eilish pick here at Pepperoni Pizza headquarters! I have not yet picked one of Billie’s albums and she is afterall the current #1 most streamed artist on Spotify??? (Is this true?). What better place to start than her most recent album “Hit Me Hard And Soft” which came out earlier this year. This version behind me is actually the sea blue indie exclusive version which seems to be long out of print most other places.”
Also be sure to check out our shows page as we have 3 shows in a row this week. The Torture show happening right now while I’m typing this, the Public Opinion show tomorrow night and the nice, calm, pleasant, and respectable Kate Laine show happening on Saturday.
No shows this week but we recently announced we’re hosting another vintage fest with Prison City Vintage on September 21. Seems people really get into that. Come get your 90s tweety bird sweater or something for your niece. Over 20 vendors will be setup in and around Dumb Records that day.
This Friday’s hot and fresh vinyls!
– DEFTONES with a compilation of B-Sides & Rarities! Originally released in 2005 featuring 14 tracks on two LPs. – PHISH with the reissues of two of their albums, “Junta” (their debut album from 1989) and “Rift” (1993) both on colored vinyl – DUMMY with “Free Energy” their follow up to 2021’s “Mandatory Enjoyment”, if you know the band/album you know that it’s good.
This week Pepperoni picked another Grateful Dead record I guess
“I don’t like the Grateful Dead… I try and I try. I hear this is their disco album, but I listened and I think there’s only one disco song on it. It doesn’t have any of the hits “Touch Of Grey”, “Cocaine” or “Ridin’ That Train” on it. This might have been a mistake of a pick and I am sorry. Grateful Dead fan’s out there, do you think this one is any good? Let me know in the comments. It is the sea blue vinyl variant at least.”
Here’s your latest update on us fumbling celebrity musician guests. Last weekend Kyle Hollingsworth of the String Cheese Incident visited our store with his family. Unfortunately he was playing in the arcade without paying so was ushered out by our founding owner without knowing who he was. So this time we don’t even have an employee to blame. At least he posted this cool photo of our brat elephant, thanks Kyle! If you want to visit us again, we’ll try our best to not suck.
This Friday’s new vinyl drop! – New mixtape from DENZEL CURRY – “King Of The Mischievous South, Vol. 2” on regular black and exclusive violet vinyl. – The fifth album from American country artist LUKE COMBS, “Fathers & Sons” on exclusive white vinyl. – The 18th studio album from Australian rock group NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS called “Wild God” there were a bunch of different color options for this one and we got like one of each. – Re-issue of punk band DEAD MOON’s 2004 album “Dead Ahead” (on black vinyl) – Re-issue of 2018 studio album from tour-cancelling Jack Black silly band TENACIOUS D, “Post-Apocalypto” – 30th anniversary of recently re-united duo of brothers that don’t like each other OASIS album “Definitely Maybe” on double pink splattery vinyl and the whole works
Tonight, we have a show that’s kinda mixed genre with a little black metal and emo sprinkled in but still basically another loud kung fu pit thing featuring Sign Language from Cincinnati, Broken Vow from New England, Rejoice from Ohio, Montclaire from CT, and local support Subversion
Thursday night we have another show which changes things up, a mostly solo artist show featuring indie folk americana artists Doby Watson and Teri Quinn along with local artists Ricki Marvel, Jess Knight of Looming, and folk punk band Yardwaste.
This week Pepperoni has picked Fearless
“It’s been a minute – join me once again as we continue our journey down Taylor Swift’s discography through my pick’s of the week (we are nearing completing all of her albums, don’t worry). This week’s pick is Taylor’s 2008 album “Fearless” – more specifically the “Platinum Edition” of the album that was originally released on CD and DVD with the 6 additional bonus tracks that came out in 2009. Now we all know that Taylor’s version of this album came out in 2021 and it was the first of her re-release “Taylor’s Version” series. Taylor’s version first and foremost of course, but this one is for all of the completists out there that need that Platinum Edition on vinyl. It’s even still got the link to her myspace page on the back cover. Did you know Taylor was just 18 years old when this album was released?”
Dumb Records 