Offwhyte: “Propel Exact”

Posted on September 20, 2020 by blacksheepspringfield

Yet another local hip hop project has dropped a brand new album during these times. This is a new one from Offwhyte – a long running talented artist originally from the 217 who has moved out to the west coast and back to Springfield over the years. This is Offwhyte’s brand new album called “Propel Exact.” Check some of that out streaming on the youtube player below. Also check out the album on Apple Music right here, or on Spotify right here.

Galapagos4 cofounder Offwhyte returns, his alter ego taking center stage this time on Propel Exact. Offwhyte’s most fun album to date, the 14-track project is produced by G4 stalwart Open i and clocks in at a hearty 44 minutes. Themes include infatuation (“Sophie Turner”), being a dinosaur (“Velociraptor”), and his age group (“Generation X”). The all-digital album concludes with bonus track “I Am Not a Virus” produced by Kip Killagain. Featured artists on the album include Brzowski, Infinito 2017, Memphis Reigns and Grill Billyenz.

This is one of three albums that Offwhyte has released in the past four years. We are adding Propel Exact to our Springfield album archive page, brining us to

September Issue of Activator Available Now

Posted on September 19, 2020 by blacksheepspringfield

Whoops, it’s about halfway through the month and we are just now letting you know that we have the new new issue of Activator Magazine for September 2020! As you can see, this one features the band Attic Salt on the cover. They have a brand new album, Get Wise, coming out this month! They are interviewed in this new issue of Activator.

What else does this issue have? No live show calendars, as we are still in strange and scary times, but plenty of album reviews. There is an interview with Jacksonville-based psych band The Dixie Narcos and about how they have been putting out three albums a year for the past three years. Other interviews with Free Range Youth from Decatur, Voldrega the Black Mage from Champaign, a photo spread of some acts at The Alamo, 10 up 10 down with Boss Maseiano, and an interview with Don Brazel of The Bastard Squad, and much much more!

You can pick up a copy of Activator Magazine here at Dumb Records for free, or at other different local locations around Central Illinois.

Illinois Times “Best of Springfield 2020” Finalist Voting

Posted on September 18, 2020 by blacksheepspringfield

Yes, it’s that time of the year again, and you all know it! All of your favorite local businesses, bartenders, radio personalities, artists, and bands are asking you to vote for them for the annual Illinois Times “Best of Springfield” awards. This year, we are lucky enough to be featured in THREE categories (even though the sign in the photo up there has two listed). Those are:

BEST MUSIC SHOP
PLACE TO GO DOWNTOWN
BEST MUSIC VENUE (SMALL)

We didn’t want to push the music venue part too hard because we are still not anywhere near it being safe enough for us to have shows or crowds of people here and probably will be for the rest of the year if not a while longer.

To vote, go check out the poll online right here!

We were also very blessed to be the winners of “Best New Business Downtown” in last year’s Best Of’s poll.

Bottom Bracket WNIJ “Sessions From Studio A”

Posted on September 16, 2020 by blacksheepspringfield

It’s been a minute since local music and local bands! Local emo group Bottom Bracket appeared to have done something in the Chicago area recently. The group appeared on Dekalb, Illinois-based radio station WNIJ’s “Sessions from Studio A” which is an ongoing live video and recording series. This was a live video, but also there are now two youtube videos up from the session, each featuring two songs. Some of the songs come from Bottom Bracket’s recent album, I Don’t Care Enough To Stay, and some are brand new. Check out those videos embedded below.

New Arrivals This Week at Dumb Records

Posted on September 15, 2020 by blacksheepspringfield

It’s another Tuesday! SO here we are with another great stack of new and used LPs, CDs, and more going out on the shelves here at Dumb Records. Our store is still open everyday from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm here at 418 E Monroe St. downtown. Our arcade is also open those same hours and the great big downtown Springfield pinball tournament is on-going. Our online discogs store can be found right here. Alright, let’s jump into what’s new!

New LPs
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
Bully – Sugaregg
Electric Wizard – Wizard Bloody Wizard
Deafhaven – New Bermuda
Fats Domino – The Best of Fats Domino
Iggy Pop – Raw Power
Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
Kii – Nightingale
Mayhem – Out From The Dark
Muddy Waters – The Best of Muddy Waters
Slipknot – Slipknot

Used LPs
Aerosmith – Permanent Vacation
Alabama – 40 Hour Week
Bad Company – Burnin’ Sky
B.B. King – The Best Of B.B. King
The Beatles – Love Songs
The Chiffons – Everything You Always Wanted…
Chuck Berry – 20 Greatest Hits
Crosby / Nash – Live
Dave Brubeck Trio / Gerry Mulligan – Blues Roots
Dave Rose – A Merry Christmas To You
Dionne Warwick – Here I Am
Doris Day – Doris Day’s Greatest Hits
Genesis – Selling England By The Pound
Glenn Miller – Legendary Performer Vol. 2
Glenn Miller – Parade of Hits
Harry Golden – Harry Golden
Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass – Casino Royale
Herb Alpert – The Best of the Brass
The Hollies – Romany
Jan Garber – The Swinging Sweet Bands Vol. 2
Jethro Tull – Too Old To Rock N’ Roll: Too Young To Die
John Schneider – A Memory Like You
The Kingston Trio – Stereo Concert
Klaatu – Klaatu
Leon Russell – And The Shelter People
Loreena McKennitt – Elemental
Oak Ridge Boys – Room Service
Patton – Original Motion Picture Score
Pink Floyd – A Nice Pair
Sammy Hagar – Rematch
The Shirts – Inner Sleeve
Skeeter Davis – Best of Skeeter Davis, Volume II
Stella Parton – Country Sweet
Various – Central Illinois’ Best Rock
Various – Flashback! Rock Classics of the 70’s
Various – History of Rock N’ Roll Vol. 4
Various – Thank God It’s Friday

12” Singles
Astaire – What Have I Got To Lose
Aurra – Are You Single
Freeez – I.O.U.
Klymaxxx – Meeting In The Ladies Room
Time Bandits – Live It Up / Juvenile Aquaintance

New / Used CDs
Andrew Lloyd Webber – The Music Of
Beth Nielsen Chapman – Beth Nielsen Chapman
Chuck Mangione – Feels So Good
Dion – The Wanderer: His Greatest Hits on Laurie Records
Echo & The Bunnymen – What Are You Going To Do With Your Life?
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons – 20 Greatest Hits
Frankie Valli – Greatest Hits
Girls Against Boys – House of GVSB
Guster – Goldfly
Herbie Mann – Eastern European Roots
Hoodoo Gurus – Magnum Cum Louder
Hoodoo Gurus – Mars Needs Guitars!
Hugh Masekela – Live At The BBC
Hugh Masekela – Time
Hubert Laws – The Best of Hubert Laws
Hüsker Du – New Day Rising
Incubus – Make Yourself
Incubus – Enjoy Incubus
Keith Sweat – I’ll Give All My Love To You
Keith Sweat – Rebirth
Leontyne Price – The Essential
Mahalia Jackson – How I Got Over
Mahalia Jackson – Amazing Grace
Marcus Miller – M2
Powerman 5000 – Tonight The Stars Revolt!
Powerman 5000 – Mega!! Kung Fu Radio
The Presidents of the United States of America – s/t
The Queers – Later Days And Better Lays
Ramsey Lewis & Nancy Wilson – Meant To Be
R.E.M. – Fables of the Reconstruction
R.E.M. – In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003
The Replacements – Stink
RUN D.M.C. – RUN D.M.C.
Scarface – The Fix
Simon & Garfunkel – Bookends
Snoop Dogg – Bones
Super Furry Animals – Rings Around The World
Various – The Source Presents Hip Hop Hits Vol. 5
Various – Baby Boy: Music From The Motion Picture
Various – The Best of Old Town Doo Wop
Vince Gill – The Best of Vince Gill
Warren G – The Return of the Regulator 2002
Warren G – Take A Look Over Your Shoulder
Yo-Yo Ma – Plays The Music of John Williams

Details On Record Store Day “Drop Date” #2 at Dumb Records

Posted on September 14, 2020 by blacksheepspringfield

Our first Record Store Day “Drop Date” at the end of last month seamed to go really well, so for the next one coming up on Saturday, September 26th (just less than a couple of weeks away), we are kicking it up one more notch (just a smidgen).

Record Store Day, which is usually a big annual event for us and other record stores around the globe in April, had been pushed back to June this year due to Covid-19, and then again to three separate “drop dates” in August, September, and October to still get exclusive records out to collectors and fans while trying to avoid crowds as much as possible.

For this second drop date on Saturday, September 26th – we are opening our store a tad bit earlier than usual at 10:00 am, and will be open until 7:00 pm. Our arcade will be open during those hours as well, limiting to four people at a time. We are still limiting the total amount of people in our building to ten.

We did order still a very limited amount of RSD exclusive releases this time around, and will also be planning on dropping an amount of new and used vinyl onto the shelves for the first time on that day. Some of the RSD exclusive releases we plan on getting include: George Clinton, Batman & Robin, Death Piggy, Destiny’s Child, The Doors, Fleetwood Mac, Jerry Garcia, Dizzy Gillespie, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Jimi Hendrix, Hootie & The Blowfish, Meat Puppets, Mott The Hoople, Primus, Ramones, Replacements, Residents, Britney Spears, Tegan & Sara, and the Hackers soundtrack. ***Note, we are not guaranteed to get any of those titles, and the ones we get are first-come, first-serve.

More info on all of those titles is available at recordstoreday.com.

State Journal-Register: “There’s a fierce battle in downtown Springfield and Dumb Records is the epicenter”

Posted on September 12, 2020 by blacksheepspringfield

We have once again made the local paper it looks like. Yesterday the article, “There’s a fierce battle in downtown Springfield and Dumb Records is the epicenter” went up online over at sj-r.com, and it appears as if this is going to be in print tomorrow for the big Sunday newspaper in the local business section. Thank you to Brenden Moore for writing the article. From the article:

“Running a small business amid a global pandemic is not easy. Many conversations center around how to adapt to the current reality of social distancing and capacity limits and simply surviving in order to reach better times.

This is perhaps most pertinent for business owners running brick-and-mortar stores in downtown Springfield, who have been hurt by the loss of foot traffic as much of the downtown labor force continues to work from home while tourists have stayed away.”

WordPress, why won’t you let us do quote-blocks anymore? Why did you have to take that away? You can check out the full article online right here. You also should be able to find it in tomorrow’s Sunday print issue of the State Journal-Register.

Downtown Pinball Tournament Round One Final Scores, Round Two Begins Today

Posted on September 10, 2020 by blacksheepspringfield

Okay NOW that we’ve gotten the mayor’s emergency order extending round one of our pinball tournament out of the way, we can finally post the results of round one and move on to round two. Round one was a lot of fun, it was great getting over 30 local businesses on board participating, there were a few twists and turns, and a lot of fun was had. Here are the final scores for round one, the names in bold are moving on to the next round. We took the three highest scoring losers to move on to the next round as well to compete in a bracket of their own.

Also pictured above you can see what we have mapped out for round two, which features the game No Good Gofers and runs from today, September 10th through September 19th.

WILLOW & BIRCH = 5,940,070
SPRINGFIELD VINTAGE = 25,537,780

GALLINA’S PIZZA = 4,558,300
CORRINE’S CLOSET = 0

MAYOR LANGFELDER = 33,647,500
RESOURCE ONE = 28,523,470

KRISTI MITCHELL PHOTOGRAPHY = 11,955,060
LA PIAZZA = 8,621,670

REVERIE APPAREL = 24,216,290
PRAIRIE ARCHIVES = 29,513,160

GOOD HEART TATTOO = 4,654,640
ABRAHAM LINCOLN = 0

DAISY JANE’S = 5,495,790
DOWNTOWN SPRINGFIELD INC. = 16,804,280

MURPHY’S LOFT = 3,257,070
CUSTOM CUP = 31,538,560

THE PHARMACY GALLERY = 41,024,650
PURE PERFORMANCE FITNESS CENTER = 19,372,710

WILD ROSE = 9,277,470
PUBLIC MARKET = 19,125,210

BUZZ BOMB = 16,348,680
HARRIS LAW CENTER = 7,925,240

SECURITY BANK = 0
ARLINGTON’S = 25,063,020

INNOVATE SPRINGFIELD = 13,052,300
HEAD WEST = 28,841,160

CRAFT BEER BAR = 55,215,180
STAUNZTASTIC ART = 16,347,400

ANVIL & FORGE = 34,306,260
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE = 48,028,140

FERRY & ASSOCIATES = 0
THE SAA COLLECTIVE = 21,752,090

LONG NINE JUNCTION = 5,050,470
UPTOWN LOOKS = 4,454,210

OLD STATE CAPITOL = 23,100,370

New Arrivals This Week At Dumb Records

Posted on September 9, 2020 by blacksheepspringfield

Sometimes, we have so much fun and play so much pinball that we forget that we are a record store. We are a record store, and we have a lot of records to go out on the shelves this week! That’s right. Our store is still open every day from 11:00 am – 7:00 pm downtown, we have a big green elephant outside. This week as usual we have new and used LPs, CDs, and more. Alright, here’s what’s new!

New LPs
Bauhaus – Mask
The Black Keys Brothers
Body Count – Carnivore
Chris Stapleton – Traveler
Collective Soul – Collective Soul
Joe Henderson – Page One
Molly Tuttle – But I’d Rather Be With You
Rex Orange County – Bcos U Will Never B Free
Yo La Tengo – Extra Painful

Used LPs
Alan Price – Between Today And Yesterday
The Beatles – Love Songs
Bernie Green – Musically MAD
Blue Cheer – Vincebus Eruptum
Bobby Bare – Singin’ In The Kitchen
David Wilkerson – The Coming Persecution
Diana Ross – Anthology
Dianne Brooks – Back Stairs Of My Life
Floorpunch – Division One Champs
Focus – In And Out of Focus
Foreigner – Double Vision
Harry Belafonte – At Carnegie Hall
Jeff Beck – Wired
Jefferson Airplane – Flight Log 1966-1976
Jerry Reed – Greatest Hits
The Jonah Jones Quartet – Swingin’ Round The World
Johnny Kemp – Dancin’ With Myself
Johnny Mathis – Romantically Johnny Mathis
King Crimson – USA
Leo Kottke – Mudlark
The Kingston Trio – The Best Of, Vol. II
Molly Hatchet – Molly Hatchet
Monty Python – Contractual Obligation Album
Myleka – Myleka
The Oak Ridge Boys – Fancy Free
The Oak Ridge Boys – Christmas
Patti Austin – It’s Gonna Be Special
Perry Como – Como’s Golden Records
Peter, Paul & Mary – Late Again
Ramones – Pleasant Dreams
The Roadside Band – Storms About To Brew
Roger Williams – The Solid Gold Steinway
The Rolling Stones – Flowers
Skeeter Davis – Best of Skeeter Davis, Volume II
The Smothers Brothers – Curb Your Tongue, Knave!
Spyro Gyra – Catching The Sun
Til Tuesday – Voices Cary
Various – Superecord. Contemporary
Various – Walt Disney Favorites
Various – The Young And The Restless
The Ventures – The Christmas Album
Warren Benson – Percussion
Wishbone Ash – Live Dates

12” Singles
Funkmaster Flex & Big Kap – We In Here
Klymaxxx – Meeting In The Ladies Room
Vikki Love – Stop Playing On Me

New / Used CDs
Alan Jackson – Here In The Real World
Alan Jackson – Greatest Hits Volume II
America – Alibi
America – Holiday
Bill Medley – The Best of Bill Medley
Billie Holiday – Priceless Jazz
Busta Rhymes – Genesis
Dave McKenna / Scott Hamilton – Double Play
Diana Krall – Live In Paris
Diana Krall – All For You
Dynamite Hack – Superfast
Frankie Valli And The 4 Seasons – Greatest Hits, Vol. 1
Gerry Mulligan – Watching & Waiting
Gerry Mulligan – Mulligan Plays Mulligan
Hi-Tek – Hi-Teknology
Juvenile & JT The Bigga Figga – Gotta Get It
Koko Taylor – Royal Blue
Koko Taylor – The Earthshaker
Les McCann – Invitation To Openness
Les McCann & Eddie Harris – Swiss Movement
Little Texas – Big Time
Little Texas – Little Texas
Mahalia Jackson – Live At Newport 1958
Pat Metheney Group – Speaking Of Now
Pat Metheney Trio – 99 > 00
Patty Loveless – Only What I Feel
Patty Loveless – Mountain Soul
Perfec – Best Kept Secret
A Perfect Circle – Thirteenth Step
The Psychedelic Furs – The Psychedelic Furs
The Psychedelic Furs – Talk Talk Talk
Ramsey Lewis – Ivory Pyramid
Ramsey Lewis Trio – Appassionata
R.E.M. – Document
R.E.M. – Dead Letter Office
Ruff Ryders – Ryde or Die Vol. III
RUN D.M.C. – Raising Hell
RUN D.M.C. – Down With The King
Shaggy – Hotshot Ultra Mix
Simon & Garfunkel – The Very Best Of: Tales From New York
Staind – Dysfunction
Superchunk – Foolish
Superchunk – Indoor Living
Various – Bad Boys II: The Soundtrack
Various – New Jack City: Music From The Motion Picture
Warren G – I Want It All
Warren G – Regulate – G Funk Era

Mayor Langfelder Issues Emergency Order Extending Downtown Pinball Tournament Round One To Today

Posted on September 9, 2020 by blacksheepspringfield

Can you believe it, you may have seen this news going viral on the internet last night / this morning, but if not – the unexpected has happened: last night mayor Jim Langfelder showed up to our store with this signed Emergency Order extending round one of our pinball tournament one more day. Then he proceeded to go into the arcade, and set a new high score of over 33 million, currently beating Recourse One here in the first round. Downtown Springfield Inc. caught a video of some of this happening.

We were going to post a big update for the first round today, but now that is pushed back tomorrow. You can expect an updated tournament bracket and clear schedule for the rest of the tournament tomorrow. Follow our facebook page for daily updates on the tournament.