When The Saxophone So Big

We’ve got 2 shows back to back Friday and Saturday this weekend downtown. The first one here features mostly acoustic and hip hop. The Saturday show is that loud hardcore stuff.

Here’s what’s new this Friday:

– There is a new THUNDERCAT album coming out, we will have copies on red vinyl and also black smoke vinyl.
– American country artist CHARLEY CROCKETT comes out with like two albums every year and here is the first one for 2026, called “Age Of The Ram” and we will have the indie version with the alternative artwork as well as the black.
– A few ALKALINE TRIO reissues are coming, we’ve chose to highlight their 2005 album “Crimson.” (On black vinyl).
– BON IVER have a collection of live songs being released, “Selections From Music Concerts 2019-2023” and we will have copies on black vinyl.
– SUNN O))) have a brand new album, their self titled !?! And it is coming out on a double blue LP.

This week Pepperoni picked Slipknot again

“Hello all my fellow midwesterners. How about about a good ol’ Iowa band pick this week? This one is the 2001 album from bluegrass band Slipknot named after their beautiful state of Iowa (I hear they play the state fair there every year, and they have their own butter cow there too!) As you can see on the cover, Slipknot loves farm animals that come from their state. Iowa is actually an agricultural powerhouse in the U.S. – and is responsible for being a leading producer of much of the nation’s corn, pork, eggs, and biofuels. Slip-knot (a which is a band made up of boy scouts that decided to name their band after their favorite knot they had to tie), love their state so much that they wrote this beautiful album as a tribute. Enjoy!”

You’re no fun

We have so much going on right now, one thing is we finally got an official sign up at our mall location so we look like a real store even!

oh yeah there was a parade too

Here are your hot new vinyls plopping out this Friday!
– JAPANESE BREAKFAST with the fourth studio album from this indie pop band, “For Melancholy Brunettes” – we should have the marbled indie exclusive vinyl.
– MY MORNING JACKET with their 10th studio album “Is”. We should also have copies of the indie exclusive variant.
– IT’S THE EASTER BEAGLE, CHARLIE BROWN!?!?!??!?!?
– SELENA GOMEZ and Benny Blanco collaborative album “I Said I Love You First” on that juicy red vinyl.
– SOPHIE “Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-sides Non-stop Remix Album” Huh? I guess this is the re-mix version of a 2018 album.

This week Pepperoni picked out Type O Negative

“My pick this week is goth-metal band Type O Negative’s 1996 album “October Rust”. Every time I see this album cover with the thorns I think it is going to be the heaviest thing I have ever heard. But I listened to it in full again yesterday and you know what? It’s just guys singing in slow motion with bells and drums, actually kind of nice! Nick from Good Heart Tattoo next door heard me playing it outside and popped his head in and said “H*ll yeah, Pepperoni about time you played something good!”

We’ve been buying a lot of really great used records lately, lots of good stuff coming out on our shelves soon! We’re always looking to buy and we give big money for good stuff!

ol Iron Lung Back on the Job

ol Iron Lung Brian made it back to work this week and has started farming more records for the stores while carrying around his fruit punch.

Here are the hot new Friday releases!

– JASON ISBELL is back with a brand new solo album “Foxes In The Snow”! We will be getting plenty of copies, on that indie exclusive metallic gold vinyl.
– JUICE WRLD has another posthumous release, a double album of unreleased material called “The Party Never Ends”. We’ll have it on that indie exclusive silver vinyl.
– NEIL YOUNG another dug up album of unreleased material recorded in the 1970’s! This one is called “Oceanside Countryside,” available on clear exclusive vinyl!
– LADY GAGA has a new album “Mayhem” out on black vinyl
– Another DE LA SOUL re-issue, for their live album “Clear Lake Audiotorium” on clear green vinyl.
– Aaaaand DISTURBED’S “THE SICKNESS” is hitting it’s 25th anniversary so here is a alternative green cover with green vinyl release!
– (not pictured) oh yeah, there is a live NOAH KAHAN “Live From Fenway Park” out this Friday as well, we will have a couple of.
– BOB MOULD has a new solo album “Here We Go Crazy” we will have a couple of copies of.

This week Pepperoni picked The Clash

“My pick this week is The Clash’s 1979 iconic album “London Calling.” You’ve all seen this album cover before. That’s actually bassist Paul Simonon smashing his bass at a show at the Palladium in New York in 1979. I’m more of a fan of The Clash’s good old fashioned punk rock in their first two albums – London Calling brought blending of reggae, new wave, and a few other things and is a tad slower than their earlier stuff. Highly influential though I’m sure and still one of the coolest album covers of all time. My favorite track on this one “Brand New Cadillac”

We’re also excited to finally have TV Girl records in our store after receiving requests for years from this elusive band. Hopefully more to come, too!

Up The Irons

We just brought in our newest game to our downtown arcade and It’s Iron Maiden Pinball! This machine has a whole host of mods and upgrades. Even tho this game was produced in 2018 you probably have never seen one like this before. Plus we fixed a couple other games while we were at it. At the time of this writing, every game is actually working in the arcade! That can certainly change hour by hour as pinballs and vintage arcades are challenging to keep working at all times, a true labor of love.

Here are the hot vinyl releases this Friday!
– THE LUMINEERS with their fifth studio album “Automatic” and we will have the indie exclusive orchid/tangerine splatter version!
– SABRINA CARPENTER “Short N’ Sweet” is a top seller around here of course, but on Friday the DELUXE (double blue vinyl) version is out featuring five extra tracks!
– RED CLAY STRAYS “Made By These Moments” yes, this was an album that came out last year but copies sold out everywhere immediately and it’s been already due for a re-press! Out on cream colored vinyl.
– ICE SPICE with her album “Y2k” was released digitally last year, this Friday is the physical release.
– CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL have all of their albums being re-issued on color vinyl, “Green River” is the one we have featured and ordered the most copies of (on green vinyl).

This week Pepperoni picked Billy Strings

“Have I got the pick for you all this week. My first bluegrass pick? This is Billy Strings, a young up and coming country bluegrass jam band guitarist extraordinaire. I didn’t realize he was based out of Michigan until just now. The sticker on the cover says this was a 2020 grammy winner for best bluegrass album. Do you like your subs toasted at Head West, or do you like to smell all of the incense flavors at Penny Lane? Well if you do, then this BILLY STRINGS album “Home” might be just for you!”

There is a 10″ Record Bandit in All of Us

This week we’ve been featuring some of our more obscure products such as these really nice used Fluance turntables and vintage record cases

This Friday’s Hot New Vinyl Releases!
– KENDRICK LAMAR. His new album “GNX” was released digitally late last year, but is being released on vinyl this week! We will have copies of the indie store exclusive blue version! He’s also performing in the halftime show!?
– DAVE MATTHEWS BAND “Where Are You Going: The Singles” (GREATEST HITS). If you are a fan of Dave then THIS is for you!
– SHARON VAN ETTEN with her seventh studio album “Amber Galaxy” on amber swirly galaxy vinyl!
– WILCO with their 5th studio album originally released in 2004 “A Ghost Is Born” is getting the deluxe re-issue treatment, on double LP!
– TORTURE. The heaviest band to ever play at our store maybe has a new album “Enduring Freedom” on red vinyl!
– PHISH continue their live record series with “LP on LP 05″ and LP on LP 06”! We’ll have ’em both!

Pepperoni picked CCR this week

“How ’bout some Creedence this week?? This is their greatest hits – “Chronicle”, it’s a double LP with 20 songs and just about all you need for that good Creedence Clearwater Revival swamp rock! Suzie Q, Proud Mary, Mad Moon Rising, Travelin’ Band, Green River, etc. this record has got all you need! This is the transparent blue with black smoke version too. Come pick it up at Dumb Records or Dumber Records today!”

You Don’t Know About Moondog???

Starting to feel like we’re getting back into the swing of things this year with all the holidays behind us, the snow and frigid temperatures, and Brian going on a honey moon. I guess we do have a big hole in front of our store.

Let’s take a look at what Friday releases are ahead of us this week!

– THE WEEKND new album “Hurry Up Tomorrow” – his 6th studio album – just on black vinyl but it’s really cheap, like $19.98!?!? That’s almost unheard of for a new record now! This is a “secured release” so the big label is making sure we do not get it until some point during the day Friday so bear with us.
– MADVILLAIN “Madvillainy Demos” – one of the best selling albums here of all time is getting its demos released!
– RUSH have their later albums being re-issued to vinyl! Two that we are highlighting here are 1989’s “Presto” and 1991’s “Roll The Bones”
– STEELY DAN’s 1975 studio album “Katy Lied” getting re-issued for it’s 50th anniversary!

This week Pep picked Alvvays

“This week I am picking Canadian indie-pop band Alvvays’ 2014 self-titled album, “Alvvays”. This is one of those times where I am not picking an album because I know it’s going to hit the #1 year end top seller, no I am picking it because I truly believe that this album is so good that it needs to be in my record store on the shelves at all times. A record that everyone who works here can 100% agree on. Anyone ever comes in and asks me to recommend them an album that they can listen to that is good, right here it is. Look no further than Alvvays self-titled from 2014, it is all you need. And it’s released by Polvyinyl Records out of Champaign!”

11 Dumb Years

Boy it sure has been cold and snowy around here. Reminds me of the days of warming my hands in a cookie oven which was the only source of heat in the Black Sheep Cafe one year.

During our Anniversary sale we met none other than the voice of Larry the Cucumber from VeggieTales! what an honor. He earned a free t-shirt for being the actual guy.

Here are your hot Friday vinyls!

– MAC MILLER with “Balloonerism” – his 7th studio album, which was recorded sometime between 2013 and 2014 around the time the mixtape “Faces” was released. We will have the indie exclusive white vinyl variant at both locations.
– “Be My Valentine Charlie Brown” (Vince Guaraldi) celebrating it’s 50th anniversary! This might actually be some sort of pink vinyl, we are not sure.
– GLORILLA, the debut album from this American rapper called “Glorious” out on gold vinyl.
– A re-issue of heavy metal band GREAT WHITE’s 1991 album “Hooked”
– The deluxe version of GRACIE ABRAM’s album from last year “The Secret Of Us” will be coming out on double light blue vinyl!

This week Pepperoni picked Taylor again

“Sneakin’ out laaaaaate tapppin’ on yer windowwww, when we’re on the phone and you be talkin’ REAL SLOWWWWW… CUZ IT’S LATE AND YER MAMA DON’T KNOWwwwwww, when you think of me do you think of Timmm McGrawwwwww”
“This is the first ever album by Taylor Swift. She made this when she was practically like twelve years old. Okay now I have picked every Taylor Swift album except for Reputation.”

The Dumb Wives

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!

Why is it funny the Aquabats are on top of my Spotify Wrapped?

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!

Bucket Boy He ate his lunch at 8am

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!”