Get Ready for Record Store Day on Saturday, April 19

Record stores across New Orleans are gearing up for Record Store Day with live music and special deals on vinyl records on April 19, 2014.

Analisa Cisneros at the Louisiana Music Factory said Record Store Day always attracts a wide variety of serious music lovers.

Louisiana Music Factory, Record Store Day, OffBeat Magazine

Photo Courtesy of Louisiana Music Factory

“It’s kind of like their holiday, their Christmas,” she said. “But with a little bit of a roulette wheel feeling because not everything will be available at every place. There’s definitely a treasure hunt that goes on.”

Since Record Store Day is a national effort focused on generating interest in vinyl records, there won’t be too many albums by New Orleans acts available through the promotion, but that doesn’t mean local music lovers will have a hard time finding great music.

The Warner Brothers label is releasing a bevy of interesting albums, including the soundtrack for the movie “Bullitt” by composer Lalo Schifrin, an album featuring David Bowie and William S. Burroughs, and a series of seven inch records featuring two different acts performing the same song, from The Cure and Dinosaur Jr. performing “Just Like Heaven,” to the Flaming Lips and Devo performing “Gates of Steel.”

There will be two live in store performances at Louisiana Music Factory, Alexandra Scott at 2 p.m. and the Mumbles at 3 p.m., and that’s not all in terms of live attractions for vinyl music lovers on Record Store Day.

Peaches Records on N. Peters Street in the French Quarter will host a keg party and an exotic animal parade that ends in a petting zoo.

Atlantic Records recording artist and local Louisiana rapper Kevin Gates, whose new mixtape “By Any Means” has earned Billboard acclaim, will make a special in-store appearance for a meet-and-greet with fans.

Euclid Records will celebrate two big events on Saturday – the grand opening of the new location at 331 Chartres and Record Store Day – with free beer (while it lasts) and a full schedule of live music between noon and 6 p.m. including Tuba Skinny at 1 p.m., Idle Club Hour at 3 p.m., and MadFro at 4 p.m.

Overall, Cisneros said she has seen Record Store Day help rekindle in vinyl records over the past five years.

“It really has made collecting vinyl cool again,” she said. “It’s really great for the stores because they put out a free listing, and the collectors will go from store to store to try to find as much as they can. It’s really great for everyone.”