RSD 2020 Recap with Kodak Slack & DJ Sebass

Saturday morning. 7:30am. Fellow DJ Sebass and I head to one of our favorite record stores, Scratch N’ Spin for Record Store Day (RSD).The line to get into the store was about 20 people, not too bad. What am I on the hunt for? A coveted new release, a copy of Tyler, The Creator's Cherry Bomb Instrumentals, for the first time on vinyl. My hopes are low, as there is a group of high school boys at the front of the line that I just know are looking for the same record.

There are a couple of other records I’m looking for. Mac DeMarco, The Black Keys, and Bastille, to name a few. If the price is right, I’ll purchase all of them. But the main holy grail is Tyler. It is now 7:58am. The doors begin to open and the crowd of people enter into the store. I search for the record that has “Chur Bum” written in colorful font on the front. No luck. I doubt they have any left, if they got any at all. Then, my hopes are let down when I hear another customer ask if they have any left and the owner answers, “no, we only got one copy.” Denial. Anger. Depression. A few of the stages of grief washed over me. I ended up purchasing Mac DeMarco's Here Comes The Cowboy Demos, pressed on purple translucent vinyl, and The Black Keys' Let’s Rock limited edition release. Yeah, I was happy with these purchases, but I would love to get my hands on a copy of Cherry Bomb Instrumentals. So, Sebass and I head over to Papa Jazz Record Shoppe to search for the record, just to ease my conscience of the “what if they had it and I lost my opportunity?” question that I knew would go through my head.

We waited in line yet again, and I finally got into the store. After going through all of the RSD 2020 records that they had, I sadly could not find what I was looking for. I started to accept that I might not be able to get it. However, I remembered that we live in the digital age, there has got to be an online record store that hasn’t dropped the RSD releases yet. I found one and waited for the time that they would open for purchasing, 12pm. Once opened, I typed in my information to order it quickly. I pressed the “Place Order” button and a dreaded message popped up on my screen. “This item is sold out.” More grief. Okay, that’s fine, I will just find another online record store that has it in stock.

I went through probably 50 different websites before I found one that actually had it. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t let my hopes get up, just in case. I made sure that the site was reputable. Then, I continued to place my order. After pressing the “Submit Order” button, it confirmed my order. I was surprised I didn’t get a notification that it was sold out. I also got a confirmation email for the order. Happiness. Relief. Excitement. After all of my searching, I finally got the record ordered. I’m still keeping my hopes low just in case the company does cancel my order. I won’t be surprised if they do. However, at this point I have come to terms with the fact that I may or may not get Cherry Bomb Instrumentals. But, my Record Store Day experience was pretty fun.

I got to go into my favorite record stores with one of my favorite people, and buy records to grow my collection. Each independent record store has their own vibe and I highly recommend supporting these small businesses. Records have been coming back over the past few years and it’s very exciting to experience an event like RSD, especially with fellow vinyl lovers.

Recommended Independent Record Stores:
Scratch N’ Spin - Columbia, SC
Papa Jazz Record Shoppe - Columbia, SC
Vintage Vinyl - Lexington, SC
Monster Music & Movies - Charleston, SC
Record Stop Charleston - Charleston, SC
Mr. K’s Used Books, Music and More - Charleston, SC
Pharmacy Records - Greenville, SC
Lunchbox Records - Charlotte, NC
Voltage Records - Asheville, NC
Harvest Records - Asheville, NC
Psychotronic Records - Augusta, GA
Comeback Vinyl - Alpharetta, GA

Hit up Kodak Slack on Twitter, and be sure to check out The Indie 500, every Friday from 10AM to noon on WUSC.