The Current Music Blog: December 22, 2006 Archive

A few delightful surprises await you at The Buffering Stream 12/22

Posted at 8:13 AM on December 22, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis (3 Comments)

First the lists, now the awards... Hot Chip, Grizzly Bear, The Knife, Joanna Newsom nominated for PLUGs. Stephen Malkmus to play the gig. [But the big sweep? Mike S. notes in the comments.]

The Year That Was keeps giving and giving and giving.

Chris comes back swinging: Hieruspecs are back too.

List-O-Mat: VH-1's albums to look forward to in 2007, including Arcade Fire, Spoon, lots more.

Long overdue but coming in 2007: A Joni Mitchell tribute album featuring Prince, Björk, Elvis Costello, and more.

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Out with the old, never mind the new

Posted at 11:50 AM on December 22, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis (3 Comments)

Tower Records, once the hippest record chain in the country, is closing the doors on the last of its stores today. What killed 'em? Probably it was death by a hundred papercuts, administered by Best Buy, Amazon, MySpace, and iTunes.

Others have died along the way too. Remember Musicland and Sam Goody? (Disclosure: Your humble scribe worked for that company, and has a vivid memory of it.) Coconuts? Wherehouse?

The good news may be this: The chains and mall-based stores can't survive the digital age, but the local mom & pops can. How? By dealing in rarities, collectibles, local disks, and other undownloadable merch and experiences. Exotic "tobacco" pipes!

What do you think? What's killing the record store, and is there any hope? What great local record stores have also gone the way of all flesh?

Photo: (cc) Yanec

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