March 6th: New NICK CAVE album, bad industry news and rant, new KAMASI WASHINGTON, ST. VINCENT, SIERRA FERRELL, Final call for RSD Wishlists and very Limited SWELL SEASON

Posted on by musiczoneadmin

Hi Everyone

Hope all is well out there.

Some really bad news for the industry broke on Monday evening with the news that Dublin vinyl ( Ireland’s only pressing plant) is going into liquidation…i didn’t see it coming at all to be honest. Ah bad bad  news…i know one person well who works there and the same lad can’t buy a break…keep going kid… and i have had some dealings with a few more folks down through the years…always good to deal with from my point of view…22 full time jobs gone, a lot of wages to pay every week. Tough industry ours is…from most sides anyway…really tough for the  owners and employees of Dublin vinyl…stressful as it gets.. They are 1.9 million euro in debt and their energy supplier was at the stage of turning off the power over monies owed. I hope things come to an OK conclusion for everyone…I know there are local artists who have paid sizable deposits to have their records cut there in the last few months…I really hope these local artists can get sorted. Ah man, it’s tough from all angles. We only recently got involved with DublinVinyl as a cooperative between artist, pressing plant and record shop….there were releases planned by Hedge schools, THE LOVE BUZZ and HAM SANDWICH to name a few….these releases are shelved for now…hopefully the artists can get the records out themselves at some point…we will issue refunds where applicable.

Business is tricky folks for most small and medium businesses….cost of everything keeps going north…we had 9k less in our bank at the end of jan 24 versus end of jan 23…we wouldn’t have too many 9ks to be losing like folks ( we don’t owe anyone a dime though folks….nb dont owe a dime, the maths still has to work out though)……not been dramatic, just telling ye the truth….things are fine  though( i think , though it needs to be constantly watched)

 We made changes in the final third of last year and that looks like it should settle things…because at end of Aug 2023 , we were looking at losing 13k in 2023…shit it can happen so fast…the cost of running the shop goes up by 10k  or 15k in a year and bang your back minding the baby. I’m lucky in lots of ways, it’s a small business … .a good business i feel, great customers in the main, the odd langer of course, mainly online the langers lurk. But because its small when it goes a little tricky, we can generally fix it… as we have …but in Dublin vinyls case it spiraled and was just uncontrollable then I presume, that amount of  wages to pay must have been so stressful,…i feel for everyone involved.  Dublin vinyl cited Brexit as one the factors in their troubles and i have a major grumble since Brexit …costs everywhere folks…ill list them someday if i’m bored…its endless, domain name for website, 200 bucks a year. Website upkeep 4 k a year, shop insurance 3 k a year…accountant 3 k a year, bank charges 2 k a year, card payment acceptance 2 k a year … .i won’t bore ye the list goes on and on … .ye get my drift. Major gripe since brexit is the courir companies….Brexit has been a windfall for them….its manky what they are doing but they have you by the liathroidi….so we still have suppliers with Brexit issues….Proper. Orchard, shellshock, SRD, Plastichead, Little amber fish, republic of music…so these suppliers have to be checked at customs….because of this the Couriers charge us VAT for the revenue at point of entry in the country ….we can claim back the VAT in vat return then….PAY IT AND THEN CLAIM IT BACK…ridiculous if you ask me but i presume there’s not a better way?? But the stickler is the courir company charges you a fee for charging you the customs fee….for delivering the box basically….the same service they provided before brexit but now they fee you …DHL range anywhere between 5 euro and 30 euro per box…depending on the number of lines on the invoice…they call it a multi line clearance fee…what a load of bollocks….UPS charge 20 euro a business box full stop…dirty dirty….DPD the best at 5 euro plus vat fee…probably what it should be….Brexit has been a windfall for the couriers and youre caught cos you need the stock for customers….its manky and should be addressed, they are robbing people in my opinion. You probably notice it in your personal life … .customs charge at front door with courier but also their fee for doing the same thing they did before brexit … .anyway rant over. 

 

Right releases in the shop for this Friday the 8th of March include

 

And then releases for the 15th of March




Plastichead and Integral RSD 24 price lists are in now also….so Shane will pop them up  now with all the others….NB NB folks i need wishlists by close of business this Friday the 8th of March….a few of the companies don’t need figures till 15th March but safer to get Wishlists  in before this Friday please!!!

PLASTICHEAD – RSD 24 List with Prices

INTEGRAL – RSD 24 List with Prices

And here’s the full lot on the one page (just keep scrolling down):
https://musiczone.ie/category/record-store-day-2024/

Right for the 22nd March we will have

Heres a tune in case you missed this dude…it could easily happen , only one studio album i think…magic

Jackson C. Frank – Mystery

There is a bit of a interest in this record from a few patrons on the siopa floor….so heres a tune from the album:

Sierra Ferrell – Dollar Bill Bar (Official Video)

 

The Waxahatchee vinyl is a bit troublesome but we are getting 3 copies of the indies version ( all spoken for) and 5 copies of non indies one that doesnt have the poster….2 left to sell still.

 

Jumping onto your territory here Shane but there is a SWELL SEASON ( Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)  reissue of the 2009 album “ strictly joy” and this is what it says about the reissue

“ This release is limited to 150 copies. For 24 hours only, orders are open to Irish stores only “

So if interested please shout , we are good for 15 copies of the release…so first 15 for it.

 

Another interesting release is Don’t Look Down by White Llama ,it’s  a mixture of blues based music sometimes folky, sometimes rocky, pensive and soulful and a bit different.

White Llama are a bit of a Cork supergroup with Christy O Hanlon ( Crow Black Chicken)

Jake O Driscoll ( God Alone) and Jack O Hanlon ( God Alone… Christy’s youngfeller as well) 

Heres a tune from the album…cracking tune in fact

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv3KjONrnic

 

Christy ( Chicken) is going to be one of our musicians for Record Store Day this year … .more on that closer to the time!

Going to hand ye over to Shane now as he takes ye down the road…

Hi all!
Thanks, Ray, good rant earlier. It’s dirty alright. Pity we’re so reliant on the UK companies.
Tough about Dublin Vinyl, hope the staff find something new asap.

Reminded me a little of an article I read a few days ago about the indiustry and the use of Tik Tok, streaming and now AI. The artist James Blake was highlighting all that.
Here’s the article:
https://www.musicradar.com/news/james-blake-music-industry-economics

That Swell Season one would be a nice one for the collection. I remember the film Once, which would have involved the same duo, was good.

Anyway, another biggish one to mention is the new album from KAMASI WASHINGTON, called ‘Fearless Movement’. One of the biggest current Jazz artists. Here’s a track from it:
https://youtu.be/c8cKN1rbJl4?si=CT27wliXKCPRZVhy
Lots of guest appearances on it, including Andre 3000 among others.

An even bigger one, that was only just announced. The new album from NICK CAVE – ‘Wild God’.
It’ll be out in August. Nick is class.
There’ll be a clear vinyl, black vinyl and CD version.

Two Irish coloured vinyl reissues are coming in April. A red vinyl reissue of OXN – CYRM and a clear and green Vinyl 2 LP of Hozier – Wasteland Baby!
We didn’t get the OXN one up but shout if you’d like a copy.

There’s also a brand new album from ST. VINCENT – All Born Screaming coming out at the end of April.
Here’s a new track from it: https://youtu.be/RYJxPg6quL4?si=W8yIw31uuah5zejm

And the list of what else is on the way down the road:

Back to you Ray so bud.

Thanks Shane

 

Last one for this evening folks ( and sorry about my rant earlier….i am feeling better now though!) is Integral for the 29th March…

Right so folks

Sin e for this week

Last 48 hours for RSD wishlists

Thanks for listening as always

Ray, Shane and Young Adam

www.musiczone.ie