LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy

Not to get all cheesy on you guys, but frankly we just couldn’t be happier this dude is finally making some news again. After the recent news via Facebook (James Murphy loves the kids!) that there will indeed be a tour and new LCD record in the the near future, comes word that LCD will cover Vega’s “Bye Bye Bayou” for Record Store Day Vinyl Saturday this November 7 (with a full release on November 24). Full list of stores here. Us+dancing shoes=ready. (Via: Daily Swarm)

Modest Mouse had planned on shelling out a new 7″ single with two new songs for Record Store Day this past April, but it never happened. The anticipated 7″ is now ready for release, however, and will finally be come out on May 26.

The 7″ will be limited to 4,000 copies, and will include “Satellite Skin” and “Guilty Cocker Spaniels”. According to Pitchfork, each copy will be individually numbered on orange vinyl, with an embossed sleeve. If you can’t pick up the exclusive vinyl copy, you can still get the songs on iTunes as well. If you still can’t handle the anticipation of the release (though we have all been waiting for a while now, so a few more weeks isn’t too trying), “Satellite Skin” will be released on the band’s MySpace, May 15, and will be made into a music video soon as well.

As is our want, we’ve flipped the script here at The Singles Collection and in the spirit of timeliness, this week we’ll be featuring seven-inches that were exclusive to last Saturday’s Record Store Day (our newest all Sacred Bones feature will now run next week). Now, some of you may be listening to these as you read this, others may have unfortunately been shut out, while other still may have no idea these singles, or Record Store Day for that matter, even existed. At any rate, we’re only scratching the surface of the exclusive platters that were available on the 18th (for a full list, go here), and we hear some stores may even still have stock on some of these titles, so if anything strikes your fancy, best get a googlin’.

To kick things off this week, we’ve got a pair of split singles from Matador featuring the kings & queen of the alternative universe, Sonic Youth aka Sonik You*h. The first split features another icon, Beck, in a mutual appreciation style love fest which finds them covering each others’ songs — SY tackling “Pay No Mind” while Beck takes on “Green Light”. As you might imagine, Thurston & Co. thoroughly rough up the Mellow Gold sleeper, injecting it with their patented off-key/kilter harmonies/harmonics and some skuzzy meta-ooze thrown in for good measure. On the flip, Beck takes the EVOL track and turns it into a lovely, acoustic cloudburst that, if you didn’t know better, you’d swear was one of his very own.

The second exclusive RSD jam from Sonic Youth is their split with Memphis’ favorite son, Jay Reatard. For his part, Jay’s track, “Hang Them All” is a scorcher, a blink-and-you-missed-it track that bubbles with skittering synth and a clap-trap rhythm reminiscent of the Blood Visions-era. It alone is worth the price of admission, and certainly bodes well for his upcoming full-length. The SY track, “No Garage” is a rehearsal space jam that, well, sounds a lot like you’d figure a Sonic Youth rehearsal would. Which isn’t to say it’s bad, but it’s essentially instrumental meandering with a nice, Kraut-y groove that eventually denigrates into their trademark squall of loping distortion and ear-piercing feedback. Both of these splits are, ostensibly, sold out, but stores with extra stock seem to pop up daily, so make sure to keep a close watch if you don’t want to pay eBay prices.

The Sub Pop stable did their part and released a handful of limited 45’s for RSD, the best of which is the Obits‘ “I Can’t Lose” b/w “Military Madness”. For those not already familiar, Obits are Rick Froberg from Hot Snakes/Drive Like Jehu’s new project, and while their sound doesn’t really deviate too much from either/both of those outfits, it’s still new Froberg jams so who are we to complain? “I Can’t Lose” is less dissonant/angular than we’re used to hearing him, yet it roars with a heads-down fury and undeniable hooks-a-plenty. On the flip, their take on Graham Nash’s “Military Madness” flips the original on its ear, injecting it with a venomous core that’s both touching and destructive in equal measure. Copies of this still seem to be kicking around places like Reckless Records, so if you need some more Froberg in your life, you know where to go.

Lastly this week, we’ve got one of the lost gems from RSD, the super limited Kim Phuc & Centipede E’est split on Dear Skull Records out of Pittsburgh. These were primarily only available in the Pittsburgh area, with some other notable stores (Permanent Records in Chicago, Academy in NYC) getting the remaining stock to give away to punters who came out early and purchased vinyl. We’re not sure if this is going to get a proper release or not, but it truly deserves one as the two tracks here are absolute stunners. On the A-Side, Kim Phuc’s “Rustbelt Noose” delivers all the spit-crusted-psych-punk power you’ve come to expect from them, and has now officially taken the mantle as the greatest KP song yet. Not to be outdone on the flip, Centipede E’est offer up “Stingray”, an epic space-rock jam that’s ebbs and flows with terse psych-grooves and sky-melting crescendos. These are absolutely gorgeous, all hand-numbered out of 200 and featuring fantastic screened covers. We’re not sure if they are still available anywhere or not, but we’d suggest trying Paul’s or Wicked Discs in Pittsburgh if you are trying to track one down.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our truncated look at some of the Record Store Day exclusives, and make sure to also keep an eye out for others like the Slayer “Psychopathy Red” 45 and the totally awesome Jesus Lizard 9×7″ collection Inch as they’re both totally worth your time and hard-earned loot. Also make sure to come back next week to read about the newest batch of gems from one of our favorite labels, Sacred Bones Records.

Record Store Day is upon us tomorrow, which means you should be heading to your local record store — stop the bit torrenting for one day — and indulging in some vinyl, sweet cover art and amazing tunes. But instead of all the new records coming out in celebration of the day, we think you should try to find these eight records that will impress any music nerd.

Prefix has the full recap of what is coming out exclusively tomorrow, as well as some of the festivities going down, but Flavorwire had the gall to actually give us a list of records we need to have.

With records ranging from Jackson C. Frank’s Blues Run The Game and Sam Cooke’s Live at the Harlem Square Club to The Feelies Only Life, it’s a well rounded, if not too short a list of records we think you should try to find while you’re out digging through the crates tomorrow.

Read the full list here

Slayer will be offering up some new thrash for your cash for the first time since 2006 in celebration of the third annual Record Store Day April 18. The 7-inch single, “Psychopathy Red”, will come in the form of blood-red vinyl and won’t last long — only 5,000 copies are being distributed worldwide.

“Psychopathy Red” marks the first new music from Slayer since the 2006 album Christ Illusion. The single comes as a collector’s item, packaged in a special Russian crime-scene “evidence envelope” since the song was inspired by Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, also known as the Rostov Ripper. He confessed to murdering 56 children between 1978 and 1990. The band recorded the song — which you can see a live rendition of below — in an L.A. recording studio in October.

The decision to release the single on Record Store Day was an effort to acknowledge the support independent record stores have offered Slayer and to metal as a whole over the years. The band is currently in L.A. recording a new LP, due out this summer. They’ll be co-headlining the five-week Mayhem Festival this summer, as well, alongside Marilyn Manson. It kicks off July 10 in Sacramento, Calif.

Slayer – “Psychopathy Red”

With the passion behind Jeff Tweedy’s rant about his affinity towards record stores, it’s no wonder why the Wilco frontman would be an advocate for Record Store Day [April 18]; allowing an exclusive pre-release of the band’s new DVD to indie retail.

Ashes of American Flags follows the Chicago-based indie band on their 2008 tour across the Midwest, and is a teaser for Wilco’s newest studio album which should be released sometime this summer.

Tweedy told Billboard, “My introduction to a lot of great music and to the ‘music business’ came from hanging around and eventually working at independent record stores in Belleville, IL, and St. Louis many years back. It’s the life I know. Nothing beats browsing in your favorite store, listening to music, finding something new or old that you’ve been searching for, being ignored by the store clerks, all that. And without these stores, there’s just no way Wilco would still be around. They’ve been with us from the very beginning, through thick and thin. Even if I wasn’t in a band, I’d still support Record Store Day. It’s a great thing and I’m glad we could do something special with them for our DVD.”

The DVD will be available in indie retail locations two weeks prior to the real release date. If the pre-release of Ashes of American Flags excites you, check out the other releases on Record Store day, which include a 8-inch from Matador with a Sonic Youth cover of Beck’s “Pay No Mind,” and an unreleased LP of Pavement in Cologne, Germany from 1997.