I woke up bright and early this morning to partake in Record Store Day with my good friend Kevin up in Salem, NH, where two participating stores lie about 1/4 mile apart and had staggered opening times. Got a few good things, but none of the stores I went to had a couple of the releases I was looking for (most notably the Jimmy Eat World Bleed American reissue). They might just not have made it to this area, which would be sad.

One thing about this year is that there were many, many more people lined up for opening time than last year. One of the guys at Bull Moose said 10 times the number from last year. Neither store was particularly well prepared for it, and especially Bull Moose who had arranged their record bins in a very horrible manner, and the resulting mass of humanity attempting to get their mitts into very small areas was, well, depressing. It honestly felt at times like some crazy Lord of the Flies animal instinct scenario, battling for the scraps of a dead animal the pack leader had just finished with. I honestly felt sad to have been involved in it in any way (and I barely was, as I tried to stay back from that a bit even if it missed the chance to get some records I truly wanted).

A better system for this needs to get worked out for next year if crowds are going to increase again (or even stay the same). Maybe stores need to use a ticket system, only let so many people at a time, or place the merchandise in a way that will prevent near-fighting. I don’t know what the solution is, but better planning seems to be necessary on the part of stores.

Anyway, here’s my loot (a fair amount of which was not RSD-exclusive):

James Blake – S/T 2xLP
Jeff Buckley – Grace LP
Circa Survive – Appendage 12″ EP
Daft Punk – Translucence 10″ single
Death Cab For Cutie – In Living Stereo! 7″ sampler thingy
Foo Fighters – Wasting Light 2xLP
Foo Fighters – Wasting Light CD
Foo Fighters – Medium Rare LP (covers album)
Green Day/Husker Du – “Don’t Want to Know if You Are Lonely”
Manchester Orchestra – “Simple Math” b/w “The Plan” 7″
Pearl Jam – Vs. LP
Pearl Jam – Vitology 2xLP
Radiohead – The Bends LP
Radiohead – OK Computer 2xLP
Rush – “Caravan” b/w “BU2B” 7″
Sonic Youth – Whores Moaning 12″ EP
Wild Flag – “Glass Tambourine” b/w “Future Crimes” 7″