If you’re not one of the lucky ones going to Coachella, fear not, for Record Store Day 2012 is here. (Now that I think about it, even if you will be in the desert this weekend there’ll be a tent there, too. We just can’t win...)  If you aren’t familiar with Record Store Day, it’s an annual event held by independently run records stores around the United States.  Basically, a bunch of super cool record stores join forces to help promote their businesses and create awareness of independently owned and operated record stores (as opposed to major commercial outlets, i.e. Best Buy, iTunes, Target) by recruiting artists to record and release exclusive Record Store Day albums and hosting live performances.

With that in mind, here are my top 5 picks (in no particular order) by new bands for Record Store Day releases:

1. Fun.

The Lowdown:

Fun’s first release since their most recent album, Some Nights. This album has 3 tracks from Some Nights—“We Are Young,” “Carry On,” and “Why Am I the One”—but acoustic versions of all three.  You can watch the acoustic versions on YouTube,  but, it’s hard to compare that to hearing an un-electronically-altered Nate on smoky vinyl.  Also, the physical record is shaped like a gear, which is awesome.

DETAILS
Title: The Ghost That You Are To Me
Format: 10" LP
Label: Atlantic
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:

Format: 10" GEAR-SHAPED gold picture disc

Tracks:
1) We Are Young with Janelle Monae (Acoustic)
2) Carry On (Acoustic)
3) Why Am I The One (Acoustic)

2. Foster The People

The Lowdown:

Personally, since last year’s Torches, I can’t get enough of Foster the People, so naturally I am super stoked for two new tracks, “Broken Jaw” and “Ruby,” to find their place beneath the needle of my record player.

DETAILS
Title: Broken Jaw / Ruby
Format: 7" 45
Label: Columbia
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Tracks:
1) Broken Jaw
2) Ruby

3. Now Now/The Lonely Forest

The Lowdown:

Now, Now (whose new album, Threads, is due out this spring) and The Lonely Forest, the first two acts signed to Chris Walla’s (of Death Cab for Cutie fame) indie label Trans- Records, are releasing a split 7”.  The two tracks featured—“Shifting” (Now, Now) and “Woe Is Me” (The Lonely Forest)—were hand-picked by Walla himself.  On a side note, Now, Now will be touring with Fun. in May and June and The Lonely Forest with Portugal. the Man in April and May.  The moral of this story is I would highly recommend this 7”.

Now, Now: Shifting by Trans Records

The Lonely Forest - Arrows (90 sec snippets) by Atlantic Records

DETAILS
Title: N/A
Format: 7" 45
Label: Trans- Records
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
Tracks:
1) Shifting (Now, Now)
2) Woe Is Me (The Lonely Forest)

4. Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm

The Lowdown:

Olafur Arnalds is an Icelandic neoclassical composer (who recently had a track (below) on The Hunger Games Soundtrack).  Nils Frahm is a new age, Berlin-based composer.  Both are a fantastic break from the comparatively lo-fi music that saturates the indie scene.  Your parents would be proud.   Now they’ve collaborated along with cellist Anne Müller to release Stare, a three-track EP recorded for Record Store Day exclusive release.   The EP includes a card signed by both artists (as long as stock lasts) plus a digital bonus remix track.  Sign me up.

DETAILS
Title: Stare
Format: 10”
Label: Erased Tapes
Release Type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Tracks:
1) a1
2) a2
3) b1

5. Nick Waterhouse/Allah Las

The Lowdown:

Vintage SoCal R&B crooner Nick Waterhouse and Retro pop outfit The Allah Las both record the song “Don’t You Forget It” and put it on an 8” record (which Brooklyn Vegan’s Bill Pearis hilariously describes as “the vinyl equivalent of ‘this one goes to 11.’”).  There’s also a backstory here.  According to label Innovative Leisure:

“As Nick Waterhouse explains it, ‘I had a mixtape of a couple of songs that Pedrum (of the Allah-Las) had handed to me. He had a song on there called ‘Don't You Forget It’ and I used the lyrics from his song in the music bed of a song that I was composing.’ What came out was the single ‘Don't You Forget It’ that Waterhouse recorded for his upcoming LP Time's All Gone…”

DETAILS:
Title: N/A
Format: 8” Split
Label: Innovative Leisure
Release Type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Tracks:
1) Don't You Forget It (Nick Waterhouse)
2) Don't You Forget It (The Allah Las)