Central Square Records Blog

We’re keeping the music going here, with another live in-store performance from Lydia Loveless, who brings the two seemingly distant worlds of country and punk together, with a voice that everyone seems to be noticing. Supporting her debut album on Bloodshot Records, Indestructible Machine, Loveless will bring her rough ‘n’ ready talent to our beloved back room on February 8th (Wed), at 6pm. We’ve had a number of great shows this year already, and we’re only in the first month, so let’s keep it going! Come check out this groundbreaking artist, you’ll be glad you did!

We are very pleased to announce that John Darnielle, founder of the folk-rock group Mountain Goats, curator of music history, and critically-acclaimed songwriter/poet/black metal enthusiast, will grace us with his presence on Sunday (1/22) at 6pm. We are excited to have this man of many talents perform in Central Square’s very own ‘back room’. Hailed as ‘one of the top 100 songwriters living today’, Darnielle serves as an independently positive force in the music industry, as performer, composer, and music cultivator. This should prove to be a night you won’t want to miss, so come join us!

And the hits just keep on comin’! Thanks everyone who joined us for 30A Songwriters Festival, it was a blast. And to continue the live musical performances in our beloved ‘back room’, we have the Delicate Cutters this Saturday (1/21) at 2pm.
The Delicate Cutters, on the Skybucket Label and hailing from Birmingham, AL, are a four-piece musical outfit that blends tones of folk, rock, and old time string music to perfection. We are very excited to have these guys stop by while on tour.

Central Square Records is happy to be a part of the 30A Songwriter’s Festival (Jan 13th-15th) again this year, and we’ll be hosting in-stores and workshops all weekend long. We’ll keep you posted on our schedule here and on our Facebook and Twitter page (centralsqrecs), or you can check in with the 30A Songwriters Festival site. It’s always a blast to host such amazing talent during the festival, so we hope to see you here!

As our good buddy Sparky says every year: Happy Holidays from Central Square Records! We’ve got some great events happening at our spot in December, so mark your calendar and join us for live music, get-togethers, and holiday shopping. Here’s what we have coming up this month:

DEC 8th (Thu) Jessica Campbell/Carolina Story In-Store, 2pm - Jessica played this summer with Carolina Story and brought the hills of Tennessee to our white-hot beaches for an incredible performance, showcasing material from her latest full-length release, Great Escape. Now on their Holiday Tour, and releasing some new material (Jessica will have a Christmas EP, A Merry Christmas, and Carolina Story will be promoting their new one, Home ), both artists will be gracing us with their amazing artistry.

DEC 13th (Tue) Central Square Records’ Holiday Potluck Party, starts at 5:30pm. Bring a dish, and join the fun, we’ll have some refreshments, a few Holiday giveaways, and as always, an ample amount of merriment! Kick the Holidays into full swing with us!

DEC 28th (Wed) Owsley Brothers Showcase Debut/In-Store, 5pm - You won’t want to miss the amazing Owsley Brothers debut performance here at Central Square! If you’ve caught wind of the Pure Lust EP then you know how dangerously good these guys are, so come see them charge out of the gate and into music history! ‘Nuff said!

And as always, we are your headquarters for some of the coolest gift ideas around, including our Vintage Luggage Speakers (compatible with Turntables, iPods, iPads, &c), Unique Silkscreen Show Prints, Vintage Skateboards, Ukuleles, Out of Print Book T-Shirts, and off-the-beaten path CDs and Vinyl. Come join us this Holiday season, it’s shaping up to be a good one!

If you haven’t heard already, Central Square Records will be participating in the Black Friday extension of Record Store Day, so we’ll have some limited items (mostly vinyl) on our shelves starting the morning of Friday, November 25th. You can see what is available on the Record Store Day site, we’ll have a majority of those releases in stock. We plan to open around 8:00am, so you can get a head start; don’t worry, we’ll have Jittery Joe’s Coffee at the ready for ya. They’ll be some great exclusive titles, from new emerging bands (Civil Wars ‘Tracks in the Snow’ White 10″ Vinyl) to the classic ones you know & love (Black Keys ‘Lonely Boy’ 12″ Single). Join us for this amazing day, and don’t forget to pencil yourself in for our Holiday Potluck Party on Wednesday, December 13th, starting at 5:30p.

Coming up Wednesday, September 28th, Madeline will return (this time solo) on the Fall leg of her Black Velvet tour. If you joined us in June, you know what a great show is in store for you. We also invite anyone to bring a covered dish of your choice, so we can exchange some wonderful food as well. Limited drinks will be provided, and we can’t wait for you to see our new renovation to the back room, where Madeline will perform! Come join us, we’ll be hanging out starting at 5:30p, and Madeline will play around 6-ish. And she will have LPs and CDs of her music, including the new album Black Velvet. Can’t wait to see you all here!

Girls will perform a live webcast from Grimey’s New & Preloved Music in Nashville, TN tomorrow, Friday, September 15th at 5pm (c). Access via the widget below!

Well, Summer is almost outta here, and Fall is fast approaching, so we’d like to share what was poppin’ in the last few months and let you know what’s up for the not-so-distant future. It was a great spring and summer for in-store performances; David Lowery and Johnny Hickman of Cracker fame, Madeline releasing her new album Black Velvet, Apache Relay, and just recently Orca Team, were a few of the highlights. It was the certainly the summer of the ukulele, ours were flying off the shelves and then Eddie Vedder went out and recorded Ukulele Songs, go figure! We still have a few limited copies of Ukulele Songs left on vinyl, which comes with a very cool songbook and poster. Our limited show prints from artists Matt Pfahlert and Print Mafia as well as our Out of Print book cover t-shirts were all the rage this summer too, and our used vinyl section has been growing by the week. Don’t forget Vinyl Saturdays every Saturday, when all used vinyl in the store is 20% off. And as always, join us on Twitter (centralsqrecs) and Facebook to keep up on the minute-to-minute, and we’ll keep you posted on in-stores, parties, and music-related info. Here is a list of our summer hits, and some gems we have acquired on vinyl (limited time only!). Come see us!

Summer Top 10 (no particular order)

1. Jamie xx/Gil Scott-Heron We’re New Here
2. Bon Iver Bon Iver
3. Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues
4. Miracle Fortress Was I the Wave?
5. Kurt Vile Smoke Ring For My Halo
6. Gregg Allman Low Country Blues
7. Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears Scandalous
8. Gillian Welch Harrow and the Harvest
9. Various Artists Tribute Rave On: Songs of Buddy Holly
10. Adele 21

Vinyl Gems

Charles Browning A Choirboy’s Lament
Max Romeo Open the Iron Gate
Brewer & Shipley Tarkio
Metallica Whiplash (w/ Neckbrace Remix)
Bob Dylan Live in Adelaide, Australia 1978 (bootleg)
Rolling Stones No Stone Unturned
Grateful Dead San Francisco (bootleg)
Grateful Dead High Time in Old Town (bootleg)
Frank Zappa & Mothers of Invention Absolutely Free (Verve 1st pressing)