Record Store Day (RSD)—the Black Friday for music nerds—started out in 2008 as a way to revitalize interest in vinyl and physical record stores. Initially it was a pretty rad yearly event, and an excuse to issue rereleases of out-of-print albums, along with special editions of newer records on vinyl. Some of these could only be bought in-person at record stores. As the shine wore off the RSD apple, it was pretty clear that this was just another profiteering money grab for big labels. Though it is still very much that, the last few years feel as though the RSD folks have tried to switch gears a bit, focusing more on obscure releases and record labels.

This year’s Record Store Day is April 12, and there are some straight up fantastic records being released on vinyl for the first time or re-pressed after being out-of-print for a hot minute. Here are my top 10 picks—focusing on albums and EPs that are not compilations, not picture-discs, not soundtracks, not live albums, etc. Enjoy!

Charli xcx - Number 1 Angel

For fans of Sophie, Hannah Diamond, QT

Originally released in 2017, Charli xcx’s Number 1 Angel mixtape features production by longtime collaborators A.G. Cook and Sophie with verses contributed by Uffie, Cupcakke, and Abra. Though you absolutely can hear the foundation being laid for Crash and Brat on the mixtape, 2017 Charli was straddling several musical identities: hyperpop, the electronic underground, PC music, and pop icon super stardom. She’s certainly not of the underground anymore, making this a fun anthropological listen as we try to connect the dots of Charli’s ascension. A real treat is the last track, “Lipgloss” featuring Cupcakke—Sophie’s production is all over this one with Cupcakke in gloriously nasty form.

Gil Scott-Heron - Moving Target

For fans of Amiri Baraka, Betty Davis, Isaac Hayes

Moving Target is perhaps my favorite Gil Scott-Heron album, and it’s incredible seeing it—and the general renewed interest in Scott-Heron’s work—still having such an impact today, warranting a Record Store Day repress. It’s pretty wild listening to protest music from the ’70s and ’80s, and realize that not only are we fighting against the same oppressions of earlier generations, but we’re actually dealing with more, if a different flavor. Far be it from you to listen to my cries for Black liberation and to stop paying taxes
 but maybe you’ll listen to Scott-Heron’s?

Harvey Danger - King James Version

For fans of (early) Modest Mouse, Blind Melon, King Missile

Growing up in Seattle in the ’90s, Harvey Danger was everywhere—lead singer Sean Nelson actually wrote for the Mercury’s sister publication, The Stranger, for over two decades. You intrinsically feel his wound-tight brand of paranoia-pop was the perfect bedmate for the region’s grungy dissociation of the time. As we all know, you need both Adderall and Ketamine (or whatever your preferred mix of uppers and downers is) to make it through adolescence and adulthood in the PNW. Here we are getting our fix of uppers with the repress of Harvey Danger’s second album, King James Version. Just as smart, hyper, and driving as when we fell in love with “Flagpole Sitta,” but with a maturity in both songwriting and production we hadn’t heard before. Don’t be afraid to throw on “Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo” and remember the good times.

The Jesus Lizard - Flux EP

For fans of Big Black, Unwound, Botch

The three songs comprising the entirety of the Jesus Lizard’s new Flux EP were found on the cutting room floor of their 2024 album Rack. This isn’t to say the trio of tracks don’t go as hard as those found on Rack or any other Jesus Lizard release; it seems like this release gives the songs the space they need to breathe and be absorbed. The 12-inch Record Store Day release compiles the EP on the a-side while the b-side will feature an etching
 Of what? We do not know this. Catch the Jesus Lizard on May 8 & 9 at Revolution Hall with either Gaytheist or Nasalrod depending on the night.

Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music

For fans of Merzbow, John Zorn, EinstĂŒrzende Neubauten

Lou Reed’s least accessible album, Metal Machine Music, was the savant’s mid-’70s dip into the world of harsh noise—a pretty severe departure from his first few post-Velvet Underground releases that were pure pop bliss. Comparing this release to Lou’s Transformer, an album that came out three short years prior, you’d be hard-pressed finding two LPs more different from one another in the same artist’s catalogue. The shortest track on Metal Machine Music is a nearly 16-minute album-closer that, for lack of imagination, we’ll call this release’s slow death. But death should be a celebrated part of the journey, a concept the Zen practitioner Reed would have you remember.

The O’Jays - Super Bad

For fans of the Chi-Lites, Teddy Pendergrass, Archie Bell & the Drells

Wow, the 1970s must have been so groovy and (if the O’Jays’ album Super Bad is anything to go by) unbelievably sexy. What a tone-setter that album must have been coming out in 1971, prepping the rest of the decade—and the O’Jays’ careers—to be soulful, funky, and hip-shakin’ good! Super Bad somehow addresses many of the hardest issues facing Black Americans at the time, all while never losing sight of the groove; the string arrangements and production are so of the time (in a good way) that it hurts. I just wish the trials and tribulations described on Super Bad were a thing of the past.

Pale Saints - Slow Buildings

For fans of Mojave 3, the Sundays, Lush

It feels at this point like most people who like music at all, even those lost souls who aren’t into shoegaze, have heard of the big three: My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, and Slowdive. But what about the lesser-knowns? What about the Leeds band Pale Saints? Their catalog is just as mercurial and dreamy as any of ‘em and, lucky us, 1994’s Slow Buildings is getting the royal repress treatment for its 30th anniversary. Along with the typical anniversary repress goodies—like being remastered and stretching the album out over multiple discs—this deluxe edition will include the band’s Fine Friend EP from the same era.

Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam (My Gifts)

For fans of Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra, Angel Bat Dawid

One of the luminaries instrumental in the development of free and spiritual jazz, Pharoah Sanders truly is one of my favorite musicians of all time. For Izipho Zam (My Gifts)—recorded in 1969, released in 1973—Pharoah Sanders brought together some of the most enlightened, free-thinking jazz players of the time, including Sonny Sharrock, Lonnie Liston Smith, and Leon Thomas. Through this unprecedented summit of jazz giants we’ve been gifted one of the most potent examples of experimentation, Black Power, and improvisation we are likely to ever receive. Listen to this record until your needle breaks; then buy a new needle and do it again.

Slint - Tweez (tweethan mix)

For fans of Shellac, June of 44, Daughters

Slint’s debut record Tweez, without doubt the band’s best album, was released in 1989 and produced by Steve Albini. Unfortunately, at least one member of the band wasn't all that jazzed on Albini’s production style and upset with the final product (kinda weird they had Albini produce the album if they weren’t fans of his production style, don’t ya think?). So in 2024, Ethan Buckler—the original bassist of Slint who left the band after Tweez because he didn’t like how it turned out—released a remixed version of the album that accompanied the original mix in an expanded double LP. That 2024 remix album is now being released as a stand alone LP for RSD. It actually bums me out pretty hard that someone who fully bounced because he didn’t get his way in post-production comes around with a new mix of the album (named after himself) right after the original producer passes away. Pretty shit move, IMO. That said, the original mix remains the superior of the two, while the new mix is an interesting listen to try and understand what the rub was.

Sunn O))) - Oracle EP

For fans of Bell Witch, Neurosis, Godflesh

You’d be hard-pressed to find a metal head who doesn’t love Sunn O))), or at the very least respect them. They’ve been around since the ’90s and started one of the most well respected labels for heavy music, Southern Lord. The Oracle EP was recorded as part of an art installation at a London gallery in 2006. We hear familiar textures and drones in the two-song release that will please any Sunn fan, but what makes these tracks so gripping are the unusual grooves and pulsing glitches subtly pushing the slow-burn compositions along. Since these are frequent elements in later releases, Oracle could be considered a portal connecting early Sunn and later Sunn.

Check out Record Store Day events happening in Portland over at EverOut.