Support Your Local Record Store Today! (Plus Toki Wright is the Coolest Person Alive)

Download: Toki Wright - "Future Rock"

As if you didn't know. Today, Saturday, April 19th, is Record Store Day, the idea of which is to stimulate economic interest in independent record stores and to embrace the dying culture of actually purchasing your records. And, though I'm very skeptical of the idea--realistically, we're going to have to have "Record Store Year" in order to revive record-buying culture against the twin forces of the bad economy and file-sharing--I still encourage you to go out and support your locally owned, independent record store, if only for the sheer sake of using your dollar to promote your community's unique culture.

Read more about the economic crises faced by independent record stores here.

Shifting to Minnesota-based record stores, those who decide to shop at Fifth Element today between 1:30 and 3:30 will have a very cool surprise: Toki Wright will be working the register at the hip-hop record store. Wright explains on his MySpace Blog that shoppers should "Stop down and pick up some new music, chat with RSE artists, and most of all support your independent everything. (Oh yeah...and buy one of my cds or tshirts". Oh, tongue-in-cheek humor: will you ever stop providing laughs?

Seriously though, that's excellent of him to work the register. Definitely buy something from Rhymesayers. Or Modern Radio. Or Guilt Ridden Pop. Or, uh, Afternoon Records. Or Flameshovel, Sick Room, Permanent, Bloodshot, Matador, Touch & Go, Mute, Dischord, Beggars Banquet, Sub Pop, Kill Rock Stars, Parasol, K Records, Unnecessary Records, or any other independently owned record label you can think of. Just go buy something! (Didn't Bush say this to Americans right after 9/11? And look how well that turned out...I mean, I LOVE AMERICA!!!

Here's a list of all the independent record stores in MPLS:

Fifth Element
Electric Fetus
Extreme Noise
RoadRunner
Vital Vinyl

Just in case you need directions, head on over the Mapquest.

(Jonathan Graef)