Since the doors opened at 10:30am this morning, Record Store Day 2013, at each of the three Amoeba Music stores it's been hectic and hella busy. Above and below are some photos from Amoeba Berkeley in the early afternoon today a few hours after opening. Also below is a video clip of E-Lit at the Berkeley Amoeba store talking about some of the most popular Record Store Day items. And if you have still not made it out to Amoeba for Record Store Day 2013 - there is still lots of time (and goodies) left. More Record Store Day at Amoeba Music info here.

Like Christmas in April is how some of the dedicated music fans I talked with outside Amoeba Berkeley this morning described Record Store Day. And today's Record Store Day seems to be the biggest and most popular yet. When I stopped by Amoeba Berkeley earlier this week to chat with Steve Cirelli about Record Store Day (RSD) he recommended RSD fans get there an hour before the 10:30am opening. So this morning I arrived at the Telegraph Avenue Amoeba Music at 9:30am expecting the line to be just beginning to form. However there was already a long line by that time with those at the top of the line there since before dawn [for a rare Dave Matthews Band RSD release]. A lot of RSD fans won't divulge exactly what RSD titles they are specifically looking for - as you will see in the video above in which I chat with a bunch of the music fans from as far away as Indonesia - all outside Amoeba Berkeley this morning, Saturday, April 20th, 2013.

Check back on the Amoeblog for updates from the Berkeley, Hollywood, and San Francisco Amoeba Music stores throughout Record Store Day 2013.

With Record Store Day (RSD) 2013 almost upon us and vinyl collector fiends counting down the hours left before they can descend upon one of the three Amoeba Music stores on Saturday (April 20th) to cop some of the numerous RSD only releases I thought it would interesting to see what the folks behind the scenes at Amoeba had to say about Record Store Day. So I headed over to the Berkeley Amoeba Music store on Telegraph Ave. to chat with Steve Cerelli, to talk a bit about Record Store Day. That short video is above. Below is another new video made by Chris at Bull Moose about some of the Record Store Day 2013 releases being unveiled on Saturday.

Meanwhile to find out more about the long list of RSD 2013 releases check all the latest on the official RSD website  or simply download the 8 page list from here. And as far finding out about the events planned at the three Amoeba stores for this Saturday check here. Don't forget to enter in the Amoeba RSD contest here. See you at Amoeba on Saturday for Record Store Day.
 

In addition to all the exciting new releases listed by Billy Gil in the Albums Out Jan 22nd Amoeblog (immediately below this) there is also a new vinyl release by alt-metal kings the Deftones (pictured left) being released today. It is a vinyl version of the longtime hard rocking NorCal band's current Koi No Yokan album that dropped a couple of months ago on CD and, most agree, is a return to form for the band that ruled things in their sphere of metal back in the 90's.

The new vinyl format of Koi No Yokan, being released by Warner Brothers, is a limited edition (3,000 units) pressing in 140-gram black vinyl. There are some other exclusive pressings too including an international edition (import) of the record that is being pressed up a on 180-gram vinyl configuration. The CD version of Koi No Yokan is still readily available at Amoeba and worth picking up. The Sacramento band's seventh studio album, it debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard Top 200 chart when it was released November 13th and was equally popular at Amoeba for such songs as its first single "Tempest" (lyrics video below). In support of Koi No Yokan the Deftones are currently gearing up for a spring headlining tour of the East Coast, the South, and Canada that spans the whole month of March. No West Coast dates announced as of yet but check out the Deftones' official band website for updates on that.

Thanks to Arizona based vinyl artist Daniel Edlen stumbling upon the recent Amoeblog on the work done by fellow vinyl artist / Amoeba Hollywood customer Colton Tran (Making Art Out of Records with Colton Tran of TransylVinyl & Broken Vinyl Record Art) I was introduced to the equally (although very different in composition) vinyl art of the SoCal born and raised Edlen. "Good to see someone else do something distinctive with records," posted Edlen in the comments of that Amoeblog on Colton Tran. Since then I have been fully introduced to Edlen's amazing vinyl art, like the Prince piece above, for which he utilizes straight acrylic paint and, as he jokes, "a cheap brush" to painstakingly create this beautiful art on 12" records. Edlen, who accurately describes his work as "creating art on the artifacts of creativity,"  has much of his art on view via his main website.

Dave Paul (Bomb Hip-Hop/The Prince & Experience) is among the vinyl artist's many fans/collectors. "The appeal to me of Elden's work was the artist's face hand painted on the record," said Paul who has bought two pieces of Edlen's art. Like fellow vinyl artist Colton Tran, Edlen is also a major Amoeba Music fan: one of the things I asked him about when I caught up with him recently to talk to the Amoeblog. In that interview, that follows below the video clip of him making his art, I also asked him about the details of creation of his vinyl art, his musician subjects, and his work with both the David Lynch Foundation and VH1 Save The Music.