OK, Rough Trade is running a surprise sale. It's been alerted to newsletter subscribers, so don't hesitate. The sale is tricky. Some deeply discounted stuff; some only slightly discounted. Also, some only on specific formats (lots of cassette tapes!?). Still, a few things I spotted, and I haven't tried very hard. There are a LOT of titles marked down: Blondie 'Against All Odds', the 10LP version for $225: Blondie - Against The Odds: 1974-1982 - (CD, Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Alarm 'Omega' on red vinyl for $11.50: The Alarm - Omega - (CD, Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Shearwater 'The Great Awakening' 2LP - did not get widely distributed - for $18.00 Shearwater - The Great Awakening - (Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Rolling Stones 'Hot Rocks' 2LP for $25: The Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks 1964-1971 - (Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Joan Shelley's latest 'The Spur' for $10.50 (this sold out while I was watching, so other people are on the sale too): Joan Shelley - The Spur - (Vinyl LP, CD) | Rough Trade Sophie Ellis Bextor's first band TheAudience - 2LP on black $20 or blue $28 - quite good TheAudience - TheAudience - (Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Tindersticks 'Best Of' 4LP box on orange for $40.50: Tindersticks - Past Imperfect: The Best of Tindersticks ’92 – ‘21 - (CD, Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Police 'Around The World - Expanded' LP + DVD for $17: The Police - Around The World (Restored & Expanded) - (CD, Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Calexico - 'El Mirador' on gold for $13: Calexico - El Mirador - (Vinyl LP, CD) | Rough Trade Father John Misty's 'Chloe' box for $42.50 (other LP formats discounted as well): Father John Misty - Chloë and the Next 20th Century - (Tape, Vinyl LP, CD) | Rough Trade Lucius' latest on Rough Trade Exclusive Vinyl for $13.50: Lucius - Second Nature - (Vinyl LP, CD) | Rough Trade ... whoops, just lost another item out of my shopping cart. Gotta run ...
OK, here's the 5:20AM California update. I've been at this for 90 minutes. 1) If you don't like Rough Trade sales, you REALLY won't like this one. Go back to bed. 2) It's wonky, in both a GOOD and BAD way. Stuff you put in the cart seems to disappear. Pages have to be refreshed to see the sales price sometimes. However, they have added quite a few titles just this morning since I first looked. And, some of the 4:00AM sales prices have been lowered again since then. 3) No shipping, and no sales tax, shipped to California, if you can get to $100. That's good for me. A few more that caught my eye: dB's - I Thought You Wanted To Know - demos / unreleased for $18.50 The Db's - I Thought You Wanted To Know: 1978-1981 - (Vinyl LP, CD) | Rough Trade St. Etienne - I've Been Trying To Tell You for $14.50 Saint Etienne - I’ve Been Trying To Tell You - (CD, Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Art Blakey & Jazz Messengers - In My Prime 2LP for $21.50 Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - In My Prime - (Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Scott Walker - Boy Child: Best Of 2LP for $24.00 Scott Walker - Boy Child: The Best Of 1967-1970 - (Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Starlight Assembly (the guy from Breathless, and Ivo from 4AD is involved) for $13.50 Starlight Assembly - Starlight And Still Air - (CD, Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Moby - Remixes 2LP for $17.00 Moby - Reprise - Remixes - (Vinyl LP, CD) | Rough Trade Thomas Leer - reissue of Contradictions - 2LP for $20 Thomas Leer - Contradictions - (Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Calexico - Seasonal Shifts for $15 Calexico - Seasonal Shift - (Vinyl LP, CD) | Rough Trade Courtney Marie Andrews latest with signed postcard for $24.00 Courtney Marie Andrews - Loose Future - (Vinyl LP, CD) | Rough Trade Damon And Naomi - A Sky Record for $11.50 Damon and Naomi with Kurihara - A Sky Record - (Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade ... and that's all I've been able to get excited about.
even with the updates to their site, it still sucks. still waiting on that 10% off coupon they promised for signing up for the newsletter two months ago. oh well!
Yes, I see from the Reddit vinyldeals group that the Rough Trade sale went live yesterday. I only spotted it very early this morning.
Rough Trade's sale seemed to stall after just a couple of days. Their offerings are so obscure that nothing seemed to be moving. It looks like they have ratcheted prices down on remaining titles. Examples: The Police 'Around The World - Expanded' LP + DVD for $8.50 The Police - Around The World (Restored & Expanded) - (CD, Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade George Michael 'Other' big deluxe box set for $62.50 (It's $103 at Amazon) George Michael - Older (Super Deluxe Box Set) - (Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Sleater Kenney 'Path of Wellness' on Rough Trade Exclusive vinyl for $4.99 Sleater Kinney - Path Of Wellness - (CD, Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Lucius - Second Nature' on pink with swirl for $6.75 Lucius - Second Nature - (Vinyl LP, CD) | Rough Trade 'Toomorow' soundtrack with Olivia Newton John for $7.00 Toomorrow - Toomorrow Original Soundtrack with Olivia Newton-John - (Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Bauhaus 'Sky's Gone Out' live for $8.25 Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out - (Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade Gothic-Jazz from Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - 2LP for $8.50 The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - (Vinyl LP) | Rough Trade
Nightingales pigs on purpose 2LP for $9, bargain. Gilli Smyth - Mother LP for $7, that's an odd but good one
can’t believe that lucious release seems to have flopped so hard. there were several exclusive versions at different retailers that have all been clearanced out now. it’s actually a pretty dang good album!
I agree. I prefer Lucius in their more Americana mode (like on "Wildewoman") but this album really grew on me. A steal at under $7.
Visited my local Rough Trade (Bristol) and they had a huge selection of vinyl in the sale at 50% off! Picked up a record I passed on RSD at £35 for £17.50! Really decent stuff too, not just the usual overpressed crap (looking at you Adele).
Rough Trade's 2024 New Years Sale is live. But, like last year, it's very hard to get excited. Rough Trade has become an extremely esoteric place to shop. Very few mainstream and even mainstream-indie artists are carried at their site anymore - just the very weird stuff. And, the sales prices are nothing to get excited about. A year ago I waited for prices to drop once more, and it never happened. Still, there is the odd markdown on the odd title - might be worth a visit. And remember, don't bother with not-in-stock titles. It's not worth the headache and the wait, IMO. Search results for | Rough Trade ================= Edited to add: I REALLY TRIED to get an order together. One item disappeared from my cart during shopping. AND Free Shipping kicks in at a ridiculous $150. Skip this sale, says Dapper.
God, their search engine sucks so bad. If I want to filter sale items by CD, sure, it’ll bring up sale items that have a CD version…which isn’t necessarily in the sale. How hard would it be to implement a search for items that are a) on CD b) actually on sale? That seems like it wouldn’t require some super-complex algorithm, but what do I know.
I was in my local Rough Trade on 23 Dec and thought the sale was excellent. Everything was 50% off and I picked up a RSD release reduced from £35 to £17.50 and a compilation from £26 to £13.
The UK site has more stuff I would buy for sure, but more importantly I would LOVE to be close enough to any RT shop so I could avoid the frustration of their website.
my visit to one of the shops over there last spring was quite fruitful. lots of great stuff on sale and lots of exclusives. i bought a decent amount. when i visit their site i give up after a few minutes. it's horrible.
I've been to one of the London stores & it really is a cool place but i agree their site is not very good ....
The UK stores must be quite different than the one here. I visited the shop in Rockefeller Center last summer and while they had a decent selection of popular vinyl, it wasn't exactly the sort of place I would go to find something especially rare or unique. And its location alone means they're geared more toward casual customers as opposed to serious vinyl collectors.
I visited that store in October and was really disappointed compared to the London and Bristol branches. Apparently it was a lot better before relocating from Brooklyn.
oof, I always thought the Brooklyn location was underwhelming. Overpriced and uninteresting selection. (It was fine for your run of the mill big label/large indie stuff. The used section was hilariously overpriced). Can’t imagine it being notably worse!
I see that Rough Trade added a bunch of titles to the sale overnight. Going to hold my nose and go back in ... my cart is still holding 6 items, well short of the $150 threshold for free shipping.