Black Friday Record Store Day 2024: 10 Releases Worth Digging For

LP, 2,000 copies (ORG Music)

From their humble beginnings as four psych-pop loving high-school friends in Ruston, La., during the late ‘80s, the Elephant 6 Recording Co. evolved into a movement that dominated the American indie rock scene in the late ’90s/early ’00s. And the bands that formed from its gestation — The Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Apples In Stereo, Elf Power, of Montreal and The Gerbils among many others — blazed a trail of influence that can still be heard in the modern age. Two years after the acclaimed documentary charmed audiences and earned a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating comes the official soundtrack, a well-curated sampling of the collective highlighted by two new songs from Olivia Tremor Control from its forthcoming third and final album.

Check out the packaging in Elephant 6’s Instagram post.

LP, 1,000 copies (Craft Recordings)

Drop MAGA comedian Tony Hinchcliffe in the middle of Joe Bataan’s Spanish Harlem in 1968 and see if he tries calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” — he likely wouldn’t last five minutes. The King Latin Soul’s classic sophomore LP cooked up the quintessential soundtrack to El Barrio with a gritty fusion of salsa and R&B that continues to resonate with the heart and the hips more than 55 years later. This limited run of Riot! was pressed on 180g black vinyl and comes housed in a paper-wrapped jacket.

2 LPs, 1,500 copies (Reel Cult/Varese Sarabande)

The late soul giant Isaac Hayes not only starred in the 1974 blaxploitation classic Truck Turner, a story about a retired football star-turned-bounty hunter who gets caught up in a turf war, he also crafted the soundtrack as well — the third and final installment of a film score trilogy that also included 1971’s Shaft and 1974’s Tough Guys. And though it didn’t do as well as its predecessors, 50 years later, this funky, orchestral soul-drenched set is ready for a revisit as part of the Varese Sarabande label’s Reel Cult series. This limited run was pressed on 180 gram translucent purple vinyl.

LP, 5,000 copies (MCA Nashville/Interscope)

The sixth album from the singer from Golden, Texas, is also one of her very best and most successful, having topped two Billboard charts — Americana/Folk Albums and Top Country Albums — while debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Originally released digitally as part of an expanded edition of Deeper Well in early August, these seven new songs — including her latest single “Irish Goodbye” and the softly funky “Superbloom” with Leon Bridges — make their physical debut on RSD Black Friday, pressed on green eco-vinyl and amended by a “20 minute woodland sound experience” which we could only surmise is akin to the hidden track on Tool’s Ænima.

See the album art on Musgraves’ Facebook post.

EP, 4,000 copies (Legacy Recordings)

On Aug. 14, 2000, the Democrats were gathered inside Los Angeles’ Staples Center to nominate Al Gore as its presidential candidate at the Democratic National Convention. Across from the arena, however, Rage Against the Machine staged a concert in protest of the corporatization of the American two-party political system. “Brothers and sisters, our democracy has been hijacked,” frontman Zack de la Rocha declared before tearing into an incendiary six-song set. The show was eventually shut down by the police using tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets. Originally released on vinyl in 2018, this crucial EP has been reissued for Black Friday due to popular demand, pressed this time on 180g Window Pane Clear vinyl.

2 LPs, 6,000 copies (Rhino)

After Sammy Hagar promised a free concert to Dallas, Texas, following a bad performance on the Monsters of Rock tour in 1988, Van Halen made good on Dec. 4, 1991, when the band played before 80,000 people at West End Marketplace. Originally released earlier this year as part of the deluxe edition of the classic Van Halen album, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, this outstanding recording captures the band at the absolute peak of its powers with ripping performances of such gems as “Poundcake,” “Panama!” and “Best of Both Worlds.” This standalone release was pressed on double red vinyl with an etched fourth side.

2 LPs, 1,300 copies (Resonance Records)

The late Al Jarreau was one of the greatest artists to crossover into multiple genres, and the only singer to earn Grammys in the jazz, pop and R&B categories. And though he left this mortal coil in 2017, his influence can still be heard across a new generation of acts looking to break ground by maneuvering through multiple formats. Wow! Live in Performance at the Childe Harold captures Jarreau in his early days, shortly after the release of his second Reprise album Glow, on Aug. 13, 1976, at the historic Washington, D.C., jazz club, where the singer — along with a funky trio of musicians including Tom Canning on electric keys, bassist Ben Atkins and Tom Drake on drums — played an electrifying concert originally broadcast on local freeform FM station WHFS. Highlights from the set include illuminating covers of Leon Russell’s “Rainbow in Your Eyes,” James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” and a vocal rendition of the Dave Brubeck classic “Take Five,” along with such choice originals as “Gimme That Wine” and “Aladdin’s Lamp.”

Watch Marcus Miller talk about playing with Al Jarreau and the archival discovery coming out for RSD on Jarreau’s Facebook page.

LP, 6,000 copies (Rhino)

Since 1999, the happenings going down under the sea in Bikini Bottom have delighted children and annoyed parents all over the world. Rhino is reissuing the hit soundtrack to the film adaptation of SpongeBob in honor of its 20th anniversary, exclusively for RSD Black Friday on yellow-and-purple splattered white vinyl that features quirky contributions from such acts as Wilco, Ween, Motörhead, The Shins, Avril Lavigne and, of course, everyone’s favorite starfish, Patrick. This RSD exclusive is made all the more special, as it also inadvertently serves as a tribute to the show’s brilliant music composer, Andy Paley, who died on Nov. 20 at age 72.

See the cover art in a post from Rhino.

2 LPs, 10,000 copies (Metal Face Records)

A quarter century after its original release on Fondle ‘Em Records, the dearly departed Daniel Dumile’s debut as the Metal Faced Villain is more popular than ever thanks to Gen Alpha kids discovering him via TikTok and YouTube Shorts. To celebrate its silver anniversary, Metal Face Records is reissuing Operation: Doomsday in a trio of vintage formats, including cassette, double vinyl and — get this — compact disc complete with an old school collectable longbox like it was 1989.

2 LPs, 30,000 (Geffen-Interscope)

Even nearly a year and a half since its original release, this second Olivia album remains an unstoppable force in its role as rock music’s most unlikely savior. Earlier this year, while Rodrigo was on tour, Guts (Spilled) was dropped on DSPs and added five new songs to the original tracklist, including the hit Annie Clark co-write “Obsessed,” the confessional “Scared of My Guitar” and the bass guitar-driven rocker “So American.” Shipping out to the tune of 30,000 units on Black Friday, fans shouldn’t have a problem tracking down the vinyl edition of Spilled, which is pressed on red and purple marble wax. It will be nice to have a hard copy of this complete version of a modern pop classic.