To even scratch the surface of understanding Brooklyn is to know that this place is not only populated by Lena Dunham replicants traipsing Bushwick in search of Insta-friendly artisanal cheese shops and French-accented gentrifiers pushing $1 million strollers. Semi-frequently, though, a business or product is announced which embodies the stereotype, for better or for worse, and fuels the generalizations.
While this is such a product announcement, it’s from a dope local shop and it sounds like it’d make a damn good gift for the right person: Rough Trade, the 10,000+ square-foot record shop at 64 North 9th St. has announced the US launch of their new monthly subscription service, Rough Trade Club.
The Rough Trade Club is an album of the month membership where the shop’s experts (“some of whom have been recommending music face-to-face to the great and good of the artist and label community since the late ’70s,” according to the press release) select a new LP or CD to send to your doorstep. The membership also offers pre-ordering priority, event access, giveaways and other musically themed goodies.
The membership can be bought for yourself or for a friend, and you can opt for CDs or LPs on a three, six, or twelve-month subscription plan. A three-month CD plan will run you $44.97, and a three-month LP plan will run you $74.97. Oddly, only one-off options are available if you’re buying for yourself and not as a gift, in which case you’ll shell out $14.99 for a new CD and $24.99 for a new LP.
Past “Album of the Month” picks have included Kelela, Mac Demarco and Holly Macve. Bonus: If you hate the record Rough Trade sends you, you can swap it for a different album in the shop’s top 10 list.
The continued existence of Rough Trade – which originally opened in West London in 1976 – is a light in the record shop and brick and mortar worlds. Even if you’re too broke to treat yourself or a friend to a vinyl gift delivery service subscription, at least take pleasure that at least one indie record shop is doing decently enough to offer this.
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