Vinyl Me Please (store, exclusives, swaps, etc)

NewsFedora said:
Isn't Furnace sort of the unofficial US branch of Pallas? I'm pretty sure they work closely together and it does point highly to their quality.
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www.analogplanet.com

Furnace Manufacturing Builds New 16 Press Pressing and Packaging Plant

That new record you just unboxed probably came shrink-wrapped or in a perforated sealed bag. Maybe it has a sticker or two on it or it's a numbered limited edition. Watch how all of this happens in this just produced video shot at Furnace Manufacturing with founder Eric Astor. And then go to...
www.analogplanet.com www.analogplanet.com
As the vinyl market grew, Furnace forged a relationship with European pressing plants Pallas (Germany) and Record Industry (The Netherlands). This relationship helps labels press overseas, while saving them money by shipping the record back to America in sleeves instead of jackets.
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But that's from 2017, they might press more themselves nowadays
 
NewsFedora said:
Isn't Furnace sort of the unofficial US branch of Pallas? I'm pretty sure they work closely together and it does point highly to their quality.
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jamieanderson1968 said:
I am hazy on the details but I think Gotta Groove and Furnace are affiliated. Like, Gotta Groove is run but someone who works at Furnace or vice versa
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Yeah, Furance used to import from Pallas and/or Record Industry in the EU, but now (as of 2018) have their own plant. The recent VMP Immanuel Wilkins and Ambrose Akinmusire exclusives were pressed by them. They seem good based on those two.
 
TCell said:
I guess as a follow-up to my previous post, is there a current list of Pressing Plant tiers? These are my rankings, but I'd love to hear other's feedback, or if there are others I've missed.

1st Tier (High quality pressings. Not infallible, but less flaws than other plants) :
QRP
Pallas
RTI

2nd Tier (Very good quality pressings, with occasional flaws):
Optimal
MPO
Gotta Groove Records
Furnace Record Pressing

3rd Tier (Good?, but new to the scene):
Kindercore Vinyl Pressing
Microforum Vinyl Record Pressing
Citizen Vinyl
Blue Sprocket Pressing
TAKT Direct
Independent Record Pressing (IRP)

4th Tier (Can pump out a lot of records. Questionable quality control.):
GZ
Memphis Record Pressing (MRP)
Precision Record Pressing (PRP)
Third Man Records

5th Tier (Hot Garbage):
United Record Pressing (URP)
Rainbo (RIP!)
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This pretty much matches my experience. I think the big one you're missing is Record Industry - I'd put them 2nd tier.

Also, Memphis is really weird case - some stuff I have from there is amazing (Craft stuff like Big Star AAAs, Jonathan Richman, TVZ anniversary pressings) - like tier 1, whereas some older Fat Possum stuff is pretty much hot garbage tier. Can't tell whether they've improved a bunch or just have way different QC practices depending on the type of project you order.
 
D Jilla said:
This pretty much matches my experience. I think the big one you're missing is Record Industry - I'd put them 2nd tier.

Also, Memphis is really weird case - some stuff I have from there is amazing (Craft stuff like Big Star AAAs, Jonathan Richman, TVZ anniversary pressings) - like tier 1, whereas some older Fat Possum stuff is pretty much hot garbage tier. Can't tell whether they've improved a bunch or just have way different QC practices depending on the type of project you order.
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I think it takes some of these upstarts a few years to figure things out. I think. Memphis is getting better but not quite there yet. I know their Spiritualized stuff has been all over the place from a QC standpoint.
 
Woof...I thought VMP store drops were kind of getting out there in price, but here comes Lorde's new single LP album clocking in at almost $50 CAD at my local - which is usually the lowest price around for the most part.

THE COST OF VINYL IS TOO DAMN HIGH.

EDIT: $50 and change off Amazon. Does Lorde come and personally sing the singles for you? And I'm not looking this cause I want it. The price caught my eye and that's unusually high. Like things in that price range I have bought recently include a Mingus and a Dr John 3LP set.
 
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TCell said:
Yeah, Furance used to import from Pallas and/or Record Industry in the EU, but now (as of 2018) have their own plant. The recent VMP Immanuel Wilkins and Ambrose Akinmusire exclusives were pressed by them. They seem good based on those two.
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I third (or fourth?) Furnace being pretty solid. I think your list is also pretty good from my experience. If an album I like is pressed at Pallas, RTI or QRP, I'll spring for a copy of it. They are the most reliable IMO (still occasionally have issues but way less frequently than the other plants).

D Jilla said:
This pretty much matches my experience. I think the big one you're missing is Record Industry - I'd put them 2nd tier.

Also, Memphis is really weird case - some stuff I have from there is amazing (Craft stuff like Big Star AAAs, Jonathan Richman, TVZ anniversary pressings) - like tier 1, whereas some older Fat Possum stuff is pretty much hot garbage tier. Can't tell whether they've improved a bunch or just have way different QC practices depending on the type of project you order.
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I could be wrong, but pretty sure the labels can choose to pay a little bit more to get better QC from certain plants. If you're trying to maximize the profits and do a cheaper pressing, you can spend less on your order.
 
VMP is sending me the Wailers album I bought for @Crabbers despite, you know, it having a completely different shipping address. When I emailed CS I was told I shouldn't have picked "bundled" shipping despite it being the only record I was ordering at the time and despite it literally having an address for a different state on it.

I was told "All in stock orders placed before the final day of each month are bundled into your next shipment as opposed to our former way, which was with your ROTM shipment. So, you now receive two shipments each month. One being your ROTM selections and the second being a bundled store order shipment."

Which is A) laughably untrue and B) shouldn't override what address I've selected a record to ship to.
 
bdrummond said:
Woof...I thought VMP store drops were kind of getting out there in price, but here comes Lorde's new single LP album clocking in at almost $50 CAD at my local - which is usually the lowest price around for the most part.

THE COST OF VINYL IS TOO DAMN HIGH.

EDIT: $50 and change off Amazon. Does Lorde come and personally sing the singles for you? And I'm not looking this cause I want it. The price caught my eye and that's unusually high. Like things in that price range I have bought recently include a Mingus and a Dr John 3LP set.
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The gentrification of vinyl
 
RoxCity said:
I can shine light on Citizen Vinyl!

They just opened last year in Asheville, NC and are a small pressing plant. I want to say their first pressing was a Mandolin Orange record.

I've heard fairly positive things but can't speak personally on their offerings.

Sounds like with major plants backing up VMP might be shifting some exclusives to boutique pressing plants?
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I plan on dropping by their plant next time I am in Asheville. I will post here what I find.
 
TCell said:
I guess as a follow-up to my previous post, is there a current list of Pressing Plant tiers? These are my rankings, but I'd love to hear other's feedback, or if there are others I've missed.

1st Tier (High quality pressings. Not infallible, but less flaws than other plants) :
Quality Record Pressings (QRP)
Pallas
Record Technology Incorporated (RTI)

2nd Tier (Very good quality pressings, with occasional flaws):
Optimal
MPO
Record Industry
Gotta Groove Records
Furnace Record Pressing

3rd Tier (Good, but new to the scene):
Kindercore Vinyl Pressing
Microforum Vinyl Record Pressing
Citizen Vinyl
Blue Sprocket Pressing
TAKT Direct
Independent Record Pressing (IRP)

4th Tier (Can pump out a lot of records. Questionable quality control.):
GZ
Memphis Record Pressing (MRP)
Precision Record Pressing (PRP)
Third Man Records

5th Tier (Hot Garbage):
United Record Pressing (URP)
Rainbo (RIP!)
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I just got this today. So I can test some Kindercore QC…
56BB0DEE-CCD5-49DA-8F04-791736E636BE.jpeg
 
NewsFedora said:
VMP is sending me the Wailers album I bought for @Crabbers despite, you know, it having a completely different shipping address. When I emailed CS I was told I shouldn't have picked "bundled" shipping despite it being the only record I was ordering at the time and despite it literally having an address for a different state on it.

I was told "All in stock orders placed before the final day of each month are bundled into your next shipment as opposed to our former way, which was with your ROTM shipment. So, you now receive two shipments each month. One being your ROTM selections and the second being a bundled store order shipment."

Which is A) laughably untrue and B) shouldn't override what address I've selected a record to ship to.
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"wE dOnT kNoW wHy wE aRe lOsInG mOnEy iN sHipPinG"
 
ThePakoBuelna said:
NewsFedora said:
VMP is sending me the Wailers album I bought for @Crabbers despite, you know, it having a completely different shipping address. When I emailed CS I was told I shouldn't have picked "bundled" shipping despite it being the only record I was ordering at the time and despite it literally having an address for a different state on it.

I was told "All in stock orders placed before the final day of each month are bundled into your next shipment as opposed to our former way, which was with your ROTM shipment. So, you now receive two shipments each month. One being your ROTM selections and the second being a bundled store order shipment."

Which is A) laughably untrue and B) shouldn't override what address I've selected a record to ship to.
Click to expand...

"wE dOnT kNoW wHy wE aRe lOsInG mOnEy iN sHipPinG"
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We have always been willing to ship to Eastasia
 
NewsFedora said:
VMP is sending me the Wailers album I bought for @Crabbers despite, you know, it having a completely different shipping address. When I emailed CS I was told I shouldn't have picked "bundled" shipping despite it being the only record I was ordering at the time and despite it literally having an address for a different state on it.

I was told "All in stock orders placed before the final day of each month are bundled into your next shipment as opposed to our former way, which was with your ROTM shipment. So, you now receive two shipments each month. One being your ROTM selections and the second being a bundled store order shipment."

Which is A) laughably untrue and B) shouldn't override what address I've selected a record to ship to.
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After pointing out that I previously reached out to CS specifically to make sure this record went to Crabbers and not me (and was assured it would) Matty replied with this:

Thanks for the reply! When it comes to the bundled shipping method, our system, unfortunately, does not separate orders by address but rather by THE address associated with the member's profile (default address). Regrettably, due to that reason, orders are bundled to one address rather than bundled into separate shipments to differing addresses.

I apologize for the mistake our previous agent made as this was just recently made aware to us here on the CS team.

Apologies again for any inconvenience this has caused and moving forward, feel free to use that direct shipping option on any orders you would like sent to a differing address.
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So if you're buying a record and plan on shipping it somewhere that isn't your default address, you MUST choose direct shipping (which costs extra, surprise surprise) or else it will go to your default address anyways, to hell with whatever address is actually displayed on the orders page.
 
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