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2023 RAGGED STAFF PICKS
As 2023 is coming to a close we here at the Ragged Headquarters love to share some our favorite albums that we popped open at the shop and probably beat into the ground. Peep out the playlist below and reach if any of these titles are of interest. Here’s to another year of digging.
Ragged Records/Ragged Records & Music RSD 2023
Record Store Day 2023 on Saturday April 22 Ragged Records will be open for Record Store Day at 9:00am at both locations in Davenport & Rock Island. Show up early and get in line if you want to score that Record Store Day title you're looking for...
Ragged will also have a special sale starting at 1:00PM with 20% Off Used LPs, CDs, Tapes, & Stereo Equipment (excluding consignment) as well as 10% off what's left of the Record Store Day titles...
First 200 people through the door will receive
a free Ragged Record Store Day / Gnar City tote bag
chock-full of promotional goodies and giveaways.
-Musical Performances all afternoon with:
1:00PM Miss Christine https://misschristinemusic.bandcamp.com
2:00PM Nova Sunshine https://novasunshine.bandcamp.com
3:00PM The Goodbye Race https://thegoodbyerace.bandcamp.com
4:00PM The Afterdarks https://www.facebook.com/theafterdarks
-Miss Christine's new album 'Bittersweet' will be available
for the first time exclusively at both Ragged locations.
Support provided by the Iowa Arts Council, a division of
the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National
Endowment for the Arts. www.misschristinemusic.com
-'Women of Punk' a new portrait series and coloring book by artist Jon Burns will be available for the first time.With 100% of sales to benefit Peace Sisters c/o Tees4Togo. Peace Sisters is an organization that provides educational services for young girls in West Africa. Tees4Togo is a t-shirt company started by Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill) that supporters Peace Sisters.
-For more information on Record Store Day check out https://recordstoreday.com for a full list of titles. We won't know what we're getting for sure until the week of at which time we will be posting flip videos of everything.
2022 RAGGED STAFF PICKS
Wow, so 2022 is already coming to a close. Here are some new records that we popped opened and enjoyed. When people say that there is no new good music, don’t listen to them. The amount of new sounds coming out can be at times, overwhelming. That’s why we’re here, to sift through the rough to find you the diamonds. And boy there were some diamonds this year my friends! From the otherworldly tones of Lucrecia Dalt’s “!ay!” to the orchestrated beauty of “In These Times” by Makaya McCraven there was no shortage of creative and diverse sounds put out into the universe this year. We put together a playlist for your streaming needs down below. You can also click on the album covers below for a full description of the album. Thanks for making 2022 a great year for Ragged Records.
Laborspace x Rozz Tox present: LOWLAND BLOCK PARTY V
Lowland Block Party is back! Located at the Laborspace courtyard next to Rozz Tox at 21st Street and 3rd Avenue in Rock Island, IL. A full day filled with local art vendors and so much more. Live music, live poetry readings, food, drink, and fun for the kids.
Live music from:
Hayes Noble https://hayesnoble.bandcamp.com/
Mo Carter https://moandco.bandcamp.com
Ragged Records & Music spinning vinyl
Live readings from: Midwest Writing Center
Food and Drink from: Rozz Tox, Roosters, and Wake Brewing.
Kids Activities from: WQPT/PBS
Vendors include: Ragged Records & Music (vinyl), Midwest Writing Center (books), WQPT/PBS (games), Death Stitch Clothing (clothing), Blue Aether Witchery (art), Adventure Orange (art), Jon Burns (art), Glen Lowry (art), Rose Noble (art), Erica Parrott (art), Johnnie Cluney (art), Hillary Hansen (massage), Elliott Bay Towers (multimedia), Carolyn Krueger (pottery), Collaborative HeARt (art), Metscadicks (art), Dandylion Weeden (art), Jennifer Hinds (jewelry), Marc Showalter (art), Mellow Blue Planet (comics)
The John D. Hopkins & Reed Mullin Collection Sale July 2nd & 3rd at Wake Brewing
Ragged Records will be at Wake Brewing's Red, White, & Doom on July 2nd and 3rd with The John D. Hopkins & Reed Mullin Collection. A variety of punk, metal, and more on Vinyl, CD, and T-Shirt. Keep your eyes on the event page for flip videos of the collection. For more info on the sale read ahead.... (For more information on tickets contact Wake Brewing. This event it 21+)
John D. Hopkins, resident of Oquawka, IL and soundman to Corrosion of Conformity and a multitude of other bands passed away unexpectedly at the age of 50 after blazing a trail through his industry of live sound and touring with some of the best names in metal. His first sound gig was at the infamous Gabe’s in Iowa City. It was a gig that, with hard work, would eventually lead him to doing live sound and managing tours all over the world for such bands as COC, Weedeater, Orange Goblin, Neurosis, Overkill, Uncle Acid, Sleep, High on Fire and The Melvins. Along with doing live sound John also played music with regional bands such as Aunt Acid, Brick, Scrid, Kita, Burnout and The Horde.
John was himself also a huge fan of music and had accumulated a vast collection while traveling and running live sound. He had recently been gifted the vinyl collection of his friend Reed Mullin (co-founder and drummer of Corrosion of Conformity) who had recently passed away himself. Mullin co-founded COC in Raleigh, NC with guitarist Woody Weatherman, bassist Mike Dean, and vocalist Benji Shelton. They combined their up-tempo hardcore with the hard rock influence of Black Sabbath to land in their distinct punk-metal crossover style. Those influenced by Mullin include Dave Grohl (who called Mullin his “drumming hero”), Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe, guitarist Matt Sweeney, Charlie Benante of Anthrax, and Lars Ulrich. Ragged Records would like to thank the Hopkins family for their graciousness and for letting us facilitate the sales of the collection. The majority of proceeds will go to the Hopkins family. We would also like to thank Jason Parris and everyone at Wake Brewing for their support and for the opportunity to sell this collection.
Record Store Day at Ragged Records and Ragged Records & Music
Record Store Day is back and we'll be taking part at both our stores and ordering as many copies of as many titles as we can get our hands on! For a full list of this year's titles go to:
https://recordstoreday.com/
First 200 paying customers will receive a custom printed Ragged Record Store Day tote bag filled with all kinds of free goodies.
Trash Can Annie will be doing 20% off all vintage clothing and jewelry (excluding items on consignment)
Ragged Records & Trash Can Annie
311 E 2nd Street, Davenport, IA
Ragged Records & Music
311 1/2 21 Street Rock Island, IL
2021 RAGGED STAFF PICKS
2021 was quite the blur/fever dream. It would be a lie to say that it wasn’t reflected in the music. From the epic sound stage style recordings of Curtis Harding and Circuit Des Yeux to the abstract beats of Makaya McCraven and Madlib, 2021 has proven to be a great year for music. So we put to together a playlist of some of the records we opened up at both locations and enjoyed. We hope that you dig in deep to this list and discover some new sounds.
Ragged Records & Trash Can Annie Grand Opening and Record Store Day
RAGGED RECORDS AND TRASH CAN ANNIE ARE BACK IN DOWNTOWN DAVENPORT!
Come celebrate at their Grand Opening, July 17th.
The two stores’ events include Record Store Day (RSD), “Punks in Peoria” book signing, and a Best Dressed contest (the prize is a $200 gift certificate).
RAGGED RECORDS:
RECORD STORE DAY: Both RSD orders will be combined at the new location. That means twice the titles, so make sure to get in line early. The Rock Island location will be closed that day so the whole team can be at the Grand Opening.
“PUNKS IN PEORIA” BOOK SIGNING: Author Jonathan Wright will be on hand from 9am until Noon, signing copies of his new book, “Punks In Peoria: Making A Scene in the American Heartland” (which includes interviews with Ragged Records owner, Bob Herington!).
TRASH CAN ANNIE:
BEST DRESSED CONTEST: Purchase an item from Trash Can Annie, take a selfie with that item in the TCA Social Media Spot, post the photo and tag @trashcanannie78 #trashcanannie #TCAbestdressedcontest on Facebook and Instagram. The person with the most likes wins a $200 gift certificate. Showcase your coolest look and pose with confidence! Describe what you’re wearing and why you think your look is a stand-out. (Note: this is a fashion - not costume - contest.)
ALL NEW PIECES: All pieces are newly-pulled and one-of a-kind, meaning you will be the first to see them! Killer vintage has a new home. So get there early – your style is waiting!
Ragged Records: Record Store Day in The Courtyard
Record Store Day 2021 will be spread out over two days this year, June 12th and July 17th. We won't be ready to open at our new Davenport location until July so for the first day we will be combining both orders to bring twice the amount of titles in one location for our Record Store Day Courtyard Sale. Saturday June 12th starting at 9:00am and going until 5:00pm in the Laborspace courtyard outside of our Rock Island location.
We'll have as many copies of as many titles we can get our hands on. Joining us will be Trash Can Annie with a variety of jewelry, clothing, and bric-a-brac. Rozz Tox will be opening early to provide food and beverage and we'll be spinning vinyl all day long including a special set "Ode To Island" from our friend Zeb highlighting the Island Records catalog as well as set by our own Memorywerks Musik. Masks are required while shopping. For more information on titles available go to: https://recordstoreday.com/
Review: Wake Brewing Recommends
March 26th, 2021 your new favorite doom band drops a bowl cashing album, From The Graveyard, that is punching the pulse of doom. 1782 has been busy since their start in late ‘18, putting out a full length, a split with Acid Mammoth, and then working on “Graveyard” last year. First listen automatically sends you to a realm with cloaked time keepers setting the scene with rhythmic bass and drums that keep bowls packing at a steady pace giving the guitar plenty space to fill your mind with so much low tuned fuzz you’ll have to cut it with an athame knife. Close your eyes and let the riffs of “Black Void” enter you, bringing you towards the sounds of water against rock and the smell of salt in the air, ushered into the water and encircled by cloaked ones, listening to their chants, dropping your robes and revealing your scaled skin under the moon. The cloaked ones keep their pace, whilst the leader chants, unveiling dragons of smoke trailing through the sky leaving aurora borealis trails blending the sky and the cosmos into one for the closing tracks “Seven Priests” and “In Requiem.” 1782 know how to write without using filler; the riffs and notes are purposefully there. Instead of long build ups, the band throws you in the salty marshes leaving you to pull yourself out, reborn into their coven. Catch “The Chosen One” over at 1782doom.bandcamp.com. Listened with headphones and through a system, and I can’t wait to pick one of the vinyl up and soak up that tone. Especially for the drop 3:20 min into Priestess of Death, BANGER! FFO: Electric Wizard, Sleep, Conan
The American Southwest is one of the most romanticised locations in the world, but there’s a darkness there too often glazed over. Sante Fe, New Mexico’s Heretical Sect are on a mission to expose the region’s long and ongoing history of horrific violence and environmental destruction. “Rapturous Flesh Consumed,” their new full-length for Gilead Media recounts tales of genocide, slavery, and racial, religious, and cultural persecution via a blistering brand of blackened death doom. Heretical Sect aims to break the chains of history and breathe new life into the cold darkness of the desert, engaging in aural battle with zealous oppressors of past and present. At the needle drop the band unleashes a wall of tremolo-picked fury akin to a massive dust storm ready to envelop all in its path. “Rising Light of Lunacy” is a charge into the fray. One can easily imagine clashing with shiny-armored conquistadors, pitting spear against sword, brother against other, motivated by the fire in one’s heart. “The Depths of Weeping Infinity” is a four-plus-minute spiritual roar tinted celestial by reverb-drenched guitar squalling. “Baptismal Rot and Ash” kisses flame to the mouths of false clerics with genocide on their tongues, building to tasty release with a gnarly guitar divebomb at the seven-minute mark. “Pit Abominations” sounds like a dark ritual pact with shapeshifting indigenous devils whose names we dare not mention in print—buoyed by the sound of wolves howling amidst the storm. By the time the album closes with “Ritual Inversion” your teeth are stained with conquistador blood, you survey your ranks, regroup, and steel yourself for more. And there’s always more, they just take on new forms. Know your enemy. “Rapturous Flesh Consumed” is as technically impressive as it is evocative, which explains its popularity on the doom charts. You know what to do. QC locals, hit up at Ragged Records & Music.
Review: Wake Brewing Recommends
“... And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss gazes also into you.” This heads up from Nietzsche feels especially prescient right now. In times defined by confrontation with darkness, one inevitably encounters darkness inside themselves. Primitive Man’s new album for @relapserecords, aptly titled “Immersion,” is a cannonball jump headlong into that darkness, a baleful embrace of the yawning void Negativity. Exactly what you’d expect from a self-described “nihilistic trio.” But do not mistake this record for a wallow. It is a cathartic assault against the weakest parts of the self and the virulent proliferation of such across an entire species, now 7.5 billion thick and climbing. Be wary where and when you play this record, it transforms speakers into portals to the netherworld. Denver-based @primitivemandoom have perfected their sonic structure over the years, combining elements of doom, sludge, death, and harsh noise into a kind of molten lead mechagodzilla fueled by abandoned dreams. But “Immersion” feels less like a monster attack and more like a fall down a mineshaft, thanks to skillful application of reverb across the recording. It’s simultaneously cavernous and claustrophobic. Joe Linden’s stereo-panned drums define both the walls of the shaft and the speed of descent, while Ethan Lee McCarthy’s guitar and Jonathan Campos’ bass embody nothing short of the void itself. There in the cold darkness, McCarthy’s ripped larynx howls swirl, moribund and misanthropic. Boil them down to their essence and they reflect an infamous quote from a cautionary classic, “if you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.” With this record, born of Orwellian anxiety and existential dread, Primitive Man defines the enemy. They say knowing is half the battle. Now it’s time to take up arms.
Check this record out, and buy some merch to keep the band afloat in these trying times. Vinyl available at @ragged_records_and_music, or your local discerning record shop. Review by our own @modelyear1983 and @andythedag
#wakebrewingrecommends #dealerschoice #primitiveman #relapserecords #doommetal #deathsludge #beerandmetal #beeranddoom #wakebrewing #brothersparris
Lowrider’s “Refractions” is 41 minutes of pedal to the metal heavy desert rock ala Kyuss, Truckfighters, and, well, Lowrider. The Swedish quartet were expert-level dealers of the genre in the mid-1990s and early 2000s. This is their first release off a nearly 20-year hiatus. And it delivers the goods. Stockholm’s a helluva long way from the Palm Desert, but @lowridergram absolutely nail the bottom-heavy blues for the red sun. Always have. Does “Refractions” break new ground in desert rock? Not really. But if you put it on while driving you’ll find out exactly how fast your car can go. This record is a hyperdimensional Trans Am burnout, sister. And to paraphrase the late, great Lux Interior, if you can’t dig that you can’t dig nothing. Lowrider have bestowed on us an essential, genre-defying album with killer grooves and nary a misplaced riff. You get exactly what you want exactly when you want it. Put this on, and if you don’t say “goddamn” to yourself at least once I don’t think we can be friends. The massive intro riff on “Ol’ Mule Pepe” is so good, for example, that it made me laugh out loud. “Refractions” is a hippie speedball escape pod the hell outta 2020. What more could you ask for? Snag you a copy of by way of Blues Funeral Records.
Review by our own @modelyear1983. #wakebrewingrecommends #dealerschoice #desertrock #stonerrock #fuzz #beerandmetal #wakebrewingcvlt #wakebrewing #brothersparris
RAGGED RECORDS & MUSIC 2020 STAFF PICKS
Well here we are. 2020 has come and gone in some sort of weird whirlwind that is almost over. This year has has had some tragic moments in general but we are here to remind you of the tunes. Here are a handful of records that we played most at the shop and sat on our Staff Picks rack at our Rock Island location. Check out the playlist below.
RAGGED RECORDS COURTYARD SALE
We're joining forces Saturday July 18th for the Ragged Records Courtyard Sale and Rozz-Tox Backyard Balcony Boogie.
Ragged Records = We're gonna have a WHOLE NEW selection of $3.00 boxes along with a variety of other cool used records for sale. This time we're also gonna have a collection of cool vintage BOOKS for sale.
Trash Can Annie = Will have vintage jewelry, purses, and collectables starting at $10.00. More cool finds!
Rozz Tox = Will be opening early and keeping the party going until midnight with a vinyl set from Memorywerks Musik. Slanging your favorite foods and beverages outta their new walk-up window.
Laborspace Courtyard 311 21st Street Rock Island, IL
5:00PM - 9:00PM SALE
5:00PM - 12:00AM Rozz Tox hours
We will be trying to keep things as safe and socially distant as possible. Please wear masks.
LISTEN: STAFF PICKS 2019
Here we are at the end of 2019, looking back on some of the albums that we cracked open and played endlessly in the shop. A lot of great albums came out this year including a posthumous record from Iowa’s own multi instrumentalist/singer- songwriter, producer Arthur Russell and the lump of coal turned into a diamond of an album, “No Other“ from The Byrd’s guitarist Gene Clark. Stream our playlist below!