Bandcamp is opening some sort of brick-and-mortar "record shop," whatever that's supposed to be

By William Hughes | January 17, 2019 | 11:23pm

Aux Features Music

Those digital wunderkinds at online music retailer Bandcamp have done it yet again: Combining bricks, mortar, and, presumably, the raw stuff of pure, inspired genius, the site has announced it’ll soon be opening a physical store for music—a sort of recorded music shop, if you will—in California next month. Located in Oakland, the Bandcamp IRL venture will serve as both a music store and an event space, showcasing some of the hundreds of thousands of groups affiliated with the site, and reveling in the organic novelty of experiencing music in the disgusting, fallible, analog-imperfect flesh.

The new Bandcamp location will begin playing host to people’s gurgling organ sacks on February 1, allowing fans of the company’s free-for-all publishing vibe to buy music pressed—as if by some dark and mysterious wizardry—onto vinyl, much like our distant ancestors are speculated to have done. The company is also promising all-ages shows, integration with the Oakland arts community, and community-focused events in partnership with good causes like the Oakland School for the Arts, Bay Area Girls Rock Camp, and Transgender Law Center, which it’s been a vocal supporter of for years.