Every Day Is Record Store Day at Laguna Beach's Sound Spectrum

This Saturday, April 20, is Record Store Day. That means it behooves you to head over to longtime (since 1967, dude!) Laguna Beach record shop Sound Spectrum, our local participant in what's become an annual event designed to coax people away from their digital downloading and buy music the way us oldsters did back in the day: Inside a glorious independent record shop where you're forced to interact with real live people standing behind the counter.

To motivate music buyers into parting with their money for this worldwide event, a slew of bands both legendary and obscure are once again releasing highly collectible limited-run pressings (vinyl, in many cases) of their music, including the Rolling Stones, R.E.M. and the Cure, and more contemporary bands like Mumford & Sons and Best Coast.

For the full rundown of what's arriving Saturday, click the PDF file in the box on the right -- though it's important to know that not all stores, including Sound Spectrum, will have everything on the list, so it's best to give 'em a call and ask at 949-494-5959. Or hey, just show up Saturday and see what you stumble across.

Sound Spectrum has definitely benefitted from the global promotion since it first began in 2008.

"It's like the four or five days before Christmas all rolled into one for us," says Wave Baker, who usually is there working the counter with longtime owner Jim Otto. "The renewed interest in vinyl has reallly helped us out. We'll get a couple of customers who'll come in and buy $400 or $500 worth of vinyl."

Sound Spectrum is at 1264 S. Coast Hwy., and they'll be opening at 10 a.m. Saturday, an hour earlier than usual.