This Saturday, 16 April, is Record Store Day 2011.

The annual celebration of independent record stores has grown in stature since its origins in 2007, with a huge number of special vinyl editions being issued by record labels to mark RSD 2011, and more participating stores than ever.

To help you make sense of the morass of vinyl goodies being served up on Saturday, we’ve compiled a list of particularly noteworthy releases. We’ve tried to be as inclusive as possible, but also chosen to skip a few items which we seriously doubt will be of interest to FACT readers. The backbone of our list is taken from Record Store Day’s exhaustive official guide, but there’s plenty in our list that isn’t in the official guide, like the Eglo-issued dub of Floating Points’ ‘Sais’, for example.

It’s an obvious point, but do bear in mind that not every participating store is going to have copies of all of the below records on sale this Saturday, and that those items it does have in stock will be available in highly limited quantities. So avoid disappointment and undignified fisticuffs by arriving early, and perhaps making a realistic wishlist before hand.

So what are the stand-outs? We’ve marked them all in bold within the list, but a few are worth drawing further attention to. The first item we’re going to be making a lunge for on Saturday is the vinyl reissue of Arthur Russell’s World of Echo. Russell’s most immersive and moving record, deploying little more than his voice, cello and an arsenal of delay effects, original copies are virtually impossible to come by, and even the last reissue (courtesy of Audika in 2005) commands around £60 second-hand. Radiohead’s new 12″ will obviously be one of the most popular RSD purchases, along with the special editions of recent and new releases by Antony & The Johnsons and Panda Bear.

Warp contributes a mini-LP of alternate takes from Flying Lotus‘s Cosmogramma, and a split 12″ from Bibio and Clark. Beck and Bat For Lashes‘ duet ‘Let’s Get Lost’ gets a vinyl pressing, while selected music from Daft Punk‘s Tron score finds its way onto a limited 10″. There’s Warner’s much-feted box set of The Flaming Lips‘ first five albums or the label, a brain-scraping wee Hydra Head 7″ from Prurient and the rather mind-blowing prospect of an entire unreleased album from the Art of Noise: Music On Vinyl’s reissue of the band’s debut EP for ZTT, Into Battle, is backed with 18 never before heard tracks from the shelved 1984 album Worship.

Indeed, some of the most unmissable RSD offerings are reissues – of such artists as the aforementioned Arthur Russell, plus International Submarine Band, Jimi Hendrix, Neurosis, Beach Boys, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, The Doors, Big Star, The Rolling Stones and Kate Bush. Special props to Brooklyn’s Captured Tracks for reissuing two 7″s by one of our favourite post-punk bands, the underrated Factory act The Wake (now can someone please reissue their Harmony LP? Ta.) Of the various splits on sale, we’re instinctively drawn to the 7″s and 12″s from Oval/Liturgy, Deerhoof/Xiu Xiu and Charlotte Gainsbourg/Villagers.

Those of you in London would do well to head down to Phonica Records on Record Store Day. Not only will Phonica being selling many of the listed items, but in its basement The Vinyl Factory will have a special pop-up shop offering super-limited releases for sale and order, including new releases by Duran Duran and Pet Shop Boys, as well as rare classics from Massive Attack, The xx and more.


RECORD STORE DAY 2011 PICKS:

13th Floor Elevators – Wait For My Love [Snapper Music]
About Group – Start And Complete + bonus 7″ [Domino]
Adele: ‘Rolling in the Deep’ 10″ [Columbia]
Akron/Family: ‘bmbz’ 12″ [Dead Oceans]
Anoraak / Team Ghost: ‘Dolphins & Highways’/’A Glorious Time’ 7″ [PIAS]
Antony & The Johnsons – Swanlights EP [Rough Trade]
Arctic Monkeys – Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair 7″ [Domino]
Arp: ‘Pastoral Symphony’  (inc. Studio Remix) 12″ [Smalltown Supersound]
Arthur Russell: World of Echo [Rough Trade]
Art Of Noise: Into Battle [Music On Vinyl]
A Rekords: ‘Rekords Record’ 10″ [Domino]
Bad Brains: ‘Pay to Cum’ 7″; God of Love [ROIR]
Badly Drawn Boy: Lost For Words EP 12″ [One Last Fruit]
Baxter Dury: ‘Claire’ 7″ [Regal]
Beastie Boys: ‘Make Some Noise’ [Parlophone]
Beck / Bat For Lashes – ‘Let’s Get Lost’
Beth Ditto: I Wrote The Book EP [Columbia]
The Beach Boys: ‘Good Vibrations’/’Heroes & Villains’ [Capitol]
Beady Eye: 7″ vinyl box set [Dangerbird]
Bibio/Clark: ‘Willenhall’/’Baskerville Grinch’ 12″ [Warp]
Big Star: Third [Omnivore]
The Black Angels: Another Nice Pair; Phosgene Nightmare [Light in the Attic/Blue Horizon]
Black Twig Pickers/Glenn Jones: Split [Thrill Jockey]
Blitzen Trapper: ‘Maybe Baby’ 7″, ‘Soul Singer’ 7″ [Sub Pop]
British Sea Power: ‘Who’s In Control’ / ‘Living Is So Easy’
Broken Bells: Meyrin Fields EP
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: ‘Gotta Get That Feeling’/’Racing in the Street’ 7″ [Columbia]
Built to Spill: ‘Ripple’ 7″ [WBR]
Busdriver: ‘ATM’ 7″ [Polyvinyl]
Caribou: Swim Remixes [Merge]
Charlotte Gainsbourg/Villagers: ‘Memoir’/’Becoming a Jackal’ [Domino]
Children of Bodom vs Killing Joke – Northpole Throwdown
The Clash – ‘The Magnificent Seven’ 7″ [Columbia]
Clinic – ‘Ladies Night’ 10″ [Domino]
Country Joe & The Fish – Electric Music For The Mind And Body [EMI]
Cults: ‘Abducted’/’Go Outside (Remix)’ 7″ [ITNO/Columbia]
Daedelus: Tailor-Made [Ninja Tune]
Daft Punk: Tron 10″ [Walt Disney Records]
Damien Jurado: Live at Landlocked [Secretly Canadian]
Danger Mouse/Daniele Luppi: ‘Two Against One’/’Black’ [Third Man]
Death Cab for Cutie: Atlantic Records Presents: Death Cab for Cutie In Living Stereo! 7″ [Atlantic]
The Decemberists: Live at Bull Moose EP [Rough Trade/Capitol]
Deep Purple – ‘Hush’/’Speed King’ (BBC Sessions) 7″ [EMI]
Deerhoof: Friend Opportunity [Polyvinyl]
Deerhoof/Xiu Xiu: Split 7″ [Polyvinyl]
Deerhunter: ‘Memory Boy’ 7″ [4AD]
Dennis Coffey: Steinski Remixes [Strut]
Derek & The Dominos: ‘Got To Get Better In A Little While’/’Layla’ 7″ [Polydor]
The Dodos: ‘So Cold’ 7″ [French Kiss]
DOM: “Things Change” b/w “Jesus” 10″ [Astralwerks]
The Doors – ‘Riders On The Storm’ 7″ [Rhino]
The Doors – The Doors (180g mono RSD edition) [Rhino]
Duran Duran: Girl Panic! (including David Lynch remix) [S-Curve]
Earth – Angels of Darkness, Demons Of Light 1 (RSD edition) [Southern Lord]
Edwyn Collins: ‘In Your Eyes’ / ‘To Die For’ 7″ [Heavenly]
Eric Clapton: Unplugged [Warner Bros]
Esben and the Witch: Chorea EP [Matador]
Fela Kuti and the Africa 70: Monday Morning in Lagos Parts 1 & 2 [Knitting Factory/MRI]
The Flaming Lips: Heady Nuggs: The First 5 Warner Bros. Records 1992-2002 [Warner Bros.]
Fleet Foxes: ‘Helplessness Blues’/’Grown Ocean’ 12″ [Sub Pop]
Floating Points: ‘Sais’ (Dub) [Eglo]
Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma Alt Takes [Warp]
Foals – The Metropolis Session 12″ [Warner Bros]
Foo Fighters: Medium Rare [Roswell/RCA]
Franz Ferdinand: Covers EP [Domino]
Frightened Rabbit / Twilight Sad – split [Fat Cat]
Fucked Up: David’s Town [Matador]
Gold Panda – ‘Marriage’ 12″ (inc. Forest Swords and Baths remixes) [Notown]
Gorillaz: The Fall [Virgin/Parlophone]
Gotan Project: Nueva Cumbia Remixes [Ya Basta!]
The Go! Team: ‘Apollo Throwdown’ /’Voice Yr Choice” 12″
Green Day/Husker Du: “I Don’t Want to Know If You Are Lonely” 7″ [WBR]
Grinderman: Palaces of Montezuma and Evil [Anti-]
The Heartbreaks – Jealous Don’t You Know 7″ [Morcambe Rock]
Hercules & Love Affair – ‘Painted Eyes’/’Shelter’ [Moshi Moshi]
Howe Gelb: ‘Sno Angel’/Melted Wires’ [Fort Lowell]
International Submarine Band w/ Gram Parsons: Safe At Home + 7″ [Sundazed]
James Yorkston: ‘It’s Lovely To Be Heard’/’The Talking Diaries Of A Scottish Gent: Ransacked and elucidated by various salient friends’ 10″ [Domino]
Javelin: Canyon Candy [Luaka Bop]
Jenny & Johnny and Gram Parson & Emmylou Harris: ‘Love Hurts’ 7″
Jimi Hendrix: ‘Fire’ 7″ [Sony]
Jimi Hendrix & Lightnin’ Rod: Doirella Du Fontaine [Celluloid]
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts: I Love Rock & Roll [Blackheart Music]
John Fahey – Requia [Ace]
John Hammond – So Many Roads [Ace]
John Mayall & Eric Clapton – ‘Lonely Years’/’Bernard Jenkins’ 7″ [Sundaze]
Jonsi – Go Out EP [Parlophone]
Joy Division / New Order – ‘Ceremony’/’In A Lonely Place’ 12″ [Rhino]
The Joy Formidable: ‘Whirring’/’Chwyrlio’ 7″ [Atlantic]
Justin Townes Earle: ‘Move Over Mama’/’Racing in the Streets’ [Bloodshot]
Karen Elson: ‘Vicious/’In Trouble With the Lord’ [Third Man]
Kate Bush: Hounds of Love Collectors’ Edition [Audio Fidelity]
The Kills: ‘Satellite’ (Mad Professor mixes) [Domino]
Kings of Leon: Holy Roller Novocaine 10″ [RCA]
Kode 9 and the Spaceape: ‘Otherman’ / ‘Love Is the Drug’ 12″ [Hyperdub]
KORT (Kurt Wagner & Cortney Tidwell): ‘Please Don’t Touch’/’Time Will Show The Wiser’ [City Slang]
Lady Gaga: ‘Born This Way’ [Intersope]
Lewis Floyd Henry: ‘Went To A Party’/’White Wedding’ [Adjust]
Lindstrøm & Christabelle / Bear In Heaven –  ‘Lovesick’ 12″ [Hometapes]
Lone Pigeon – 28 Secret Tracks limited vinyl pressing [Domino]
Lower Dens: ‘Deer Knives’/ ‘Tangiers’ [Sub Pop]
The Luyas/Twin Sister: Split 7″ [Dead Oceans]
Mastodon: Live at the Aragon [Warner]
Mastodon/ZZ Top: ‘Just Got Paid’ 7″ [Warner]
Mates of State: Team Boo [Polyvinyl]
Matt and Kim: ‘Block After Block’ [Fader]
Metronomy – The Look [Because]
Michael Jackson – ‘Hollywood Tonight’/’Behind The Mask’ 7″ [Epic]
Midlake/Will Self: ‘Am I Going Insane?’ 12″ [LateNightTales]
Miles Kane: ‘A Girl Like You’ 7″ [Sony]
Mirrors – Look At Me (Laura Cantrell Mix) / Lights and Offerings (Belbury Poly Mix) [Skint]
Mitchell and Manley: Norcal Values [Thrill Jockey]
Moon Duo: ‘Scars’ (Sonic Boom Remix) / ‘Flowers’
Mumford and Sons/Laura Marling: Dharohar Project [Glassnote]
My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges, It Still Moves; Z [ATO] [reissue]
Nada Surf: ‘The Moon is Calling’ 7″ [Barsuk]
Neurosis: Neurosis [Savior]
Neurosis: Sovereign [Hydra Head]
The New Pornographers: ‘Moves’ [Matador]
New York Dolls: ‘Fool for You Baby’/’Pills’ 7″ [Savoy]
Nirvana: Hormoaning EP [Geffen] [reissue]
OFF!: Live at Generation Records [Vice]
Of Montreal: ‘The Past Is a Grotesque Animal’ 12″ [Polynvinyl]
Omar Rodriguez Lopez: Telesterion [Rodriguez Lopez Productions]
Opeth: ‘The Throat of Winter’ 7″ [Roadrunner]
Os Mutantes: Everything Is Possible [Luaka Bop]
Oval/Liturgy: Split [Thrill Jockey]
Owen: O, Evelyn [Polyvinyl]
Ozzy Ozbourne: ‘Flying High Again’ b/w ‘I Don’t Know’ (live) 7″ [Legacy]
Panda Bear: Tomboy limited edition LP [Paw Tracks]
Pearl Jam: ‘Immortality/’Rearviewmirror’ 7″ [Legacy]
Peter, Bjorn and John: ‘Dig a Little Deeper’/’What I Could Do If I Wanted’ 7″ [Columbia]
Peter Tosh – ‘Legalize It’/’Equal Rights’ 7″ [Legacy]
Pinback: Information Retrieved A [Temporary Residence]
Pink Floyd – London 66/67 [Snapper Music]
Polvo: Celebrate the New Dark Age [Merge]
Prurient: ‘Many Jewels Surround the Crown’ 7″ [Hydra Head]
Queen: ‘Keep Yourself Alive/’Son and Daughter’ [Hollywood]
R.E.M.: R.E.M. Three: First Three Singles from Collapse Into Now [Warner Bros.]
Radiohead: ‘The Butcher’/’Supercollider’ 12″ [self-released]
The Red Krayola: ‘Hurricane Fighter Plane’ [Snapper Music]
Red Hot Chilli Peppers / Ramones – Havana Affair 7″ [Warner Bros]
Regina Spektor: Four From Far [Sire]
Rise Against: ‘Join The Ranks’ 7″ [Fat Wreck Chords]
The Rolling Stones: ‘Brown Sugar’ 7″ [UMe]
Roll The Dice – Live in Gothenburg: August 2010 12″ [The Leaf Label]
Roy Orbison – ‘Only The Lonely’/’Oh, Pretty Woman’ (live 1995) 7″ [Music On Vinyl]
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals: Class Mythology EP [Pax-Am]
Sandy Denny – ‘I’m A Dreamer’/’Who Knows Where The Time Goes’ 7″ [Universal]
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: Broom [Polyvinyl]
Sonic Youth: Whore’s Moaning 12″ [Geffen]
Steve Earle: ‘I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive’ [NewWest]
Suede: ‘The Drowners’/’To the Birds’ [Demon] [reissue]
Superchunk: Where the Strings Come In [Merge]
Superchunk and Coliseum: Misfits covers 7″ [Merge/Temporary Residence]
Syd Barrett: An Introduction To… [Capitol]
Television: Live at the Old Waldorf [Rhino]
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers [Reprise]
Urge Overkill: ‘Effigy’/’Smokehouse’ 7″ [Urge Overkill]
The Velvet Underground: Foggy Notion [Sundazed]
Vivian Girls: ‘Share The Joy’/’I Won’t be Long’ [Polyvinyl]
The Wake: ‘On Our Honeymoon’ 7″; ‘Crush the Flowers’ [Captured Tracks]
Wavves: ‘Thorns’ / ‘TV Luv Song’ 7″ [Ghost Ramp / Trash Talk Collective]
The White Stripes: ‘Let’s Shake Hands’ 7″; ‘Lafayette Blues’ 7″ [Third Man]
Wild Beasts – ‘Albatross’ 7″ [Domino]
Wild Flag: ‘Future Crimes’ / ‘Glass Tambourine’ 7″ [Merge]
The Yardbirds: ‘Goodnight Sweet Josephine’ 7″ [Sundazed]
Yeasayer: End Blood [Secretly Canadian]
Various Artists: Portable Shrines Magic Sound Theater Vol. 1 [Light in the Attic]
Various Artists: No One Got Hurt [Bloodshot]
Various Artists: Kill Rock Stars [Kill Rock Stars]
Various Artists: Mute Vorwarts [Mute]
Various Artists: Rhymesayers Vinyl Picture Disc [Rhymesayers]
Various Artists: Sing for Your Meat: Tribute to Guided by Voices [No More Fake Labels]
Various Artists: Sacred Bones Presents: Todo Muerte Vol 1. [Sacred Bones]|
Various Artists: Local Customs: Pressed at Boddie [Numero Group]