Grouper‘s 2011 releases, A | A Dream Loss & A | A - Alien Observer, have been getting phenomenal reviews (Tiny Mix Tapes, Sputnik, 130bpm and Pitchfork). Only 1000 were pressed on the first run and they immediately sold out. Vortex was the only store in Canada to get them. We sold them for our regular price markup.

In addition, Grouper made 10 limited edition versions of the releases. Each contained:

1 x A I A Dream Loss LP, with customized art
1 x A I A Alien Observer LP, with customized art
1 x art print
1 x hand printed t-shirt

Vortex had two copies of this special edition. Lincoln got one and we gave one away for Record Store Day 2011.

A 12” single with a 7” of unreleased material inside. 300 were made for the world. We had the only ones in Canada. Sold out in 20 minutes.

On this CDR Marissa Nadler covers 17 of her favorite songs (she’s sworn me to secrecy regarding the titles). The only other way you’ll be able to get one is directly from Marissa. She’s pressed 500 so far and is considering doubling the run depending on demand, but won’t do more than 1000. We also had a sealed copy of Nadler’s Ballads of Living and Dying on LP (numbered to 1000; out of print since 2008).

I managed to track down a couple sealed copies of Como Now, an a capella gospel album that Daptone released four years ago which almost immediately went out of print.

This one was autographed. We gave it away on RSD.

Like the title says, we had a Dinosaur Jr Farm Skatedeck. I don’t know how many of these were made but we gave ours away on Record Store Day 2010.

This was a non-Canadian Record Store Day item for 2010. I believe there were 350 for the USA and 150 for the UK. The release has since been repressed and is readily available (since June or July 2010 I think), but in April 2010 we were the only store in Canada with it.

We had 10 of this out of print LP this year. One was autographed by the duo (guitarist Harris Newman and GY!BE drummer Bruce Cawdron). Nine copies were sold. The signed one was given away on RSD.

For Record Store Day 2010, we curated a Vortex-only compilation of some of our favourite bands from around the world--nine artists from eight countries, all tracks previously unreleased. (Okay, one of them had been released on a Japanese single but was out of print.) 75 hand-numbered copies were created and given away free to anyone who asked for one on RSD. To my knowledge, we were the only store in the world with its own RSD compilation. Full details and track listing in this post.

200 hand-numbered copies exist on Mississippi Records. A bunch of them were warped during a storage snafu. We had the only copies in the city—all mint. We gave one away in a free raffle on Record Store Day.

3LPs in a snazzy box, all wrapped up with a ribbon. 1000 copies manufactured for the world. Sold out in 12 hours. We had four of ‘em. We sold one. We gave one away on Record Store Day, 2010. Lincoln owns one and the remaining one will be used as a prize or promotional item at some point in the future.

The original pressing of the Wide LP was in an edition of 1000. I’m not sure what the print run was on the He Knows 7”. We gave both away on Record Store Day as part of our free raffle.

Anduin‘s Abandoned in Sleep was released in late 2009 to very positive reviews (“A quietly epic, dense and harrowing sonic experience - do not miss.”—Boomkat). One test pressing of the album exists on vinyl. We gave it away in our free Record Store Day raffle.

When At Dawn was originally released in June 2001, the first batch of CD copies came with a bonus disc of demos. The regular CD is nice enough on its own but the bonus disc is a delight. We found 10 sealed copies in a warehouse at one of our distributors.

Black to Comm made the big time when he was pushed into the spotlight with Pitchfork’s review of Alphabet 1968. We had three sets of most of his vinyl back catalog, which included:

Alphabet 1968 LP (limited to 500)
Incidents 7” (limited to 292 copies)
Fractal Hair Geometry LP (limited to 500 copies)
Black to Comm / Aosuke Split 12” - s/t (limited to 500 copies)
Wir können leider nicht etwas mehr zu tun… 2LP (limited to 500 copies)
Rückwärts Backwards LP (limited to 222 copies)
s/t 10” (limited to 250 copies)

One of my favorite albums, Svarte Greiner‘s Man Bird Dress is an ambient doom masterpiece. The LP was limited to 350 in its first run and it took 35 test pressings to get it sounding just right. We had two of ‘em. I kept one and we sold the other.

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