Of all things, it had to become a tanning salon. When Record Express in Middletown, Conn. shut its doors, Brendan Toller was angry enough for being forced into finding a new avenue to feed his vinyl addiction. But a tanning salon? Ouch.

The synthetic sun parlor was a salt-in-the-wound symbol for every “fake” pillar of the music industry Toller thought had brought down his go-to vinyl spot.

“I really was sad and angry about it,” says Toller. “They would attribute [store closings] to digital sales and downloading, which I knew full well wasn’t true. It was corporate greed — major record labels pushing artists with little to no talent hoping to get quick sales and nothing in the long term.”

So Toller set out to prove his point.

The age old debate finally has its definitive answer: if a bunch of musicians cut a record in the forest, does anyone hear it?

Yes. As long as it’s winter, the woods are in Wisconsin and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) is involved.

Vernon first channeled the magic of those Wisconsin woods in winter of 2007, recording his smash breakthrough (as Bon Iver) For Emma, Forever Ago — an album that earned him countless accolades and nearly overnight mainstream fame. So when he teamed with fellow-Wisconsinites Collections of Colonies of Bees to form Volcano Choir, where else would the group assemble to record its debut collection?

The Fiery Furnaces have a reputation for quirkiness. Through a career that has thus far seen the release of records like the conceptually globetrotting Blueberry Boat, the backmask-laden Bitter Tea, the geriatrically narrated Rehearsing My Choir and Remember, the “live” album cobbled together from countless shows over the course of three years, maybe that reputation is deserved.

The members of Brand New have come a long way from their pop-punk beginnings, but, when you think about it, a decade is a pretty long time. Since banding together in 2000, Brand New has never been afraid to evolve, and their latest disc, Daisy, again finds the band exploring new stylistic terrain.

Sitting in an office surrounded by gold and platinum RIAA Sales Awards, thanking radio for selling millions and millions of recordings of artists, Kevin Steele, program manager for Athens radio station Magic 102.1 sends an e-mail explaining why he thinks the current actions of those same record companies and their artists who once showed gratitude are now threatening the radio industry – an industry with a dynamic history full of ups and downs.

The numbers don’t lie. Last July, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” earned about 4.6 million nightly viewers. This July, “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” got about 2.6 million visitors. There could be any number of factors as to why O’Brien’s ratings paled in comparison to Leno’s, but for the sake of conserving editorial space, we’ll just blame it on growing pains. A new face in a new place. Hell, numbers like Jay’s would be hard for anyone to replace.

It’s an August night in Athens’ Caledonia Lounge and Holly Ross, lead singer/guitarist of UK’s Lovely Eggs, is holding court atop the dimly-lit stage. With a drum mallet in one hand and a PBR in the other, she watches fellow bandmate (and husband) David Blackwell set an unstable, rust-colored floor tom aside the front monitor.