Interscope-Capitol’s Definitive Sound Series Comes to Indie Record Stores

Interscope-Capitol’s Definitive Sound Series is coming to independent record stores on June 26, bringing the label’s premium audiophile vinyl line into shops for the first time.

The first batch includes The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, blink-182’s Enema of the State, Beck’s Morning Phase, Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down, Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, and A Perfect Circle’s Mer de Noms.

It’s an interesting spread, to be sure. Pet Sounds makes obvious sense, but some of the other titles suggest something broader. This is not the usual audiophile shelf: these are records from different worlds, treated with the same level of care.

Each release is numbered and limited, with no planned repress once copies are gone. R.E.M.’s Chronic Town/Murmur has already sold out and will not be part of this retail rollout.

The DSS editions are sourced from the best available masters, pressed on Neotech VR900 DS 180-gram high-definition vinyl, and made using the One Step process. Each copy also includes a certificate of authenticity with details on the mastering, plating, and pressing chain.

The series has already drawn praise from audiophile outlets, including The Tracking Angle, Analog Planet, and Audiophile Audition. TSN has admired it for the same reason: it takes the full object seriously, from source to sound to presentation. And, we've been lucky enough to interview Tom "Grover" Biery about the series twice: once for the Christmas Song and again for Pet Sounds. Check out the links to those podcast interviews below.

Xavier Ramos, EVP of D2C and eCommerce Strategy at Interscope/Capitol, said the series was created to honor these albums through a high standard of vinyl craftsmanship, and that bringing the titles into independent retail allows them to reach the communities that have supported vinyl culture for years.

What makes this move especially nice is that these records are coming into real record stores, just like ours. There is a difference between buying a limited pressing online and finding it in a shop, where it can be handled, discussed, compared, and maybe argued over a little bit.

The label has also previewed the next titles in the series: A Perfect Circle’s Thirteenth Step, Hole’s Live Through This, and Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On.

For now, the first wave arrives at indie record stores on June 26. Limited editions don't wait around, but the better part of the story is that these records are finally coming into the room. We'll plan on stocking them in full force at The Sharp Notes. Please reach out with any pre-order requests.