I stumbled upon Animal Records (624 Grove Street) when I was in Evanston doing research for a book I’m writing. I arrived during their “soft opening” when they were still stocking record bins from the massive collection in the basement.
Despite still bringing out their inventory, and still categorizing it, they already had a good number of customers who were delighted to find a new record store not terribly far from the Northwestern University campus. How could they not be when they could find stuff like this?
The Hobbit-influenced music next to Cab Calloway? How can you miss?
Or this?
A party in just six records.
The selection is vinyl-heavy, but that’s okay when you can find goofy stuff like this.
It’s a fun place. I walked out of there with an Esquivel CD that’s a fun spin. The word is that the basement will be open for crate-diggers next year. Don’t miss that.
Tucked away near a residential neighborhood and in an unassuming building, End of an Ear (4304 Clawson Road, Austin, Texas) feels like it could also be the end of your bank account when you enter the place.
The place is stacked with a lot of killer vinyl and a good amount of CDs. I found four CDs to buy at the first bin I found immediately to the right of the door. They even have cassettes.
And books…plenty of books.
Getting back to the vinyl for you collectors, they have every genre you can imagine and some you’ve probably forgotten. They have bins off oddball stuff like this…
Garfunkel and Groucho! The dream team we never knew we wanted until now.
…to cool soundtracks and film scores like this.
If that’s not enough, their DVD/ Blu-Ray / 4K selection of movies was outstanding, and heavy on cult films and concert films, but I managed to hold off on several purchases of them due to having a stack of unwatched films at my house. I also would’ve bought this if it was for sale (and it probably was) and if I had room for it in my house.
That’s an original banner as far as I can tell, and I’d love to know the story of how they acquired it.
They have a large room full of vintage and new stereo gear, too, in case you need something on which to play all that vinyl you’re going to buy.
It’s amazing that I walked out of their with only four CDs – all of them compilations.
I’d been looking for Bombay 2: Electric Vindaloo for a while. The Disco Italia compilation is outstanding. The French Funk Experience should be a blast, and, in a bit of synchronicity, I discovered Menace while at Austin’s Hotel Vegas when they were played over the speakers before Osees hit the stage.
This place should be one of your required stops if you’re record shopping in Austin. Heck, Drop Nineteens were doing a signing while I was there. How cool is that?
Located at 8 Public Square in Medina, Ohio, Blackbird Records has a wild mix of stuff in it, partially because it shares the same building and door as a toy shop. Walk in the place, look left, and you’ll see this.
Look to the right, and you’ll see this.
The toy store has plenty of stuff ranging from signed football jerseys to Harry Potter collectibles. The record store’s stock is primarily vinyl albums and EPs.
The selection is a good mix of stuff for a small space. For instance, here’s an interesting bin.
Just here we have The Gap Band, Kenny Loggins, Grand Funk Railroad, and Ian Dury and The Blockheads all within easy reach of each other.
Looking for bargains? They have those, too.
Sheena Easton, Kenny Rogers, Wayne Newton, Buster Poindexter, and Climax Blues Band all in the same bargain bin. They also have some cool gig posters for sale, both originals and reprints. This one was a standout.
However, this one is the one thing I would’ve bought at the place if I had the money for it.
My late wife, Mandy, and I were at this show. It was the only time we got to see Nirvana, or Meat Puppets or The Boredoms. The Boredoms freaked out everyone in the audience. No one had any idea who they were or what they were doing. Meat Puppets dropped a solid set, and Nirvana had a fun time that even included taking a break until an audience member called his mom.
So, if anyone needs a Christmas gift idea for me, go to Blackbird Records. You’ll find plenty of options.
Tucked on a corner lot at 2960 North High Street in Columbus, Ohio, Lost Weekend Records takes up the bottom floor of this building and stuffs a lot of cool stuff inside the limited space. You’re blitzed with a lot of stuff you’ll want as soon as you walk in the door.
The selection is mostly vinyl, but there are CDs, cassettes, and other stuff there if you’re not a vinyl collector (like yours truly). However, the vinyl they do have is nifty, with a lot of stuff from all over the musical map. Turn into the room on the right when you first walk in and scope all this wax.
And check out all those great gig posters and flyers! I’d love to have this one in my collection.
Speaking of cool punk rock stuff, they have a big collection of punk rock 7″ singles from a ton of obscure bands. It’s a goldmine for such stuff.
Two long shelves of punk rock / indie 7″ singles!
They also do a good job of what any good wrecka stow will do – supporting local bands. They have a whole section dedicated to Ohio artists.
Finally, if all this wasn’t enough, they also give away concert tickets.
1. Kraftwerk 2. Khruangbin. 3. Nelsonville Music Festival. Also, that is a vintage copy of the first issue of Rolling Stone for sale in that display case.
It’s a neat place. I picked up a CD copy of Electric Wizard‘s Dopethrone there for not even five bucks. You can’t beat that.
If you find yourself near Concourse C at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and need some time to kill, what better place to do it than the Sub Pop Records store?
The place has a little bit of everything, and all of it is related to Sub Pop artists. The book collection is impressive, and I love how it contained stuff for young readers, too.
I was surprised to see the large number of cassettes they had for sale, it seemed to be larger than the number of CDs.
The cassettes wrap around three sides of this pillar.Whereas the CDs were on seven shelves.
As you can tell, there’s plenty of vinyl, and they had “travel friendly” 7″ vinyl, too.
They have a lot of “Loser edition” records here, which are limited edition colored vinyl versions of these albums. They also have cool stuff like this in some bins at the bottom of shelves.
Well, I need this in my life…Not to mention that Sleater-Kinney album.
There’s plenty of Sub Pop gear to buy as well. You can even buy a replica of Kurt Cobain’s famous flannel shirt.
Located at 1524 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia Record Exchange is a crate-diggers dream and a great place for music lovers. I knew I was in the right place when I overheard the owner and a customer having a fun discussion about a rare Taco record.
My friend, Jessica, and I walked in and immediately saw this on the left…
…and this on the right.
Once you get back the initial barrage of sights upon entering the place, you see the back 2/3 of the store has so much vinyl that you could spend days digging through it and not see it all.
These boxes reminded me of being in a comic book store full of back issues. Those are full of 45s. See that white crate on top of the middle stack? This was the record at the front of it…
The place is a gold mine for stuff like this. Need more rarities? How about…?
That was on a wall in the back of the store, which looks like this…
Jessica and I spent close to an hour here and barely touched a handful of things when you consider how much they have. I mean, they even have cool Indian mediation music.
And boxes like this you can’t resist…
They also have two of the best clocks I’ve seen in a while.
I’m not sure if I need that one more in my life, or this one…
Then again, I might need this album in my life more than either of those clocks…
I didn’t walk out with that piece of vinyl, but I did score three cool CDs.
I don’t know how I haven’t owned physical copies of those debut albums by The Damned and The Psychedelic Furs before now, but that copy of the Sitting Target score was a great find and a steal at that price. There are many great bargains here, so bring your wallet.
Located at 506 South Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Repo Records is a hip place with a ton of hip stuff for you to peruse and discover. I mean, the front door and windows alone display posters for The National, Danny Brown, Mannequin Pussy, Joy Division, and Led Zeppelin, so you know they’ll have something for you.
They have plenty of music, of course, but the first thing that grabbed my eyes when I walked in were two big bookcases of books, zines, and other freaky publications.
And yes, there’s plenty of music for you to gawk over and buy. This is just a small section of the vinyl available here. Here’s the back of the store…
Check that out. The Monkees, The Allman Brothers, De La Soul, and Gang Green all on the same wall.
A whole crate of 80s – 90s goth, post-punk, and industrial stuff. I could’ve dropped a lot of money here, and I almost snagged this MF DOOM record.
I opted for seven CDs and a couple patches instead…
Yes, that’s seven CDs because that Jesus and Mary Chain set is all five of their original albums. I already own a digital copy of Candy, but buying all five at that price was a steal. I’d wanted to pick up Viagra Boys‘ Welfare Jazz for a little while, and that Green Velvet disc was a surprise find. Also, the patches were too fun to pass up – especially the MF DOOM one since I didn’t snag the record.
Be sure to swing by Repo Records if you’re in town, but be warned…
Located at 30 Berwick Street in London, Reckless Records packs a lot of cool stuff into a small space. The place had a lot of customers while I was there, most of them flipping through the extensive racks of vinyl in the building.
As you can see, they had nearly an entire wall of rare “white label” pressings, and I love that they have a section called “Cheaps.” Don’t worry, fellow CD lovers, they have those, too.
I wasn’t sure where to begin, but I ended up scoring a Julian Cope EP I’d never seen before, so that was a win. I was short on time, too, so I didn’t get to spend as much time in there as I’d like to have spent. This was probably better for my wallet, too, but I’d be happy to go back there. Be sure to check it out if you’re in London.
It’s a good thing I don’t live in London, because I would be perpetually broke from spending so much money at Sister Ray Records at 75 Berwick Street in Soho.
Not only is their collection extensive and widely varied, but the bargains to be had there are second to none.
This is a tiny sample of what they had to offer. They had any genre you wanted, and a lot of great collections for dirt cheap prices. I scored a three-disc house music collection for not even eight bucks, an Ian Dury three-CD anthology, a Jam collection, a live Julian Copealbum, a remastered version of Psychedelic Furs‘ Talk Talk Talk album, a Viagra Boys album, and a live album by The Damned. The Julian Cope disc was the most expensive thing I bought, and that was barely twelve dollars after the price conversion from British pounds. They had a staggering number of multi-disc collections for under ten pounds each.
There was a lot more I wanted, and I barely even looked in their basement.
CDs upstairs, vinyl downstairs. Both floors have enough in the racks to keep you busy for hours. I could’ve stayed there until they closed the doors, and, again, the prices are stunning.
Do not miss this place if you’re ever in London. It’s a must-stop for music lovers and collectors.
Conveniently located next to a bus stop in downtown Edinburgh, Scotland, Fopp is a chain of record stores around the UK, and this one had a lot of cool stuff in it – half of which I didn’t get to see because I got there about 20 minutes before they closed.
So, yes, first off – books, T-shirts, DVDs, and new music as soon as you walk in the door.
Vinyl? Of course there’s vinyl, as well as turntables and speakers.
Check out that Batman record between Nina Simone and Florence and The Machine!
There’s a wing of CDs as well, where I was tempted to grab about half a dozen things, but vinyl is king here.
Looking back, I should’ve grabbed that Radiohead shirt.
I did find a great CD score, however, settling for just one purchase since they were in the process of closing by the time I was sorting through many shelves of discs.
I’d been looking for stuff from The Limiñanas for a while, and here was a two-disc collection with 35 tracks. It was like finding a golden ticket in a Wonka bar.
There was an entire bottom floor full of DVDs and books that I didn’t get to see because of the short time I had there, but I’d happily go back. Don’t skip this place if you’re in Edinburgh.
