For the last few weeks I’ve been away on vacation, my ipod safe and silent in the hotel. I was in Hong Kong and the only tunes I’ve heard have been almost anti-music to my ears, loads of dreadful Cantopop; well that and the songs in my head. Hong Kong as a city seemed dead to much else music wise, whilst there Muse played and I found one other underground gig. Most of the record shops I came across either dealt exclusively in walls of that bland nonsense, were closed (damn you White Noise – my shining beacon of hope!) or stocked acres of overpriced old jazz LPs.
Funny thing is, the songs that ran constantly through my mind whilst getting ready, jostling my way through the crowded streets or clambering up the nearest peak weren’t my top tracks. They were an odd selection of either things that were related to what I was looking at – Supergrass’ Moving whilst watching the shadows of clouds roll across the hills for example – or more often than not uber-catchy pop tunes from the eighties. What I find odd about this is that you’d think when deprived of music your mind would relate back to the songs you class as your favourites, instead it reverts to base values. I realise this has the potential to ruin my credentials (pah! – what credentials!) as a purveyor of music taste, but I found the strains of tracks like Roxette’s The Look blasting through the alleys of my brain. Why?!
I’m guessing it is just the catchiness of these pop nuggets that has lodged in there; after all that was the kind of pap that my folks would listen to in the car when travelling, they were the songs on the radio when I was growing up. Of course, there was some great pop from that decade – can you beat the Pet Shop Boys, The Human League, Frankie? – but why wasn’t I remembering that? Does our memory have a default setting to fill the aural void with songs from our earliest years? If so, surely it can’t have such bad taste – I want to remember the good stuff my folks brought me up on! To make it worse since I’ve got back I’m finding it hard to listen to music for any consistent period of time, almost like I’m having to re-train my mind into hearing recorded audio again.
Sorry for the ramble, back to the music next post – and trying to finish my best of ‘09!
Supergrass – Moving (mp3)
Roxette – The Look (mp3)
Now Record Store Day is upon us (I’ve fallen a little behind with updates – blame late nights with Errors and Bat For Lashes!) how could I pick any other store than my local – the veritable Banquet. Located in London satellite town Kingston-upon-Thames the shop is a wonderful little place, and a success story in these times of music business downturn. Local blogger Kittens In Mittens has a great piece on their phoenix from the flames story, so have a read here. Suffice to say that these days the shop is always bustling, stacked with a great variety of customers, all catered for by the wide-reaching knowledge of the staff. Undoubtedly the best bit about Banquet is their in-stores and local club shows (New Slang and more) , always featuring a stellar cast of big, or soon-to-be, bands. In 2008 they hosted shows from Cut Copy, Los Campesinos!, Be Your Own Pet, Hot Chip, Laura Marling, Friendly Fires and so many more; all for around a fiver a pop. Not only that but a fair number of their in-stores are under-18s only, meaning that local kids really get a feel for being part of a local scene – genius.
Star Find: Less of a record, more the experience of first seeing Los Campesinos! for the first time. The sound in New Slang’s old venue, decrepid Kingston hole The Works, was dreadful but the Welsh whizzkids really lit the place up. I’d been keen to see them since the release of You! Me! Dancing but was a bit suspect they’d be a one trick pony – not at all. My first trip to New Slang, despite being a local for years – the first of many!
Los Campesinos! – Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
December 2007 – We’d been planning a trip to New York for years and years and the famous record shops were a big draw for me. New York artists are responsible for a huge proportion of my record collection – I hoped to stock up on several back catalogues whilst there, taking advantage of the then superb exchange rates… Well the city and it’s shops didn’t let me down! Greenwich Village was obviously the first and best call, with at least three along Bleecker Street alone. Worth a mention were the staff at Bleecker Street Records who valiantly tried to help us get tickets to see Yo La Tengo over in Hoboken that night, alas in vain.
Streets ahead though was Rebel Rebel Records. Take a gander at the picture above – total chaos. I’d have quite happily spent hours browsing away in here, but we had sights to see and galleries to muse through. The chap poking out through the piles littering the counter quite happily chatted away to me about the London scene, how Burial records were difficult to get hold of and how good it was for us Brits shopping in the Big Apple. The kind of interaction you’d expect from your own local record shop, only I was thousands of miles away. I turned away to rummage through a few likely looking boxes, randomly picking the ones that might hold a gem…
Star Find: In the end I found pretty much exactly what I wanted, the latest Blonde Redhead LP, 23. A New York record by a New York band, and one of the very finest albums of 2007.
Blonde Redhead – 23
Photo: ChrisB
Kicking off my run down of the best independent places to spend your hard earned is a Brighton institution – Rounder Records. Nestled away in the famous Lanes, Rounder (like all the best record stores) is a hive of local scene activity – stocking tickets for Brighton’s vibrant live scene along with a choice selection of vinyl and CDs. Record stores have a reputation, mainly deserved, for being fortresses of snobbery and sneer – and a lack of that is what drives Rounder into my Top 5. It’s a thoroughly pleasant place to spend time – light, airy and not overstocked, and perhaps most importantly staffed by pleasant folk. In my experience of the shop not once have I seen someone talked down to, dismissed or ignored – and despite often being rammed there always seems time to discuss the latest and greatest with the bloke behind the counter. From Blackalicious to the Bad Seeds not only has there been knowledge, but interest too – a proper two-way conversation. A key factor in their 43 year history, surely?
Star Find: Back in 2004 when The Killers weren’t a band of language manglers (or maybe they were, but I was younger then…) there was a limited edition light blue vinyl of Hot Fuss that I had trawled most of London’s stores for, chain and independent. I’d driven my lady insane with this wild wax chase, and we’d probably escaped to Brighton to get away from record shops. Wandering past Rounder I couldn’t help but notice that they’d assigned LCD’s seminal Yeah one of their singles of ‘03 – I had to go in, and there it was, no. 2919. Done.
The Killers – Mr Brightside
Photo: Brighton Photo Daily
This coming Saturday sees International Record Store Day, a chance to celebrate the culture of the independent record shop. Started in 2007 the celebration mainly focuses on the US but this year sees two of the biggest London indies joining in the shindig. Rough Trade East is hosting a free all-dayer featuring Betty & The Werewolves, Wave Machines and many more. Pure Groove hosts Graham Coxon and Patrick Wolf in their bash. Not only this but there are some exclusive releases floating around too – with two free compilations being given out, one featuring the guitar-led style of indie, one the beats-led dance stuff.
Here on Stereo Jealousy, I’ll be running a week-long rundown of my five favourite record shops. I’ve come up with a pretty lengthy shortlist, so whittling it down to five will be tricky. Sadly, there won’t be a mention for two of the shops that shaped my young musical taste – Andy’s Records and Mike Lloyd Music, both former shops in my glorious home town of Stoke. The latter brought me my first experience of record shop snobbery – being told that my Lightning Seeds best of wasn’t worth squat as a trade!
I think Damon Albarn sums up my feelings pretty well: “I think independent record shops will outlive the music industry as we know it because long term their value to people is far greater, because even in our era of file-sharing and blogs, you cant replace the actual look on someone’s face when they are playing something they really rate and think you should listen to it too. It’s special.“
I’d love to see comments from you too – what’s your favourite record shop? Have you got music that you treasure, solely bought on the strength of a record-shop recommendation? Have you abandoned the local store and now raid the racks online? I wanna see some comments!
Saint Etienne – I Buy American Records
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