vinyl shopping in SF

From: Gen Kanai (gkanai@earthlink.net)
Date: Thu Oct 12 2000 - 16:39:04 MET DST

  • Next message: Gen Kanai: "New & older vinyl from SF and NYC"

    Hi everyone! I've been scouring the bins for you lately in NYC and SF
    (quick write-up on the SF vinyl scene)

    Gen

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    I spent the whole day on Monday walking from Golden Gate Park to Market
    Street along Haight St. I think I stopped in on 8 or 9 different vinyl
    shops. While the East Village in NYC has a bunch of record stores
    clustered relatively near each other (Satellite, Dubspot, Breakbeat
    Science, Dance Tracks, Other Music, Eight Ball, Temple, etc.) the SF shops
    are almost all right on Haight.

    I started at Amoeba, 1855 Haight...which I think is one of the best, if not
    best, independent record stores in the US. It's HUGE and they carry every
    kind of music imaginable on all formats. I haven't been to anything quite
    like it anywhere else in the US. It's a MUST stop kind of a place,
    imho. Their used record collection is always interesting. One of my best
    finds there last year was "Delusions of Grandeur" a compilation album by
    the Hardkiss Brothers and Rabbit in the Moon which is a rarity.

    Housewares, 1322 Haight...is a store that I thought I would like, but they
    didn't really carry much in the way of "my sound." It's one of the "house"
    music stores on Haight, and while they didn't carry pop club house per se,
    I walked out of there with nothing. I think that there's so much variety
    in "house" music that there can be 3-4 stores that sell "house" but
    specialize in different varieties.

    Tweekin Records, 593 Haight...is this relatively-well stocked basement
    store close to Spundae Records (which is a trance/prog house store.) The
    owners are English and they know what they're doing. I love record stores
    that categorize by "import" and "domestic" because if they don't, it's even
    more confusing. Tweekin carries mainly house, with a back room of
    classics/disco reprints, downtempo and a small drum'n'bass collection. I
    found a bunch of great stuff there including the "Clubbed to Death" 12"
    that is probably a rare find these days. Their selection of albums on
    vinyl was also pretty good, although not as good as at Amoeba. I ran into
    Mark Little there, who used to be a fixture in the NYC house scene as a
    producer and substitute DJ at Body&SOUL. He's now just moved to SF and has
    "seen the light of Northern California."

    OPEN MIND MUSIC, 342 Divisadero...this is a few blocks off Haight but worth
    stopping at because they have an extensive used section. I found my copy
    of the Latin house remix of "Beau Mot Plage" here and they have a pretty
    good selection of 45s and used rock and jazz. I would say that their new
    house/dance isn't that great (I think that their specialty is indie rock)
    but it's worth checking out if you're looking for used jazz, world music,
    old disco or other rarities.

    Clear Music, 147 Valencia...was the last stop in my long day and was
    clearly the best store for my kind of house, which I guess is deep, jazzy,
    Latin, tech-ish. Great selection, really friendly owners, no snobbery at
    all. This is clearly a place where they understand house music. The owner
    told me that he used to be roommates with the guy who owns the NYC
    Satellite store, fwiw. I only had an hour there and you really need 2-3
    hours to go through all the crates and listen to everything. Great place-
    best jazzy/deep house store in SF, bar none.

    In conclusion, check out Amoeba, Tweekin' and most definitely Clear Music
    when you go to SF...and use Hyperreal's Rotator Locator to find cool stores
    in your area.
    http://music.hyperreal.org/rotator/



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Oct 12 2000 - 16:51:58 MET DST