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