Plug seven records

Plug seven records
http://www.plugseven.com/
Is a warehouse/pop-up shop that appears to open once a month or so.

I found Plug Seven down the Nicholson St end of Farady St Carlton in an old garage, however it may not always be there as there was a planning notice saying the site was going to be turned into a 5 store apartment block!

The records were arranged in crates according to genera and sometimes decade with the majority of the collection dedicated to disco, soul, funk, jazz, e.t.c. There were was significant sections rock, hip-hop, rap, dance and even sound track and metal, however most of albums were from the last century. The crates were laid out on tables with a few on the ground and the space between the tables was a little narrow so at times you had to squeeze past other shoppers (cheek to cheek). This was a little unnecessary the other half the garage was practical vacant. Prices were good varying from $2-$3 up to $50-$60 for special pieces with the average album coming in at $15-$25.

The shop had a real buzz about it, perhaps opening infrequently and using social media to advertise itself helps generate an atmosphere of anticipation. The shop is definitely set up for serious crate digg'in with a quick scan soon turning up 3-4 nice albums and as you can see from the '10 commandments' on the left, the more you buy the better the discount. The only down side was perhaps the age of the collection, both in terms of release dates and the general condition of the vinyl, however besides a few pops and crackles and a bit of ware on the cardboard the four albums I picked up play fine.

This store is a great place to visit if you are looking to quickly boost your collection, hunting for that hard to find 60's soul 7" or just want a bunch of funk albums to data mine for samples.


 

Essendon second hand records and books

Essendon second hand records and books.


I'm not even going to post the address of this place because it’s so bad and unless you’re stuck at the Essendon train station with an hour until your train don't bother. Forget that, if you are stuck waiting for a train or bus start walking and walk past this shop.
The shop was as tatty inside as it was outside, the vinyl selection was beige, the C.D's were blaa and the books were pulp, a little curation or even discrimination as to what makes it onto the shelves would go a long way.
I ended up buying Nelly Furtado's 'Whoa, Nelly!' for my daughter and Neil Diamond’s 'Hot August Night' for nostalgia value. At check out the guys tells me that practically ever crate brought into the shop has a copy of this album (Hot August Night)...!

What the shop really needs is a bit of a shake.

White Rabbit Record Bar

White Rabbit Record Bar.
176 Bellair St.
Kensington 3031.
Ph: 93765441.

The white rabbit remains elusively closed this morning.

 

Dropped back later to find a very welcoming record shop/cafe-bar, however its more of the later with just a few crates of mainly new records on offer. The guys were very friendly and signed me up for some 'international record store day' raffle tickets at the crasher.

I ended up picking up New Order's Low-Life vinyl re-issue by Rhino records, who do a great job with their vinyl plus project and a Kosheen 12" re-mix of Hide You.

 



Ritual music and books

RITUAL MUSIC AND BOOKS
189 St Georges Rd
Fitzroy North
Victoria, Australia
3068

PH: 9482 6986

Ritual music is one cool record shop; so cool that smiling is strictly forbidden, you must look very serious because this is metal man. It also helps if you wear black and don't wear deodorant; that was the shop attendant, heavy!

Situated on a corner just up from a music shop and opposite one of the nicest parks in Melbourne Edinburgh Gardens, this unassuming shop is a hidden treasure.
Specialising  in hardcore, metal and punk but also carrying a good selection of contemporary releases and a broad collection of second hand records all at a reasonable price.

The store is very well laid out with a fairly significant selection of vinyl on offer split over 2 rooms. The main room contains the more mainstream selection with a recent releases bin, a bargain and a few small shelves with books and a collection of C.D.s. Here I found Thurston Moore's latest foray with his new band Chelsea Light Moving (named after Phillip Glass' furniture removal company) this was a must after seeing the act at last years Melbourne Festival where they played at the newly opened Hammer Hall.

The back room is where the mood gets a little heavier and where all the good stuff is kept. Here there are separate dividers populated with a significant number of albums from all your classic noise and metal acts like Boris, Neurosis, No Anchor, Black Sabbath and the Misfits. This area was very dense as many of these acts are incredibly prolific, but time spent here is well rewarded as I soon turned an early re-release of Sepultura's powerful and ground breaking Roots album plus Isis' Oceanic (2011 Robo:re-pressing). Decisions decisions; Roots has huge nostalgia value but seeing Isis play one of their finally shows with Baroness at the Corner in Richmond was truly memorable and Oceanic is one of my favourite albums, so Isis beats Sepultura.

 

There was also a large and broad selection of second hand vinyl and a special section for the Aussie stuff..

All in all a well curated and laid out shop guaranteed to scratch that hard to reach metal itch, with a rasp.

 



Couldn't resist, I had to drop back the next week and pick up roots.

           

Muscle Shoals Records

Muscle Shoals Records
504 Lygon St
East Brunswick,
Victoria, 3057.

Hay Guys,
                 Dropped into this shop Saturday to check out the selection. Pretty much strictly secondo hando, but if you cant be shagged  crate digging come here and take advantage of the time Marsden has taken to present you with the best of the second hand bins. With a significant selection of pre-loved turntables, amps and speakers adding to the atmosphere there is something here for any music lover. Although it does take a bit of work with the majority of the collection being laid out in alphabetical order does take a bit of wading through, but is sure to reward the effort. For example I soon turned up a $50 copy of super group Blind Faith's 1969 controversial album, or an original pressing of Nick Drake's Pink Moon.

  These are both classics which would add significantly to any serious collection but were not exactly what I has looking for today.
 
There were some token genera classifications but they were pretty much an afterthought with only 'Punk rock' offering up anything significant. There was also a Krautrock section with a token Kraftwerk album and an electronic section with a... Jean Michel Jarre album. The singles section was a little more substantial and a quick chat with the owner soon turned up a really nice copy of The Scientists 'Atom Bomb Baby' single, sweet as.


After my earlier post about female electronic producers I couldn't go past Laurie Anderson's Strange Angels and while I'm on the subject I should mention the fantastic re-release of laurie spiegel's The Expanding Universe (Expanded Edition). I picked this work of art up from Boomkat and it just continues to knock my socks off.
I also picked up Tears for Fears' Songs From The Big Chair and Eurogliders' This Island ‎, you could say I was on a nostalgia trip and if that's what your after Muscle Shoals Records will not disappoint.

records etcetera

records etcetera
557 High St, Northcote.
94813951.
Secod hand viyl and turntables.

Check it out.

Northside Records

Northside Records:
236 Gertrude St. Fitzroy
t. 03 9417 7557 | e. chris@northsiderecords.com.au

Ok; so a few people have recommended this record shop to me but it's taken a while to get around to checking it out, and although it had been recomended I still didn't have any really expectations going in. The shop is easy enough to find located in Gertrude St just a few doors from the bottom end of Smith Street, tram number 112 from Collins. The shop has a fairly sparse aesthetic with the record shelves laid out around the outside walls with only one rack in the middle to break things up. This shop is a real boutique record shop, with a fairly narrow selection as I find can be a double edge sword being both cool and funky on the one side and a little inaccessible on the other. But it fits right into its suroundings latte pumping cafes and too expensive clothing and novelty shops

Where do you start when you don't really click with any of the genre classifications, 'blaxploitation' anyone...anyone? I know, I'll start with Sound Tracks cant go wrong there. Digg'in through this crate gave me a good feel for the vinyl on offer, the majority of vinyls were second hand but everything was in good nic and well presented in its own plastic jacket. And what do you know the first album I came across was Karen O & the Kids - Where The Wild Things Are, this was a new album and very tempting at $28. I enjoyed the movie and caught the Yeah Yeah Yeah's at the Forum 2 years ago or so, but my spidy senses were tingling so I left it for another day and kept on looking.
Next I moved onto Beats and Breaks, probably not a super fave or anything but you gota take your foot hold where you find them. I soon came across Laurel Halo's 2012 EP Sunlight On The Faded released on Hyperdub, I wouldn't exactly call this Beats but I guess it was released on Hyperdub so I could see the logic. Laurel Halo is probably the best female electronic artist of the last 20 years since Laurie Anderson ripped it up with Big Science in 1982 (O superman was an apiphany for me but when ever I talked about it everyone thought I ment Superman by REM), and although I am yet to be convinced that Quarantine is the fully realised voice from the mountain top I do love her King Felix stuff. 

 Moving right along the Soul and Funk sections are subtantial and the obvious passion of the owner Chris, a lot of the detail was proably wasted on me so I just moved straight into Jazz and turned up Neneh Cherry and Things - The Cherry Thing. This album is great with Neneh's mature vocals perfectly complimented by the emotionally visceral jazz of The Thing, a worthy contender for album of the year 2012!

As you would probably guess from a shop which has its own section for blaxploitation, Afro-American music accounts for a significant component of Northside's collection and the Reggae and Dub sections did not disappoint. Many fine old and new offerings can be found in these sections as well as rare and hard to find albums and 45's. If this is what your hanker'in for then I'm sure getting on good terms with the dudes behind the desk would yield additional loot. For me Pressure Sounds 2010 Harder Shade Of Black was the take home piece.

All in all a fine record shop proud of what their doing and doing what they love best.