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.