Record Store Day 2013, Polyester Records & Poison City Records

20th April 2013 (Records Store Day).

I've been looking forward to this for a month or so, checking out the release lists and planning where to go. Although Australia is not getting all the release there are still several nice vinyls on offer, my mission was to not be late and miss all the good loot like last year.

So with this in mind I had to do a bit of research to get an idea what was avaliable and you to find out which shop/shops will be carrying which releases.

• For me The Cure's re-release of 'Kiss,me' looked pretty cool, plus there was a collection of LP's and 12"s from Hermitude, Gotye, Neil Young and others, a few which looked interesting.
• So where to go. I liked what Title would be carrying but after getting a sneek preview on Thursday (nice but missing a few nice pieces) I decided to go with Polyester in Fitzroy, I hadn't visited the shop yet as part of these posts and geographically it was central. My plan was to arrive at Polyester for opening then hook past Poison City and Ritual, then drop past Title once on my way home.

I ended up running just a little late as I stopped at Filou's to pick up a coffee and almond croissant (best in Melbourne), arriving 10-15 minutes early but as you can see there was already a healthy queue. Once the doors opened all the good stuff was to be found up front near the counter, I selected The Cure's 'Kiss, me' (red double disc edition remixed by Robert Smith and numbered 1818/4000), a Gotye 12" remix, Flume's remix if Hermitude's Hyperparadise and an Eno/Jaar/Grizzly Bear collaboration.

Poison City across the road also had a line-up an but from what I could tell their main focus was their own label's 7" releases and I just picked up a new tee shirt.

 Then off to Ritual: as I've posted before this shop is fantastic but by the time I arrive the most of the Record Store Day gear was sold out, see pic to the right →
 I did however pickup the Mercury Rev 'Deserted Songs' outtake release (numbered 1001/2000). Not related to record Store Day but an especially cool find was an Om's 'Conference of the birds' picture disc (mythical) and a coloured etched copy of local legend Oren Ambarchi's 'A final kiss upon poisoned cheeks' (ethereal) and to top it all off I scored a hand printed Hell Hound carry bag (aaarrrooooo!).

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Off The Hip Records

Off The Hip Records.
basement of 381 Flinders Lane (enter via Tavistock Place)

This place took a bit of finding, as you can see its a small door on a lane way off Flinders Lane (between Queen and William). However once inside and despite outside appearances the shop was clean, spacious and well lit with a fairly large selection of new and second hand vinyls on shelf. There's also a drum set and other band gear set up in an alcove, this joint obviously thrives on a living community.

Off the hip's collection 'Includes rare and collectable Australian vinyl from legends like: RADIO BIRDMAN, THE VICTIMS, HARD ONS, STEMS, RIPTIDES'. Personally I wouldn't list all those bands in the same sentence, but heck, this ain't my shop so what ever blows your hair back! As you would expect the selection is fairly heavily Aussie independent focused and unabashedly so.
Second hand vinyls were laid out around the walls with a good selection of new but mainly reissued vinyl in the centre stock. There was a heavy '80's/'90's independent showing with the average second hand vinyl coming in at $15 and new at $25.

  I ended up picking up The Saints 'A little maddness to be free', which was my introduction into this epic Aussie act, Bauhaus' 'Telegram Sam' 12", a low-fi Sonics' re-release 'The Savage Young Sonics' and Gitogito Hustler's 'Love & Roll'. The Gitogito album was a bit of an impulse buy (I liked the cover) but was just what the doctor ordered for a lazy Saturday morning, some crazy Japanese pop/punk noise!

The Wax Museum Records

The Wax Museum.
Shop 2 Campbell Arcade
Degraves St
Melbourne, 3000
(03) 9663 6310.

The Wax Museum was frustratingly closed this morning, I guess these guys enjoy their sleepins.

Ally Tunes

Ally Tunes

660a Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn
Melbourne, Australia

+613 9819 9449

Visited this very cool record shop/coffee shop off Glenferrie Road right next to Glenferrie station and was blown away by the friendly service and quirky selection of C.D.s and mainly electronic 12" vinyls. Tucked away down a walkway access to the train station the shop had a real vib to it and I don't know whether it was the beautiful autumn day, the coffee or just burying myself in one of my favourite music styles, but this was a perfect afternoon record hunting.
The majority of the vinyls were from the middle to late 00's with techno, minimal, dubstep, house, French, D&B etc all having their own partition.
There was a significant amount of vinyl to get through with most of the partitions so tightly packed that I had to remove 5-10 albums before I could comfortably flick through the collection.
In the end I selected the 1999 Steve Rachmad (Ignacio) E.P. Sikor, Les Violons Ivres by Agoria (2007) and promo version of New Order's Confusion E.P. from 1983. Sweet and heavy tech/house.


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Basement Discs

Basement Discs.
24 Block Place Melbourne 3000
Ph: (03) 9654 1110 - Fax: (03) 9654 1734email: info@basementdiscs.com.au

Self proclaimed C.D. specialists but still showing up in the Diggin Melbourne 'record lovers' tour guide, not sure why though because only a token show is on offer.

There is a very small collection of new jazz (the shops speciality) vinyls and a slightly larger collection of generic new or re-issued pop/rock albums. Nothing to write home about.

I did pick up a 20th anniversary remastered copy of Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing in the Name' album (20 years, far out, still sounds awesome though), and I was turned onto The Monk's who I haven't had the pleasure of listening to before. This for me is one of the greatest things about visiting record stores, talking to people, chance encounters with new or forgotten albums and being blown away by artists you never new existed.

I also found a back issue of Wire's Feb issue with non other than Oneohtrix Point Never on the cover, who I saw playing at The Toff last month. This was an awesome show demonstrating just how far electronic music can push the envelope and still be 'music'. Plus I was switched onto Wooshie, a local electronic act who put out some great sounds (check out their bandcamp).

 

 

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.