Record Store recommendations, musings, and record store trip scores!

[mesamm99]

Thanks for the Chicago record store tips!! Ended up going to all 3 Reckless Record shops and didn't find too much. Picked up UNKLE - Rock On Japan single and Beyond The Wizards Sleeve - Re-animation Vol 1 both on cd. Thought the stores were just ok. 

Had a more fun time at Shuga Records. Lots of fun digging through the vinyl there. Walked away with:

- Digitalism - jpeg
- Manic Street Preachers - Done & Dusted (War Child Record Store Day release)
- Fake Blood - MARS
- Koma + Bones - Bodycount

Would definitely go back to the store in the future. They specialize in hip hop and electronic and had a ton of new and used to look through. Good times. 

[whirlygirl]

The Virgin Megastore in OC @The Block was my fave hangout! My friends and I would drive out there to hangout, eat, shop, and then stop by the store to get DVD's and music. They had a lot of imports and CD singles, where I felt like a kid in a candy store. Some of my Chems CD's were bought here, but some were also purchased at Tower Records near my area, but most of my Chems collection came from Warehouse Music. Warehouse music would let me sell my old CDs to them and then I would use that money to buy new ones. 11.99 was the average price around the 2000's I think ! 

I wish these music stores never closed down ( thanks limewire and Winmx) for killing CD's!

I miss my CD towers that held all my old jems, but now my CD's sit inside  Ikea boxes inside my closet. I'm currently looking for a horizontal CD shelf to put on top of my Ikea kallax ( where my records are stored)

Oh the nostalgia! 🥹 Brought me out of lurk mode. The Block! Holy shit. Right in my neck of the woods, hahaha. That's one of my old stomping grounds, how funny! The Virgin Megastore there was awesome and they had great selection! And imports! I go to that center regularly these days and I miss so much about the 'old' Block, Virgin being at the top of that list. I am very nostalgic for the big chain record stores, Tower of course as I worked there, Virgin... Those big stores made it hard for the indie shops, though. Then the big box stores and digital killed the music megastores. It's weird to think of the way music has changed in terms of distribution and consumption, with the challenges of collectors remaining. I recently (finally) got a decent turntable and am sorta on a vinyl Chems rediscovery at the moment. Can't just hop in the car anymore and drop in at Tower and Virgin and expect to have my pick of Chems albums and singles at my fingertips. Hauling to Los Angeles to Amoeba on a whim, ehhh no, haha. I still prefer the ritual of buying music and browsing a shop, and will have to seek out the indie shops that have managed to survive but am also not against scoring something cool if I happen upon it online. 

And do I ever miss my old CD racks!

[shakermaker]

while we are reminiscing about the big stores, anyone remember Blockbuster Music? it was short lived but they allowed you to listen to any CD in the store before buying. in an age before streaming, that was a game changer.

I'm glad that some indie stores have survived through all the change over the years. I also like to go browse in a shop, and am grateful to still have that opportunity.

[Bosco]

while we are reminiscing about the big stores, anyone remember Blockbuster Music? it was short lived but they allowed you to listen to any CD in the store before buying. in an age before streaming, that was a game changer.

I remember them existing, but I don't recall visiting one. Like you said, it had an extremely brief run. Did it also function like the video store where you could rent CDs?

Not even sure why Blockbuster bothered to try this. There was already an established competition between music store chains like Tower and FYE. Then, big box electronic stores like Circuit City and Best Buy started being a bigger player in the physical media world, and undercut them all!

[shakermaker]

no, no CD rentals. Wikipedia just reminded me that it was blockbuster acquiring Wherehouse. so... maybe just a case of rich people spending their money? (spending it very poorly, in hindsight)

[Joslyn]

That's exactly what I did. I was close by. It was close to closing. I found these for £13.

😲 Don't fight control?! Is that legit? I'll be in London in september and have some record shops visits planned 

[rynostar]

😲 Don't fight control?! Is that legit? I'll be in London in september and have some record shops visits planned

In terms to of it being the version played for the '07 your, yep. Played it this weekend and it's legit.

In terms of official release, likely not as it's a white label.

[Bosco]

Wasn't sure were to post this, but since we recently talked about Virgin Megastores in here I figured it might interest some to get a brief glimpse of the Hollywood store.

Stumbled across this while looking to see what Chris Cunningham has been up to (still not sure)...

A lot of of innovative and talented directors all in one place. Plus, a bonus young/svelte looking Jack Black in the audience.

These DVD's were packed full of amazing content for their time.

[shakermaker]

These DVD's were packed full of amazing content for their time.

funny you should mention it in the context of Virgin Megastore. I bought that DVD box set in Virgin SF's closing down sale.

[Csar]

While watching your clip, Bosco, I noticed a familiar looking robot face behind one of them. So this Chris Cunningham (sorry, I'm not familiar with them except for Gondry) is the director behind the brilliant video for Björk's All Is Full of Love?!

[Wolkenkrabber]

In terms to of it being the version played for the '07 your, yep. Played it this weekend and it's legit.

In terms of official release, likely not as it's a white label.

"The '07 your". Say what now?

I bought the white label in this Discogs listing back in the days before Discogs started getting arse-y about bootlegs (oh the irony of this, considering Discogs started off as a dance/electronic music database, and dance music is famous for its samples and bootlegs...)
The 12" was not the same mashup as the music in this video below (this YT upload will be familiar to @instantreigen I believe).

At 5:22 above you can hear the swooshy sound we hear in a lot Chemical DJ sets and re-edits, and at the end we have a sort of pulsing beat outro.
This was the 'officially' leaked MP3 version (256 kbps I think). It has no rough edits in it.  The video may have a white label image but that is potentially confusing, I think.

The 12" by comparison ( I can't find a video for it), has some slightly rough sounding edits because whoever put it together did not have access to the parts/stems. Whereas the Chems clearly did have the parts (at least for OOC) . So that's how we can tell the difference (as previously explained to me by WhiteNoise, possibly on the archived forum). My understanding is that the Chems released/leaked their MP3 (above) as a response to the white label in my Discogs link.

Having said that, I think I prefer the structure of the bootleg 12" to the the structure of the Chems smoother mash-up (sorry T&E!), so the 12" is still worthwhile IMHO.

Ryno I'll be surprised if your 12" is the same as the above video. But if it is, please advise!

[rynostar]

Damn my past self and spelling errors / auto correct / ryno being a fool.

I'll have to check and compare with your notes @Wolkenkrabber again when I get home next week (at parents this weekend).

[Bosco]

While watching your clip, Bosco, I noticed a familiar looking robot face behind one of them. So this Chris Cunningham (sorry, I'm not familiar with them except for Gondry) is the director behind the brilliant video for Björk's All Is Full of Love?!

Yup, great track and video. Chris is also the director behind Aphex Twin's disturbing "Windowlicker" and "Come to Daddy" videos, which if you haven't seen, aren't exactly for the faint of heart... I kinda think they're genius! When I think about it, Chris reminds me of Gondry. He is very crafty in synching and melding his visuals with the music that he's given. However, Chris definitely takes a darker and often disturbing route.

Spike Jonze did the "Elektrobank" video and maybe more famously on this forum, Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" and "Weapon of Choice", or even, Daft Punk's "Da Funk". Also, it should be mentioned he's the most successful feature-length film director of the three.  Being John Malkovich, Her, and Adaptation, are all movies I highly recommend.

funny you should mention it in the context of Virgin Megastore. I bought that DVD box set in Virgin SF's closing down sale.

I imagine I payed full price for the two (Cunningham and Spike Jonze) I purchased. Unfortunately, I gave them away to some friends at some point in time, and now I'm sitting here wanting to revisit them...