Record shops

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Antigonish

I never got the whole "vibe" or "atmosphere" requirements for record stores. I'm not old enough to remember the days that record stores sold quantities of new releases on vinyl, just cassettes and cds. When I lived in Edmonton, my parents came to stay at my place, and all the records I owned were hiphop so after work I popped by blackbyrd on whyte en route from my office to look for some albums my parents liked. I think I ended up finding Harry Chapin's Greatest Stories Live (love that album) for like... $5, Graceland, and maybe a Jim Croce album?

Nonetheless, when I went to purchase them the hipster chick with some skrillex looking haircut just kinda scoffed at me for merely being there. When she asked if I wanted a bag, I said no (because my car was parked right down the street). She says "oh, so everyone can see what records you bought?" I'm like "No, because I care about the fucking environment?". I dunno why some innocuous encounter at a music store rubbed me the wrong way, but I never went back there. I may have purchased like 3-4 records since then, and they were all new released hip hop albums straight from the musicians website. Honestly, unless you're buying physical copies of new releases to support the musicians you're better off just downloading it anyway.

I would feel blessed if that had happened to me, because I would treasure it as an anecdote to dine out on for the rest of my days. The scorn I've been confronted with in record shops has always been withering but silent. I can't recall any juicy bon mots or sarcastic bromides at all. I genuinely feel deprived.

I like the non-confrontational Canadian personality as much as the next guy, but sometimes I worry that we're missing out on the frisson that gives life some spice.

[Xelebes]

I've never been too big in buying cds and have only played with three records in my lifetime (Don Williams [i]Butterfingers[i], Muppets Show Album No. 2 and a third record I can't remember.) My parents never maintained any sizable record collection. What they did have was a lot of sheet music. My parents loved to buy that stuff. Hymnals, classical collections, some pop songbooks. I have spent more on songbooks than on recorded music in my life although for a while I did buy like 20 cds a decade ago (almost two now, yikes!)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I would feel blessed if that had happened to me, because I would treasure it as an anecdote to dine out on for the rest of my days. The scorn I've been confronted with in record shops has always been withering but silent. I can't recall any juicy bon mots or sarcastic bromides at all. I genuinely feel deprived.

I like the non-confrontational Canadian personality as much as the next guy, but sometimes I worry that we're missing out on the frisson that gives life some spice.

Ahhh. Self-awareness. So rare yet so endearing.

[Black Star]

I use to get all my vinyl and 12" remixes from sound connection back when I was working the clubs. This place was on 107 ave and 101st Edmonton. Unfortunately long gone.

They would let you pretty much take what ever album and open it and play it on their tech 1200s. Pretty cool place.

My collection has not seen any love for a long time.

Maybe time to change this.

[DrNest]

Originally Posted by Architype

I guess nobody cares that HMV is closing, but it's a sad event.

I'm gutted that HMV is closing. I collect CDs and used to buy a lot from there.
Sadly HMV lost direction when instead of focusing on being a music store they tried to branch out into selling t-shirts and other collectables, but not at a competitive price.

Had the concentrated on stocking vinyl and CDs with a decent selection of back-catalogue material at reasonable prices instead of the latest pop fad's greatest hits, they would have lasted. Unfortunately they lost identity and priced out many customers.

In Oshawa there's a great store called Deja Vu Discs that has thousands of used CDs they play like new. I love to go there and hunt for some obscure album I've never heard of. That to me is the joy of browsing record stores. It's so much more pleasant than trawling online through Amazon or the like.

[SpongeG]

70 HMV locations to be filled with Sunrise Records

http://globalnews.ca/news/3274299/hm.../?sf58831898=1

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Razor

Now when I trip past one of these record stores and see these cork sniffing collectors gingerly thumbing through all these same albums that we misused I can't help but think to myself. "Were there really that many browsing meticulous music aficionados then, or did I just miss them because I was just an inattentive kid?"

The market has changed, is all. What was once a ubiquitous consumer product has become much rarer, especially old 45s or less-popular LPs that may never be pressed again.

I like record stores, as a place for meeting other fans and discovering new music. Halifax is blessed to have a few good-to-great stores, notably Taz Records, Obsolete Records, Black Buffalo (great for used stuff), and a new shop that Joel Plaskett opened up (combined with a hipster barbership and cafe) called New Scotland Yard.

When I moved from Toronto to Halifax, I left behind my crappy record player and stereo with the intent to start fresh with a better system here. A few house repairs delayed the purchase of a new system, during which time I mainly listened to digital downloads on headphones or computer speakers.

Eventually I just cobbled together a decent home system with a mid-level receiver and a decent turntable. I don't go in for fussy audiophile stuff, mainly because I can't afford it, but even with mid-level equipment, when I finally put a record on after seven or eight months away from the format, it was like, "Oh shit, right. Music sounds like this." A record in reasonable condition, played on decent equipment, really does sound great.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Eventually I just cobbled together a decent home system with a mid-level receiver and a decent turntable.

You have a receiver for listening to the radio on your stereo system? Whoa, cool. How about a cassette deck? Or even better: a dual cassette deck? Eh?

I'm not any kind of knowledgeable connoisseur or vintage retro guy, but I'm old enough to remember the 1970s when people had those multiple-decked stereo systems in shiny silver with the turntable on top. All those complicated buttons and switches, the backlighting, the gauges and indicators...it was magical, visual poetry, and it still tugs on my heartstrings like few other designs do.

I mean, look at this thing:



What does "Quartz Locked" even mean? Who cares! Such a casually authoritative descriptor was inscrutably arcane-sounding enough to be awe-inspiring to a twelve-year-old wistfully wondering why his own parents' stereo system was so lame by comparison.

Do you think twenty years from now there will be thirty-year-olds feeling the same way about MacBooks? Or first generation iPods?

[DrNest]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

70 HMV locations to be filled with Sunrise Records

http://globalnews.ca/news/3274299/hm.../?sf58831898=1

Great news! I hope Sunrise can make it work

[vid]

My arch-nemesis, Stanzmastertron3000, worked in a record shop iirc.

Originally Posted by rousseau

I like the non-confrontational Canadian personality as much as the next guy, but sometimes I worry that we're missing out on the frisson that gives life some spice.

Spend a day in my shoes selling bottled water to upper-middle class people and you won't.

Originally Posted by rousseau

You have a receiver for listening to the radio on your stereo system? Whoa, cool. How about a cassette deck? Or even better: a dual cassette deck? Eh?

The system my parents rigged up when I was a kid, had a turntable, dual cassette deck, 5-disk CD player, radio tuner, and two different equalizers. Audio was provided by at least five speakers of various sizes and types throughout the room.

Today my mom listens to the same music through tinny laptop speakers.

Originally Posted by rousseau

Do you think twenty years from now there will be thirty-year-olds feeling the same way about MacBooks? Or first generation iPods?

No.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by vid

Today my mom listens to the same music through tinny laptop speakers. .

Having mentioned that, speaker technology came such a lonq way eh?

My Bluetooth speaker has like a 5" woofer and the bass sounds fairly big for such a small speaker. Even the built in speakers on our t.v is good enough for us for movies.I wouldn't of said that a few years ago..The sound fills the room..Ditto for my Bluetooth portable speaker..

I get people pining for vinyl and appreciating that warm analogue sound you get from records, but gawd, I hope people don't miss those battery gobbling ghetto blasters, enormous speakers or back breaking console units from yesteryear. Those complicated looking receivers with those gadgety tone shaping buttons, which were basically subtle e.q switches marketed as sonic enhancers.."Loudness" was just a bass boost for example..The manufacturers really targeted that "tweaker" in the consumer.

[Calgarian]

Seems like a huge risk for such a niche business...

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Razor

Having mentioned that, speaker technology came such a lonq way eh?

My Bluetooth speaker has like a 5" woofer and the bass sounds fairly big for such a small speaker. Even the built in speakers on our t.v is good enough for us for movies.I wouldn't of said that a few years ago..The sound fills the room..Ditto for my Bluetooth portable speaker..

I get people pining for vinyl and appreciating that warm analogue sound you get from records, but gawd, I hope people don't miss those battery gobbling ghetto blasters, enormous speakers or back breaking console units from yesteryear. Those complicated looking receivers with those gadgety tone shaping buttons, which were basically subtle e.q switches marketed as sonic enhancers.."Loudness" was just a bass boost for example..The manufacturers really targeted that "tweaker" in the consumer.

Oh, man, that's clearly all just a bunch of junk.

But even on a mediocre system, vinyl manages (IMO) to produce a sound that crates the most distinction between frequencies. Basically, I can easily hear more of what's going on, and easily separate out different instruments and tones. The music just sounds fuller and bigger.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rousseau

You have a receiver for listening to the radio on your stereo system? Whoa, cool. How about a cassette deck? Or even better: a dual cassette deck? Eh?

I'm not any kind of knowledgeable connoisseur or vintage retro guy, but I'm old enough to remember the 1970s when people had those multiple-decked stereo systems in shiny silver with the turntable on top. All those complicated buttons and switches, the backlighting, the gauges and indicators...it was magical, visual poetry, and it still tugs on my heartstrings like few other designs do.

I mean, look at this thing:



What does "Quartz Locked" even mean? Who cares! Such a casually authoritative descriptor was inscrutably arcane-sounding enough to be awe-inspiring to a twelve-year-old wistfully wondering why his own parents' stereo system was so lame by comparison.

Do you think twenty years from now there will be thirty-year-olds feeling the same way about MacBooks? Or first generation iPods?

I know exactly how you feel!

My dad feels the same way about cars from the 50s and 60s.

[youngregina]

*delete*

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Oh, man, that's clearly all just a bunch of junk.

But even on a mediocre system, vinyl manages (IMO) to produce a sound that crates the most distinction between frequencies. Basically, I can easily hear more of what's going on, and easily separate out different instruments and tones. The music just sounds fuller and bigger.

No doubt.There's something to be said about that vinyl sound.

My point in an earlier post, was that nowadays listeners treat records with the care that they require. Vinyl isn't party or teenager friendly..Maybe that's why cassette's took over..Most of us didn't have great systems nor appreciated the care required to preserve them..We were careless with them. What I miss though, is the artwork in the interior of an album..Also, that whole trip down to Sam's or Records on Wheels to purchase an anticipated new release..Record stores nowadays are attracting more connoisseurs and not the masses like they used to.Before, the general population and the Audophiles shopped at the same stores, whereas now the masses just download from I-Tunes or whatever and play their music on computer speakers.

[Simpseatles]

I love collecting music! My preferred format is CDs and I have a sizable collection that I've been building up since I was about 9 years old. Unfortunately, I began my collection just as CDs began their nosedive around the mid-2000s (the closure of Music World really seemed to symbolize this for me), so I've always had to deal with the doom and gloom that surrounds physical format media.

The closure of HMV in Canada does upset me. While they never (at least in my experience) had the greatest selection, they were a constant presence in malls, and therefore were the place your typical suburban kid, like myself, would encounter physical form music. They also had good deals, especially on the most popular releases and greatest hits compilations, which are great entry points into bands. I remember quite clearly buying the greatest hits of the Smiths on somewhat of a whim at my local HMV as a 15 year old kid. Today the Smiths are my favourite band, and I still get a sense of wistful nostalgia when I walk through that mall now, and see the spot where the HMV used to be (it left the mall a few years back already, leaving London with only one location).

I recently gave in to the vinyl trend as well, and purchased a cheap, $80 portable turntable. So far my collection stands at about 20, most of which I have purchased second hand, because new pressings are, in my opinion, way over-priced. I've yet to become much of an audiophile, so what attracts me to the format is the artwork (like CDs), the unique finds (e.g. obscure compilations), looking through musty stacks of records, and the listening "process" (sitting down and having to listen to the WHOLE album).

As for my favourite record stores I would have to echo the previous praise for Sonic Boom in Toronto. Definitely the best record store I've ever been to, with good selection and prices on BOTH CDs and vinyl. Plus the location is great, and it has just the right amount of hipsterness in my opinion! Almost always stop by when I'm in Toronto.

In London and Kitchener I mostly go to The Beat Goes On, which is a fantastic chain of used CD/DVD stores (and some new vinyl) in southern Ontario. Excellent selection, always very cheap (usually $4-8 for most CDs), and never had any problems with the discs.

While I'm glad to hear that Sunrise is taking over some HMV locations I've never been a huge fan. I find their selection to be poor, and prices to be fairly high. Like HMV prior to its demise they also seem to pander to pop culture trends, instead of focusing on the music. Nevertheless I wish them luck. As I said before, I think that it's important to have stores like that in suburban malls.

[ue]

^ Sonic Boom is rad. Only record store I've been to that's better is Amoeba in Los Angeles.

Originally Posted by vid

No.

Why not? I'm no Apple fanboy, but their products are quite iconic and have the ability to inspire and attract people towards computers and other technology in a way not many companies can today.

[SpongeG]

cassettes are making a comeback apparently...

Inflagranti are releasing their new album on cassette - from their facebook page

INFLAGRANTI
Page Liked · 26 February ·
our next album out on cassette April 14th

[SpongeG]

LG 104.3
Page Liked · 6 hrs · Edited ·

Elton John was spotted at Beat Street Records on Hastings today!
(photo credit Beat Street Records)