Jana Dagdagan

The portents for vinyl seem auspicious. I wonder what they know that we don't know?

Anyway, that is also my favorite Wilco album. At our hi fi club meetings, another guy and I use it as our generational divide LP. If people like it, they are "young," if they don't like it they are "old."

As such, we have "old members" who are in their 30's, and a "young member" who is 70 and loves Wilco!

When I first heard the intro to the song 'Sky Blue Sky' I had to blurt out, "What the heck, why haven't I heard this Grateful Dead song before?!?!?"

The person playing me the track laughed and then played "What Light" I said, "It's not Jerry singing."

Then the chorus hit and I said, "Oh, there he is on harmony."

There followed a great joyous round of verbal abuse and I was nominated to buy the beer for the day. The nomination was quickly seconded, thirded, and so on.

So, I call that Wilco's 'Grateful Dead album' and when it's my turn to buy the beer, I insist we replay that event as a fantastical skit. The gestures have become more broad, and my incredulity increases each time. It's great.

It makes me aspire to become something 'good.'

___

Listening to Elliott Smith still bums me out, but I will go back some day.

Digital including CD sales have collapsed at Other and everywhere else; vinyl sales remains strong. But I take it Other don't want to be a vinyl only store. They're getting out while the getting remains good.

I love the jazz and classical reviews in Stereophile but I'm delighted also to see Aphex and Dilla -- two geniuses and two of my all-time favorites. If you haven't yet heard this podcast about Donuts it's fascinating and very moving (https://boilerroom.tv/podcast/donuts-dissected-10-years-on/). Viva electronica!

Jana, you beautiful soul! Don’t worry about Michael Fremer, he loves bargain bins! He would be the first (well, besides me) to tell you to dive into them. Michael is actually very nice and you would get on with him great if you ever met him. (In fact, check out his videos on YouTube, there is one he did about shopping at records stores, it's great).

I’ve pulled some nice gems (sentimentally) from the $2.00 bins. In fact, I never buy new records these days and I can’t really pay $20 for a used or new record except maybe that once in a lifetime thing. If I had to pay $20 or more per record, I would have but may 2 or 3 records to play instead of a small library of 400+ and counting. I live in the $2, bargain bins/boxes or what have you.
There is nothing wrong with and nothing to be ashamed of for shopping the bargain bins and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! In fact, it's smart.
While I have never pulled anything “collectable” from the $2 bins, I’m not into vinyl for collection purposes outside of building a library of vinyl. I’m in it for listening and the pure enjoyment of the tactile experience of vinyl that one cannot get otherwise. I grew up with vinyl records and while I am guilty of putting them away when CDs came to market at affordable prices, I also somehow, fortuitously did not get rid of all my records. (Although I admit feeling bad about many of the ones I did foolishly let go some years back). I got heavy back into vinyl records about 15 years ago, pulling my originals from storage and hunting new (used) ones. In fact, it is one of the greatest joys of the hobby, if you will, hunting records. I hit a local record fair every month, I love it.
It’s all about the music and I shop for what I like (which is quite a variety) and I love purchasing what I call, mystery records when I find them, you know ones that look strange but hold some promise of containing something interesting or better. In fact, I just bought one 3 weeks ago for $2.00 that I have no idea what it sounds like yet.
It’s always sad to see a record store shut its doors when vinyl is back with a fervor that will only increase. At least you got to visit one last time and help them by purchasing some records.

Great post, always refreshing to see electronica and IDM mentioned in the pages of Stereophile. There's a ton of interesting and ground-breaking new music out there and a surprising amount of it on vinyl.

Don't fight the urge for beer. Nothing good ever came of it.
Great stuff Jana!
Hopefully you can join some of us at Newport Beach in June for Hibiki.

I remember finding OM across the street from Tower Records(remember them?)and finding things I may never have found in Tower. What a wonderful place it is, soon to be was. I will miss the in-store contests and appearances. All things must pass.

I can only imagine the long, silent, and somewhat quizzically disappointed stare, the slow shake of the head, the sigh. And then ... that wink.

You are the company that you keep, Jana! And I will admit, you're keeping mighty fine company. Even Mikey would have to cop to that.

Keep 'em coming!

Sad to hear that what sounds like a great shop is going. I suppose the vinyl revival isn't enough to maintain a physical presence on the street. My local record shop went online-only a few years ago and it just isn't the same.

Now it's an hour's travel across North London to the excellent Alan's Records if I want to actually flick through some LPs. Either that, or enduring the crowds in Central London, which I try to avoid visiting unless I need to.

None of the independent record shops that started me on the record-buying path exist any more. Neither do many of the chain stores, for that matter.

I don't shop for collectibles, and I take cash so I can limit myself. Over the years, I have bought precisely one LP that was very expensive, but there was no alternative in that case, as only 500 were pressed and the album has never been reissued.

Great serendipitous musical pleasures can be had for low prices, if you're prepared to flip through bins A-Z. And when a record's cheap, you can take a chance on something that you don't know if you will like or not.

And two great cartridges, will improve your Technics and your musical experience greatly. Nice read. Sad about Other Music, good place.

Nice pics and coverage- Jana. I hope to read more of your posts here. Feel free to take us readers on a "tour" of the many Record (and CD) Shops, in the greater NYC locales.

Happy Listening!

Nice article. I laughed when I saw the photograph of(presumably) you holding the Aphex Twin album as if it were your face; I remember dancing around one of the local record shops with the same album held to my face about 98', simultaneously creeping my friends out and causing them to laugh uncontrollably.

Portland, OR still has a fair amount of good record stores left, and I've found more than my share of gems in the bargain sections.