Buffalo/Niagara, NY | Record stores in Buffalo Niagara: One doth not need a hipster be to appreciate the superior analog aurality of records. Need a list of record stores in Buffalo Niagara? Vinyl stores have come back in a major way in recent years, and our region’s are rockin’! Find a great record store near you and start the hunt. Some things have such a significant effect on culture that even past their heyday, they can resurrect themselves like a pop-culture Lazarus and continue that wave of popularity like it never stopped in the first place. The vinyl record is such a thing. Vinyl has risen from the dead for a great many years now, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down anytime soon, so its reign of influence doesn’t seem to have a clear end in sight. Which is great because who doesn’t love the retro/modern sensibilities of vinyl? So, for those of you out there looking to add a few more gems to your vinyl collection or you’re looking to start one, the many record stores in Buffalo Niagara will indeed have what you’re looking for!
Melbourne, AU | A vinyl lover’s guide to Melbourne’s best specialty record stores: For all your genre-specific vinyl needs. There’s no greater pleasure than an afternoon spent rifling through the stacks at a local record shop. Luckily for wax heads, mild enthusiasts and newcomers just dipping their toes into the rapid, winding river that is vinyl obsession, Melbourne has hundreds of shops to choose from. Whether your eyes are on hardcore, hip hop or funk, you can bet there’s several locations with the expertise, knowledge and – of course – the stock, to guide you to your vinyl Valhalla. While a really good dig is second to none, sometimes we know exactly what we want. Or, at least, the general genre gist we’re after. So, we’ve taken the liberty of collating all of Melbourne’s specialty record stores, selected the best, then divvied them up by genre(ish), for your perusing and pursuing pleasure.
Washington, DC | A City Guide to Record Shops: Why Vinyl? Many people who have never owned vinyl or a record player question their modern relevance. Why pay for music when you already subscribe to Spotify or Apple Music? Why go through the effort of putting on a vinyl when music is mindlessly available at your fingertips? The average record-lover doesn’t collect vinyls based on convenience or economical reasons, rather for the authentic and tangible ownership of the music that makes us who we are. Record players can act a mini time machine, romanticizing and transporting listeners back to a simpler era. As Goodboy Vinyl (Wilmington, DE) says, “In my view, this ties in with claims of sound quality (warmth, crackle, etc.) when people make such claims they’re really asserting something about ‘the way things used to be.’ Which, if you pay attention to current events, may sound problematic and to be sure, it is. But I also get it. If you collect used or “original” records, you’re collecting artifacts.”
London, UK | Grooves in the heart: We investigate the UK vinyl revival, one of the greatest comebacks on record. They are cumbersome and quite faffy to grasp, scratchable to death by uninitiated hands and – unless crackle-doused, bargain bucket specials are your bag – a costly way to hear music. Yet last year UK vinyl records sales increased for the 13th year in a row, according to trade music body BPI, despite streaming now accounting for 80% of the country’s music consumption. In fact, revenue from vinyl sales is set to overtake that of CDs for the first time since the late Eighties. And all this from century-plus-old shellac discs that looked to be rolling out of aural and cultural relevance during the CD-dominated Nineties. Jon Tolley, 43, Banquet Records owner in Kingston said: “It’s quite strange to have an industry which is based on something that in some ways is perceived as archaic but in some ways has almost gone full circle where it’s such a reaction to how modern things are. “And it’s not people who’ve been left behind who don’t understand the digital revolution, it’s people who fully embrace it and are discovering new music.”
Easy & Eco-Friendly Ways To Get Rid Of Old CDs & DVDs: Nothing dampens the satisfaction of a spring clean or decluttering session like a huge pile of stuff you have no idea how to get rid of. CDs, DVDs, and the like compose many a “to toss” bag: Once beloved collectors’ items, these discs and their cases are now impossible to use without the right consoles—just circles of plastic sitting in squares of plastic, taking up space. If you’re looking to get rid of old CDs or DVDs, the trash can should be the last resort. Since these discs are made mostly of durable polycarbonate plastics, they’ll take thousands, if not millions, of years to decompose in landfills. Instead, give your discs a second life with these reuse, recycling, and repurposing tips.
Murfreesboro, TN | Conversation: Tom Brucker, Hi-Fi Whisperer, Retires From The Fading Art Of Stereo Repair: The sign for Hi Tech Service on Nolensville Road, between an auto repair shop and a mattress depot, couldn’t look more low-tech if it tried. With black letters on a white cinder block building, it looks older than the flip-phone or Netscape Navigator, because it is. “We’ve been here 33 years,” says founder and proprietor Tom Brucker sitting at the counter in the long building’s reception area. “The front area is the world’s smallest stereo store…and then the rest is all service.” For decades, Brucker has been Nashville’s go-to guy to repair the gear that plays our music at home: amplifiers, turntables, loudspeakers, tape decks, CD players and beyond. On a recent visit, there were hundreds of those components on long shelves in multiple rooms and down a long spine-like hallway, standing in ranks on their sides. “We’ve ended up storing quite a bit of the overflow and consignment,” Brucker said. “I probably got carried away with it.”
