New York records stores, etc.

as for food, its been too long since i've been down there. but there's a ton of great indian places offa saint marks which = close to astor place which = basically where other music is.

On the East Coast, yes. But do not doubt the power of Amoeba Music out here on the West Coast, my pretties. Or the glorious Noise Noise Noise, for that matter. But then again, Clarke is going to NYC and not SF or Costa Mesa. ;-)

self-pedantry, classic or dud? ;)

(wow...that sounded really wrong...)

Other Music

St. Marks... just walk down the street: Kims, 13, Joe's, Sounds, Sounds Annex, and Norman's Sound and vision around the corner...

Second Coming Records off of Bleeker, Bleeker St. Records (NOT Bleeker Bob's. Don't even bother) and the legendary, most groovy, Generation Records.

That should get you started.

Veselka on 9th and 2nd ave has Ploish food. That's as far east as I'm willing to go right now...

I like this concept...

Funny, I'll be visiting Manhattan tomorrow, too. I'm heading for Other Music. Who has the best used selection these days? Is it Kim's?

That said, the Other Music in Cambridge, MA is fine & dandy & much less pretentious (if a bit small).

Sorry, I don't have any store recs for ya.

Thanks.

Hi, can anyone recomend good place in NYC for House / Techno / Disco stuff new and old?

A1

6th st btw first and A

Just old though, not new.

thanx, A-1 looks xactly what I'm after. Is Other records any good? What about Brooklyn?

Hey, any recommendations for getting some good reggae/soca/calypso/ska/etc?

http://www.yelp.com/biz/deadly-dragon-sound-system-new-york-city

I'm not sure if Jammy Land has moved or gone out of business, someone else might know. I think the Hospital store is taking over their old location?

Thanks, Ian!!

What's the best place for soul LPs?

Is Downtown Music Gallery still around? The web site seems to be inoperative. And if it isn't (RIP), is there anything else similar these days, other than Other Music?

you're looking for out jazz or experimental music or what?
i can't help but plug our shop in Brooklyn--academyannex.com

96 north 6th street
brooklyn ny 11211

off the bedford avenue L stop.
open til 10 tonight, but closed tomorrow for video shoot.

http://www.academyannex.com/splash.jpg

Yeah, jazz, experimental, or what.

I've got a trip up that way coming soon. Frankly I doubt I'd make it out to Brooklyn (tight schedule), but I'll keep it in mind.

So is Downtown Music Gallery closed?

We're the first stop in Brooklyn, less than ten minutes from union square, and we've got a pretty good selection of jazz/experimental LPs. very few CDs though.

i don't know if Downtown Music Gallery is closed... I haven't been in many months.

Thanks anyway, and who knows, maybe I'll see you in a few weeks.

Site looks up to me. Leave off the "www" or you'll get some spyware scare site.

http://downtownmusicgallery.com/Main/index.htm

Weird. The link offa Google was not giving me that. Thanks.

there's a record store somewhere real near other, only a couple of blocks south. i remember it selling hard to find interesting looking exotic lps. probably cds too at the back. does anyone know which street it's on? i wandered down lafayette expecting to find it recently but couldn't.

so what's the spot for old-school nyc and jersey house? looking specifically for strictly rhythm, shelter, mad house, right area records, nervous, and whatever else is good. oh yeah, BLACK MALE RECORDS. ideas?

dope jams in brooklyn has some of that stuff, not a ton tho

http://dopejams.net

I'd check out A1 or Sound Library, maybe. Even Etherea or Turntable Lab maybe? (all in Manhattan.)

etherea closed i thought?

http://soundsareastounding.com/2009/01/30/rip-etherea-records/

i haven't been by the actual storefront in a while, but i thought i read somewhere that they're managing to stay open somehow? not positive tho.

I dunno either -- 3 weeks ago:

http://ethereanyc.blogspot.com/2009/02/confused-by-blogs-read-on.html

ah ha. thanks for the link morbs.

Dance Tracks would have been the place for that but they closed too (web only store maybe?)

Turntablelab probably has a little bit

dope jams is the last bastion

shitrola!

Where to go for dance music (techno, house, dubstep, new and old stuff, but mostly new, and used stuff is good too)

I'm yet to have visited Halcyon and A1, but are there any other really good stores that come recommended?

A1 is no good for new. Turntable Lab is good for new stuff. Other Music too.

Dope Jams in Brooklyn?

yeah, dope jams is great for new stuff

shockingly, I've never been to Dope Jams. NY used to have tons of dance music stores...Sonic Groove, Temple, Throb, all gone.

i live in the area but i've only been to dope jams a handful of times. i had to wake the cashier up once so he could ring me up

Thanks a bunch. I always thought turntable lab was more more hip-hop, etc. oriented and didn't really carry a lot of techno/house.

It's a shame I'm too ignorant about older New York disco and house and the like to really go record shopping proper, but I'll give it my best shot.

Turntable Lab carries a lot of baltimore type stuff, some house and techno, plenty of disco edits/boots. Some new wave. It's a small selection but pretty varried.

For older stuff just go to A1 and Academy and bring stuff up to the turntables.

apparently I'm staying under 10 minutes from both Other Music and Turntable. Wish my bank account luck.

then you're under 10 minutes from A1!!!! Actually, A1 and Turntable Lab are both btw 1st and A...A1 is on 6th and TTL is on 7th. While there, go to Caracas Arepas To Go on 7th near 1st and get the Reina Arepa. Avocado Chicken Salad sandwich to die for. Use lots of the mystery sauce on the table. The pulled pork with spicy mango stuff is good too. Restaurant itself is too crowded, they have a bigger one in Williamsburg, but it's not immediately near any record stores. Not too far from Academy though.

above taken from dan selzer's official eating and record-shopping guide to nyc.

despite my vegetarianism, thanks! And it's like a 5 minute walk, actually :)

Academy seemed to have primarily classical music, and A1 was just heavenly. . .

Making a trip to NYC/Manhattan in a few days. I have yet to read any of this thread (will do so), but what are the best shops in NY to buy, you know... music in physical formats? *gasp* Yeah yeah yeah. I'm a product of the CD age so that's my preferred format, and I prefer buying used if possible (figure I can mail order anything that's new and in print).

Obviously there is Other Music, familiar with those guys as I get their e-newsletter. What else is noteworthy out there?

As for what I'm into... krautrock, post punk/new wave, early to mid '80s synth pop, shoegaze, psych/freak folk, drone/doom metal, interesting hip-hop, noise, ambient, minimal electronic. A big variety of stuff, I suppose. Don't know if that helps in pinpointing any stores, but wanted to throw that out there.

hello ilxor, visit my store if you are in williamsburg!

Hello ian, send me a plane/bus ticket to Williamsburg and I'll visit your store. ;-)

Oh so snobby about going to Brooklyn are you?

ian do feel like the colonial reenactors are prejudiced against you for selling 20th-century media in their town?

:'(

xpost

the reenactor/collector crossover is larger than you might think.

Back to my original question, then...

Making a trip to NYC/Manhattan in a few days. I have yet to read any of this thread (will do so), but what are the best shops in NY to buy, you know... music in physical formats? *gasp* Yeah yeah yeah. I'm a product of the CD age so that's my preferred format, and I prefer buying used if possible (figure I can mail order anything that's new and in print).

Obviously there is Other Music, familiar with those guys as I get their e-newsletter. What else is noteworthy out there?

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, September 2, 2009 3:57 PM (Yesterday)

Any suggestions?

Just want to confirm that you absolutely positively refuse to go to Williamsburg, right?

Other Music and maybe Kims though I haven't been to the new Kims. Who else sells CDs?

Its easier to get to WIlliamsburg then it is to get to parts of Manhattan, but I don't know about used CDs there. Earwax is not the greatest store but they probably have a lot of what you're looking for, but they're not as good as Other Music.

Does Academy Annex carry used CDs, I don't remember.

The Academy on 18th sells used CD's, but not very much (although they had an unusually large selection of Fabric mixes, not to mention the Warp 10+1 double disc compilation there for $5! - although I already took that).

I haven't been to the new Kims

it sucks for used vinyl :(

not sure about CDs

it sucks for most things :(
i thought the academy on 18th had only CDs?

Academy on 18th is a big classical vinyl place. They used to have lots of random rock dollar records too.

Etheria's used CDs would've been the best bet for what yr looking for, but it's history.

Just want to confirm that you absolutely positively refuse to go to Williamsburg, right?

Damn... I was thinking Williamsburg, VA.

Yeah I can try to make it down to the Brooklyn-area Williamsburg, looks like it's about 15 minutes from Manhattan.

hahaha. yeah dog, we're just like 10 minutes from 14th street in manhattan.
take the L train to Bedford Ave, walk one block down bedford to North 6th street, make a right and we're just a few blocks up.
Mostly LPs but we have used CDs in the $5-6 range. If there' anything specific you're looking for send me a facebook msg or mail me at dr.carl.sagan at gmail dot come.

hey new york record store patrons:
which is good for like not-especially-current r&b & hip-hop, on wax; like i wanna go & buy like r kelly & missy & pac lps. is there somewhere that's just well stocked with that kinda catalogue stuff? new or second hand, tho i feel like i'm really asking for directions to a tower records in 1994.

a1 records on 6th st between avs 1 and A

oh awesome, thank you. i woulda been all around there anyhow, there's a really great run of stores on e5 a lil west of there iirc. psyched, xx

you might want to check Big City Records too, on 12th between, A & B.

cool beans, it will prob be what i do one afternoon when i'm in the neighbourhood. gonna try'n patronise your store, also.

I coming to NY for the first time in five years. I going to have plenty of time for record / cd shopping. I'd be interested in finding used / new stuff, disco, post punk, house, garage, techno, jazz, avant (lovely music etc). I take it Other music is still in the same place? Are there places in which bargains are to be had?

if you like obese cats hit up Bleecker Street Records

seriously though, if someone who works at that store is reading this, those cats are not healthy and it seems that they are that way due to negligence. uncool.

I read 'obese cats' as a hip NY band I hadn't heard of! Is A1 still open?

A1 is open and is a great browse/dig

Awesome. Any similar places? Any borough?

Academy Annex and Record Grouch, both in Greenpoint, are my favorites.

Thanks ILM. I went to and spent money with A-1 and picked up a few bits at Record Grouch, Academy and Other. I ran out of time at Academy Annex. A1 and Other are exactly the same as I remember them from five years ago. Record Grouch was interesting, mostly second hand stuff with a bunch of shiny PAN and Mego records. If I lived local I would really enjoy this place but I can pick up most of the newer stuff local (not drag it through customs). I see that Rough Trade are opening in Williamsburg. I think some of their prices are likely to shock locals.

Kim's is finally closing (or at least they are having a 30% store closing sale).
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/img/bp/kims-rip.jpg
As great as #RSD2014 was (thank you all!), sadly we will be closing our store on 1st Ave. No closing date yet but 30% off ALL VIDEO and MUSIC. (all formats and NRs as well).

It's been a sad shell of what it was, but the st. marks store (which always was a scuzzy place) was very important for me 10-12 years ago.

https://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2020/06/record-mart.html

Jesse Moskowitz was one of the self confessed "hip Jewish kids in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan” who “loved all things Latin, a Mambonick". Jesse fell into running the Record Mart store through family connections when the shop opened in 1958, originally at 14th Street subway, where they sold mainly show tunes and jazz before building up their Latin music stock which began to sell well. Not long after, Jesse and business partner Bob Stack bought the business outright. It was, however, the opening in 1961, of the Times Square store, that was the beginning of the good times for Record Mart. Increasing their stock by buying directly form local New York distributors in order to cover more Latin music simply increased the demand from customers whilst increasing Jesse’s knowledge of the scene. In an early display of customer care, Jesse also hired knowledgeable Latinos to work in the store, providing more reasons for customers to head into the nether regions of the subway to seek out the freshest Latin New York sounds.

https://www.popmatters.com/156773-various-artists-subway-salsa-the-montuno-records-story-2495865986.html

that's from a review of this release on vampi soul:

Various ‎– Subway Salsa: The Montuno Records Story

which in turn gives an even more detailed account in the liner notes

When I came to NYC in the '90s that place was fully responsible for schooling me on classic salsa, latin bugalú, charanga, etc., which altered my musical tastes forever. I hadn't shopped there in years, though, so I'm slightly surprised it was open till now.

wish somebody would've hip'd me to it back when !

also the "subway soul" comp is great

My impression was they hadn’t been operating at full strength for a long while now but still RIP.

"subway salsa" ** jeeeeez