record stores in chicago

Dusty Groove--soul, jazz, disco, hip-hop (Really great selection and nicely-priced reissues.)
Grammaphone--house, techno (The store moved recently to north of the Clark and Diversey intersection.)
Hardboiled--electronic, experimental, indie rock (The stock is up to the whims of the owner, but he has good taste and is really nice, so you can't go wrong.)
Dave's--used vinyl (You'll have to do some digging.)
Dead Wax--used vinyl (You might score a bargain here, if you don't mind digging through the collected works of Jon Waite.)
Hyde Park Records on 53th--used vinyl (They have some boss stuff. It's pricey, but the prices are fair. I'm just saying they know what they've got, so don't expect to pull a fast one and score something on the cheap.)
Reckless on Milwaukee or Broadway--everything and nothing (You can find some good stuff here, esp. in used section, but there's a lot of luck involved.)

Out of the Past Records (on Madison) is worth the trip.... but when i say you can expect to do some digging, i mean bring gloves and a shovel. You literally trip over vinyl. But its worth it- ive found old chicago house test pressings and stuff. They kind of eyeball you when you get to the counter and pull a price quote out of thier ass though. Dudes have told me stories about them searching ebay for the titles you are wanting to buy WHILE YOU ARE AT THE REGISTER and then giving you a price based on that. But still, worth the trip.

xpost evil clown is good for import cds and that's it.

2nd Hand Tunes (with several locations) is one of those "one day gems/one day dross" places.

Val's Halla (Oak Park on Lake Street just off of the L station) used to have tons of vinyl--haven't been there in years but there's a 2nd hand tunes right around the corner on Oak Park Ave.

2nding Dr. Wax on Berwyn in edgewater, that place has great reggae, soul, dance and hip-hop selection, at least for CDs - not great for digging really although they have a decent rap selection. But as far as CDs go, you can find a pretty deep selection in the aformentioned genres.

I always forget about Evil Clown. Great in theory, but sort of overpriced and it's so close to Reckless that I usually just buy stuff at Reckless....

crazy man is gone.

besides being the best spot for house and techno stuff, grammaphone is king for one reason: LISTENING STATIONS GALORE. they're kind of slack on putting records in the "correct" section. ive found the same record in the "underground" "classics" "downtempo" and "electro" sections before.... no big deal, but be sure to shop around the whole place.

i was shopping dr. wax on berwyn one day and found the Appolonia Six - Sex Shooter 12" and a canadian OG pres. of James Brown's The Payback, both without price tags in a random, unorganized (but still clearly in the shop-able part of the store) stack of unrelated records. neither had a price tag so i took them to the register and asked the guy there (whom i later learned was the "vinyl guy") how much they were selling for. he looked them over, raised his eyebrows and was like.... "uh... where did you find these....? oh.... um.... these... uh these aren't for sale... yeah, um these aren't supposed to be on the floor.... i could get $25 on e-bay for these..... yeah... sorry... not for sale..." and refused to sell them to me. i was kinda pissed, but he gave me a good deal on some other shit the next time i came in.

Huh? Care to elucidate?

i liked the idea of a little record shop owned by magas but the store itself wasn't too exciting. some great 12"s, a pretty spotty and small collection of cds. i don't think the owners ever took the enterprise very seriously as a business.

i don't think so? not unless it happened in like the last week or something

Yes, more spacious, less crowded.

I don't want to get into an argument, but it's totally false to say that they never took it seriously as a business. Starting a record shop with not a lot of capital and lasting as long as they did was pretty impressive. At the end, they made a push to expand their business and look for investors, but they just couldn't find enough cash to make it viable. People who aren't serious don't do that.

I miss the place. My favorite in-store gig I ever played was there. They would spend hours hanging out and talking to customers and playing you new records. I never saw them once be rude to anyone even ravers asking if they had any trance records. Maybe they didn't have the cash to stock everything, but they were very careful to have really good stock. It was a really nice environment owned people who weren't jaded or dismissive which is pretty rare among record shops.

or on your computer.

www.environrecords.com.

guess i havent shopped there in a while.

i remember it being like half U2 remix comps. but i guess that was like 5 or 6 years ago.

A friend from out of town wants to go to "one good record store--preferably some place in the working-class outskirts that has a lot of '80s metal vinyl (if there is such a place) and not so much the usual Chicago mainstays that are mostly full of CDs and hipsters."

I would argue it's the hipsters who are obsessed with vinyl, but whatever. Not sure if there's any place that would have more than Metal Haven, but I can't recall how much vinyl was there, as I don't normally pay attention to the vinyl sections. There's the one on Lincoln run by a guy who did Record Exchange on Belmont a decade back, and the vinyl store on Clark, Dave's is it? No one stop shopping in Chicago. My friend moved from San Francisco to D.C. and greatly misses Amoeba I think.

If I go to these record stores in Chicago next week am I missing anything important?

Beverly Rare Records
Dusty Groove America
Hard Boiled
Jazz Record Mart
Laurie's Planet Of Sound
Permanent Records
Reckless Records

Also is there a good used bookstore (preferrably one with a nice sci-fi section and a good magazine selection)?

Depends on what you're looking for. If you're from San Francisco, I'd say why bother, as you can find most anything there. But if it's just for the pleasure of browsing, those are good. You can look things up ahead of time at www.reckless.com and put items on hold for a week. You can also pre-order at Dusty Groove.

Powell's Books on Lincoln (sci fi in an unorganized backroom ghetto), Myopic on Milwaukee (similar thing, in stanky mildewy basement), Unabridged on Broadway (small sci fi but organized and refreshingly clean). Also 57th Street & Seminary Co-Op in Hyde Park, haven't been there in a decade though. I miss the Science Fiction bookstore on Belmont, sigh. It moved to Evanston and then died quietly.

If I go to these record stores in Chicago next week am I missing anything important?

Beverly Rare Records
Dusty Groove America
Hard Boiled
Jazz Record Mart
Laurie's Planet Of Sound
Permanent Records
Reckless Records

Also is there a good used bookstore (preferrably one with a nice sci-fi section and a good magazine selection)?

-- Alex in SF, Tuesday, August 5, 2008 4:51 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

YES

kstarke
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=1109+N+Western+Ave+Chicago,+IL+60622&fb=1&geocode=14056931610538955098,41.901497,-87.686834&oi=manybox&ct=14&cd=1&resnum=2

the big bookstore is myopic which is right next to the reckless in wicker park

kstarke is maybe a mile west of dusty groove (ashland -> damen -> western)

also, ive never been but ppl keep recommending hyde park records ... kinda out of the way obviously unless yr gonna be in that direction

also if you're in the mood for digging, there's OUT OF THE PAST
http://www.outofthepastrecords.com/

on the west side near madison and pulaski ...

basically its a huge room full of crates of records in absolutely no order. you come up to the register w/ a stack of records and the ppl @ the counter look up the going rate on ebay, if they can find it

dave's is pretty good as far as selection but prices are kinda rough ... his rent isnt exactly cheap in lincoln pk

im also a huge fan of gramaphone records, but i dont know how into dance music u are alex??

Oops, I meant Booklegger's, not Unabridged (they sell only new books in Boystown). I haven't been to Selected Works on 410 S. Michigan since they moved from Broadway but they might have good stuff. Stop by After-Words next door to Jazz Record Mart, as they have a small but decent selection of new on top floor, used in basement.

The Stars Our Destination was the name of the sci fi bookstore in Belmont. After it moved to Evanston, it was bought out by DreamHaven, which I know little about.

Disappointed a bookstore called The Stars Our Destination is not still around. :(

Thanks for the other tips. I'm into dance music, deej, but could care less about 12"s at this point.

you could probably skip gramaphone, i love it cuz the vibe there is so friendly and its the best place to get, like, old trax stuff and dance mania 12s

when are you in town? derrick carter is headlining west fest in ukranian village on sunday the 10th ... outdoors

ha as are the meat puppets

Getting there on the 16th, leaving on 21st.

i highly recommend this
http://www.music-101.com/s2/images/flyers/cm_satw.jpg

just based on the dj. i havent been to that club yet. but leonard pt 6 is a great, great disco dj.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=43347848

Saturdays @ Cat's Meow

featuring

Leonard Part Sixx

Italo, Disco, Funk, Electro, Rock ...

Starting at 9 PM downstairs in the lounge.

2 floors of fun-filled music

100 person capacity sidewalk cafe open till midnight!

Eat. Drink. Dance, and Enjoy the vibe.

5 pm - 3 am

Free Parking Lot.

Never a cover!

Cat’s Meow - 2700 W. Chicago - 773.489.6998

www.catsmeowchicago.com

its also like a block from a 5AM bar if yr still up when it closes at 3