So go buy a record! For anyone in Wellington below is a list of local record shops where you can support Record Store Day, but a lot of musicians are also getting behind the event & releasing vinyl – check the list here
Of all the artist quotes on the site this one by Elizabeth Cook sums it up best for me: “Record stores are the hippest libraries. In these tired ole days of homogenized entertainment, where so much of the art of our society is culminated, dumbed-down and mass produced, there is a shining jewel in the rise of the indy record stores. Going to a record shop for me is like a little treasure hunt no one can take you on but yourself. It’s fun to look around and see the other shoppers too…totally entrenched in their own adventure, anticipating the reward of heart wrenching, soul filling, joy making music that might just be a bin or a flip away.”
A little treasure hunt – exactly! I used to play a game where I would limit myself to $20 & head to the record store with the aim of buying 2 or 3 random records & then come home & listen through them with the turntable mixer plugged into ProTools, grabbing samples & then making music with the samples as the primary source material. In fact thats what I might just do tomorrow too, along with hunting through the dubstep 12″s & soundtrack albums & the reggae bins & the jazz section….
Wellington Record Stores:
Real Groovy: 250 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011 Tel (04) 385 2020
Real Groovy was originally part of a chain that has stores in Auckland, Christchurch & Dunedin – the Auckland store was first & is still the biggest & was famous for its neon sign that took like 20 minutes to step through all its permutations. The parent company that owned the chain went into voluntary receivership last year but thankfully each of the stores were bought & are now independently run.. phew! This is Wellingtons biggest record store with a good selection of new & secondhand vinyl is all genres. Last record bought here: HeadHunter double 12″
Slow Boat Records: 183 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6001 Tel (04) 385 1330
Slow Boat has always been very supportive of local musicians & you can often find NZ releases here that no one else has. As its only a block from Real Groovy it is definitely worth a visit & gets bonus points for being next door to Wasabi, my favourite sushi joint. In fact if I meet people for lunch at Wasabi I always suggest we meet in Slow Boat, you know how it is: girls are always late & I’d rather be record shopping while I wait! For Record Store Day, Slow Boat have Sam Scott & his band Bunnies on Ponies playing live in store at 11am Saturday. Last record bought at Slow Boat: David Bowie: Aladdin Sane
Lo Cost Records: 147 Jackson Street, Petone, Lower Hutt, Wellington Tel (04) 9392609
A visit to Low Cost Records involves a drive out to Petone but its usually worth it & a few years ago I had a serious addiction to shopping here as I discovered the owner had bought a large record collection from a deceased estate & the guy who had skipped off this mortal coil obviously was as fascinated by film scores as I was – there were literally crates & crates of mint condition film soundtracks & I slowly emptied his crates & filled some of mine. Sadly the owner also knows what such collectable vinyl is worth so there were no bargains but the prices were fair. Last record bought at Low Cost Records: any of many Soundtrack LPs
Wonderland Records: 2 Moore’s Valley Road, Waunuiomata Tel (04) 939 7581
This is even more of a drive but if you’re going to Low Cost you might as well drive over the hill to Wainui & check it out. And then continue out Moore’s Valley to the rugged south coast beach… Last record bought at Wonderland: Big Audio Dynamite 12″
Let me know if I have missed a record store – a few of the generic dance music stores have come & gone over the years… And there is the sad tale of one indie store that disappeared many years ago due to it being busted for being a front for selling disco biscuits..
My favourite of all? Well I have probably bought the most interesting records from Low Cost records so it gets my vote, also because the journey is part of the fun & being a little harder to find/less central the records are less picked over already than the inner city stores… Heres a little virtual visit to Low Cost Records – the owner is good value & always has time to share an anecdote or two…
Enjoy your Record Store Day! And tell me what records you pick up?
I have a sudden craving to find a few Cocteau Twins LPs from my youth…
