vinyl diary: digging across the pond
So we didn’t go to Europe just to buy vinyl, but I did wind up being able to spend a few hours in each city we visited checking out record stores, and besides bringing back some excellent wax (much of which I probably wouldn’t easily find stateside), I took a few flicks to share as well. I also took pics of the haul I brought back; I decided to arbitrarily limit myself to small amounts of 7″ and 10″ records in order to make it easier to carry back to the U.S. Click the flicks for bigger pics!
Göteborg (aka Gothenburg):
Unfortunately I didn’t actually get to spend any time in record stores here, but I did find two that were closed at the time:
![]() I was told this was the best record store in Göteborg |
![]() This one also looked cool; wish I could have gone in! |
København (aka Copenhagen):
![]() My haul from Kaffe & Vinyl. |
![]() The 10″ actually has all this stuff printed directly on the vinyl. And it’s fun reggae-inspired hip hop; “Legalize It” in Danish I assume… More info on that record here |
Norrköping
After København we came back to Sweden for the ACSIS conference. Norrköping is a small town near Stockholm, and I think it only has the one record store. It was a great one though!
![]() Vaxkupan Records |
![]() From the photo you can’t really tell how many excellent used vinyl records were available in this store, mostly at reasonable prices by Swedish standards! |
![]() My haul from Vaxkupan. Several of these got played at the dinner gig at the conference! There are a few Swedish 45s that I picked at random since there was no vinyl listening station. Pricewise this was probably the best deal of all the digging I did — all of this was only 125 SEK (about 20 USD). The real find here was the Josephine Baker 45, a Danish pressing of French songs recorded in 1957. The cover is actually autographed by Josephine Baker; the autograph is dated 12/7/1957. How this ended up in Norrköping I have no idea. Other gems included the Midi, Maxi, and Efti smash hit “Bad Bad Boys” as well as this 1971 Pop-Tops single. |
Berlin
Berlin was the next stop, which was as you expect a vinyl junkie’s paradise. There was much to do in Berlin besides crate-digging, however, so we kept it to two stores: Hard Wax and Spacehall.
![]() Berlin’s infamous Hard Wax Records was in an apartment building. |
![]() You had to walk a few flights up this tagged-up staircase to find the store |
![]() I only got one photo inside the store, but there was a large number of 12″s — techno, drum n bass, dubstep, tech house, as well as an excellent reggae section. You can’t see it from here but there was also a DJ station with great speakers and a beautiful Ecler Nuo 3 mixer. There was a DJ playing some great minimal while we were in there. |
![]() Their 7″ collection was very limited (except for an extensive reggae collection which I avoided since I wanted to focus on stuff I couldn’t easily find in LA). I brought these three gems home; two nice dubstep 45s (a whitelabel from hey-ø-hansen and a Jazzsteppa release featuring Borgore) and a really cool downtempo whitelabel with a handstamp. |
![]() Huge room #1 |
![]() Huge room #2 |
![]() I only took home a few 10″s from here, mostly tech house and dubstep. That brown package looks like another 10″ but it’s not. |
I also ran into this store but it was closed:
![]() Piatto Forte |
![]() This store had some very cool things in the window. Who wouldn’t want a pink fuzzy deck?? |
![]() Had this place been open I totally would have bought this t-shirt. |
Paris
Paris is an amazing city. I only got to stop into a few of the many record stores there, and had very little time for digging. We randomly were there on June 21st, which is the city’s free music festival (Fête de la musique). So we spent that entire day checking out live music all over town, and didn’t walk into any record stores. Nevertheless I found some gems on the day I did record-shop!
![]() Found this store accidentally because it was right across the street from Bikram Yoga. Lots of vinyl in here, mostly French popular dance music. I was hoping for some garage and psychedelic stuff but that wasn’t here. |
![]() I think the owner was amused that I was asking him for French disco music. I don’t think we meant the same thing. The record on the lower left is with Catherine Ringer, who founded Les Rita Mitsouko. And I couldn’t resist buying a record called “I Love America” in Paris! |
![]() My Electro Kitchen. I went to this store three different times and it was always closed. Are they ever open? |
![]() Superfly Records. |
![]() I found some great stuff at Superfly. Stuck to stuff I could afford but there was a lot more for collectors willing to spend 10+ euro on 7″ records! Choice picks here included this Minimatic Mash-up (if only for the cover) and this ridiculously funky jam from Wah Wah 45s (hear samples). Oh yeah and the French pressing of this Nancy Sinatra 7″. (Hear it on youtube!) |
And there always has to be one bad experience; too bad mine was the last record store I checked out.