wherever I go or travel, visiting local record stores is somehow a priority, I get super curious to know what these bins in there are hiding, as an obvious result, I almost never return home without few records, whether it’s in europe, the uk or the us. I’ll start with the ones from the city I live in, which is stacked with great store. I’ll be limiting the list to 3 stores per city.
Soul Ableta Disquaire, Paris 18th
Excellent spot for jazz & afro music, the owner is very knowledgeable don’t hesitate to ask if you’re looking for recommendations, I asked him about the meaning of the name, told me to look for it myself before my next visit lol.
The vibe is great and you can enjoy free live music on sundays.
Hark Records, Paris 11th
Excellent selection of almost every genre, the way records are sorted lets you know that these people know exactly what they sell, for example, it’s too rare that a store would separate no-wave from post-punk (even the whole genre of post-punk sometimes goes to the same bin as new wave or something else). So this was a great surprise for a no-wave fan like myself. But it never ends there, while stores would sort jazz-rap as a separate sub-genre -which is cool-, at Hark they even separate jazz-rap itself into different jazz-rap styles (Native Tongues, Posse 501 etc.) I’ve never seen any other store do that.
Easily my favorite record store in town, there’s a special feeling here you can rarely find in any record store: probably because of that minimalist effect, or the smell of paint.
Superfly Records, Paris 3rd
If you’re looking for great jazz & funk music, Superfly is the place to be. New records (new & second hand) keep digging and you’ll very likely find some gems there.
Accord, Copenhagen, Denmark
One of the few stores I’ve visiting in the city and left with some (very affordable) OG-pressing records, the place also has a huge CD collection if you’re into them.
Concerto, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
While I have visited many cool spots in Amsterdam, I’ve been the happiest at Concerto, the place is spacious and well organized, staff was nice too, I bought a Vince Staples’ Big Fish Theory picture-disc album, Herbie Hancock’s Future Shock & Herbie Mann’s Memphis Underground.
HHV, Berlin, Germany
While HHV is known as one of the biggest online record stores in Europe (probably the biggest), their store in Berlin can be interesting if you’re looking for fresh releases or second hand albums.
Sister Ray, London, UK
Can assure you it’s the kind of the store you are looking for in London, huge variety of rock, jazz and basically everything, bought a copy of ESG’s classic “Come Away with ESG” there.
Foyles Library, London, UK
This one is kind of special because it’s a library rather than a records-only store, it was a suggestion by the English flute/saxophone player Shabaka Hutchings after I asked about his favorite places to look for vinyl in London, I ended up buying Don Cherry’s Brown Rice as well as a small book from there, the staff was super friendly and helpful.
Ergot Records, Manhattan, New York City
EXACTLY what I was hoping to find in the big apple, a lot of avant-garde, experimental music of every genre. Hands down my favorite one in the city, will definitely go back there.
Human Head Records, Brooklyn, New York City
Great spot in Brooklyn for crate diggers, staff are super friendly. You can also admire some high quality graffiti art on you way there, check my other post: New York City street art
Bad Seeds, Brest, France
Loved the fact that they had lot of post-punk here, had a nice discussion with the owner about few albums, give it a visit if you’re in town.
Bongo Joe Records, Geneva, Switzerland
Nice place in the heart of Genevra where you can grab a drink & dig through the crates, good selection of second hand 7″ and 12″ records.