Boston's best: Record stores
Vinyl never quits.
While most of the Boston-area record shops have gone the way of the pet rock (last month Cambridge's venerated Stereo Jack's closed after nearly 30 years) there are still a handful that keep trucking along. It’s thanks to eclectic selections, dedicated fans and undoubtedly some dirt-cheap rental arrangements. Throw on your crate-digging gloves and embark on an aural adventure with us as we explore the shelves of the best tunesmiths in town.
Cheapo Records
Cheapo has been around since as the 1950s, when it was called Cambridge Music Box. Heck, it's still got a corded phone. Vinyl takes center stage, with CDs relegated to the floor-level bins and a side section. Multi-colored tabs divide the music into categories like “Expiremental/Avant Garde” (sic) and “Easy, Sleazy, Exotic,” from which we copped Happy Time Polka Party for four bucks. (Don't judge.) As befits a spot located a stone's throw from ZuZu's Soul-le-lu-jah dance night, Cheapo maintains an exhaustive collection of vintage Motown and funk. Despite its name, prices aren't especially low; but at least it pays to know that you're buying the latest indie from an actual indie. 538 Massachusetts Ave, Central Square, Cambridge (617-354-4455, cheaporecords.com)
In Your Ear Records
When stacks of records overflow outside a store's front door, you know you're in for a deliciously disorganized display. In Your Ear doesn't disappoint. The main location stocks 100,000 LPs and CDs, though the word "stocks" is used loosely here; crates in the aisles and a massive odds-and-ends bin feature three-for-a-buck bargains. (OMC's "How Bizarre"? Score!) The 8-track selection is uncommonly large, the magazine section has random back issues of Relix and Rolling Stone and the corner of the store is plastered with kitschy Mexican movie posters like El Regreso de King Kong. It's a glorious mess. 957 Commonwealth Avenue, Allston (617-787-9755, iye.com)
Looney Tunes
Smack in the middle of the Berklee campus, Looney Tunes is a true music geek’s record shop. The shelves are stacked high in the cavernous space, with especially ample rock, jazz and classical sections to appease the area’s academics and scholastic music snobs. If you’ve got time and patience, you can unearth some pretty great deals on vintage classics. Explore further back into Looney Tunes’ depths to browse out-there categories like “Audiophilia” and “Sleazy Listening.” There’s also a pretty decent selection of old 45s, plus used CDs, cassettes and DVDs if you’re feeling futuristic. 1106 Boylston St, Back Bay, Boston (617-247-2238)
Nuggets Records
A place truly frozen in time, Nuggets houses VCRs for sampling videos, and the walls spotlight signatures from drop-in guests like Billy Joel and Harry Nilsson. Named after the seminal '60s garage-rock compilation, the Kenmore shop has a formidable classic-rock selection, including lots of seven-inch singles for under $3. Owner Stewart Freedman is refreshingly throwback, admitting that he hasn't updated the website in five years but has considered getting “one of those Tweetering accounts.” Even among a bevy of cheap DVDs and Blu-rays, the vibe is old-fashioned and the record sleeves are all coated in a satisfying layer of dust. 486 Commonwealth Ave, Back Bay, Boston (617-536-0679, nuggetsrecords.com)
Undergroundhiphop.com
Record stores have enough financial issues as it is, but try making it work when you only sell one genre. To be fair, Undergroundhiphop.com—founded back in 1997 by a Northeastern business student —started on the web, and earns 90 percent of its revenue via mail-order purchases. The store is less than ideal for browsers, with computer kiosks in place of traditional rows of physical albums, but UHH’s rap inventory remains peerless. it also carries T-shirts, watches, graffiti supplies and more. Buy enough, and they might throw in a free poster. UHH also hosts free live performances—time things right, and you might catch a drop-in from a Wu-Tanger. 234 Huntington Ave, Back Bay, Boston (617-262-0200, undergroundhiphop.com)
Weirdo Records
If stepping into this Central Square spot feels a bit like revisiting your first post-college apartment, you may not be surprised to learn that owner Angela Sawyer ran the business out of her tiny Somerville flat until 2009. No Beatles LPs here—Weirdo specializes in experimental and foreign music, from free jazz to Indonesian psychedelia. The store sports a colorful aesthetic, with bobble-head dolls lining the shelves and sky-printed fabrics adorning the walls. Sections display un-ironic titles like “New Sixties” and every price tag is affixed with the slogan, “Get your freak on.” Sawyer occasionally crams people in for concerts that feel, aptly enough, like intimate house shows. 844 Massachusetts Ave, Central Square, Cambridge (857-413-0154, weirdorecords.com)
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