The Vinyl Hunt

Hace relativamente poco, conocí por la revista FUSION, a un músico/amigo colaborador de esta misma, llamado Daniel Salas, sus artículos son de mis favoritos en la revista, porque escribe sobre temas no comunes, del mundo de la música, dos de mis artículos favoritos, (pueden leerlos en antiguas ediciones de la revista, aquí), fueron el de Morrissey en las calles de ELP, y el de la escena punk de los noventas, en esta misma ciudad, su estilo es agradable y lleno de buenas anécdotas, este articulo, me llamo la atención bastante, por lo que me tome la libertad de pedirlo, para que los fanáticos de los vinyles de Soulfood Taqueria, sepan donde conseguirlos en esta ciudad.

Para escuchar más de su música, aquí.

The Vinyl Hunt.

An El Paso Guide to finding used records.

Article by Daniel Salas.

If you are getting sick of the limited options of music available for your ipod don’t forget that vinyl records have not gone extinct. They are alive and kicking and keep resurrecting in the form of a pleasurable listening experience. Records are the medium for which the music enthusiast first began their love affair and obsession with sound and music.

Something not too well known is the fact that a lot of music from the past that was made only on vinyl before there were CDs or digital downloads never made the conversion over. Tons of music exist only in the vinyl form, so that means you cant download it or even get it on CD. We might not have an Amoeba record store like in Hollywood where Paul McCartney will randomly show up and play an impromptu show, but if you dig a little you can sometimes find gold. Here is a quick El Paso guide to beefing up or starting up your record collection.

All that Music is a cd/dvd new and used store on the East side of El Paso has a section in the back of the store where you can sometimes get a decent find in the less than mint section, and if you got the extra cash they have a computer with a list of records that are more rare and in better condition. Good finds from the cheaper records ($2.50 each or 5 for $10) have been Neil Young’s On The Beach, soul records from The Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas, blues masters Elmore James and BB King. There is also a section for club DJs and electronic records as well as sleeves for LPs (long play) and 45s (7 inch records).

The next stop is the Wax Museum located in Central El Paso on Montana but is soon to be moving. Here you will find art supplies and magazines as well as nothing but a good selection of records from jazz to rock at a fair price. Owner Zeke Peña has a good ear for music and has selected records out, not just a random pile of Christmas and Nat King Cole records. Here I scored a promo copy (the promotional copy, not the one sold in stores…more rare!) powerpop self titled classic from 20/20 for $6 and punk and roll heroes The Dictators album Bloodbrothers for the same price. The records range from all decades.

If you are in the Northeast side of El Paso you can visit The Headstand. This primarily is a smoke shop and the music sold here mostly Metal, but there are alphabetized used records and boxes of 45s. I found the Velvet Underground’s self titled and a couple of Madchester records (music coming out of Manchester England late 80s early 90s) by the Happy Mondays, A Guy Called Gerald and Northside, all very rare in El Paso to say the least. Although there have been monster finds, over the years of going through these records you stop finding the good stuff and you keep looking through the same records.

Located on Mesa Street on the West side is The Time Capsule that has tons of comics and toys as well as records. Here you get a variety of choices. You can dig through the $1 bins, search through the alphabetically organized more expensive but reasonably priced records, or go all out and spend all your lunch money on a rare expensive record. I was able to find tons of good 60s and 70s Northern soul records for $1 each that have keep the dance floor people moving when I DJ. I like the idea that music captured in something so inexpensive can create excitement and good times.

The last spot is a storage room shopping center type place located on Doniphan called House Mouse records. This is a huge warehouse with records of all sorts scattered all over the place in no particular order or genre but there are small sections of the place that have records grouped and alphabetized such as the impressive Jazz section or the Country records. This is a place where you have to spend a lot of time looking through the massive amount of records to find something good. You have to get through the Christmas and Nat King Cole records here. This place can be hit or miss. You can possibly walk out with Johnny Cash’s original Sun records pressing that are over 50 years old or a red vinyl Kraftwerk record, or walk out dusty with nothing. Go on the weekend.

Across the way in the same shopping center is Rocking T records. This place has very rare records but mostly the good ones are at a hefty price. You can find rare 45s that came out of El Paso such as The Embers on the El Paso label Suemi where the recording studio was just down the street. The last time I went I saw more recent albums by Sparklehorse and Sparta. If you have the bucks, go get them. Other good spots that deserve a mention are all the thrift stores and Goodwill stores all over town, or even the swap meets where I was lucky to find records by the MC5 and James Brown.

Listening to records brings you closer into the recording, putting you in the middle, closer than digital music where there is no space. Vinyl just feels different. It has warmer tones and doesn’t sound so flat. Downloading also seems too easy, like going into a store and buying a precious stone as opposed to searching deep and having the satisfaction of the find itself. Music technology is even reverting itself back to the record form, such as with the Serato DJ equipment that transfers digital music from a computer (usually a laptop) over to a dummy vinyl so you can have the vinyl experience. Don’t despair, vinyl records are immortal. They are the vampires of all the music mediums.