Buying Records in the 313

I love going to Detroit, there’s so many good people and places it’s impossible to get to see them all. I did manage to sneak in a quick record buying binge on Saturday afternoon, though, and these are some of the people and places I saw on my hunt……..

The first thing I do as soon as I get to Detroit is to hit 75 North up to West 8 Mile to visit Vibes, the shop owned by Mr. Rick Wilhite. This is the spot for all your Detroit House needs! I chatted with Rick about upcoming releases and picked up some good shit: the new CD and 12″ by Malik Alston, EP2 from the second Beatdown installment (it’s all about the Inohs Sivad track!), K. Hand’s recent “Moody Life” EP, the Eclectic Vibes mix CD by Reggie Dokes, Karizma’s dope “A Mind Of Its Own” double LP (finally!), the double CD of Theo’s Sound Scupture’s album, and the new Randolph CD on Still Music, as well as a sweet KDJ t-shirt. Hopefully Rick will be joining us for an evening in Pittsburgh very soon, keep your eyes on this space for more info!

Next up was a drive to the east side to check out Melodies & Memories on Gratiot….

This was my first time at M&M, and I have to say it is now one of my favorite record shops. They have ridiculous amounts of dope music on CD and wax, I spent the majority of my time digging through their used bins for some very nice bargains on some disco jams that had been on my wants list for years! I grabbed these: Candy J’s Adonis produced 12″ on Hot Mix 5, the Stone 12″ on West End that I didn’t already have, a mint copy of Quartz’ “Beyond the Clouds” 12″, the super dope electro boogie of “Land of Hunger” by the Earons, this floor smashing V/A 12″ on Soul City (I’ll be banging all three tracks to death!), Unlimited Touch’s classic 12″ “I Hear Music In The Streets”, and last but not least “Dedication to the Suckers” by Phat Kat (a Dilla production that I slept on when we had it in at 720!).

It was fun hanging out with Gary Koral at M&M, he was a dance jock back in the day and he has many great stories to tell about any number of Detroit artists who used to work in the shop as well as many good reccomendations. I can’t wait to visit again when I’m in Detroit for the festival!

Next up was a short run up Gratiot to Record Time in Roseville. I always preferred the Ferndale shop, but I hadn’t been back through Roseville since they canned the dance room. I chose the wrong day to show up, as they had all sorts of nonsense rock bands playing live in the shop. Had I been able to get up there on Friday, I might have been able to catch Bileebob and Kevin Reynolds amongst other Detroit dance artists who were performing that day. The grating metal made me want to run out of there, though not before picking up what ended up being the perfect soundtrack for my drive down Woodward later in the evening: Tony Drake’s excellent “Texture” CD. What an album, now I need the vinyl!

I got dinner at the super-quick, super-cheap and super-spicy Bangkok Express in Ferndale, which gave me a chance to drive by the old Record Time there. I cracked up when I saw the Moodymann referencing sign in the window:

A perfect way to end the record shopping portion of my trip. Much love to all those cats that I ran into, I’ll be back up there soon enough! Shouts to all Submerge crew for all their help throughout the weekend, I really love and respect you guys to the fullest. You are why I love going to Detroit so much!