What to look for when digging through record stores

ckunke002

ckunke002

New member
I just bought my first turntable. My number 1 reason is just for a new medium for collecting and playing music, but I also would like to discover some new artists and find cool samples while I'm at it.

My question is, do you just buy random records that look interesting, or do you usually know of an artist and then seek them out in the record stores? I'm going for the first time today and don't know the best way to go about it.

Thanks
 
My advice: at first, just pick up random records that catch your eye. You'll almost for sure find at least some kind of dope stuff on some of them. Once you find stuff you like, learn who the musicians/record labels are, and actively look for more stuff by them.
 
personally i shotgun the dollar bin and buy anything that i feel might have a minute or two of dopeness on it for whatever reason. if it's 4 corny looking white dudes i avoid those (i see this group called "the lettermen" a lot that look awful but who knows.) or if it's barbara streisand, country looking, metal, or christmas i don't buy it. i'll pay up to 5 dollars for an album with some musicians i like or a band i like or if it has an incredible cover.
 
Always ask who's selling the records what they're into specifically in record shops that aren't part of a chain or a national, the independent's are full of serious listener's, the pay is often poor but unlimited free access to endless stacks of material offer these shop workers an acceptable counter balance - imagine working a forty hour week, week by week, just listening to album after album while you work, being paid for it, you'd get bored of the same old mainstream popular shit so you start to expand your tastes in directions that most average people won't offer to entertain. Give them an idea of your tastes and they'll easily reel off a half dozen similar artists you haven't even heard of, just because you ain't heard of them doesn't translate to an artist or band being rubbish, the world of music is a huge and vastly expansive place, geographically border-less and across many tides of time.
 
Pherm B Leeva said:
Always ask who's selling the records what they're into specifically in record shops that aren't part of a chain or a national, the independent's are full of serious listener's, the pay is often poor but unlimited free access to endless stacks of material offer these shop workers an acceptable counter balance - imagine working a forty hour week, week by week, just listening to album after album while you work, being paid for it, you'd get bored of the same old mainstream popular shit so you start to expand your tastes in directions that most average people won't offer to entertain. Give them an idea of your tastes and they'll easily reel off a half dozen similar artists you haven't even heard of, just because you ain't heard of them doesn't translate to an artist or band being rubbish, the world of music is a huge and vastly expansive place, geographically border-less and across many tides of time.
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Wow, that was deep. Thanks for the answers everybody! I went to 3 different stores today and had a pretty hard time. I didn't want to get stuff I already knew/had, but I also didn't want to drop a bunch of money on artists I didn't know anything about. I basically just wandered around for hours and ended up with 4 LP's and a couple 45's which I know nothing about except they looked kind of cool and were just 2 bucks each.
 
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1) Conceptualize and write what kind of records you want (Breaks, Funk, Jazz, etc)

2) Your budget

3) Start digging!

Usually I pick a record based on the cover. It seemed to work for me this far! But if your looking for specifics, either do your research before hand for the LPs or ask a sales associate in the store for what your looking for.
 
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