samnat Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 I will be in Austin, TX weekend after next on business (imagine that) and will take some time out Sat and Sun afternoon to comb the music stores. Any recommendations on jazz shops (vinyl preferred but CDs and japanese imports also)? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 I'm sure Lon and others will have more suggestions, but I'm guessing about every list will have Waterloo Records on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 (edited) There's very little besides Waterloo Records on Lamar and Sixth St. to recommend, especially regarding vinyl and jazz. Almost every other store worth a hoot has closed. There is Cheap CDs on Lamar I guess. . . I never find any jazz I want there but then my needs may be different. . . ! For a number of reasons (one being I'm not fond of Waterloo, another that I don't have a car) 99% of my cds come in the mail. Edited February 3, 2005 by jazzbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 Antone's on Guadalupe is worth a look-see, even tho' I haven't been in there in years. I think there's another vinyl shop on Guadalupe more towards 38th Street, but I don't remember the name of it. To be honest, I've only driven past it but never gone in, so I couldn't tell you if it's worth anyone's time or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WD45 Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 Welcome samnat! As a fellow business traveler, I can attest to the fact that this board is a good source for record store recommendations. I would second the vote for Waterloo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Burke Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 In my opinion, Austin is woefully lacking in used LP shops. Waterloo has some used records but, in their words, they don't pay "collectors prices". As a result, they don't get very may collectible records. Lot's of reissues though. Including most of the Get Back and Sundazed stuff (BYGs, soul, blaxploitation, psychedelic, folk, etc). Also lot's of new hip hop 12"es and indie rock. A new shop went in just before I moved called Sound on Sound and I've had some good luck there. Again, mostly rock but almost entiely used vinyl. Definitely worth a visit, I'd say. Another one is Antone's. I have found some great stuff in the past but that's probably because it was on my way home from UT so I'd stop and look in the new arrival bins just about every other day. The jazz section is big. There's just nothing interesting in it (unless, of course, you're in the market for Freddie Hubbard records from 1982). Other than that, it's mostly just a bunch of "Bud Light blues" records. Used to be a place called The Sound Exchange on Guadalupe. They specialized in punk rock but had a decent amount of jazz, I guess. A lot of it was crap too but they didn't really know very much about jazz there. (Hey, fair enough. You can't know everything.) As a result, though, I once found an original copy of Autobiography in Jazz on Debut for all of six bucks there. Rule #1 of record shopping: Find out what genres are most valued by the folks who run the shop. Then look for records in every genre but the ones they value. B-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Burke Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 I think there's another vinyl shop on Guadalupe more towards 38th Street, but I don't remember the name of it. 33 Degrees. They closed in 2004. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted February 4, 2005 Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 I think there's another vinyl shop on Guadalupe more towards 38th Street, but I don't remember the name of it. 33 Degrees. They closed in 2004. DRAT!!!! Thanks for the heads up, tho! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 4, 2005 Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 Does Austin still have a Half-Price? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted February 4, 2005 Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 Austin still has a number of Half Price Books. I used to like Record Exchange across the street from Dobie Mall . . . it was one of the only places I ever found jazz lps I didn't have. . . it's closed. In my opinion Austin is slm pickings for jazz vinyl til the Convention hits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samnat Posted February 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 Thanks to all for your suggestions. I am also on a nostalgia kick for good 60s-70s folk-rock (of which I have enjoyed some fine discussion threads on this list), jazzy progressive rock (Embryo, Nucleus, Canterbury stuff and Italian progressive). CD stores with good import sections often have some interesting finds. I'll Mapquest myself over to a few of your recommendations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bol Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 I was in Austin in October, and checked out Waterloo and Cheap CDs. I was very disappointed. Waterloo annoyingly mixes jazz with other genres of music. And in the end, I did not think they had much jazz. A lot of fluff and no substance. I miss the days when every college town had 2-3 very good record stores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 I was in Austin in October, and checked out Waterloo and Cheap CDs. I was very disappointed. Waterloo annoyingly mixes jazz with other genres of music. And in the end, I did not think they had much jazz. A lot of fluff and no substance. I miss the days when every college town had 2-3 very good record stores. Yes, that whole "we don't accept genres...it's all music" is just a drag when it comes to actually LOOKING for stuff. Unless you have time to go from A to Z in every genre of music in the world, from beginning of the store to the end, you're screwed. Of course, Waterloo mainly just sells local singer songwriter garbage out the ying yang along with the Los Lonely Boys collection . So, not too many people searching for obscure jazz titles there. A hipsters paradise of mostly crap. As far as jazz went, Tower Records here had a great dept. once upon a time. Then it got lame. Then it went out of business. Like Lon (and almost every other jazz lover in the town I'm sure), I buy most of my stuff online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 (edited) Hey, at least you HAVE a Waterloo and a Cheapo....not to mention the biannual Record Convention!!! I'd trade places in a heartbeat! We have a Best Buy.... edit - I've done ok in Cheapo from time to time... though I'm probably not as far along in my collecting as either of you! I picked up the Miles Plugged Nickel box there over the Christmas holidays.... Edited February 5, 2005 by Aggie87 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 Hey, at least you HAVE a Waterloo and a Cheapo....not to mention the biannual Record Convention!!! I'd trade places in a heartbeat! We have a Best Buy.... Hey, I was suppose to have a gig in Corpus tonight. But that place is such a drag, you couldn't get me down there unless the dough was really happening (which it wasn't)! That's a redneck town, no need for a jazz store down there, they just dig Kenny Chesney. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 I was in Austin in October, and checked out Waterloo and Cheap CDs. I was very disappointed. Waterloo annoyingly mixes jazz with other genres of music. And in the end, I did not think they had much jazz. A lot of fluff and no substance. I miss the days when every college town had 2-3 very good record stores. Yes, that whole "we don't accept genres...it's all music" is just a drag when it comes to actually LOOKING for stuff. Unless you have time to go from A to Z in every genre of music in the world, from beginning of the store to the end, you're screwed. Of course, Waterloo mainly just sells local singer songwriter garbage out the ying yang along with the Los Lonely Boys collection . A-frickin'-MEN!!!! About ten years ago, I remember part of the reason I looked forward to going to Austin was for the record stores. With all the small record stores (Sound Exchange, and there was this other place right off Guadalupe that was in this reconstructed house) and Tower gone, going to Austin just for the music stores is a thing of the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 I was in Austin in October, and checked out Waterloo and Cheap CDs. I was very disappointed. Waterloo annoyingly mixes jazz with other genres of music. And in the end, I did not think they had much jazz. A lot of fluff and no substance. I miss the days when every college town had 2-3 very good record stores. Yes, that whole "we don't accept genres...it's all music" is just a drag when it comes to actually LOOKING for stuff. Unless you have time to go from A to Z in every genre of music in the world, from beginning of the store to the end, you're screwed. Of course, Waterloo mainly just sells local singer songwriter garbage out the ying yang along with the Los Lonely Boys collection . A-frickin'-MEN!!!! About ten years ago, I remember part of the reason I looked forward to going to Austin was for the record stores. With all the small record stores (Sound Exchange, and there was this other place right off Guadalupe that was in this reconstructed house) and Tower gone, going to Austin just for the music stores is a thing of the past. I'm coming down there this weekend. Has this situation changed? Or is the best/only place to find vinyl in Austin at the various Half Price Books stores? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 (edited) I was in Austin in October, and checked out Waterloo and Cheap CDs. I was very disappointed. Waterloo annoyingly mixes jazz with other genres of music. And in the end, I did not think they had much jazz. A lot of fluff and no substance. I miss the days when every college town had 2-3 very good record stores. Yes, that whole "we don't accept genres...it's all music" is just a drag when it comes to actually LOOKING for stuff. Unless you have time to go from A to Z in every genre of music in the world, from beginning of the store to the end, you're screwed. Of course, Waterloo mainly just sells local singer songwriter garbage out the ying yang along with the Los Lonely Boys collection . A-frickin'-MEN!!!! About ten years ago, I remember part of the reason I looked forward to going to Austin was for the record stores. With all the small record stores (Sound Exchange, and there was this other place right off Guadalupe that was in this reconstructed house) and Tower gone, going to Austin just for the music stores is a thing of the past. I'm coming down there this weekend. Has this situation changed? Or is the best/only place to find vinyl in Austin at the various Half Price Books stores? Cheapo Discs (on Lamar, around 9th or 10th) has some vinyl, but I'm not really sure about their selection - I haven't browsed their vinyl in quite a while. Probably worth a stop just to check it out though. PS - Was the place in the reconstructed house off of Guadalupe called "Technophilia"? I used to shop there, and it was pretty cool back in the day. Edited December 13, 2006 by Aggie87 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 PS - Was the place in the reconstructed house off of Guadalupe called "Technophilia"? I used to shop there, and it was pretty cool back in the day. I believe so! Yeah, it was pretty nice alright, like wandering through someone's basement record collection! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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