Category Archives: editorial

Chicago Record Stores: Reggie’s Record Breakers

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Reggie’s is an unusual place–located at 2105/2109 South State Street in Chicago, this is a rock and roll venue, a bar and grill, and home to Record Breakers, the indie vinyl and CD store located upstairs. It’s a dangerous thing for a record collector to stop at the bar on the ground level BEFORE buying the vinyl–you’ll stagger up the stairs and back down much lighter in the wallet.

Record Breakers is a great place for new collectors–you can fill a lot of gaps in your collection if you’re looking for punk, post-punk, and soul. It’s not so great for soundtrack fiends like me, as the selection is pretty grim. I was happy to see a decent assortment of Chicago Wax Trax! era titles but really bummed about the soundtracks. The lack of a weird/unclassifiable section was a disappointment, but definitely not a deal breaker for the newcomer to vinyl.

I’d recommend Reggie’s for the full experience–don’t go and just record shop, take the whole scene in. A nice change from the standalone store, to be sure. If you go early on a Saturday, (after 12 but before 5) chances are you’ll have the run of the place–it was pretty quiet when I got there and got excellent service from the bar. Nice one.

–Joe Wallace

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WTF Album Covers: Geraldine and Ricky

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WTF album covers puppets

Seriously, what is with the born-again Christians and the puppets? I can’t think of anything I’d rather do less than spend 45 minutes with my hand up a puppet’s ass talking out of the side of my mouth like a third-rate George Raft. And don’t try to tell me this crap is aimed at KIDS–track two on side two is titled “The Liquor Store”. That’s where I’d be spending the meager proceeds from this vinyl abomination if I had ANYTHING to do with it.

Geraldine And Ricky back cover

You might wonder why I vent my bile on ventriloquists on vinyl with such…passion, until you remember that very NATURE of the ventriloquist act is that you’re supposed to SEE THE DUMMY TALK apparently ON ITS OWN. Like MAGIC. Put these people on a record and the whole point of the ventriloquist act is…well yeah, you get it now.

Like so many other things associated with right wing evangelical Christianity, this makes absolutely ZERO SENSE.

OK, I feel better now.

–Joe Wallace

Mono Stereo 45 RPM Single On and On/Matter of Confusion

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Mono Stereo 45 On and On Matter of ConfusionI hear some people of a certain age group (hint–I went to college with some of them in the 90s) moaning about how music today isn’t as good (read post-punk enough or new wavey enough or whatever) as it used to be. To which I reply in two parts. Part One: You’ve become your parents, and Part Two, that’s just complete nonsense when faced with delicious vinyl releases like this 45 from Mono Stereo.

This Swedish four piece has its feel planted firmly in the psychedelia/shoegaze mushroom garden, evoking both a retro 60s vibe (with a nice little nod to Ennio Morricone in the middle eight of A Matter of Confusion, intentional or not) AND a bit of the old Ride/MBV thrown in for good measure.

It’s tough to review a modern ‘gazer band without invoking those previous two names, but the comparison is favorable, and I actually find the B side to be the stronger of the two cuts, though I have to admire the production work of the A-side On And On…sounds to these musician/DJ ears like a quite effective sitar simulation was achieved by pairing a banjo and guitar riff togetether…or maybe that IS a sitar and I’m just going deaf. Either way, it’s an effective intro to the track.

Mono Stereo has created a nice thick wall of sound swirling in just the right way. Kudos to them for not only a great release, but also for putting it out on vinyl as the gods intended.

Get your Mono Stereo on with the Vimeo vid below and tell me you don’t want to hear more…I did. Hook up with Mono Stereo on Facebook and be sure to tell ’em Turntabling sent you.

And that reminds me…I am all too happy to review vinyl releases. Get in touch about yours via jwallace (at) turntabling (dot net).
Joe Wallace


Mono Stereo – On and On from Adam Bruneau on Vimeo.

DJ Paisley Babylon Mix: After The Punks Have Gone

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AFTER-THE-PUNKS-HAVE-GONE

Another DJ Paisley Babylon mix in a retro vein–this time it’s post-punk, new romantic, early industrial, even some Cramps thrown in for good measure. As varied and all-over-the-map the bands are, the sounds all work very well together. Who needs genres when you’ve got groove? Have a listen to AFTER THE PUNKS HAVE GONE–the DJ Paisley Babylon post-punk and beyond mix. It’s a solid hour of solid tunes by Polyrock, Fad Gadget, Blondie, PiL, Gang of Four, Adam and the Ants, plus many others.

If you like the mix and want to book DJ Paisley Babylon, by all means get in touch. Contact me by e-mail: jwallace (at) turntabling (dot) net or call (312) 504-1264.

This mix is posted here to promote my DJ work and the original artists. Please get in touch if you need to discuss licensing issues.