Roots Records, Columbus Ohio

Roots Records is one of those places I KNEW I had to hit on Vinyl Road Rage. Being a longtime fan of all things dub, stopping here was a no-brainer. But I wasn’t quite prepared for how awesome this shop would be.

Roots has a tough job, catering to an extremely specialized market in a place I personally wouldn’t have picked as having a following big enough to sustain a store devoted to such a small part of the larger music-buying public.

That just goes to show you what you get for making assumptions. Columbus Ohio seems very supportive of its music shops, Roots included. This shop seems to be thriving and doing well–and deservedly so.

How awesome is Roots? For a start, toss out any notions you might have about reggae being a “small” genre. There’s enough to stock an entire store and then some without that store feeling like it’s just…missing…something. The diversity of sounds and styles will keep you crate digging for ages.

And Roots is full of surprises. The people buying for this store don’t come off any music snob factor whatsoever–you’ll find plenty of related genres and groups influenced by reggae and dub, hence the presence of Massive Attack 12-inches and much more. I got the feeling a newcomer would walk out of Roots feeling like they’d just found the secret source.

Compare that with your typical “High Fidelity” indie rock snobbery and revel in the fresh air of Roots. No pretentions, no bullshit. Just people who seriously love this music. And tons of it, from the roots reggae and dub plates all the way to what I call Generation Next dub sounds of Ryan Moore and Twilight Circus Sound System, you can get your fix here easily.

Want to fill in the holes in your Blood and Fire catalog? Check. Need to turn some unsuspecting future fan on to I Roy or grab yourself some Super Ape action? Done. My own biases are on display here–there was plenty of new-to-me stuff there, too. I just need to go back with a large bankroll and a Santa Claus-sized sack.

Roots is efficiently laid out, fun to browse, and the source of my favorite WTF moment of the entire Vinyl Road Rage journey, the random visual shock of THIS little gem hanging on the wall for all to see:

Yes, Roots didn’t need to win me over at this point, but seeing a Black Sabbath disc on the wall of this awesomely stocked reggae record store surely cemented Roots in my mind as one of the coolest places on earth. Hands down, one of the best stops on Vinyl Road Rage. Columbus has plenty of amazing record stores, but Roots has a special place all its own on the scene. DO. NOT. MISS.

--Joe Wallace

Omega Music, Dayton Ohio

Vinyl Road Rage made a quick trip over to Dayton, Ohio to find Omega Music, a big record shop in a town apparently once known for a much richer selection of indie shops but–I’m told–having suffered through the lousy economy since the insanity of 2008, it’s a lucky thing the survivors are still around.

Omega Music has size going for it–there is a large collection of vinyl to dig through here and you’ll be rewarded for persistence. Plenty of grandpa rock, to be sure, but lots of other fun stuff to dig through including a selection of vintage gear like this:

I had a couple of pretty nice finds in the soundtrack section, and there’s jazz and R&B out the wazoo here, so an aspiring jazz collector should definitely have a look. A new vinyl junkie would do well to sift through the bargains and try out new things on for size–Omega Music has plenty of cheaps to look over and a nice selection of collector-riffic titles on display, too.

Dayton is a nice pit stop for a record buying trip between Cincinnati and Columbus, and there’s a few very conveniently placed restaurants nearby to make the stop additionally tempting. On this trip, the stop was literally just long enough to get into Omega and get out, so I’ve promised myself another look around the area when I return.

For the hardcore, jaded collector, this is a great pit stop. For the new collector, get your browse on and don’t be in a hurry–there’s plenty of crates to dig through!

Everybody’s Records, Pleasant Ridge Ohio

by Joe Wallace

An outsider might not be able to tell the difference between Cincinnati proper and Pleasant Ridge, Ohio but one thing’s for sure–if you’re at Everybody’s Records looking for vinyl, you won’t care WHERE it’s at as long as you’re there.

Everybody’s Records has a nice collection of vinyl that looks like a typical pile of titles–at first glance. But look closer. There are plenty of the usual suspects lurking in the stacks–a dedicated crate digger will likely note the Alice Cooper new wave record “Flush The Fashion”, the occasional Gary Myrick and the Figures album, Our Daughter’s Wedding, and other fun titles. But look further still.

On my visit to this shop, I scored not one, but THREE albums by The Legendary Pink Dots. These titles are sought after by a certain rabid type of collector and are not what you’d call readily available simply lurking in the record shop stacks. But there they were, waiting just for me, it seems.

All this stuff was hiding in, if memory serves, the “Rock” section–one reason why it’s important to give those bins a closer look. “Rock” to me says AC/DC, Aerosmith, and a lot of other crap I don’t have much interest in. It’s a real stretch to call Skinny Puppy or Coil “rock”, but more often than not, they get lumped in to that category.

I can’t REALLY blame the shop for this–who wants to spend endless hours creating new categories to fit all these bands?

“Bands That Sound Like Erasure But Who Worship Satan” won’t fit on a category card unless you write REALLY SMALL, and there are only a handful of groups that would fit into “Electronic Performers Who Enjoy Semi-Consensual Buggery In Public Places But Only While Wearing Goat Horns” or “The Ghost of Brian Eno Eats Peanut Butter”.

Back to Everybody’s Records–they also have a healthy collection of oddball titles–one of my favorite sections in any record store–and some REALLY tasty finds in the soundtrack bins. I wound up dropping a nice chunk of change at this Ohio record store.  Final verdict? No trip to Ohio is complete without dropping by Everybody’s Records. Recommended.

Shake It Records, Cincinnati Ohio

by Joe Wallace

By the time Vinyl Road Rage got to Cincinnati, I was ready for something crazy. Something big, consistently good, and a little overwhelming. I’d seen big. I’d seen good. But the cramped quarters of some of the smaller shops was starting to make me feel a little claustrophobic, and the biggest shops were heavy on the new releases. In short, I yearned for a New York City style record store in terms of size and selection (not price, to be sure).

And that is EXACTLY what I got at Shake It Records in Cincinnati, Ohio. Friendly, well-lit, and a massive collection of used vinyl that forces you to cancel your plans for the rest of the morning, slow down and take a serious look.

Don’t let appearances fool you. This picture shows nothing but compact discs and books–and what an AMAZING selection of books it is, too. This part of Shake It Records is deceptive as it doesn’t LOOK like a book store, but there are enough titles along the walls and above the CDs to qualify this as a genuine bookseller. But not at the expense of distracting you from why you really came here.

Like many of the most impressive New York City record stores, Shake It has a downstairs area stocked to the brim with well-organized, easy to browse vinyl. It is a bit overwhelming at first–where to start? My advice is to begin looking at the rarer titles along the walls. Behold:

But it doesn’t stop there. The obscurities, the weirdness, all the things I love best about vinyl shopping were all handed to me on a silver platter at Shake It.

Shake It is one of those stores you go out of your way to hit, and on top of everything else, it’s located in a GREAT part of Cincinnati with plenty of indie coffee shops and restaurants nearby. It was by far one of my favorite parts of the trip and I can tell you I will DEFINITELY come back to Shake It at my earliest opportunity. This store is clearly a work of love–every single inch of the place is a joy to shop. DO NOT MISS.

Ear X-Tacy, Louisville Kentucky

Our coverage of indie record stores continues as Vinyl Road Rage heads into Louisville Kentucky for another look at the indie record shop scene there.

Louisville has a nice collection of stores along a single road, and while they aren’t close together, it does make them quite easy to find. Ear X-Tacy is one of Louisville’s largest (from what I could find) and there is definitely a LOT of vinyl on sale here. This store is MASSIVE!

Crate diggers have their work cut out for them, as there’s a lot of digging to be done. You’ll have to wade through some grandpa rock–probably more than your usual share of Journey, Dio, AC/DC and other tired old titles, but there are also plenty of new, fresh vinyl releases to drool over here.

Like many good record shops, Ear X-Tacy doesn’t limit itself to carrying vinyl and CDs;  there is a decent collection of books here including this extremely funny and oh-so-relevant volume critiquing today’s modern tattooed scene-rats in ways I’m sure would get the author lynched by trust-fund kiddies at Ivy League campuses all over the country. Behold:

Ear X-Tacy gets big kudos for offering vinyl listening stations–this is a very important part of the experience for a new-to-vinyl buyer who doesn’t know Milli Vanilli from Brian Eno, and even for those that DO, the ability to test drive an album is a major plus. Nice going, Ear X-Tacy. Those of us who might reject an album based on too much surface noise just as easily as a crummy set of songs salute you.

Yes, there are plenty of those goofy old CDs to choose from to0…not a bad option when you can’t find Nurse With Wound’s Rock and Roll Station on vinyl without paying out the wazoo for it…at the end of the day, some things must be heard no matter what format they are delivered on.

If you’re in Louisville Kentucky, have a look in Ear X-Tacy, but be prepared to stay a while. Fortunately, the records are all off the floor in regular displays, so no spinal or knee discomfort here! Thanks, guys….

–Joe Wallace