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TD’S CDs & LPs in Bloomington, Indiana

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The second stop of Vinyl Road Rage 4 was another familiar shop–TD’s CDs and LPs in Bloomington, Indiana. This shop, located at 322 East Kirkwood Avenue, is a basement record store in a building with a good coffee shop and several other attractions.

It’s been running in the basement there for over ten years, giving love to local bands, selling rare and weird music and with quite a good, diverse selection too.

Any fan of 80s/90s electronic or experimental music should definitely have a look. Nurse With Wound is very well represented there (just one example) and the soundtrack section is crammed full of great, obscure and hard to find titles–especially Goblin. Vinyl and CDs are both equally represented–this is not a shop that has one or the other as an afterthought.

Like other great indie record shops, the notes about some of the more attention-worthy releases handwritten or printed out by the staff on stickers make the shopping experience a lot more fun and informative.

There’s something about notes written by the people who work in that particular shop that make you feel like you’re really connecting with the store overall. It’s a great touch and a habit I like to encourage.

I can’t tell you how many albums I’ve purchased strictly on the content of those notes alone, and my visit to TD’s was no exception–at least one of my purchases was on the strength of those little writeups. TD’s is friendly, fun to shop and very cozy. The fact that you can go right next door for a caffeinated jolt and review your purchases is also a big plus.

I highly recommend this record store and it’s definitely on my “must shop” list for anytime I am in the area.

Fellow vinyl junkies, why not join me on Facebook? You can also become a fan of the official Facebook page for the upcoming Turntabling.net book WTF Records: The Turntabling Guide to Weird and Wonderful Vinyl.


TD’s Records and CDs, Bloomington Indiana

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This building houses several things including a coffee shop (much needed) and the most excellent TD’s Records and CDs, which celebrated 10 years in its basement location in 2010.

There’s a damn good reason this store has been around for ten years. It’s small, but intelligently stocked and caters to people like me who are in search of Coil on vinyl and related obscurities. I found new fewer than five vinyl LPs by Goblin including the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack and several other lustworthy items.

Many record stores try to offer something to the obscurity-loving crate digger. This store seems to specialize in the great finds rather than offer them as one-offs.

TD’s is a different sort of beast entirely. The store does not promote online, preferring word-of-mouth. And there’s a reason why that word of mouth is good–the shop is efficiently organized, well stocked and you can easily lose a few hours going through all the sections.

I found several titles I’d been searching for to no avail, and there is a great collection of avant-garde, experimental and otherwise left-of-center vinyl. New vinyl enthusiasts will find plenty to look over, too–TD’s strikes a very good balance between the old and the new.

And like all the great record shops I’ve hit on Vinyl Road Rage, TD’s is run by someone with a genuine love for vinyl. This is another one of those shops that makes shopping for records fun and keeps the spirit of record collecting alive. I would definitely drive all the way out from Chicago to visit TD’s again. The store is friendly, crammed full of great titles and a real joy to browse.

Just be careful coming down the steps–the sign does warn you, but know going in that you’re going to need that extra five seconds of caution. Most of the really awesome record stores have some kind of tricky entrance or exit–why is that? Never mind. Don’t break your face on the way in and you’ll have plenty of time to dig.

If you are a vinyl obsessive interested in the obscurities and have to choose between going across the street to Tracks and shopping here, I’d strongly urge you to choose TD’s. I could be remembering wrongly here, but TD’s has little to no grandpa rock (sorry, Mark Farner and Peter Frampton…well, not really sorry at all, actually) and while the shop may seem smaller by comparison, quality is the watchword here, not quantity.

Tracks, Bloomington Indiana

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by Joe Wallace

Bloomington, Indiana has some great record stores. Since it’s a college town it’s not surprising that there’s a cluster of decent shops within a short distance of one another, and the town in general is worth a serious look if you’re on the road–vinyl junkie or not.

Tracks is a shop that wins early bird points as it’s open before any of the other shops I could find. Since that’s the case, a chronic early riser and road warrior will have a bit of fun browsing this shop before the other stores open up.

Tracks has a lot of grandpa rock in the stacks to be sure, but there is also an assortment of new, sealed music and attention to a couple of genres that should attract collectors looking for classic punk and metal releases.

All the Black Flag vinyl you can eat! There is also a nice selection of vintage audio gear, which the shopkeepers definitely seem to love. The selection of used vinyl includes a discount bin, which is a must if you ask me…but in my own case, my obsessions were a bit scarce–good soundtracks were hard to find though I’m told there was a recent record show in the area so it’s possible the selection had been picked over before I arrived.

Tracks hides the records all the way in the back of the shop. Walking in you might think you’ve come into the wrong store as there are rows and rows of college tees, hoodies and Indiana-related merchandise. Just keep moving to the back of the shop and you’ll find the records and stereo gear. All in all, this is a pretty typical selection of new and used vinyl, but punk and metal collectors should take a look as there is a concentration of titles in those genres–at least the day I was there.

Mishawaka, Indiana Record Stores: Michiana Used Music and Media

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Mishawaka, Indiana is a good place to stop on the way out of Chicago. Just two hours out of the city, you can stretch your legs, top off, buy an Indiana lottery ticket and keep your fingers crossed.

But don’t cross your fingers over finding gigantic piles of rare vinyl at Michiana Used Music and Media. Sadly, the picture below shows the sum total of all the vinyl you can sift through here–two bins with some above and some below.

It wouldn’t be so disappointing for a hardcore vinyl junkie–or even a newbie collector–except there was not much here except for the usual pile of vinyl cast offs from every collection in the world. The requisite AC/DC albums, all the Joe Walsh records you didn’t want alongside the couple you already have. Show tunes nobody listens to. And isn’t there ALWAYS a Fleetwood Mac record in there?

I really wasn’t expecting too much from this first stop on the vinyl road rage trip as the shop doesn’t present itself very well online–an afterthought really, but I WAS amused by a couple of things here. You may not be able to locate that copy of Danny Elfman’s Nightbreed soundtrack here, but if Barry Manilow makes you shriek in ecstasy, you have DEFINITELY found your new home away from home:

And I WAS amused/horrified to find this reissue of the Blind Faith album with one of the most crass and possibly illegal covers in recorded music history. At least tone-deaf Satan Metal bands like Witchfinder General have the decency to put topless women of LEGAL AGE on their covers. Not so with Clapton and company. Those at work should probably NOT click “read more” now. Continue reading Mishawaka, Indiana Record Stores: Michiana Used Music and Media →