Backbeats Record Store, Rantoul Illinois

by Joe Wallace

I had been dying to check out Backbeats Record Store in Rantoul, Illinois since I read a very good online review of the store in 2010 while planning Vinyl Road Rage #2. I was never able to make the trip until this go-round, and I have to say I was not disappointed.

Backbeats is the kind of record store I like–one that has some thought put into the overall presentation, doesn’t limit itself to the easy genres (grandpa rock, new wave, R&B, etc) and has some style and atmosphere going for it.

The store isn’t open seven days a week–and in a small town like Rantoul, Illinois, it’s a wonder there’s enough of a buying community to support a store I enjoy this much–but it’s well worth the wait.

At the time of this writing, Backbeats has a weekend schedule starting on Thursdays.  The store is closed Mon/Tues/Weds/ so out-of-towners, plan accordingly. And yes, you should definitely make the trip.

There’s plenty of mainstream vinyl stuff on sale at Backbeats, but I managed to find plenty of more obscure 80s and 90s titles, and there was a nice selection of 12 inches from record store stalwarts Souixsie and the Banshees. Backbeats is no slouch in the soundtracks department, either. Soundtrack junkies should definitely take a look–I did pretty well in this section, which often gets overlooked at record shops that don’t think those titles are just as fun to browse as all those Ohio Players albums and Nancy Sinatra titles. Good prices, too.

The store is well organized, very friendly, and there is plenty to see aside from vinyl; this is a safe destination for what I personally call a “lopsided couple”–two people who don’t have the same obsessive fascination for all things vinyl can shop at Backbeats without either one feeling like they’re just marking time while the other browses.

Backbeats lives up to the reviews, and I’ll definitely be coming back here. I hope Rantoul appreciates what it’s got in its own back yard, I hope the community supports this excellent indie record store the way it deserves.

Vinyl Road Rage #3 is on the Road

by Joe Wallace

Today is the day–Vinyl Road Rage #3 is on the road. This post was the last thing to do before loading up the Dreadmobile and hitting the road. First stop is Joliet, Illinois where there are two stores waiting to be hit, then it’s down Champaign-Urbana way for more vinyl hunting.

For the uninitiated, Vinyl Road Rage is a cross-country blogging journey in search of indie record stores, vinyl oddities and rarities, and all the discoveries along the way that make these trips fun, surreal and worth the effort. This is the third Vinyl Road Rage, the first was from Chicago to Texas, the second was from Chicago to New York City, and this one is a great big circle around the midwest, hitting six states along the way including Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Today the goal is to make it all the way to Terre Haute, Indiana, where a shop called Headstone Friends awaits, but there are about five or six record stores in between in Illinois to hit.

Can I make it the whole way to Terre Haute? We’ll see. It’s a very ambitious first day to be sure, but should yield plenty of good stuff.

There will be lots of updates, images and other posts at my Facebook page as well as plenty of posting here as time permits. Later today I’ll post an update on Day One of Vinyl Road Rage and review some of the record shops visited so far. OFF WE GO!

Vinyl Road Rage #3 Itinerary Announced

by Joe Wallace

What follows is the press release I wrote up for Vinyl Road Rage #3, which hits the road this Thursday, April 21 2011. This year’s trip is going to be a real doozy, running from Chicago to Indiana, parts of Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and back to Chicago.

Vinyl Road Rage is a blogging road trip covering vinyl record shops and related fun along the way. I have 31 record stores to hit along the trip–who knows how long it will actually take or how much good vinyl there is to be had?

I am on the prowl for rarities, soundtrack LPs, and good old-fashioned weirdness on vinyl. Vinyl Road Rage is a way to expand my collection of weirdness (I DJ with it as well as collect it for its own sake) and share some of the greatest record stores on the planet you AREN’T reading about on all those top ten lists.

Here’s the press release. The posts on Turntabling will be a bit spotty this week until I hit the road and start sharing my adventures and discoveries. Thanks for taking the journey with me…I look forward to getting feedback and comments on the trip!

Turntabling.net Vinyl Road Rage #3 Itinerary Announced

Turntabling.net, the Chicago-based blog covering all things vinyl, has announced the itinerary for this year’s Vinyl Road Rage–the cross-country blogging road trip dedicated to indie record shops, vinyl records, and the strange discoveries that can only be made on an extended road trip across America.

Since 2009, Turntabling founder Joe Wallace has hit the road for seven to 12 days per trip, blogging and photographing the record stores he finds along the way. The first Vinyl Road Rage went from Chicago to San Antonio, Texas. In 2010, the shops between Chicago and New York City got a look. This year’s Vinyl Road Rage is a bit closer to home, starting with the first stop in Joliet, Illinois and winding through Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

Each day of the journey is packed with record store visits, photo ops, and blog posts about the good, bad and ugly finds along the way. Vinyl Road Rage covers everything from the stores themselves to the vinyl finds within from the rare and hard-to-find (obscure Italian horror soundtrack vinyl by Goblin, anyone?) to the utterly reprehensible (the Charles Manson vinyl record comes to mind.)

There’s plenty of kitsch to be blogged about, too–still sealed 8-track tapes, televangelists playing rock-and-roll, and all the Saturday morning cartoon nostalgia records you can shake a stick at. The stranger the vinyl, the better. Joe Wallace listens to it so you don’t have to.

Vinyl Road Rage kicks off Thursday April 16. Wallace has no set return date, but thinks the journey should last ten days. There are a whopping 31 record shops scheduled. The owners are largely unaware of their upcoming 15 minutes of fame in the Vinyl Road Rage spotlight. “I try to e-mail everyone in advance to let them know I’m coming, but that sort of thing often gets lost in the shuffle. I do love meeting the record store crews, regardless. They’re awesome and the whole reason why I can do this in the first place. Without them, we’d just be buying records online and that’s not nearly as much fun.”

Joe Wallace runs Turntabling.net and works as a freelance writer, editor and social media guru. “I couldn’t really do this if I had a traditional desk job. This trip is open-ended and I could be gone a lot longer than ten days if I needed to be…I’m grateful for free coffee-shop wi-fi and the iPhone. I get up early, get my work done, then hit the road for another day of vinyl obsessive blogging and buying.”

Wallace is available for media opportunities on Vinyl Road Rage–call 312-504-1264 to schedule or for more information.

The Vinyl Road Rage #3 itinerary is listed below. All stops are tentative and may be changed without notice.

TURNTABLING.NET VINYL ROAD RAGE #3 RECORD STORE ITINERARY

Disc Replay – 1701 North Larkin Avenue # 400, Crest Hill IL 47.0 mi –

Monaro Records 1309 Woodruff Road Joliet, IL 5.7 mi –

BackBeats 120 E. Sangamon Rantoul, IL  101 mi

Exile On Main Street 1 E Main St, Champaign, IL 16.7 mi

Parasol 303 W Griggs Street, Urbana IL  2.1 mi

Record Swap 114 E University Ave Champaign, IL 1.8 mi

Chart Records 131 North Vermilion Street Danville, IL 35.5 mi

Headstone Friends 1142 Poplar Street Terre Haute, IN 47807-4566 59.8 mi

Landlocked Music 202 North Walnut Street Bloomington, IN 58.9 mi –

Tracks 415 E Kirkwood Ave Bloomington, IN 0.4 mi

Ear X-Tacy 2226 Bardstown Rd Louisville, KY 40205 109 mi –

The Great Escape 2433 Bardstown Road, Louisville KY

Underground Sounds 2003 Highland Avenue Louisville, KY 2.4 mi

Moles Record Exchange 111 Calhoun Street Cincinnati, OH 45219-1526 102 mi

Everybody’s Records 6106 Montgomery Road Cincinnati, OH 45213 3.3 mi

Shake It Records 4156 Hamilton Avenue # 1 Cincinnati, OH 45223 9.4 mi

Everybody’s Records 6106 Montgomery Road Cincinnati, OH 45213

Omega Music 318 East Fifth St Dayton, OH 45402 47.3 mi –

Magnolia Thunderpussy 1155 North High Street, Columbus OH 70.8 mi

Roots 1357 N. High Street Columbus, Ohio

Used Kids 1980 N. High Street Columbus, OH 0.9 mi

Lost Weekend Records • 2960 N. High St. • Columbus, OH

Spoonful Records 116 E Long St, Downtown Columbus, Ohio 4.3 mi –

Ace in The Hole 1153 Kenny Centre Columbus, OH  8.9 mi –

Jerry’s Records 2136 Murray Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 196 mi –

Blue Arrow Records & Boutique 16001 Waterloo Road Cleveland, OH 44110 144 mi –

Record Graveyard 2926 Caniff Avenue, Hamtramck 182 mi –

Cousins Vinyl 13101 Eckles Rd Plymouth, MI 20.6 mi –

Underground Sounds 255 E Liberty St Ann Arbor, MI 22.6 mi –

PJs 617 Packard St Ann Arbor, MI 0.7 mi –

Corner Record Shop 1710 W Main St Kalamazoo, MI 99.9 mi –

Chicago Record Stores: The Old School Records

I have a sentimental fondness for the Chicagoland indie record store The Old School. Located at 7446 W. Madison Forest Park, The Old School Records put me back on the collector’s game in 2005 after being out for well over three years. I’ve found more than a few lovely vinyl titles here including part of the Aphex Twin Analord series, Danny Elfman’s Corpse Bride OST, and one of my favorite slabs of vinyl by The Orb, Komplott–which I like to play DJ sets with at half speed and mashup Harold Budd under.

The Old School Records does have one thing going against it–there is a large amount of vinyl on the floor and I’ve given myself plenty of grief on hands and knees crate digging here. I strongly recommend a beer after digging through those floor-based stacks–a muscle relaxant is a very good thing indeed. Ergonomically speaking, The Old School isn’t good on knees or spinal columns more than two decades old.

The Old School has a collection of old cassettes, too. I just so happen to have a cassette deck in my vehicle–the mighty Vinyl Road Rage machine christened last year as the DreadMobile, so this collection would be tempting if I didn’t already have an amusingly large number of dusty old tapes.

I’d rate this shop as a great place for new collectors to start out, especially if you’re looking for post-punk or want to fill holes in your new romantic collection. I also found a small pile of my favorite genre, weirdness on vinyl, and the soundtracks section is worth the spinal injury you’ll get–I scored the soundtrack to A Zed and Two Noughts and some other things I’ve never seen elsewhere. Nice.

Stick It In Your Ear Springfield Missouri

by Joe Wallace

I blogged about the Springfield, Missouri record emporium Stick It In Your Ear a few days ago, but I wanted the shop to have its own entry here, so to recap:

Stick It In Your Ear is a delightful hodge-podge of vinyl, CDs and music-related ephemera. The store has its share of fun finds (Devo’s Greatest Misses and TuxedoMoon were two of mine) and it has to be said, there’s no telling what the dedicated collector could find rifling through the stacks here.

There’s a big collection of metal (not my thing at all except for the bad album covers) and a lot of soul and disco comps–never a bad thing.

Any record shop that bothers to categorize the albums in any fashion beyond genre makes me happy, and even better in this case is the breathless way those records are filed–note the exclamation points on every single band title in the photo below, as if every last one of these bands is both a rare find and the store owner’s favorite of all time. I LOVE that for some reason. Don’t ask why, I have no idea–but it’s endearing. … Continue Reading