RECORD STORE REVIEW 9 OF 15

REAL GROOVY WELLINGTON

250 CUBA ST WELLINGTON CITY

Ratings

Stock, numbers of records 5/10

Collectible stock 4.5/10

Quality and pricing 6.5/10

Service 7.5/10

Knowledge 6/10

Overall vibe 6/10

Average 6/10

I bought my first record from this store so its only right i give the store a good review. This is my local anyway. I have spent 100s and 100s of hours of digging time at this store and have walked away with some beautiful records. The record section has been moved around the store a few times in the last couple of years with the groove section separate from the A-Z etc etc. The current position in the store is a cozy section in the corner of the store. All the records are together which makes for a healthy supply of records. The DJ section in groovy covers all genre's and has plenty of DnB, hip hop, House and Dubstep. The A-Z section could be better. But that's Trade Me's fault or the new found popularity of vinyl records. A recent shipment of 7" from the states which number in the high 1000s. The shop gets in lots of new vinyl and also restocks in represses of classic all time lps. Since i started shopping at groovy the staff have always been extra friendly and seem to talk more about music than selling the stuff, opps don't tell Mark. Haha me bias.

RECORD STORE REVIEW 8 OF 15

REAL GROOVY RECORDS CHRISTCHURCH

179 TUAM ST CHRISTCHURCH CITY

Ratings

Stock numbers of records 5.5/10

Collectible stock 4.5/10

Quality and pricing 4/10

Service 6/10

Knowledge 5/10

Overall vibe 5/10

Average 5/10

The recession has caused potential closures of all of the Real Groovy stores. Only the Dunedin store closed down and the rest were purchase separately to local owners and all of the three stores kept the original name branding. They all still bye second hand and sell new and old. The vouchers are still gifted after $200 purchase build ups.

If you have not been to the Christchurch real groovy here is a little lowdown. The store is in the middle of the city located in the hip Soul Square. The store has a real dark underground feeling always playing good tunes with a mix of young and old staff. The record section is split into two with a new and used and a sale section. The new and used section has everything from a good A-Z pop rock and Alternative sections. The hip hop, soul funk, reggae, jazz, blues, metal, punk and NZ sections are small but have some good titles in them. The sale section is average. But it's all timing with sale sections. I recently visited the store and walked away happy with some original NZ pressings of the Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, Simple Image and a couple of sale section Motorhead records. Quality and pricing was good but sometimes a little over priced and condition varies. I also had a small look through a large sale section for 7" which had a few good titles, Ray Columbus, Fourmyula and the Larry's Rebels to name a few good 60s NZ artists in there. Lots of good new groove vinyl for DJing as well. Well worth a look, a couple of hours should do it.

RADIO STATION AND SHOW REVIEW

WAXED ON WEDNESDAYS

VOLCANO RADIO 88.5FM

LYTTELTON CHRISTCHURCH.

Happening every Wednesday is "Waxed on Wednesdays" 7-8:30pm. DJ Cafedre is the vinyl pushing selecta and says he plays 100% post 95 (that's 1995 to you 18 year olds) Not only is the music post 95 but it's also 100% NZ music on wax, yay to you man. He also has reviews and plays new release LPs and 7" singles. More and more NZ artist/bands are releasing their really really good music to vinyl. Good on you people. That means you as well Cafedre.

So check his show out live on the internet streaming live via

http://www.volcanradio.co.nz/

www.myspace.com/cafedre for more details on Waxed on Wednesdays.

RADIO STATION AND SHOW REVIEW

THE NZ LPFM RADIO STATION NETWORK
Low power FM radio stations are a good way to showcase your radio personality skills and mostly provide lessons on music to the masses. Me and a good friend of mine have recently finished up being radio personality's (how about complete amateurs and at times idiots who had fun working it) on a low powered station in Wellington for 3 years. Over the coming months i will list a few stations and specialty shows involving vinyl records. These segments will be short but will give you options. Internet radio seems to be the future, so if you are sick of commercial radio why don't you give low power radio a go they have no adds, no pretentious DJs and always have different music. I believe in listening to new and different music all of the time, it can be new or old. LPFM stations will give you that. If you love it feed to you then stick to your commercial drug.
Do you have a show that plays vinyl records, hit me up
vinylclub@hotmail.com or leave some details on your show in the comments list below. I will check your show out and so on.

NEW VINYL LP REVIEW

OPENSOULS (NZ soul RnB)
STANDING IN THE RAIN
2010 Release on the German label Jakarta records
Oh shit new NZ vinyl. NZ soul RnB coming out of Auckland. Opensouls are i think a 9 pieces band with Tyra Hammond and MC Bjorn as singers and Jeremy Toy on gat and MPC. Julien Dyne on drums and extras, Scott Towers Saxophone,Chip Mathews bass, Steph Brown keys, Isaac Aesili trumpet and DJ Buttafingers on the decks.
Standing in the Rain is the bands second album and it sounds very different to the first album which was more diverse with lots of soul funk hip hop and more. Not to downgrade this album at all as its a LP of high class soul RnB. The Album has a blend of early 50s, 60s English American RnB and new school groove soul funk and hints of jazz. Trya Hammond provides the sexy soul hit and the band has a smooth operation going. A very stylish piece of NZ music. Recommended and i would say very limited copy's. Lucky for my happy ass. I walked into the record store on the release day hehe.

BEER REVIEW

WHY IS BEER THE BEST AFTER WORK?

Friday comes around and the talking point on most of the building sites i work on is beer o'clock. There is nothing better than the taste of a refreshing cold hard earned beer. It symbolizes a hard long week and for some strange reason we all crave that time of the week. Things have moved on from the days of a slab Lion or DB turning up on the site. Now we tradesmen are more and more preferring a good tasting quality beer. Something that's tickles the pallet. It could be a lager, pilsner, ale, stout, or even wheat beer. Lagers are the usual first choice for many. They symbolize summer there are easy to drink and its also a very light coloured beer. Not a huge difference in flavours over the board but always a safe Friday option. One of my favourites is the pilsner with a more tastier fruitier flavour than a lager and also slightly darker. An ale has a more richer flavour than the larger and also looks more red compared to the gold of a pilsner or lager. A stout would be more uncommon on site compared to pub drinking. Its very dark colour compared to any other beer. A stout is also very rich in flavour, sorta like a meat pie in a pint. OK my favourite beer anytime is a wheat beer. With a thick syrupy consistency, sweet flavour and amber smell (some people compare wheat beer to smelly feet). What ever your flavour is i like any of those on a Friday usually 4pm is good for me if your buying.

RECORD STORE REVIEW 7 OF 15

REAL GROOVY RECORDS, AUCKLAND
438 QUEEN ST AUCKLAND CITY
Ratings
Stock, numbers of records 7/10
Collectible stock 6/10
Quality and pricing 5/10
Service 4.5/10
Knowledge 5/10
Overall vibe 7/10
Average 5.8/10
Real Groovy Auckland is probably the biggest record store in NZ. With rows as far as the eye can see worth of our sort of gold, plastic shiny round objects with grooves in them that we treasure. The A-Z pop rock section is huge and will take you a good hour or two, that's if you rush. A very good NZ section with loads of rare vinyls. Also very nice alternative rock, metal, soul funk, jazz and blues sections. A good record store for DJs as well with lots of house, techno, DnB and hip hop. The sale section is huge and I'm sure you will find something good in there. OK to the NZ section. Last time i was at the store i saw copys of Human Instincts "Stoned Guitar", La De Das "self titled LP, a couple of The Clean 12"EPs, Heaps of Flying Nun, Jayrem, Some rare TV EYE recording pressings and more. A section of 45s and EPs at $15 each also not bad. I picked up a Suburban Reptiles single in there and a whole lot of 60s p/c EPs, Monkees, Beatles, Hendrix, Cream etc. The let down was that the Human Instinct and LA DE DAS were in average condition and well over priced. The grading sometimes of Groovy Auckland is questionable at times. Checking this store out is well worth the trip to Auckland. I recommend 3-8hrs. You could do this in two goes.

RECORD STORE REVIEW 6 OF 15

PENNY LANE RECORDS

461 COLOMBO ST CHRISTCHURCH

Ratings

Stock, numbers of records 8.5/10

Collectible stock 8/10

Quality and pricing 6/10

Service 7/10

Knowledge 7/10

Overall vibe 6.5/10

Average 7.2/10

The ratings tell the truth, Penny lane records located just out of Christchurch city is one of New Zealands top record stores. With thousands and thousands of records, Cd's, tapes, DVDs and music memorabilia. OK to the records now. When you walk into "Penny's" there is 10-16 crates of new records that have come into the store. Both new and used. In these crate are also rare records. I was there in July and two of those crates are collectible 80s NZ vinyl. On both sides of the store are walls and racks of records. with a huge $4 sale section on the inside with loads of really good vinyl. On both of these walls are huge sections of A-Z pop rock, jazz, blues, soul, metal, alternative, NZ, dance, hip hop and loads more sections. There is a lot of collectible rare records in all of these sections. A very nice sale section of 7" with lots of p/s and NZ bands, Beatles, Elvis and so on. I always end up spending way to much cash when i go to "Penny's". The guys know there stuff as well. The only slight down full is the quality and pricing at times. Its probably because so much records are coming in all of the time. Well worth a look and you will need more than a few hours if you collect more than a few genre's.

WELLINGTON MINISTRY BOOK FAIR 2010 TSB ARENA

21st August

Just having a break from the record store updates to provide a little information about the Wellington Ministry book fair that was on today. For the early morning people its a chance to get to TSB Arena and get in line and handle the cold weather. Usually i turn up half an hour early and have a good spot in the line for the forward advance attack on the record section. But this year i turned up 20minutes before open, and really i was 10minutes to late but no worries. By the time the line got moving and i got inside there were 20-25 filled crates of records and half of them occupied by other vinyl junkies. The first few crates were dumb then the goodish stuff starting appearing. The worst thing about smash and grab records fairs is seeing someone pick out a record you really want. Lucky for me i didn't look at any ones records and i was happy anyway. My wahine also grabs for me so two haha. Like a lot of the early people we all seemed to get good records. I walked out with 30-40 records. Compare this to last year where i was the 2nd person on the records but walked away with 3-5 records. There was a lot more vinyl this weekend than last year and reasonably priced as well $2-$10.

Checkout the vinyl junkies bottom right corner.

RECORD STORE REVIEW 5 OF 15

MUSIC BOX

346 HERETAUNGA ST HASTINGS

Ratings

Stock, numbers of records 7/10

Collectible stock 7/10

Quality and pricing 6.5/10

Service 6.5/10

Knowledge 6/10

Overall vibe 5/10

Average 6.4

Music Box record exchange is one of the only Central North Island record stores. Music box specializes in 2nd hand records but sell tapes and Cd's. Again another small store well packed with records. A well sectioned store with good NZ, alternative rock, jazz and A-Z sections. There is also a very good rare records shelve. Last time i went there was a couple of years ago and there was a copy of the monster rare LP from the Kinks "Village green" sitting in the store for $330 retail. Always lots of new records coming in and the owner has a good head for whats sells and whats popular. When i went in there were multiple copy's of collectible bands, Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Flying Nun and so. Also a good range of 7" scattered around the store. I always need at least 3 hours digging time when I'm in the Music Box record exchange.

Still more record stores to be reviewed and thanks to Kit beer reviews will start happening soon.

RECORD STORE REVIEW 4 OF 15

CONCH RECORDS
115A PONSONBY RD AUCKLAND
Ratings
Stock, numbers of records 5.5/10
Collectible stock 3/10
Quality and pricing 6/10
Service 7/10
Knowledge 8/10
Overall vibe 8.5/10
Average 6.4/10
OK this is a record store for the new cool kids, DJ and funky music listeners. Sitting in one of Auckland's flash suburbs is Conch records, a stylish trendy record/music/clothes/art/coffee(gonna slash my wrists up) shop. The shops bases its music on the groove genre's soul, funk, disco, hip hop,roots, dub reggae, DnB, dubstep, house and more DJ material. Selling a good mix of new DJ 7s, 12s to repressed soul/funk, reggae. Conch also has a good selection of used DJ vinyl at good prices. The shop is well designed with funky art for sale around the shop and styli t shirts, clothes and even a cafe setup inside and out. Choice as tunes are always on with a DJ turntable set up, very cool. The guys that run this place know their stuff when it comes to delivering the funk to your ears. They offer good advice and experience for both new and old skool beats.
Conch records 6.4/10 Nice1 bro.

RECORD STORE REVIEW 3 OF 15

LO COST RECORDS

147 JACKSON ST PETONE LOWER HUTT

Ratings

Stock, numbers of records 7.5/10

Collectable stock 6/10

Quality and pricing 6/10

Service 5/10

Knowledge 4/10

Overall feel, vibe 3/10

Average 5.3/10

Again another smallish shop. The shop is really filled up with vinyl and record bins are full all of the time. On both sides there are records with a central section with Cd's. Under the record booths are boxes and boxes of 7" records. The walls are covered in special records and also metal/rock posters and good bogan T-shirts. There is some collectible records in this shop at times. A really good diverse range in the A-Z pop rock and same for the 50s-60s A-Z with lots of original pressings. Lo Cost also stocks very good classic rock, metal and punk sections. If you are not into the bogan stuff there is always the jazz or even NZ sections. Digging will take you a good day here. The only negatives are the radio stations always seems to be on not Cd's. And the owner is nice but very quiet (hence low knowledge rating, he probably knows his stuff??). So at times it feels quiet and lacks vibe. A good record store to look through and i always find it hard buying because he has so much good records in good condition.

RECORD STORE REVIEW 2 OF 15

GALAXY RECORDS

110 MANCHESTER ST CHRISTCHURCH

Ratings

Stock, numbers of records 4/10

Collectible rare stock 6/10

Quality and pricing 6.5/10

Service 5.5/10

Knowledge 4/10

Overall feel of the shop 4/10

Average 5/10

A small music shop on Manchester st in Christchurch city. The shop sells new and used records new Cd's and music DVDs. A good little shop for out of town visitors with a good record collection. In this case not huge amounts like Penny Lane records down the road but what he does have in the used sections are good quality collectible records that are well priced. There is a small 7" section with some really good stuff including Flying Nun, Punk, New Wave, Old Rock, Soul Funk and more. The owner gets in reissues of old rock and he also gets lots of new music in including new rock, electro, hip hop, reggae and dance. The few times i have been there i have walked out happy. The only default is that the stores is small/less records and so on but i recommend checking out. It will only take an hour at the most but lots of good stuff in there. 5/10 is a good rating

RECORD STORE REVIEWS 1 OF 15

DAVID WHITE GALLERY

88 ABLE SMITH ST, TE ARO WELLINGTON

Ratings

Stock, numbers of records 6/10

Collectible rare stock in stop 5/10

Quality and pricing 6/10

Service 7/10

Knowledge 6/10

Overall feel of shop 6.5/10

Average 6/10

Located in the cool end of Wellington city, top of Cuba st just down the road from the next VC. David White gallery is not exactly a record store but any shop with over a few thousand records get in on the ratings list. David White gallery actually has well over 10000 records and its one of my locals. Unlike conventional record stores there is nothing like record booths to look through at a comfortable standing height. Everything there is on the floor with crates of records everywhere and piles sitting against crates and boxes of more records. there is no one area for records they are nestled around the shop in between books, tapes, plates, swords, masks, paintings, clothes and other retro goods. It may look like a tip to some people but the owner David knows where most of the stuff is and if you look properly there is a lot of really cool retro items in this store. The shop is very unique to Wellington and attracts lots of interesting by passers. OK back to the records. David gets regular piles coming in weekly. Some of the stuff can really good and some quite bad. I have bought 100s of records from this shop some very rare stuff specially collectible NZ music and original 60s NZ pressings. There seems to be a huge amount of David Bowie, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan records. So really this place is a good place to get fillers, upgrades or doubles. Don't think you can go through all of his records in a day like a did when i first went there. It will take a couple of visits. My sort of place to dig for records in the three rooms with National radio lightly going. 6/10 Not bad ae

RATED RECORD STORES AROUND NZ

I love going to record stores and hunting through their stock. In New Zealand there is only a handful of record stores. Over the next few weeks i will rate and preview most of the record stores and shops that sell records and other stuff around New Zealand. This segment will give you an idea of what we have to offer in New Zealand. Also i will rate these record stores now to give you a idea. Note a few of these record stores i have only been to once and if you know of more stores around NZ please email me on vinylclub@hotmail.com

Ratings will be out of 10.

10) Most excellent

8-9) Grouse, or the urban saying "Choice as"

6-7) Good

5) above average, this is still quite good

3-4) average. Average is not that bad

Anything below has promise or crap haha

Question 1-6
1) Stock, Numbers of records

2) Collectible rare stock in the shop

3) Quality and priced good

4) Service, got to be nice to the punters

5) Knowledge, Do they know their records and music

6) overall feel of the store. Do they play good music when you are digging and is the shop cool.

RECORD STORES IN NEW ZEALAND
1) David White Gallery, Wellington
2) Galaxy records, Christchurch
3) Lo Cost records Lower Hutt

4) Conch records Auckland
5) Music box Hasting
6) Penny lane records Christchurch
7) Real Groovy Auckland
8) "" Christchurch
9) "" Wellington
10) Records Records Dunedin
11) Rockin Records Auckland

12) Samarai store Wellington
13) Slow Boat records Wellington
14) Wonderland records Lower Hutt
15) Zodiac records Dunedin

Ratings posted daily about these stores. Please feel free to coment on my ratings and give your own views on these stores.

VINYLCLUB record fair 2010 Wellington NZ

If you are reading this you have must have some interest in vinyl records. the great thing about being a music lover listener and vinyl records collector is looking for the stuff weather it be record stores, garage sales, second hand stores or your grand parents shed. Searching for those gems is one of life's challengers or even missions for any avid music collector. like many collectors, me and my friends have spend torturous hours on our knees bending our backs to get through boxes under boxes which contain hopefully the one record. Here is the funny thing when we find that one record we just look for the next "ONE" record.

Here in Wellington New Zealand me and a few other young lads will make things easy for all you collectors. We will be hosting the Wellington vinyl record fair "Vinyl club". Happening again Saturday 25th September 2-4pm at our favourite beer garden the stylish Southern Cross Bar and Restaurant located in the heart of Wellington city. This will be the 6th Vinyl club record fair and each one is getting more and more popular. With 10+ traders, each very diverse in there specialized collecting trading area ranging from 50s Rock n Roll ,Doo Wop, Blues, Country Rockabilly, 60s pop, R&B SoulFunk Disco, English invasion, 70s pop, Psychedelic Progressive rock, Folk, 80s cheese, New Wave, Punk, Rock, Metal, Electro, Reggae, Hip Hop, Dance, Children's, Spoken Word, Film and Television and loads more. There will be between 5000-8000 records to dig through. Again Southern Cross, Real Groovy records and Slow boat records are providing Vinyl club with vouchers during our giveaways. Djs Gem Wilder, Topher and Vanilla prison will provide the tunes. And the bar will be open to serve a huge range of boutique beers wines and food for your pallets, that's if you have time to get away from the crates.

Vinyl club record fair Saturday 25th September 2010 2-4pm, haha come round 1:30 if you are cheeky enough. Keen to trade or know more email Apa at vinylclub@hotmail.com See you there.

THE CLEAN, McDONALD AND GILES, IRON MAIDEN, ATLANTIC RHYTHM AND BLUES.

Getting home and finding a parcel at the front door is always exciting. For you non vinyl collecting people out there, parcels turning up at the front door is a common thing. The worse thing is when you put your girlfriends name as the sending name, not cool apparently. Anyway i somehow got the the large square package plus a bag of purchased vinyl my wallet with the key hovering around and my weakness towards the toilet inside the house. Contents, check. Toilet, check. Knife to open package, check. I open the parcel to find about 90 7" singles and EPs and ranging from g+ to ex and ranging from the 60s to the early 90s. I was very happy to find Avengers, Underdogs, Kinks, the Who, Beach boys EP and loads more. Good returns all round this purchase.

I have a few turntables but more around the house would be better like in my room and out in the shed. So that would make four setups haha. Anyway i do a lot of my listening in my kitchen. I can do cooking, dishes and stuff and have vinyl going, its great. The Wahine (that's women to you Aussie and bitches to you Americans) had a book club on so loads of not so geeky women going on about how they would love bookshelves in place of my records shelves. on the turntable first is one of my favourite LPs at the moment Clean Compilation by a great NZ fuzz rock band called the Clean. After that i gave 12" single by Iron Maiden call "Can i play with madness" haha which was funny then a soul blues compilation call "Atlantic Rhythm and blues 1947-1974 volume 4 and lastly i listen self titled LP from King Crimsons McDonald and Giles. Also a first time listen. I have been listening to a lot of King Crimson lately and was not disappointed in this well organised epic drumming psychedelic flute playing future sounding LP. This LP will get another listen due to only playing through half a side. blah blah blah.

PLEAZERS on ZODIAC RECORDS

Always nice to find a rare record. This fantastic Australian garage band were lured over to New Zealand by Zodiac records owner Eldred Stebbing offering them unlimited recording time and work. The pleazers were quite popular in New Zealand but a rumour (thanks to that site i stole this info from) they were bad boys. That's right New Zealand was a very reserved country in the 60s, who would have guessed. Subsequently they were banned from TV for there bad behaviour. They still managed to release super hot freak beat garage RnB that made them reserved Dunedin girls "shake". They shared a residency with another loud garage band the La De Das. They released a whole heap of singles a EP and one LP called 'Definitely Pleazers'. My copy has a close to a ex cover but unfortunately record is warp, what the fuck. Algd i will try and fix this. It still plays and it actually looks close to ex if it didn't have the warp.

First timer oh yeah

Why would i go all techno and start using a computer when I'm such a mono/early stereo vinyl format geek. Quite simple bol, I'm in it to get more records. Or is it to ramble on about records and everything i currently know, which fuck all compared to some of the collector geeks out there.

Currently listening to a LP from Kraftwerk called Radio-Activity. Yip Quite strange. Sounds like the devil compressed there keyboards Moog and hows your fathers. packed with loads of samples you would hear today. One of the tracks has the bass riff to the start of the Chemical Brothers, brothers gonna work it out. Before this i had on friends from the beginning from Jimi Hendrix and Little Richard which is a good rock n roll album also had some 70s New Zealand jazz band Pacific Eardrum self titled LP. this has a combination of New York 70s Soul Jazz/funky jazz and some interesting NZ style RnB. The pick of the day was a LP from Captain Beefheart called Trout Mask Replica. Highly collect able this repress on reprise pressed in the US is still a wanted record also rated in the top 50 lps of all time. With Zappa on the production anything can happen. Zappa and Beefhearts production usually meant all instruments were played totally different from their contemporary method. So this lp has out of tune of the pace guitars riffs, messy drums and dirty blues. very recommended.