Features

Mount Analog is what's sometimes called a "hipster" record store. I don't like the term myself but that's what's used. The store is well-curated with a particular series of musical genres, is visually esthetically pleasing and it was fun hanging out in the store's "vibe" even though almost all of the music was alien and unfamiliar to me.

That was what made it so interesting! There were some familiar artists: German "Kraut Rock" was well-represented: Kraftwerk, Moebius, etc. as well as was Brian Eno. I thumbed through the records and the more I thumbed the further from my reality I got. I liked that!

The customers were all tattooed and had the "hipster" get-up: short, pomaded hair, stable and/or full beard..and that was for the women. The men were...(rimshot).

Listen, anyone who in the '60s dressed in tie-dye, bell-bottoms and sandals and had long, flowing hair or a "Jew-fro" has some nerve mocking these people. As Frank Zappa once famously said to an audience member screaming at the security contingent "take off your uniform!", "...don't kid yourself, you're all wearing uniforms".

So good for the conformist hipsters. At least it's a style, as was most of the well-curated music—at least that's how it looked based on the album covers.

There were two people working in the store: a guy who was friendly and helpful and the store's owner, who was not too pleasant. She was at first concerned about me shooting video—as if i was there to copy the store and open one myself—until I explained that only good could come from it.

I asked the guy to suggest a few records. He suggested (and I purchased) Monster Skies (Dual Planet/Finders Keepers MS001LP)— a compilation album of "14 rare, untravelled or previously unreleased mutant strains of 60s/70s/80s vintage voltage pop, electronic rock, malformed tape-music....." and Selda (Finders Keepers FKR011LP), by a Turkish folk artist, originally released in 1976. The liner notes close with "Thirty years down the line, the Anatolian Invasion is on its way to a record store near you." The notes were written and the record issued in 2006. I also bought Eno's My Squelchy Life (Opal ENORSD2015), a Record Store Day exclusive double LP set that has a long, involved back story.

I enjoyed my time on Mount Analog, even though my exit was less than pleasant: I handed over my credit card to the store's owner and she processed it and handed me the receipt to sign. I put it down in front of me but it wasn't directly on the counter. It was on a CD box set.

As I was about to sign it she snarled "Don't sign on the merchandise". I bit my tongue because clearly she was just looking for a fight, but what i wanted to say was "Then don't put a box set on the fucking counter right in front of the register!", but I didn't because I've already been banished from one record store in my life and I do want to return to Mount Analog.

From there it was on to Gimme Gimme, down the block. The store was formerly in Brooklyn but now it's in the shadow of Mount Analog and it's quite a contrast. It's more of a standard used record store but filled with good titles in my opinion, and not ridiculously priced either. I bought only one record: Nilsson by Tipton (Warner Brothers WB 1867) a white label promo copy of an unusual orchestral record of Nilsson tunes arranged by George Tipton who had a long association with Harry, but he also wrote many TV show theme songs. Look him up.

I bought the record as much for Dean O. Torrence's (Jan and Dean) lovely cover art (he also did the cover art for Nilsson Sings Newman, among many others) as for the A&M studio recording by Hank Cicalo. For $10 even a single play will make it worthwhile. Even if I don't like the music, I'll hang the cover!

More record stores coming up!