Author Archives: Special to TVD

Cornershop’s new LP Urban Turban, out on their own Ample Play label, hits store shelves today, 5/15, and we’ve cornered the duo’s Ben Ayres to answer the question all this week—what are Cornershop’s Favourite Record Shops?

We’ll get the lowdown on the shops the band deems the best across the globe, get the skinny on the new release, give away some gorgeous vinyl, and toss a free, rare track your way.

It’s Cornershop’s Favourite Record Shops, all this week at TVD.

Amoeba Records, San Francisco | ”When Tjinder and I first went to Amoeba in San Francisco we were on tour and all we wanted to do was find the nearest record shop. In San Francisco, we first went to an incredible second hand only store where you literally had to dig through the boxes to get through the room. Fantastic place.

The other place we were advised to go to was Amoeba…the sheer size of Amoeba blew us away. We felt dizzy at the idea that there was no way anyone could have time to go through all the racks in a week, let alone a day.

So, we grabbed some used vinyl funk gems in the time we had and split down the road for a burrito, but it’s great to know it’s always there to dig a little deeper. It’s also right next to Golden Gate Park which makes it handy for a stroll afterwards where you can contemplate jazz and what the human be-in with Allen Ginsberg in that park must have been like in 1967.”

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Rachel Eckroth plays Bohemian Caverns tonight (5/15) with Mimi Jones.

“In 7th grade, I didn’t speak. Not one word. At least not to other people. I don’t think I started doing that until high school, and even then it was only under special circumstances. Such is the way of introvert.”

Being an introverted musician is complicated. Performing is a musician’s currency, and that doesn’t really go with being an introvert.

Enter my parents’ vinyl. They were a product of their generation, so I was swimming in the best of the 70s and 80s. And when it came to Pat Benatar, this introvert hit the hell out her best shot. There was no introvert when it was just me and the vinyl. The vinyl also brought out my many other hidden talents—I used to put Saltine crackers on my record player, turn it on and pretend I was a baker.

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I caught Cornershop live at the WUST Music Hall back in the ’90s before it become Washington, DC’s venerable 9:30 Club. Twas was a night of furious, global grooves which has stayed in mind for more than a few reasons, not the least of which was that a normally staid DC audience was moving. Dancing, even.

Also self evident that evening was the breadth of musical knowledge and influence on stage. One can’t traverse genres and cultures and world instrumentation without a heady record collection and time well spent rummaging through a fair share of record stores. I became envious of a record collection I perceived as a funky source code of knowledge and a need to know the record shops from where these slabs of vinyl emanated.

Thus, in tandem with Cornershop’s new LP Urban Turban on their own Ample Play label hitting store shelves tomorrow, we’ve cornered the duo’s Ben Ayres to answer the question all this week—what are Cornershop’s Favourite Record Shops?

We’ll get the lowdown on the shops the band deems the best across the globe, get the skinny on the new release, give away some gorgeous vinyl, and toss a free, rare track your way.

It’s Cornershop’s Favourite Record Shops, all this week at TVD.

Action Records, Preston | ”We used to both regularly go to Action Records while at Preston Polytechnic in the late 80s. It was opposite the Rumble Club, one of the main music venues in Preston back then that had everyone play from Ted Chippington to The Fall.

It was (and still is) run by the legendary Gordon (and at that time his sidekick Alan). Both were enthusiastic, encouraging the local youth to get into exciting new music. Most of my favourite 80s independent label records were bought from this shop.

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“My favourite record store in New Zealand is called Conch, and it’s located in a suburb called Ponsonby in Auckland.”

“I like it for several reasons. Ultimately, they stock the kind of music I like: reissues of 60′s/70′s world music obscurities and the like. And they are great sales people for the music I’ve put out under different monikers, especially when it comes to putting it in the hands of people from out of town that come through the shop.

It’s also a great hub for the musical community I tend to associate with in general, so it’s nice to know I’m likely to bump into some friends there when I’m in town.

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“Vinyl, thats all I know. Thats all I want to know! I’m very much into vinyl, a ‘vinyl junkie,’ someone once said.”

“How did it all start…

My parents gave me their music box when I was a kid which had a tape deck, turntable, and radio tuner (that got me hooked). I’d spend hours stacking the records on the arm and playing my favourites. So, from an early age I was buying records, but as a kid money was tight. Well, still is!

So, I did a deal with this kid at school—I’d buy a week’s meal tokens from him for the price of a day’s dinner money from my mum! I’d then save the rest of the week’s dinner money and go buy a slab of vinyl at the weekend. When my mum found out she wasn’t happy…haha!

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Mary Alouette plays Sofar Sounds this Friday, May 11 and the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage on May 24.

“Records lived in boxes in my basement when I was growing up. They belonged to my dad, and having no record player at home, they sat preserved. There had obviously been some love given to them as their covers were a bit rough around the edges. They’re a bunch of cool records.”

“My dad was somewhat of a hippie – he went to a small college of 300 people in Wisconsin, and a professor at his school lived in a teepee. His record collection defines the ’60s and these times of experimental adventures. I’d always been curious about these records, but for a long while, they sat under the table, waiting in the dark.

Jump forward. My friends in Montreal had record players and we’d sit and listen to their records, hearing warmth in the sound as if a live band were playing. We also found that listening to records took you on a journey. Just letting the sides play from beginning to end takes you on the musical road with the band.

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