Sounds - Venlo

Ok, after much delay, finally here’s the second chapter of this endeavor: ladies and gentlemen please give a big round of applause for Sounds in Venlo!

In past few years I’ve been travelling quite a few times through Brabantia, Limburg and Westphalia and tried to find some nice digging spots along the way.

I would have never expected this area was hiding one of the best joints in whole Europe for the wax hunter. 

Sounds is located right in the cute pedestrian downtown area of Venlo and has been there for quite a while. I know there’s at least one more chapter sharing the Sounds name in the Netherlands (Tilburg) but I don’t know if the two entities are connected in any way. I’ve been told the the Venlo shop is the bigger of the two.

However, back to business. Sounds’ ground floor has mainly cd/dvd releases, books, action figures and some brand new records. To hit the jackpot you need to walk to the back of the store and then up the stairs to find yourself in vinyl heaven. Their extensive catalogue of new and 2nd hand records is very well organized and covers the whole spectrum: from easy listening to metal, from hip hop to wave and then some. Be forewarned that it will take several hours to dig through the whole thing. 

Prices are quite fair and you’ll definitely find some gems waiting for you. Maybe it’s the proximity to the famous Music On Vinyl label but Sounds has the best prices I’ve seen worldwide for their wonderful represses.

Sometimes they do in store shows and the schedule is on their website.

Here come the ratings:

Selection: 5/5

Prices: 4/5

Organization: 4.5/5

Personalized store bag: 4.5/5 (yep and a cool one too!)

Location: 4/5 (right downtown, no car access, needs some walking, parking could be a problem) Parade 66 Venlo

Pano vision from Sounds webiste

What a sight!

K7 art

Map:

More record shops in the area: 0/5 (Nope, none that I know of. To find more wax you'll either need to drive to back to Eindhoven or over the border into Germany).

Internet handles that I know of: Website (it’s in dutch so click ‘openingstijden’ for opening times and ‘instores’ for the shows they do) Facebook or Twitter

Keep on digging fellas,

FxWxR

No. 2 - Sachsenhausen - Frankfurt

So let’s kick this party started with the store I like the most in lively, yet not-really-touristy, Frankfurt: No.2 in Sachsenhausen!

I was pleasantly surprised when I first visited FFM about 5 years ago and I happened to stuble upon this shop while I was looking for other stores in the area.

Their selection of classic rock and pop from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s is impeccable, well organized and decently priced. So if you’re in the area and looking for that elusive LP stop here before blowing some of that hard earned cash on some sub-par new reissue. This is heaven if you need to fill holes in your collection.

All records I bought from them were in outstanding conditions, readily playable and I even got little discounts on bigger purchases.

They also carry an extensive selection of used cd’s, box sets, music and movies dvd’s, some bric-à-brac and vintage items.

Never been there for one but it seems they also do in-store shows from time to time.

The name's No.2 but they're No.1 shop in Hesse in my book!

Now on with the ratings!

Selection: 4.5/5 (You get everything rock, wave, psych, metal, punk, electronica, rap and all things in between);

Prices: 4/5;

Organization: 4/5;

Personalized store bag: 0/5 (Plain white bag but they do have some cute flyers);

Location: 4/5 (A bit further from the city center but right in the middle of the hip neighborhood of Frankfurt, Sachsenhausen, close to the scenic walk along the river Main) Wallstrasse 15, 60594, Frankfurt;

Map:

More record shops in the area: 5/5 (Yep, plenty of choices! Within walking distances you get Sickwreckords (review will follow), In-Between and Canpire for your urban guerilla needs. You also have the option of sampling some records at that big street market that they set up in along the river every other Saturday morning. 

There's also a bunch of different eateries and pubs in the area.)

Internet handles that I know of: http://no2-records.de/ and http://www.facebook.com/numbertwo.frankfurt?fref=ts

Yours truly,
FxWxR

Yeah, yet another blog about records.

Kick-off disclaimer:

This unit will be devoted to the listing and reviewing of the record stores I've come across in the last few years plus the ones that I will (hopefully) visit in the future.

Despite the ease and convience of buying records online (be it Amazon, eBay, preferably Discogs or your favorite independent online vendor) I am still partial to thrill of the hunt: walking into a real store in order to get my hands dusty and inflict some damage to my savings is still, after all these years, what I live for.

I'll do my best and try to add shops a bit off the usual beaten path since the trendy ones are getting a lot of attention with all the VYNYLZ resurgence that's going on right nowadays and I'm sure they don't need anymore publicity.

I'm honestly doing this mainly for myself 'cause I keep on forgetting what this shop carried or where I saw that amazing selection of T-Rex 7"s so after all I thought it would be nice to have it all neatly lined up and that it could even be useful to others.

So yeah, send me your feedbacks, people.

See ya all laters for now,
FxWxR

All systems go

Blow the reactors.