Modular People

This coming Saturday April 21 is Record Store Day, a day to celebrate great records and the stores that house them. In anticipation, we've asked some of our well-travelled, music loving friends to tell us about either a record store - or a record - that they love and want to share with others.

Here we have stories from Bag Raiders, Rough Trade, DJ/Producer and owner of Italians Do It Better, Mike Simonetti and Modular's own Shelley to help you discover some great record stores and some gems hidden in them!

JACK GLASS FROM BAG RAIDERS
Here's a crate digging suggestion from one half of Bag Raiders.

For a record that I love I gotta go with DJ T - "Time Out" which (I'm pretty sure) is the first 12" I ever bought when I decided I'd start djing. It came out some time in 2004 on Get Physical.

You know what, it still sounds pretty dope and pretty current too! Which is more than can be said for a lot of the other music I used to play. Actually the acid dub b-side is fresh!! Think I'll have to go dig that up from my parents garage.

Check out Vince vs. DJ T "Superworld" another solid gold jam from round the same time.

SEAN FORBES - ROUGH TRADE WEST
Sean Forbes is the fountain of enthusiasm and infamous "Record Shop Dude" from the legendary Rough Trade West in London.

Take his list of suggestions, and then take the tip and visit his favourite place to find them.

My favourite record shop is Rollin Records in West Wickham - just outside London. It's a proper old school record shop run by a husband and wife.

They are friendly, have a great selection of stuff and look after regular customers. It's second hand only but over the years I've bought a mass of great punk and DIY records from there. It's fantastic that shops like this still exist so please support them!!!

MIKE SIMONETTI
Mike Simonetti is not only a well-travelled DJ, he's also the head of labels Trouble Man Unlimited and Italians Do It Better.

By far the best record store in the world is Double Decker in Allentown PA. I've been around the world 10 times over, nothing comes close to Double Decker.

SHELLEY WRIGHT - MODULAR NYC
Shelley is one of our eyes and ears on the ground in NYC. Here are two tips of must-visit locations in the Big Apple.

The Thing in Greenpoint, Brooklyn is hardly what you'd call a great record store. It's actually a dusty, overcrowded thrift joint, with moldy shoes and clocks that don't work and tons of VHS. The basement holds what is rumored to be New York's largest collection of unsorted vinyl.

It's a panic-inducing space - concrete floors, with two very narrow aisles through which you can walk, single file. On either side of you towers crate after crate of entirely uncategorized vinyl. You've gotta have stamina, patience, decent arm muscles, and not much else to do for a couple hours. And a cushion cos that floor gets mega hard on your knees and butt. There's apparently over 130,000 records in the collection, and they're all priced at $2.

At the opposite of the spectrum, Other Music in New York is a thoughtfully stocked, super comfortable record store, perfect for a Saturday afternoon browsing. The dudes and ladies on staff are friendly, their tastes are broad, and they also have a decent range of airfreight magazines and hard-to-find zines. This Record Store Day, they will have Four Tet, Ex-Cops, and Black Dice djing, plus plenty of amazing RSD offers.

Support your favorite artists and labels, and give back to the record stores that are trying to keep the local music communities alive in your area!