Suitably lower-cased bassix (217 West Hastings Street, Downtown, 604-689-7734) is a happening place that sells vinyl, CDS, tickets, and videos for “dance in all its pleasant forms,” says a clerk without ( apparent) irony. It’s also a base for some of the city’s star disc jock-eys. Watch out for young guys carrying record-sized camouflage shoulder bags.
When Allan Charman opened Crosstown Music (518 West Pender Street, Downtown, 604-683-8774, www.xtownmusic.com) a decade ago, he was far from certain he could make a living from vinyl. Today he stocks 8o,ooo titles, including a room devoted entirely to the ‘70s, from Deep Purple to Joan Baez. Among his customers, he says, are young would-be DJ5 who mix his retro stuff into their latter-day electronic concoctions.
At Highlife World Music (1317 Commercial Drive, East Vancouver, 604-251-6964, www.highlifeworldmusic.com) the African continent is divided into regions and artists of Abyssinia and Zanzibar, for example, are remarkably well represented. Highlife also handles sub-specialties, such as flamenco, gospel, and reggae.
Sikora’s (432 West Hastings Street, Downtown, 604-685-0625) claims the largest classical collection in the city. It also stocks such a sizable collection of classic vinyl, old and new, that it routinely ships hefty packages to small but intense communities of audiophiles in the us and Asia.
For just about everything post-1950 and pop rock—related, head to spacious Zulu Records (1972 West 4th Avenue, Kitsilano, 604-738-3232, www.zulurecords.com). Stock, new and used, covers indie rock, experimental and electronic music, and strange and hard-to-get domestic and imported labels. You’ll also find blues, jazz, reggae, and folk — after all, this is Kitsilano. And just up the street, and certainly vying with Sikora’s for the city’s largest classical collection, is the nicely appointed Magic Flute (2203 West 4th Avenue, Kitsilano, 604-736-2727). Staff here know all about the local concert scene — classical, serious-contemporary, jazz, whatever.
Not to be forgotten is another institution known for jazz, folk, world, blues, and other genres: Black Swan Records (3209 West Broadway, Kitsilano, 604-734-2828).
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