Are Lagniappe Records and Atomic Pop Shoppe enough to sustain Baton Rouge's want for vinyl? Dumb question, bring on more record stores!
Capital City Record opened up last Friday and I took a little trip to check it out. They've got a lot of shelves to fill out as they grow, it only looked about half-full. So keep in mind that my impressions are based on the sample that was available to me then, and they could change a lot as they fill the rest out. Thankfully, that sample left a good impression
Before I say anything about the music, I like what they've done with the place. It's a little tucked away, unfortunately not visible from the street, but inside they've got nice flooring, great custom LP racks, track lighting facing the merchandise, and records adorning the walls. And of course, a real cool mural
As for the records, so far it's almost exclusively rock LP focused. 45 nuts, jazz heads, world music diggers... maybe try again later. It's clear there's one section in particular that got a lot of love: punk.
A lot of great, classic punk rock in here and most of it for very reasonable prices. I picked up a Magazine LP that I didn't have for 8 bucks, great shape. That Talking Heads '77 in the picture might be the most immaculate copy I've ever seen, I think it was $12. The Fall, Pere Ubu... well chosen and I can only hope they keep it up after visitors gobble up that good stuff! There are a few 7"s but not much of note.
The used rock section was similarly well priced and had a lot of great psych stuff that you don't see every day. Again, very reasonable prices all around, enough so that I came very close to purchasing an Electric Flag album because their copy was nicer than mine and cheap enough. What you might notice in this picture and in the punk picture is the word "SEALED". There were a surprising amount of sealed older-pressing LPs. I asked about this and apparently the owner had bought a lot of stock from a long-closed New Orleans record store (didn't say which). Again, I'd be very surprised if they still have this many sealed records a year into operation, but it certainly caught my eye.
I don't have a shot of the new vinyl section, but I'd say I was neither impressed nor disappointed. A cut above Best Buy, but nothing surprisingly underground. Your Jack Whites, Animal Collective, Pavement, Black Lips, Boards of Canada. I do get a sense that they ordered a smattering of the most necessary to have onhand for the store opening, maybe it will improve very soon. I was pleased with their bargain bin, a bunch of $2 records in slightly worse shape but definitely some of them worthwhile. I picked up a pseudo Dave Clark Five album that Crown Records put out that I suspect isn't entirely Dave Clark Five. Gotta love these budget records they made back then.
All in all even if they keep a half empty store for the rest of their future, it's still worth a visit. They clearly have a respect for their audience and have a lot of good condition, affordabable stuff. I'll be back!
