"Let 'em riot. We're Sonic-fuckin'-Death Monkey."

So the bi-weekly beats phenomena thats sweeping the personal nation has ventured outward for vol 4. of the purchase cycle. Bored as hell with the mundane cookie cutter chain stores that bleed solely through the burban paradise that is where I am, I decided that I needed to find a new sanctuary for musical tasty treats. Not to mention I finally figured out the driver that was missing from my laptop at home to allow me to burn cd's and so now rarities and liner notes come heavy into play for my selection.

On wednesday I was down in the city at a scrumptious little restaurant called Utopia with darling Carrie for a fantastic mid afternoon, four hour lunch break; cancer cure can wait for any good sandwich and a salad with portebello mushrooms. Anyways, on the way out we stumbled across this store about a block into little italy on college called Soundscapes.

Now if you are from Toronto this may be incredibly familiar to you, but if it is not, make it familiar because last night I ventured back with my musical macedonian and shopped for an hour and a half for great music.

Soundscapes was a great store for the following few reasons.

Firstly, it reminded me very much of an empire records, high fidelity staff, who love being there, know every album in the store, and have hand picked their favorites to sit a top a fifty or so album shelved local near the front.

Dosely, the prices were incredibly reasonsable and cheaper than any HMV or Sunrise.

Tricely, not nearly as many flashy lights, and no way in hell the black eyed peas album was ever going to play on loop in here.

Apres tout, the selection of rare finds and incredibly diverse break up of sections in the store is remarkable. You can go from a whole section on canadian indie music, to americana and folk, to hard hip hop, melodic hip hop, funk, soul, a huge new/indie rock database and a whack of listening stations all over the place that will let you sample before you buy.

All in all it was an ingenious set up, a delicious find, and a secure statement can be made that I will be frequenting this store frequently over the next long while. It was so perfect, that even two forty year old guys were in there appreciating every country jazz and bluegrass album they could find. I saw a eerie glimpse into the future where I am forty, jewish, and obsessed with bluegrass at a store that is overly familiar with my face.

good times and it resulted in the purchase of the albums you now see listed under bi-weekly beats.

Just by the by, the bands I am burning and not buying at the moment lie in the popular following three:

Luna
Marjorie Fair
M.I.A

posted by mr. tomas ubik @ Thursday, August 04, 2005