David Noël

On Buying Music

My first job after moving to Cologne, Germany in 2000 was to work for a record store called Underdog Records, a smallish type of record store that you hardly find anymore today, independently-run for over ten years by my friend Hoffi. It’s probably the best record store in Germany and attracts music & vinyl lovers from around the world.

Working for a record store was the best way to stay updated about new bands and music. You could follow which bands and records were getting traction, we’d promote shows, have music-nerd conversations with customers and get invited to pretty much every show in town.

Fast-forward ten years, a lot has changed. Many record stores like Underdog are gone and only few remain in business. Digital has taken over, people who still buy records mainly buy digital records. (Side note: a while ago, Hoffi mentioned that vinyl was still the main revenue driver and that has been for years. There are still vinly-lovers out there)

Which brings me to the point.

Last week, I finally managed to set up my turntable, amplifier and a pair of new speakers. I moved from Cologne to Munich to Berlin, the stuff still in boxes, listening to music on my iPod, laptop or the web.

Friday, I hopped on a Skype chat with Hoffi and asked him if he could put together a package for me with a set of vinyl I’d like to buy. Of course he said yes so I’m expecting a nice box full of the following records sometime this week.

Elliott Smith - Figure 8
Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill
Elliott Smith - Either/Or
Owen Pallett - Heartland
Daniel Benjamin - There’s A Monster Under Your Deathbed
Get Well Soon - Angry Young Man 7”
Midlake - The Courage Of Others
Kristofer Aström - Sinkadus

(Completing my Elliott Smith collection as you can see)

There is something religious about putting up a record and headphones to listen to a record you cherish, standing up to switch to the B-side and start over again. I forgot how much I love it.

I’m buying more music than ever before and I am happy about it.

The Underdog Recordstore

When I moved to Cologne in 2000, I started working at the Underdog Recordstore. Hoffi - who runs both the Underdog (the store) and Defiance (the label) has also been very active as a concert promoter since more than a decade. By the way, he was the one doing the first At The Drive-In show in Cologne - I blogged about that earlier today.

- Hoffi

The store is very well known outside of Germany. When I worked there, a lot of people from abroad dropped by to buy records. They’d have heard about the store from a friend and were urged to check it out. It’s one of the few left *real* record stores out there and has this huge vinyl section.

Indie section

Punk & Hardcore section

Whenever I’m in Cologne, I try to drop by to say ‘Hi’. Last week, I helped Hoffi and Roland (who co-runs Defiance with Hoffi) setting up a new rack to hold records. It was great, we had a lot of fun talking about some of the old stories that make that place so special. There are more than 10 years of that stories and some of them really are hilarious. It was a great and fun place to work and I surely miss it.

So, if you’re in Cologne and are looking for a store to buy records (CDs, Vinyl, Shirts, Fanzines), make sure to check it out.

Click this link for the exact location in Gmaps.