Wednesday 4 May 2011

Flashback


London Town has, like many cities, seen its fair share of record shops come and go over the last few years, with many well known spots in the record game being forced to close their doors after struggling to survive the financial squeeze and the ever changing music marketplace. At first my knee jerk reaction was to worry about how I was gonna get my regular fix of beats with all these spots disappearing. But I need not have worried - the records shops may have closed but the records themselves haven't disintegrated or simply disappeared, but merely moved on to another dusty spot somewhere else in the capital. All I have to do is find 'em!
One spot which still remains is one that I have visited throughout the years, although I have noticed that the quality and quantity of their stock has improved since the demise of the other shops, both in terms of vintage hip hop records and obscure under the radar drum breaks. The place is called FLASHBACK and is just a few minutes walk from Angel Tube Station in North London. I've always found some quality wax in FLASHBACK, but over the last 2 or 3 years I seem to be pulling some much better beats outta this place. This timeframe coincides with the closure of RECKLESS RECORDS in ISLINGTON only a short walk way. There is also HAGGLE VINYL within spitting distance but the eccentric owner and overpriced tightly packed racks possibly puts most people off doing business in this shop. Hence FLASHBACK is getting all the trade as far as people selling collections are concerned.
Today I was impressed by their back wall covered in record sleeves that have pink on there somewhere, and a side wall of food related covers. It brought out the nerd in me for sure.
So why am I telling you this, and giving up my fruitful spots for you all to hit? The answer is simple, good music is for sharing! So if you're in London and you need a fix of dusty vinyl, you can kill a few hours in FLASHBACK and be guaranteed to leave with a bag of goodies. And anyway, I hit that spot so often you will need to get up VERY early in the mornings to get to those beats before I do!

3 comments:

Leo Slayer said...

managed to pull some beauties out of here over the years but have found Berwick Street and Notting Hill are usually better for hip hop...I probably just need to get up earlier!
Keep these spots alive, kids...

Robert said...

When i visited London three years ago, i bought a lot at Flashback. Nice store...

JonnyC said...

No doubt my homeboy Liam Large works in there & has knowledge 50 levels deep ;)