4 more record stores in Manila to satisfy your music and vinyl habit

4 more record stores in Manila to satisfy your music and vinyl habit

by rick olivares

Now that Record Store Day Pilipinas has passed, where can music fans get their vinyl fix? Well, Kagatan 27 is around the corner (May 6 at 1pm at Cubao X). However, if you can’t wait, here are four places I recommend you should check out.

Disc Replay Station.

One of the best curated re-sellers in town. Located on the third floor of 142 Linear Building, Katipunan Avenue, St. Ignatius Village, Disc Replay Station is an all-in store that sells vinyl, compact discs, cassettes, audio gear such as turntables, speakers, amplifiers, Blu-ray discs, and more.

Why you should check this out? Well, it’s one of the better curated stores in town (aside from Treskul Records; DJ Arbie knows his stuff). Nice mix of re-issues as proprietor Henry Chongco -- who hails from Chicago -- knows his stuff and is easy to talk to. Has a nice sampling of Beatles, Elvis, Sergio Mendes, Santana, the Doors, and jazz music among others. At one time, he had four copies of the Woodstock album all in great condition. I always have a blast digging here.

There are several thousand records available and despite the small space, you never feel claustrophobic.

The Legaspi Street Market Fair

Al Rivera and Charlie Laureta have a booth in the Sunday market. You’ll find a nice selection of records. They have signed records and locally pressed records from the 1970s and 1980s. For those who grew up during those years, those are prized finds. You might argue that the sound quality is poor. Not exactly. And that’s an article for another day. They have OPM with the occasional superfind.

I go around a lot to browse and dig but these guys have good stuff. Be sure you get there early.

Backspacer Records

Check out the page on Facebook. Backspacer is a one-man operation (read: Robert Tuazon) and he sells re-issues or new releases. So what’s the difference? He sells them cheaper than most sellers. And if you are looking for a certain record, he can help you with it. Plus, he’s a cool and easy guy to deal with.

Mutilated Noise

Speaking of one-man operations, Mutilated Noise Records (aka Noel Francia) is more than a seller. It’s a proper label with regular underground releases (vinyl, compact disc or cassette). While this label is known as a punk, hardcore, and metal distro, the dude running it sells a lot of cool stuff you will not find anywhere. First off are the original and first pressing punk and hardcore records. And he sells them cheap too. And he also has new releases (selling cheap too), and old New Wave and metal records. He also has a lot of compact discs that range from metal to punk to new wave to reggae. And Mutilated Noise is the only shop in the Philippines selling that long-running underground magazine, Maximum Rock and Roll.