Located at 42 Rue des Écoles (across from the Collège de France), Crocodisc takes up two store fronts and both are jammed full of records and discs.
“Don’t be afraid to ask what you’re looking for!” – Good advice. There’s a lot to dig through here.
That’s just one wall. One of the storefronts is mostly rock and electronica. It has sections for stuff from the U.S., the U.K., and, of course, Europe.
The other storefront is full of cool jazz, soul, reggae, afrobeat, and funk records from all over the globe.
All of that in just one corner of the store.
I was lucky to walk out of this place with only a few electro CDs (Portishead, St. Germain) and not spend all the euros in my pocket here.
Make sure to not have any pending appointments if you go there. You’ll be digging through bins for an hour at least.
I stumbled onto Paris’ Culture Factory / Elvis My Happiness wrecka stow while killing time before my wife and I left for the Levitation Music Festivalin Angers, France. It’s at 27 Rue de L’Armorique and a must-see place if you’re a fan of Elvis Presley. The place is full of Elvis records, discs, and DVDs (and probably more stuff I didn’t notice). They have more than Elvis records, of course. This was the first rack I saw when I walked into the place.
That’s a bunch of limited edition CDs that feature sleeves and artwork that reproduce the album artwork. I snagged a copy of Iggy Pop‘s New Values from this rack.
Back to the Elvis stuff, however. Like I wrote above, it’s all over the place. Apart from what you see above that CD rack, this below is just a small sampling.
They had seemingly every televised or recorded live performance Presley ever released (and some might’ve been bootlegs). The owners are obviously massive fans and if they didn’t have the Elvis record you wanted, it probably doesn’t exist.
They have over vinyl there, of course. Here’s a small sample of their wares.
I had a fun conversation with the clerk who rang up my Iggy Pop CD. He asked, in French, if I wanted it gift wrapped. He finally understood that I didn’t speak French well. He asked if I were English (a common occurrence on the trip) and I told him, in French, that I was American and my French wasn’t good.
“That explains why you looked at me like I was the devil when I spoke French,” he said. He looked at the CD and said, “Iggy Pop…He is the devil.” and then told me about how he used to work at a Virgin Records mega-store in London a few years ago. Pop was doing a signing there and he was seated next to him when a woman came up to Pop and asked him if his (unknown to her) newest record was his first. The look on Pop’s face of disbelief was priceless and he simply said, “No, it’s not my first record.” He signed the album and then said, “That stupid bitch.” to the clerk as she walked away.
Keep your mind open.
Yes, that’s a “Star Wars” Porg picture disk 12″ single.
Located at 53 Rue Notre Dame du Nazareth, Paris’ Superfly Recordsis the place to go in the City of Lights if you are looking for Afrobeat, jazz, Latin, soul, blues, and rare R&B.
The place is a vinyl lover’s dream. It’s full of rare and vintage reggae, bossa nova, soul, jazz, funk, and just plain weird stuff. The people who run the place obviously know their stuff and stock a lot of choice cuts.
That album above is a great example. It’s a rare LP from N’Draman Blintch called Cosmic Sound – a crazy, wild Afro-funk album about nuclear war, the return of Jesus Christ, and the general end of the world. I might have snagged it if I didn’t have to pack it for the trip back to the U.S. and worry about it breaking.
This is a can’t-miss wrecka stow if you visit Paris. You’ll find at least one thing you’ve never heard of before there.
Located at 26 Rue du Chateau d’Eau, Paris’ Smallville Records is indeed a small place, but it’s a good stop for lovers of vinyl records if you’re visiting the city. Vinyl is far more popular than CD’s in Paris, it seems, and Smallville has plenty of records to spare.
It’s mostly modern artists, but you can find some good electronica, hip hop, and European rock there. The record at the top left of the second photo is Zombie Zombie‘s Livity, which I highly recommend.
You can listen before you buy, and their turntable covers clearly show how much they love vinyl.
