Off the beaten tracks

by David Scharfenberg

Looking for a rare Leadbelly album, or some underground hip-hop? Maybe you'd like to check out the latest seven-inch record from Jamaica. If you're a music fan, you know the big chains will get you only so far. Eventually, you'll need to hit an indie store.

Indie central For music fans in Boston proper, the stretch of city from Gloucester Street to Harvard Avenue isn't just the slowest section of the B Line. It's a miracle mile (okay, two and a half miles) of used and specialty record stores -- mostly rock, jazz, and dance music. Here's a quick guide to shops on the beaten track. ROCK AND JAZZ CD Spins, 324 Newbury Street. Open Monday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 7 p.m. Call (617) 267-5955. Got any damaged CDs? The staff at CD Spins can resurface them for you. The store stocks a broad range of used music, including indie rock, blues, jazz, pop, soul -- and an impressively large ska section. Diskovery, 113 Brighton Avenue. Open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 9 p.m. Call (617) 787-2640. Diskovery looks like your mother's attic. It's stacked with lots of old stuff -- some of it useful, some of it useless, most of it interesting. The literature section runs the gamut from heavy leftist texts to trashy sci-fi paperbacks. And the record stock is a vinyl-heavy collection of rock, reggae, jazz, soul, vocal music, and movie soundtracks. In Your Ear, 957 Comm Ave. Open Monday through Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. Call (617) 787-9577. In Your Ear, a cavernous store near BU, stocks thousands of records, tapes, CDs, and eight-tracks covering almost every genre -- rock, jazz, blues, soul, country, rap, gospel, classical, pop, and vocal. If you pay a visit, check out the old jukebox in the corner, and be sure to ask the staff for assistance -- they're very entertaining, and you'll need help navigating the store. Looney Tunes, 1106 Boylston Street. Open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 8 p.m. Call (617) 247-2238. How do you take your records? If you answered "rare," check out Looney Tunes, which stocks a wide range of rare jazz and oldies on vinyl -- much of it in mint, or "audiophile," condition. The store also sells a fair amount of classical music, rock, and exotica (bachelor-pad, lounge, spoken word, etc.) -- although if you're looking for the latter, you may want to try the Cambridge branch of the store, located at 1001 Mass Ave between Central and Harvard Squares. Mystery Train II, 306 Newbury Street. Open daily, 10:30 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. Call (617) 536-0216. Admit it. You're still a Devo fan. And late at night, you like to dress up in shiny clothes and walk around with a Casio keyboard. Well, Mystery Train II may be the place for you, because it proudly displays an outfit worn by a member of Devo in the late '70s. The store also stocks an eclectic mix of indie rock, punk, classical jazz, blues, lounge, and electronica. Nuggets, 486 Comm Ave. Open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 7 p.m. Call (617) 536-0679. Looking for that old Linda McCartney record? Look no further. Nuggets in Kenmore Square carries dozens of kitschy collectibles in its used stock of rock, jazz, R&B, oldies, ska, local, and international music. The store also maintains stacks of old Rolling Stone, Guitar, and Spin issues -- a jumbled pop-music history running from the 1960s to the present. DANCE Biscuithead Records, 93 Mass Ave. Open Monday through Thursday, noon to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, noon to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. Call (617) 247-3268. Biscuithead Records is hard to find, but if you're a hip-hop fan, it's worth a visit. Located on the third floor of an office building on Mass Ave, Biscuithead stocks mostly underground hip-hop, all of it on vinyl. Owner DJ Bruno spins at local clubs such as Karma and the Playhouse, and he runs a small house and hip-hop label called Biscuithead Recordings. Boston Beat, 279 Newbury Street. Open Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Call (617) 247-2428. Boston Beat specializes in club music of all types -- house, jungle, jazzy house, French house, European house, progressive house, and trance. The store stocks both records and compact disks, as well as a small assortment of videos that chronicle various DJ championships from around the world. 4 Front Records, 279 Newbury Street. Open Monday through Saturday, 12:30 to 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 6 p.m. Call (617) 236-0335. 4 Front Records is the most specialized of the DJ shops: it deals exclusively in drum 'n' bass. Owner DJ Static imports regularly from the UK, and he stocks both major releases and "white label" bootlegs -- anonymous records with no name etched on the label. Satellite, 49 Mass Ave. Open Monday, noon to 8 p.m.; Tuesday, noon to 7 p.m.; Wednesday, noon to 9 p.m.; Thursday, noon to 8 p.m.; Friday, noon to 9 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 7 p.m. Call (617) 536-5482. Satellite owns three stores -- one in New York, one in Atlanta, and one on Mass Ave, in Boston. The store sells electronica records of all types -- house, techno, drum 'n' bass, and trance. But Satellite also stocks mix tapes from various local DJs, including Matthew Lenore, Crook, and Osheen. Vinyl Connection, 839 Beacon Street. Open Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 7 p.m. Call (617) 536-2560. Vinyl Connection specializes in tapes and CDs. Just kidding. As the name suggests, Vinyl Connection sells records exclusively, and it specializes in a particular brand of dance music called vocal house (that's house music with vocals, for the layman), most of it imported from England. The store is particularly popular in the gay community, and word-of-mouth has created a largely gay mail-order clientele all over the country.

Boston is rich in small record stores, and if you're like many music fans, you already shop in stores along the Green Line between the Back Bay and Allston (see "Indie Central," right). But stop there and you'll be missing something. The neighborhoods you can't walk to from the Green Line -- Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roslindale -- house a whole network of small, quirky mom-and-pop record stores that specialize not just in indie rock and jazz, but also in hard-to-find music from other genres: Latin, hip-hop, R&B, reggae, and Calypso.

These stores offer more than just rare tracks. Walk into Hi-Fi Records in Jamaica Plain, or Beehive Culture in Dorchester, and you get an immediate sense for the local community -- its culture, its rhythm, even its language. In Dorchester and JP, local record stores link Caribbean and Latin American immigrants (and their kids) to their cultural heritage. In Roxbury and Mattapan, indie hip-hop stores are the real frontlines of rap, where the underground breaks into the mainstream.

So let the following serve as a guide for not only the record hunter, but also for the urban adventurer. Some stores keep erratic hours, so be sure to call ahead before visiting.

Jamaica Plain

FRANKLIN'S CDS, 314 CENTRE STREET, JAMAICA PLAIN. Open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Call (617) 868-8895.

If you're in Boston and you're looking for Latin culture, then Jamaica Plain is the place to be. JP is home to the largest Latino community in the city, and the neighborhood is full of Mexican restaurants, Cuban diners, and Latin American record stores. One of the most popular is Franklin's CDs, a small shop that bustles with neighborhood gossip. "We have Mexican music, Central American music, Dominican, Puerto Rican -- basically any Latin American music," says Vanessa Cabral, daughter of the owner. Musical styles range from the upbeat merengue of the Dominican Republic to the romantic boleros of Mexico and South America. The Cabrals maintain a broad stock to appeal to the diverse elements of JP's Latino population, and occasionally their collection draws customers from outside the neighborhood, too. "A whole bunch of famous people come in to buy," says Cabral. "Major League baseball players -- Latin American, Dominican. We have Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, and his brother coming in all the time."

Not bad. Now if only they had hooked Mo Vaughn. . . .

SKIPPY WHITE'S, 315 CENTRE STREET, JAMAICA PLAIN. Open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Sunday. Call (617) 524-4500.

It was an unlikely business plan: white guy goes into the heart of Roxbury and opens a record store featuring blues, soul, and gospel music. Now, some 40 years later, Skippy White owns three stores: one in Jamaica Plain, one in Central Square, and one in Providence, Rhode Island. White still sells the blues, soul, and gospel that sustained his store through the '60s and '70s, but he also stocks a large collection of modern hip-hop and R&B music. White says it's the depth of his collection that sets him apart. "For instance, we just got a double CD in by Shep and the Limelights," he says, referring to a popular R&B group from the '60s. "The thing is, most of the material by Shep and the Limelights has been either unavailable or not very extensively available. Now here comes a double CD with 44 songs, literally everything ever recorded by Shep and the Limelights. Well, it's an import, it came in from Germany, but that's the type of thing I go looking for."

HI-FI RECORDS, 620 CENTRE STREET, JAMAICA PLAIN. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. Closed Monday. Call (617) 524-4495.

Asked what makes her store unique, Deb Klein gives a two-word answer: "The kitsch." It's difficult to argue. After all, the name is kitschy, the sign is kitschy, the lounge is kitschy, the vintage clothing and furniture are kitschy, and the clocks that hang on the walls, featuring such artists as the Monkees, Quiet Riot, and Vampyros Lesbos, are -- you guessed it -- kitschy. This theme is reflected in some of the record stock (if you're looking for that old Marlene Dietrich record, Hi-Fi has it), but Klein also sells a broad mishmash of blues, folk, indie rock, and local music. And, if you show up on the right day, you might catch an in-store performance by a local artist. Recent performers have included Fuzzy, the Shods, and the Gravel Pit. This Saturday, March 13, look for an appearance by Erin Hope of Love Whip.

LAXTON RECORDS, 66 SOUTH STREET, JAMAICA PLAIN. Open Monday through Friday, noon to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. Call (617) 983-0520.

"When we first started out, we had country-western, R&B, hip-hop, rap, Calypso, reggae, Caribbean jazz, and steel pan," says Forster Henry, owner of Laxton Records. "But the market for American music is so competitive, so we just decided to specialize in Caribbean music, and it took off." Now Laxton has a customer base of more than 2000 people, both walk-in and mail order. "There's a huge, huge Caribbean population in Boston," Henry explains; he sells both recorded music and tickets to live shows, which he acquires through his work as a promoter. The most recent show Henry promoted was a Legends of Calypso show at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester, featuring artists like Composer, Lord Brigo, Mighty Power, and Lord Funny -- "the guys who are responsible for writing some of the major hit Calypso of the '50s and '60s." And this year, Henry will promote a Caribbean showcase at the Wang Center, featuring Marcia Griffiths, Bunny Wailer, and Arrow of "Hot, Hot, Hot" fame.

RHYTHM & MUSE, 403-A CENTRE STREET, JAMAICA PLAIN. Open Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to midnight; Saturday; 10 p.m. to midnight; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Closed Monday. Call (617) 524-6622.

Two blocks down from Hi-Fi Records, the history of modern rock sits on shelves under a tall roof of wood and brick. The roof covers Rhythm & Muse, a record store/bookstore/café owned by brothers Scott and David Doyle. Amid the indie rock, folk, country, jazz, R&B, and blues is a section labeled "Essentials," which David Doyle describes as "really a handpicked selection of artists that we feel were instrumental in the development of modern rock. It includes really classic R&B stuff, early rock, and some blues." Featured artists include bluesmen B.B. King and Otis Rush.

Roxbury

FUNKY FRESH RECORDS, 74 WARREN STREET, ROXBURY. Open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. Call (617) 427-6316.

An enthusiastic customer told me that Funky Fresh offered "nuthin' but love." He was selling the place a little short; owner Rusty Pendleton stocks hip-hop posters, magazines, and a range of recorded material that you probably won't find at many other stores. "If you were coming down here and you were looking for some unreleased Tupac stuff," says manager Joe Benzan, "we could help you with that." Funky Fresh can aid you in any search for underground hip-hop. The store stocks local artists like the Network, M/Slash, and Rushya, and New Yorkers such as Nature, Tragedy, and the Lox, "the king of the underground," according to Benzan. Funky Fresh also sells mix tapes by DJs from around the country. But if these aren't enough, the staff will put together any mix you request. And they'll do it with love. Nuthin' but.

Dorchester

BEEHIVE CULTURE, 732 BLUE HILL AVENUE, DORCHESTER. Open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Closed Sunday. Call (617) 288-1432.

Vinyl. There's nothing quite like it, especially for reggae fans. The bulk of Jamaican music appears on seven-inch vinyl records and nothing else. So if you're looking for the very latest in modern reggae -- say, the driving, hypnotic work of Bounty Killer or Beenie Man -- you've got to track down the seven-inch import, which may well lead you to Beehive Culture. Beehive also serves as a modest Caribbean cultural center; worker bees (and owners) Leslie and Brian DeCoteau fill their store with flags, posters, T-shirts, books, and crafts from the islands, and they hire out the Beehive staff to work as DJs at Caribbean events around the city. Members of the Beehive crew also work, on a nonprofit basis, as cameramen, filming reggae artists when they come to town and showing the concerts on local cable stations.

GEMINI RECORDS, 434-A BLUE HILL AVENUE, DORCHESTER. Open Monday through Thursday, noon to 8 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, noon to 9 p.m. Closed Sunday. Call (617) 427-8551.

Dance-hall reggae is the hip-hop of the Caribbean. Like rap music, dance hall borrows heavily from the past -- in this case, emulating the beats and styles of traditional reggae artists such as Bob Marley, George Nooks, and Ken Boothe. And, like hip-hop, dance-hall reggae provides the driving, up-tempo soundtrack for a mythic world of sex, celebration, and urban conflict. But there is one crucial difference: dance-hall reggae is a bit scarce, at least in Boston. So if you're looking for the music of modern artists like Buccaneer or Tanto Metro, or for the work of their predecessors -- such as Nooks or Boothe -- you may want to check out Gemini Records. But be careful -- a short visit to Gemini can easily turn into a long one. "We try to keep a buddy relationship with the people," says Vaughn Lee, a co-owner of Gemini. And sometimes, according to Lee, that "buddy relationship" can include a few hours with a six-pack and a reggae video in the back of the store.

JUANITA'S RECORDS, 503-B WASHINGTON STREET, DORCHESTER. Open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Closed Sunday. Call (617) 265-3082.

"I specialize in reggae music," says Lester Williams. "Reggae, Calypso. I also do hip-hop -- but mostly on a cassette basis as far as the underground cassettes." Those "underground cassettes" consist of mixes by local DJs like Green Lantern, Tony Touch, DJ Black, and DJ Juice. But, as Williams says, "most of my product comes straight out of Jamaica," pressed onto the seven-inch records that hang in elegant rows on the store's walls. "And being that it comes from Jamaica," says Williams, "a lot of it escapes the mainstream," making it difficult to find in the larger chain stores. The mainstream has not been friendly to the work of local reggae artists, either, but Williams does what he can to promote area talent such as Junior Kelly and Igina. "There are a few gifted artists in the area, and a lot of people . . . don't really try to give them assistance along the way," he says. "But whatever product they may have, I welcome them to bring it to me and I try to do the best I can with it in the store."

Roslindale

SIGHT & SOUND, 35 POPLAR STREET, ROSLINDALE. Open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Sunday. Call (617) 469-0045.

This is the poor man's -- or maybe just the weird man's -- version of Newbury Comics. The musical selection isn't quite the same, but the store sells a range of wacky knickknacks that puts its competitor to shame. Co-owners George Aymie and Eddie Montana stock the shelves with a broad selection of toys, video games, laser discs, yo-yos, movies, comic books, and CDs. The musical section is an eclectic mix of rap, rock, jazz, reggae, and spirituals, running the gamut from Beenie Man to Aerosmith. But the real attractions lie elsewhere. "We've got a great invention here called Chinese chess," says Aymie. "It's the most popular game in the world. And we have it in Chinese and English. No one else in the world has it in both languages." But if multilingual Asian board games don't do it for you, then maybe a trick would do the trick. From time to time, Sight & Sound sponsors magic shows for neighborhood kids -- just one of the quirky twists that have made Sight & Sound a fixture in Roslindale Square for some 20 years.

Mattapan

MATTAPAN MUSIC, 1645 BLUE HILL AVENUE, MATTAPAN. Open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Sunday. Call (617) 296-3345.

"Underground hip-hop" is a broad term, encompassing almost any rap music outside the mainstream. If you'd like to check out the local underground scene, visit Mattapan Music, where you'll find the work of local artists such as 3 Deep, Crumb Snatcher, Stizz Frost, and M/Slash. If you're wary of blind shopping, don't worry: musical requests and periodic cassette giveaways allow the novice to get a taste before making a purchase. Mattapan Music also sells the work of big-name acts, and you might even get to see one in person. According to owner Steve Maida, several rap stars have visited the store, including Kid Capri, Cool G Rap, and Method Man. "Some of them will freestyle with the kids," says Maida. "It's cool." Maida also sells gospel and black urban music of the '60s and '70s; groups like Black Ivory, the Temptations, and the Isley Brothers are featured prominently.

David Scharfenberg is a freelance writer who lives in Mission Hill.