{"id":97325,"date":"2026-01-12T15:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T15:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/97325\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T15:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T15:25:12","slug":"celebrating-the-rock-soul-of-indie-record-shops-across-new-york-blind-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/97325\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating the Rock & Soul of Indie Record Shops Across New York \u2014 Blind Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perhaps there is nothing so modern as the vinyl record, its streamline design elegantly enclosed in a dazzling 12\u201d cardboard sleeve that promises untold pleasures. For record\u00a0 collectors like the husband and wife photography team of James T. and Karla L. Murray<\/a>,\u00a0it all begins with a trip to the local record store.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCrate diggers (ourselves included) are always on the never-ending search to find that\u00a0 \u2018black gold,\u2019\u201d James and Karla Murray write in the book\u2019s introduction. \u201cThey are driven\u00a0by the thrill of the hunt and the hope of finding a long-forgotten musical treasure that\u00a0perhaps accompanied them during a certain phase or time in life that they can now\u00a0return to. Or else, they\u2019re looking to discover a new album, leading to further exploration\u00a0and even more sonic enjoyment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following the success of Store Front NYC and Great Bars of New York City<\/a>, the\u00a0 Murrays now return with Vinyl NYC: 33 1\/3 of the Best Record Stores Across All Five\u00a0 Boroughs<\/a>, a panoramic look inside the city\u2019s iconic Mom & Pop style record shops. The\u00a0book weaves together the Murrays\u2019 signature electric exteriors, intimate interiors,\u00a0environmental portraits, and a wealth of visual details alongside thoughtful profiles of\u00a0proprietors and their shops penned by music journalist and critic Hattie Lindert<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Casa Amadeo, 786 Prospect Avenue, Longwood, the Bronx \u00a9 James & Karla Murray<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Limited to One Record Store, 221 East 10th Street, East Village, Manhattan \u00a9 James & Karla Murray<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Record Shop, 360 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn \u00a9 James & Karla Murray<\/p>\n

For the Murrays, whose 2005 photograph of Jay Dee Bake Shop in Jackson Heights,\u00a0Queens (featured in Store Front NYC) was chosen as cover art for the 12\u201d vinyl of J\u00a0 Dilla\u2019s \u201cGive Them What They Want,\u201d Vinyl NYC is the perfect marriage of their first\u00a0 loves: music and photography.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t call it a comeback\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more than a century New York\u2019s independent record shops have stood at the heart\u00a0of the neighborhoods they serve, becoming lovingly curated third spaces that foster\u00a0community, creative inspiration, and cultural exchange. In recent years, vinyl has been\u00a0 enjoying a resurgence, with the medium now reclaiming it\u2019s rightful place in the pop culture pantheon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like printed books, vinyl albums have, incredibly, made an enormous comeback, with sales increasing for 18 straight years and representing U.S. sales of over $1.4\u00a0 billion in 2024 (and predicted to be over $3.5 billion by 2033),\u201d Billboard<\/a> reported in May 2025.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Record City, 127 Fenimore Street, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn \u00a9 James & Karla Murray<\/p>\n

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<\/a>DJ-Music Supervisor-Researcher Kristine Barilli at Paradise of Replica, 297 Grand Street #2A, Lower East Side Manhattan \u00a9 James & Karla Murray<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Pat Chin a.k.a. Miss Pat, co-founder, VP Records, 170-19 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica, Queens \u00a9 James & Karla Murray<\/p>\n

With vinyl sales<\/a> now outpacing streaming and poised to take over CD sales, James and Karla Murray have created Vinyl NYC as the crate digger\u2019s guide to New York. The\u00a0book spotlights a wealth of local landmarks that have stood strong against digital\u00a0technology, inspiring a renaissance across the five boroughs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the golden oldies are Casa Amadeo, the city\u2019s oldest Latin record store, which first opened its doors in the Longwood section of the Bronx back in 1941; Generation\u00a0Records in Greenwich Village, which has been preserving punk history since 1992; and\u00a0VP Records in Jamaica, Queens, which began in 1979 as a storefront shop for their\u00a0eponymous record label, now the largest independent reggae imprint in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The vinyl revival\u00a0<\/p>\n

In recent years, indie record stores have made their return to New York streets as a\u00a0new generation of collectors have embraced the distinctive pleasures of physical\u00a0media. Vinyl NYC showcases newcomers like Blue-Sun (Williamsburg), Rebel Rouser\u00a0 (Bushwick), and Manhattan45 (East Village) to the fold, keeping the city current with the\u00a0latest pressings that DJs break in their nightclub sets.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Frederico Rojas-Lavado, owner, Second Hand Records NYC, 23 Lawton Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn \u00a9 James & Karla Murray<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Deep Cuts Record Store, 57-03 Catalpa Avenue, Ridgewood, Queens \u00a9 James & Karla Murray<\/p>\n

For James and Karla Murray, making Vinyl NYC was a natural extension of their\u00a0everyday lives. \u201cWe spent hours in the stores featured on these pages, making our\u00a0own musical selections before heading home to partake in what we refer to as our\u00a0\u2018Japanese tea ceremony,\u2019\u201d they write in the introduction, sharing their experience of\u00a0sitting with a record and engaging with every last element of the experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a gentle reminder of what makes record shops not only the cornerstone of community but a luminous repository of soul, as well as a testament to the exquisite allure of physical media in a world inundated by the endless scroll.<\/p>\n

Vinyl NYC: 33 1\/3 of the Best Record Stores Across All Five Boroughs<\/a> is\u00a0 published by Prestel and available for $45.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Jazz Record Center, 236 West 26th Street, Room 804, Chelsea, Manhattan \u00a9 James & Karla Murray<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Perhaps there is nothing so modern as the vinyl record, its streamline design elegantly enclosed in a dazzling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,45024],"class_list":{"0":"post-97325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-headlines","10":"tag-new-york-news","11":"tag-template-cover-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}