The first installment in an anticipated series of articles on local music stores
William: In the Feb. 28 issue of Buzz magazine, readers’ choice winners for Best of C-U in the “best place to buy music” category were, reportedly:
1. Exile on Main Street (winning by “like, one vote,” gloats the student-run periodical)
2. Best Buy
3. iTunes
There are at least two things wrong with this list. Can you spot them?
Cristy: First, shouldn’t it be Exile on REO Speedwagon Way? Ha!
W: Ew. Cristy, no. Don’t go there.
C: Sorry. I thought I’d inject some humor into my dismay at that misguided list. Admittedly, I adore iTunes, but the category is Best of C-U. And Best Buy? Come on! That’s like saying one of the best places to have a beer in C-U is the bar at Applebee’s.
W: Exactly. Exile on Main Street is more my idea of a friendly neighborhood pub. After a hard week at work, when it’s Friday at 5 p.m. and time to buy albums, I’m not going to fight the traffic to go tip that first CD in a big-box store. I want something more intimate. A place where everybody knows your name/And they’re always glad you came. A place where they won’t mock you with Toto muzak while you search for Black Flag albums. A place with records.
C: A place where we bond over a love of albums. Where you’re greeted as you walk in by the bartender, Jeff Brandt, who stands behind the counter, presiding over his establishment with an expert, stoic, reassuring presence. He knows who we are and which poisons we prefer. “Try this.” He sets Radiohead’s limited (45 RPM, 180-gram) vinyl edition of In Rainbows before us like a fine vintage. Sampling this treasure, I find the experience rich and decadent. What is it about records that is so incredibly satisfying?
“It’s the whole aesthetic of the album,” Jeff says. “It’s an event.” We discuss the giddy anticipation of cleaning an album. The wispy crackles of mono. The engaging artwork that isn’t just an image, but part of each melody. We confess our first vinyl purchases. (Me: The “Rock of Ages” single by Def Leppard, 1983.)
W: Jeff and I discover we bought our first vinyl from the same store the same year—Zayre, 1981. But he wins the music fan cred. Though he was younger, his first record purchase — Queen’s Greatest Hits — was more sophisticated than mine — 45s of Paul Simon’s “Late in the Evening” and Eddie Rabbit’s “I Love a Rainy Night” (exploring a childhood fascination with staying up past my bedtime).
C: That’s sad, William. But you can confess your sins at Exile. Jeff listens non-judgmentally, offering advice. I was disappointed in my last CD purchase, Panda Bear. “It wasn’t what I thought,” I complain. “The description said ‘Brian Wilson-influenced,’ but it was just boring noise!”
Jeff immediately knows what I’m talking about. “Yeah. The guy from Animal Collective’s project. It definitely sounds like Brian Wilson, but it’s repetitive in parts,” he reassures me. “Just listen a few times; be patient with it.”
W: Jeff opened Exile on Main Street on Thanksgiving, 2004. A truly local, independent music store, Exile appeared as a shimmering oasis at a time when the closing of the long-standing Record Service meant our town was drying up.
“The store,” Jeff says, “grew out of stuff I was obsessed with my whole life.” The vivid and playful shop, with colorful posters, and gumball machines, is an adult manifestation, I imagine, of his high school bedroom, right down to the Atari cartridges.
C: He diversifies his business: in addition to new and used records and CDs, Exile also offers DVDs and old and new video games to stay afloat and drift with the current of technology. As the night goes on, we get philosophical. I ask Jeff how he plans to stay in business with the proliferation of big-box stores and, more importantly, the Internet.
W: The changes sweeping the music industry are bewildering and Jeff does not pretend to offer a neat prediction of the future. He has studied the matter, and like a good bartender he’ll tell you how he sees things. Despite the uncertain future of media, Jeff does not feel threatened by the Internet and the proliferation of options it allows the music fan. Special orders are still his bread and butter, he says, and it’s clear he speaks the truth. Throughout our conversation, regular customers wander in. Jeff greets them by name, knows what they’ve been up to and hooks them up with their requested music, games, or DVDs. The computer makes special ordering a snap, allowing him accurate reports of what he can get and how soon, in a manner far more advanced than the Medieval days of faxing a hand-written order to a distant distributor and crossing his fingers. The power to buy used CDs online may even help walk-in sales. True story: once I was about to buy a used copy of Future Clouds and Radar on amazon.com and noticed the seller was “EXILEONMAINSTREET” in Champaign. So I went across town and bought it.
C: The patrons vary. Sometimes the place is empty, save for a few dazed stragglers clutching stacks of old-school thrash metal. Sometimes it’s teeming with student hipsters and locals. Other times, curious out-of-towners — who have heard its praises sung by former residents or those in the know — rifle through Exile’s schizophrenic collection.
W: Jeff is generous with his attention, and I am a high-maintenance customer. I bring him CDs to play for me, ask about his knowledge of weird records and think up rare albums to see whether he can special order them. He and Cristy discuss imports I have never tried. We talk about rock until our worries are forgotten and it’s time to climb off our barstools, pay the tab and stagger off to find dinner.
Exile on Main Street is open late, and many a night I have told Cristy I was going to the library while I snuck off to buy albums. Jeff understands; my secrets are safe with him.
Exile’s Strengths:
• Robust selection of new-arrival used CDs
• New vinyl — both recent releases and classic reprints
Exile’s Weaknesses:
• Weak alphabetization
• Record storage does not allow for comfortable browsing (although we abused our power as journalists to secure Jeff’s word that more dignified shelving is imminent)
What We Bought:
The Runaways, Queens of Noise (used vinyl)
The Remains, The Remains (new vinyl 10”)
The Vibrators, Pure Mania (used CD)
The Chamber Strings, Gospel Morning (used CD)