Forty Years.
Thousands of Crates.
One Map.
For nearly forty years I've been buying music—records, cassettes, CDs—from shops big and small, legendary and long-forgotten. This field guide is my way of mapping those places: the current neighborhood favorites, the vanished gems, and the online stores that keep the hunt alive.
Part directory, part diary, all crate-digging.
Current Stores by City
The Reckless Records Method
Three floors, 300,000+ records, and a pricing system that rewards patience. I always start on three and work my way down. The used bins on floor two have produced more discoveries than anywhere else.
Stardust & the Thursday Ritual
New arrivals hit the floor Thursday. The regulars know. The basement is where you find the weird stuff—the private pressings, the cut-outs that slipped through. Always check the basement.
← check Weds tooCheapo and the $1 Bin Gospel
Don't sleep on the dollar bins at Cheapo. Half the store's personality lives there. I once found three Blue Note originals in a single afternoon for under $4 total.
Recently Added to the Guide
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"Kind of Blue" — Miles Davis
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"Remain in Light" — Talking Heads
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"Sandinista!" — The Clash
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"Bitches Brew" — Miles Davis
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"My Favorite Things" — Coltrane
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"Tres Hombres" — ZZ Top
The Vanished Gems
I'm Phil Plencner. I've been buying music since the '80s, filling shelves and crates across forty years and too many cities to count. This field guide is my personal map—one collector's account of the stores he loves, the shops he misses, and the records he found there.
You might also know me from Phil's Phriday Picks, Phil's Daily Needle Drop, or from behind the decks as DJ AudioPhil—usually downstairs from Stardust Records at Brewer's Cask in Baltimore.