Papa Kelly hangs out at Joe’s Record Paradise – Silver Spring.

In case you didn’t hear, 2014 was a huge year for vinyl. Overall vinyl sales jumped 49%, Jack White sold zillions of copies of his hit record Lazaretto, and the continent’s largest pressing plant can’t even keep up with production demand. While all of this is awesome, the real stars of the show are the independent record stores keeping their doors open for us and supplying the raddest of finds. In honor of their efforts in bringing us the best the world of vinyl has to offer, I‰’m going to teach all of you my favorite game of my own creation. A game I may or may not be making up as I go along.

This semester on The Tough Crowd, I will be exploring all of the DMV area record stores that I can physically cover in one semester, while finding new (or rediscovering old) music for both you and yours truly. The game is one of discovery with a hint of gambling, where hopefully we can all learn about new music, and places to purchase it, together.

The Challenge:

No matter what the selection of genres, formats or pretentiousness level of store clerk, pick up no more than $10 worth of discount bin records. Exceptions to this will be considered on a case-by-case basis, most likely for cases of extreme awesomeness in regards to ’80s album covers.

Game Criteria:

1. All records must be unknown to the purchaser (as far as anyone tagging along with the purchaser, their knowledge is fair game so choose wisely).

2. All records required per store must be of different genres. No more than two can be of the same genre.

3. You cannot under any circumstances check the internet for pressing info. I know, I know, discogs is your best friend, but you can make it I promise (besides, you’ll get a chance to look once you get home).

The Game in Action AKA The Fun Part:

Every week I’ll bring you my weeks finds from (mostly) local record stores. Then I will go over my thought processes for purchasing the records I chose, and reveal if any of them were worth the pennies I dropped on them.