If you yearn for an old school record store with a vinyl-centric vibe and cool gathering place groove you are in for a treat following the arrival of Recycle Music, which is fast creating a buzz on Bend’s Westside.
The new venture is the brainchild of native Oregonian Keith Schuman, a lifelong collector who has parlayed his passion into opening a veritable Aladdin’s Cave for music aficionados to share.
Step through the door of the store off Bond and Arizona – set amid an evolving mixed use area kitty corner to Strictly Organic coffee shop – and you may stop in your tracks gazing at shelves groaning with thousands of diverse LP’s, together with a wealth of CD’s, DVD’s, T-shirts, hats, patches, posters, stickers and retro rock memorabilia – right down to the KISS dolls and Beatles salt ‘n pepper shakers. Electronics-tested vintage turntables, receivers and speakers also lure those itching to resurrect the vinyl style.
“Digger” the cat may be sighted as the store’s unofficial greeter, but Schuman keeps things humming with music conversation revealing an encyclopedic knowledge of the milieu and associated technology of both yesteryear and today.
Recalling the roots of his vocation, Schuman said, “There were seven kids in our family and when I was a young teenager my oldest brother, who is 17 years older, would take me to all kinds of different record stores in Portland in the 70’s.
“We did that for years – it was a bonding experience and it also fired my early interest in music and LPs.”
Schuman is a carpenter by trade, but in between formal career stints and raising a family, always harbored a desire to run his own record store.
He decided to make the leap and spent the last couple of years preparing for the fledgling new business, including amassing product and merging his own extensive 10,000-plus vinyl collection with that of a store in Tacoma whose inventory of some 22,000 records he bought out.
“The van almost didn’t make it over the pass with that load!” he joked. “But when I got serious about this, one of my biggest fears was that someone would beat me to the punch before I was ready to open the doors.”
Location was also an important factor and when Schuman saw the freestanding building on Bond Street close to downtown appear on the radar for rent he was quick to act, adding, “I called on the site as soon as I saw it was available and had a lease inked not long after.
“This building has character, as well as being visible, and is more in tune with the town’s mill heritage and the atmosphere I wanted to revive – and I certainly didn’t want to be in some generic strip mall suite.
“I like the neighborhood; there are a lot of diverse smaller cottage businesses around as part of that variety that makes Bend a great place to live.
“People also try to buy local wherever possible and support local businesses, which I can vouch for as we have started with a surge and had a great response from the community.”
The compact store is jam-packed with vinyl albums that range from The Beatles to Cream, Kiss and ZZ Top—with just about everything else to fill the spaces between, including crates on the floor with labels such as Odd-Strange-Foreign, and an extensive back inventory stacked in boxes in a storage area to the rear.
Schuman observed, “There has been something of a vinyl renaissance going on for a while, and since 2008 new vinyl production has risen 40 percent and continues to increase each year. Also, if a new band puts out a limited vinyl pressing nowadays it adds to their street credibility, and the collectability for fans.
“As part of this movement, there has also been an interesting surge in interest among the younger generation. About 60 percent of what we sell in the store is vinyl and out of that about half the buyers are 20-somethings, whether they are nostalgic for their parents’ old collection, prefer the warmer sound of analog recordings or are just excited at the prospect of digging out old gems.
“We all jumped on the digital bandwagon initially, but there has been a re-evaluation of the quality of analog as being less sanitized and offering a fuller, more nuanced version reflecting what came out in the studio when the recordings were laid down, even with a certain amount of spillover between speakers and the background crackles, pops and hisses.
“Also, there is a more romantic and social aspect to vinyl and the packaging is just cooler with the cover art, imaginative graphics and liner notes, or special features like pull-out posters.
“A big part of the fun of what I do is hunting down the treasure, and I am always on the lookout at estate sales or wherever trying to find rarities. I also strive to make things affordable and pass on savings to customers.
“I have my own likes but one thing you soon learn in this business is to keep your personal tastes to one side.”
Indeed, it does seem that vinyl records, particularly the full-length LP’s that helped define the golden era of rock in the ‘60s and ‘70s, are suddenly cool again.
Some of the new fans are no doubt babyboomers nostalgic for their youth, but increasing numbers of the iPod generation are also purchasing turntables, buying albums and giving them a spin instead of listening to sounds compressed into disposable MP3 files that may pare down the sonic information.
As part of Recycle Music’s diversification, Schuman also has a selection of solid vintage turntables as well as receivers and speakers to cater to hi-fi system set up needs.
He added, “We try to have a lot of choices and set people up with turntables and teach them a little and help them decide what components they may need and so on.
“I sell quite a lot of vintage equipment and there has also been a new appreciation for how well high quality components were built in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, with a lot of capabilities.
“We can also put on new needles and belts and carry out testing and repairs if needed either by me or by having work subbed out, including to a 30-year tech who is very capable.”
Many older turntables also have a feature that allows users to replace the cartridge that controls record playback quality; something that might be important to audiophiles. Newer models are often outfitted with one standard cartridge that won’t allow the sound quality to be adjusted.
As a meticulous collector himself, Schuman is also a firm advocate of vinyl cleaning kits as dirty records can wear out needles unnecessarily.
Of course it’s not just vinyl that you can find at Recycle Music – the store trades in everything from a wide selection of CDs to a cornucopia of music-related accessories, DVDs and even more fringe items such as old 78s, eight tracks and a collection of some 1,400 laserdiscs in a medium that is attracting a renewed following by a dedicated band of audio purists – especially in Japan – hot on its technological merits.
Schuman is also very supportive of the local music scene and is building a local music section as part of being an active participant in the area’s community and culture.
He added, “We have seen a wide range of customers visit across generations. The word is spreading and it has been great to continually meet new people.”
Recycle Music LLC, 3 NW Bond Street, Bend, OR 97701. Opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10:30am-7pm and Sundays 12-5pm, 541-280-2390.
