Record Store #6 – Kiev, Ukraine

Meh Mah (Media Market) Record Store

Kiev, Ukraine

I hesitate to blow Kiev’s trumpet too hard, but burrowed amongst the various underground clothing outlets are a huge number of chain and independent records stores just waiting to be discovered.

However, not all of the stores below the capital are worthy of unrelenting praise, Media Market is particularly unspectacular. A bog standard music shop selling a few interesting CDs, but mostly stocking chart and popular releases. Theres no vinyl to be found here, no rare bootleg recordings of Beatles gigs, no mp3 CDs offering artists discographys’ – simply lots of Beyonce and Lady Gaga.

The guy at the till  spins ATB’s new album (!) endlessly, skipping from one soft trance track to another,  the kind of music which kills ambience and makes browsing painful. We wince as the cheesy vocals kick in, and are half tempted to request Depeche Mode”s new album instead. We decide otherwise, on account of the fact we don’t think it will go down too well with the gurning teen wearing the Paul Van Dyk t-shirt who is nodding his head with the beat as he browses through Armin Van Buuren CDs.

Media Market does have something going for it, however, as it seems to stock the back library of artists’ who currently have new releases in the charts. We discover Moby’s tough to find Early Underground, Ambient and Play: B Sides albums on the racks, greatly tempting us  until we see their extortionate price sticker (and the fact that they all have the song Go on it…).

Unsurprisingly it’s the bargain bin which cements the stores appearence in my blog (the rule being if I make a purchase, the store makes it).

As we scramble through the hordes of euro-pop albums from the nineties, I discover the second half of the Azuli mix CD that I bought in Lviv, along with a Defected compilation mixed by the Copyright duo.

Priced at 10UAH (£0.79) each and with the likes of Booka Shade, Alter Ego,  Moby and Depeche Mode spread over the discs, I can’t resist.

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Purchase:

Club Azuli Part 2 – Mixed By Dave Piccioni – £0.79 [Tracklisting]

Defected In The House – Mixed By Copyright – £0.79 [Tracklisting]

Total Purchases:

Club Azuli Part 1 – Mixed By Dave Piccioni - £0.48 [Tracklisting]

Club Azuli Part 2 – Mixed By Dave Piccioni – £0.79 [Tracklisting]

Chemical Brothers, The -  Brothers Gonna Work It Out – £2.77 [Tracklisting]

Defected In The House – Mixed By Copyright – £0.79 [Tracklisting]

DJ Shadow – The New Collection – £2.38

Samim -  Flow – £1.98 [Tracklisting]

Total Spend: £9.19

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