(Milan)

Two weeks ago, I continued my 2009 diggin’ trips by visiting Milan and Torino.

A record digging trip is composed of three phases. The first one starts before the trip by searching what kind of music you could possibly find in the city and where you could find it. The web is for sure one of the best references for this.

The second phase is the trip in itself when you pick your record store list and spend hours from one to the other. But be aware that even if you found an address on several websites, you can never be sure that the shop will still exist when you go there or that he didn’t move to another place. That’s part of the excitement with record stores… Then the action starts: discovering what the shop offers and (if you’re lucky) having a listening session in the shop.

The last phase takes place when you’re back home listening to what you brought back in your luggage! Before doing the trip, you always have high expectations on what you will find. I must admit that what I found in Milan and Torino is way better than expected!

(Torino)

(Torino)

Milan

I started the trip by spending one day in Milan. My first destination was ‘Psycho’, a shop which I knew offered exactly what I was looking for, Italian progressive and psychedelic rock from the 70’s. I was therefore a bit disappointed to discover that there was no store at the address that I had. I went therefore to the second address: ‘Metropolis Dischi’ (via Padova 104). This two-floors shop was an excellent surprise! On the basement, I could find an impressive collection of second-hand Italian records, including quite a lot of progressive rock. On top of that I could listen to the records before buying them and the staff was very friendly. Definitely a place to go if you pass by Milan looking for records. Their large selection of LP’s is not limited to 70’s Italian rock and I’m sure you could make good deals if you’re interested by other kinds of music.

(Metropolis Dischi)

(Metropolis Dischi)

After having visited Metropolis Dischi, I crossed the city to visit two other shops, Dischi Volanti and Discomane, just separated by a river. It’s definitely a nice area to enjoy a beer on a terrace. The staff in Dischi Volanti (Ripa di porta Ticinese 47) is very friendly and helpful. It seems that the selection of 70’s Italian rock is larger if you’re looking for CDs than for LP’s but you could also find some LP’s at a very good price. It’s also a very good place if you’re looking for classic rock LP’s. Discomane is almost in front but on the other side of the river. You could find there two crates of 70’s Italian progressive rock LPs but mostly traditional Italian music, rock and classical. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to listen to the LP’s in these two shops.

(Dischi Volanti)

(Discomane)

It seems that there’re still quite a lot of record stores in the city but having only one day to spend there, I took the train back to Torino after having visited these three shops with a bag which in any case wouldn’t have enabled me to bring back many more records.

Torino

I only had two addresses of record stores in Torino. I started by going to Downtown records, close to the University. Once again, I was a bit disappointed to discover that the shop closed few months ago… But the second one, Les Yper Sounds offered exactly what I was looking for: many reissues of Italian progressive rock for reasonable prices. On top of that, the staff was very helpful and I stayed quite a long time there discussing music with them. Definitely not to be missed if you go to Torino regardless the style of music you’re looking for! Their selection is very large and they have reissues as well as second-hand LPs and CDs.

Dischi e dintorni (Corso Marconi, 27) is also a good address in Torino where you could find some good original records, especially rock, Italian or not.

I’ll record some tracks from the records I brought back from this trip to be played on LDBK.

If you’re interested by Italian progressive rock, you have to visit italianprogrock.com.