Aside from being closest to the valley, Sound Exchange in Wayne on Rt. 23 is one of the few genuine small mom and pop stores left around these parts. I can’t even think of another in North Jersey — maybe that one in Passaic County I can never remember the name of. There used to be Mr. Muck’s right down the road, but that closed a couple years back. And even CD World (owned by FYE) and Coconuts (I think also owned by FYE) on 46 have gone and are going out of business. So really, Sound Exchange is it.

And it’s a record shopper’s store. CDs, vinyl, cassettes, used and new, with some t-shirts and books for good measure. It’s crowded, expertly organized (side-projects next to main outlets; Brant Bjork in with Kyuss, for example), and usually being perused by one or more of the local record store types. You know the type. Anywhere else in the world, they just don’t fit, but flipping the racks, they’re right at home.

Over the years I’ve accrued more buried treasure from Sound Exchange than perhaps any other single physical store, and this time, in addition to the latest Satyricon, I was happy to find used a copy of the 1996 debut full-length from Texas doomers Las Cruces, S.O.L. When last I heard from the band (last year at around this time, actually), they were looking to hook up a release for a new LP, Dusk, through Brainticket. That may not have happened yet, but that doesn’t make S.O.L. any less enjoyable on its own.

Las Cruces was a trio in ’96, consisting of Mark Zammaron on bass and vocals, Michael Hosman on drums and Mark Lopez on guitar. None of them are in the band since the 2005 reunion, and the sonic differences even between S.O.L. and 1998’s Ringmaster are palpable. Ringmaster may have been thicker sounding, but S.O.L. puts an unmistakable Trouble influence to excellent use on straightforward doom cuts “Sophia,” “Valley of Unrest” and “Shotgun.” Lopez‘s guitar is often double-tracked, and though it’s somewhat simplistic, the album is more than welcome to doom its way into my collection. For $6.98, you can’t really go wrong.

Tags: Brainticket, Las Cruces, New Jersey, Record Shopping, Texas

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Buried Treasure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.