Meet Zach Warf, co-owner of the Music Research Library on Dike Street. Zach has a wide range of knowledge about music and recordings and is himself a musician (drums, keys). Zach is friendly and chatty — utterly defeating the record store guy stereotype — and smart enough to keep the “rare” merchandise right next to the cash register. (Complete disclosure: I worked happily at What Cheer Vinyl for some time. Today’s tip for record store owners: Surround the Pink Floyd with a moat of alligators.) So here’s how the Music Research Library describes itself:
A diggers delight located in Olneyville Sq focused on a wide selection of used LPs. Thousands of great listens from imports and rarities to jazz, funk & soul, hip hop, psychedelic, progressive, world, dance, library music and much more!
Co-owner Vas Kochura was out today, scouring the land for the rare and hard-to-find. This store is loaded with unusual and obscure music — but also Kiss, Dr. John, Midnight Oil, Jackie Wilson. A helpful regular feature on the FB page has a hand flipping through a crate of the new arrivals.
They have been operating on the second floor of this classic brick mill building for about five years; in addition to records there are cassettes and T-shirts with the store logo that come in a variety of color combos. There is even a listening “booth” where you can see if “The Greek Tempo” is as good as you remember.
Gift idea for Monday . . . say it with Love. If your significant other is an Arthur Lee fan, the Music Research Library has a couple of Love albums on hand (and not that one you’ve already got). And grab one of those tees.
Before I left, customer Greg — who drives in regularly from out-of-state — stopped me to make sure that I knew: “This is the best store of its type in the northeast.”
Music Research Library, 62 Dike Street, 490-0092, (directions)
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If this is what you want, this is where you can get it.
Have a listen.
Cool place.
Wow Beth thanks for writing up the best kept secret in Providence. Zach is a great guy with a boggling knowledge of the obscure (and the good) records of many decades. Next up in the Record Geek universe is the March 27 in Seekonk, the annual Dr. Oldies record show. Music Research will be there and so will dozens of other vendors and buyers who know who Amon Duul is (was).