Satisfy Your Aural Needs At These 5 Great Boston-Area Record Stores

Calibrate your needles everyone! Summer is here and there is no better time to go crate digging for a warm weather playlist.

To help ease the search, we've created this map of some of the best record stores in Boston and highlighted five extra dope ones. No matter if you bump old school soul or blast krautrock, these stores will satisfy your aural needs. If all else fails, there’s always Mungo Jerry.

Harvard Square, Cambridge

Across from the erudite halls of Harvard and below Cambridge’s best beer garden, Armageddon Records is an oasis for any metal, hardcore, punk, or similarly minded fan.

Inside the store a cacophony of shrill guitar and thumping drums plays incessantly as you search through the most illegible black metal typeface or the most brutal album cover. If you’re south of the border, make sure to check out Armageddon's Providence location as well.

Central Square, Cambridge

Last summer I was walking north on Mass Ave. in Cambridge and thought I heard a goat singing Barry White. In fact, there was a free karaoke machine in front of Weirdo for any passerby to croon on.

Weirdo offers Boston’s best collection of absurd, unknown, provocative, and strange music. The cramped storefront is lined wall to wall with experimental local acts and flash in the pan weirdos from Japan. This summer, pick your favorite jam and swing by Weirdo to belt it.

Jamaica Plain

Since opening in April 2013, Deep Thoughts has slowly crept to becoming my favorite record store in Boston. Its selection of local tunes is unmatched, and rare smatterings of everything from crust punk to boom bap hip-hop are top-notch. The decor looks like Fred Schneider and Divine either both vomited or had a baby, and it’s beautiful.

Huntington Avenue, Boston

UGHH is different than any other record store in the city — it operates mostly online and serves an international clientele. Still, the spray painted walls and several crates of rap records give the physical store enough charm that we can claim it as our own.

And nearly every week, UGHH hosts rappers or DJs (I’ve seen Torae, Retrospek and Pharoahe Monch) and frequently helps to grow the local scene by collaborating with local talent.

Roxbury

The most quintessential record store of any record store in Boston. Skippy White’s is a producers paradise with rows of dusty soul 45s to sample and a living encyclopedia behind the counter.

Skippy has owned and operated the store for over 40 years and has built a reputation as the city’s expert on all things soul, R&B, blues and gospel. If you can only make it to one store on this list, go to Skippy White’s, if only to speak to the man himself.

Did we miss your favorite record store? Tell us in the comments below and we'll add it to our map.