Headstone Friends gives off the vibe of a place that used to be really cool, having that music…read morebasement atmosphere (dark, somewhat cramped, aromatic), with clerks who can be nice and friendly and who clearly love what they do... but it also suffers greatly from the lack of competition around it and variety within it.
The majority of what they carry, which is a bit hard to navigate due to the vertical storage spaces with horizontal disc orientation, is nothing particularly special. There is not enough obscurity in the catalog to really foster discovery, as most of what I could find were the same over-pressed, over-priced albums that can be found everywhere else. I will admit to the biased perspective that living in a pop culture mecca such as California has ingrained in me, and maybe HF's fault is mostly due to that bias, but - in a time of digital stores and downloads, where the rest of the world can have access to everything and anything from the convenience of their home and can share a similar perspective to mine due to this - this fault can be fatal.
Furthermore, having the merchandise under lock is very off-putting when a large part of the appeal of a record store is the ability to "touch the music": the packaging, the angles, the reflection of the light off the glossy surface... the scratches, the plastic wrap, the track listing and bar codes. Maybe it wasn't always that way and maybe a few bad apples ruined it for the rest of us... but it has ruined it regardless.
As the only standing music store in Terre Haute (that I know of, and without counting big chain electronic stores), I can accept it for what it is and appreciate the fact it has held out this long. Unfortunately, there are not very many other redeeming qualities of the store, and frankly, it seems more like an incense shop than anything at this point. I enjoyed the breath of a familiar air when I walked in (having been starved for the record store experience during a summer visiting family), but all too rapidly, that initial feeling became a longing for the version of this experience that I was used to... I wish this store the best and hope they can adapt in an increasingly hostile world for its likes.
PURCHASED:
Happy Head/Out of Hand by The Mighty Lemon Drops (Used, $7.99)
