A LEGENDARY SHOP
The fact that Maz opened his shop in the Bastille area to start his revolution is probably no accident. The story starts in 1992 when Maz and friends start unofficially dealing hardcore and trance records. At this time the techno revolution is starting to shake the underground culture in France and Europe, free parties and raves are thriving illegally thanks to mythic collectives like Spiral Tribe or Heretik System.
The shop has been a meeting point for Djs and ravers since then and the independent and underground spirit is still intact, a nice exotic smell near the back door will often remind it.
The choice of vinyls is huge, particularly for those who are not afraid of digging into the mountains of boxes. There are new arrivals every day, and you can spend as much time as you want listening to crates and cds. The store is not managed like a standard record store, you will probably not find classics as they are sold out and have not been reordered, but the beauty is that you can find old and new rarities from big and small labels and make very good bargains on old stuff (prices start at 3€!).
The choice of cds is limited, but, again, new arrivals are frequent so you've got to try and go often.
All electronic music styles are represented but the selection is particularly broad in Hard Core and Trance for obvious historical reasons.
An online store exists with mainly new stuff and no mp3's (http://techno-import.fr/shop/index.php).
Bonus : watch this commercial from 1996 ... funny!...http://www.ina.fr/video/PUB487249064/techno-import.fr.html
Check my blog for more cool spots...
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