Phonica Records

Only electronic records to speak of.
Clerk couldn’t tell me if the portishead record was a uk release and didn’t know boards of Canada. On top of that he didn’t offer to answer my questions about their boards of Canada records. He just said, I don’t know.

Phonica was the best record store to get techno and house on vinyl. The store included a feature where you could listen to albums and tracks on a computer, which is nice, especially when the record policy is that you can only listen to 6 physical records. Nonetheless, the people who work here are knowledgable. We could have spent much longer than an hour here, but we cut ourselves off.

On a recent trip to London, I’d thought I’d check out Phonica Records, a place I’d often heard about.
If you’re into electronic music it’s well worth the visit. It’s a nice record shop, easy to find, with a relaxed atmosphere. I found they had a good selection of records (vinyl and CD) — sure they don’t have everything, but there’s plenty too get your teeth into. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular so I didn’t make any enquiries, but the guys behind the desk were busy helping out customers.
To me, there was one really annoying thing — the main record island is really quite high and as I’m quite short and don’t have the arms of a gorilla it was basically impossible to look through the records at the top! Shame!

Bought some great LP’s here and the staff was classic rock smart. I wish I could have been there longer.

Friendly staff. Decent selection of house and techno. Good recommendations on the racks.

A cool record shoppe, mostly 12″ vinyl for the dance club scene, which is not my genre interest, but I did find a couple platters to buy. I picked up a 12″ EP with DEVO on it. I also found a promo of Talking Heads from «The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads» which is a live LP, but these tracks were the studio versions. While I was there a TV crew came in from France to film a story, so that was neat.

Dance! Phonica is your one stop shop for the latest dance vinyl and CD purchases. I love this place and the staff are really nice. You can listen to records before purchase and they get a great variety of dance 12″ singles here from rock remixes and house to dub step and techno. If you’re a vinyl collector and love dance music, this is a place for you!!!

Determined to uncover vinyl in London, we hit Oxford street in search for clues to a dying artform. We asked a guy at the Apple store – no luck, the Adidas store – no chance. We finally met a sympathetic clerk at HMV who discretely drew us a map directing us to Soho’s independent record shops. Jackpot!
Shopping here is like hanging out at the home of a well off DJ who is a neat freak. The front of the store has a couch, coffee table with fliers and a bubble chair. The store has a good selection of high end headphones, DJ accessories, record bags, t-​shirts etc. There’s plenty of Dance, House and Electronica all impeccably organized, and a number of TTs to have a listen. I bought a Paul Nice mix of Sade songs set to hip hop beats that I found on a computer which catalogued all their music.
The staff was cool without being uppity. One guy tracked down a Larry Levan t-​shirt designed by Keith Haring for me. It was a replica of an album cover from the legendary DJ’s last performance at the Paradise Garage; this shirt is my favorite purchase from my entire trip!

Phonica was recommended to me by a friend. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help when that friend was the same guy that was letting me buy records for 80 cents back home.
For Americans, this is probably your best choice in London to buy European records, but it’s still pricey, with most records costing $ 10+ after the exchange. But with records in London pricier in general, I don’t believe I’m grading too harshly on Phonica.
They probably have the widest selection of new techno, house, and disco records in London as well. Definitely worth checking out if you like new releases and don’t mind spending cash.

Feedback is a gift.
I popped into the shop yesterday to buy some tickets for phonica’s 6^th birthday celebrations in conjunction with Get Physical this coming Saturday 28^th Nov 2009.
When the tickets turned out to be more expensive than I had seen mentioned on the web I engaged in a bit of banter, joking about and being friendly with the intention of paying whatever they wanted with a smile. I immediately wished I hadn’t.
The attitude I got from the «funky» girl on the till was a quick reminder why I haven’t actually shopped here for over a year (and I still buy plenty of vinyl around London). I don’t want to paint all the phonica staff with the same brush and yes, it was the end of what could have been a long day behind the till dealing with oversees shoppers but let’s be clear:
There is no need for bad/​rude attitude.
The customer base for vinyl specialists has shrunk so much it’s a good time to start being nice to the customers who still want to spend money in your shop. A smile and a return of some friendly banter doesn’t cost anything & would have me in there buying tunes the next time.
Just a thought.
ps. I’m looking forward to celebrating with Phonica on Saturday night just the same. peace.

Trendy shop with rude staff.
I’m not one for shipping my «hard earned» into shops only to be dished a load of someones bad attitude.
The shop itself is cool, I’ll have to give it that since it won’t be getting anymore of my custom. A shame really because I’m addicted to buying records just like before the days of MP3 and I love a good record shop.
Note to staff: Good customer service is the corner stone to a healthy business. And best of all it’s free to smile and be polite.

pricey, neat discs in a standard setting
phionica is definitely cool, most of the material up front in some bend of electronic/​club/​indie cds with the back half for vynyl. The staff is freindly enough, but what makes this a neat place to go is both the range of cool stuff but also that they helpfully make cd’s easy to preview through their kiosks and vynyl through turntables at the desk but also the neat little blurbs written about the new and notable discs so you have something to reference
the décor’s nothing to write home about, and maybe its standard for london but i find it hard to swallow too many discs at 12 quid

Best record shop I’ve been to, anywhere. They’ve got all the newest hipstronica in all of its many flavours (you see what I did there!), and treasure troves of old goodies. If there were shops like this around the US and an actual market for dance vinyl, I’d probably still be buying the stuff. A day in Phonica for a record lover is a true pleasure. Plus, you can find out about loads of cool parties around London if you prefer talking to a person to mining a message board.

Phonica is a really cool record shop in Soho. I had often noticed the space-​age chair through the glass frontage but only went in for the first time the other day.
At the front of the store is the aforementioned chair and a selection of magazines. In the middle of the store is table displaying recommended recent CD releases, above which there are t-​shirts which hang from the ceiling. Beyond which there are is a small CD section and the record racks (it is predominantly a record store). Behind the till on the right are displayed other contemporary record releases.
I had not come with the intention of buying anything but ended up leaving with a couple of CDs from the recommended table which I am really enjoying.
Phonica is a handsome, carefully designed and stocked store. The staff are knowledgably and helpful. I would strongly recommend it music enthusiasts and I imagine it would be good for club DJs.

One of my favourite record shops in this vinyl-​festooned area south of Oxford Street. Recognise it immediately from the giant egg chair in the window. The informative staff stock a wide range of genres but specialise in dance and electronica, with a penchant for those über-​cool offerings from labels like Kitsune. As mentioned, you can just sit in the window and chill, or check out your selected beats on the decks. T-​shirts and other weird and wonderful electronica equipment for sale.

Well why not. Good record shop, independent and confident. A far cry from all the chains behind the corner on the Oxford Street.
The music selection does cover pretty much all the genres but I just find it focused most on the electronic and dance side that is not really my cup of tea. Also sometimes the staff seems slightly bit too cool and arrogant, but they sure does look good!
My ex DJ boyfriend used to drag me into this shop every now and then and I completely lost my nerves as they let you listen all the tracks as long as you like, and oh my god how long hours I waited.
Well now a days I am the one that looses the track of time in music stores and give this store a big credit for that.

Phonica is one of Soho’s best record stores. The best in design, best overall service and definitely some of the best in selection. You can find any subgenre under the dance category here, or choose from a selection of break beat. If you’re not sure what you want to buy, my suggestion is to just ask the store clerk for a selection of what’s hot in the genre you like and you’ll be presented with about ten records to listen to at your leisure.
Anyone who’s ever shopped for records knows how irritating it can be to buy stuff you can’t listen to; though this will never happen at Phonica courtesy of their eight listening stations. Even if you’re not a DJ, Phonica has a selection of CDs you can listen to, or a range of t-​shirts and DJ goodies you could buy for every bedroom DJ you know. I’m definitely going to keep my eye on Phonica, they really are all about the music and even in the process of opening their own record label.

Electronic music heads unite! This haven for all things danceable (and the odd thing not), is the stomping ground of most budding dj’s and a few famous ones.
To play records that are over a month old nowadays on the dj circuit is a fate worse than death, but Phonica manages stay ahead of the game with new arrivals coming in all the time. House, electro, disco, reggae and hip hop is all covered here.
Staff, as far as record shops go, are friendly enough if you catch them on a good day. Listening posts are plentiful but the sheer amount of records that people need to hear on a daily basis will mean that you have to wait, especially if you arrive after about 5pm.

Phonica is an essential record shop for anyone inside and outside of london — although occasionally you might suffer from trendy staff syndrome (standing at the counter for what seems like an age whilst the staff just hang about looking aloof), the selection of records in there is incredible for all forms of dancefloor friendly music from disco re-​edits to freeform jazz to screaming techno. and they’ve got about 8 sets of decks to listen to your selections on, not to mention comfy sofas for your girl or boyfriend to slump in bored whilst they wait for you to MAKE UP YOUR MIND! ace.

Phonica records is quite simply the best record shop in London. The selection ranges from hard-​hitting electro and minimal techno to hard-​to-​find disco classics and dub reggae represses. The staff is very approachable (ask for the manager, Simon who always happy to recommend the latest releases) and the experience is both relaxed and professional. You never know, you might even spot a world-​famous DJ hanging out at the many turntables available for everyone’s use.