I spent some time this evening trying to track down some very rare records. Are they rare because they're old? Well, if you think 6 months is old, then yes. And where in the world did I end up travelling to on this quest? Well, my journey started in Chicago, then swung through Detroit on my way to Holland. I should add that this was a hunt for records that were released domestically in the US, on a label based in Chicago, a city not too far from here. How did this all start? My friend Melvin Oliphaunt, otherwise known as DJ Traxx, was in Toronto recently for his annual birthday visit (he celebrates every year with another good friend, Adam Bentley, who's birthday is the day before Melvin's). So anyway, Melvin is in town for a few days and as per tradition, plays out for one special night at a party thrown by friends, for friends. I ended up staying at that party till the sun came up because I wasn't going to miss a single 808 beat, or 303 acid bassline as long as Traxx was on the decks. He's just that good. Long story... short: Melvin launched a new label earlier this year called Nation. I had only heard a couple snippets from the 2nd Nation release and asked him where I could get the full-length versions. His answer: they're only available on vinyl - 500 copies pressed - one pressing only, ever. And there were only 30 copies left. So he pointed me in the direction of a couple online vinyl shops, Wax Addict Online and Clone Records. He also mentioned a joint-label with Creme, called Creme-Jak. Well, I like to save money on shipping and exchange rates whenever possible so I started my search at Wax Addict. A bit about Wax Addict. They are based in Chicago. Melvin is from Chicago. If anyone should have his records in stock, it should be these guys. Sadly, they only had Nation 001 in stock, and nothing on Creme-Jak. So I figure, hell, if they don't have Traxx's records in Chi-town, they must have them in Detroit. So I checked out Submerge. No dice there either! So, it was off to Europe next, home of the mighty Euro and into air-freight shipping territory. I was biting my nails just thinking about what this order could add up to. Well, Clone was indeed better stocked than both previous shops (Clone even had the latest Motech release, which I would have expected to see at Submerge before anywhere else, being a Detroit-based techno label). They had copies of Nation 002 and 001, and Creme-Jak 004 and 006, but no copies left of 001-003 and 005. So how much would it cost, hypothetically, to buy those 4 slices of "rare" Chicago jakking techno? Well, at today's exchange rates, with shipping, it works out to about $80CND. That is roughly double the per-unit cost to buy domestic 12" vinyl records. Yikes! So now I have to reallllly think about it. I love Traxx and I love his music, but I also have a mortgage to pay and a mountain of credit card debt breathing down my neck. I'm not sure what "the right thing" is to do in this situation. Does anyone want to go halvesies?