Take a look around America’s finest independent record stores

There is life beyond Amoeba, and it’s thriving.

Just as there’s rarely smoke without fire, you can bet your bottom dollar you never get fire without fuel. With vinyl sales up another 40% for the first half of 2014 in the United States, the engine rooms have been pumping away at double speed. And, in this context, the engine rooms are, of course, the nation’s independent record shops.

Profiled in a nice little introductory feature by Dazed earlier this week, America’s independent record shops are finally getting a bit of love from the wider world. Among their ten choices, which span the length and breadth of the country from Portland to New York City, are three Texan outposts; the giant Forever Young Records, Austin’s End Of An Ear and the home of DJ Screw in Houston Screwed Up Records & Tapes.

Other highlights include the enduring Wax Trax in Denver, Colorado, which has supplied locals for close to forty years, and Portland’s popular Jackpot Records, while Dazed plump for New York’s Other Music to represent Manhattan’s fine tradiiton of record stores.

Thankfully they also send a wink in the direction of Brooklyn’s The Thing, a cornucopia for second hand fiends, with a glut of knick knacks giving way to a back room and basement shop lined with more second hand records than you could ever hope to dig through.

You can check out the piece in full here and see a few pics of these great stores below.