Discos de Ayer

Discos de Ayer is a great little shop tucked away in an impossible to find location in the Centro Histórico. The two LPs featured here I bought from the owner of the shop on eBay, and then picked them up in person at the shop.

The first LP, El Ritual-s/t, is a classic rock group from Tijuana that was around in the early 70s. I don't know much about them, but this record was recorded in 1971. The LP I bought was a 1987 reissue. Their music is not particularly original, a little Deep Purple, a little Jethro Tull, and a lot of satanic imagery. If I was to pick one group most similar to them, it would be Black Widow (but Black Widow is much better). While not particularly original, I'm a sucker for these forgotten rock bands of the 70s and as far as rock mexicano goes, El Ritual was one of the better bands.

All the tracks are available on youtube:

1. Satanas
2. Peregrinación Satirica (Satanica?)
3. Groupie
4. Muerto e ido
5. Easy Woman
6. La tierra de que te hable
7. Bajo el sol y frente a Dios
8. Conspiración

The second LP I picked up from Discos de Ayer was the Silencio Nocturno LP by Next. Next is a Mexican thrash band that is still around, but this LP I got is from 1989 on the defunct Avanzada Metálica label. This is fairly crude thrash, somewhat along the lines of early Sepultura or Transmetal, but still pretty enjoyable. As far as thrash bands go, this band probably takes the cake for worst name and worst cover (they really couldn't come up with something better??), but don't let that put you off.






You can check out a few of the tracks on youtube, though I'm pretty sure some of these recordings are not the same as the LP:
Silencio Nocturno, El Juicio, Vamos a Escapar.









While I purchased these LPs on eBay through Discos de Ayer, they do have a decent selection of other rare Mexican rock LPs in the shop, plus your standard fare. Surprisingly, most of their LPs are in pretty great shape. If you are at all familiar with LP digging in Mexico, it is not easy to come across a place that cares about LP grading and prices accordingly. Last time I was there (which was several months ago), they had LPs from La Revolución de Emiliano Zapata and the Dug Dug´s. Obviously they were expensive, but if you are looking for those rare slabs of rock mexicano, this is the store to check out.

Discos de Ayer is located at Balderas 32, interior 209. It is pretty difficult to find if you don't know what you are looking for, and even google maps can't find it exactly. The store is on the east side of Balderas between Juarez and Independencia, between Fortes Donuts and Sanborn's Cafe. There is a sign that says Edificio Beaumont, which basically looks like an apartment building. Walk in, there will be a doorman, and tell them you are going to the record store ("voy a subir a la tienda de discos"). Go up the stairs to the segundo piso (the second floor in Mexican terminology, otherwise the third floor). Check out their website for more info. Discos de Ayer is open Monday through Friday, 9am to 3pm, 4pm to 8pm, and Saturdays 9am to 5:30pm. They just expanded their hours, so make sure to check their website before going in case they change again.

The best way to get there is get off at Metro/Metrobus Juarez and walk north on Balderas, or exit Metrobus Hidalgo and walk south on Balderas. If you go Monday through Saturday after 2pm, there are also a number of street stalls on Balderas between Independencia and Artículo 123 that sell records. I'll blog more about those stalls in the future, but they are worth digging through.