THE MAP
Every vinyl destination inside the greater Istanbul footprint. Zoom in to see individual venues.
Istanbul is Europe's most-overlooked digging city.
Istanbul carries one of the great under-priced second-hand markets in Europe. The Anatolian rock, Turkish psych and 45-era pop that global reissue labels now compile — Selda, Erkin Koray, Barış Manço, Mustafa Özkent — was pressed here in enormous numbers, and the shops in Kadıköy and Beyoğlu still turn that catalogue over weekly. Deform Müzik and Kontra Plak in Kadıköy anchor the scene.
The Asian side (Kadıköy) holds most of the modern shops and the listening-bar scene; the European side (Beyoğlu, Cihangir) holds the second-hand generalists and the flea-market culture. Prices are still fair by European standards. The Turkish jazz second-hand market — Erol Pekcan, Emin Fındıkoğlu — is a quiet global asset. Istanbul is the flight European DJs make and don't broadcast.
THE FIVE ROOMS
The Asian-side anchor — Turkish psych, jazz, funk, folk. Priced fairly, staffed by the city's most cited diggers.
Rock, indie, punk, second-hand — the neighbourhood's essential Saturday stop, in the heart of the Moda district.
The European-side shop for reissues, modern jazz, international electronic. Compact, sharp, resident-facing.
İstiklal Caddesi area — long-running Turkish and international second-hand. The old-school Beyoğlu counter.
Deep Turkish 45s and LPs — Anatolian pop, funk, Türk sanat müziği. The connoisseur's stop.