Exiled Records

I was really excited to go here but I can’t get my wheelchair in the door. The door is narrow and crates/​chairs block part of the entrance. Please update listing on Unilocal to show it as not being accessible.

I like exiled a lot. Increasingly I am not stoked about my interactions with the staff however. I don’t stop in that often anymore. Does the guy that I believe was in Eat Skull still work here? He ruled. The woman that works here (co-​owns?), she’s not totally pleasant. My girlfriend and her daughter went in recently looking for a record. Girlfriends daughter is 10. She asked for the record. She was told that they don’t really carry stuff like what she asked for, in a sorta dismissive way. She asked about Tamaryn. Tamaryn records are released by Mexican Summer. Exiled absolutely carries Mexican Summer releases. I think being asked by a 10 year old girl maybe threw her off but she could have told her they didn’t have that album at the moment (they didn’t) but maybe try back later. Instead it seems she assumed she was being asked for a stupid top 40 cd and told her to look elsewhere. Super cool.

Fantastic record store. Stocks all kinds of new and used vinyl. Knowledgeable staff. Fair prices, new and used. Highly recommended.

Solid for what it is. Portland has some serious vinyl destinations — for punk/​hardcore, Exiled is ranks alongside Discourage and Blackwater as a must go destination. Lot of obscure/“unofficial” releases as well. Worth a look.

best record store in portland

Awesome, well curated store with a good selection of vinyl and CDs and super friendly and helpful staff. The used selection is on par with that of Aquarius in SF or Other Music in NYC, and the prices are lower. Today the new arrivals was replete with the Sun City Girls, Alastair Galbraith, John Fahey, and Gastr del Sol. If you love psych/​drone, experimental, noise, New Zealand pop, or weird rock, you will be SO HAPPY you stopped in at Exiled.

I would probably give this place a 4.5, but I’ll give it a 5 because of the general rarity of a good record shop these days.
First, the staff was awesome (By staff, I mean the one person working here who seemed to be the owner or at least partially responsible for making the place awesome.). They took pride in their work, which makes a difference. I went in wearing a Mother Hips Tshirt, a small rockabilly band that’s been around for over 20 years and from Chico, CA. Turns out the guy working there is from Chico and recognized the band and we chatted it up about the band for a few minutes after I got my records. This is the kind of human interchange that you lose when you download all your music from iTunes.
Okay so the store is pretty small. But that allows you to be able to look through all of the records and not feel like you are missing out on gems that are just too hard to find. It also contributes to the authentic record store vibe, compared to the chain media store like Rasputins or Amoeba (which can be great, just not the same).
The records aren’t especially cheap, but I did appreciate the section labeled «cheap indie/​punk» where I found several new records still in their plastic wrap for under $ 5. Score! They also have a lot of cool reissues that I haven’t seen elsewhere.
The only other tip i have is that there are two $ 1 bins to the right as you come in the door. I missed them when I came in and didn’t notice them till I was walking away, but the dollar bins are ALWAYS worth checking out.
They don’t have a ton of CDs and DVDs but this is a real record store. Definitely recommended.
Thanks Exiled Records!!!

Up in town for a couple of days from Oakland, heard Exiled is the best in town. I really enjoyed this record store, spent some time going through the psych and avant garde sections and found some classic stuff for nice prices. this is a great record store! top notch with no messing around, to be sure.

Fantastic record store. Want to find, learn, discuss psych/​experimental records? This is the place to go in Portland. Regularly updated cheap bins too that I usually find stuff in. It’s small, but really impressive how much great stuff he keeps in here. Prices are great too, much better than you’d expect for such a small independent shop. I almost always pay less for new records here than I would online, and that’s true for very few record stores.

This place has a great. I’ve noticed other reviewers emphasizing the psychedelic/​noise selection, but they have a lot of great indie and post-​rock LPs. The $ 3 mystery 7″ bundles are pretty rad too… I came across a band from my home state with artwork by a friend from my high school. The other titles were obscure punk bands I hadn’t heard before, but there were a few gems in there. The lady working when I came in showed me a couple of awesome bands as well, one of which I ended up picking up on that stop and another of which I’ll be back for.

I love going into this shop. While it can be difficult to find newer releases, their selection of underground punk and alternative is to die for and prices are mostly reasonable. I tend to make a habit of raiding the cheap punk section and finding new bands for affordable prices, but I’ve scooped up a lot of favorites from this store as well. Service is great, the clerks are very knowledgable and accomodate the customers needs. I once stopped by on a Monday and the door happened to be unlocked, but they were closed, however the owner let me browse and even purchase a few selections anyway. Great store, if you love music you simply have to go there!

yay!

Needed to kill time. Yes, we were queued up for Apizza Scholls (which turned out to be an anti-​climatic pizza joint). But yeah, it gave me the chance to try a few nearby joints.
Across the street was Exhiled Records. It’s a somewhat vinyl store, but they actually had some unique finds here. They didn’t have what was on my list, but I did see some unique Sections, cool records, and listened to some good music as I browsed.
In their cheapie bins, I saw a few Buffy Sainte Marie albums, which I should have nabbed. I don’t know. I guess I had pizza on the brain.

Rare oop NM– /​VG++ rural outsider psych private press surface noise a bit of edge wear white label promo lathe cut ltd to 30 D side has an etching harsh noise power electronics slight edge warp scarce downer folk shit gaze. Are you sure that’s not a boot? I’m thinking about starting a tape label. If Exiled finally gets a store cat its name should be Pussy Galore.

Yet another 5 star review of the best little record store in Portland. Exiled Records is simply fantastic.
The owners Scott and Lindsay are friendly and knowledgeable. There’s no elitist, hippper than thou vibe here. Just people who love great music.
If your taste in music leans toward the rare or the avant-​garde; if you want a CD compilation of Peruvian psychedelic garage rock that will get you excited about music again; a record that has been exiled from the empire of mediocrity, then this is your new favorite record store.

My first reaction upon walking up to the place was, ‘oh bummer, this place is so small there’s no way they’ll have much good stuff’. I was dead wrong. I was the only person in the store for a good half hour and couldn’t believe how much stuff I was finding, and when some other people started piling in the store I had to quickly go back and snag everything I found off the shelves to be sure I could sift through my wants and see how much I could afford. Wide range of good underground stuff… for example I bought (all used all cheap) Os Mutantes first lp, Dan Melchior’s first lp, jay reatard matador singles comp, Country Teasers ‘Satan is Real’. Great finds… wish I lived close by.

Exiled. Essentially EVERY Psych, Art-​Rock, Kraut, Drone, Acid Folk, Outsider Blues, Noise record/​cd release (new or reissued) that comes out makes it’s way thru the doors of this place upon release.
This alone is by far it’s strong point. They don’t ever let you down. They have a set of genres, and a certain taste (it’s call «great taste») and they stick with it.
The records that are good get ordered in quantity and restocked until they are no longer in print. The bad ones seem to fade away.
Rare LPs/​Cds. The owners are wise enough to know that if they pay folks well for their trade-​ins; they’ll have great stock of used. It seems to work well. There’s always an array of pretty heavy hitters on display on the wall, and usually overflowing into the racks as well.
If you dig Forced Exposure, Aquarius Records, Fusetron, Volcanic Tongue, etc. — Exiled is as good if not better than…
The owners are both great folks as well. Super friendly and helpful.

This might be my favorite, with one of the best selections of arty, weird, psych, avant-​garde, sludge and [insert adjective here] records and CDs as well as zines and other goodies.
I love the discount bin – a cardboard box under the rack filled with some vinyl gems for only a few bucks (I scored a record by defunct San Fran band Killer’s Kiss for $ 2.50). The owners rule, too (one of which is Lindsey Thrasher of Chico, Cali’s Vomit Launch … which rules, too). Closed Mondays … there, I just saved you a potential afternoon’s-worth of disappointment and psychological stress.

Exiled Records is currently Portland’s best record store, reminiscent of Aquarius in San Francisco. The owner’s have skimmed the cream off for your listening, including a large experimental section and an excellent vinyl selection. The owners and staff are always the bee’s knees, kind and helpful and always entertaining.

I was visiting one of my certified over-​the-​edge musicgeek friends last fall when he put on a rare LP of motorik psych by a band called Metabolist, and it was so great that I had to know where he’d found it, and that was the first I’d learned of Exiled Records.
At once, I counted 32 record stores in Portland, and I only really liked three of them at least semi-​decently. But none of them really cried out to my entire set of musical ideals (not since Roundhouse called it a day): garagey trash, artpunk angularisms, pummelling scuzz, headswirlin’ psychedelia, stridently DIY or purposely «messthetic.» Not until I found Exiled Records. It’s like I stocked the store myself.
I was so impressed that Gang Wizard had their own divider card. Even more impressed that there was a Siltbreeze Records section, stocked fulla stuff that I thought had gone outta print long ago. And everything ever by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 was in stock, too!
Apparently, the Metabolist LP that my friend played me was suggested to him by the helpful staff. The staff is that knowledgeable and earnest to make such recommendations, and the pricing was modest enough to make it a deal. So, if you go in there and find nothing you recognize – they do have obscurities galore – maybe you oughta tell the clerk what you like in general and let them give you an adventure pick.
They’ve had some awesome in-​store performances recently, too, such as Sir Richard Bishop of the Sun City Girls.