Sumeria

Artist: Sumeria

LP: Golden Tears

Song: "Cosmic Traveller"

[ listen ]

Leaving Cleveland behind, I camped overnight in the woods at the lovely Punderson State Park. The next morning I headed down to the infamously economically depressed city of Youngstown, where the Warner Brothers first got started in the movie business. Along with the city's empty storefronts and vacant houses, I was sad to find an empty and vacant record store to match.

[ Indiewax Records — Youngstown, OH ]

 

After reading the sign taped to the door, I was happy to find out that Indiewax Records hadn't actually closed, they'd just moved next door! But then I was sad again when I learned that the store only opens on Saturdays, and I was there on a Friday. Emotionally exhausted, I got back into my rental car and  headed toward Akron.

[ Akron, OH ]

People in Cleveland and Toledo had told me about Akron's Square Records, which sits next to the old Highland Theater in an artsy district on West Market Street. There's no listening station at the store, but the guy working there played samples from a stack of records for me, and I ended up getting some great stuff, including this 1977 LP from Sumeria. The group is actually a project by disco legend Alex R. Costandinos, the guy behind the sexy disco group Love and Kisses. You can read about him here.

 [ Square Records — Akron, OH ]