Downtown Sounds is something of a Northampton institution, not the only music store in downtown, but the only one that's readily visible, tucked away just off the main intersection and next-door to Pleasant Street Theater. (The theater building is now owned by Joe Blumenthal, who owns Downtown Sounds.)
Like in most music stores, weird things happen at Downtown Sounds when musicians come in to try out the goods. In the '80s, every music store had its ubiquitous visitor who took down the most angular, battle axe-esque electric guitar to loudly practice speedy, distorted runs, the musical equivalent of the gnarliest wildebeest in town marking its territory. No one wanted that particular territory—only those who aspired to being in Poison ever utilized that wasp-in-a-tin-can, Top Gun distortion sound.
That phenomenon seems to have disappeared with the wrestling shoe craze, but even now, trying out a guitar in a store full of musicians can be a little intimidating for those who don't have the wildebeest gene. Downtown Sounds has closed rooms for such stuff, a fine alternative to cacophonous noodling. That's unusual in such a small store.
And, for those who like to keep up on the local music scene, many a player of note works the counter or offers lessons—Jim Weeks, Jim Armenti, Keith Levreault and more.
Downtown Sounds, like nearly every music shop, inspires love in some musicians, devoted hatred in others. But it's worth dropping in just to thumb through sheet music while keeping an ear out for the anthropological study of homo musicus. You're likely to hear price-talk now that the Internet is a threat in undercutting the prices of brick-and-mortar music shops, idle chatter about working on an album, or maybe that ever-elusive survivor from the '80s metal crowd, tweedling away on the last Warwick in the shop.
