Unchanged Mind Records: Hear Here!
When you get tired of listening to the same old music, this local Lambertville record store will turn you on to something new.
Church Street is home to some of the best food in town, a sculptor’s studio, an art gallery, a dispensary, a secondhand clothing shop, and a record store.
Unchanged Mind is that record store, and it sells cassettes, LPs, CDs, t-shirts, stickers, zines, old show flyers, posters, t-shirts, memorabilia, and more.
Independently Owned
Jake Gilinger, proprietor, is a longtime record collector and musician who has been involved with music for over 25 years. He plays synthesizers (mostly).
He and his wife moved to the Delaware River Towns area about seven years ago after living for a decade in Philadelphia.
"I've really always wanted to open a record store. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do," Jake explained.
He began by buying collections for DJs. When he accumulated way more records than he wanted in his personal collection, he started selling off the extras. He said he probably sold a couple hundred of his own records to get things going, “but that's just kind of a drop in the bucket,” Jake remarked.
Two years ago, while he was selling records as a street vendor at ShadFest, he saw a “FOR RENT” sign in the window of a small Church Street storefront.
“My plan to just do a couple record fairs and pop ups, and see how that was going, went out the window, because this was the perfect spot,” he reflected.
Jake opened Unchanged Mind in July of 2024. Since then it has become a destination for music enthusiasts, many of whom travel from as far away as Philadelphia, New York, Maryland, Delaware, and Central Pennsylvania.
Something for Everyone
Unchanged Mind records carries everything from underground punk and jazz re-releases to dance music and classic country. Other genres include independent, DIY, hip hop, industrial, ambient, rare recordings, singles, and more.
Jake always has a curated selection of new releases, which are rotated regularly. He also buys new and used, and is especially interested in eclectic collections.
The store seems esoteric—90% of his new stuff comes from small or micro labels where releases happen in batches of just one or two hundred units—but he does stock well-known albums that will take you back to the good old days.
“I try and have a decent selection of nostalgic eighties stuff that people remember. Like, I almost always have something by Wham and Madonna—nostalgic to someone who is probably in their 40s to 50s.”
One thing that Jake did not expect is that there’s a much bigger market for weird, experimental jazz in the area than he ever thought.
“I stocked that stuff because I like it, and the fact that it sells well continues to be a nice surprise,” he said.
“There’s a lot of weird stuff in the shop that—if you aren't deep into a genre—you might be like ‘What is this?’”
DJ Nights
Unchanged Mind periodically stays open late and invites people to come in, hang out, and hear a guest DJ.
“We have a situation where the DJs can play whatever they want, because it’s not a dance-focused environment. It’s not a bar where they are trying to sell drinks,” Jake said, describing the listening events.
“The DJ sets tend to be a little weirder, because if a DJ wants to play something that’s a non-sequitur, they can do that. They can try something out. It’s nice to have a little mix, play something a little different.”
Local Music, Zines, Stickers
Unchanged Mind stocks recordings from select local labels, such as New Jersey’s Foul Depth Releases. You can also get “weird synth tapes” and music from local indie musicians like Lambertville-based collective, Human Adult Band.
You’ll also find a lot of vintage zines, and occasionally some new ones. Jake stocks smaller zines depending on what's available at the time, and sometimes he gets in obscure zines that come through with record collections.
Jake also carries Hunch Comics, which came out of the Lambertville Zine Fest, and he always has issues of Bucks County hyperlocal music magazine, Rivot.
When Classic Rock Becomes Familiar
Unchanged Mind champions “weird” music, but Jake is not snobby about it.
“I don’t think music should be a static, boring thing. It’s not like I dislike the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, or the Doors or anything like that, but, like, you can walk into record stores today and the used record section looks like how it did when I was in high school. I want to help people find stuff that’s outside of that, because everybody’s heard those records,” Jake noted.
“Half of why I do this is to help people find a record that they either really wanted or that they didn't know that they really wanted, but will really enjoy.”
Unchanged Mind is located at 1 Church Street in Lambertville, NJ.
Hope you enjoyed reading. Please make a donation today.