After a drought of more than a year, today Andersonville has a record store once again. Sure, you can buy music at Transistor, as well as at several of the resale shops in the area, but Rattleback Records (located at 5405 N. Clark) is the first dedicated record store in the neighborhood since Borderline Music closed its storefront and went online-only in July 2017.
Contrary to popular belief (OK, contrary to my belief), the store’s name has nothing to do with rattlesnakes. Ruffino actually named it after a kind of spinning top. A rattleback is unique in that it will only spin in one direction—if you try to spin it the other way, it will slow down and then reverse into its preferred direction, seemingly defying the laws of physics. As it slows and reverses, it wobbles and rattles against the surface it’s spinning on. “I thought that was pretty cool,” Ruffino says. “It seemed a little rebellious, y’know?”
