The CBD has some great record stores. Start at Metropolis (experimental/black metal/psych/folk), work your way down to Missing Link (indie/folk/hardcore/black metal), then Synaesthesia (experimental/avantgarde/black metal), Basement Discs next door (for jazzier/roots/blues fans), then wind down with a capuccino at Metal Mayhem (er, metal, all kinds) in the Banana Alley vaults under Flinders Street Station.

Dance music stores are pretty crap, though Slap records (10/60 Langridge St, Collingwood) has some nice folks working there. Polyester on Bruswick Street, Fitzroy is also good for indie, as is Greville Records (off Chapel Street in Prahran) though it's more on the rockier side.

Metropolis - Level 3, Curtin House, 252 Swanson St
Missing Link - www.missinglink.net.au
Synaesthesia - www.synrecords.com.au

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Check the free street press for gigs. You'll find some interesting stuff at the Rob Roy, the Old Bar, the Spanish Club, Ding Dong's, The Corner Hotel, Northcote Social Club, The Arthouse, Pony, The Tote, The Town Hall Hotel (North Melbourne) and bus.

www.beat.com.au (gig guide);
www.cornerhotel.com;
www.northcotesocialclub.com;
www.bus117.com

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Melbourne does great coffee. We sit around in cafes all day reading the Guardian Weekly and dreaming of the day when the rest of Australia wants to become a republic. All the places below do a decent soy flat white and a mean espresso.

Degraves Espresso - 23 Degraves Street, Melbourne
Ray - 332 Victoria Street, Brunswick
A Minor Place - 103 Albion Street, Brunswick
Wall 280 - Rear 280 Carlisle Street, Balaclava (near St Kilda)
St. Ali - 12-18 Yarra Place, South Melbourne
Atomica - 268 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy

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