Deluxe five

weLcoMe to a DeLUXe PressinG Greetings. Welcome to another issue of the World’s only periodical dedicated to the noble record trade.

Today, thousands of shops around the World are united in the hope that queues of buoyant and financially endowed shoppers will amass outside their doors, eager to invest in more small parts of rock and roll history. Today, or thereabouts, depending on when specifically you’re reading this, is the seventh annual Record Store Day. An international celebration of not only the institutions that tirelessly work hard to retail physical music, but also to the whole surrounding culture of the independently owned record outlet.

Nostalgia often gets mentioned in articles and conversations about record shops. It has been argued pretty convincingly that vinyl’s phenomenal resurgence in interest bears as much to the kitsch as it does to the audiophile. The awareness, the support and the interest in Record Store Day is nothing short of a phenomenon.

I distinctly remember a bright April afternoon in 2008 where two customers arrived at my shop in the afternoon (yes, in the days before the queues) and purchased the Stephen Malkmus and Vampire Weekend exclusive releases we had in stock. With Stephen Malkmus in particular, a hero of ours (along with R.E.M., Vampire Weekend, The Teenagers,

Death Cab For Cutie, Black Kids, Jason Mraz and three others who I can neither find out or remember) had released an exclusive title just for us indies. This wasn’t really a thing that happened all that much back then, when independent record shops were, for the best part, disparate islands.

What had started as a suggestion at a brainstorming session for record store owners’ in Baltimore, had become a perfectly formed annual celebration.

The strength of why it worked so well, and was embraced so universally, wasn’t because of those first few bands to put wax on the shelves, nor was it because those first few titles were rare. The reason that Record Store Day has become the most important day in the record buying year is because anyone who has ever walked into a record shop has opened themselves up to genuinely having their life changed, and that is a thing for huge celebration. If you are just into those very limited numbers of weird coloured records, then this will all wash clean over your head.

The point of Record Store Day is to be inside a building with all the other people that get how much it matters to them. Celebrate where you are, why you’re there and who you’re there with. If you are stood besides someone in a queue who has waited with you in the dawns early hours, prepared to rough-it, to rush to the counter and buy a

David Bowie 7”, then scrabble for enough 3G signal to hastily complete their pre-prepared mobile eBay listing... don’t be angry, imagine what life must sound like to that poor bastard. A grubby compressed MP3 rip that has been downloaded from some back street of the internet.

Hours and hours of playlists on YouTube that proudly proclaim they’ve been “ripped from the vinyl”.

Whatever music you buy today go home and take all the cling wrap off. Take the record out of the sleeve and without a second’s thought of depreciating value, sit back and take in those first few seconds of crisp recorded air.

You’re part of something.

Have a good day.

Edited: Rupert Morrison at Drift Contributors: Simon Singleton, Gareth James, Adam Brooks, Damian Abraham and Will Burns.

Front Cover: Luke Drodz [www.lukedrozd.com] Center Fold: Graham Pilling [www.armyofcats.com] Thanks to: Lee and Sean at Burger, Simon Raymonde and Van Dyke Parks, Courtney Barnett, Andrew Savage, Anika Mottershaw, Yuki and Taigen, Jordan Lee, and Andy Wood. www.deluxe.so

Whilst every care has been taken in the preparation of this magazine, the publishers cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information or any consequence arising from it. Published by The Drift Record Shop.

Forte UK Independent Music Distribution info@fortedistribution.co.uk www.fortedistribution.co.uk

M asters of their cr aft Back at the very end of 2012 I got a link from a very good friend of ours (and reliable tipper) that there was a band I should check out. The Dull Tools label bandcamp was hosting the full LP from New Yorkers Parquet Courts. I’d hardly even got past the first “Forget about it” in the album’s opening ‘Master of My Craft’ and knew that this was indeed a rich vein, somewhere between Television, Jonathan Richman, Velvet Underground and The Strokes... honestly, it is that good. The following April I was lucky enough to talk my way into one of their SXSW showcases (or so I thought), as I crammed into the back bar at the Mohawk with a couple of friends. For forty minutes I kind of saw the best live show of my life. Mostly, I heard one of the most exciting bands around whilst constantly getting punched in the head, stamped on and spilt over. Even the ruck couldn’t detract from seeing a brilliant band right in the arc of their ascent. Their ‘Light Up Gold’ album (which I managed to pick up the following morning at neighbouring End of an Ear) was rarely off our stereo and was such a joy to keep introducing to people throughout 2013. I know many other shops felt the same, with Manchester’s Piccadilly Records awarding it their illustrious ‘Record of the Year’, we were delighted to catch up with Andrew Savage to talk shop.

Parquet Courts. Photographed by Ben Rayner

You guys are into Protomartyr right? Everyone is telling me that Protomartyr are the best thing they saw at this years SXSW. They might not be wrong. Yeah Protomartyr is great.

Good guys, good band, hell of a lead singer.

How did this years SXSW experience compare to 2013 for you?

Well we only did three shows so it was much less busy. I didn’t get as much free crap, but I’m fine with that.

Oh, and before I go too much further, are you currently Parquet Courts or Parkay Quarts?

I haven’t checked my calendar today.

Do you have plans for the day?

Usually I wake up the kids by whispering “RECORD STORE DAY” softly into their ears. I love watching their faces light up with excitement as they say “Poppa, can we still get the Butthole Surfers reissue?”. “You’ll have to be up with the lark,” I’ll reply, petting their heads. Before long we pile in the Volvo and sing Record Store Day carols. Just kidding, I don’t have kids. Kids destroy records.

Going back to artwork for a minute, I just had a huge box of “Sunbathing Animal” sheet music posters arrive.

How did that idea come about?

It’s kind of a joke, I mean, the song has practically one note in it. Something I’ve always wanted to do, but the whole thing is supposed to point out how simple the song is.

How important to you is the visual aspect of your releases?

It’s important that a record looks the way it sounds. I do all the art in the band.

Do you have good relationships with Indie stores?

Who has been particularity supportive?

As far as working with record stores, sure, our best customers are probably End of an Ear in Austin, Academy in Brooklyn, CD Cellar in Virginia, Landlocked in Bloomington and Love Garden in Lawrence.

That reminds me, I need to contact all of them about the Beth Israel record.

All of the Dull Tools artwork is really good (logo in particular). How directly have you been involved in it?

Do you have the final say or are you pretty laid back about what the artist wants?

I like to give the artists what they want, the only exception being if they wanna use a shitty low-resolution image for the cover, which happens fairly often, and then you have to explain why a pixelated image looks shitty. As a musician, I understand how important it is to represent yourself the way you want, so it doesn’t bother me.

The s/t Beth Israel artwork is pretty full on. Do you remember when you first saw it?

“don’t make me flip through Punk, Metal, Industrial, Classic Rock, Kraut, Funk, R&B -- just put them all under Rock.

Also don’t put the price stickers directly on the jacket, c’mon guys”

Yeah absolutely. You should have seen their original idea.

I was like “okay fellas...”

Following on from that, do you remember seeing Light Up Gold in a record store for the first time?

I don’t think I do, but I do remember seeing a light-box of it in the window of Other Music, which was exciting. Especially because they refused to buy that record from me initially. Great store! I wish they were better about buying from local labels. I DJ’d there last record store day, it was fun. They gave me a gift card.

On this year’s Record Store Day you are releasing “Sunbathing Animal” on 7” via Rough Trade. Is it exciting to be part of the world wide celebrations?

Ha, I guess so, I don’t really consider it as being in conjunction with Record Store Day, but I suppose it is. Its kinda hard to shop at a store on that day, but usually these days there is some kind of party and free beer so it ends up being fun.

You best recent finds in record shops?

I found ‘Washing Machine’ at End of an Ear in Austin last week. Been looking for that one.

When you think about “Record Stores” - What memories spring to mind? Good? Bad? I don’t like it when stores segregate new and old releases.

Put them together! Also, I don’t like it when people file into microgenres. Just do Rock, Jazz, Classical, Blues, Soundtracks, World, Hip-Hop and Electronica. What am I missing? Maybe an avant or experimental section. I always like a store with a solid 20th Century/New Music section. That’s a rarity though.

But don’t make me flip through Punk, Metal, Industrial, Classic Rock, Kraut, Funk, R&B -- just put them all under Rock. Also don’t put the price stickers directly on the jacket, c’mon guys.

The critical acclaim and general awareness of ‘Light Up Gold’ must have been pretty overwhelming, how has that ride been? What has been most fun?

How did the Dull Tools roster come about? Are you enjoying running a label?

Chris and I just put out music by our friends, and of course our own bands. We put out music that we believe in, and that we see a common thread in. The purpose of Dull Tools is hopefully to define something yet to be seen, that we see happening in music.

Yeah, of course I enjoy doing it, I mean, its important to me to stay busy, and I like to know what’s going on out there.

my first record store. I got Rolling Stones “Satanic Majesties...”, solely for the cool cover. He commented “not my favorite Stones record, but at least its the Stones.”

Right from the start, where did you grow up and which record stores formed your earliest experiences?

Growing up in Denton and Dallas, Texas my favorite stores were Forever Young in Grand Prairie, Good Records in Dallas and Seasick Records in Denton. My dad has a pretty big record collection, as does my friend Mike’s dad. Mike and I grew up together, and our dads used to drink and listen to records. I liked going through them and listening to them. My dad took me to

It’s just nice to hear people acclaim something you worked really hard on. At this point, I’m ready for people to hear something new though.

Do you feel that your previous recorded work and touring had prepared you suitably for the mass of new interest?

Yeah I’d say so. Although, all my bands have pretty separate fan bases, funny enough.

I’d love to ask, when did it occur to you to add a recorder to the mix on “You’ve Got Me Wonderin’ Now”?

It is a recorder right?

Our friend Dewtch Crystal laid that down. He was passed out in the studio when we prodded him awake and beckoned him to lay down some flute. He did it in one take, then sank back into a dream. Love you Dewtch, get out soon man.

In the UK loads of children start out on the recorder as their first instrument. Could this become their anthem?

I’d love it if it was brought into primary school curriculum.

Hell, why not?

Why do record stores still matter?

Well where else are you gonna buy records? Ideally a good record store is a place where everybody knows your name and you’re likely to see a friend or band mate up there and shoot the shit.

When done right, its a beautiful scene.

Archway To Heaven

by SIMON SINGLETON When I joined Pure Groove in 2003, it was already two-thirds through its 21-year history but the biggest changes were yet to come. At this time the music industry was going through some pretty radical evolutions that had the naysayers claim the humble record shop was on its last spin, but us, along with many other vinyl hubs around the world that survive and flourish to this day, knew that places run by music people, for music people, would always have a role to play. We just had to change things up a bit.

The shop had originally grown out of the London dance music scene, with its owners, Tarik Nashnush, Ziad Nashnush and Nick Worthington, already immersed in the burgeoning movement of house music all night long, pirate radio and white label vinyls at the tail end of the 80s. Soon importing the records from the US and Europe that they couldn’t find themselves, in 1989, Pure Groove was born.

It wasn’t long before local DJs were booking some studio time to knock their own productions together, which led to tapes being handed over the counter, which led to a record label or ten coming together. The most notable imprint was Locked On (which has been recently revived

by Nick Worthington) – a label that pretty much defined the early millennium UK garage sound, and of course, Pure Groove was where Mike Skinner AKA The Streets handed in a demo and joined the roster. Let’s push things forward.

There were two Pure Groove stores. The first was a cosy, no-frills, very traditional record store in Archway, North London, which was there from inception to 2008, and survived on simply sourcing heaps of great records that thankfully people would (generally…) purchase. The second, which ran for just two years from 2008 to 2010, was a strange beast, a beautiful and very styled ‘boutique shop’, which might have been a little shiny on the opening day, but we fixed that pretty quickly…

When I arrived, the success of The Streets and the various labels meant that the shop had a definite dance music bias

but we started to work bringing in the records that were inspiring us, immediately forming close relationships with the likes of Transgressive, Moshi Moshi and Young & Lost Club, major imprints now but at the time just small, DIY projects run by dedicated fans. It was a boomtime for cottage industry 7” labels, and in these salad days you could hear a demo on Jon Kennedy’s XFM show, phone the label pronto and order as many copies as they’d let you have, and have them sold in a morning. Young people were flocking back to the 7” and a new wave of bands like Bloc Party, Maximo Park and Arctic Monkeys were emerging. It was a stirring time for new music, and the live scene was getting a bit of a shake-up too. The Libertines impromptu gigs had people desperate to hear bands up close and personal, a chance to get away from the impersonal brewery-owned chain venues and actually connect again with their heroes. Bringing the acts we loved to the shop for instore shows soon became a key part of the fun.

Our first ‘official’ instore in 2005 was at the old Pure Groove. It was Nine Black Alps, who were being tipped as the British Nirvana at the time, and it was quite a coup to have them come and play. We found a local soundman with his own knackered, but functioning PA for £50, including delivery in the boot of his weathered old car.

We bought some Red Stripes from the dodgy off-license down the road that was clearly a front for something. It was going to be a special day. It started a bit chaotically, with an ex-girlfriend of mine arriving inebriated and shouting obscenities at me and my flatmate. Locals were used to this kind of antics though – it was a pre-gentrified

Archway after all, so boozed-up confusion in the middle of the day was standard fare. She eventually moved on and we got on with the show. It was fucking loud, but the hordes of young people loved the sweat-dripping intimate show and especially the chance to meet and fawn over the band, buy a single and get it signed.

We were hooked, and started booking the instores thick and fast. It meant working late; sometimes being a soundman, sometimes a doorman, sometimes running to the shops last minute to buy the tinnies, and we all loved it.

Instores were memorable for many reasons. Diamond Hoo Ha Men (AKA Supergrass) was the most famous perhaps, a frankly unsafe number crammed into the tiny space and the band thrashing out on amps fit for a much, much larger stage. But I’ll also never forget so many turning up for Kate Nash that she played one show inside before decamping outside to play to the latecomers on the street. Or Jamie T attracting such an audience that we had to rush to the nearby pub and beg them to use their beer garden for an impromptu ‘festival’ show. And our Christmas season of instores I niftily titled The Pure Groove Festive-Al. Still proud of that one. We had the likes of Noah & The Whale, Laura Marling and now super-producer Dev Hynes all perform their own tracks and Christmas classics.

But it wouldn’t be a DIY record store without a few hiccups too. There was a band (well, a solo act but they’ll remain anonymous) that played an instore and not a

HEALTH. Photographed by Anika Mottershaw

single person turned up. No girlfriend, no manager, no oddball fan who thought the early stuff was better. I moved from my usual spot behind the band overseeing it all to stage front so he felt like he had some kind of audience. Incredibly, he played a second instore some months later! And even more incredibly, three people turned up this time.

We needed a bigger store. Records were everywhere. Our team had expanded into creating merch for bands, setting up more labels and clubnights such as Lost In Paris, and launching all manner of other creative projects. We were sat on each other’s laps, squeezed in a space with an internet connection seemingly made from yoghurt cups and string. It was frankly unhealthy, and while we wanted to bring more music to more people, we also needed more than a square metre per person to work in.

The move in 2008 to a large space in a quiet bit of town beside a London meat market was met with bewilderment by some punters, and there are still many who question the location to this day. But being off the high street, for all its financial hit, helped craft an atmosphere in that store that I’ve not experienced since. It was a bit of a split personality venue; part record store, part licensed bar, part gallery, and part whatever we felt like that day.

We started hosting instores pretty much every evening, and one day I suggested we should try putting on something at lunchtime too. Somehow we got incredible LA noiseniks HEALTH to come down and play at 1pm, and it was mobbed. So one instore a day became a double whammy, with many of the lunchtime sets becoming people’s favourites. We attracted some real stars to play, as often they’d drop in en-route to an evening London show.

Amadou & Mariam, War On Drugs, Frightened Rabbit

and Lambchop were just some of the leisurely 1pm shows, and in the evening we had the likes of Example, Friendly Fires, Mystery Jets, Lykke Li, Edwin Collins, Frank Turner, and Metronomy (the last two ending up signed to our publishing company) perform unique turns.

Sometimes we chanced our luck when we heard bands were in town just because we loved them. I remember when The Woodentops played for the first time in years, or when Shonen Knife blasted out their unique power pop and even dedicated a song to me. And sometimes we were just blessed to be offered one-off shows, like Billy

Bragg and Kate Nash duetting at 8am (!!) before leading the crowd on to a London demonstration. In the second store, we also kept the Festive-Al going strong, with Bombay Bicycle Club, Mumford & Sons and Slow Club all playing charming Yuletide shows.

The lines were blurring as to what the shop was, but that was fine as it meant we could try out all manner of new ideas. We hosted a book launch for DJ History’s best of Faith annual. For the uninitiated, Faith was a legendary late 80s/early 90s lo-fi hand-printed fanzine created by

We found a local soundman with a PA for just £50, including delivery in the boot of his weathered old car. We bough some Red Stripes from the dodgy off-license down the road that was clearly a front for something. It was going to be a special day.

the Junior Boys Own record label, one of the key imprints in the early London dance music scene, a movement not adverse to attracting some pretty hedonistic characters.

And so this was no ordinary book launch, with hundreds (and hundreds) of old skool ravers turning up to hear the likes of Andrew Weatherall play special DJ sets. And in true old skool rave spirit, the police turned up and shut it all down.

Why not start a dating night for London’s music-loving lonely hearts we thought? The brilliantly named (if we say so ourselves…) Top 40 Singles was a much-cherished monthly speed-dating night where our DJ spun people’s top tunes while the punters chatted favourite Pixies B-sides to each other. Not sure if we need to get our hats ready for an indie-pop wedding any time soon, but people constantly told us how much they just loved hanging out with like-minded people, and that made it all worthwhile.

Record Store Days were unsurprisingly the peaks of the year, both in ambition and takings, and having boyhood hero Graham Coxon play one was another milestone I’m immensely proud of. And there were so many more events… the Meats ‘n’ Beats pop quiz, Poker Groove, and one of my favourites, The Not So Silent Film Night with DJs creating a live soundtrack over old crackly movies.

It all came to an end in summer 2010 and we didn’t really burn out or fade away – we were just a bit noisy and neighbours had complained one too many times.

It came at a point when people were considering new ventures so moving to a new venue wasn’t an option and we decided that the memories would have to suffice. But shit, what memories they were!

We were often asked about what the music policy was at Pure Groove. One of the founders Tarik would always reply that the music was driven by the young people that worked there – and we had many, many incredible staff in the store all inspired by a relentless passion for new music. Some became stars of their own such as Daniel Avery, and Gold Panda, but there are a long list of key curators just as important who would arrive late each morning (it was a record shop after all) but always with a good reason. They’d happen to have seen this amazing band last night and we really had to hear them…

Thanks to Nick, Ziad and Tarik, and the many, many that sailed on the good ship.

(Previous Page) The Pure Groove shop, Miccachu, Marina & The Diamonds. (Above) Inside the shop, Billy Bragg & Kate Nash, Amadou & Mariam. All photographed by Gabriel Green.

(Below) Graham Coxon. Photographed by Burak Cingi.

SO WHAT I S ALL TH E FUSS ABOUT TH EN? Over the next six pages, we have listed the exclusive Record Store Day 2014 titles that have been confirmed for release.

Early excitement in the news coverage has been centred around the annual David Bowie Picture Disc (this time ‘Rock N Roll Suicide’), singles from Damon Albarn, Nirvana, The Rolling Stones EP and Oasis’ ‘Supersonic’ 12” ahead of their May reissue of ‘Definitely Maybe’. Box set wise there are collections from The Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, Marc Bolan and LCD Soundsystem amongst others, plus a glow in the dark 12” of Ray Parker Jr’s ‘Ghostbusters’ theme... useful and truly indispensable. The fringes have some spectacular releases also. TOY’s dub edits is available via Heavenly, Luaka Bop celebrates with William Onyeabors ‘What!’, Michael Chapman’s ‘Playing Guitar The Easy Way’ is available on Light in the Attic, Bed Rugs have a 7” on Ample Play (described by our friend James Endeacott as ‘off the scale’), Oneohtrix Point Never release a 12” of commissioned work, then there is the small matter of Spiritualized, Beach House, Youth Lagoon, and Mutual Benefit providing a limited box set of new music, made incorporating sounds from Voyager space probes. Any day with music from Omar Souleyman is cause enough to celebrate right!?

If you were in the position to purchase one of each of the releases available this year, we predict your receipt would be clocking in at just under £11,000... thats about two and half meters of wall space in your racks; you have to be a pretty committed shopper with plenty of wall.

In addition to this list there have already been late announcements that have raised expectation and excitement to fever pitch. The Pixies will make their new album, ‘Indie Cindy’, available to buy in independent record shops ten days before general release date (we reliably assure you this is not the only perk of the RSD version). Also, and perhaps the most exciting release of the entire batch, XL have announced their plans to release a posthumous Gil Scott-Heron album, ‘Nothing New’, collecting stripped-down 2008 takes on old songs. So if the other six hundred odd titles weren’t enough, are you excited now?

Oh yeah, it goes without saying that all releases are limited and subject to change...

Compact Discs Al Kooper - Soul of a Man Live / Rekooperation [3CD] Carter Tutti - Remix Chris & Cosey [CD] Computers, The - Live & Inconsolable [CD] Durutti Column, The - Chronicle LX:XL [2CD Deluxe Box] Dvorak / Brahms / Elgar / Bruch / Mendelssohn / Schubert Hallé Tradition [4CD Set] Green Day - Demolicious [CD] Herbert Von Karajan - European Music Vol 1: German Romantic Music (Pre 1960) [12CD Set] Herbert Von Karajan - Bach / Beethoven / Brahms / Strauss: Choral & Vocal Works (Pre 1960) [5CD Set] Herbert Von Karajan - Russian Music [7CD Set] Jef Gilson et Malagasy - Jef Gilson et Malagasy [4CD Set] Moton Records Inc Records - Moton Long Player Vol 1 [CD] Street Dogs / Noi!se - Street Dogs / Noi!se [CD] Teodor Currentzis - Mozart : Le Nozze Di Figarro [3CD] Various Artists - South Side Story [CD]

SEVEN INCHES Action, The - 7” Singles Boxset [7 x 7” Box Set] Al Hudson / Al Mason - Spread Love / Good Lovin’ [7”] Albert Ammons - Boogie Woogie Stomp [7”] Alex Highton - Highton Schmighton - Alex sings Nilsson (and Finn, Waits, Curtis) [7”] Angel Corpus-Christi - I Love (Suicide) [7”] Anne Briggs - The Hazards Of Love [7”] Ásgeir - Here it Comes / Heart Shaped Box [7”] At The Gates / Decapitated - Captor Of Sin / Mandatory Suicide [7” Picture Disc] Autumn Defense / Josh Rouse - Sentimental Lady / Trouble [7”] Barford, Tomas - True to You / Happy [7”] Bed Rugs - Purple Pill / Dream On [7”] Bis / Ghosts of Dead Airplanes - Minimum Wage / ...Hair Metal Shame [7”] Black Lips - Funny [7”] Blek Le Roc - We Just Met / Punk Floyd [7” + CD] Bok Bok - Come Back To Me b/w Misfit [7”] Bombay Bicycle Club - To The Bone / Reign Down [7”] Bonnie Dobson & Her Boys - Come On Dancing [7”] Boz Boorer (Morrissey/The Polecats) - Comic Book Nightmare / Slippery Forces (Christopher Chaplin Remix) [7”] Brad Fiedel - OST : Terminator 2 Judgement Day [7”] Camp Sophisto - Songs in praise of the revolution [7”] Carcass / Cerebral Bore - I Told You So (Corporate Rock Really Does Suck) / Horrendous Acts Of Iniquity Split 7 [7” Picture Disc] Catfish And The Bottlemen - Kathleen [7”] Chad VanGaalen - I Want You Back [7”] Charlotte Gainsbourg - Hey Joe (Feat. Beck) / Hey Joe (Sebastien Remix) [7”] Chrissie Hynde - Dark Sunglasses [7”] Christian Kjellvander - The Panted Bird [7”] Chromeo – Ezra’s Interlude (feat. Ezra Koenig) [7”] Chvrches - We Sink [7”] Circa Waves - Stuck In My Teeth [7”]

Close Your Eyes - Prepackaged Hope [7”] Clutch/Lionize - Run John Barleycorn Run/Ether Madness [7”] Colin Potter - I Couldn’t Agree...[7”] Conor Oberst - Hundreds Of Ways / Fast Friends [7”] Creation, The - 7” Singles Boxset [11 x 7” Box Set] Cupp Cave - Death Vessel / TT IBM [7”] Dads - Women EP [7”] Damon Albarn - Hollow Ponds / Lonely Press Play [7”] Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip - You Will See Me [7”] David Bowie - Rock n Roll Suicide [7” Picture Disc] Dawes - Conor [7”] Dead Kennedys - Original Singles Collection 1979-1982 [7 x 7” Box Set] Deep Purple - Made In Japan [2 x 7”] Deer Tick - Eel Bowel [7”] Deerhoof & Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog - Split 7” [7”] Delines, The - The Oil Rigs At Night [7”] Diana Dors - So Little Time / It’s Too Late [7”] Dinosaur Jr - Fossils Box [5 X 7” Box Set] DJ Andy Smith - Jam Up Twist U.S.A. [7 x 7” Box Set] Django Django - Porpoise Song [7”] Dodos, The - Yours Truly Session [7”] Dot Hacker - Whatever You Want / Memory [7”] Doug Paisley - Growing Souls b/w Lies To Lies [7”] Duane Eddy - Moovin N’ Groovin / Up & Down [7”] Duane Eddy - Rebel Rouser / Stalkin’ [7”] Dub Sex - Over & Over & Over [7”] Elbow - Charge [7”] Elmer Gantry - Flames [7”] Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full (Mini Madness: Coldcut Remix) [7”] Farm, The - All Together Now [7” Picture Disc] Farside - Keep My Soul Awake [7”] Fela Kuti - Se E Tun De / Waka Waka [7”] Fleetwood Mac - Dragon Fly b/w Purple Dancer [7”] Frank Zappa - Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow [7”] Gemma Ray - Motorbike (feat Alan Vega) [7” Picture Disc] George Ezra - Cassy O [2 x 7”] Gloria Jones - Tainted Love [7”] Gregory Porter - Musical Genocide [7”] Hackney Colliery Band / Henri-Pierre Noel - All Of The Lights (Scrimshire Remix) / Diskette (The Reflex Revision) [7”] Hamilton Leithauser (The Walkmen) - Alexandra [7”] Hank Mizell - Jungle Rock [7”] Hesohi / Melchior Sultana / Simon Bishop / Mr W - Funky Town RSD 2014 Sampler [7”] House for the Homeless - We Can Heal (Director’s Cut / DJ Spen & Gary Hudgins 7” Mixes) [7”] Howard Marks reads Kermit Leveridge - Lies And Other Fools [7”] Inger Lorre And The Chiefs Of Infinity - Snowflake [7”] Integrity / Vegas - SPLIT (RED VINYL) [7”] Jack Bruce - Fields Of Forever / Drone [7”] James Fountain / The Montclairs - Northern Soul - The Film : James Fountain / The Montclairs [7”] James Williamson & Carolyn Wonderland (feat The Stooges) OPEN UP & BLEED [7”] Jamie Lenman - It’s Hard To Be A Gentleman / All The Things You Hate About Me, I Hate Them Too [7”] Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project - Double A Side Split [7”] John Martyn - May You Never / May You Never [7”] Julie Ruin, The - Brightside/In The Picture [7”] Khruangbin - A Calf Born In Winter [7”] Kilburn and the High Roads - Rough Kids 40th Anniversary [7”] King Kong - OST 7 inch [7”] Kings Of Leon - Wait For Me [7”] Kodaline - Coming Up [7”] Krieg - ISOLATION/TRANSMISSION (ORANGE) [7”] Krokodil - Shatter / Dead Man’s Path [7”] Kylie Minogue - Golden Boy [7”]

La Coka Nostra - Mind Your Business [7”] Little Barrie - Fuzzbomb / Only You [7”] Luke Haines - Lou Reed / Jeff Starship Superhero [7”] Luke Sital Singh - Greatest Lovers [7”] Marc Bolan - BBC ‚Äì Electric Sevens 2 [4 x 7”] Marianne Faithfull - Sister Morphine / Something Better [7”] Mark Chadwick (The Levellers) - Red Sky [7”] Martin & Eliza Carthy - Happiness [7”] Matt Berry - Music For Insomniacs Part IV [7”] Maximo Park - On The Sly/Random Regrets [7”] Mazzy Star - I’m Less Here [7”] McDermott’s 2 Hour / The Levellers - Dirty Davey / Live [7”] Meade Lux Lewis - Melancholy [7”] Mike Watt - Mud Puddle / We Come To Learn [7”] MILK N COOKIES - Not Enough Girls [7”] MØ - Say You Will Be There (Spice Girls Cover) [7”] Moons, The - Heart And Soul [7”] Mr Benn ft Eva Lazarus, Blackout JA & Champian - Stars [2 x 7”] Mr Thing, Tall Black Guy, Eric Lau & Kidkanevil - Nothing Leaves The House [2 x 7”] Mystery Artist - Mystery [7”] Natasha Khan (Bat For Lashes) & Jon Hopkins - Garden’s Heart [7”] Neil Brophy - Record Collector / Football Rock & Roll [7”] Neko Case & Jason Lytle - Satellite of Love [7”] Nile Rogers - Do What You Wanna Do (Rob DA Bank Remixes) [7”] Nina Persson - Sometimes [7”] Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me [7”] Nirvana - Pennyroyal Tea [7”] Noisem / Occultist - Split [7”] Nova Nova & Peter Hook - Low Ends (Original & Slabb Remixes) [7”] Nova Nova & Peter Hook - Low Ends (Thierry Criscione Remixes) [7”] Nuba Nour - Dessy Lemon / Ready For Drowning [7”] Of Montreal - Jigsaw Puzzle [7”] OFF ! - Learn To Obey [7”] One Direction - Midnight Memories [7”] Pagans, The / The Controllers - Soul Jazz Records presents: Punk 45 Single [7”] Pantera / Poison Idea - The Badge [7”] Parquet Courts - SUNBATHING ANIMAL [7”] Paul Weller - Brand New Toys [7”] Pete Molinari - Look To The Wind / Girl Called Mine [7”] Peter Murphy - Hang Up [7”] Pharoahe Monch - Get Down [7”] Phoenix Foundation, The - Bob Lennon, John Dylan [7”] Poison Idea - Getting The Fear [7”] Public Service Broadcasting - Elfstedentocht [7”] Quantic - You Will Return [7”] Ray Lamontagne - Supernova [7”] Regina Spektor - You’ve Got Time [7”] Rinus Garage & Triggerfinger - Wall Of Dolls / Annie [7”] Rival Sons - Electric Man / Belle Star [7” Picture Disc] Robb Johnson - Sweet Jane / Bay Of Angels [7”] Rod Taylor / Adam Prescott / Manasseh - Sing Praises [7”] Rolling Stones, The - Got Live If You Want It! EP [7”] Rolling Stones, The - The Rolling Stones EP [7”] Ronnie Lane & Slim Chance - Anniversary / Ooh La La [7”] Ronnie Spector & The E Street Band - Say Goodbye To Hollywood [7”] Roy Porter Sound Machine feat. Dahle Scott Out On The Town Tonite [7”] RPM Turntable American Football [7”] Secret 7 [7”] Section 25 - Reflection (Young Image) [7”] Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks [7 x 7” Box Set] Shocking Blue - Send Me A Postcard [7”]

Skylon - Skylon b/w Skylon (demo) [7”] Snow, The - Memory Loss b/2 Joy of Life [7”] Songs : Ohia - Journey On: Collected Singles [9 x 7” Box Set + CD] Sonic’s Rendezvous Band - City Slang / Electrophonic Tonic [7”] Sonics / Mudhoney - Bad Bettie / I Like It Small [7”] Sonzeira - Brasil Bam Bam Bam [7”] Southern Culture On The Skids With Fred Schneider Party At My Trouse [7”] Specials, The - Sock It To ‘Em JB b/w Rat Race [7”] Star Spangled Banana - Nag Nag Nag / Frantic Romantic [7”] Stranglers, The - Peaches [7”] Strypes, The - 4 Track Mind [7”] Suede - Let Go [7”] Tara Lynn feat Loretta Lynn - Coal Dust / Honky Tonk Girl [7”] Temperance Movement - Up In The Sky / Tender [7” Picture Disc] Tenpole Tudor - Swords of a Thousand Men / Love & Food [7”] Thievery Corporation - Saudade [7”] Thing, The - Boot [7”] Thorn, Tracey - Molly Drake Songs [7”] Tim Burgess - Oh Men [7”] Torpedo Boyz - (Hey You) The Rocksteady Crew [7”] Trembling Bells & Bonnie Prince Billy - New Trip On The Old Wine [7”] Up Front - What Fire Does [7”] Various Artists - Xtra Mile Single Sessions - Tenth Anniversary Collector’s edition box set [4 x 7” Box Set] Various Artists - Pressure Sounds Presents [5 x 7” Box Set] Various - Soul Love 2014 Sampler 1 (Chris Turner / Joonie) [7”] Various - Soul Love 2014 Sampler 2 (Aaries / L. Young) [7”] Various Artists - THE SPACE PROJECT [7” Box Set] Various Artists - Taang! Records : The First 10 Singles [7” Box Set + CD] Various Artists / Sun Records - Flyin’ Saucers Rock ‘n’ Roll [7”] Villagers - Occupy Your Mind [7”] Visioneers - Mystic Brew [7”] Waylon Jennings - Audio Recorders Archive [7”] White Denim - A Place To Start [7”] Wild Feathers, The - Got It Wrong / Marie [7”] Wildest Dreams - Last Ride/Call To Prayer [7”] Winnebago Deal - Bail Out EP [7”]

TEN INCHES Beans On Toast - Beans On Toast [10”] Black - Sweetest Smile [10”] Black Angels, The - Clear Lake Forest [10”] Bonobo - Get Thy Bearings [10”] Brown Brogues - Zoloto [10” + 7” ] Bruce Springsteen - American Beauty [10”] Christian Vogel / T.Raumschmiere - Lost In The Chase / Dampfer [10”] Creedence Clearwater Revival - The 69 Singles [10”] Criolo - Duas de Cinco [10”] Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin - Songs From Common Ground [10”] Davy Graham & Bert Jansch - Live In Edinburgh [10”] Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo - Songs Beneath The River [10”] Glimpse & Martin Dawson / Shenoda - Fat Controller (Roman Flugel Remix) / All Ears (Mr G Remix) [10”] Graham Dee - Duckin’ And Divin’ [10”] HAIM - Forever [10”]

James Vincent McMorrow - Cavalier [10”] Jett Rebel - Venus / Mars [2 x 10”] Just Friends - Don’t Tell Me [10”] Kitchens Of Distinction - Extravagance EP [10”] London Grammar - Hey Now (Bonobo remix) / Hey Now (Zero 7 remix) [10”] Machine Head - Killers & Kings [10”] Maris Pyper - Headlands [10”] Memory Band, The - Further Navigations [10”] Moriarty meets Mama Rosin - Bye Bye Bayou The Pigalle Sessions [10”] My Darling Clementine - Lucky Bag EP [10”] Nicola Conte Presents... - Viagem Vol4 [10”] Nits - 6 [10”] Norm Talley - The ReWorks [10”] Preatures, The - Is This How You Feel? [10”] Ragz Nordset - Sleepdancing Remixes Part 1 - Ron Basejam [10”] Ramones - Meltdown With The Ramones [10”] Ray Parker Jr - Ghostbusters [10”] Razor-N-Tape - Record Store Day Edits [10”] Richard Hawley – Rollin’ and Tumblin’ [10”] Robert Glasper - Porter Chops Glasper [10”] Roger Waters - The Last Mimzy-Hello (I Love You) [10”] Set Your Goals - The Reset Demo : 10 Year Anniversary [10”] Siriusmo - Jaja [10”] Soundgarden - Superunknown : The Singles [5 x 10”] Stereofysh / Tocotronic - There Yet/Warte Auf Mich Auf Dem Grund Des Swimmingpools [10”] Street Dogs / Noi!se - Street Dogs / Noi!se [10”] Various Artists - Ed Banger Classics Deluxe Box Set [5 x 10” ] Various Artists - Music Finland with The Line Of Best Fit - The Limited Record Store Day Edition 2014 [ 10” ] Volbeat - Doc Holliday [10”] Wave Pictures, The - Helen EP [10”] Wedding Present, The - EP 4 Can [10”]

TWELVE INCHES ∆ ∆ - Caveman Escapades [12”] Acid, The - The Acid [12”] Al Kent - Happy / One On One [12”] Anathema - Untouchable [12”] Anushka - Distorted Air EP [12”] Atmosphere - The Lake Nokomis [12”] Black Milk - Glitches In The Break [12”] Blancmange - Living On The Ceiling / Feel Me (Remixes) [12”] Bobby Rush - Vol 11 Upstairs At United [12”] Bored Games - Who Killed Colonel Mustard [12”] Brian Jonestown Massacre, The / The Magic Castles - Split [12”] Broken Bells - Holding On For Life [12”] Camera Obscura - 4AD SESSION [12”] Caro Emerald - The Shocking Miss Emerald Acoustic Sessions [12”] Charles Bradley - I Hope You Find The Go [12”] Choir of Young Believers / Tina Dickow - Hollow Talk (Lulu Rouge’s Stella Polaris Remix) / Break of Day (The Stella Polaris Allstars Remix) [12”] Clang Boom Steam - Clang Boom Steam [12”] Cosmetics - Olympia Plus [12”] Coves - No Ladder (Toy Remix) [12”] Cults - Vol 10 Upstairs At United [12”]

Dansson & Marlon Hoffstadt - Shake It [12”] Darq E Freaker - Ironside [12”] David Lynch - The Big Dream Remix EP [12”] Diesel / Jarvis & DJ Harvey - Northbeach / In the City [12”] Dillinger, Trinity, Wayne Wade, Al Campbell, Junior Tamlin - Five Man Army [12”] Dimitri From Loisada - Talkin Bout / La Victoria Xocolat [12”] Disclosure - Apollo [12”] Fenech Soler - Fenech Soler Remixed [12”] Gerry Read - Socialise / Charcoal [12”] Glenn Jones - Welcomed Wherever I Go [12”] Gonga - Black Sabbeth [12”] Grace Jones - Me! I Disconnect From You [12”] Gregory Isaacs / Ossie Hibbert & Revolutionaries Mr Know It All / Way Of The Stars [12”] Hawklords - 25 Years EP [12”] I-Robots: Klein & M.B.O. - Last Call (Gene Hunt Remix) [12”] Inca Babies - Scatter EP [12”] Inner Life / Salsoul Orchestra - Record Store Day Special: John Morales Presents M&M Mixes [12”] J’s, The / Sandy Barber - When Did You Stop b/w I Think I’ll Do Some Stepping On My Own (Al Kent Disco Mixes) [12”] Jake Bugg - Live At Silver Platters [12”] Joey Negro vs Horse Meat Disco - Candidate For Love [12”] John Grant - Gets Schooled [12”] John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest - Ancient Waves EP [12”] Johnny Osbourne - Give A Little Love / Give A Little Dub [12”] Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - She’s On It/Jack The Ripper [12”] Joy Division - An Ideal for Living [12”] Jullian Gomes - Love Song 28 (feat Bobby) (Original, Atjazz & Charles Webster Remixes) [12”] Kai Alce - NDATLTD [12”] Katatonia - Kocytean [12”] King Cats - Down In California (Psychemagik & Albion Edits) [12”] King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Head On/Pill [12”] Kreidler / Automat - Snowblind / Escaped |Berlin Wall (Feat Genesis Brey) [12”] Lee Perry - Rastafari On Wall Street [12”] Levellers, The - Carry Me EP [12”] Liars - MESS ON A MISSION [12”] Little Dragon - Klapp Klapp [12”] LNTG - Make Me Feel EP [12”] LNTG / Luxxury / Ed Zone & Deadly Sins - Various Artists EP [12”] Logistics / High Contrast - Together/Music is Everything [12”] Luxxury - Edits Vol 1 (California Eagles) [12”] Marillion - You’re Gone [12”] Marnie - The Hunter Remixed [12”] MAW / DJ Beat / Jason Binks - Hippie Funk EP [12”] Meanwhile - Luvletter [12”] MEDICINE - Part Time Punks Live [12”] Mel - Burning Stones [12”] Metronomy - Love Letters (Soulwax Remix) [12”] Moebius / Neumeier / Engler | Schneider Tm - Wohlauf/Wfmu Stream Test [12”] Neon Neon - Years Of Lead EP [12”] Nile Rogers - Do What You Wanna Do (IMS Anthem) (Eats Everything Remixes) [12”] Nochexxx - Courtroom Dramatix EP [12”] Notwist, The - Run Run Run [12”] Oasis - Supersonic [12”] Oneohtrix Point Never - Commissions 1 [12”] Ozric Tentacles - Sloosh [12”] Paramore - Ain’t It Fun [12”] Phosphorescent - Song For Zula [12”] PIL - Death Disco / Warrior (US dance mix) [12”] Pissed Jeans - The Very Best of Sub Pop 2009-2013 - Live at the BBC [12”] Raleigh Ritchie - Black & Blue [12”]

Rammstein - Pussy / Mein Teil [12”] Reckless Love / Treatment - The Outlaw / Die Hard [12”] Rodion G.A. - Misiunea Spatiala Delta (Delta Space Mission) [12”] Shampoo Boy - Nebel / Nadel [12”] Stanley Odd - Chase Yirsel [12”] Steve Mason - Greg Wilson and Derek Kaye Remixes [12”] Submotion Orchestra / Planas - It’s Not Me It’s You (Alix Perez Rmx) / Breathtaking ft.Ed Thomas (dBridge Soul Steppers) [12”] Tame Impala - Live Versions [12”] Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld - Spring! [12”] Temples / Jagwar Ma - Shelter Song/Man I Need [12”] The The - Giant [12”] Throwing Snow - Mosaic VIPs [12”] Tim Burgess - Oh Men [12”] Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters / Pyrolator - Remix Of RainbirdsWind Was Playing With My Hair [12”] Various Artists - Adaptations EP [12”] Various Artists - Love Affair / I Wanna Fall In Love [12”] Various Artists - TransTRAX [12”] Various Artists - Remixed With Love by Joey Negro - Record Store Day 2014 Special Release [12”] Various Artists - Dance Mania ‘Revival Traxx’ EP [12”] Wilkinson - Direction VIP [12”] William Onyeabor - What?! [2 x 12”]

LONG PLAYERS A Minor Forest - Flemish Altrusm / Inindependence [4LP] Accident On The East Lancs - Rainy City Punk Volume 2 [2LP] Adam And The Ants - Dirk Wears White Sox [LP] Aerosmith - Rocks [LP] Aerosmith - Draw The Line [LP] Aerosmith - Night In The Ruts [LP] Aerosmith - Rock In A Hard Place [LP] Alanis Morissette - Live In Switzerland 2012 [2LP] Alexander Robotnick - Vintage Robotnicks [LP] Alexander Tucker - Alexander Tucker [LP] Alice Cooper - Live In Switzerland 2005 [2LP] Allman Brothers Band - Selections From Play All Night [2LP] Alvarius B / Sir Richard Bishop - If You Don’t Like It [LP] Amorphous Androgynous, The - The Cartel & Remixes [2LP] Anamanaguchi - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Video Game [LP] Andreas Dorau - Silbernes Ich (Raritaten 1981-2014) [LP] Art of Noise - Live at the End of a Century [LP Picture Disc] Bachman & Turner - Live At Roseland Ballroom, NYC [2LP] Bardo Pond - Looking For Another Place [LP] Bathory - Bathory [LP Picture Disc] Bathory - The Return Of The Darkness And Evil [LP Picture Disc] Bathory - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark [LP Picture Disc] Bathory - Blood Fire Death [LP Picture Disc] Bathory - Hammerheart [LP Picture Disc] Bathory - Twilight Of The Gods [LP Picture Disc] Battery - Whatever It Takes [LP] Beach Boys, The - Surfin’ Safari [LP + 7”] Beltones - On Deaf Ears [LP] Between The Buried And Me - Colors_Live [2LP] Bis - Data Panik Etcetera [LP] Black Bombain - Saturdays & Space Travel [LP] Black Crowes, The - Warpaint [3LP] Black Heart Procession / Solbakken - In The Fishtank [LP]

Bloodlet - Live On WMFU-FM [LP] Bob Dylan - D√©but Album [LP + 7”] Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - Transcriptions [LP] Bombino - Agamgam [LP] Botch - Unifying Themes Redux [2LP] Bozzio Levin Stevens - Black Light Syndrome [2LP] Bruut - Fire [LP] Built To Spill - Ultimate Alternative Wavers [2LP] Byrds, The - Straight For The Sun [2LP] Cannibal Corpse - Evisceration Plague [LP Picture Disc] Cannibal Corpse - Torture [LP Picture Disc] Captain Beefheart / Don Van Vliet - Son Of Dustsucker (The Roger Eagle Tapes) [LP] Cardinal - Cardinal [LP + CD] Cave In - Jupiter [2LP] Chills, The, The Verlaines, The Stones, Sneaky Feeling - Dunedin Double [2LP] Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band - Solar Live 11.15.13 [LP] Circles - Infinitas [2LP] Civil Wars, The - Live At Eddie’s Attic [LP] Clarence Carter - Slip Away - The Ultimate Clarence Carter 1966 - 1971 [2LP] Clint Mansell - Filth OST [LP] College - Northern Council [LP] Computers, The - Live & Inconsolable [2LP] Corduroy - London England Live [LP] Curved Air - Live Atmosphere [LP + 7”] Cuz (Mike Watt & Sam from The Go Team) - Tametebako [LP] Darkness, The - Permission To Land [LP Picture Disc] David Lynch - The Air Is On Fire [LP] DBA - Dreaming Of England [LP] Dean Martin - Dream With Dean [LP] Deep Purple - Shades Of Deep Purple [LP] Destroyer - Kaputt [LP] Devo - Butch Devo and the Sundance Gig [LP + DVD] Diana Dors - Swingin’ Dors [LP] Donna McGhee - Make It Last Forever [2LP] Donny Hathaway - Live at the Bitter End [2LP ] Doors, The - Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine [2LP] Dream Theater - Illumination Theory [LP] Dresden Dolls, The - The Dresden Dolls [2LP] Duff McKagan’s Loaded - Sick [2LP] Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain [LP] Edwyn Collins - Georgous George [LP + CD] Emperor - IX Equilibrium [2LP] Emperor Machine - Like A Machine [2LP] ESG - Dance To The Best Of ESG [3LP ] Everly Brothers, The - Roots [LP] Everything But The Girl - Eden - 30th Anniversary Edition [LP] Fairhorns - Doki Doki Run [LP + CD] Fairport Convention - From Cropredy To Portmeirion [2LP] Fairport Convention - XXXV - The 35th Anniversary Album [2LP] Fairport Convention - Moat On The Edge - Live At Broughton Castle [LP] Fall, The - White Lightning [LP] Far Out Monster Disco Orchestra - Far Out Monster Disco Orchestra [2LP] Fear of Men - Loom [LP] Field, The - From Here We Go Sublime [2LP] Fishbone - Fishbone [LP] Flaming Lips, The - 7 Skies H3 [LP] Full Of Hell / Psywarfare - SPLIT [LP] Ghost Beach - Blonde [LP] Glitch Mob, The - Drink The Sea / We Can Make The World Stop [2LP + 10”] Gram Parsons - Alt. Takes from GP and Grievous Angel [2LP ] Grant Hart - Every Everything and Some Something [LP + DVD] Grateful Dead - Live at the Coliseum [2LP ]

Green Day - Demolicious [2LP ] Half Japanese - Volume 1: 1981-1985 [3LP ] Hawkwind - Church Of Hawkwind [2LP] Heavens To Betsy - Calculated [LP] Henry Mancini - Pink Panther [LP] Holger Czukay (Can) - On The Way To The Peak Of Normal [LP] Hollis Brown - Hollis Brown Gets Loaded [LP] Horace Andy - Zion Sessions [LP] Husker Du - Candy Apple Grey [LP] Ice-T - Greatest Hits [LP] Idle Race - Birthday Party [LP] Illum Sphere - Spectre Vex [2LP] Imarhan Timbuktu - Akal Warled [LP] Insomnium - The Candlelight Years [7LP] Inspiral Carpets - Dung 4 + The Cow EP [LP + 7”] Integrity - Den Of Iniquity [2LP] J Spaceman & Kid Millions - Live At Le Poisson Rouge [LP + 7”] Jay Z / Linkin Park - Collision Course [LP] JBs, The - Food For Thought : Get On Down Edition [LP] Jef Gilson et Malagasy - Jef Gilson et Malagasy [5LP Box Set] Jenks Miller / James Toth - Roads To Ruin [LP] Jethro Tull - Live In Switzerland 2003 [3LP] Jim McCarty - Frontman [LP] John Foxx - Metamatic [LP] John Foxx & The Maths - Interplay / The Shape Of Things [2LP] John Tavener - The Protecting Veil [LP] Johnny Cash - With His Hot & Blue Guitar [LP] July - July [LP] Katastrophy Wife - All Kneel [LP] Katy B - Little Red : Remixes [2LP] Khlyst - Chaos Is My Name [LP] Kim Richey - Thorn In My Heart : The Work Tapes [LP] Kode9 & The Spaceape - Memories Of The Future [2LP] Korn - The Paradigm Shift [LP] LCD Soundsystem - Live The Final Show NYC [5LP Box Set] Lemonheads, The - If Only You Were Dead [2LP] LIFE WITHOUT BUILDINGS - ANY OTHER CITY [LP] Mae - DESTINATION:BEAUTIFUL (BLUE/GOLD VINYL) [LP] Mastodon - Live At Brixton [2LP ] Matt Andersen - Weightless [LP] Melt Yourself Down - Live At The New Empowering Church [LP] MGMT - Congratulations [2LP] MGMT - Oracular Spectacular [LP] Michael Chapman - Playing Guitar The Easy Way [LP] Michael Feuerstack & Associates - Singer Songer [LP] Minus 5, The - Scott The Hoople In The Dungeon Of Horror [5LP] Moles, The - Flashbacks and Dream Sequences : The Story of the Moles [2LP + 2CD] Mor Paranoids, The - Circular [LP] Moton Records Inc Records - Moton Long Player Vol 1 [LP] Motorhead - Motorhead [2LP] Motorhead - What’s Wordsworth [LP] Mudhoney - On Top: KEXP Presents Mudhoney Live on Top of the Space Needle [LP] Muppet Movie - Original Movie [LP] Neil Young - Cow Palace 1986 [3LP] Neil Young - Official Release Series Discs 5-8 [4LP] Notorious B.I.G - Life After Death [3LP] Novastar - Novastar [LP] O Level - Pseudo Punk [LP] Of Montreal - Satanic Panic in the Attic (10 Year Anniversary Edition) [LP] Oliver Hart - The Many Faces Of Oliver Hart Or: How Eye One The Write Too Think [3LP] Omar Souleyman - Jazeera Nights: Folk & Pop Sounds of Syria [LP] One Man Army - Dead End Stories [LP] Opeth - Watershed [LP]

OST - Amarcord (Nino Rota) [LP] Otis Clay - Trying To Live My Life Without You [LP] Otis Clay - I Can’t Take It [LP] Otis Redding - Pain In My Heart [LP] Outkast - Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik [LP] Pagans - What’s This Shit? 1977 / 1979 [LP] Peter Zummo / Arthur Russell - Lateral Pass [LP] Placebo - Ball of Eyes [LP] Placebo - 1973 [LP] Placebo - Placebo [LP] Pogues - The Pogues with Joe Strummer Live in London [2LP] Power Glove - Far Cry 3 [2LP] Psychic TV - Thee Fabulous feat Ov Flowering Light [2LP] Psychic TV - Hacienda [2LP] Psychic TV - Live At The Marquee [2LP] Pussy Galore - Pussy Gold 5000 [LP] R.E.M - Unplugged [4LP] Rainbow - Rockplast 1995 - Black Masquarade [3LP] Ringo Deathstarr - Gods Dream [LP] Roddy Frame - Surf [LP] Roddy Frame - Western Skies [LP] Roger Taylor - Fun On Earth [LP] Rot In Hell - Ruined Empire [LP] Ruts, The - The Highest Energy Ruts Live [LP] Sam Cooke - Ain‚Äôt That Good News (50th Anniversary) [LP] Saturday Looks Good To Me - Saturday Looks Good To Me [LP] Saturday Looks Good To Me - Love Will Find You [LP] Score by Clint Mansell - Into The Wall [LP] Score By David Hess - The Last House On The Left (Original 1972 Motion Picture Soundtrack) [LP Picture Disc] Score by Nico Fedenco - Emanuelle Perche ‘Violenza Alle Donne aka The Violation Of Emanuelle [LP] Score by Nicola Piovani - Ill Profumo Della Signora In Nero aka The Perfume Of The Lady In Black [LP] Score by Walter Rizzati - 1990: I Guerrieri Del Bronx aka The Bronx Warriors [LP] Screaming Trees - Last Words : The Final Recordings [LP] Seahawks - Paradise Freaks [LP + 7”] Sebastien Tellier - L’incroyable Verite [LP] Sensefield - Building [LP] Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Dap Dippin [LP] Sharpling & Wurster - Rock, Rot & Rule [LP] Shlohmo - Shlo-fi [2LP] Shonen Knife - Overdrive [LP] Shooting Guns - Brotherhood Of The Ram [LP] Sick Of It All - Death To Tyrants [LP] Sick Of It All - Based On A True Story [LP] SikTh - Death Of A Dead Day [2LP] Slipknot - Vol. 3 The Subliminal [LP] Smoke Fairies - Smoke Fairies [LP] Spacemen 3 - Translucent Flashbacks: The 12” Singles [3LP] Status Quo - Pictures - Live In Switzerland [2LP] Status Quo - Tokyo Quo [LP] Stephen John Kalinich - A World Of Peace Must Come [LP] String Driven Thing - Steeple Claydon [LP] Sun Ra - The Futuristic Sounds Of.. [LP] Sun Ra - Outer Spaceways Incorporated [LP] Surfer Blood - Pythons (demos) [LP] T. Rex - Tanx [LP] Teenage Filmstars - (There’s A) Cloud Over Liverpool [LP] Teeth Of The Sea - A Field In England : Re-Imagined [LP] Testament - Live In London [2LP] The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Live At Monetery [LP] Tim Paris - Dancers [2LP] Tim Timebomb & Friends - Mixtapes #1, #2 & #3 [3LP] Toy - Join The Dubs [LP] True Widow - True Widow [2LP] Twilight Sad, The - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters [2LP]

UK Subs - Left For Dead [2LP] Ukrainians, The - Never Mind The Cossacks [LP] Ulver - Messe IX-XI [LP] UN, The - UN Or U Out [LP] Up Front - Spirit [LP] Various Artists - Africa Express presents: Maison des Jeunes [2LP] Various Artists - Bob Dylan & The Band’s Basement Tapes Influences [2LP] Various Artists - Too Slow To Disco [2LP] Various Artists - If 2.0 [3LP] Various Artists - Collective Hiss [LP] Various Artists - Black Symbol Presents Handsworth Explosion Ii [LP] Various Artists - Todo Muere Vol. 4 [LP] Various Artists - New Heavy Sounds Volume 3 [LP] Various Artists - Faux Real [LP] Various Artists - Non Violent Femmes [LP] Various Artists - Electroconvulsive Therapy Vol. Two [LP] Various Artists - Oi! This Is Streetpunk Volume 4 [LP] Various Artists - Rough Guide To Latin Rare Groove [LP] Various Artists - Rough Guide To Psychedelic Bollywood [LP] Various Artists - Sun Records Curated By RSD [LP] Various Artists - South Side Story [LP] Various Artists - 5 [LP] Various Artists - Pop Yeh Yeh : Psychedelic Rock From Singapore & Malaysia [2LP] Various Artists - Masters Of Misery - A Homage to Black Sabbath [LP] Various Artists / Battle Worldwide Recordings Present - My 1st Record My 1st Store [LP] We Have Band - Movements [LP] Wednesday 13 - The Dixie Dead [LP] Wednesday 13 - Calling All Corpses [LP] Wesley Stace - Ovid In Exile [LP] Whirlwind Heat - Do Rabbits Wonder? [LP] Wrangler - La Spark [LP] Wreckless Eric - Le Beat Group √âlectrique [LP] Wye Oak - Shriek [LP] Xiu Xiu - There is No Right, There is No Wrong (The Best of Xiu Xiu) [2LP + CD] Xiu Xiu - Unclouded Sky [LP] Yardbirds, The - Little Games [LP] Yardbirds, The - Sounds I Hears [LP + 7”] Yma Sumac - Mambo [LP]

Miscellaneous Ralfe Band - Cold Chicago Morning Print [Print + Download] Simon Goddard - Simply Thrilled : The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records [Book] Breton - Live [Cassette] Green Day - Demolicious [Cassette] Radkey - 9 Lives At The 100 Club [Cassette] Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly vs Sam Duckworth - Starrcade EP [Wrestling Mask + download]

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P U B L I S H E D B Y Y T N OP M U S I C . U S E D B Y P E R M I S S I O N . A L L R I G H TS R E S E R V E D .

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"DEEPER" W R I T T E N B Y R E A L L I E S ( TO M WAT S O N , P AT R I C K K I N G & K E V I N K H A R A S ) M A S T E R E D B Y M AT T C O LTO N AT A I R .

P U B L I S H E D B Y M A R AT H O N M A N M U S I C P U B L I S H I N G LT D .

C OV E R A R T WO R K , C R E AT I V E D I R E C T I O N : R O B M E Y E R S F O R R B P M S T U D I O , P H OTO G R A P H Y : N E I L B E D F O R D , D E S I G N : R B P M S T U D I O , M O D E L : D U K E B R O O K S

04/09/2013 17:56

REAL LIES WORLD PEACE 12”

CHILDHOOD SOLEMN SKIES 10”

JAMIE ISAAC ELLIOT POWER BLUE BREAK 12” SINK/SWIM 12” marathonartists.com

M AKING RARE TO WELL-DONE RECORDS AND TAPES SINCE 20 07 Based out of Fullerton in northern Orange County, California, as both a label and a shop, Burger Records have spent the last few years incrementally taking over the World. At this year’s SXSW festival in Austin TX they hosted six huge shows including an epic all day Burgermania showcase with over fifty bands performing.

Their SXSW showcases are starting to become the stuff of legends, in 2012 Bill Murray took to the stage to MC, “Welcome to Burger Heaven, everybody.” A couple of weeks back, Burger held its third-annual showcase, Burgerama III, at the Observatory OC in Santa Ana, where more than seventy bands gathered to get stoned, play music and celebrate Burger. With Spin, Pitchfork and countless others in attendance, it’s doubtful that Burger will be unable to remain in the underground for too much longer. In a previous issue, Light in The Attic told us on part of their Record Store Tour that Burger was the weirdest store in America, stating that “Burger Records kinda blew my mind in terms of expectations vs. reality. Total compound nested inside an unassuming strip mall storefront.” So with all this in mind, we got in touch with co-founders Lee Rickard and Sean Bohrman to talk about the label, the store, what drives them to do it and where they find the time. On a Saturday morning we called them up on the phone, after all they are a shop... we knew where they’d be.

So what is the Burger Story?

Lee: Lets see... well, Sean and I used to have to have a group called Thee Makeout Party and we self released our first few 7” singles. There was no label interest for us at the time so we just carried on the DIY sprint of self releasing records, a no brainer for us. We started putting out our own records in 2007 and a lot of cassettes. We reached out to the neighbourhood and took Audacity on their first US tour the day they finished high school. We did their first two albums and it just all snowballed from there.

How many releases (all told) have you put out now?

Lee: We’re underground as far as our grass routes approach to things goes, but we just started... last year only really, doing PR. All the attention we got over the last six years to date has been based on our pure love for the music and thats why we’re getting the attention cause people can feel the passion you know?

Lee: We’ve released like six hundred cassettes.

What is the average day like at Burger?

Do you still have a copy of each of them?

Lee: Well, lets look at today specifically. Umm, I sleep on the couch, Sean is inside the back room, he has like a little loft bed back there but I am on the couch right out at the front of the store so I have to get up early before the store opens and make sure it’s all presentable. All the day to day stuff like running to the post office and the bank and we always have a ton of meetings... not to mention the customer service (Laughing)

of like a business card, they’re just real easy to hold onto and put in a pocket and listen to when you get a chance.

I guess we helped in brining back the tape trend in America.

Why do you think cassette tapes have been so strong for you guys? In many circles you’re synonymous with the tape boom.

Lee: Personally yeah, it’s getting harder and harder to keep track, but yeah i’d don’t have an organised discography or anything but I have crates and crates of tapes floating around. We’re working on the Muffs new album, that’ll be Burger number 700.

Lee: We started from the very beginning making records, but because the cassettes are so affordable and the size

Are you guys ‘underground’? Are you exploding out of the underground?

When did you decide that you’d have a store?

Lee: In 2009 we were heading out on tour with the band and Sean’s job wouldn’t let him go back to work so he cashed out his 401(k). Then another friend of ours called Brian Flores, who used to have a store, was kind of stagnant, not doing much, so we decided to get him out of retirement and put him together with Sean and give them something to do, so thats how we became Burger records the store.

We had to work on Brian to use the Burger name at first, but we all agreed it was the right choice as far as the giving the label a physical presence where people from all over could travel to come see us.

You guys are all over the place right now huh?

Lee: Yeah, we burn the candle at both ends... we don’t have any separation or a personal life. All of our relationships have suffered. We live and breathe Burger 24/7. Dream about it, wake up and get to work until we go to sleep again. It’s our world, it means everything to us. Thats the main reason why it’s grown. We’ve put all the money out of Burger right back into Burger, we’re still barefoot and homeless... we don’t have a kitchen or

“we’re still barefoot and homeless... we don’t have a kitchen or a shower. These sacrifices are real and we believe in it and we believe that it’ll come good, as we work too hard to be homeless all of our lives.” a shower. These sacrifices are real and we believe in it and we believe that it’ll come good, as we work too hard to be homeless all of our lives. We’re not trying to be a clic or anything, we pride ourselves on being real open to music, being a label, putting out music be it some kids’

punk band first recordings of appalachian hillbilly music or whatever, Country or Ambient, Disco, Rock, Funk... whatever, I just don’t want to be a garage pop label, we’re a label.

In the background Lee talks to a customer and true to his work he politely discusses the virtue of Hendrix, how much second hand copies of some live recording are worth, he is after all at work. I leave Lee to get on with opening the store, it’s a bright spring Saturday morning in Fullerton and even I can hear that Burger is starting to fill up. I gave Burger another call a little later that afternoon to catch Sean. He’d been on the late shift the night before and had been catching up on a few hours of well deserved rest out back.

So when you look back across those 600 releases, you’ve worked with (amongst others) The Black Lips, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Quilt, Thee Oh Sees, The Traditional Fools, Hunx and His Punx, Ty Segall… what do you think it is about Burger that appealed to those artists?

Sean: A lot of these people we’ve know for years and years and we started putting out cassettes from bands we knew and really liked. The Traditional Fools was one of the first cassettes we did, cause they were just a really great band we played with all the time as Thee Makeout Party. We kept in touch with everyone as they went on to different projects and branching out and all these bands would do a cassette with us.. and another would be all like “Hey! I want a cassette” and it just went out like that spreading naturally pretty much throughout the world.

I spoke to Lee briefly about cassettes this morning, but it’s been suggested that you guys are one of the main driving forces in the re-emergence of the cassette tape market. What is it about that format?

back then, it’s not as much fun now as it was.

Has wrestling lost it’s way?

Sean: Wrestling... I believe in the late nineties it stopped... well, I love good guys versus bad guys, I like to know who to root for. I am just about getting back into it again, but when I got out of it in the nineties it was all grey, everyone was a badass, I didn’t like that. I loved how it worked before WWF took over everything in the seventies with all those territories.

I feel a little like it’s lost it’s charm, is it me or does it all kind of look like porn now?

Sean: Yeah! The Attitude era is where it lost me, too much about sex. Nothing goofy going on, I liked all the charters and back then where the people were in control of their own characters and they built them up. What they chose to do and how they portrayed them. There were so many guys who went from character to character to character before they got a fix, but they’d eventually get a thing that worked. I mean Scott Hall had been wrestling for like fifteen years before he became Razor Ramone and got super popular... all because he acted like scarface or whatever. Having said that he was in control of it and in control of his promo and what he said. Everything is now so scripted and they can’t invest themselves in their character and if they can’t invest themselves in their own character then they loose something. It’s the same thing with bands!

Sean: I think it was just the right moment in time for that to happen, because it’s a viable format. There’s all these kids who are driving their partners cars with tape players in them and there is no reason why new music shouldn’t be put on cassette, so we just started doing it. It caught on pretty quick, we didn’t even necessarily plan on it happening like that but it just all fell into place. Other than that, I mean the music is good!

So with all that in mind, do you have any advice for other stores?

People keep telling me you’re the craziest store in California?

Which record stores did you grow up with?

Sean: Well, there’s a million things happening all the time, bands coming through and shows... we do have a really good collection in here as we’ve been collecting for so long. We know whats good and whats bad and what sells, we pride ourselves on that and also appreciating the history of music and seeing what has and hasn’t worked for people. We’re inspired by movies and all sorts of other things. I’d been watching Willie Wonka a lot and in the lead up to Burgerama we did a golden ticket thing where we put five golden tickets inside five cassettes for people to buy and if they get it then get a ticket to the shows.

That went really well.

Which other things outside of the musical world have influenced the label and the shop?

Sean: I love Wrestling, I guess there are similarities between late eighties/early nineties WWF and what we’re doing with the characters and the gimmicks. It was fun

Sean: You got to have good taste in music! I can sell tiny Tim records all day long because I love Tinny Tim and I am passionate about the music. Led Zeppelin, I like, but I can sell all day long just because of who they are as a band and because the generations of interest.

Sean: I grew up going to Vinyl Revolution in Monterey where my dad lived. I’d had records when I was younger and stuff, but like really being into them, the first record store I went to when I was growing up was with my friend. I was probably about 14 or 15 and I went to Vinyl Solution in Huntington Beach. It was about 1997 and I bought The Stitches ‘Heaven’ on 7” and I guess it just went from there. I discovered The Mummies, Ramones, Iggy Pop, Misfits. All my friends were into NoFX and we’re following that path, but I was listening to The Mummies and they covered loads and loads of songs so I started reaching into where those songs had come from and it got me into 60’s garage and psych. From there Lee got me into the Bee Gees (their greatest hits Vol1) also Nils Lofgren and it took me into a pop direction, so that all formed what I was listening to and where i’d get it from. I also listened to the radio religiosity and had a real soft spot for pop music.

How about other shops that inspire you?

Sean: Other stores that inspire me, my favourite of all time is Jerry’s Records in Pittsburgh PA. You could spend weeks in there going through records, literally weeks. It’s all very reasonably priced and they’ve got weird stuff as well as the normal stuff you’d see everyday. I’ve only been there a handful of times but each time i’ve left there with hundreds of dollars of music. I love going to record stores on the day they open, being the first person to step in there and go through the records they have, I think that’s been the best couple of record experiences in my life. A couple of months ago I went to Fresno and wondered into this shop that was gonna open the next day and they were just putting out all of their records. I spent about $500 on records, the first two big Star albums original copies, Idle Races first album (UK re-issue) loads... oh, the first two Swell Maps records, the first one with the 7” in it, the Ramones first record with the misprint on the label... so much crazy stuff. It was an amazing day.

Did you worry that you were going to just wake up?

Sean: Yeah, I actually went back the next day and went through the back as they hadn’t put all of them out, I opened tons of boxes out back and there was just so much stuff but they’d kind of caught on to me buying so many records. They priced me out of the game. I’ve been back a few times and there is always something crazy there.

Besides really good records, what makes for a good record shop?

Sean: You know, being nice. I hate record stores were the owners are dicks or like suck up and judge you about whatever kind of music you’re buying. When we opened our store we were determined to be open and kind to all types of music. Scoffing at someone for liking something is like the meanest thing you can do. People like what they like and it’s not up to you to say whats good and whats bad you know? It’s all just preference. I’ve been through stores where I go through every single record, as they didn’t have a new arrivals or anything, so the whole lot are in together a to z or whatever, and i’d go through the lot, which was quite a lot. I would hear them saying things like... I don’t know, talking shit on me for spending so much time digging through. They were just stereotypical stuck up record shop worker people. Never the owners, just dumb college kids. It can ruin the whole experience and I just didn’t go back for quite a while after that. I don’t want them getting my money, fuck that.

You can visit Burger Records at www.burgerrecords.org or in the flesh at S. State College Blvd. between Commonwealth Ave. and Orangethorpe Ave. in beautiful Fullerton, CA - Either will make your day.

On the other page, The Burger Record Store.

Photographed by Olivia Hemaratanatorn

“We tell people that Burger is our sister store. We do that because these guys act proper. They are caring, loving and only seem to care about doing the right thing...and weed. Best Californians ever.”

- Trailer Space Records, Austin TX

It was spring, as it always is with these things. I travelled to Paris with my wife, a friend and a portable record shop. Let’s imagine this can happen. That not only are there record shops, but travelling ones. My wife sat first behind the wheel of a great white van, and then on a fourseat compartment on the freight carriage of the Eurostar, looking on as two Polish truckers watched porn on a mobile phone with the volume up on the seats in front. At exactly the same time a coach full of the beautiful and the young travelled in the same direction, headed up by a dandy captain with an impossibly lush head of hair and his sidekick - a bearded, matronly man of short stature whose strengths lay in organization and time management. Travelling in their caravan was the pair’s hairdresser, for whom I would later procure a date with a young French girl by telling him the single most useful, endearing and winning phrase one can ever master in any foreign language. Email me sometime and I’ll pass it on. There were the pair’s handlers as well - one a sage with impeccable taste in poetry and country-rock, one an accountant of sorts and a pool shark. And there were some bands. Four bands, to be precise, at the bright inception of their thing, arriving now on a wide boulevard, having drunk red wine since the morning, finished the best drugs before even leaving British soil, and now placing leathered toes on foreign concrete and blinking into the chalky light of Paris. And however you listen to the music of these bands, which by now you have done, and how it affects you during those periods alone, or while doing the house work, or while driving across the country, continent, planet, this moment precipitated a bigger, more human response to it. A Rabelaisian transformation of a whole body of people, removed from their London enclave and thrown into a drunken typhoon in another city. We bled commerce into art, into love, into friendship and camaraderie. The bands survived it and became superstars. I am still married to the same woman. Our mysterious friend drove home in a blur and the most expensive coat he has ever owned. This is what a record store is. What it can be. But only for a day, or a weekend at most.

Will was born in London and raised in Buckinghamshire. He didn’t finish his English degree, choosing instead to start an ill-fated band with his brother. He has worked in factories, cleaning windows, painting houses and the best record shop on earth. He likes sports and ornithology and is proud to be Poet-In-Residence at Caught By The River and Festival No.6. His poems have been published by Structo Magazine, South Bank Poetry, Illustrated Ape and the Independent Online, and he has read them live at the Glastonbury, Port Eliot, End of the Road and Green Man Festivals as well as various indoor venues around the country.

He was named as one of the 4 Faber & Faber New Poets for 2014. www.willburns.co.uk

M AYBE I’LL SING A BIT MORE NEXT TIME

by GARETH JAMES In the despondent gloom that follows the demise of another year’s festivities, the quest for genuinely exciting new music can often be fruitless. January is rarely a month that yields anything remarkable and yet, barely two weeks into 2014, a very special record alighted upon the shelves of the nation’s indies. Fundamentally a very adventurous pop album, ‘Total Strife Forever’ is simply unlike anything else released in recent times because its creator, William Doyle, has no intention of following a formula or ticking easy genre boxes. Standing as a monument to the ecstasy of music, the beguiling mix of instrumental and vocal tracks found within are equally adept at triggering that involuntary, primal twitch that keen record purchasers everywhere recognise. These are songs that reveal more every time you come at them and grow ever grander given love. For this Record Store Day special, DELUXE thought it wise to catch up with one of the artists who keep these wonderful centres of culture worthy of your custom for the other 364 days of the year.

Have you been surprised by the response to the album?

I thought it was going to be my ‘have you heard this’ record of 2014, but everyone I tell about it has already heard it!

Yeah, I have been really surprised. I didn’t think a lot of people were going to go for it because of the odd mixture of vocal and instrumental and how long it takes to get into it. I just thought it was going to be a bit more niche. It’s a really strange sensation, all that recognition.

I’ve really enjoyed the praise it’s received, but it’s also important that you just don’t take it too seriously, if you want to stand a chance of approaching the next album with any degree of balance.

The album doesn’t sound like anything else released recently. What were your influences when recording?

I could say that ‘I wanted to make some kind of electronic pop album that wasn’t afraid of repetition or noise, and that had a dynamic similarity to the way orchestral music is constructed’ but really I was just piecing together whatever I found most appealing at the time of recording. There were strands of Bjork, Sufjan Stevens, Brian Eno, Arvo Part, Laurel Halo, David Bowie, Fuck Buttons, Robyn Hitchcock, Neu!, Pet Shop Boys, Perc, Philip Glass etc. that all coalesced into what became the album. I am sure this is how a lot of people work and I’m also sure that this is a way I’ll continue to work in the future.

The creation of the record was a long process from start to finish. Was it a difficult or actually quite enjoyable experience?

I find the whole creative process is about 90% hopelessness and frustration and the remaining 10% is sheer euphoria and achievement. That 10% is so powerful and addictive though that, if you’re as ridiculous as me and many like me, you will dedicate your entire life to the pursuit of it. In hindsight, you forget about the bad parts.

Luckily, when I look back on making this album now, I

mostly only remember those eureka moments. Other than not being able to turn my monitors up to an adequate volume because of the downstairs neighbours and having to stand against my opposing wall to even hear some sort of bass frequency at such low volume, what I remember of it is mostly beautiful moments of personal achievement.

The vocal pieces and the instrumentals have equal billing and you’ve spoken about that being important to you. Do they always start clearly demarcated or do vocals get added when you realise certain songs need it?

track on the album is rarely comparable to the one that came before it. It is mostly pop music and I want to make pop music the way I think it should be; with melody, structure and hooks, but with adventurous or jarring sounds or subject matter. Pop music should be more incongruous and always a constant source of mystery for the listener and I hope that’s what comes across with the album. I still have a lot of work ahead of me achieving this goal though. Maybe I’ll sing a bit more next time.

Every track had a different conception. The real starting point of how I knew the instrumentals were going to be a big part of the album was when I finished the music to what would become ‘Total Strife Forever III’. I listened to the opening synth loop for a few hours and just thought that for the first time in ages I’d nailed exactly what I was trying to get at in terms of mood and atmosphere.

But, because I’ve always been more of a songwriter, I just assumed I would end up singing over that music at some point. Indeed, I tried hard to put lyrics over it but nothing I was writing scanned and nothing that I sung was pitching correctly. Almost out of defeat, I just decided to remove the vocals I was working on and tried to listen to the piece without them. I realised that it was much closer to what I wanted to achieve without vocals than with them. After I knew that this was a way I could work, I basically judged whether something should be instrumental or vocal based on if I thought the music was emotionally resonant enough to me without them or not.

“Record shops are fonts of knowledge and mystery that I think have definitely helped shape what I do in my musical work and how I approach making music.”

How do you see this fitting into the current musical landscape? Is it electronic music or is this pop music that just happens to be electronic?

I don’t think anyone really knows what the current musical landscape is anymore. Or rather, the current musical landscape is now comprised of all music and nothing, really, is out there on the fringes. Certainly my album doesn’t fit into any specific trend but then each

How do you know when something is ‘finished’? Are you a perfectionist?

I’ve never considered myself a perfectionist. I don’t think I’d ever regard anything as ‘finished’ if I were a perfectionist. Even though I try to work hard on the finer details of what I do, there is a certain moment of abandonment and surrender with every piece when you realise that you’ve already got to the core of your idea and that, if you are not modest in your embellishments, you’ll risk ruining something that already stands up on its own two legs. Sometimes you just have to revisit what you’ve been working on everyday and try to hear something that is missing. You don’t even have to work on it, just listen. If you get two weeks down the line and you haven’t spotted that missing thing, then I think that, to you at least, it is over.

Today is all about celebrating indie stores, but how important have physical record shops been to you over the years?

I’ve been buying vinyl for about five or six years now and so record shops have been very important to me over the most creative time of my life. Record shops are fonts of knowledge and mystery that I think have definitely helped shape what I do in my musical work and how I approach making music. I know the intensity of the obsession that the above average record buyer has and I think that helps me put a similar enthusiasm into the work that I do. What I’m doing has to feel good enough to make someone feel like I do when I hear something for the first time and I can’t help but run to the shop immediately to buy it. I’ve got a few options in London. Rough Trade East and West, Sister Ray, Phonica, Kristina.

I’m playing at Rise Music in Bristol this year for RSD and I really like what they do there. The act of buying vinyl doesn’t feel like an elitist or overly specialist thing there.

They have a passionate and knowledgeable staff and there’s no judgement. I think environments like that, as opposed to the old-school record shop nerd who scoffs at your purchase, is the best way to attract people into buying the physical format and having a sustainable and enjoyable relationship with it.

Do physical formats still matter to you? Does how we consume music make a big difference in your opinion?

Although I personally get a lot of enjoyment from buying vinyl and interacting with the scale of it, the sound of it and the look of it, I do know that it’s not for everyone.

I actually don’t think there is a correct way to listen to music. MP3s are as important to me as vinyl is, it’s just that everyone has their own mode of consumption and enjoyment. People commodify records as much as they do digital files and as long as people are listening, then so be it.

Gareth writes about music for Clash and runs @justplayed.

East India Youth. Photographed by Rebecca Miller

SL ACKER SHOPPER Twenty five year old Melbournite (that is the correct name for a resident of Melbourne before you start Googling) Courtney Barnett first came to our attention late last year with the dual packaging of her superb “I’ve Got A Friend Called Emily Ferris” (2012) and “How To Carve A Carrot Into A Rose” (2013) EP’s as “The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas”. Her soft Australian drawl sugar coats some of the most frankly autobiographical songs around, so I figured she’d be able to talk straight about record shops; the good, the bad and the lazy.

Every review (all glowing incidentally) referred to you as either a slacker or that you’re lazy…. I hope that didn’t bum you out? or is it kind of apt?

Ha yeah I guess it’s a bit harsh, but then in a way I guess it keeps peoples expectations of me down.

With the two Ep’s under your belt and the blossoming Milk label, i’d suggest that maybe you’re not as lazy as I might have read? What are you working on right now?

Recording an album next week! I’ve also been compiling a Milk!

Records zine. Also we’re working on a Milk 10” collaboration project. Plus I wanna try get together an art exhibition maybe by the end of the year. Plus I’m learning French.

I’ve always maintained that the logo is the most important part of a record label. You’re nailing it!

Whats the story with Milk?

I organised this gig once and when I was making the poster I wanted to put a “presented by…” in the corner to make it look important. So I drew this little logo on a yellow post-it note and stuck it onto the baby-blue piece of A4 printer paper the poster was on. I’m a huge Reg Mombassa fan and had been drawing lots of suburban neighbourhoods at that time, always for realism including a bit of litter on the lawns, empty bottles and cigarette packets etc. Then when I put out my first EP, I thought the CD also needed a little logo on the back to make it look authentic, so I stuck with it. Then it became a real record label and grew ever so slightly into a small community of like-minded artists and music-lovers.

Did you illustrate the covers to your EP’s and singles?

Yep I’ve done all the artwork so far (except for the 7”, that was done by legendary Celeste Potter). I draw a lot. I have attempted many self-portraits, in a Brett Whiteley type fashion, but I just can’t draw faces. At art school I did life drawing, and my teacher always made fun of me cos I’d do this detailed body, breasts, thighs, feet, collar bones, hair…but leave the face a gaping hole. Maybe it’s some deep reflection of my own inability to understand my inner self.

When the combined EP’s landed here, someone asked me who Emily Ferris was… Is there a short answer?

buying scene but it appears to be a good one, I just buy records from my favourite shops that I like to support.

The night before the artwork deadline, I was working at the pub with Emily Ferris, my friend and bar-manager, and she was trying to help me think of a title.

Making that question a little broader, Australian stores in general, which have particularly impressed you?

Did ‘The Courtney Barnetts’ have any input on their name?

I said “wanna make up a name for yourselves?” and they um’d and ah’d and I said “how about...the courtney barnetts” and they said “cool” Have you played many instore shows?

We did a ‘silent gig’ at Thornbury Records cos they had sound complaints from their boring neighbours. We had an electronic drum kit, electric guitar and bass guitar straight into the mixing desk, then they hired 50 pairs of headphones for the audience.

The only audible sound in the room was the vocals and the twang of my guitar. it was weird, in a good way. Another memorable one was at Jet Black Cat in Brisbane, small shop + lots of people = sweaty and fun. We played to a huge crowd at Rough Trade East in London which was totally surreal. Also, Record Paradise with a bunch of kids dancing around. In-stores are awesome cos the kids can come.

I’ve got a few favourites in Melbourne. Thornbury Records, Record Paradise, Basement Discs, Pure Pop, Polyester, missing link. Brisbane there’s Jet Black Cat with the legend Shannon. These ones all impress me because I’ve been lucky enough to strike up a friendship with the owners/workers and that to me is just as important as the records themselves. People who take the time to share their ideas and favourite albums etc with you, it transforms the whole music experience into something else. Hobart there’s Tommy Gun. Perth there’s 78s and Mills. Red Eye in Sydney. There’s so many good ones that i’ve only accidentally stumbled across once and can’t remember where they are or what they’re called.

Making that question even broader still… where on your travels have you been particularly taken with?

We went to Amoeba in LA. and Rough Trade in London. but that’s about all i had time for on the last tour. The boys went somewhere in Paris and got me this weird old Nirvana live in Australia record! and David Bowie doing Peter & the wolf. the best presents ever.

What makes for a good record store?

How did you feel seeing your music for sale in a record shop for the first time? Do you remember where?

Ha well I self-distributed all my stuff into indie stores up until a few weeks ago. I ‘d just take it around and asked if they’d stock it. Seeing it in Rough Trade in London was a bit weird, kind of like “hey, they’re selling my record! how did they get that!?”

Are you still Melbourne based? What is the record buying scene like? Where is particularly good?

Yep, live in a beautiful little house in Thornbury with a nice little garden out the back (all my veggies burnt in the hot summer) and a little garden shed. i’m not too clued up on the record

“I’d much more inclined to keep going back to a shop where they are super into music and super friendly and helpful and supportive of the local scene”

A good store should have a good attitude, like I was sayin before, i’d much more inclined to keep going back to a shop where they are super into music and super friendly and helpful and supportive of the local scene etc. I love it when record store people are total music nerds and know everything but not in a show-off way. in a “i wanna share my knowledge with you” sort of way.

I am so clueless about most stuff, i love learning. I love stores that incorporate a bit of art or creativity into their displays. Also i’m a big fan of the “staff picks”, you know, a little photo of each staff member and their name and their favourite album of the week. This encourages a bit of community spirit, it’s nice to know what other people are into. also if you go in there all the time and always forget the staffs names, it’s helpful.

Do you have any plans for this years record store day (Saturday April 19th)? Have you seen any special releases that you’ll be queuing up for?

I think i saw an ad for Adalita all day venus gold and crimson coloured vinyls, i’ll definitely pick that up. But I might have to scour the list a bit more.

Courtney Barnett. Photographed by Adela Loconte

All rem aining wristbands

by ADAM BROOKS Adam was inspired to work in music by instores at Solo Music in Exeter (RIP) and Spillers in Cardiff. He moved to London to work at Atlantic Records, attending instores at Rough Trade, Banquet, Pure Groove (RIP) - and since worked at Warp Records, organising a few instores of his own along the way, including one set up at 48 hours’ notice (Flying Lotus) and one that fell through with 48 hours to go (DRC Music feat. Damon Albarn + Kwes).

He now runs Modular’s UK and European operations and is on Twitter at @adamnonfiction.

On the face of it, and despite the natural common ground, live performances in independent record stores can sit uncomfortably as an idea (and physically as a practice). The space restrictions, the noise restrictions, the simple fact it’s pretty hard to sell records when you can’t move for fans and that many of these buildings just weren’t built with gigs in mind.

Yet they create moments and allow access that can be absent from other live performances where no such compromises are necessary: the coaxing and reawakening of the former record buyer from the high street outside, the sense of occasion that’s absent from the stores your local indie is nestled between, the democratic nature of a comparatively tiny building that can house the band that just scored a #1 on a Monday, and a band formed in that very store, playing their first instore on the Tuesday.

stayed in irregular contact and custom with the store ever since, out of an appreciation of their effort.

Of course, it’s not just UK stores like the one you likely picked this copy of Deluxe up in that are responsible for these transformative performances. Thirteen years ago I found myself killing eight hours between Greyhound buses in Richmond, Virginia – a day which happened to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of local indie store Plan 9 Music. Hours of scouring the racks were punctuated with free performances by Denali (stormy, oppressive, sweetly-tinged rock) and Sparklehorse (who should need no introduction) in the car park out back, two bands which set me down a path I still meander along today. Mark Linkous signed my poster ‘Best Ditches’.

And there was free pizza. Similarly Grimey’s in Nashville,

a store so fantastically well-stocked that I refused to leave even as a nosebleed reached full flow (more tissues, keep going) plays host to an inspirational range of artists every month. And my stories are hardly unique – many people’s gateway drug to music they cherish began with them patiently queueing or even wandering in off the street to see a band awkwardly perched behind a counter or nestled between racks. For every co-branded 2000 seater merch-haus, there’s somebody screaming their heart out at Spillers in Cardiff. For every 50,000 capacity festival, there’s an entirely free all-dayer annually on Record Store Day. For every televised compilation show, there are tiny musical fires being lit in basements, box rooms and under stark store lighting around the world – changing a handful of people’s lives in a more permanent and convincing way, a 20 minute set at a time.

Stores like Rough Trade East have elevated the instore to a loftier (literally), more spacious affair, with stores now hosting live events as often as they’re not and benefitting from raised staging, moveable racks and an inhouse PA and lighting rig. Watching Queens of the Stone Age playing a sweaty Rough Trade East around the time of …Like Clockwork reaching career highs was a special and unexpected night (especially considering their official London show was at Wembley), but equally, traipsing down into the Rough Trade’s former store in Covent Garden years prior to see Barbarossa play mouse-quiet semi-acoustic love songs still has me following his trajectory five years on. It’s often the more primal performances, the simple beauty and intimacy of watching Laura Jane Grace of Against Me, Jamie Lenman or Born Ruffians packed into Banquet Records (another indie worthy of huge credit in terms of the effort put into live performances in and around their store, and the coups they pull as a result) that are the most affecting and memorable.

Going back yet further, my childhood hometown has Phoenix Sound, an independent store that I’ve watched grow and thrive, partly as a result of regular instores whilst, down the street, I watched Our Price turn into V Shop turn into Costa.

Aside from the more obvious benefits to a band’s first week sales or a store’s takings, instores temporarily upgrade a shop: not just to a venue, but to a public service, a place where (crucially) people excluded by means of their age, income, or ability to attend a paid show elsewhere can experience and revel in music. An instore performance can have unexpected and long-lasting effects; on a trip to Scotland I once happened on an instore where a band was playing to perhaps three people – but I still look out for that band as a result, and have

Above: An instore I organised. CANT (aka Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear) with Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange) at Rough Trade East

from psychedelic metropolis Way back in 2010, Japanese expatriates and full time Londoners Bo Ningen were the seven hundred and fourth Guardian New Band of the Day. In the four proceeding years the critical acclaim and outpouring of admiration, and in more frank omissions bare toothed jealously, has been genuinely extraordinary. Often regarded as London’s best live band, Bo Ningen have left a trail of awe in their wake. They’ve played ever increasingly large stages across the world, collaborated with Damo Suzuki, Faust, Savages and with artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster as part of the Yoko Ono curated Meldown festival. So who are they and how has the journey been from the Wilmington Arms to the The Victoria And Albert Museum? We spoke with Yuki Tsujii and Taigen Kawabe

Where did you grow up and which record stores formed your earliest experiences?

Yuki: We grew up in different cities in Japan. But for me, it was Time Bomb Records in Osaka that formed my first record experience.

Japan is always regarded as having a strong music market. Which shops are your favourites and what makes them unique?

I think Disk Union is very unique to Japan. It’s very deep and nice record shop but it has lots of branches depending on genres, so progressive rock branch, jazz branch and rock and pop branch. They are so crazy about vinyl and good about it.

I know that the Japanese CD market remains a lot stronger than both vinyl and digital. How much of the current wave of interest in vinyl do you think is fashion?

CD format is very popular in Japan indeed rather than vinyl. Not like over here in UK, in Japan people buying vinyls are likely to be vinyl collector, it’s not usual thing to buy vinyl format. I’m a cd generation too.

As Londoners these days, where do you shop and which record stores are good for what?

I’m personally fond of Second Layer records in highate. But think it’s closed now.

What makes a good record shop?

Location, staff, and stuff they have. But more importantly, if a staff is arrogant that s/he has knowledge in a particular genre and showing off, it’s often a boring record shop.

You played a pretty famous instore at Rough Trade a few years back, how are in stores for you in general?

It was definitely one of most amazing instores we did.

But my favourite is Tym Gutar in Brisbane in Australia.

So tiny, sweaty and intimate. Instore gig is normally weird because it happens in the shop. Florescent light bulb and a room doesn’t have any echoes, but I like it, something different from normal gigs.

Stolen Recordings always put a lot of care into their packaging. How important is that to you as a band?

How important is the visual aesthetic overall?

Stolen is always great and precious about their packagings. We still do handmade posters, prints and stuff. It takes time, but there is beauty to it.

I am reliably informed that your new artwork is amazing. Did you produce it your self ? Historically have you created your own artwork?

Yes we’ve always produced ourselves so far. And Kohhei always designs the artwork for bo ningen.

Do you remember seeing a physical release of your own for the first time in a shop? Where? How did it make you feel?

I remember it was in Rough Trade, a while ago. I felt very touched.

I was delighted to see you talking about Robbie Basho

on twitter a while back. Which other artists inspire you that might come as a surprise to your fans?

We’ve got different favorite musicians and bands each other. Me personally, I’m more into folk music, real folk music. There are too many to name, but John Fahey is incredible and beautiful as sin.

The worst description I read about your bands music was “Acid Punk”. How would you describe what you do?

I don’t think it was horrible, but strange. It’s hard to describe what kind of genres we have. It can be psych, it can be pop / rock.

A good friend of ours said that “your strength lies in that people don’t know whether they are in love with you or are utterly terrified”. Should we be terrified? Is it okay to be in love with you?

“BE IN LOVE WITH US DEFINITELY”

collaborated together so many times now. He’s like our psychedelic father. Every time we performed together, he created different atmosphere between us, he’s brilliant Taigen: Yes, meeting and working with Damo Suzuki and Faust are definitely two of the great collaboration experience. Also, collaboration with Japanese Girls Idol Unit called “Denpa Gumi. Inc was my highlight too. We played the tune together with them, it was the weirdest collaboration we’ve ever had but also most “Breaking the Boundaries/Absence of the Genre” collaboration we’ve ever had. They and their audience liked it too, so I did official remix for them.

In 2012 Stolen released your live 10” EP at St Leonard’s Church as part of Record Store Day. How was the experience of being part of Record Store Day? Yuki: It was amazing to release 10” live album on the Record Store Day. And the EP we made from live footage at St Leonard Church in Shoreditch was great. It was very surreal and unique experience to play in a church, and we made it to capture the essence of playing in a church, lots of reverb and sound trip around but still huge.

Have you felt awestruck with any of the bands you’ve met over the last few years? I guess meeting and working with Damo Suzuki must have been a big deal right?

Young Husband is very good, we are touring together in May for the album tour. And with Damo, yes. We’ve

Opposite. Bo Ningen. Photographed by Cat Stevens

FUCKED UP’s TOP FIVE SONGS ON UK DIY PUNK 7”s

by DAMIAN ABRAHAM Where punk starts first is a futile argument that can go on forever. What is not debatable is the UK’s dominance in the realm of the DIY single. The sheer volume that was produced in the UK during a few years (76-82) is staggering. So in celebration of record store day, here is my humble list of my personal favourite (NOT NECESSARILY BEST) TOP 5 SONGS ON UK DIY PUNK 7”s from the first wave (76:82). All praise and respect to the knowledge contained within Johna Kugelberg’s DIY Lists in Ugly Things issues 19 and 20 and Mario Panciera’s 45 Revolutions.

Rivals - ‘Here Comes The Night’ off of “Here Comes The Night”

Grinder - ‘Spiderman’ off “Wickford’s So Boring”

The Seize - ‘Out Of Order’ off “Everybody Dies”

Rarely does a cover best the original. And admittedly the idea of an amphetamined-up version of a Van Morrison song has a lot going against it on paper. But the Rivals manage to demolish the Them (that song is all chorus to me when they did it) original with this toughened up version on their second single. The sweet sweet sounds of a teenage-thug having his heart torn out.

On the aforementioned Kugleburg list, this record is affectionately referred to as “hick-punk” but this may betray my 90’s punk vintage but to me this sounds almost proto-EPI-FAT-punk at times. For instance, the guitar intro on Spiderman sounds as if it could have been on a non-pro-inept-core version of NoFX’s S&M Airlines. The song also features lyrics dissing the beloved web crawler.

PUNK!

The song Out Of Order, off this their second of three 7”s, is perhaps the single greatest argument against bands having more than one guitar (never mind three!!!!) ever mounted. A single guitar squeals in glee as you are berated for lying about your deceits: songs like this are the reason other music doesn’t really work on me.

Honey Bane - ‘Porno Grows’ off “You Can Be You”

Desperate Bicycles - ‘Advice On Arrest’ off “New Cross”

Punk would produce more than a few future popstars alas poor Honey Bane would not be among that list. Perhaps it’s because none of her singles for the major label failed to capture the perfection of her first single. The track Porno Grows on this ep is an indescribable song with jazz parts, punk parts, new wave parts but the totality is utter brilliance.

This is the greatest song of all time. Sometimes on a flight I will put this song on and listen to it on repeat for an hour and try and choke back the tears. It starts with pronouncements by the oblivious narrator about how safe and protected we are in society only to be silenced but the single line: “This is what to do when it happens to you.”

This is followed by a chorus that is quiet literally advice you should know if you are ever arrested. And then it repeats And I crumble. So simple in its brilliance that one could be deceived into disagreeing with me but you would be wrong.

ALT. VINYL

by ANDY WOOD For several years we have seen many small, independent record stores struggling due to the pressures brought to bear by the economic downturn, the music download culture, and cheap(er) online shopping. However, as readers of Deluxe are aware, all is not lost, and there are still some excellent shops out there waiting to be discovered, and others that are increasingly frequented by discerning music lovers wiling away the hours in their eagerness to discover new sounds. To stay afloat, a number of these independents have branched out into the mail order world and have developed a loyal customer base, while others rely solely on mail order custom.

At last year’s Tusk music festival in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, we met up with Graham Thrower to discuss his passion for local and international artists, and discover how important this has been to his ‘store’ and label in his role of curator of Alt.vinyl.

What’s your connection with TUSK festival?

Lee Hetherington and I have known each other for some time, he runs Tusk Music (formally ‘no-fi’), and in 2007 we organised the Input Festival at The Baltic in Gateshead, showcasing a number of alternative artists (Wolf Eyes, Om, Skullflower etc..) over a weekend. Since then we’ve continued to work together. I would have merch’ stalls at the occasional gig organised by no-fi, and it’s been great to continue that for all 3 TUSK festivals What’s the history of alt.vinyl?

I was living in London and working in finance. My girlfriend and I made a decision to seek out a better quality of life, and to live somewhere we could bring up our children where there was a greater community connectedness. We considered a few places and finally settled in rural Northumberland. I’ve always been passionate about independent music and once we’d settled

I decided to open a record store in Newcastle. This was in 2004.

The label came soon after.

What was the alt.vinyl ethos at the time?

The ethos has always been the same, and remains so even though the physical shop closed down in 2010. There were a number of independent record shops that I respected and wanted to emulate, for example Honest Jon’s and Rough Trade in London.

I wanted the shop to be a treasure trove, where people could be introduced to music and artists they had possibly not previously known. I was keen to engage with customers, understand their tastes and interests, and signpost them to new stuff. I see myself as a curator of alt.vinyl, and the shop was staffed by passionate and patient music lovers. Richard Dawson worked there as did Ben Jones from the band Jazzfinger We had a listening room with 3 decks, 3 cd players, armchairs, coffee etc, and a small

white cube project space for contemporary sound art which operated independently as alt.gallery, exhibiting works by international artists working the intersection of visual art, sound and music, including exhibitions by People Like Us aka Vicki Bennett, Daniel Johnston, and Yamataka EYE of Boredoms I wanted to stock different music that I thought people would be interested in so we dealt direct with micro labels all over the world, bringing in small run limited edition releases you normally wouldn’t find in a physical store. We also bought in old collections of industrial music, free jazz and I even found a bunch of obscure lock up garages around Paris where I found lots of original vinyl field recordings. I filled the car up with them and brought them back to the shop, this became a really popular section filled with Arabic, Sub Saharan African, Himalayan and other ‘World’ music.

Well you certainly turned us on to new stuff, including Kurt Vile, who’s now doing well, and also Emeralds We played Kurt Vile a lot in the shop and by doing so, we heightened people’s awareness of this ‘new’ artist, and sold a good number of his albums.

That’s exactly how I heard him first. So was it a purely commercial decision to close the shop?

Dealing with distributors was becoming more and more difficult as they tried desperately to ‘shift product’, and as I’ve mentioned, I wanted the shop to be a treasure trove and place of interest for those interested in different, and not easily accessible stuff.

But to keep up with the rent and other overheads it was becoming a case of needing to sell in larger volumes. A lot of the obscure artists we dealt with and these small labels were not really geared to that. We either had to be more mainstream or close the store, and we decided to do the latter.

With the financial pressures and people increasingly buying online, record shops are increasingly having to take safe decisions, and initially the alt.vinyl tag line was ‘discover new music’, and it’s this notion of introducing people to artists they may never have previously heard that excites me, not making safe decisions.

Also I had realised that through the label we could continue to support truly independent artists that was really where my heart was.

There’s no doubt that as a format, vinyl is having a renaissance, why do you think that is?

I think vinyl is simply a more pleasing format. If you are passionate or nerdy about the quality of the sound, you’re going

to go with vinyl every time. Ok, so CD’s are more ‘portable’ than LP’s, but if you want portability, you can’t beat a download, so yes, CD’s are being squeezed out just now in favour of vinyl and downloads, and we are seeing mid-sized labels dropping the CD format. Vinyl seems to have secured its niche.

double vinyl under his moniker ‘Hapsburg Braganza’

Despite the shop closing I have still stuck with the original alt. vinyl ethos while setting up a back catalogue of physical product of primarily vinyl, but also CD’s, and for the mp3 junkies, most of the alt.vinyl label releases are now available digitally.

You’ve had a merchandise stall at each TUSK festival, do you do other festivals?

We are also seeing an increase in mixed formats, particularly with the bundling of physical releases along with a download.

With the label you are associated with artists from little known international performers to artists based in the North East of England. Quite a diverse roster?

I wanted to develop a label with credibility, that buyers would have faith in; like some of the labels I admire – Time-Lag, Eclipse, and Important. alt.vinyl is driven by the talent of the artists. I’m keen to work with artists who are developing their craft, and I like to think I can contribute to increasing their exposure to a wider audience, enabling them to devote more time to their music, and help give them an increased chance of making a living from their passion.

The North East is such a great place for the arts and there are some good venues, including smaller venues such as the Cumberland, Cluny, and Star and Shadow which is an amazing place, and has hosted the TUSK festival for each of it’s 3 years Richard Dawson has worked extremely hard, gigging at UK festivals and numerous venues both at home and abroad, and he’s now in a position of being able to make a living solely from his music, and Midnight Doctors are making their live debut at this years TUSK and it’s pleasing to have them on alt.vinyl, having previously released Phil Begg’s ‘Recurring Dreams’

I receive huge numbers of demos from around the world and have recently released the debut LP by ‘Riel’, a young post -rock band from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This years TUSK is proving to be great in all respects, it’s just like an annual get together. Normally I do ‘Colour out of Space’ in Brighton, Birmingham’s ‘Supersonic’ and this year for the first time ‘Sin Eater’ at Shropshire Being the sole curator of alt.vinyl, how do you go about getting your releases out there?

Yes, I do self distribute. I maintain an ever expanding list of stockists, email newsletters, subscribers, distribute press release which includes tour news and information about new releases, and of course personal relationships are extremely important Cash flow can be a nightmare for small labels. I offer a discounted price for stockists paying up front, and I now insist on payment up front for special releases where they are hugely oversubscribed such as last year’s ’7.10.12’ by Zoviet*France and ‘Wound Response’ by Rhodri Davies, both of which sold out in a day!

Packaging of your releases seems to be an important aspect and some of it is an art form in itself When I first started the label, I was looking for all releases to conform to a style, in a similar way that labels like ‘Touch’, and the early Industrial Records releases became known for and instantly recognisable. The alt.vinyl lathe cut releases were all within a distinct design ethos. With the LP’s I encourage the artists to come up with ideas, and to be creative in their design, and Zoviet*France’s ’07.10.12’, has been the most ambitious to date.

They had a particular vision of what they wanted, and as I try to keep the production of the material local by using local artisans, I had a firm in the North East create a wooden box which I thought would fit the bill, however when I presented it to them, it just wasn’t the concept they had in mind. What we ended up with was quite special, and limited to an edition of 250. The packaging comprised of a set of three label-less records (7” 45rpm, 10” 33rpm and 12” 33rpm) on translucent vinyl, housed (suspended and separated) in a custom made heavy textured card archive clam shell lined box, with a blind rubbing (a paper impression) taken from a neolithic cup and ring carved stone and a vial containing dried hawthorn berries (a tree imbued with much pre-Christian metaphysical meaning) For the Atom Earth Mother release, Mark Warren and I (with help from others) made a huge bonfire and branded the wooden boxes ourselves, that was great fun, and the final packaging is very pleasing.

What have you planned for 2014?

A stall at the 4th TUSK festival I hope, with releases of any alt.vinyl artists who are appearing to coincide with the festival weekend. In Spring I’m anticipating releases of the first solo album by Ben Ponton of Zoviet*France, and another LP from Rhodri Davies. An album by Winter Family who are an American / French / Israeli collective. There are also a number of other interesting projects that might make Spring a heavy alt. vinyl time!

Remember if we want a healthy alternative scene we all need to get out there and support artists, labels, promoters and venues, that’s why events like TUSK are so important. TUSK, alt. vinyl and others like us are part of the glue that holds this stuff together, go out there and find some new sounds.

www.altvinyl.com

FOR EVERYONEs BENEFIT From the most lowly and humble of ambitions, Mutual Benefit’s ‘Love’s Crushing Diamond’ is a fascinating story of an album finding an audience. It was planned initially as a self-released cassette, before it was encouraged into a small scale vinyl release. This boutique pressing of just 250 copies seemed to be the perfect home for the swooning and utterly captivating album, until it started to get heard outside of it’s immediate circle.

It was evident that the album would require a wider release and the World renowned record shop and New York institution that is Other Music and their Other Music Recording Co. were thrilled to step in. Not a moment too soon as it worked out, as the album became the first-ever Bandcamp release to be named Pitchfork’s “Best New Music”. Quite a coup, as it was still almost totally unavailable to a wider audience.

Although very much a collaborative affair, Mutual Benefit is Jordan Lee, native of Ohio and all parts in between. On the eve of 2014’s great record store celebrations, we were stoked to get the chance to talk about his record shop journey.

Where did you grow up and which record stores formed your earliest experiences?

My first (non-corporate) record store experiences were in Columbus, OH with Used Kids which was right next to a bagel shop that would throw punk shows in the basement.

It was a pretty drastic change from the tame suburbs where my parents lived. I was just a baby gangster so I was excited about Radiohead, New Pornographers, etc.

You’re an Austin Texas resident. The city has a superb record store scene. Where do you frequent? What is good for what?

Yeah, from Columbus I moved onto Austin after high school and had some really formative experiences with the “weird” section of Waterloo Records. I discovered so many of my favorite bands like Colleen and Lau Nau just based off of album art and a record clerk recommendation.

How did it feel to play at this years SXSW? Is Austin more fun during or outside of the festival?

I can’t really answer to whether Austin is more or less fun during the fest but it is definitely more surreal. Riding a bike under the shadow of a five story faux vending machine for some snack company that some buzzband is playing within feels pretty apocalyptic but seeing so many friends from all over the world in one city makes it totally worth it. This was the first year we played bigger shows instead of just relaxing but hopefully it paid off a little.

I read that you’d spent time in Ohio, Boston, and Brooklyn (besides live touring) - Which record stores have made a big impact on you during your travels?

Must be neat to have a good relationship with the guys at Other Music.

Ha, yes being with Other Music has been nice though I’ve only taken advantage of our relationship once for some short-run Spanish coldwave records. Knowing them as a longstanding New York institution was a big factor in

wanting to work with them. As far as touring goes, I remember being wowed by the big west coast spots like Amoeba but my favorite spots are in small towns with impeccable cassette collections for our car to eat.

What makes a good record shop? Why do you think people still care?

I like record shops with personality. I love walking into one and seeing handwritten index cards with short reviews on records. That kind of excitement is contagious. I also love when a record store can serve as a community space for small shows and supporting local artists. That kind of stuff can never be replaced by itunes or whatever.

people is totally different. Sometimes it feels worlds away from previous experiences of playing house shows and art spaces. But I feel especially bad for younger bedroom producers who get snatched up and sent on tour before they’re ready. It can be so taxing!

There are some beautiful releases on Kassette Klub, how did your label come about? What inspires you?

Do you remember the first place you saw ‘Love’s Crushing Diamond’ for sale physically? How did that feel?

Kassette Klub was my baby for years but it hasn’t been active for a while, since running a label and being a touring musician are oftentimes mutually exclusive. It started because I was a voracious music consumer on the internet and I kept finding these artists who wrote amazing songs but couldn’t find anyone to release it.

Vinyl was cost prohibitive and CD Rs didn’t feel special enough so cassettes it was. A lot of the bands like Ricky Eat Acid and Magical Mistakes are still around and releasing groundbreaking stuff.

Well obviously I saw it at Other Music first but on our winter tour I saw it featured at a little Los Angeles record store we stopped at to browse and it turned into a bit of a proud moment.

As someone who has benefited so massively from it and the exposure it can bring, your thoughts on digital music? What does the future hold? Will it ever replace physicality?

The critical acclaim and general awareness of ‘Love’s Crushing Diamond’ must have been pretty overwhelming, how has that ride been?

I’m a little less vested in physical music than you probably, but I see them as two mostly different things.

Most of my friends use digital streaming or downloading to discover and then buy physically if it really makes a big impression. Also the act of buying something physical after a show is still important to me both to support the artist and to have something you’ll always remember.

Like any ride, it has some serious ups and downs. It has honestly been very confusing, rewarding, tiring, exciting.

When I catch myself wishing for a more regular life I try to remind myself that I should be feeling really, really grateful and not to get caught up in public opinion or selfmade existential crises.

Do you feel that your previous albums and touring with friends bands had prepared you suitably for the mass of new interest?

In some ways yes, I definitely got used to life on the road and playing in lots of different environments but also doing music professionally on a label with a team of

Your best/recent finds in record shops? What are you listening to at the moment?

Oh man, It was a total dream to visit Mississippi Records in Portland, OR. The band collectively bought 100 of their homemade compilation tapes on everything from early American roots music to vinyl rips of doo wop groups to rare British psychedelia. That’s definitely what I’ve been listening through at the moment.

Jordan Lee of Mutual Benefit.

Photographed by Danny Dorsa

Jon Hassell City: Works Of Fiction

Greater Lengths

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Expanded reissue of 1990 album including full live set mixed live by Eno and a carefully edited sequence of alternate takes, demos and remixes that presents a parallel dimension version of the original release. Available in 2LP+DL card or 3CD casebound editions

A selection of highlights from the All Saints label including Brian Eno, Harold Budd, Roedelius and John Cale, alongside specially commissioned interpretations by contemporary artists including Bee Mask, patten, Sun Araw, Hieroglyphic Being and James Blackshaw. 2CD compilation and 12” vinyl EP series.

Now available as a 3LP vinyl edition featuring rare early tape works, collaborations and career highlights.

1978 - 2011

“highlights the man's outstanding musical trajectory and achievements transcendent and gorgeous music that combines gritty experimentation with an otherwise dream-like musical palette” – Other Music (reissues of 2013)

Also available Reissues and retrospectives of Djivan Gasparyan, Harold Budd and Roger Eno

DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME Without risk of overstating it, Simon Raymonde and Van Dyke Parks have both made a significant impact on the last few generations of contemporary music, working with a phenomenal roll call of musicians as composers, arrangers, record producers, instrumentalists, singer-songwriters, curators, and a record label. Do they all owe this rich musical tapestry to the record shop? Not necessarily, but as ever, it’s the best place to start.

Deluxe: What were your first record shop experiences?

Simon Raymonde: I was at boarding school went punk happened in ‘76, and yet luckily despite being stuck deep in the English countryside, i was well-served by a fabulous place called RECORD CORNER. Incredibly, this tiny village record shop that I frequented aged 14 to buy all my punk singles is STILL there today.

In those early days of punk, I could go down there, order the singles in the shop if they didn’t have them and would go and pick them up a few days later. It was really mostly a classical, choral and folk record shop and I think the

three or four of us who used to rush down there after school finished each day must have made something of an impression! Even though it wasn’t anything like Rough Trade, which was like mecca for punks, for those of us outside of London during the week, just as obsessed with the music as those in it, I think it was probably just as magical. I remember my best mate Stan (who i named my first son after) buying 2 copies of this 7” in Record Corner, one for him, one for me. I don’t know why I remember that more than all the Buzzcocks, Wire singles etc we bought but there you go!! sleeve attached.

After leaving school in 1980 the first job I got was at Beggars Banquet Records in Earls Court, a job which in

“The social hub of music lovers was primarily the record store.

It sure beat internet dating.”

- Van Dyke Parks

many ways, paved the way for everything that followed.

I started my own band while working there and got signed to Situation Two Records upstairs from the shop (the label also signed my favourite band at the time The Associates etc), and then I met the Cocteau Twins folks there for the first time when they were visiting 4AD (also upstairs) and became friends with them, which of course then ultimately led to me joining that band a couple of years later!

Van Dyke Parks: In 1955, I got my first personal portable record player, in Hollywood. It was a slender plastic thing, a light lime green body, designed (much like my Olivetti typewriter) by an Italian hipster. It spun platters at 33 1/3, 45, and 78 revolutions per minute. To make music, I’d have to go to a record store. As luck would have it, Sam Goody’s was a short hoof just a few blocks east of the Chateau Marmont, on Sunset Boulevard.

(Goody had two big stores--one, his first, in Manhattan).

Sam was basically an eminence gris. His sons ran the operation. Yet, I think it was his brilliant market strategy that provided the customers with listening booths, equipped with turn tables---so they could take a record off the rack, and give it a quick spin, to see if they wanted to buy it.

The store on Sunset had booths at the store front, windows to the street. From the sidewalk, pedestrians could see (both day and night) the animated faces of listeners, with heads sheathed in earphones, in various moods of discovery. It was all the rage, and a sane sales approach that struck a lure in listening but had a backend benefit that created a payment system for new artists of all stripes in genre. That store was hugely successful for decades, that rode the wave of an expanding music market, as rock and roll became a cultural phenom.

Yet, they didn’t neglect classical or jazz idioms.

My first record purchases at age 9 in ‘55? An EP of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik with a B side of his Divermento in D. I also got a record of genius field recorder Emery Cook’s Dutch Barrel House music. (This latter would influence the way I interpreted “Donovan’s Colours”, in ‘67).

The social hub of music lovers was primarily the record store. It sure beat internet dating.

Deluxe: Why do you think they still matter?

Simon Raymonde: Listen, we can all sit and order ANYTHING we want now from the sofa. Food, clothes, films, tv, music, etc. We don’t ever have to leave the house.

The convenience society. But I am afraid, nothing ever changed by sitting down reading about it second hand.

Van Dyke Parks and Simon Raymonde.

Photographed by Anika Mottershaw

“The internet provides us access to most stuff, but human interaction it hasn’t mastered yet.”

- Simon Raymonde You can’t march for Rock Against Racism from your sofa, you can’t protest about CND, or the National Front from behind your laptop. You have to experience it, and while record shopping is less of a necessity for music lovers than it was 20 years ago, it still matters enormously for the COMMUNITY of music, and the Music Community, if that makes sense. Word of mouth, picking up a striking album sleeve, standing in the shop hearing a new band for the first time, having a cup of coffee and a chat with a friend, rifling through the racks for a bargain, using one of the listening stations to hear something new, hearing about a local concert coming up, finding out that the Television album you had on cd that got nicked is now out on 180g vinyl with a free cd inside, are all personal, positive experiences that you really do need in your life.

The internet provides us access to most stuff, but human interaction it hasn’t mastered yet. The shop owners, like the label owners who sell them stuff, aren’t working there to make a good living, they’re working there for you, and partly, because the excitement of playing something in the shop that you love and watching someone buy it, is a beautiful thing. When there is no more vinyl and no more record shops, which I don’t believe will ever happen btw, I won’t be in the music business anymore.

Van Dyke Parks: Actual physically tangible Records are the only way musicians can get compensation for their work.

These stores allow a visual display (with the concept of rack display) of established and new musicians. Face time with in-store personnel allows insight to what is hip and fit to taste.

These stores have a continuum of staffers who share their passion for the Art form of recorded music, its history, and trends. You just can’t get that on a lap top computer, anymore than you can sense a Spielberg epic with the magnitude of a John Williams score on an I Phone download.

Yesterday, I co-wrote & arranged a tune for Ringo Starr’s next album. (“Bamboula”). We agreed to split the profit in writing and publishing 50-50, and discussed how we might share about eighty dollars....if we achieved 100,000 digital downloads from Spotify.

Come, to think of it, that’d bring our pay for the work we did on this killer tune to less than $10 per hour.

(That’s less than minimum wage for unskilled labor in the USA).

Cardiff ’s The Table and “Do The Standing Still (Classics Illustrated)”.

Real Records, in real stores, is the venue for music buffs who want to support artists’ new works, with fair compensation.

Ringo and I pondered that...and how we long for Yesterday!

See you on record day? BTW, my newest disk is “Songs Cycled” (on Bella Union). Go out humming the Art and liner notes.

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GrASS rGTS feSTivAl AwArd È Uk feSTivAl AwArdS 2�12 Ç

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