Collectors (are nuts)

Some primary players in the world of record collecting.

From Spine TV

Mayer Hawthorne

I came across this piece of video with Mayer Hawthorne and his story on digging and artistry. Filmed at the Groove Merchant store in San Fansisco which is, as far as I know, a great purveyor of all things vinyl and funky.

Mayer Hawthorne's Dusty Fingers from Yours Truly on Vimeo.
From Yours Truly

Wallifornia Soul

I always find it great to hear stories on passionate people. This one is about a Belgian soul fan and crate digger. A nice little documentary by the people from Laidback.

Wallifornia Soul from Laid Back on Vimeo.

The Art of Diggin'

Record Shops

Today I want to pay homage to a few of the reord shops I've visited through the years. Nowadays I don't get the chance to pop into any decent shops too often. Due deference to Internet, there's nothing like walking into a real shop. For good or bad, to be honest. When going to Stockholm, I sometimes avoid going the shops as they're just too good, and It's just a burden to be encountered by these brilliant records that that are going to dig deep holes into your pockets.
Anyway, here's a list of great shops, some still around, that I've been to:

• Vaxkupan. In my hometown (Nkpg), where I seriously started to buy records in the early 90's.
• Recordmania, Stockholm. Simply one of the best shops I've ever been to. http://recordmania.net/
  
• Soul Jazz, London, especially the old one at Ingestre Place. http://www.soundsoftheuniverse.com/
  
• Fat Cat, London. Was always an essential stop on frequent trips to London in the 90's.
• Atlas, London, as Fat Cat crucial for electronic isht in the 90's.
• Reckless, London. There's a few around which always where great for promo's.
• HMV, London. It could actually be really good at times.
• Black Market, London. The basement for Drum'n'bass is just a great memory. http://www.bm-soho.com/
• Honest Jons, London. Cool shop & cool staff. A nice trip to get out to out to west London when living there early 2000. http://www.honestjons.com
• Guiness Records, Tokyo. The look and the records. Only in Japan. http://guinness-records.com/
• Jazzy Sport, Tokyo. Really hard to find on the 5th floor in an office-type of building. http://www.jazzysport.com/
  
• Disk Union, Tokyo. Various branches in focused on different genres. One of the best. http://diskunion.net/
  
• Especial, Kyoto. A quite small but nice selection of jazz and related. http://www.especial-records.com/
  

There's loads more, and hopefully I'll still get the chance to enter a few of them in the future.

The Art of Diggin

I read that the infamous Frank Wilson “Do I love you" 7" is up for Auction. Expected to fetch between £25-75 000 it still hails as one of the holy grails, all-time, all genres. Present owner, Scottish Northern Soul Dj Kenny Burell, certainly made a good investment back in the day. It has probably given him lots of gigs, and an investment that has increased in value. He bought it for £15 000.

It indicates that the need for originality is still relevant within the Dj-community. Although this particular record, and the soul scene is the most extreme, and you can’t always make comparisons with other records/genres. Though, the collecting- and dj’ing art has always been hard to separate (If you’re over, say 25-ish, dj, and genuinely like music). In these cases there are certain paradoxes, which I’m personally part of as well, that clashes between the interest of the music and the need of the original pressing. Hypothetically you could do well with a re-pressing, or even an mp3. But like a friend of mine once said - “An mp3 is as interesting as an anonymous piece of sugar in a sugar bowl”. And I certainly think he’s right, even though I’m not the most hardcore collector I still aim for the original pressing. And most definitely on vinyl. That way these collectors/dj's become purveyors of the culture (and good music) which is getting more and more expendable in these times.
Personally I’m more of a bargain hunter, and that’s where the collecting habits come in. It’s a bit like a competition, and getting a bargain indeed gives the feel of winning a prize. Having the rarest record is could also be considered as a winning formula which gives you “capital”(social and economic) within the scene.

Anyway, I don’t want to make these posts too long. I briefly want to tell you about one of the finest bargains I’ve found – the Nancy Holloway “Hello Dolly” Lp, with the fantastic "Hurts so bad". I think it was 5 or 10 sek, ($1) and in very very nice condition possibly just played a very few times. That’s certainly a good buzz, and makes all this worthwhile.

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