Record Store Day report

My Record Store Day started with a visit to Conch Records after my radio show; the place was buzzing. Brent was DJing out front of the shop, spinning 45s by the likes of Julie London and Frank Sinatra, all class; Dustin and Cian were running round behind the counter and Jim was making excellent coffees, as always. I scored the new Black Seeds single on vinyl, and the latest copy of Shook magazine.

Trekked down to Real Groovy later in the afternoon, that was packed too, good to see. Had a dig round in the bins down the back and picked up a wicked Quincy Jones album, Gula Matari. I discovered this album after hearing the excellent mix from DJ Spinna a while back, a Tribute to Q (which features the title track and Hummin off that LP).

If you haven't heard that mix, go get it, it's mean. It's a funky education on the many varied styles of Quincy Jones. I was only familiar with some of his film composing work and of course producing Michael Jackson, but he's done a ton of cool stuff around that too.

Real Groovy had a selection of folks DJing some of their fave tunes - Liam Finn, Russell Baillie, Roger Shepherd, Recloose, Nick D, David Farrier, Roger Perry, and when I was down there, Dylan C was dropping some wicked tunes, including that Chains remix by Che Fu, always good to hear that, love the opening liine - "I grew up in Ponsonby, they take the Gluepot now they coming for me..."

The special mystery guest DJ appeared after Dylan - it was Ladyhawke. She attracted a small crowd to watch her 'mix', but they were kept a safe distance from her by a velvet rope. Celebrity DJs aye? Woohoo. That's Ladyhawke DJing, below.

This is one of the Real Groovy staff who dressed up for the day, note the hat made of 45s - she's also got a record attached to her shoulder, slightly obscured. Imagine if there'd been a scene in Bladerunner with Deckard ducking into a record shop to hide from his pursuers - she would've been working behind the counter.

 

This is photographic proof that Record Store Day wasn't just a bunch of sad old men, but there were some young women buying LPs. See, they don't all sit at home downloading Britney/Lady Gaga. Ah, young people...