Conch Records

115A Ponsonby Road, Auckland, New Zealand.

Despite my obvious desire to stay home with the record collection I haven’t seen for four years, my day job required that I went up to Auckland for a conference over the weekend.

I worked from my companies Auckland office on Friday and was tipped off about a ‘new’ record shop about 500m down the road.

As it turns out, Conch Records (115A Ponsonby Road, Auckland, New Zealand) has actually been in business for 12 years in total and six in its current location.

All I can say is, ‘Dagnammit!’ that I didn’t find out about it before.

Conch seems to have no discernible overall record selling ethos other than ‘eclectic’. (In that respect (and the little café at the front) it reminds me a lot of the late-lamented Jittering Records in Moseley, Birmingham – one of my favourite ever record shops). 

It’s a mix of new and second hand soul, afrobeat, hip-hop and downtempo. (Which largely matches my tastes).

I’ve kinda cleared myself out this pay cycle with comedy and gig tickets, so had to behave myself – but came away with a few gems (including- but not limited to - the following) for $40 all up.

Herbie Hancock ‘Rockit’ CBS 12” Single

I missed out bidding on a 7” copy of this online a few weeks ago because we were going to the market. I think it went for $5.50. I paid $5 all up for the 12” with the single edit on one side and the album version on the B-Side. This deserved to be in my collection. Made todays digging worthwhile before I found anything else. (Sadly, a 1980’s US major label pressing, so slightly thicker than a flexidisk off of a magazine cover, but only just…)

Rodney P ‘Riddim Killa/A Love Song (Feat. Julie Dexter)’ Low Life Records 12” Single

The 2^nd hand hip-hop section wasn’t that great (NZ hip-hop is awful, relying on hackneyed west coast clichés and the second hand bins largely consist of major label US drivel) but this was $5. It’s Rodney P, who’s one of my favourite MC’s both lyrically and tonally. I love UK hip-hop – Mark B’s comment that “UK hip-hop has as much to owe to reggae as it does to US hip-hop” is never clearer than when you hear Rodney P.

Boca 45 feat. Tammy Payne ‘Take A Ride’ Grand Central 12” Single

I remember the name “Boca 45” but bought this without listening to it based on the fact that a) it was $2.00 and b) it’s on Grand Central Records (Rae & Christian’s label and home of ‘Northern Sulfuric Soul’, one of my top 10 favourite LP’s ever).

Busta Rhymes ‘Tear The Roof Off’ WEA 12” TP

I’ve got literally hundreds of white labels but this is actually the first that I’ve seen with a TP label on it. It’s the “clean” version on the A-Side (which is what I imagine Brits know as a ‘Radio Mix). On the B-Side it’s the album version. It’s Busta Rhymes, it was in the $1.00 shit bin, so it’s worth a go, right?

Taken from ‘Music For Dancefloors: The Cream Of The Chappell Music Library’ Strut 12” EP Sampler

Strut is one of the most consistent and amazing re-release labels and the catalogue number makes me think that this is an early, pre-K7 buyout promo. Whatever though, it’s on Strut. It’s gonna be quality.

Stevie Wonder ‘Living For The City/Visions’ Tamla 7” Single

I found out early this week that the reason that my original (1973) ‘Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yester-Day’ 7” was slightly familiar is that I already had a mint un-played 200? Reissue. I ‘ve been a big fan of “purple-period” 1970’s Stevie Wonder for ages. I recently listened to a Motown Stevie Wonder compilation LP that I bought in a batch of soul records and realised (with some surprise) that his 60’s singles are actually just as good. This is seventies anyway. It’s in a generic cover but really clean.

The Quantic Soul Orchestra ‘Super 8 (Part 1)/Super 8 (Part 2)’ Tru Thoughts 7” Single

Amongst the other lists of super-hot 45’s that I’m building is a great funk/block party set. This is gonna be in it.

Quantic feat. Alice Russell ‘The Sound Of Everything (Watch TV & Senorlobo reprise)’ Marulasoulfood  7” (Plays the same both sides)

It’s a bit more sedate, but I assume that it’s the same Quantic as above. Reminds me a bit of ‘Soul Vibration’ by J-Walk. No bad thing.

Unboxing Day

This blog was intended to be an on-going journal of records as I buy them.

Thursday wasn’t a day that I bought records, but was a day when a fairly decent pile came back into my life after a prolonged absence. On Thursday, Crown Removals dropped off my record collection, which had been shipped all the way from the US of K.  

$2000 NZ, five months of waiting, 15 moving boxes (11 of which contained records) and one half days holiday (to receive and unpack, albeit not yet sort) this is what came out:

Vinyl records are a weirdly emotive thing for me. I think the perpetual motion of a record going round appeals to me deeply so it was strange to have one day that was so devoted to a collision of my old and new  lives.

The first box that I opened was this one:

I was so deliberate about how cool my record box looked that I actually planned the stickers well in advance. I’d been saving them for more than a year before I got the box as a Christmas present from an old girlfriend. Unlike a normal record box which is oblong and holds about 60 records, it’s square and holds 100. This means that it weighs as much as an adult human being and it nearly broke my collar bone every time I had to drag it up the gangplank to the Thekla .

The first book out of the gates.. I miss John Peel almost every day.

Mother and child reunion. The first thing I pulled out of this little cutie is my highly illegal ‘Bigger Than Jamrock’ bootleg. (A cut-up of ‘Bigger Than Hip-Hop by Dead Prez and ‘Welcome To Jamrock’ by Damian Marley - that can be totally relied on to quite simply “mash-up the dance”).

Roy Ayers 'Virgo Vibes' Atlantic LP

It’s amazing the things that you forget you have. I saw this in the background of an Amoeba Records ‘What’s In My Bag’ episode a couple of weeks ago and thought, “I’ve got that..”

Gat Decor 'Passion' Flying Nun 12" Single

A quid’s worth of passion. One pound (see sticker top left) from the Imperial Cancer Research charity shop on Gloucester Road in Bristol. Bought literally one week after my sister paid twenty pounds for an original pressing on E-Bay. She was not amused.

Bring on the filth. A weird time capsule of what I was playing the day that I left the UK four years ago. Darker than I remember, actually.

London Philarmonic Orchestra 'Star Wars OST'  LP

I totally forgot that I had this. Jockeying for position as silliest record in my collection.

Curtis Mayfield 'Super Fly OST'  Curtom  LP

Jockeying for position as the best soundtrack that I have on vinyl. ‘Pusherman’ is an absolute belter of a tune.

Iggy & The Stooges 'Raw Power' Elektra LP

Best record cover of all time. Iggy’s clearly from/in outer space here.

There you are old girl. You might not believe this… but (forgive the high E and B strings) still in tune, despite more than six months in a container. I must have played twenty of these before I bought one and was originally desperate for a sunburst one. When I saw her on the wall, it was love at first sight. That was fifteen years ago. We’re working hard on rebuilding our relationship after some time apart seeing other people.

I’d like to say that this sudden influx of records; lots of which I don’t remember (but sort of do), which also include records that I bought online from New Zealand but sent to my record collection rather than to myself, weirdly, and as such have never listened to; will mean that there is actually a hiatus in my purchasing – but I’m not convinced.

Photek Live

'Modus Operandi' live set
Sandwiches Bar & Nightclub, Wellington, NZ
Saturday 08th September 2012

Apparently, Rupert Parkes was convinced to put together a ‘Modus Operandi’ live set by none other than Tony Colman (aka London Elektricity) for a Hospitality club night in London.

For those not in the know, ‘Modus Operandi’ was a 1997 LP by Photek (aka Special Forces, aka Aquarius, aka Rupert Parkes) that represents a high water mark in sophistication and production values for the entire drum & bass genre.

Not that Mr. Parkes has ever adopted the moniker. Interestingly, he still refers to what he does as simply ‘jungle’.

Overall, despite several forays into other genres (the massive 2000 house hit ‘Mine To Give’ with Robert Owens) and his (albeit less well received) hip-hop project ‘…Presents Do Or Die’) Parkes is a giant in drum & bass terms. As the MC on the night said, “One of the true, original drum & bass pioneers”.

In my record collection, I think you’d be hard pushed (Total Science, maybe) to find as many records by a single producer. (Be they house or drum & bass).

The night was a meshing of old and new, with Parkes performing a mutant set (utilising two CDJ’s and Ableton Live) to recreate the LP, meshing component parts of tracks rather than playing the LP by rote.

In addition to LP tracks, he mixed other productions including his classic (and my favourite drum & bass tune of all time) ‘Ni Ten Ichi Ryu’.

If I sound gushing, I am. I’ve seen Photek DJ before (circa 1997 and 2003) so was understandably excited about this show. (Indeed, my girlfriend noted that our “early bird” tickets were numbered ‘0002 and ‘0003).

 

If you show me another example of another underground mackdaddy of the whole show re-imposing his absolute mastery of the genre – I’m all ears. Quality.

Ten City ‘Foundation’ Atlantic LP

My girlfriend was recently tipped off  by colleague about a couple of great op-shops over in Miramar, so based on today’s clement weather, we decided to go for a long walk over to the Miramar Peninsular for a spot of thrifting and lunch at the legendary Chocolate Fish Café.

Last night, I’d been re-reading the fantastic DJ history book, “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton and had just got to the section on the birth of the House scene in Chicago, with reference to such pioneers as Frankie Knuckles, Ron Hardy, Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley and Marshall Jefferson.

So, on arrival at the Salvation Army shop in Miramar, I have a rifle through the LP’s and lo and behold, there’s a load of Neil Diamond, Mantovani and Classical LP’s like every other op shop in the world.

There was however what looked like an eighties soul LP (from 1988 on further inspection) the wrong way round in the stack, with a trio of fairly awesomely dressed chaps on it:

On scanning the tracklist and rear cover credits, I was pretty surprised to learn that it was produced by none other than Marshall Jefferson.

I read the inner sleeve thanks list when we got home and found shout-outs to basically the entire eighties US House music aristocracy (Frankie Knuckles, Ron Hardy, Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk, Tony Humphries, The Hot Mix 5, L’il Louis and Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley, who mixes some of the tracks on the LP) and early instigators from the UK (Jazzy M, Kiss FM and Blackmarket Records).

On playing the LP, the opening track ‘That’s The Way Love Is’ (Underground Mix) was immediately familiar (though I’ve found out it was actually re-recorded by Ten City vocalist Byron Stingily in 1999 and released on Defected) and the remainder of the record is really listenable crossover of vocal R&B/deep house.

In particular, the track ‘Suspicious’ (which itself sounds like a Marshall Jefferson deep house tune with Stingily singing over the top) is a bit of a corker and will be making an appearance on a mixtape I’m making for a friend in the not too distant future. 

All in all, the edges of the sleeve inner are worn, but the cover and vinyl are in good nick and it’s a steal for $2.00.

I think it makes a good companion piece (showing the growing sophistication of House as a genre) to my V/A “The House Sound Of Chicago” DJ International LP from 1986, which features many of the same artists that Ten City thank on their sleeve; Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley, Fingers Inc., Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk (with the awesome ‘Love Can’t Turn Around’ Feat. Darryl Pandy) and Ten City’s producer – Marshall Jefferson.

The compilation is considered to be pretty seminal as the way in which many UK listeners first heard the new “House Sound” that was coming out of Chicago at the time. 

Evil Genius - Sunday 02/09/2012

I went to view a house today in Berhampore and found myself with an hour to kill at cafe/record shop Evil Genius at 462 Adelaide Road.

As with RPM, Evil Genius have fairly recently arrived from their former home in Christchurch. Down there they eschewed the CBD and were based in Riccarton, here they're similarly out in the sticks.

I've been to Evil Genius once before and despite not getting along too well with the shop (it's a bit hipster for my liking, seeming to have lots and lots and lots of fairly modern alternative/psychedelic rock) I came away with a pretty great modern Elektra reissue of the Nuggets  compilation LP. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuggets:_Original_Artyfacts_from_the_First_Psychedelic_Era,_1965%E2%80%931968)

This time, I sampled the cafe (good cake..) and despite (as with yesterday) trying not to buy anything; I came away with a few 'too good to pass-up' items:

Sesso Matto‎ 'Sessomatto' (Remix) West End Records 12"
The release includes a pair of Idjut Boys Remixes on the B-Side, but I've bought this for the 'Original 1976 Jim Stuard Disco Mix' on the A-Side: ten and a half minutes of proper latin disco vibes. I'm happy with that for $12.00.

The Criminal Element Orchestra feat. Wendell Williams 'Everybody' De:Construction 12"
Arthur Baker production under the same name as the classic, 'Put The Needle On The Record'. It's the much maligned/failed genre of hip-house from 1990 and a pinch at $5.00.

Deodato 'Knights of Fantasy' Warners LP
In the 'yellow sticker/$5 LP' bin. Eumir Deodato is better known as a producer and arranger these days, but made lots of jazz/funk and jazz/disco crossover albums in the 1970's. This is from 1979 and on Warners and  whilst being a very clean version, is a good example of why major label vinyl from the late seventies and early  eighties is not well regarded. (It's about half as thick as it should be).

The cover has to be one of the worst/best I've ever seen, with the tacky trio of 'laydees' legs, vinyl as spaceships and an 'otherworldly' environment.

It's the second Deodato LP I've bought, albeit the first on a major label. It's a lot more commercial that the other one I own (Deodato '2' CTI Records LP, which has an amazing version of 'Nights In White Satin') and isn't nearly as good, sadly.

S.M.O.K.E.‎ 'Cyclops / Party Alarms' Formation 12"

I don't buy a huge amount of drum & bass these days (Wellington doesn't feel that urban to me, so maybe it doesn't match) but pick up bits and pieces when they come to hand. This wasn't actually in Evil Genius (it was outside it, in the $3 shit-bin on the pavement. (As I said, it's not really a dance type of store). I don't have a lot of records on DJ SS's Formation Records, so thought that $3.00 seemed pretty okay. The tune is too. Pretty okay...

RPM's 1st Birthday - 01/09/2012

Today was the first day of a weeks holiday for me, so I felt in fairly ebulient mood from the outset.

Even better than the realisation that I've not got to go to work on Monday was that today was RPM Records (140 Vivian Street, Wellington) 1st Birthday sale.

RPM rose phoenix like from the rubble of post-quake Christchurch and has filled a void left by the sadly defunct Real Groovy Records. (I believe that RPM's owner was actually the owner of Real Groovy Christchurch, which sadly still sits in the red zone). 

Anyways, they had a 20% off sale and despite penury (I spent $2k on shipping my record collection from the UK this week - they dock on Tuesday!) I managed to pick up a few interesting gems, including:

10th Anniversary Tribute: N.W.A Album Sampler 12" EP (Promo)
Cover versions of "Straight Out Of Compton","Dopeman", "Quiet On The Set" and "Express Yourself" with Big Pun, Fat Joe and Silkk The Shocker plus others. Worth $10 (actually $8 thanks to the 20% sale) of anyone's money. It's on neon yellow vinyl as well, so a dorky treat.

Bell Biv DeVoe 'Something In Your Eyes' 12" (Promo)

Produced by LA Reid & Babyface. The radio edit and album versions repeat on both sides. A nice bit of darker R&B. Mine for 80c, which is always a winner.

2 Inda Bush 'The Lick' bw. 'Nutty Drumstick'

A very early example (1998) of what later became known as nu-skool breaks by the men also known as Soul of Man on their Finger Lickin' imprint. To be honest, I might already own this but for 80c, who cares. It's a bit uncool to admit it now (the fact that several of breaks' lynchpin DJ/Producers worked in PR didn't really help with how over-hyped it became) but I liked breaks and have a lot of breaks records. Dubstep made it okay to like Garage again, so I reckon it might be due a bit of re-evaluation. Yes, lots of terrible records were around at the tail end, but there were some great records made for a while. 

Next up, I wandered down to The Salvation Army shop to have a look at the furniture. I didn't even realise that there was an upstairs. Anyways, it was the usual NZ op-shop story (lots of classical LP's, not a lot of anything else) but I did find Yazoo's 'Situation' 7" for a dollar (sadly, no 20% sale at the Sally Army).

I'm not actually familiar with the A-side but the B-side really sealed the deal for me. 

Yes, that classic single - the one that caused Vince Clarke's departure from Depeche Mode (they turned their nose up at recording it, so he left the band citing 'artistic differences') and then had a massive hit with it re-vocalled by a very young Alison Moyet. One of my top-ten tunes of the eighties.