Deluxe Issue Seventeen

17

It’s About Record Shops.

Phoebe Bridgers – Sebastian Plano – EERA – World of Echo Steve Kraków – Stranger Than Paradise – AJ Lambert

Come In We’re...

Deluxe!

Welcome to Deluxe. For those of you who have not picked up a copy before, we really hope you like record shops, it’s a heavy theme here. In this issue we had the opportunity to speak to a couple of relatively new shops, two that we like very much and places that are adding very distinct and characterdriven record shop experiences to the always thriving London shopping scene. We were also utterly delighted to have Babak Ganjei create a guest cover for us, especially as he is a regular frequenter of both the featured shops,

a man caught mercilessly in their East London crosshairs.

Although we’ve always placed a heavy emphasis on the printed press, we’ve been using some down time so far this year to work on the website. We’ll be putting more and more archive content online in the coming weeks, not to mention some goods and garms for purchase from our ever widening network of creatives and record shopping obsessives.

www.deluxenewspaper.com

Interviewed, edited and compiled by The Drift Record Shop Designed by jenny@atworkportfolio.co.uk Guest Cover by Babak Ganjei Sub edited by Lu Overy Printed by Newspaper Club Distributed by Forte Music Distribution © 2019 Deluxe Newspaper

Contents.

6-9

12 - 15

Phoebe Bridgers on down time and browsing bins

Parallels & Comparisons: AJ Lambert

Interview.

Interview.

10

Probe Records Record Shop Bags.

16 - 19

World of Echo Shop Profile.

DELUXE 17.

26 - 29

Steve Krakรณw Interview.

20 - 21

Amyl & The Sniffers Field Guide.

30 - 35

EERA Anna Lena Bruland Interview.

22 - 25

36 - 39

Sebastian Plano

Stranger Than Paradise

Interview.

Shop Profile.

DELUXE 17.

Interview.

Phoebe Bridgers Just before embarking on the collaborative ‘Better Oblivion Community Center’ with Conor Oberst, and the supergroup ‘boygenius’ with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, we spoke to Phoebe Bridgers about finding down time and browsing bins.

Deluxe: So, how are you doing?

Phoebe Bridgers: I am well, I just got home from being gone all year touring, (laughing) so I’m doing great!

D: How was life on the road? Is it nice to be home?

PB: Yeah well, both are nice but it’s definitely nice to be home for sure.

D: How do you find touring? Is that something you’re kind of into?

PB: It is, I feel like I’m getting better at it. The first couple times I went, I was so, somehow over prepared and underprepared.

D: (laughing) How? PB: Like over-packed, I only used like the first two inches of my suitcase, my giant suitcase. I also get bad at acquiring stuff - especially if I’m in the UK or Europe.

D: That’s dangerous.

PB: By the end of the run, my bag is huge, they have to like tape it up with giant like, heavy tape at the airport… I feel like I’m getting better for sure.

D: Have you got any tips for people who are new to going out on tour? What are your most important things to take with you?

PB: Well, definitely checklist are first. You feel like you don’t need a list and then you are on a plane - an international flight - and you don’t have DELUXE 17.

a phone charger. Also, don’t like overestimate yourself with books.

D: Okay.

PB: I would say, bring one book. Bring a book, and then you’ll like actually read it. And then if you finish it, just like buy another one. You know?

The first couple times I went on tour, I brought like three books. I was like, “Yep,” you know, cause I read every night?

D: (laughing) That’s pretty ambitious.

PB: Very, yeah. So I would say like, don’t overestimate yourself. Oh! also don’t pack anything you’ve never worn before. i’m the worst for that… like, “But it could be awesome?!”

D: Just go with the comfy stuff.

PB: Accept you’re gonna wear the same jeans every day.

D: Did you get much downtime? Did you get to kind of see anywhere nice when you were touring?

PB: Not much downtime. My favorite stuff is like stuff I accidentally do. You know? when I go on walks or something. You end up in parks and it’s pretty and people are hanging out. You get days off in weird places.

D: Talking about your debut album, where did the title come from?

PB: The title?

D: Yeah (laughing), ‘Stranger in the Alps’,

6.

Photo: Lara Pentelute

‘I remember being so horrified because the guy at the label was like, “You need to start tweeting like, Elliott Smith lyrics”...’

7.

Interview.

When did that land on you?

PB: Uh, (laughing) definitely around a table at the studio, like you know, just talking about a bunch of different things with the producer and my guitar player and stuff. Someone mentioned the whole story* and the producer Tony was like, “That’s an album title.” I was like, “That’s absolutely gonna be my album title”.

D: (laughing) it’s really good.

PB: I feel like nobody really believed me. You know, like when people started seeing like the first drafts of the album out and they were like, “Oh, shit. Too serious.”

D: It was completely above my head if I am honest.

PB: Well, I think that’s kind of the point too. I love how benal it is. But why did I choose that? It’s so weirdly poetic and actually, like, the imagery that it evokes. I was just really drawn to it. I didn’t want to be too self-serious, a lot of my personality is where real things meet joke things.

D: This has carried over into things like your instagram and twitter and website addresses - phoebefuckingbridgers.com, the “millennial falcon” and “_fake_nudes_” - I really got the impression that you’re having, like, a lot of fun with it?

PB: (laughing) I am for sure. I feel like I get in that argument with people, the internet is so funny to me, as long as it doesn’t like suck you down into the abyss of like comparing yourself to people or whatever. I think that it is fun.

D: Yeah, definitely. Easier said than done though.

We did a whole issue based around Twitter a few years ago, how people interact with the platform and as a consequence directly interact with people PB: Oh, really?

D: Some people are very apprehensive and some people really embrace that connection. It would seem that you’re quite giving?

PB: Well, I think it’s a little bit of both. Like, obviously my record’s very sad, but I definitely think that other part of personality kind of shines through. One of the first ever meetings when I was like a teenager with a label, I remember being so horrified because the guy at the label was DELUXE 17.

Photo: Frank Ockenfels

like, “You need to start tweeting like, Elliott Smith lyrics”...

D: (laughing) brutal!

PB: (laughing) yeah, “people need to know that you’re deep and like that’s your personality.” And I was like, “What the fuck are you talking about?” I love being able to make a serious record and act totally un-serious online at the same time.

D: Do you ever worry about giving away too much on social media?

PB: Uh-huh, I mean yeah, sometimes. I have tweeted something and then immediately delete it.

D: I didn’t mean it negatively. I guess I was getting at the instant engagement...

PB: ….Do you mean it’s too much as in like personal?

D: Yes, I would imagine you have to be a little mindful with what you share about yourself if you want it to remain something about yourself.

PB: Yeah, totally. For sure.

D: You’re an L.A. native.

PB: I am.

D: if I could possibly go right back to the

8.

start, what was your very first record shopping experience?

PB: I went to Amoeba Music in Hollywood and I bought Odelay by Beck.

D: Oh wow. (laughing) I mean that’s a really good one.

PB: It was a great one. I remember it so vividly, it was middle school, side bangs were in and my mom took me to a like a fancy haircut place and I got side bangs. And then she took me to Amoeba and I bought - with my own money - my first CD. Amoeba is like all encompassing. I could literally go in there with like a grocery list of things that I hope are in there, and nine times out of ten I’m gonna find what I’m looking for.

D: I think that’s a really interesting thing about Amoeba. Although they kind of have everything imaginable in stock at all times, they still seem to have a real genuine kind of charm to what they’re doing in that store.

PB: Totally. They have like the little, like employee notes and whatever and then they have the whole seven inch section in a weird dark corner.

I love walking the genres, It’ll be like 70s country and then there’ll be like emo and then there’s like black metal.

D: Do you recall seeing either Killer or Stranger in the Alps for the first time in a record store?

PB: Oh, yeah. (laughing) I remember trying really hard not to like be seen taking a picture of it. I was in Amoeba. I like went as an experiment. I was like when they say that this thing is like “out”, do they mean it’s like truly out, and yes they do, because I went into Amoeba, and I looked for it in that seven inch section and I found it. And I was like trying really hard to take a picture of it but not be seen.

D: I love the idea of you taking a picture of your seven inch.

PB: Yeah, the same thing happened with my record too. Yeah. And then on a road trip and I went into a like a random record store in Boise and I saw it like almost on the front counter... That was sweet.

D: What for you is the most important thing about record shops?

PB: Uh...I’m just thinking of all my least favorite

things (laughing) D: We can do that!

PB: I hate it when they’re like rude you with you.

I love that in Amoeba you can like seriously ask questions and they’ll look stuff up for you and they’ll like talk to you genuinely about what you’re buying, if they have anything to say. If they don’t have anything to say it’s not like they can make something up.

D: So contact?

‘I didn’t want to be too self serious, a lot of my personality is where real things meet joke things.’

PB: Um, but yeah, I like the like, community environment. I also love feeling like getting into something, seeing a display and knowing that an employee like, cares about it.

D: So perhaps more the curation then?

PB: Yes, that! I love making a discovery that way, you put on headphones and just like flip around through random stuff. It’s about discovering.

I found Jeff Rosenstock that way. It has to be genuine interest in music from employees through to the people who own it. * The US cable channel Comedy Central often had to dub out unsuitable language based on audiences. At times it lead to some very bizarre dialogue, and on broadcasting The Big Lebowski, John Goodman’s Walter Sobchak character (during the infamous interrogation of the teenage Larry) screams that “this is what happens when you find a stranger in the alps”.

‘Find’ and ‘Alps’ might have the right number of syllables, but it does all rather change the origional context of the threat!

9.

DELUXE 17.

Record Shop Bags.

PROBE RECORDS Still the Greatest Disaster of Them All

For the record, it’s a bag. Probe of Liverpool have been an independent institution in the city since 1971, counting Julian Cope, Pete Burns and Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Paul Rutherford as former staff members. The Probe Records house carrier bag is perhaps one of the most iconic bags in the UK record shopping world, a rough sketched collection of musical influences, local DELUXE 17.

motifs and in jokes including depictions of the Liver Building, King Kong, Rupert the Bear, Sun Ra, The Residents, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Frank Zappa and more under the deliciously appropriate “still the greatest disaster of them all” banner.

Much like the shop itself, it both tells you everything you need to know and successfully gives away nothing very much at the same time.

FORTE’S SUREFIRE SUMMER HITS...

OH SEES

‘Face Stabber’ Castle Face Records 2LP/CD

ONLY UK date left this year:

The Troxy London

Fri 06 Sep 2019

For fans of fried prog burn out, squished old-school drool, double drums, lead weight bass, wizard keys (now with poison), old-ass guitar and horrible words with daft meanings. If you don’t like it then don’t listen, bub. Back to the comments section with you! Easy, Over and out.

They are back…. limited UK vinyl is orange / red vinyl and comes with a 24” x 24“ poster of the front cover!

ROSE CITY BAND ‘Rose City Band’

Jean Sandwich Records LP New project from Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shjips/Moon Duo).

Born of the back roads, rivers, and quiet city streets of Oregon, the music captures the feeling of living and loving, riding and crashing and being, in the Pacific Northwest, circa 2019. It's the sound of Sunday morning strums and Saturday night choogle.

Produced and recorded by Ripley Johnson in Portland, and mixed by Chris Cohen, the album finds its niche in the hazy sonic landscape of private press country and psych records, and alongside artists like Relatively Clean Rivers, Jim Sullivan, Kenny Knight, and countless other explorers of the pastoral underground.

CARWYN ELLIS & RIO ‘18 - Joia!’’

Banana & Louie. LP / CD Carwyn Ellis (Colorama) takes the plunge to record his most colourful record to date in Rio de Janeiro with distinguished crazy local artists Domenico Lancellotti & Kassin with help from Shawn Lee. Cumbia, Bossa Nova, Samba, Tropicalism, Latin Funk and Pop sung in Welsh, whose phonetics and sound matches surprisingly well with tropical music. ****

“In a word: lovely” – Mojo

“Easy Riding: Soundtracks to an imaginery road movie” – Uncut

J.MCFARLANE’S REALITY GUEST ‘Ta Da’

Night School. LP / CD “Ta Da” is the debut full length from J. McFarlane Reality Guest, the collective name for the trio headed by the eponymous McFarlane. As a member of the group Twerps, McFarlane has traversed guitar-centric, melodic pop music for some years while honing a highly unique, personal musical language.

On tour in the UK in August…

14th - LONDON, The Islington 16th - MANCHESTER, Yes basement 17th - GLASGOW, Hug and Pint 19th - EDINBURGH, Book Festival 23rd - BRIGHTON, Pipeline

HERE LIES MAN ‘No Ground To Walk Upon’

Riding Easy records 2LP / CD L.A. Collective Here Lies Man return with the hot and heavy new No Ground To Walk Upon LP. It’s the third album from Here Lies Man, whose 2017 breakout debut prompted claims of “if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat” and resulted in album of the year plaudits.

“An evolutionary step forward for their sound.”

– Metal Hammer “A woozy wall of Afrobeat inspired fuzzbox riff worship and pounding circular rhythmic power, Here Lies Man connect the stoner rock underground straight to downtown Lagos.”

– The Quietus

BLACK PEACHES ‘Fire In The Hole’ Hanging Moon Records LP / CD

“…excellent rock juggernaut... explosive riffs... winning concoction of soaring guitars...”

- 8/10 Uncut Magazine “Black Peaches stand out as one of a handful of acts unafraid of staying away from the mainstream... a genre-busting album filled with pop hooks..”

- 5/5 NARC. Magazine “… sheer joy emanates throughout…”

- 4/5 Q Magazine “Absolutely brilliant“ Stuart Maconie BBC 6 Music “…ridiculously infectious slice of pop...“ - Clash Magazine

KANDODO 3 ‘k3’

CFM ‘Soundtrack To An Empty Room’

“There are shades of Tangerine Dream, Harmonia, Pink Floyd and the Spacemen 3 on this huge album. ….it’s a flipping pleasure…..”

- Soundblab

“If I may speak completely for myself. It’s musicians like Charles, Ty, Chris Shaw, John Dwyer, Tim Presley and Mikal Cronin who are not only revitalizing Independent Music, but have forced the idea of the monolithic album, endless tour and then a year before another release to be but an antiquated and megaboring option. It’s a blast trying to keep up with their output.

Super exciting. Lastly, all three CFM albums are great but Soundtrack To An Empty Room is the best one. It rips from start to finish.”

- Henry Rollins

Rooster Records 2LP / CD Brand new studio full length from Bristol based sike-o-nauts, orbiting in The Heads’ realm and led byThe Heads’ Simon Price.

RIYL: Popul Vuh, Parson Sound, Amon Duul, Neu!, The Heads, Spacemen 3, Harmonia, Moon Duo, Carlton Melton, Fripp & Eno.

“Kandodo release new album K3, and it’s another slice of cosmic moon dust and psych” - Get into This

In the Red Records. LP / CD Brand new album from Charles Moothart and CFM….

CROSS RECORD ‘Cross Record’

Ba Da Bing LP / CD “What is your wish? What do you expect?” Cross Record’s self-titled third album begins with Emily Cross’s disembodied voice intoning from an otherworldly vacuum. In the three years since her last album, Cross has divorced, quit drinking, become a death doula, started the observational podcast “What I’m Looking At,” and toured with Sub Pop’s Loma, the trio she formed with Dan Duszynski on drums and Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater) on guitar/vocals. On Cross Record, she guides the listener like a sonic Virgil, delivering a textured soundscape of meditative curiosity, akin to Low’s Double Negative, Broadcast’s The Noise Made By People and Radiohead’s Kid A.

BIG STICK ‘LP’

Drag Racing Underground LP / CD

FIRST 500 LP AND 1000 CD come with bonus CD!!!!

It's been fifteen years since Big Stick's last proper record release. That's an even longer period of time than some winged cicada bugs take to rise from the deep depths of earth and sing us their noisy repertoire of songs. Big Stick's dynamic duo of John Gill and Yanna Trance are pleased to finally have a new LP's worth of material to share.

“LP is not just better than you would expect, it’s properly smiling, involuntary butt shaking, “hey, who IS this?” great. Never afraid to be stupid, trashy or wrong surely their time has come again.”

Echoes And Dust - July 2019

MUERAN HUMANOS ‘Hospital Lullabies’

Cinema Paradiso Recordings LP / CD Their third LP “Hospital Lullabies”, is not only a direct and seamless continuation of their second album (with “Epilog'“, the final track from “Miseress” acting as the intro to “Vestido”, first track from “Hospital Lullabies”) but is also a companion piece to a movie of the same name directed by Carmen Burguess.

Hospital Lullabies consists of delicate dream-like moments (Vestido, with its techno-meets-Terry Riley rhythm), motorik cosmic freakouts (Alien), EBM floor-fillers (Los Problemas del Futuro), avant-garde poetry soundscapes (Cuando una Persona Común), and New Order/OMD-esque electro dance-pop ballads (Detrás de una Flor).

info@fortedistribution.co.uk

Parallels &

Comparison

Photo: Wade Vandervort

Deluxe: You have a busy year ahead with live dates I see AJ Lambert: Yes, and it’s just a lot when you have like a little kid on top of everything else.

D: Oh right. Yeah, the only logical option is that you’re going to have to get your little person to join the band.

AJL: Well, you know, she’s actually on the record.

D: Oh! (laughing) AJL: She’s singing a little bit. On the John Cale song that we do that - Cleo - when they do it the way he does it, there’s this back up part. I’ve never known if it’s like really sped-up background vocals or if it’s just somebody singing really, really high.

D: So you got in your highest singer

AJL: Yes! I wanted to replicate that, “Okay. Let’s just have a real munchkin, sing it.” We recorded the track at New York and she wasn’t there obviously, so I just taped her back at home on my Iphone.

D: I didn’t clock it at all when I listened to you to the record. So I’ll have to go back and listen again.

It’s so funny with things like that when you know it.

AJL: It was so cute I was doing that album work and I was like, “I’ll just put your initials… She’s like, “No, no, I need my whole name on there.”

D: So you have another generation of them coming then!

AJL: Oh yeah, she’s feeling it.

D: Did you appear on any records when you were a child?

Interview.

AJ Lambert is the granddaughter of Frank Sinatra and the daughter of Nancy Sinatra and Choreographer Hugh Lambert. With one of the most iconic musical linages casting shadows, how do you go about putting out your debut LP?… record it next door to Sunn O))) is how.

D: Oh my god.

AJL: It was like 7,000 amps… we were just upstairs with the piano and one microphone. The reverbs in the building were just amazing, so I called up Greg and was like “Hey, can I come to Detroit, you know, in a few weeks and you can shove some Greg magic on it...”

D: You said something really interesting about being a song interpreter and I really liked that.

I thought that was a really nice turn of phrase.

Knowing Sunn O))) were in the background gives it a really interesting contemporary edge.

AJL: There’s always, you know, a desire to kind of draw parallels and comparisons to my family and that’s great, i’m honored that that happens. But for me, the kind of only parallel that I feel comfortable with or can acknowledge is that I’m doing kind of what Frank did too. You know, he did songs that had been written sometimes 30, 40 years before he recorded them. So in a way, it’s just kind of the same thing, you know. If song’s are good, it doesn’t matter whether they’re from a hundred years ago or, you know, last week.

D: What was the process for collecting your songs? How did you pick?

AJL: I really have been wanting to do it for a long time, like many, many, many years. I felt like I couldn’t sing well enough for a long time to attempt it. They’re all just things that I’ve been obsessed with at different times in my life, and the way I turn them out is kind of a catharsis.

D: How so?

AJL: I used to walk around, you know, as a drunk New Yorker, like just feeling angsty and shitty and was just like, “Oh, man, I’m all beat up all the time by people”. So now, it’s nice to sort of say, “Okay. Well, that’s the feeling of it,” but now I’ve kinda gotten it

AJL: Hmm, ahh, no, I’m all over my mom’s last record, but that’s as an adult.

D: (laughing) that is different AJL: … and as a producer (laughing). I really got back into the piano on that album.

D: Oh yes, we have to talk about the EP you did with Greg Ahee from Protomartyr. (laughing) I’m only laughing as on paper it seems like such a brilliantly weird combination! It’s very different too Protomartyr!

AJL: Yeah. It’s really funny how I came about, it all starts with Shame (laughing). It’s really bizarre.

They put out that record (Songs of Praise) last year and I was obsessed with it. I told Chris Swanson who’s a friend of mine, you know, “If they ever need anything like let me know”... cause I’ve slept on 7,000 floors and like and i’d be happy to help people up or cook or whatever it is. As luck would have it, or bad luck would have it, they’re lodgings fell through, so they ended up staying with me and we just became really good friends from that. The next month, they ended up just staying in the country. They picked up some extra shows and played with Protomartyr. I want to see them all live and we just all became close. I was talking to Greg and we just kind of hit it off. I was saying, “One day, like let’s do something together one day, you know, I want to record something for the 60th anniversary of Only The Lonely”. We ended up recording four songs from it in Chicago at Steve Albini’s Studio.

D: Man, that’s where you’d want to be doing it…

AJL: (laughing)... oh, and Sunn O))) were recording next door D: (laughing) AJL: They were just starting that day. So they’re like getting their sounds and stuff.

13.

DELUXE 17.

out my system a little bit. And then sometimes it’s stuff that I just love and I just like to sing ‘em ‘cause they’re fun to sing!

D: - I love that it’s autobiographical. I think that’s really cool.

AJL: Yeah. I mean, I can’t see doing it otherwise.

These feelings aren’t unique to me, you know, like people have had all the feelings and some of these people express it better than I could.

D: Every interpretation of a song will take it somewhere else too though no?

AJL: Yes, and that is perspective, you don’t really hear that often. I’m an old woman, (laughing) I’m 44-years-old and although it feels the same, my

take on it will have a very different context to that of, say, the teenage boy who write it.

D: We are talking a little there about universal nature of feelings. I tell you, when I saw the track listings I instantly clocked Chris Bell… now being a huge Big Star fan, I was instantly drawn in.

AJL: Oh, me too.

D: … be it Big Star, Chris Bell or Chilton, it’s the most emotive music.

AJL: It all resonates. Emotions of feeling a bit fucked up about things or falling in love with the wrong person. With a song like ‘You and your sister’ I had to go somewhere else with it musically, it’s all just there in the lyrics.

AJ LAMBERT

D: Listening back to Frank and also to Nancy, do you feel that perhaps they were given less credence than they should have been as kind of songwriters?

AJL: Yeah. You know, my mom is a real good example of that for me. She has such a depth of feeling just as a person. There will be a proper reissue of some of Nancy’s work soon an I think you’ll really be able to hear it then, she’s got a lot more I think to her than people gave her a credit for. There’s a song where she sings and she starts fucking crying. It’s like, I think people, yeah, definitely missed that about her.

D: Is it harder to see that in Frank?

AJL: I think if you listen to some of those records that I do, like In the Wee Small Hours and Only the Lonely. There’s some pretty devastatingly emotional moment from some of those records, where his voice is cracking.

D: I guess always spending time to listen harder can offer up surprises.

AJL: Yeah, you gotta listen a little harder I think.

Sometimes it’s the same with him. He does seem like he’s all swagger, and then he’s really got moments where it’s a lot more vulnerable than you think it is. The showbiz aspect of it definitely had diluted their shit a lot I think, because that was just the way it was. Like you had to come out and show before anything else.

D: Do you feel like your mum wanted more credit as a writer?

AJL: I don’t know. I’m not convinced that it wasn’t purposeful knowing them the way that I do. I mean, they’re both pretty private people.

D: It seems like you’re very receptive to songs, in particular. We’ve talked about Frank and we’ve talked about Nancy. But, I mean, I’d imagine your dad would have been quite a formative influence too?

AJL: Yeah, I really appreciate you mentioning him.

He was by far, like, more of an influence on what I grew up listening to, he was way more open to really random and out-there things than my mom, and especially my grandfather were.

D: Like what?

AJL: Well, from him, you know, I got Captain

Interview.

Beefheart. It wasn’t just chasing the new and weird though, one day, like he’d be playing a Bowie song and then he’d play, you know, a fucking, I don’t know, Pointer Sisters song?! It’s like the same thing, you know, ‘cause it’s good!

D: How about, specifically, purchasing? Do you remember your first record store experience?

AJL: The first thing I ever bought myself… I believe I shoplifted it…

D: (laughing) AJL:... it’s worse (laughing), from a store that I worked at, actually. And it was my first day.

D: That is the absolute worst one we’ve ever had.

AJL: It was my first day working at the store (laughing). It was called Music Plus. It was about 1990, it was an album by The Unseen. I can’t fucking remember the name of it, but I was just so intrigued by the sleeve that… I just took it.

D: Wow. AJL: I was way out the door. I got fired because I couldn’t ever work the register properly. Fuck it.

D: On your travels, which shops historically have always kinda resonated with you?

AJL: Oh my God. Well actually, the one that I’ve discovered is the Rough Trade in Brooklyn was amazing.

D: What’s the most important aspect for you as a customer in a record shop? What does the shop have to do to-to do well?

AJL: I like knowing what the people who work there listening to. Like if they’ve got one of those things that’s like, “Here’s what, you know, Joe’s listening to and like you can go over and put it on and listen to it.” That’s kind of a great thing if a shop has that. I also just wanna be surprised, you know?

D: Discovery seems to always be important AJL: Yes! can I find like a great copy of something I love and at the same time find something I’ve never heard of that just looks cool...

D: I think I am still reeling that you’re the first person that’s ever admitted that their first purchase was on a 100% discount.

AJL: (laughing) 100% employee discount. That’s exactly what it was.

DELUXE 17.

Shop Profile.

World Of Echo

Our first visit to London in this issue and another shop finding a beautiful niche and doing it impeccably. Based on Columbia Road - home to the famous flower market - World of Echo haven’t wasted an inch in their airy new shop, it all tells a story. We spoke to founders Stephen and Natalie.

Deluxe: So you both have ample experience in the independent music industry, (laughing) surely you knew better than to open a shop right?

Stephen Pietrzykowski: If you know anything of my experiences in the music industry, you’ll know I’m not shy of making a stupid decision.

Natalie Judge: Doesn’t everyone that works for a label want to run a shop and everyone that works in a shop want to work at a label? I guess we wanted to see what it was like on the ‘other side’...

D: What was the preparation process like? How long were you looking for the shop?

SP: You’re bringing back horrific memories I’ve tried relentlessly to suppress. It was probably close to six months in total, though at the time it felt neverending.

Finding a suitable premises in London was mostly an unbearable experience.

Inept estate agents, arrogant landlords, extortionate rent and unexpected and seemingly unjustifiable (from an ethical point of view) ‘extras’. As soon as Natalie had finished at her previous job in August of last year, we were under increased pressure to find a place, as the money

London

was running out quickly (taking a breath in London has a surcharge). We got close on a few different spots, that in hindsight we’re glad didn’t work out.

NJ: Before we even thought about opening the shop, we spent all our free time in record stores, but I guess we made more of a concerted effort to visit even more in the run up. We were lucky enough to spend time in the US where they have some of the best record stores we’ve had the pleasure of visiting - so we were looking more at things you perhaps take for granted - racks, what’s on the wall, decor etc. In addition to the most important thing - what the stores are stocking.

SP: In the end we were extremely fortunate to discover the shop we’re now in. Location and the space itself aside which are both as good as we could have hoped for - we were also lucky enough to somehow end up working with perhaps the only likeable and sympathetic estate agent in London (perhaps the world?).

Nothing is straightforward, and we didn’t expect it to be anything other than challenging, but I will say it was a learning curve I hope to not have to repeat any time soon.

D: How about stock, were you buying collections for a long time before you opened?

SP: Probably from about 10 months in advance, and fairly regularly once we started.

NJ: We had to use our house as the

storage facility, which was a trying few months - turns out vinyl takes up a lot of space when you have boxes and boxes of it.

D: Lots of people make the error of falling in love with the stock they are buying and end up taking things home. Be honest now, what hasn’t made it to the shop shelves?

SP: Honestly, everything made it to the shelves. By the point we opened the shop, we wanted our house back - it was entirely colonised by records, and the associated years of dust they accumulate: if this whole thing were a sitcom, the catchphrase would be sneezing.

NJ: That said, there’s been the odd thing that we’ve ordered an extra copy of for ourselves. - the beautiful Kankyo Ongaku box set for instance.

D: You guys have quite a fascinating stock split in that way, you’re a pretty split mix between new and not new stock. What is the best part of stocking new and preloved records? What are the challenges?

SP: The main challenge with new stock is ensuring you’re abreast of all the relevant titles, which at times can be quite overwhelming, especially when you’re just starting out. But we’ve actively tried to steer away from being in service to the near-endless stream of new releases and instead try to concentrate on what we like and think fits into our approach and interests. If that means being late on one thing or another, so be it. Reissue culture shows us the good stuff is not time

specific. Second hand stock is a game of chance in part - being in the right place at the right time - and about trying to find a series of short term solutions to a long term goal. The question we’re asked most often (and by that i mean EVERY DAY) is, “where does all this great stock come from?”. A magician never reveals his secrets, unless he’s drunk and showing off, which right now i’m not.

NJ: I think it’s also reflective of our buying habits - when we visit a store we look at both new and second hand stock, so it seemed obvious to offer both. They are kept separate though - you can’t cross the streams.

D: You opened back in November ‘18, a solid six months in, what have been the; “most fun moments” SP: The local ‘celebrity’ who wields a banana (sometimes green, sometimes brown) like a gun and wears a bootleg Pulp Fiction T shirt OVER a hoodie whom we first encountered when he stormed into the shop, asking “people go out of fashion, clothes go out of fashion. why can’t music go out of fashion for once?”

Also this exchange between a Dutch couple: “Her: What is the indie?

Him: Synthesiser!“ NJ: Steve Gunn playing our first instore a true gent - we had no clue how it was going to go with it being our first, but he took it in his stride and we somehow managed to cram forty people through

17.

DELUXE 17.

Shop Profile.

Worlf Of Echo

the door for it. “most unexpected moments” SP: The near sexual hold an obi strip and Japanese text has over certain people.

NJ: The amount of people who believe that their copy of the white album is worth thousands “strongest emotion being behind the counter” SP: Being hungover.

NJ: How does the till work?

D: When you got ready to turn the open sign over on that first Saturday, did the shop look like you expected? Actually, you popped a cork didn’t you... that’s a much more interesting way to open!

SP: I was just glad we made our deadline, which less than 24 hours beforehand looked a near impossibility.

NJ: Looking back on photos of the opening, the shop looked pretty empty by comparison to how it looks now, which is a good thing.

D: Were you prepared for dealing with the public? It’s quite often said that Record Shop work is one part retail and one part community outreach.

SP: This is a universal truth! I just hope everyone is ok…

NJ: Honestly, I have never had so many people (men) tell me so much about themselves within seconds of meeting.

D: Had either of you worked behind the counter before?

SP: Not I.

London

NJ: I did a glorious year at HMV in Bournemouth during University. Made no money, spent it all on CDs. D: World of Echo is a great name. Is the album a direct influence? Something you’re paying tribute to or more of a shared gesture toward a cool name?

SP: The title of the only ‘official’ studio album Arthur Russell released during his lifetime, once greatly misunderstood but now widely recognised as a work of precognitive genius. Somehow there’s a map within that story that guides a little of what we try to do.

NJ: And we just love Arthur.

D: I also love your logo. Give us the full story of how that came together.

SJ: Matthew Walkerdine designed our logo, and helped shape the aesthetic - t shirts, merch etc. The process itself was a long one, spread over many months and exchanges of ideas, references, influences. Fantastically, that’s still happening now. I’m hoping we can do even more with him. A true great, and someone we’re forever indebted to (and in awe of). Any success the shop may have is partially attributable to Matthew.

NJ: Matthew runs Good Press up in Glasgow - highly recommend checking it out.

D: Do you have a manifesto - of sorts for what you want the shop to be?

SP: Hard to answer without sounding a little insufferable or self-important. We just want to create a space we’d like to

18.

‘ A magician never reveals his secrets, unless he’s drunk and showing off, which right now i’m not. ’

walk into ourselves. If we want to buy these records, a few other people probably will be. You can’t please everyone no matter what you do, so just be satisfied with those who you do.

NJ: … and I definitely didn’t want it to be dark and grimy with cardboard boxes on the floor - don’t get me wrong, I love those places too, but just not where I wanted to spend all my time.

D: Which other shops have been a source of inspiration in what you’re doing?

SP: Any shop that is trying to do something a little less conventional and isn’t precious or stuck up about it. Big fan of Stranded in San Francisco. Enjoyed my visit to Commend (NYC) recently.

NJ: … and generally just having a positive attitude and a friendly welcome - George and Nat at Hot Salvation have always had that. We must thank Richard at South for bringing his reliable cynicism to all the advice he gave us.

D: More broadly, what have been your favourite record shop moments on the customer side of the counter?

N: I guess just introducing people to things and then returning and saying how much they loved it. It’s been very rewarding for me to have so many women come through the door too.

D: What is your first record shop experience? Where? When?

SP: Maybe not the first per se, but the ones I remember were in Coventry Spinadisc, Woolworths, HMV, Virgin.

Maybe even a service station. I didn’t hold precious the notion of the record shop. I think that is something that has been fetishised in the wake of the internet and the greater need for context and direction. At the start for me, they were just shops that sold the things I wanted the most. I’d like World of Echo to be that for people (for even just one person).

NJ: Our Price and Spinadisc in Rugby - I didn’t appreciate how lucky I was to have had two record stores in my small town growing up.

D: What was your first record shop purchase? artist, title and format.

SP: Whitehouse - Total Sex - CD reissue.

If you believe that, you’ll believe anything.

I honestly can’t remember. Prince or Blur or something like that?

NJ: TLC Waterfalls on cassette. I stand by it as being a total classic.

D: What is your most favourite record shop and why S: World of Echo, of course.

N: What he said.

19.

Field Guide By

A while back we started thinking about the new music scene in Melbourne, Australia, home to a varied new crop of bands (including amongst others Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard), and it set us off looking at the shops that must have been acting as essential sonic inspirations. Our Melburnian interests were really piqued earlier this year with the self-titled debut album from thrashing punks Amyl and the Sniffers, arrestingly new whilst clearly soaked in an entire generation of angstdriven musical influences. Knowing that bassist Gus is an avid punk vinyl collector, we asked them collectively for their top must-hit-record-shoppingspots.So here are your Australian record shopping must dos.

DELUXE 17.

Photo: May Xiong

Sebastian Plano _

Interview.

Born into a musical family in Argentina, Sebastian Plano travelled halfway around the world to soak up all of the different tones Berlin has to offer. We know for a fact that there are a dozen or so great shops over there.

Deluxe: You’re currently a Berliner. How much has the city affected your work?

Sebastian Plano: Well, I would say a lot.

Actually, I was in-in the US before I was finishing my studies, and in a way, I was looking forward to coming back to Europe after two years away, the desire to come back to Europe for living. I chose Berlin for the cultural aspects of the city, but especially music-wise.

D: Does Berlin offer both creativity and environment for you then?

SP: Definitely, the two made this place a very welcoming space for me, especially creatively. Meeting so many colleagues and collaborating with them and, you know, it’s just sharing ideas, getting inspired by people doing the same. Meeting those in the same world has been all super beneficial I think.

The very first time I came to the city was in to

23.

master my album Impetus with Nils Frahm. It was December...

D: (laughing) I bet that was horrendously cold..

SP: (Laughing) Yes, a very cold one.

D: Nils should have warned you. Was he a good tour guide?

SP: Errrr. I mean, we never left the studio (laughing), but that first creative connection with the city was… mind blowing.

D: Having worked with Ben Lukas Boysen and mentioning Nils, Erased Tapes always seem to be such a huge part of any kind of conversation about contemporary classical, certainly in terms of awareness?

SP: Well, it’s a good question. When it comes to the catalog of Erased Tapes and having worked with Robert, I think the vision is beautiful and he is such an amazing curator.

DELUXE 17.

Interview.

‘I always start from the point of view that any shop could blow my mind.’

It’s all totally represented in the success of the label, a collection of creative minds all working together, so organically so beautifully. I really admire what he’s been building over the years.

D: How do you describe your music?

SP: - uhhh, I mean my first goal was to become a cello soloist. At the same time, I was doing this hobby that was writing electronic music. It was only ever at my computer and just sharing with friends. Maybe a classical musician just living and nurturing the sound today? I mean electronic is everywhere… electronic music is like this broad open range...

D: It was a really horrible question (laughing).

How about this, where do you want me to file it in the shop?

SP: (laughing) It was hard, how about Neoclassical? I fit into a sort of neoclassical modern classical...

D: What should we go with? neoclassical or contemporary classical?

SP: Neoclassical.

D: Okay, you’re the boss, officially, Neoclassical.

SP: I mean actually- I- actually, more than classical, it could be also… (laughing) D: Lets ignore where you go and talk about your sleeve art SP: The image is a May Xiong, and I somehow got to convince the label to bring her from Seattle to Berlin and to collaborate in this new imagery. I’ve been collaborating with her from the beginning. She’s been doing the covers for the past records and she’s always a strong connection with my music. We took a ten day photo shoot last year after the summer and we went to Saxony National Park here in Germany near Dresden.

D: It’s so ethereal and unworldly. It’s difficult to place.

SP: Exactly, the more it’s far away from earth, the better!

D: Did you see anything from the shoot or did you just see the final, finished images?

SP: I had seen the shoots like they end up every shooting, May was always sharing what she thought was working best, but when it comes to creating those visual worlds that is all her creativity and creative vision. That’s why I work with her, I admire her so much.

D: How did it feel seeing the finished image for the first time?

SP: Well, it was a very different impression from the very first time she showed me work, I knew what to expect so it wasn’t as surprising, but what did surprise me, in a very exciting way, was the maturity in the work. I found there is this like more depth, more risky, more scale. I was super happy with how they came out.

D: Was the shoot hard work?

SP: Parts were, one image was taken at this lake in Berlin and, well I had to stay still inside the water and not move… it was not summer (laughing) D: I can imagine that must have been pretty brutal. What are you most excited about in terms of seeing the record in a record shop? If you could control, where would you most like to see that for the first time?

SP: Well, it’s a good question. The sleeve is it’s own world in a way, I am excited for someone to find the music from the image on the sleeve. I can’t yet imagine it in a shop.

D: What’s the most important thing for you in terms of a record shop? What should a record

24.

Interview.

shop always do?

SP: All the experience. I think, to me, visual art of the record shop is so important. By seeing the artwork, already you’re having ideas in your head. It’s like when you read the book, and then you may watch the film made on the book. I like the imagination to run wild in your head and then you just let your ears do the rest. I very much like that side of record shops, where you can just get delighted by seeing by amazing artwork. That in a way it’s the first entry to the artistic work.

D: What was your very first record shopping memory?

SP: That would have been in Argentina. There’s a bunch of old shops, I used to go with my dad to find some records. He’s a violin player and he would go to the shops often. Although very small, I remember the very first time I bought one was a tango record from Astor Piazzolla from one of the old shops in Buenos Aires.

D: I think it’s really interesting on how in South America how music’s looked on quite differently.

The majority of the first purchases we cover in Deluxe will be Madonna or Michael Jackson, it’s popularism and point of entry through pop music.

SP: The main emotion for me was just being surprised. That first time for me was Piazzolla, but even now when I enter a shop I am excited at al the amazing colours. I mean I would love to just like close door, stay here all night, listen to the music. I remember the exact same feeling from when I was a kid, like you just seen all these records and thin “what the hell is going on here?”

You know?

D: In all the shops you’ve seen, in all the countries you’ve spent time in, what has been your favorite record shop so far?

SP: I spent a lot of... time… in Amoeba in Los Angeles.

D: I think everybody does. Just trying to get in and trying to get out again.

SP: I’m very curious to go record shopping in Japan for example. I never been in Japan, but I would be curious to experience their shops. I always start from the point of view that any shop could blow my mind.

D: It sounds like you take the right attitude, you’re prepared to come in and look at it and listen to it.

SP: There is one shop just close to me in Berlin.

How do you say the glass? When they feature albums on the glass at the front of the shop?

D: The shop windows?

SP: Yes, the windows. This shop in Berlin, the owner has apparently prepared this window showcasing only albums from India. But, they were only made by transgender artists or prostitutes...

D: Amazing… that is - i’d imagine - a narrow genre SP: There were lots of links between the records, the same producer worked on a lot of them, getting prostitutes to guest vocal and things.

D: That really is high level window dressing and curation.

SP: It was a fine collection D: How many albums were there?

SP: Oh, maybe four?

D: (laughing) oh man, my mind was racing, I thought you meant there were hundreds.

SP: It still impressed me.

25.

DELUXE 17.

Krakรณw

Image: Steve Krakรณw

Steve

Interview.

Inside and outside of the Plastic Crimewave alias, Steve Kraków has pretty much been involved in all aspects of our world, from zine culture, gig posters, artworks, playing in bands, organising the Million Tongues Festival, releasing records, running labels to working behind the counter.

Deluxe: What was your first musical experience that really opened up your mind?

Steve Kraków: It’s hard to say exactly, but some formative experiences included listening the oldies station on the radio with my parents, I could identify the Beatles tunes at like age 8. My aunt gave me great classic rock records as a kid too, like Hendrix, stones etc. I guess picking up a guitar at 19 and starting to play music was huge too! And maybe hearing music on psychedelics that same year? It truly invaded my soul and you never hear or think of music the same way again. It’s true magic!!

D: We normally ask this last, but seeing as we’re at the start here, what was your very first record shop experience, what did your purchase and on what format?

SK: Oh man, I think I bought my first records at garage sales, and then at chain department stores, so I guess those don’t count! I think at an actual record store proper, I was buying Doors LP bootlegs in junior high.

D: Have you always been Chicago based? The city feels so linked to your work.

SK: Yes, I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, went to school in downstate Illinois, and then settled in Chicago in 1995. So i’ve been here my whole life, but Chicago is cheap to live in for a major city so I can travel a lot!

D: Does it feel like a place that supports independent music?

SK: Yes! The music scene has been better than ever actually, bands/musicians from various

27.

DELUXE 17.

Interview.

‘Privilege is definitely getting pretentious!

I’d get excited if someone bought an old Aerosmith record and chat them up!’

“scenes” all support each other, whether it’s folk, improv, psych, noise etc — and there’s so many great bands currently! We have any longstanding killer venues, and DIY spots come and go, but always exist!

D: I absolutely loved your ‘My Kind of Sound’ columns for Chicago Reader, how did that all come together?

SK: It sorta grew out of my Galactic Zoo Dossier magazine, where I draw or write up obscure psychedelic bands/artists/beyond. I found myself covering a fair amount of local heroes like the Lemon Drops, Baby Huey, Aorta etc, and noticed the Reader was looking for comic submissions in 2004. My original pitch was more like a page out of my magazine, but I worked with then-editor Alison True to establish more of a “trading card” sort of format. I’ve probably drawn and written over two hundred and fifty of them now!

D: How much work was it researching and selecting your “pivotal Chicago musicians that somehow have not gotten their just dues”?

SK: It depends, if the artist is say, an old blues musician, there’s usually documentation by obsessive historians - but if it’s a private press folk lp from the 80s maybe, there’s often none.

My fave is definitely tracking down an artist and getting their story for the first time, but it is much more work!

D: I heard you stuck in a band called ‘Everlasting’ once...

SK: (Laughing) you caught that! Yeah I had a dream where I saw a film of a non-existent band by that name, and even heard the music in the dream, so thought it’d be funny to do an April Fool’s day comic (the comic runs every other week in the Reader) and sort of spoof my own format with a fake band. Lots of in-jokes in the text too, but either the joke was very successful or not as all, as no one realized it was a hoax!

D: You’ve been running zines way longer than we have, was The Galactic Zoo Dossier your first?

SK: I had a few zines before that, which were mostly kinda-unfocused wacky underground comics, one called Psychedelic Comics (1993 or so) and then shortly thereafter Blissed-Out Funnies and Third Eye Comics, both of which were slightly cannibalized for GZD #1 D: If you got asked “what is The Galactic Zoo Dossier?”, how would you succinctly explain it all?

SK: I guess the word I use is “pro-zine” (coined by comics artist Wally Wood about one of his pro-printed but underground publications) as my magazine has had real-publisher Drag City since 2001, but yeah, a fan-based approach. I guess “a hand-drawn occasional magazine devoted to obscure and overlooked psychedelia, avantgarde music, and groovy comics” might do it?

D: Talking about Drag City, wow did the collaboration come about? They seem pretty right on.

SK: My old bassist Mark Lux sent DC my original xeroxed magazines because he had a track on an accompanying cassette. I then heard via old friend and DC label artist Liam Hayes aka Plush that Drag city dug it and would maybe be interested in publishing it—which was great becuase I was struggling trying to figure out how to afford to print #5!

D: Who have been strong influences and inspirations on you as an illustrator?

SK: Oh, so many, wow—mainstream superhero comic guys like Jack Kirby, Ditko, Steranko, and Gene Colan. Underground comics guys like Crumb, Skip Williamson, Gilbert Shelton. Poster artists like Rick Griffin, Hapshash, Gary Grimshaw.

Old illustrators like Beardsley and M.Flagg, 20s fonts and design, 50s-60s sci fi paperback covers, life!

D: What have been the most gratifying projects to work on as an illustrator? Do you have a project that you’re always trying to find time for?

SK: A lot of amazing projects have materialized over the years, a comic book/45 collaboration with Acid Mothers Temple, posters for Dr. John

28.

Interview. and Incredible String Band, album covers for Neil Hagerty, Josephine Foster, Ryley Walker and Angel Olsen, a CD compilation for Numero Group, branding art for Lush Cosmetics, I feel blessed!

I’m always trying to make time to work on my GZD magazine, but paying work always has to be the priority, as I’ve been freelance-only since 2004.

D: Fifteen years is a long time out there in the wild man! (laughing). Lets talk about Record Shops.

You’ve worked in a few right?

SK: Ah yes, I worked at Reckless Records in Wicker Park, Chicago for 5 years (1999-2004), and before that Quaker Goes Deaf for about a year.

D: What are your most vivid memories of working behind the counter?

SK: Oh man, the good or bad?

D: (laughing) both!

SK: Sadly remembering mostly the utterly drugged-out freaks I’d have to deal with, though lots of great music-cherishing customers kept me sane too. I guess waited on a few “celebrities”, Parker Posey was cool and into Bobbie Gentry, J Mascis bought the first Chicago LP (which rules) and Danzig passed on some JB records because they were too scratched I guess.

D: Reckless Records. Interesting to talk about the High Fidelity connection. With the gentrification of record shops over the last ten years, has that ‘boys club’ sort of attitude died out a little or can you still find some pretty bad vibes if you ask the wrong questions?

SK: I think High Fidelity (loosely based on the Reckless Records store, with the films “Championship Vinyl” store front shot just a block away) got it totally wrong. It never was a boys club, no one was sarcastically snotty like Jack Black, no one was overly sensitive like the Belle and Sebastian loving guy, and our manager was a woman. There were many employees too, who were all very music-knowledgeable and treated as equals. We only treated customers badly if we were abused first.

D: Should record shops be a privilege for those who know how to use them?

SK: Privilege is definitely getting pretentious! I’d get excited if someone bought an old Aerosmith record and chat them up!

D: Ironically in High Fidelity, Rob (John Cusack) laments that sometimes he feels like quitting his job and working at a Virgin Megastore. It’s

interesting that since the films release the indie sector has thrived and the chain store machines have diminished to pretty much nothing. What is your hot take on that?

SK: Good point! My first thought is John Cusack is a tool and friends who’ve had to deal with him in real life say horrible things, so a chain store would have suited him. I just hate his weepy-eyed “poor me” act that he’s been doing since 80s John Hughes movies. But this was not your question!

D: It wasn’t, but I love this…

SK: It is interesting how much the chains have indeed died, I actually miss a few like Tower! I’ve seen many Indie record stores go down too...

D: What is the Chicago shopping scene like these days? Besides Reckless, I know people speak really highly about Dusty Groove.

SK: Dusty G is def like a well-oiled machine, has a great selection, very clean—but real “digging”, deals, and getting your hands dirty isn’t going to happen there, that kind of store seems to be going away. Reckless and a few other shops just depend on what folks have brought in recently, as I am generally looking for older stuff.

Electric Jungle, Record Dug Out, and precious few others are good for 45s, which are some of my main wants, as I DJ out a few times a month.

Nearby Milwaukee, Wisconsin is the best actually!

D: For you, what is the most important part of a record shop?

SK: Having good used records at reasonable prices! Not just overpriced new reissues, no $25 copies of Fleetwood Mac “Rumours”, no morethan-Discogs prices, no putting the good stuff online only (Discogs has indeed ruined a lot of this), and a variety of genres or specialisation in a few is great. I don’t care about employee’s social skills, cleanliness, or much else! It’s nice when the shop can be a bit of a community center, sponsor gigs, and are good people, but...not completely necessary! Give me a grumpy old man selling good stuff in a filthy shop, and i’m good!

D: Why do record shops still matter?

SK: …they can indeed be a community center, but more than that, one can actually touch, see, and maybe even hear records, you might even stumble on one you didn’t know existed! This to me is much more satisfying than any online searching, always will be.

29.

DELUXE 17.

EE RA

Photos: ALice Rainis

Interview.

Rejecting her grandfathers advice (“Never become a musician, It’s too hard”), Anna Lena Bruland did quite the opposite, spending years living and learning and turning it all into her very special debut LP ‘Reflection of Youth’ under the name EERA. DELUXE 17.

Interview.

D: I’d like to talk to you about your record coming out last year, how did that feel?

EERA: Really, really good. The response was amazing. I feel really, really privileged for all the positive feedback that came back to me, it felt great getting out there. When you work on something for so long, it’s important that you sort of see that it’s working its way out there.

D: Did it feel like you’ve been working on it for a long time?

EERA: Well, in my own way I have been working on it for a very long time. I’d say, a year and a half, maybe two years to sort of complete it probably.

I guess is very normal time for a record, but it feels like a long time. Some of the songs are a bit older, they feel like such a big part of my life.

This record has represented such a big part of me, in that way it feels like it’s a long process.

D: I think as a title track, it’s really quite somber, and I loved it sequence-wise being right at the end of the album. Perhaps a little bit like the reflection of your youth?

EERA: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And I wanted to record it in a way that felt very personal. It’s recorded with a little bit more of a demo filter, and I wanted it to be like you’re in the room with me in a way for that last song, to have an even closer relationship with the listener right at the end. I feel like it was quite a nice way for me to sort of get rid of all those emotions that I was going through, and sort of now dive into my-my 30s.

D: Now that it is released and you are detached from it, what do the songs say to you?

EERA: If you voice your problems to the world, the problems can (claps) go! ... they’re not as heavy anymore, right? If you speak through your problems with your friends or family, or people you don’t know even, whatever, it’s not as heavy.

D: The album has kinda quite a lot of mood to it.

Does it feel like the record you wanted to make?

EERA: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I love sound, you know? I love noises and I love distortion, and I love those types of things in music. I wanted to not be scared of that and I wanted to put a lot of that into the record. I still feel like I wanna challenge myself in so many new ways, but that’s an introduction to myself. I feel like it’s a good starting point for sure. Yeah.

D: I’ll tell you one thing that also really interested me, you’re Norwegian, but you sing in English.

DELUXE 17.

I wondered, do you think in English?

EERA: Yeah, I do! I’ve been living in England now for 10 years. So, when you live in another country for that long, you just… I dream in English as well now.

D: Wow. EERA: So, but sometimes I do in Norwegian, but most of the time I dream a lot in English.

If I really have to function academically, especially when it comes to numbers, I still have to do it in Norwegian.

D: Where in Norway did you grow up?

EERA: I grew up in a small town that’s south from Oslo, that’s called, Drøbak. It’s very small, maybe 2,000 people live there, something like that.

D: What’s the vibe? Is it kind of in the country?

Obviously, it’s near Oslo but is it a country town or is it kind of is it is like a university town?

EERA: It’s definitely a country town, but it’s by the sea, quite a bit of the coast so we’ve got the seafront and you’ve got a few beaches and stuff. I love diving boats. That is one of the things I love.

I’ve been thinking about more and more lately.

It’s like I really want to go back to that, to live by the ocean because it’s such a big part of me.

D: How about kind of as a as a scene for, you know, kind of the young person getting into music. Is there much of a live community?

EERA: Not really. I mean, they have big festival there, but even that is the sort of thing that my mom goes to with my stepdad. You have to go into Oslo for music music, but it is very close. It’s probably like half an hour drive to get to Oslo.

D: And how about Oslo as a scene?

Do you feel kind of indebted to it?

EERA: I moved as soon as I turned 18. So, as soon as I turned 18 I moved from Norway, so I don’t really feel connected to the music, you know, in Oslo to be honest. Norway is such a small country (only five million or so people) so much slimmer chance to sort of be heard in Norway, also because they don’t have as many channels or opportunities as England. Things like BBC 6Music are more authentic and people connect, whilst in Norway, they don’t really have that.

D: What do people listen to? (laughing) what do all the Norwegians listen to at all times?

EERA: (laughing) They have P3, which is

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I AM DOING A REAL THING MOTHER! DELUXE 17.

Interview. sister- my sister, she sometimes came home with like a few CDs that, well, we used to sing together. And I remember she brought like this Norwegian artist called Ane Brun. She is like a singer-songwriter. And she brought home a CD of hers, and I listened to that. I was very young then. I don’t remember. I must have been like maybe 12 or something like that. And I listened to it and I was like, “Oh, she has such a beautiful voice.” I remember being sort of transfixed on it.

D: Where next?

EERA: When I got to about 16, my friend introduced me to Queens of the Stone Age Rated R. And then I got into Nirvana, you know… teens, angst. It just took me somewhere else, and I felt like it’s giving me escapism when stuff was stressful or anything.

D: How about your relationship with record shops? What was your first shopping experience?

EERA: In The UK is was Rough Trade. Everytime I came to the UK when I was growing up I heard about it . When I moved to London, I actually wanted to get a job there. So I went in there like every day, and tried to get a job (laughing).. at the coffee shop.

D: In the big East one?

EERA: Yeah, in the big one, yeah. Most days, “please give me a chance, give me a chance,” and in the end, they did give me a chance and I got the job. So I actually worked in the coffee shop there for about nine months.

D: What was your fondest memory of working there?

EERA: It’s very funny cause I did an in-store (laughing). I was playing and said, “Yeah, I used to work in that coffee shop back there.”

Some of my old colleagues are still working in shop. They were like, “Oh, I remember you said you were always gonna release a record”.

D: Do you remember your very first purchase?

EERA: Of a CD or record?

D: Well, either actually EERA: I think it’s something really embarrassing. I think it was a single from when I was pretty young, I think I bought like Jay-Z for some reason.

D: Oh, Jay-Z? He’s all right!

EERA: He’s all right, yeah. Otherwise pretty early I also bought loads of Queens of the Stone

the same as Radio 1 in England. They have something called P13, which is kind of supposed to be similar to BBC Six, but they’re not really doing it. There are just not as many opportunities there to be an alternative artist. With my music, the Norwegian press is sort of picking up with it now, but it still took them a bit longer and it all came via international channels.

D: Do you feel that once you’ve kind of attained a certain level, that you’d be embraced in Norway as a Norwegian artist?

EERA: Absolutely, yeah. I think-- I always had that in mind, that I was like, “If I manage to get attention in England, if I manage that, then Norway would follow eventually.”

D: I really hope that you’re in a position where you can go back to Norway and get played on P13 and drive around in boats EERA: I would love to be played a bit in the radio.

D: There are something like 8 million people in London, it’s kind of hectic.

EERA: Exactly.

D: That’s why I can’t live there anymore, it’s just too big.

EERA: Yes, that’s where I’m getting to, you see, and now I’m like, “Oh, yeah, I like to live in a place that’s a bit more calm” D: How about growing up? Was it a musical household?

EERA: Not my Mom, but my Dad’s side yes. On his side, my Grandad he was a conductor back in the 50s. So he played trumpet, and he used to travel the world conducting big orchestras.

So my dad’s side they grew up with music in the house, but none of my uncles wanted to become musicians because my granddad was strict. None of my uncles are professional musicians. However, they have all played a little.

D: I hope it was fun at least.

EERA: They all play the guitar. My dad plays violin badly, but he does play it. They can all sing, you know. There’s definitely music in the family, but none of them are doing it professionally.

D: Okay so it wasn’t exactly the kind of a household where you were kind of constantly being exposed to music, so when was the first time you heard something and felt like you were interested in music?

EERA: … When did it happen exactly… So my

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Interview.

Age as my friend had given me Rated R. I was obsessed with that album. I think I also bought the first Foo Fighters album pretty early.

My step brother was quite cute. One Christmas he said he had bought me a present because he knows I like rock music… it was Avril Lavinge D: Oh nooooo!! (laughing) EERA: (laughing) so sweet D: Did you keep it?

EERA: No, I hated it (laughing) it was sk8ter boi of whatever and it was just horrible. He tried though, he really tried. The more I think, the more early stuff I remember. Before CDs I had cassette, I has a WalkMan and I had two tapes that I really played a lot. The Story of Mozart and The Story of Beethoven. I absolutely loved them.

D: That is a funny split of influences. I like also that you too lived through a multitude of formats. Mini discs and napster.

EERA: Yeah, mini discs, they were bad, so expensive!

D: Yeah, I wonder whether the mini disk will make a return EERA: Doubt it, yeah, I doubt it, that feels beyond hipster.

D: Where was the first place that you saw Reflections of Youth on the sale?

EERA: Oh yeah, I think it was actually in Nottingham! We did a show at the new Rough Trade building and they had it all on display. As soon as I walked it in. I also saw it in an amazing shop in Brighton…

D: (sighing)... Resident EERA: Yes! Wait, don’t you like them?

D: No, I am joking, I love them, I was joke sighing because they are the best.

EERA: Oh good! Their response has been amazing, they have pushed the album and just been amazing. The whole UK scene when it came out was just amazing.

D: I was going to ask as a final question for your best record srop experience.

But I guess that’s kind of it. Isn’t it?

EERA: Yes. I think so, I mean, I feel the culture of Record Shops in the UK is really good. There is one really great shop in Oslo called Big Dipper.

They are really cool and getting more and more popular. When my EP first came out it

Photo: Jodie Canwell

was amazing to see it out there in the world, on the racks of Big Dipper Records. Showing it to my friends and family was very special.

D: “see friends… it is real…”

EERA: (laughing) yes!! See it is real, I am doing a real thing Mother!!

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DELUXE 17.

Shop Profile.

Stranger Than Paradise

London

what felt right.

D: Does it look like you imagined?

NM: I knew I wanted to have a soundproofed space that we could gradually add to that could evolve in time rather have a complete finished store the day we opened – I think despite being a small space it definitely looks completely different from a year ago.

D: I get asked quite a lot - and invariably have no useful advice at all - but what was the hardest element of setting up your shop?

NM: There were lots of challenges along the way that no-one can prepare you for: the shop opening was pushed back six months which was tough to deal with then we had builders to manage and design and build the shop within a short space of time! we learned a lot of lessons along the way but no regrets.

D: The name ‘Stranger Than Paradise’ is magnificent. Were you anxious at all about using a name that was already held in such revery?

NM: It was a name I just kept going back to – It was one of my favorite films growing up and the soundtrack still sounds incredible to me. When I initially tested the name out on friends, there wasn’t great feedback – they thought it was too wordy and obscure but I liked the fact it was ambiguous and a conversation starter.

I weirdly have a mutual friend of Jim Jarmusch so it felt right to ask first if we could use the name, he was really sweet

Based in Hackney’s Mare Street Market, Stranger than Paradise is as tropical as the name would suggest; like a beautifully curated set of racks on a desert island. We caught up with Noreen McShane to talk about her counter stats.

Deluxe: Of all the people we have interviewed over the years, you probably have the fullest shop CV. Where did it all start for you behind the counter?

Noreen McShane: Oh wow, really? I started off behind the shiny counters of my local Virgin Megastore when I was a teenager then slowly found my way into the world of independent stores, I spent a lot of my childhood in my Granny’s pub, maybe that’s why I was drawn to working behind counters.

D: Was there ever another vocation for you? That isn’t necessarily supposed to sound doomy...

NM: I don’t think so, I always worked in record stores even while I was Art college so music and records always were part of my life but I never could’ve predicted I would have my own shop one day - It’s still pretty nuts.

D: Stranger Than Paradise is a beautifully compact, nice and airy full of great stock.... when did you first visualise your own shop?

NM: I had a simple vision early on, a welcoming space ideally where people could relax, browse at their own pace and listen to records on an amazing speaker system, I kinda went along with

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and gave his blessing straightaway and said he was ‘Honoured’ – I still pinch myself that this happened.

D: Your logo is also quite perfect. Explain the process.

NM: I tried to cut a few corners initially and leaned upon the talents of my friends and family especially with the branding – the logo was actually done by my brother, Tom. We grew up together so we shared the same love of music, art, and film – He came up with eight designs in 24 hours, all of which were killer but I’m happy we chose the one we did – no regrets, hopefully, the other designs will see the light of day at some point.

D: What else inspired the Stranger Than Paradise aesthetic?

NM: I’ve always been a big fan of 50’s Exotica especially Les Baxter and Eden Ahbez’s ‘Eden’s Island’ – I wanted the store to feel a little more adventurous

and escapist than your usual record store, I think the palm leaves and skeleton definitely give the sense of a tiki desert island somewhere. Growing up in record stores - I never understood why they had to look so dingy and oppressive or even masculine? I think that’s why I wanted to have a hot pink logo, vibrant window stickers and a lavish neon to dispel that perception of record stores. I wanted our shop to be accessible and welcoming to all.

D: Is it true that you opened the shop just so that you could have that beautiful neon sign?

NM: (Laughing) who told you that? To be fair, it’s no secret it was one of my first design ideas and purchases. Luckily, working in East London for such a long time I befriended a three-generation family of Neon Specialists who kindly indulged my vision. They’re the best DELUXE 17.

Shop Profile.

Stranger Than Paradise

in the world and are responsible for all Tracey Emin’s neon works of art too.

We’re really proud of how it turned out!

D: You’ve managed to integrate new releases with some choice catalogue in the shop and still feel, well, curated and coherent. How fiercely do you control that?

NM: Thank you, that means a lot – I spend a lot of time researching and listening to records, I guess the shop represents that.

I like to think of it as an extension of my own collection, every single record in the shop I would definitely buy and listen to so want customers to experience those records too.

D: You have experience at shops that stock just about everything, how much of a challenge has it been to stock all killer and no filler?

NM: Again, it’s just trusting my own gut instinct and having faith in our own taste and what we do – I’ve never been a fan of “Stack them high, sell them cheap”, I think it dumbs down the customer… Less is definitely more, every record and item in the store should be carefully considered.

D: Who are the Stranger Than Paradise team and what are their special skills?

NM: I work alongside Phil Adams & Sonny Barrett, we worked together at Rough Trade East for several years so we know each other inside and out especially are strengths. Both their musical knowledge is second to none. Phil DJs locally and

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London

does a few killer radio shows whilst Sonny is out every night attending gigs and turning us on to new sounds and bands.

D: Since opening, what have been the; 1. Most fun moments?

NM: It’s been a whirlwind of a year, There’s been so many nice events and parties we’ve done – especially our monthly Stranger Friday nights which normally go on to the wee hours dancing. I’ve also met lots of lovely customers and new friends since opening our doors who add to our everyday fun.

2. Most unexpected moments?

NM: Mary Portas turning up to our Theon Cross in-store or Jason Momoa wearing our STP shirt to the Aquaman US premiere.

3. Strongest emotion being behind the counter?

NM: Happiness – D: That’s lush man...

NM: Cheesy but true, I work with my best mates every day doing what we love.

D: Since you opened the doors of Paradise you have had live and DJ sets from Theon Cross, Unloved, audiobooks and Lord Andrew Weatherall, anyone else I missed?

NM: We’ve also had Steve Davis, Morcheeba, Normski, Yasmin Lacey, DJ Supermarkt and few other guests - each event has been great, we’re lucky to

have such loyal and talented customers!

Record Store Day was pretty special this year though – Next year will be even bigger... watch this space!

D: Besides the stuffed Zebra, who is the most fun neighbour at Mare Street Market? Does it feel like a tight little community?

NM: There is now a stuffed Polar Bear weirdly! Mare Street Market is an incredible space and definitely feels like a community, it’s also nice to have so many record stores dotted around us we’re all very different so it’s nice our customers can do the rounds.

D: Which other shops - record or not have been a source of inspiration in what you’re doing?

NM: I suppose the majority of record stores I frequented in London when I was younger, counter culture has always been important to me. I think it’s so simple but really special when someone behind the counter knows your name and can recommend a record that they know is gonna blow your mind – I think that’s what we try and keep alive at Stranger...

D: Looking back, what is your first record shop experience as a customer?

NM: I used to love visiting Beggars Banquet in Putney, I remember they always giving me promotional items every time I bought a record. I don’t know why but even still have a Fishbone promotional kite they gave me?! Lovely folk.

D: What was your first record shop purchase?

NM: Neneh Cherry ‘Buffalo Stance’ cassette from Our Price, Hammersmith.

D: What is your most favourite record shop and why?

NM: I’m terrible, I love a Busman’s holiday, and every town or country I ever visit the first point of call is always to find the best record stores. I’m a big fan of Jordi’s shop - Wah Wah in Barcelona - he has an incredible collection and taste. He let us in after midnight one time to check it out! it’s filled to the brim with obscure psych nuggets. We also love Groove Merchant in Lower Haight in San Fran, there we met Kelly Stoltz who was looking after the shop serving us, he even managed to spill a whole pint of beer over the records which was an ice breaker. The shop is incredible, you can spend days in there and not even scratch the surface.

My last purchase was a 1958 Dominatrix album just with the sound of whipping!

In London, I’m a little biased as I worked there but I do love Reckless Records the staff is super knowledgeable and you’re guaranteed to find a gem in the racks on every visit.. I have yet to visit Drift so I have no doubt it’ll be up there for me!

DELUXE 17.

ANIMA THOM YORKE A NEW ALBUM