Philippe’s Rat Records Blog

I never liked dressing up. Call me grumpy or kill joy, but I really don’t get that all Halloween business.

Then again, that might be down to the fact that in my native France, we have difficulties embracing traditions from this side of the channel, especially when it involves behaving like a complete nutcase with tons of make up and fake blood, queuing outside a nightclub freezing your bollox because the outfit would look daft with a jacket, and that does not even come near the feeling of dread as a drunk friend attempts to make you look like a dead crab with a bunch of brushes and pots of powder.

Anyway, last year I was actually invited to DJ at a Halloween party at a local club, and I had thought it would be fun to play the full Vincent Price rap from the Thriller sessions over my last track, and had there been more than 30 people there, it might just have gone down a treat!, who knows?
As it was, I am not sure anyone had noticed, especially as MJ was, by then, still a very much loathed figure… little did we know that one year later, he would be the most popular mask on earth….and Thriller almost certainly will be the most played song of the week end.

Well, we still boast a few copies of the aforementioned LP here at Rat Records, and this is actually going to be a week for those of you who have their tastes rooted in the Black side of the musical spectrum. Hip Hop, Soul, Funk and Jazz are all well represented, with Lp’s by Kelis, Dilated People, Jeru the Damaya, Lyricist Lounge comps and plenty of Rawkus, and top notch noughties b boyz 12’s as well as Disco and Reggae, all priced £2.00-3.00, as well as original albums by the likes of Elmore James, Tramps, Coco Tea, Jah Mason, Salif Keita, Miles Davis, Rob Knight, Nina Simone, James Brown of course, O Jays etc etc.. oh and there’s a couple of excellent DJ battle 12’s full of the sort of “that was fresh!!!” scratches we all love messing about with!

Of course we’ll still put out a good bunch of Classic and Indie Rock, including Jesus and Mary Chain, St Etienne, Cranes, Happy Mondays, Julian Cope, Tarnation, U2, Primal scream, Suede and of course the usual deployment of Beatles, Dylan, Stones and co, for whom the appetite of the planet will never ever be filled I am afraid.

To finish, there will be a few nice pieces of House, Electronica and Techno from the likes of Squarepusher, Two lone Swordsmen, In Sides, Kid Loco and more frankly more forgettable names, but dancefloor rocking stuff nonetheless..

So happy Halloween to all of you.

We’ll be starting selling our christmas vouchers her by the way : so making a pressie to your beloved ones has never been that easy :come down to the shop, give us £17.00 in cash and we’ll give you a piece of paper lovingly designed by Dominic boasting an incredible £20.00 worth of stock. And for that sort of money, one can seriously fill his bags at Rat Records I tell ya!

Philippe at Rat Records.

“A quarter of all of the UK’s independent record stores have closed in the past year, according to trade body the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA).

“ERA’s latest census of the struggling sector showed that there are barely 300 independent music stores left in the UK, down from 408 in 2007. Ten years ago there were more than 1,000 stores in the country.

Increases in sales of digital download, the encroachment of supermarkets into the entertainment market and the general economic downturn have led to the closures.”

Now I assume this is no news to any of you, yet I thought I’d alert the members of Rat records by directing you to this link :

http://media.causes.com/605228

A noble cause started on facebook and snowballing rapidly, hoping to raise the concern worldwide and hopefully make people more aware of where the remaining shops are, and the rest is for you, wherever you are and wherever you go, to make a difference really… so please join the cause and take the time to invite your friends too. Cheers.

But don’t worry, we’re definitely not anywhere near closure here, and as long as our Lord Tom is remaining fit to travel the perfidious Albion (at least from a French point of view for coveted dusty wax, we’ll be standing proud and keep waving the flag for vinyl lovers in London.

We’ve got some cracking Punk and New wave 7inches coming out as well as a few ultimate classics such as The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour in it’s booksleeve and a couple of the second press of the Zip sleeved Sticky Fingers. And with christmas coming, I can tell you those still make grown up men weak in the knees…

Other originals first pressings include Hendrix, Cream, Byrds, Joy Division, Miles, Coltrane, Specials, Big Youth, Dury, Pistols, Damned, Dylan, Buckley….

apart from those prehistoric relics, you’ll also be able to pick the remaining slices of mid 90’s Jungle and 2step classics sold to us by a top pirate radios veteran, and plenty left of Indie, Electronica Funk and Soul 12’s, all priced desperately low low low….

All right, so I hope to see some of you at the counter soon.

Until then, all the best from all here and indeed, keep it Vinyl!

Philippe at Rat Records.

Do you remember the first time you were given pocket money and decided you were going to spend it on a record, a tape or a CD ? Can you remember what artist or band it was ? Is this record still in your collection, and if so, is this the same worn out copy or have you purchased it a second time for nostalgic purposes while browsing the racks of a second hand record shop or during a slightly blurry car boot sale trip on a Sunday morning following a sleepless night in Hackney ? Do you remember the journey back home and the anticipation? Reading the sleeve notes maybe (some of us used to..)? Or just the pleasure of freaking out your parents with the sheer exuberance of your burgeoning decadent music tastes? Do you remember a time when music was that vehicle towards emancipation?

What I love at this shop is that we are constantly put in situation when we actually are asked to help customers, from the lady who’s just noticed the records in the window while walking the streets of Camberwell, to the regular customer, veteran DJ, top head of the industry who’s simply woken up with the obsessive compulsion to hear “that song”.

Some of them would not hesitate to demand your full attention while they embark on a talent contest type rendition of the track in question, and I must say that I would love to have footage of our faces behind the counter as we stand scratching our scalps in bemusement and yet hoping we could decipher that embryo of melody, to turn it into a fully grown recorded song with a generous price tag.
And sometimes, when we happen to recognise the song, and after a trip to the treasure chest in the basement we come back with the coveted “masterpiece”, then for an instant something within us feel complete.
It is of course, just as rewarding to help the most knowledgeable customers towards their goal for the day-just not as much fun and slightly less memorable.

Music has plenty of therapeutic values whether you are behind the counter or across it. It’s power to give us a snapshot of the most cherished moments in our memories is limitless-I swear some vinyls use to have a particular smell (some would argue I am just plain mad) I never managed to find again….as yet. One day…..

And here I just wonder : does anyone of us remember our first music download? Will our children do ?
We rarely ever see anyone below 20 years old at the shop and surely that’s not because they need parental authorisation is it ?

Yes the times they are a - changin’, and maybe I just shouldn’t criticise what I don’t understand….. let me know what you make of it if you like.

Right, this said, my job is to inform you of the content of our New In rack for this coming Saturday.

Unfortunately, I have ( twice is not yet an habit) left my notes at the shop, and so I can only tell you that there’s still some great slabs of Electronica - Jungle - D&B - Two step - Uk Garage, a fair amount Indie, Punk and Post Punk, Classic Rock and Metal, Folk rarities and Proggy delights.

Also in the mix expect a few top notch Reggae, Funk and Soul masterpieces and of course one or two of those tunes you’d have preferred to have left buried in your memories…. one’s treasure is another’s poison innit!

All the best.

Philiippe at Rat Records.