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.