If there was a new Indiana Jones franchise about the dangerous world of tracking down music, it would clean up at certain box offices. As well as be cheap to film. The Rat crew expose themselves to situations of grave personal danger and compromised hygiene. These range from meeting Vinnie Jones impersonators in front of Croydon chop shop lockups to ignoring showers of asbestos dust from a loft filled with lost musical treasures. On this trip Down Sarf Tom managed 7 buys in 12 hours. This is an impressive average of tempting fate and living to do it again.

It can actually get really surreal. Some creature found or guessed his number, and basically threatened him with some kind of Jimmy Saville record. It was a Top 10 comp of fromage from the late 60s that would drain cool from the shop like a gold plated vampire. They insisted he should buy it, especially given the sad news of the man’s toe tagging. Tom suggested they seek some urgent professional attention elsewhere.

So what did he get for us this Saturday? Rock Heads will delight in a great selection of superb Classic Rock Albums from £5: Who, Creedence, Zappa, Neil Young, Big Star, Lou Reed, Ramones, Nico, Stereolab, Doors, Leonard Cohen running into Creation etc and a great selection of less Classic but Original Rock albums from Yes, Uriah Heep and BJH at £3. Light relief for the Soul Vinyl fans is provided by some tasty sealed copies from the Dusty Fingers sampling selection, and a seasoning of original Isaac Hayes LPs. There is also a taste of Reggae vinyl; Sizzla, Capelton, Luciano etc on LP, and late 90s Drum n Bass in beautiful condition at £2-£3; Virus, Moving Shadow, Reinforced, Audio Couture.

There will be more shocking tales from the Tartan raider next time, we just have to wait to get all the facts in and make sure the signatures on the release forms are clean so do bear with us.

Speaking of clean, your faithful Sleeve snuck into the shop last week to have a lost masterpiece by Freddie Hubbard restored to glory by Rat’s Loricraft PRC Mark 4 , one of only one and half available for public use in London. At first, he was concerned that Dom, who you’ll remember has heavier Dance and House oriented creds on his CV than a funky architect and bricklayer with nine triple jointed legs, was deploying some kind of exotic sampler to siphon the very best breaks for his own nefarious use. This was not the case. In fact, the record ended up looking like it had come from some time tunnel to 1974. When Rat first got this magical lady in, some were unsure of the benefits compared to the good old carbon fibre brush we all need. Tom had a box of perfect Unboxed Decca of the kind collectors kill their best friends to own; untouched for 40 odd years, except by the marbling effect of the vinyl reacting with the sleeve it’s in. They looked like a bad bathroom tile. The Loricraft made them new again, and all gave praise. For less than a crap cocktail, you can have ten records restored thus.

In fact, Freddie is now calling us. Firstly to apologise for his later falling off the funky train of quality, secondly to make us spin High Energy yet again. Goodbye for now, and see you in the racks!

understand, has been up to something again.  Our souls may be in peril, but your ears will reap the benefits.

The Rat Intelligence Network picked up a vicious rumour of a criminally abandoned lockup where a frightening amount of factory Fresh Island tunes, classic rock, world music, reggae LPs and 12″s were in peril. The firm employed to clear out the no doubt useless mess inside employed an urchin with more street sense than musical taste to dump the lot.  This is where we come in…

The image of novelty bong designer’s favourite Bob Marley was spotted on a couple discs, which were duly pocketed, but the rest were seen as a temporary inconvenience before a suitable skip could be located.

“Dunno if they are even worth anything, we all looked at them down the office and only knew the Marley stuff”, he sneered at our Fearless French agent, who kindly offered to rescue these mysterious plastic objects from his bored hands and sent him away with a pat on the head and enough lucre to get some mobile credit, sweets and a Rihanna ring tone. That’s Vinyl Justice.

If we put them all out at once it would tip the world on its end, but suffice to say Philippe gave up counting on the seventh overstuffed crate.  First out of the gate are Rico Rodriguez, Nine Inch Nails, Wailing Souls, Ini Kamoze, Traffic, Fairport Convention, Evervesence, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Tom Tom Club, Lee Perry, Black Uhuru, Manu Dibango, Kaleidoscope, Spooky Tooth and more.

And to add the wonderment, we’ve got ten transmissions from Sun Ra over from the USA, or perhaps somewhere even further away.

A pioneer of the DIY aesthetic decades before cartoon punks claimed all the credit, Sun Ra had even less interest in the formal music industry machine than it had in him.  These LPs were pressed on the fly in smaller quantities than Da Vinci drawings, and sold at gigs and to mates with handmade artwork.  They’re too dear just to stick in the shop as they run £200 to £800 even to friends, but ask nicely and you can take a gander.

We’ve also got an exciting collection of hot CDs, dance stuff from the good years. You know, when it was vital. On silver disc we have loads of Drum and Bass, Jungle, Breaks, Techno and electronica, in totally mint condition. Superb stuff, including from top labels such as Rhythm and Sound, Scape, Ghostly International, Chicks on Speed, Gigolo, Ram, Hospital, Good Looking and a lot lot more.

See you Saturday, or even on Saturn.

We also have a pretty cool supply of new or newish CD’s, priced between £4 and £7.

That’s it for now, I will return all tanned and smiles in two weeks time.

Best to you all.

Ph. Rat Records.

However, I hope it stops on Saturday so those of you who will make it to the shop to grab our latest batch of vinyl won’t get drenched.

However, I would not mind in a way, cos I support Manchester United, and that if the Wembley pitch is full of mud and puddles, we probably will have a better chance to win aginst Barcelona, who are likely to give us a proper beating on a dry surface… anyway, no one cares about this saide from me, so let’s move on to what is essential :

Tomorrow, in the new in rack, you will find a lot of soul music albums I had never heard of but looking mint, mostly priced at £7.00 by our soul expert Dominique.
He’s also been pricing an indecent amount of modern R&B and Hip Hop twelves and LP’s and another box of “E.I” funky collection. He then went through Icelandish ash clouds and has spent the week in NYC, leaving me here on my own to run the shop and price down all our vinyls in time for the start of June.

There will also be some fine 70′s rock records, including original UK pressings of Can, Kraftwerk, Pete Hamill, Bowie and the likes. Also a bit of Blues and Jazz, and a bunch of ragga album compilations and some 90′s indie twelves and 7inches for good measure.

If that does not sound very exciting, it must be that I am terribly hangover, but looking at how this is very similar to last Saturday, and that it was one of our best so far this year, I think theer will be plenty for everyone to shop for.

Right, that’s it for today!

Ps : come on Man U!!!!!!!!

Philippe, Rat records

This week though, no techno coming out. We have a nice collection of digital raggae twelves and roots 7′s, with  some fine Ska and Rocksteady classics. Considering that this is looking like the sunniest year in the UK ever, there’s never been a better time to take these sunbeams on wax home. Hurry on Saturday though, because I can’t see them lasting longer than two hours in the rack.
We also have bough a fine collection of Hip Hop, Modern R&B and Ragga albums and twelves, the likes of Snoop, Dre, Jay Z and 50cents, and some fine compilations of riddim and jungle.

But the bulk of what is coming out is from a fine collection we bought from a gentleman who used to buy music in the 70′s and took great care of it. He had a wide range of tastes, from Wetaher report to neil Young and Zappa, passing by Kraftwerk, Heptones, John Cale, Beefhart, obviously Stones and beatles and Zeppelin… he even had the Feelies, but as i am listening to it right now and enjoying it so much, this one may stay in my bag… (soz).

And of course, another box of Funk, Disco and House from the man known by all our regulars as E.I.

Best to you all.

Philippe-Rat Records.

The show was simply the best i had seen since the Lovesexy tour of his purple highness (the artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince) back in 1989 (if I remember well).

I have friends who earn a living making visuals for live performances, and I had seen my fair share of multilayered projections and other tricks for the eyes, but what I’ve witnessed yesterday was the work of the wizard of odd-dazzling, mesmerizing and technically impossible to figure out.

Anyway, we don’t have a single record by Sufjan here at the moment, so maybe there is no real point in me carrying on with my review of his show. All you need to know is that i had never heard so many people saying “amazing” after a show, and even carrying inflated baloons home as a souvenir… the bus home was full of them, knowing smile on their faces. He is playing tonight again. Go if you can. Unless of course you hate the concept of a tortured depressive folk singer suddenly re emerging as the bastard son of George Clinton and lady gaga and playing 25 minutes “songs” about the apocalypse…

Right…enough.  This is about our rack of new in records this week, and well, it’s a nice little mixture of 60′s to now rock and pop, some pretty standard I must admit such as Sticky fingers zipeed sleeve, Led Zeppeling building layered sleeve etc, some pretty rare Johnny Cash’s American recordings,records by  Magma, Blue oyster cult etc..
Also a few current indie noise core stuff, that I have had a bit of a hard time getting into, such as “psychedelic horseshit” and the likes of “les savy fav”.. come one, scare your neighbours!!

Also still a few good bits of Jazz, and some tasty reggae twelves, albums and boxsets. We’ll also put a bit less of the funk 12′s (known as the E.I collection) some of you have been feeding onto for the past few weeks, for the simple reason that the shop simply hasn’t enough rack space to store it all. Still there’ll be a box of it in there, because I am nice and in a good mood !
Right, i’m leaving you to this fine sunny day (is this really London?) and hope to see you soon in the shop.

Best.

Philippe-Rat records.

This is the time we have all been looking for, getting the barbecues out and dusting off the sound systems and the summer records!

There is something special into playing records for people dancing in the sunshine. Clubs are good, but fields are really something else.

However, I remember clearly dancing tovery loud music in the sunshine and there was no sign of a field around, only concrete surroundings.

It seems like and ancient memory, but it was not even 10 years ago that squatt parties were raging all over the east end of London every week end, unstopable and frankly exhilarating and inspiring for some, properly out of order and musically debilitating for others. I loved going there on Sunday mornings, and I even managed to get a few sets inmy time, even though the music I had in my box never really cut it with the havin’t it crowd. I was not the only one to fail comepeting with a sound that was rather stereotypical but couldnot be faulted for delivering what it said on the tin : the London Acid Techno sound that was prevalent in those days, I would lie if I said I had any love for.

But i personally know some of the major players in the scene and not only are they the loveliest and most unassuming people (is there nicer blokes in the DJ circuit than Chris Liberator or Henry Cullen?), they sometimes manage to completely transcend themselves and simply pound their ways to reduce even the most reticent punters into submission.

So why am I telling you all this ? Well, we have been offered a collection of twelve inches from back in those days, and since they really were in great condition and that the price asked was just right, we decided to dive in and buy them.

What we are talking about is a big bunch of early releases from the likes of Cluster, Stay up Forever (and Stay up forever remixes), Smitten, Tec, Routemaster and the likes. We have priced them way below the demanding price of the mighty Discogs, and we even gave a clean to those who had gathered a little bit too much of whatever had been splattered over them…

So if you fancy a bit of 303 nostalgia for your summer sets, give us a visit this coming weeks as we will be spreading this collection over the month.

This aside, this is more of the same this saturday with superb classic rock and punk rock, some nice reggae, soul, funk and R&B 12′s and more obscure proggy bits. Also a good bunch of nice electro house and house music twelves and albums for good measure.

Talking about electronica, let me remind you allthat Saturday April16th we will celebrate Record Stores day with

Tony Thorpe, Moody Boys,  www.onu-sound.com/tag/tony-thorpe/

Phil from Tunng:  www.tunng.co.uk

Infamous Instore DJs

DJ Prophane: http://soundcloud.com/djprophane
DJ D: www.myspace.com/dominicjohndawson

Live Music;

Rebekah Delgado: http://home.rebekah-delgado.com/

Anthony Joseph : http://www.anthonyjoseph.co.uk/

Saint Later – twisted Country and Blues from a superb songwriter who seems to be too hardcore to have a website. Sort it out Steve.

best.

Philippe Rat records.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to generalise or descriminate, whether their job is bouncer or not, all people should all have the same chance at birth.
And I am convinced there are nice bouncers out there, lovely tree hugging bear sized peeps with a golden heart. They’re only doing their job, and it’s really not an easy one right…? That’s a dirty one, but someone’s gotta do it, right?

Mmm…hold on. What’s a tough job, by definition? I wonder… so standing at door in a big anorak while people are freezing their bollox in a queue for hours hoping to get into a sweaty overpriced venue to dance and splash their hard earned cash all night long is so hard that I should give them a tip?
I wonder if their job is to size anything they fancy taking home later from doing their search? I wonder if their job is to tell you to go home “change shoes or you’re not coming in” or if their job is to push women against the wall when she asks for your name and accreditation? I wonder if the job is defined in their contract as “be the complete asshole and make a meal of any opportunity to fuck someone up”?

Ok I always had a problem with authority-so what? I cannot accept that someone whose carreer is based on the fact that nobody can go through the doorway if he stands in the middle of it actually feels that he can interfere in my evening, let alone barre me from entering a venue I was invited to play at.

Anyway, all this to say that once we’ve all dealt with the bouncing pair of Cameron-Clegg (obviously the primary target of bullies hunters), maybe we can insurge against abusive door people and park them all in a center for re education of the brain, where they can learn manners and spelling their names for example? Or watergun them naked while hanging from tree branches for fun… anyone feel ready to give me your prefered treatment for this upcoming worlwide insurrection!

Right…I won’t carry on any further, but I guess you all get the picture, so I move on now and tell you about Saturday’s stock at Rat Records :

We have been buying heavily, mostly classic rock, reggae and hip hop, although Tom just messaged me to tell me that he has purchased a collection of incredibly rare electronic music dating back to the 60′s and he sounds really really excited. We hope to have a bit of time to price a few of those tomorrow, although as you’d expect, we’ll try to spread that one over the next few months to keep you coming for more…. hehehe

For all I can see in the cupboards, there’s some cracking Lp’s we’ve lifted from our discogs auctions and will put out in the shop for a tenner or less. ANd also some amazing bargains of classics such as MC5, Stogges, Bowie, Stones etc, all priced a fiver cos Tom thought it’d be a good idea…and so will you!

We have also got another batch of tasty Dubstep promos straight from the hands of Kode 9, who clearly only plays CDs these days… They will all be priced at a fiver or less, and I expect them to fly out very fast, so don’t waste time if that’s your bag!

One last thing : i have just completed the monthly price down so there are some real bargains to be found in the racks this week. Ouf! That’s it for this week my little vinyl vultures!!

I won’t be here Saturday, but Dom and lucy will be here to smile and take your money!!

Best.

Philippe-Rat Records.

Come down and check for yourself-I reckon the odds of you getting a smile out of me have multiplied by five…or maybe three… Seriously, if not, there is always Dominic. He too is much happier, and so will you on your next visit.

And if that was to be this Saturday, here is a sample of some of the albums on wax you may put your hands onto : U roy, The Smiths, Freddy mc Gregor, Velvet Underground, Johnny Clark, Davis Duke, Pavement, The Residents, Public Enemy, Sonic youth, The Ramones, A few Dylan bootlegs, Blue Cheer, Memphis Bleek, Beanie Siegel, Kanye West, Ghostface, Lemon Jelly, Greg Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Joe Gibbs, john Holt, Alan Vega, Nick Drake…. believe me , it is looking very very good, with also plenty of twelves, especially some fine roots and lovers reggae and plenty of Hip Hop as well.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Best.

Philippe rat records.