Friday, November 21, 2008

11.20.08 The record collector

I could go and change the names on all of you but honestly the names in this story are to good to pass up.

So as many of you have gauged from the annex collection, I LOVE MUSIC. More importantly, music that is impressed on to vinyl. Now I'm not such a purest that I can't appreciate other forms of musical data delivery. I enjoy my MP3 player, and mixtapes I adore. But when it comes to playing music for others in a DJ setting I appreciate being able to physically manipulate the audio. I commonly refer to this as touching the music. This selection, application, then manipulation of the music allows me to feel like I'm doing my part to provide the audience with a performance.

With this in mind let me regale you with a little story about a man from Fort Wayne IN. Kodiak is his name, honestly when looking at him on the street now a days you would never guess the epic vinyl collection this man had stashed away. This tall, youthful man, fit the bill for your average american. However once inside his moddest home he reveiled to us years of musical prouis. Kodiak was a collector of dance music from roughly the early to mid 1990's to... eeeh. Lets just say present.

So how did I met this man? Craigslist! Of coarse. (laughing mentally)

Kodiak was selling off his collection. Thus I found his post "House Techno DnB Jungle Trance vinyl, over 650ish records." This modist title and the 2 photos showing crates and crates of records did not do this collection justice. Kodiak had build up a collection of every Amen, 10LBS, Big tune that came out of the Detroit Techno House movement from the mid 1990's. Tracks that I knew of but never knew the name of. Tracks that mentally transported me back to dark warehouses, roadtrips and hours spent in my college art studio. Tracks that I had no right buying cause I could never use them in a jungle set. I found myself playing just to hear them again. The ghosts of memories filled the small back room where Kodiak kepts his records. My partener in crime Mr. Wilson and I played tracks, reminisced and absorbed all that these tracks had to offer us.

Kodiak (a master sales men I would later find out) left us alone for a chunk of time then came back in to join our musical adventures. Wilson took a break to just let it all sink in, while I dug through stacks, and discussed music, memories, and life.

This is the life of a digger... I would love to tell you that these are the way I fill my days, milling the back stacks of records stores or meeting new friends to dig through their prized record collection. One day... I will open my record store online. hahahaha

PS- if anyone is interested in buying the records described I've linked Kodiak's name for easy contactablity.