This is the first of TVD: Austin’s Record Store profiles. We will unveil them one at a time and have a special deal set-up with stores to provide discounts for our readers. Go into End of an Ear and mention TVD: Austin and get 10% off from now (1/18) through the weekend (1/23)
Caitlin Wittlif of Austin Writes Music wrote this with pictures by Mary Rehak of Shutter-Noise
End of an Ear is one of the younger record stores in Austin, but it has already become a vital part of the scene here. Dan Plunkett and Blake Carlisle co-founded the store over five years ago, and Plunkett says they’ve grown every year.
“We’re still pretty low to the ground. A little bit goes a long way for us,” Plunkett says.
Though End of an Ear does sell CDs, the first thing you’ll see when you walk in the front door are shelves upon shelves of beautiful vinyl. The store is brimming with new pop/rock, punk, metal, and experimental records, not to mention deeper genres like prog and dubstep.
The display is gorgeous — it’s like the Dylan’s Candy Shop of treats for vinyl lovers, with bright, shiny, swirling colors everywhere you look, ready for you to gobble up.
Plunkett has been in the business of records much longer than End of an Ear has been around. He moved to Austin from Fort Worth in 1981, and after a decade of settling into the city, he started an experimental ’zine that morphed into the now-defunct 33 Degrees record shop.
“One thing led to another. It was a, ‘Wow, this would be fun to do this for a living,’” kind of thing,” Plunkett says of his 15 years in vinyl.
But why vinyl? Plunkett was raised on it. “I’ve collected cassettes and every kind of media you can imagine,” he says, “but vinyl was always the sexiest. It always seemed like the real thing.”
Plunkett equated it to art, where CDs are the photocopied paintings in art history books, and records are the MoMA-owned Van Gogh originals. “It’s like, ‘Wow — there’s something I missed out on.’”
Plunkett says End of an Ear is definitely excited about Record Store Day, but their sights are set on the behemoth South by Southwest Music Conference first. When Record Store Day rolls around, End of an Ear will once again team up with other stores in Austin. Plunkett recommends the vinyl guide put together by Gabe Vaughn over at Breakaway Records. “You’d think record stores would be at each other’s necks,” Plunkett says, “but it’s all friendly competition. The more, the merrier.”
To finish our interview, I of course had to go High Fidelity on Dan, putting him on the spot to name his top five records.
Understandably, it was difficult for him to respond, and his answers would probably be different today. But some of his off-the-cuff answers included Wire’s 154, Faust and something by Brian Eno.
End of an Ear is a must-visit Austin staple, and there’s always something new to discover — even if it’s something that’s been around. “There are reissues of stuff that came out in the ‘80s that I never heard about that I wonder how I missed,” Plunkett says. “There’s stuff going on now that no one knows about, and in 10 years people will go, ‘Wow, we totally missed out on this.’ But that’s part of it, y’know?”
