“I grew up listening to music my parents were into. We had a record player and a pretty vast vinyl collection in my family home.”
“I remember the first vinyl I’d hunt for was Stevie Wonder’s Hotter Than July, namely for the song “Lately.” I was taught to “respect the record” from a young age. I used to love the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Maria Muldaur, Carly Simon, Fleetwood Mac, and so many of the classics. I was exposed to so many genres and enjoyed so many different artists.
My parents owned an electronics store in the ’90s in rural Australia and over time introduced CDs to the store. I remember sorting the covers into alphabetical order and pulling out the CD artwork, reading lyrics, and looking at pictures. The first CD I bought with my pocket-money was Pablo Honey—given to me by a high school guy who worked for my parents. Safe to say, my mind was blown. This was before the internet really took over so I had to discover music through listening to CDs.
I remember I was allowed to borrow 5 CDs per week and would keep Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Brandi, and then Destiny’s Child, Britney Spears, Lauryn Hill, etc on heavy rotation. I think my parents ended up banning Fantasy by Mariah and Shania Twain’s Come on Over record due to heavy repeated plays. Obviously my love for R&B and pop was spawned early…
I got into vinyl as a teenager and would buy my own in high school and play them on my parents’ record player. I had a copy of Clouds by Joni Mitchell, Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens and probably other classics I fail to remember now.
I collected bits and pieces over the years that I first moved out of home. I never had a very good system to listen to vinyl on, so I wasn’t super inspired to grow my collection. Some favourites during this time were Flying Lotus, Robert Glasper, Erykah Badu, and I got into buying soul, blues, and jazz records (having grown up singing in jazz bands). I had a couple super rare Muddy Waters and Charlie Parker records as well as a nice old copy of Bill Evans Trio…all of which an ex-bf kept, sooooo I lost them.
I travelled overseas to NYC and Europe and I really loved digging for records in crates in old broken-down stores—something about blowing the dust off an old form of audio and seeing whether or not it would sound any good. It’s such a physical way of listening to something and a process that never gets old for me. I like how it holds my attention.
I can’t really remember any particular store that stood out to me. I definitely loved Rough Trade in London and enjoyed searching through their staff recommended records and artists. I like going into stores in foreign cities and asking the people working there what they’re listening to. I am always willing to roll the dice and purchase something without listening to it, and have found some favourite records through doing so especially in Tokyo and Berlin. I got into house/ techno and weird/ wonderful ambient/ modern classical via records people recommended me.
I also love to buy foreign releases of my favourite albums. I have an amazing Japanese release of Little Dragon’s self-titled album and a European bootleg of Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange. I have a Japanese release of Thom Yorke’s The Eraser which came with a Stanley Donwood print inside. I have left a few of these records in Melbourne in my brothers care while I stay overseas for now—he is hopefully looking after them.
I now live in Toronto and I love Kops, Cosmos Records, and Rotate This. I try to stay away from going regularly so I’m not so tempted to come home with arms full of vinyl, but I love going and seeing what’s there.”
—Hoodlem
“Teenager,” the new single from Hoodlem, is in stores now. The “Teenager” EP arrives in stores Spring 2018.
