Independent Record Market at Spitalfields
Among the interesting items on display was this ghettoblaster that plays 12″ records.
You’d struggle to carry it though, it weighs a ton – small child to scale.
Yesterday I wandered down to Spitalfields Market to visit the Independent Record Market, an occasional gathering of indies big and small (but mostly small) that meet there several times a year, last in August. At the were labels like Bella Union, Big Dada, Fierce Panda, Fire, Full Time Hobby, !K7, Laissez Faire Club, Monotreme, Moshi Moshi and Play It Again Sam alongside bigger indies like Ninja Tune, R&S, Planet Mu, One Little Indian and Peacefrog – with more labels setting up on the Sunday.
There was a large amount of vinyl on display, perhaps unsurprisingly as that’s what the sort of buyer-collectors that haunt record markets are looking for, and they would have been overjoyed by the selection of interesting items up for grabs rarities dragged from the vaults and special releases. And branded T-shirts, badges and mugs, of course. I’m now kicking myself for not picking up a nice R&S tee when I had the chance, to replace my veteran Joey Beltram Novamute t-shirt that was well loved but disappeared years ago (If any of my friends have that, but I’ve forgotten, I want it back by the way).
I interviewed a few of the stallholders and label bosses for Clashmusic to talk about how business was faring through 2012 and what prospects for the indies looked like for next year. Among them were Moshi Moshi’s Michael McClatchey, Bill Brewster of independent publishers DJHistory.com (which released the hilarious Raving ’89 photostory of one man’s early days of acid house), Andy Bibey from One Little Indian, and Nigel Adams of Full Time Hobby.
You can hear the results at Clashmusic’s Soundcloud page.
