To say “Record Store Day 2023 was a big one” would be a huge understatement! 2023 saw our first fully fledged event since 2019 with not only our shop floor open but saw a return to the basement, taking us from daytime into evening with huge sets from artists like Sherelle going b2b with Special Request, party energy from Krystal Klear, heavy tech rhythms from Manchester selector Willow and loads more!
Opening at 9am we saw a large line of people queuing up along Poland Street to buy exclusive releases and reissues of much sought-after rarities. This year saw great titles from the likes of Joy Orbison’s collaboration with Jorja Smith, a Floating Points remix of Herbert, Happy Monday’s “Balearic Beats” featuring classic remixes from Paul Oakenfold, Terry Farley & Pete Lorimer and many more great titles.
By 11am the shop was packed and former staff member and Silas Dubs label head Govind Singh, aka Kylin Tyce, was stepping up to be the first of many special guest DJs, dropping eastern flavours mixed with some blissful dub sounds. This was followed by Chuggy of Emotional Response who brought a collection of slowed-down beats and rhythms, closing out his set with Tornado Wallace and Jamie Tiller’s LEW E ‘Teardrops’ edit played at 33rpm, which made a lot of sense for the morning shift! K15 of 2000 Black fame stepped up next with an all vinyl set of disco, gospel, and funk closing our guest slots upstairs before the staff jumped on for a big B2B for the rest of the day.
Of course one of the big announcements for our Record Store Day event this year was our return to the basement space. Our first venture down there since 2019!
With the world exclusive debut of Master Sounds Clarity M public address system, System Olympia was the first of our special guest DJ’s to warm it up. Moving through disco, italo, soul and electro sounds, it didn’t take long for the room to gently start filling out – the basement was underway!
At 3pm the space was already in full swing with breakbeat and bassy tech sounds from Lithuanian DJ and producer Pletnev, followed up by a banging set from Black Artist Database head NIKS, who definitely created some of the first real dance-floor moments of the day. NTS’ Anu & Eglo’s Shy One were next up with an impromptu B2B filled with hip-hop, disco, funk and soulful house bringing a fun and playful sound to the room.
As the room started getting a slightly bit darker, the coloured lights in the room started taking effect, just in time for Dublin’s Running Back representative Krystal Klear to step up with nothing but pure feel-good disco and house, mixing in his own edit of Madonna’s ‘Into The Groove’, alongside a choice Andres classic, which the crowd rightfully lost there minds to. Manchester based Workshop-affiliate Willow played off the high energy of the crowd, giving an all vinyl set of rolling dubby house, thoughtful techno and obscure tech-house, putting the Master Sounds system through its paces and projecting to a room full of people lubricated by copious amounts of Vapoura Rum & Two Tribes Beer!
Of course with it being our first year in the basement since 2019, we left the biggest and baddest sounds til last.
Sherelle and Special Request stepped up for a no holds barred B2B filled with ghetto-house, hardcore, old-school drum’n’ bass and jungle. This set was not only relentless but it gave the crowd a proper workout! A truly phenomenal pairing that has definitely placed a crown on one of our best Record Store Day events ever! We will be posting all the basement sets from the livestream for you to watch back and enjoy soon!
It goes without saying that none of this would be possible without our dedicated staff who worked their assess off all day, and of course, to our collaborators who we thank with all our hearts. Huge thanks to our two main sponsors Vapoura Rum & Junction 2, and a big shout out to Two Tribes, The Vinyl Factory, Master Sounds, TPI, Red Bull and Pioneer. To Fran Hales for photography and Nick Raimo for MC duties, as always! And of course, to everyone who came down to play – shouts to Sherelle, Special Request, Willow, Krystal Klear, Anu, Shy One, Pletnev, System Olympia, K15, Chuggy and Govind. We couldn’t have done it without you! And finally to all of you lot who came down and danced with us and supported the shop by buying a record, not just on this day either! We appreciate you so much – Thank you!!
See you next year! 😉
