IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE RECORD STORE DAY STOCKLIST POST, CHECK THAT OUT HERE
April 20th saw the return of Record Store Day at our beloved Soho store and what a day it was this year.
Every RSD we open up at 9am to a long queue of eager record collectors looking out for this years in-store only exclusives. This year’s exclusives featured some great titles from the likes of Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood’s project Two Lone Swordsmen with their deep electronic and ambient LP “Still My World” which was pressed on vinyl for the very first time. X-Press 2’s 90’s debut 12″ “Muzik Xpress” originally released on Junior Boys Own saw a much needed repress on Acid Jazz, and there were other seminal gems from electronic greats like Future Sounds Of London and Global Communication.
Of course it would not be Record Store Day at Phonica without mentioning our huge basement party that we host every year. This would of not been possible on this occasion without our amazing partners at Junction 2, Ace+Freak, Two Tribes and Red Bull alongside Zion Audio – who set up the colossal sound-system in our basement.
As always we warmed things up nicely in the shop. Stu Clark representing his and Miche’s Celestial Echo imprint, NTS’s Debonair and Lou Hayter supplied the sounds, treating the shop floor listeners to an array of soulful, punky, dubby and disco filled eclectic rhythms which soundtracked everyone’s digging perfectly.
At 2pm the basement doors opened where early revellers were welcomed to free drinks and an opening set from DO!!YOU!!! radio host and DJ Mag award winner Richard Sen. Richard couldn’t have been a more perfect DJ to get the room swaying nice and early with a packed bag of chuggy, rolling and energetic anthems along with some cuts from his forthcoming album. He had them in the palm of his hand from very early on.
Taking over and very much maintaining the energy were London favourites Make A Dance who brought a collection of energy filled pumping house rhythms. An all vinyl affair that brought the afternoon a positive feel-good atmosphere, which would carry through well into the evening!
With our basement now filled with an unmistakable flow and the crowd very much part of that energy it was time for the next two DJ’s to step up; the always amazing Cinthie and powerhouse Garrett David playing B2B for an hour! Supplying a heavy party vibe and mixing in some deep garagey tech-house anthems, you would swear these two weren’t playing together for the very first time.
Next up we welcomed back former Phonica member Anthea who took the party into whole new realms. Knocking out pumping electro, acid and 90’s techno sounds and mixing them to utter perfection. It was very obvious Anthea was the perfect guest to move things from the day and into the night.
Showing signs of a true master DJ, Anthea closed on some unreleased dark punky electronic tracks (forthcoming on her label Partisan) moving things just the right amount to welcome our next guest; South London based DJ and all round hero Chinese Daughter.
Chinese Daughter brought an influence vibe to her set, she always plays vinyl only. Opening with some oldskool early UK acid and electro into early 2010 bass sounds, most notable Joy Orbisons “The Shrew That Cushioned The Blow” as well as an absolute gem from Roska, not even phased when sweat was falling from the roof onto the records and causing a fair few skating needles! We had to send Luther up a ladder with a towel, to wipe up the constant raining sweat!
Once our compere and MC, Erica, had thanked and introduced, our penultimate special guest I.Jordan plowed full-force into their set! One anthem into the other, speedily mixed with absolute precision. With an array of 135bpm powerhouse, trance and rave anthems, I.Jordan had the place absolutely heaving. We have not seen energy like that in the basement in some years. A very hard act to follow.
The final special guest and headliner for the night: The Orb! aka Dr.Alex Patterson, took things to a close with a collection of 90’s classic techno, Italo Disco, chuggy rave and several mash-ups and Orb classics. A bewildering collage of music, killer tracks included Man 2 Man Parrish ‘Male Stripper’, The Passion’s ‘I’m In Love With A German Film Star’, Plastikman ‘Spastik’, The Orb ‘a huge ever growing pulsating brain that rules from the centre of the ultraworld’, even some David Bowie and Eminem?!
It was the perfect way to close out another legendary Record Store Day event at Phonica!
Such an amazing crowd upstairs the shop and down in our basement. Brilliant sets from our special guest DJ’s and many shout outs to them: Celestial Echo, Debonair, Lou Hayter,
Richard Sen, Make A Dance, Cinthie, Garrett David, Anthea, Chinese Daughter, I.Jordan and of course The Orb.
Zion Audio and Martin for supplying the amazing sound system, and of course to our partners:
Ace + Freak, Junction 2, Two Tribes and Red Bull Music. Finally big shout outs to Lewis Graham for all the beautiful photos and all our staff for working so hard on our busiest day of the year.
And of course, all our faithful customers and partygoers! Thank you all so much. See you all next year!
