The Edit/ RAREKIND Records

As part of our Farah community content series bringing together creative people across different cultures and crafts, we spent time with Ewan & Alice from Rarekind Records - a long-standing, multi-genre record shop based in Brighton’s vibrant North Laine. Founded over 20 years ago from roots in hip-hop and graffiti culture, Rarekind has grown into a community hub for music lovers and vinyl collectors of all styles. Led by Ewan, whose lifelong passion for records fuels the shop’s eclectic spirit, and Alice, who runs the dance music arm RK Bass specialising in jungle, drum & bass and beyond. Rarekind continues to champion independent music culture and the art of digging for great sound.

What were some of your favourite record shops growing up and how did they influence your decision to start working at one and open one up?

[E]
I spent a large amount of my youth in record shops. Brighton has always had some great shops, but the first shop I went to a lot was called Rounders, it's like a Brighton institution, my first cassettes and my first bit of wax came from there. There was also a shop in Worthing we used to go to called Instant Vibes, because they had all the best hip-hop imports, better than the shops in town, shout out to Mex and Krafty Kuts!

I used to go to London to a lot of the Soho record shops, that used to be a real thing. I used to go to Mr Bongo on Poland Street pretty regularly, and if we're talking about favourite record shops, I'd have to give a shout out to a couple of second hand ones, like Across The Tracks in Brighton, which is still going. I used to dig in there a lot as a kid, and then Beano's in Croydon, which was like this massive three-storey, ridiculous heaven for a record nerd. Oh and also the Music and Video Exchanges in Notting Hill and Camden.

Do you think it's harder now for a record store to be at the forefront of new music with the ease of access online?

[A]
I'd say yes and no. It is definitely more difficult to get hold of the new releases, but I think we're lucky that a lot of people still want to do it the old school way, bringing things in by hand you know- especially with the smaller, more underground labels.

They'd much rather make sure that they come in with like five or ten records, and that it's going to the places where they want it to be, shops they want their music to be sold in. So, yes and no is what I would say.

[E]
Yeah, I think it's very different. The game's definitely changed. On the one hand, you don't really need a record shop to get your music to people but there's still room, I think, for a place run by people that love music and know a bit about it, a bit of curation. A place that's welcoming, well-priced, has a cool selection of stuff, hopefully, there's still room for that.

Some people still like the finite nature of being in a record shop. That's always been a thing for me as well when I was shopping.

I like dealing with just what's in front of me. So, luckily that's still a thing. And like Alice said, some labels still want to hook up a physical space, they want to have that ongoing relationship, which is pretty cool.

I feel like half the time now, you're going into a record shop because of the overwhelming nature of how much music is out there. You want to talk to someone that's into the same music as you, but maybe has more knowledge, so it can put you onto a new artist or a new genre.

Do you get overwhelmed with the amount of music that's around you, are you always feeling like you have to listen to something new?

[E]
The amount of music there is in the world is, I mean, it's overwhelming to me, and it's my job to try and stay on top of it, and I fail all the time. There’s so much new stuff coming out, you can't stay on top of that, and then you've got an entire history of interesting stuff from the past.

So, it's definitely overwhelming. I think once you sort of commit to the fact that you can't be on top of it, then it's kind of fine. You're just dipping into this massive ocean of stuff and plucking something out. I think that's okay.

Definitely a young me was like, ‘I'm going to have all the really good hip-hop records, I'm going to just have all of them’. I bought some records the other day, and there's a record from 1994 in there, which is when I was at prime consumption of that music, that i’d never seen before.

So, yeah, there is a ridiculous amount of music in it, and being into it kind of just leads to being into more and more. You keep heading off down a different avenue or into a new little pocket.

You're always learning though, right?

[A]
Yeah, definitely always learning.

What is your personal Holy Grail and have you found it yet?

[E]
I'm not sure. I guess my personal Holy Grail would have to be something that I don't have still. I’ve got a lot of the records that I always really wanted, but there are a couple of hip-hop things that I haven't got that spring to mind.

There's an album called Stunts, Blunts & Hip-Hop by Diamond D that only ever came out as a promo, so it was pretty rare, and it was in front of me at a record fair, and the guy said, I'm offering it to you for a great price because I've just bought a collection, you won't see it for that price again. And at the time it was still a lot of money, probably more money than I really wanted to drop on a record, so I didn't take him up on his offer, and he was 100% right, I've not seen it in the flesh since!

People always regale you with the stories about when they got a bargain, or when they found some stuff in the wild that was ridiculously cheap or rare, but they don't always tell you about the ones that got away. It's definitely a part of it.

[A]
I actually copped one of my Holy Grails yesterday. Mash Dem Down / Lightning And Tunda, one of the best jungle records that was ever made, 1995. Yeah, after that, I really don't have many on my list.

I feel blessed that I have most of my Holy Grails in my collection now.

Was there any album artwork that inspired you as a kid or really sticks in your mind from a young age?

[E]
I mean, one of the first things I ever bought for myself was De La Soul’s ‘Three Feet High and Rising’. And I think the artwork on that was striking and a part of it. There's a hip-hop record called Dah Shining by Smif-N-Wessun that's a reproduction of Roy Ayers [1972’s He's Coming], that always resonated a lot with me. I like the fact that they'd taken someone else's thing and updated it, which is what rap music does anyway.

[A]
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with my mum's records. One of my favourite ones was School's Out by Alice Cooper because you'd get it and it folded out into a little desk that opened up and you could take the record out of the desk. And I'd always get my mum to put it on every summer holiday.

I was like, you've got to play School's Out by Alice Cooper. It's time.

[E]
That is a sick one, actually, the desk fold-out thing. There's a few. There's that Cheech & Chong one as well, which has got the giant Rizla and the fake bag.

Why do you think vinyl has lasted longer and is more popular than other ways of listening to music, like cassettes,for example?

[E]
There is just something magic about records!

I'm sure I can speak for Alice as well. We're both pretty far gone on records and always have been. But there's something in the ritual and it's not been bettered.

I don't think anyone would even try to tell you that it has been bettered. Digital music is cool and I'm not mad at Spotify. But I don't think anyone would tell you that there's a pinnacle that's better than listening to a bit of vinyl on a nice system.

There's a warmth to it.

[A]
There's a certain amount of nostalgia that comes with it as well. You always have these memories that are associated with tunes, but you also have those memories associated with where you bought a record and the time in your life when you bought that record and who you were with when you bought that record. I think for a lot of people that is a huge part of it as well.

It's the nostalgia aspect of it that really invokes those memories for you and brings them back whether you want them to or not.

[E]
If I ever go anywhere, it's still the first thing I want to do. If I go on holiday or whatever, I want to check the record shop out. I kind of forget about everything else that's going on when I'm in the record shop. It's just me and the records. It's quite therapeutic in a way. It's fun.

Everyone's got Spotify. It's easy to have however many gigabytes of tunes on your hard drive. It's a bit more of a commitment to your passion for music. The serendipity involved in coming across records in the physical realm. That's a real thing. The number of times this record is in this place that I happen to be in at this time and something's drawn me to it or this thing I've been after.

That's a real... I don't know, it's fun.

[A] There is a magic to it. Sometimes you'll be thinking of a record. It's happened so many times. It literally just turned up out of nowhere. You'll be like, oh, that record I was talking about to someone a couple of days ago. It's literally right there.

They find you sometimes.

What do you see in the future for the shop?

[E]
I think the future for the shop from my point of view is just to keep doing more of the same and just trying to keep being better at it. We do a few extracurricular things. We do some in-stores and a few collaborations here and there. Some more of that. But just keeping it going. I'm quite a big fan of people doing their thing, hopefully doing it well, just because they love it.

[A]
I mean, it's not really for me to say about the future of the shop, but as long as I'm a part of it, I'm happy.

Rarekind Records
104 Trafalgar St, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN1 4ER
@rarekindrecords