records – Baltimore Magazine

Hare’s Breath Records is Fells Point’s Newest Vinyl Shop

Christine Jackson — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 09:41:00 +0000

The former home of Killer Trash and Glitter Rat is no longer full of clothes, shoes, and accessories, but those interested in the rare and vintage may still want to browse the wares at 602 South Broadway. The black and yellow storefront’s latest tenant is Hare’s Breath Records, now open Wednesday through Sunday, and owners Matt and Kat Peach have swapped out the clothes racks for bins filled with hundreds of albums, some new and some gathered on the couple’s trips up and down the East Coast.

While you can definitely find classic rock essentials among Hare’s Breath’s holdings, this is the kind of place you go to find something completely new. Offerings lean toward the odd and the interesting, with Matt and Kat’s personal tastes for reggae, prog, folk, and industrial well represented.

As for the obvious question for a new record store in Fells Point, the Peaches know they’ve got some great neighbors in the vinyl business just blocks away, and they don’t mind.

“We keep hearing that. But if it was another restaurant [in Fells] or a different store, it wouldn’t make any difference,” Matt says. “What makes us different I think is our stock and the feel of the shop. And we run our own record label as well.”

That record label, also called Hare’s Breath, features Matt and Kat’s own music in addition to that of artists from Baltimore, New York, and Matt’s native UK, and it focuses on “hauntology, psychedelic, folk, horror, ambient, electronic, noise, storytelling, and experimental” projects. (Ask the couple about The Stone Tapes for a truly wild tale of local lore and experimental sounds.)

“We’re both really into not just the music, but knowledge about the music,” Kat says. “We love odd, weird things, and we obsessively collect the stories behind the things.”

Bring up a certain style or an artist and the couple is likely to start pulling records from behind the counter or a box on the floor and putting them on. With a smile and a “Now, this is really weird,” the sounds of spooky children’s songs or guided transcendental meditation fill the store. Jazz, Jane Fonda, radio plays, and horror soundtracks all have their place here, and Matt and Kat have an anecdote or fun fact for everything.

“A lot of record shops you go in, buy the record, and go home,” Matt says. “People might not find out the stories. But we’re just really passionate about what we’re selling.”

Kat says her goal is to know at least one thing about every artist in the shop, no small feat when the bins are full of rare finds and hardly any repeats. They are also happy to place orders for customers who can’t find what they’re looking for in the couple’s eclectic collection, but our advice is to open your mind and browse awhile.

And that’s part of the joy of it all. “I think the biggest challenge we have is not keeping stuff for ourselves,” says Kat. “It’s a battle,” chimes in Matt. “But I do keep a stash under here that I’m taking home.”

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Spin City

Jess Mayhugh — Thu, 24 May 2018 08:30:00 +0000

Sure, streaming is convenient. But you can’t flip through bins full of MP3s, and algorithms can’t beat a trusted recommendation from your friendly neighborhood clerk.

As our profile of the Arbutus Record Show suggests, there’s still an undeniable allure to vinyl. Maybe it’s the cover art, or simply the tangible object in our digital world, but vinyl record sales continued their 12-year climb in 2017, with sales topping the previous year by more than $1 million.

Whether you’re just jumping on the bandwagon or you’ve been collecting for decades, you’re sure to find something for your turntable at one of these local spots.

Baby’s On Fire
This young café-cum-record shop takes its name from a Brian Eno track, which is a pretty good indication of what you’ll find there. Match your coffee to your listening-station pick for a fun, multi-sensory experience: French pop pairs well with cafe au laits, while Fugazi begs for a double shot of Hair Bender espresso. 1010 Morton St., 443-885-9892.

Celebrated Summer Records
Looking to embrace your inner punk or hardcore headbanger? While the music inside this Hampden shop is of the messier variety, it’s also one of the best-organized record stores you’ll encounter. Check out the local section for releases from Baltimore bands like War On Women. 3616 Falls Rd., 443-866-9988.

El Suprimo
Packed with used finds, this Fells Point hole-in-the-wall is a haven for Baltimore music-heads who love the joy of the hunt. Whether you’re into Morrissey or Memphis blues, chat with Jack about your tastes. He might just dig out something special from the back. 1709 Aliceanna St., 443-226-9628.

Normal’s
This Waverly record and book store has recently updated its exterior, and inside you’ll find one of the best jazz selections in town, as well as notable additions to any collection (interested in a private press of early U2 demos?). Pick co-owner Rupert’s brain for insight on the store’s ever-expanding inventory. 425 E. 31st St., 410-243-6888.

Protean Books & Records
Books, music, games, movies, and more fill this eccentric treasure trove near M&T Bank Stadium. Used records run the gamut, with Jay-Z, JFK, and Miss Piggy all having been spotted in the bins. Brave browsers can also enjoy a quick scare at the oddities museum, Dr. Gloom’s Crypt of Curiosities, located in the back. 836 Leadenhall St., 410-227-3006.

The Sound Garden
After more than a quarter century (and being named one of Rolling Stone’s top record stores in the country), this beloved Fells Point music shop still stocks an abundance of new and used vinyl of every genre and price. Keep your eyes peeled for records from local artists and your ears open for the shop’s occasional concerts. 1616 Thames St., 410-563-9011

Trax on Wax
This local gem is a classic record store experience, with a friendly staff and packed bins of new, used, and rare music. Hit the reissue section for fresh copies of old favorites, such as Bowie’s whole range of Berlin recordings. It’s also a great place for newbies to check out equipment. Ask Gary or Jeff for help—those guys know everything. 709 Frederick Rd., Catonsville, 410-869-8729.

Ka-Chunk!! Records
If you’re in the Annapolis area, this solid shop hosts a sizable selection of new, reissued, and used LPs, plus live in-store performances and something good always spinning while you browse. One recent playlist included The Replacements, Leonard Cohen, and Ty Segall. 78 Maryland Ave., Annapolis, 410-571-5047.

True Vine
Established by friends with a love for “raw and non-traditional” music, this Hampden haunt is the place to go for music beyond our borders. Also dubbed one of Rolling Stone’s top record shops, its truly eclectic selection includes globe-spanning sounds from the “organ king of Cairo,” Belgian avant-rockers, and the Baltimore Club scene, just to name a few. 3544 Hickory Ave., 410-235-4500. [Editor’s Note 6/11/21: True Vine remains temporarily closed.]

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For the Record

Jess Mayhugh — Mon, 07 May 2018 08:30:00 +0000

By John Lewis
Photography by Matt Roth

Arts & Culture

For the Record

The resurgence of vinyl culture is on full view at the Arbutus Record Show.

By John Lewis. Photography by Matt Roth.

Chris Armbruster steers his 2011 RAV4 into the parking lot of the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Department and pulls to a stop near a set of double doors at the back of the building. It’s 6:30 on a cold and dark Sunday morning, but the early hour doesn’t faze him. Armbruster has been making this pre-dawn pilgrimage to Arbutus from his White Hall home for more than 20 years. The RAV4’s wheel-cover gives a clue as to why.

The customized cover’s meticulously rendered text is designed to catch the eyes of jazz aficionados. It looks startlingly similar to the front cover of Cannonball Adderley’s classic 1958 album Somethin’ Else, with the same color scheme, font, and background. It reads: “We pay cash for records and CDs. Jazz rock soul more. Call today. 410-627-6017.”

TALL STACK OF VINYL

A tiny line of text, near the bottom, signals just how serious Armbruster is about records. “Flat edge with gakubushi cover” will not mean much to most people, but to record collectors it indicates that this is a representation of a major find: these are markings—on the vinyl and jacket, respectively—that identify original, 1950s albums on the Blue Note jazz label, some of the rarest and most sought-after records in the world.

A U-Haul trailer hitched to the RAV4 is stuffed with some 3,000 records, which Armbruster begins unloading. Other vehicles packed with albums have arrived, and a small army of record-toting men and women stream in and out of the fire hall. The Arbutus Record Show, held the third Sunday of each month, opens to the public at 9 a.m. (Note: This month’s show is scheduled for May 27, the fourth Sunday.)

The dealers set out crates and boxes of records—with some CDs and assorted memorabilia in the mix—on tables arranged in rows stretching the length of the spacious room. Dealers pay $30 a table. Armbruster, who operated the Mount Vernon record shop Musical Exchange in the late ’90s and early-2000s, reserves four tables. He also sets up a display rack featuring a dozen of his priciest pieces, such as a test pressing of Tom Petty’s first album ($600) and a mint copy of The Velvet Underground and Nico with Andy Warhol’s iconic banana cover art intact ($500). He brought the Velvet Underground record hoping it might catch the eye of a particular customer he had in mind.

Armbruster says the most expensive record he’s ever sold at Arbutus was an original mono pressing of Sonny Rollins’ Saxophone Colossus—for $1,500. When asked if it’s difficult to part with such a rarity, Armbruster doesn’t hesitate: “As a dealer, it’s actually harder to look at a thousand-dollar record on your shelf and say, ‘I’ll keep that.’ No, you gotta pay your bills.”

Soon after the doors open, collectors flood the aisles. The customers skew male, but the wide range of ages is an indicator that vinyl’s resurgence may not be a fleeting trend. Armbruster sees evidence of exactly that, as millennials turn up looking for old records. “It’s almost like they’re curating a collection,” he says. “They’ll want a copy of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, along with jazz and soul and even classic country like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash.”

Armbruster pushes back the Notre Dame baseball cap he’s wearing and scans the crowded room. “Looking around, it seems like vinyl has definitely come back,” he says, “but for many people here, it never went away.”

The Armbruster's van. VELVET UNDERGROUND LPs. OLD 45 RECORD PLAYER.

Sales of new vinyl LPs grew for the 12th consecutive year in 2017. According to Nielsen, which tracks music and TV purchases, vinyl sales were up 9 percent last year to 14.3 million units sold. Legacy titles such as The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Bob Marley’s Legend sold particularly well, alongside more recent releases like Ed Sheeran’s (Divide).

In an era when consumers can stream all the music they want on pocket-sized devices, the resurgence of records, along with the old-school equipment needed to play them, may seem baffling. It makes sense to Armbruster: “Some people will opt for more of a high-quality experience over convenience.”

Cat Keyes is one of those people and attends the Arbutus show when her schedule allows. The 25-year-old Catonsville hairdresser doesn’t download or stream music on her phone, but she does have three turntables at home and a record collection heavy on 1980s New Wave and obscure film soundtracks. A lavishly packaged reissue of the Creepshow soundtrack—on colored vinyl with a comic book insert and extensive liner notes—is a particular favorite. “Albums like that are more immersive and interactive,” she says. “I have friends over for dinner parties, and they love going through my records and choosing something to play.”

David Koslowski, another Arbutus customer, concurs. “Vinyl is tangible and tactile, which can be particularly appealing to young people who’ve grown up listening to nothing but digital files,” he says. “Their world is so sped up, and putting on a record is also a good way to slow down and relax.”

Koslowski co-owns Baby’s On Fire (named after a Brian Eno song), a Mount Vernon café and record shop, with his wife, Shirlé Koslowski. When the couple opened the café two years ago, they figured that stocking records would add ambiance and allow customers to flip through bins of LPs while waiting for their orders. As it turns out, the vinyl has provided a bona fide revenue stream. “It’s even inspired some of our customers to buy turntables,” says David. “Now, they come in for coffee, a sandwich, and maybe a couple records.”

Besides indie music shops like Towson’s Record & Tape Traders, Catonsville’s Trax on Wax, The Sound Garden in Fells Point, and Normal’s in Waverly, records are now sold at Urban Outfitters, Barnes & Noble, and Target and online through Amazon, eBay, Popsike, Discogs, and other sites. A few vinyl delivery services have popped up around the country, like the Colorado-based Vinyl Me, Please, which mails select records to more than 30,000 subscribers who pay a monthly fee.

Record shows are thriving. Frank and Janet Ruehl, organizers of the Arbutus event, say the show often sells out vendor spaces, with dealers snapping up all of the hall’s 100-plus tables. Frank, now retired after 31 years working for Verizon, rents six tables for himself and four for his daughter, who also sells snappy T-shirts with “I found it! At the Arbutus Record Show” emblazoned across the back. “The shows have been good to us,” says Frank, noting that some dealers make the trip from New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and customers have come from as far as Japan. “We really enjoy the one-on-one relationships we’ve developed.”

Selling and buying online pales by comparison. At least, he imagines it does. “I’ve never sold one record on the internet, nor have I bought a record on the internet,” he says. “It wouldn’t be fun sitting in front of a computer screen, hitting a button, and it just comes in the mail. No, it’s all about the hunt, discovering the music, and meeting good people.”

Scenes from the Arbutus Record Show.

MISS FREDDIE

Freddie Quickley strolls the aisles of the fire hall, searching for jazz, soul, and doo-wop records on her want list, which is penciled into the spiral notebook she carries. Known affectionately as “Miss Freddie” to Arbutus regulars, she wears a vibrant red blouse and radiates infectious enthusiasm. For years, she worked the counter at Brooklyn’s Roadhouse Oldies on Ritchie Highway, and she’s been coming to this show since it started in the early 1990s.

Quickley banters with dealers and customers, telling back-in-the-day stories about the likes of James Brown. As a teenager just out of high school, Quickley frequented the Royal Theatre, where she saw Brown, the Flamingos, the Drifters, and many other greats. On the night Brown recorded his live album Pure Dynamite at the Royal, Quickley was in the second row. “You can hear me screaming on that record.”

She often met the stars, got autographs, and ran errands for them. She’d dash across Pennsylvania Avenue to Mom’s restaurant and return with plates of food for performers, many of whom kept tabs at the restaurant. “I’d head out the door and Mom would be hollering, ‘You tell that James Brown to bring me my money,’” recalls Quickley, who can also dish on lesser-known personalities like “Cheese” Martin (Brown’s guitarist) and “Fat Daddy” Johnson (a popular DJ in the 1950s and ’60s).

Quickley will share her stories with anyone who’s interested. “Some people come here for more than records,” she explains, “because it’s also about history and passing on what we know.”

Joe Vaccarino, also browsing at the show, literally wrote the book on Baltimore music. Vaccarino’s Baltimore Sounds is a history of local pop music from the 1950s to the 2000s, and he’s always hunting for regional rarities. He pulls a pair of choice 45s out of his bag and notes their significance: B.B. and the Oscars’ “Hold Me Tight” on Guilford Records (“issued by a recording studio that was located on Guilford Avenue”) and “You Bring Me Down” by The Royalettes (“a vocal group named after the Royal Theatre”).

“it’s all about the hunt, discovering the music, and meeting good people.”

Catherine Bailey rents a table every few months and sells mostly jazz, soul, and political speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. It’s an idiosyncratic collection, one that would seem to have a story behind it. Sure enough, they were collected by Bailey’s deceased brother, Jan, who worked as a civil rights activist in the late 1960s, and she’s happy to reminisce about the era. “I come to talk and socialize more than anything else,” she says.

It’s an important aspect of the show, demonstrating how the LPs exert a near-totemic pull that bends toward recognition, acceptance, and, ultimately, camaraderie. They spark conversations and get total strangers swapping stories about concerts, record stores, and favorite tunes. Walking through the hall and overhearing snippets of chatter is like listening to an oral history mixtape of music memories.

“Man, I miss the Record Bar in Glen Burnie.”

“I just spotted a copy of Shaun Cassidy’s Da Doo Ron Ron, the first record I ever owned.”

“I saw The Supremes at the ballroom on the steel pier in Atlantic City. They wore those green-ish formal dresses, which made them look like bridesmaids, with gloves.”

SHOW ORGANIZERS Frank and Janet Ruehl.

Jack Skutnick, a dealer from Binghamton, New York, views the scene through something of an egalitarian lens. “Nobody looks down on anyone here,” says Skutnick. “If you want to listen to Lawrence Welk, that’s great. We aren’t snobs. I used to sell antiques, and that attracts snobby people, which wasn’t any fun. This is fun.

“Look around this show and what do you see? You see happy people.”

For hours, they mingle and meander. While some folks come early to strike deals or nab the rarest of rarities, others consider potential purchases for hours. Roger Priode, who made the drive from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, had his eye on a $22 Molly Hatchet Flirtin’ with Disaster picture disc for most of the day and eventually got it for $15. Someone has offered to buy the Ozzy Osbourne T-shirt right off Priode’s back, which, he says, “wouldn’t be the first time.” If he can get $30 for the shirt, he hopes to buy another picture disc.

As morning gives way to afternoon and the crowd thins, Armbruster is pleased. Business has been brisk, and the customer he had in mind for the Velvet Underground record did, indeed, buy it. “Some people who come here might spend a good portion of their paychecks,” says Armbruster, “while others spend just a few dollars. But everybody leaves with something that makes them feel good.”

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The New Normal’s

Jess Mayhugh — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 08:30:00 +0000

Waverly regulars might have noticed a colorful new addition to the neighborhood. Turn a corner and you’re faced with a long blue wall, where a mural features deep purple paint dripping down as wax from a candle atop a lavender Planet Earth, which doubles as a Magic 8 Ball. This is the new Normal’s.

Ahead of its 28th birthday on E. 31st St., this beloved home of books, records, zines, and one very friendly dog named Max got an early present—a facelift. In 2017, the building’s landlord contacted Emilie Drasher of Waverly Main Street about available funds for local businesses. One year, a few months, some design changes, and a lot of hard work later, the storefront now has a new look and the structural integrity to last.

“They stripped it all the way down to the core,” says Rupert Wondolowski, who co-owns Normal’s with John Berndt and Walt Novash. “I don’t think anyone knew what was awaiting them beneath the stucco.”

Local artist Greg Gannon of Signs of Intelligent Life merged past and present by enlarging the store emblem created in 1990 by Peter Pan (yes, you read that right), one of the store’s original nine owners, so that it could fit between the two front windows. The store’s name would also get added prominence thanks to a new font created by friend-of-the-shop Tim Hill. Once the plan was settled, Gannon teamed up with Spectrum Mural Studio to paint the whole building in less than two days, giving this beacon the update it needed to shine for the future explorers of its many wonders.

But, as they say, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Normal’s began as an attempt at a “normal” 9-to-5 gig for some artsy kids in the early ’90s, and at one time stocked clothing and bikes (they sold one to John Waters) alongside the current inventory of books and music. It has attracted burgeoning musicians, aging artists, and autodidacts looking to expand their understanding of the metaphysical, all brought together by the shop’s vast collections.

Beyond the fresh signage, you’ll find the same winding haven of bound pages and vinyl that locals have come to know and love. Kitsch still covers the walls, and something good always spins on the turntable. For those uninitiated, expect to wander for a while between the record bins, stacked shelves, and various nooks and crannies full of new and used finds ranging from the mainstream to the avant-garde.

“The investment of the community in our space feels like a bright new phase is ahead,” says Wondolowski. “Speaking as someone who’s not normally an optimist, I feel like there’s a movement back to appreciating simplicity and beauty, time machines without wires.”

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