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Another music article by Aquamanda
If your musical tastes stretch beyond X factor and “Now… thats what i call music”, then you might fancy noseying about the curious corners of East Dulwich where there is a wealth of eclectic musical purchases to be had. Buying music was always savoured as a Saturday treat be it rifling through the 7″ bargain tray in Woolies (RIP) or the record shops where you could listen to vinyl through huge cannister headphones in dark booths. It’s super easy to buy the latest tracks at the click of a button, but isn’t it nice to wander around , actually pick something up, turn it over and look at the colour insert too? Like books, there’s nothing wrong in judging an album by it’s cover.
Paul and his Saturday selection
And so to Northcross road on a Saturday (9-5). there you’ll find Paul with his second hand CD’s. A nostalgic journey through roots, reggae, retro and, as Paul says, “anything with a bit of a groove”. A few rare gems to be unearthed here and many a happy customer like Martin, a regular visitor and world music fan, who is impressed with Pauls knowledge and customer service – he can usually track down a CD for him by the next week. And because Paul knows Martin’s taste by now, he can politely advises him on what not to buy too!
East Dulwich’s very own mini-department store of all stylish homeware products is, of course, Roullier-White. Their customers would often enquire what they were playing in the shop (the mornings would have an air of 20’s, 30’s tea-dance style music), so Lawrence decided he should stock some. He has a range of digitally remastered 78’s (now in CD form of course), including musicals and mellow jazz from the likes of Irving Berlin and Noel Coward. The afternoon develops into a more contemporary singer / songwriter genre (Kate Rusby, Simone White) plus a few albums by local artists – yes, mine are there too!
amongst the cables and drum sticks, jazz classics are to be found
We have a couple of proper music shops in the area, such as Grove Vales’ South London Music where not only can you buy a recorder/guitar string/The Messiah sheet music, but there is also a healthy range of CD’s and DVD’s ranging from Rennaissance to jazz. Rupert, the owner, has a passion and knowledge for his classics in stock from Miles Davis and Oscar Peterson. You can also find the more contemporary, experimental composers such as Cage and Stockhausen.
Ollie checks out the eclectic vinyl box
And so to The Dream Machine. More of an experience than a shop. Wedged in the small, downstairs cavern-like space between a bacon buttie (The Dulwich Cafe) and a pint (The Palmerstone) it’s run by John Lynch (Q ‘What do you sell?’ A ‘we sell dreams, baby’) who has tour managed rock groups around the world, this is a place to hang out, like you should in a record shop. On a recent typical Saturday I found Tim with big cannister headphones checking out and later buying a Norwegian acoustic album, Ollie, who had ventured from Brixton to buy a selection of eclectic vinyl to ’sample beyond recognition’ and incorporate into his hip-hop mixes. Amongst his purchases, there was an Indian film soundtrack, a few folk and funky jazz albums plus the narative vinyl cleaning LP- ‘How to give yourself a stereo check-up’. Now you can’t get more diverse than that!
John of The Dream Machine introducing Tim to Norwegian folk
Local musicians love to play a gig in this tiny vibey slightly grubby-in-a-rock-n-roll sort of way venue. When I say venue, it is but a small room (remember, it’s in the basement!) and it is being hired out more frequently these days by local bands as a rehearsal space. And as John informs me – booked and paid for by parents who want to encourage their teenage kids to be creative and express themselves – but not within the beautiful confines of their nice Dulwich homes, thankyou!
Another article by Aquamanda ‘The Soundtrack of you Life’
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