A local haven for fresh musical ideas and styles in a town, that lacks fresh vinyl shops for new and old music. Set up in 2018 by the friends Ben, Coops, and Dan, today performing together with their only employee Hettie, the shop offers new and second-hand vinyl of the deep pulses of House and Techno as well as the reverberating echoes from Dub, Reggae, and avant-garde electronics. “We wanted to re-energize record shop culture in our city and build a hub for people to come to listen, chat, hang and exchange ideas”.

The Out Of Joint originators reveal in this interview more about their business, and why their shop also carries books and magazines, that tell the stories behind the records. But Out of Joint is not just about what you listen to - it’s also about what you wear whilst stepping. Beyond sound, it additionally brings a handpicked selection of clothing from cult-favourite brands like Cav Empt, The Trilogy Tapes, Good Morning Tapes, and Extra Stereo.

For EDWIN MUSIC CHANNEL, the Out Of Joint folks have created a mix, that playfully melds all their beloved music styles into a sonic explorer mix for all circumstances of life. It brings modern Dub-dance by Om Unit, an IDM crasher by Autechre, good old late 1980s tribal techno by Dutch legends Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia, and contemporary experimental electronics by A Large Sheet Of Muscle.

As ever we had a chat with our hosts and spoke to Ben, Coops, Dan, and Hettie about their origins, vision and other adventures of the Out Of Joint cosmos.

Q. Hello OOJ, can you give our readers a brief introduction to your work and what Out Of Joint Records has represented to you and your friends since 2018?

A. We've been mates for years. Like two decades or something. We met through the local music scene and through time spent working at a shop called Wellgosh, so shop work is in all our blood somewhere. We've run a record label Grade 10 since 2015 and found ourselves regularly buying music we loved online or travelling out of our city to find stuff. As the label started to get picked up by a few stores we rated, our distro sort of quizzed us on why he was sending our records to Berlin, London, Amsterdam etc. but no one in our home city was buying it. That got us thinking. So, we found a small unit with super cheap rent and cracked on.

We want OOJ to be a hub of sorts, a place where people can hook up, share stories, hopefully, discover some interesting music, and hopefully teach us about interesting music that may have passed us by. When we first opened, we bought a couple of 2nd hand House & Techno collections and a bunch of interesting new records from some selected distributors and that was our music offering. We've stocked a bit of clothing since the beginning too; Good Morning Tapes and The Trilogy Tapes mainly, plus some gear we designed and produced ourselves.

Q. Is there a philosophy behind the shop's name?

A. Not really. It came to us through an archive of archives.

Q. If you could describe the sound of the Out Of Joint Records universe in one sentence, what would you say?

A. Music to dance to and weird stuff.

Q. How is the vinyl business today? Is it still strong, or do digital files kill the vinyl show?

A. It's strong. We don't really deal with digital stuff, so can't really compare. But we sell a lot of records, and a mixed bag of stuff too; dance 12s, Reggae LPs, soundscapes, Hip-Hop records and weird and wonderful stuff. All sorts. We definitely have regulars who come and dig weekly who we know buy digi stuff too. So, we guess they coexist okay.

Q. You also sell secondhand records. Where do you buy those and what is your stylistic focus?

A. We source collections from all over, word of mouth is pretty key, often people turn up or call the shop wanting to sell us a collection. The focus is always on Dance. If you know anyone looking to sell a collection, tell them to get in touch!

Q. The shop is close to labels like The Trilogy Tapes or Good Morning Tapes. Can you tell us a bit about these relations?

A. We are longtime fans of both those labels, they are two labels we were all buying from personally before we opened the shop, so it was very natural for us to want to sell what we loved. Kind of back to why we started Out Of Joint in the first place, to represent stuff we love in our city.

Q. Besides selling music, Out Of Joint Records also features clothes. How are fashion and music related in your opinion?

A. Music and clothing have always gone hand in hand. There’s a uniform out there for so many different sounds. We like to think the clothing we sell in the shop is representative of the music we sell. Like the uniform of the sound of the shop. Labels like TTT and GMT kind of reinforce that thought. And Cav Empt too, they also have strong connections with music, their parties are nuts.

Q. How did you select the tracks for your EMC mix?

A. We always draw records from the shop’s personal collection which is continuously growing. Most of the record orders we place have personal bits on them, we're very lucky like that.

Q. What old albums have you rediscovered lately and what makes them special?

A. We dug out some old Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia. We’ve had them pretty much on repeat recently. They've been really inspiring to us. And the Time Capsule label is always a go-to for wicked reissues too. They put out some really interesting stuff. And there's always a load of classic reggae to get through in the shop.

Q. Who are you listening to these days?

A. A lot of Sybil mixes.

Q. How do music and other aspects of your life feed back into each other - do you separate them or instead try to make them blend seamlessly?

A. Music is in every aspect of our lives.

Q. You are based in Leicester, UK. What are your favourite spots and secrets in town that you would recommend to a visitor?

A. The New Walk Museum is great. There's a wicked vintage clothing shop right next to us in the Silver Arcade. Nine Bar is our favourite local boozer. Thai Esarn on Hinkley Road. And loads of beautiful countryside and woodland to go exploring in.

TRACKLIST:
Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia - EXIT 23
Bingi Kicks & G Campbell - Sky Jack
Skyark - When It Rains it Pours
Om Unit - Lost And Found
Autechre - Pule
Spanish Crash - Life Is Now
Maalem Houssam Guinia - Mosawiyin (Souiri)
A Large Sheet Of Muscle - GASTRONOMIEBETRIEBE 
Nilton Castro - Mere Afrique
DJ Mayhem - Inesse 
Zibaldone I of CVX - Menschenbeifall