Soho’s best record store turns 10 this year, and they’re celebrating with a three-CD/LP compilation.
Featuring both established (John Morales, Henrik Schwarz, Skudge) and promising (Lord of the Isles, Moire) names from the – loosely speaking – house and techno sphere, 10 Years of Phonica both reflects the shop’s current tastes and toasts its relationships with some of its celebrated customers: on an average day, you might bump into anybody from James Murphy to Theo Parrish browsing Phonica’s racks. We spoke to the store’s assistant manager, Vangelis, to find out more.
There’s a combination of established (Trevor Jackson, I:Cube) and newer (Moire, Red Reck’em) artists – how did you end up picking the acts for the compilation?
It was a balancing act – it’s a mixture of people we’ve known for a while, either from coming to the shop, having them play at our parties, friends etc… Plus quite a few people whose productions we’ve been fans of – some for a while and others not for that long.
So generally speaking it’s acts that Phonica have a relationship with – whether that’s through the label, or through them shopping in the store, etc?
Generally speaking, yes. We wanted the comp to be a reflection of the shop, where we’re at now, whilst keeping the people involved connected to the shop / label in one way or another. Henrik Schwarz has been a regular at Phonica parties, having first played for us at our third birthday party, Trevor Jackson has been shopping here from day one, Joe Claussell and I:Cube always pass by when in town, Mr G’s in the shop every week… You get the picture. Or Panoram for example – we were the first shop to support his first EP, he came to visit and been in touch since – ‘Alpha Marmara’ is the result of us believing in his first release I guess.
The comp marks Phonica’s 10th anniversary. If you could pick one story or memory that defines the store’s 10 years, what would it be?
Tough one – too many highlights to choose from. Loads of memorable and rammed in-stores, Richie Hawtin, Four Tet, Joy Orbison & Boddika. Proper club vibes in the shop. Record Store Day has turned into a highlight those last few years… One of my favourite memories must be discussing with Simon about Bob Holroyd’s ‘African Drug’ which he’d had years ago on some mixtape and a few hours / days later – my memory fails me here – Bob walks in to the shop asking if we want to stock his music. Phonica 006 was the result…
What’s next for Phonica, in terms of parties and the label?
In terms of parties we’ve got the launch for the compilation on the 15th of February – we’re taking over Fire in Vauxhall with a bunch of the people that are on the comp: Henrik Schwarz, Midland, Kassem Mosse, Psychemagik and of course the almighty Phonica DJs… Label-wise the compilation has got us nicely tied up for the next few months, though we do have a few other things in the pipeline. Two EPs on the main label – one from an artist that’s already released something with us and hopefully one from one of our regulars, also a new Phonica Special Editions. Nothing 100% confirmed so don’t want to jinx it.
10 Years of Phonica will be released on February 17, with a launch party presented by Krankbrother at South London’s Fire on February 15 with Hendrick Schwarz, Midland and more. For tickets to that, head here.
