Aiden is a dedicated music digger, he comes second to none at being one of the best to find those obscure house gems in a record store. Running a respected blog ‘House Hunting’ which details his adventures around shops looking for these unknown vinyl gems!
We first met Aiden back in 2015 as he was booked to play at the Mediterranea basement in Stirling for ‘JellyRoll Soul’ since then we have followed his House Hunting blog and are pleased to have him for our next Shapes Interview!
Hey Aiden, it has been what seems a lifetime since any of us were able to DJ. It now seems there is light at the end of the tunnel with return of events at the end of this year. How excited are you to get back behind a set of decks and have you got any events or gigs lined up?
I wouldn’t class myself as a ‘DJ’ I’m just a lover of gay, black and latin dance music harkin’ back to my youth growing up with a studio and pirate radio station in my childhood home. Through the column I unexpectedly was offered gigs and though I couldn’t commit to all (at the time I had a busy day job running a flagship store on London’s Oxford Street), I was really appreciative of all the opportunities of being invited to spin some scores. As lockdown lifting over these next few months I look forward to hosting some alfresco DJ socials in the garden of our east end bar/restaurant/Ransom Note Records emporium ‘Tracks’ https://www.instagram.com/trackse7/ plus disrupting the airwaves on the Ransom Note Radio show where I play and wax lyrical whatever we have in stock at the shop. Let’s just say I’m happy to deal the black gold to DJs and anyway I prefer the warm-up…
What’s one of the best events you have DJ’ed at and why is this your favorite?
Tough call too many to pinpoint! Though I’m just happy playing to or with friends I’d say faves include warming up for Ame when I ran a club night called ‘Innerzone’ in my hometown of Leicester nearly 15 years ago (I was way more on the pulse back then!) and was also honoured to be invited to host a ‘House Hunting Room’ for Boy’s Own where I was totally in my element playing a load of old Nu Grooves and NY joints so was like our own lil’ Sound Factory! More recently really enjoyed reppin’ at Houghton Festival with our pop-up Ransom Note Records Shop and chairing a talk on record dealing – though not strictly DJing was well in my element…
It’s been a while since we first caught you in Stirling which was your first time DJing here any good memories from that night?
Wild weekend! Highlights include Jelly Roll Soul’s Robert giving me a tour of Glasgow’s drinking dens, rack-raiding the bargain bins in local record joints, the old-school set-up of a restaurant basement with a serious sound system and Urei plus staying over in a historic gaff that was like a haunted hotel haha so the whole weekend was a mind trip… The main thing though was I well looked after by Robert, Ryan and Jamie – still surreal got to play a load of old house records that were reflective of my column to a really receptive crowd who made me feel proper welcome! Hazy memory with what was dropped but remember kickin’ off the night with the Scott “Smokin” Silz mix of C.P. Tyme And The Tymekeeper’s dusty disco diamond ‘Never Quit’ and records that got a rapturous reception were the more obscure Chicago cuts like the Italo-flow of Doctor Derelict’s ‘Dance Doctor’ on Trax that just relentlessly builds and builds plus house architect Duane Thamm’s primitive, 303-laced raw rhythm ‘R-Trax’ under his Knight Action alias lethal lacquer!
You must also have attended some amazing events over the years, Is there any events that stand out which you will always remember? Also, in your opinion who is the best you have seen?
Wouldn’t necessarily say who or what was the best more who you’re with and the context of it. For example ‘bout 10-odd year ago jetted to Berlin for my birthday and two gigs we were gonna go to were cancelled at the last min but by chance came across a flyer with John Roberts’ name on so gave it a go. Thought it’d be him doing his esoteric electronic thing like his LPs but turned out to be a proper basement, red light and a feeling housed in a lil’ bunker with him rinsing a load of old NY house and NJ garage records that both my wife and I love so sometimes surprises can bring out the best in a night…
Going back a bit in my youth we used to go the ‘Big Chill Festival’ and witnessed some life-affirming sets from Francois K and Larry Heard plus when I was 18 I used to work in a cocktail bar/club and my boss bizarrely bezzie mates with Farley “Jackmaster” Funk so surreal to have him jet over regularly to DJ in Leicester but great to geek out talkin’ ‘bout some Chicago House history… On a more recent tip I’d say Chez Damier as he was a childhood hero (had so many of his tracks on tape) and when I was fresh out finishing my journo degree at Uni I did some press releases for him so when I finally had the chance to meet him was like a finding long lost brother…
‘House Hunting’ has been going for over 6 years now. Did you think back then you would still be doing House Hunting today? Obviously with covid around for the last year you can’t create dig as you used to so have you still been able to get your house hunting fix?
Wow where’s the time gone yeah nearly seven years now! It wasn’t planned I just covered for a mate one time who wrote a weekly column so I waxed lyrical ‘bout some bargain bin belters and had an ace reaction so House Hunting was born… At the time just seemed to be an interest in house and it’s foundations with the column a catalyst for suddenly getting gigs, hosting talks, running record fairs, reissuing and releasing a record plus opening a Ransom Note Records shop all happened outta nowhere! Looking back f**k knows how I juggled my job and composed the column but I loved it as R$N gave me free rein to write whatever I want so as every piece chronicled my weekly jaunts to record haunts complete with my take on the artists featured had a bit more of a personal touch with some soul so resonating with more heads…
Regards the R$N shop we talked about opening a temporary pop–up record shop for sometime then spontaneously took over a railway arch deep in the outer reaches London’s east end in Forest Gate back in December 2017 spawned by the column. Half a year later we were offered to take over a bar and restaurant a few arches down so moved overnight our Ransom Note Records record shop out of Arch 432 down to Arch 437 evolving into a bar, restaurant and record emporium under the umbrella Tracks. As the business needed more of my attention I left my career to focus on Tracks full-time along with supporting my wife with her newly-launched natural deodorant business so had to put House Hunting on the back-burner. Aside from being busy with both businesses, with the rise of Instagram it all went a bit daft with the rise of crazy-priced colonial cuts complete with heads showing off their plush home set-ups and rare records leading to an unhealthy fetishization (and ultimately, more dance music gentrification) which just wasn’t me so just lost interest as it got a point where I had more and more wealthier white guys ask specifically for +£100 records – f**k that have a Larry Levan or Shep Pettibone dub for a fiver!
Anyway, though the pandemic has presented it’s challenges, we’ve managed to adapt Tracks into a deli, grocery and off-licence so more likely to see me selling sourdough and tomatoes then records right now! However, with restrictions easing we plan to make more of a focus with the records again with stock reflective of House Hunting and Ransom Note. I can’t do the whole online thing way too soulless so lookin’ forward to scoring some stock for the shop on house calls, car-park meets, basement digs… Also I have a House Hunting guest edition lined-up for a one-off special soon so stay tuned…
Finally, you will have found some unreal music tracks over the years we won’t make you pick one but what would be your top three finds?
Jesus where do you start… Rack raiding my brain there’s just too many to shout out but a quick top three outta my head would be scoring the Nu Groove necessity ‘APT.’ EP by N.Y. House Authority aka house hero Rheji Burrell for a bargain bin belting 20p at the Music & Video Exchange in Birmingham, scoring a mint copy of the super-scarce Joe Lewis joint ‘Love Of My Own’ at a house call in the North London surburbia of Barnet (of all places) plus a fan of House Hunting hittin’ me up to raid his record shed in Essex which needed multiple crate cruises to haul his serious selection of legendary label lacquer with loads of my fave flavour on Gherkin, Nu Groove, Trax, Prelude, West End proper kid in a sweet shop with choice cop being Code 3’s ‘Code Of Acid’
Still can’t beat unearthing a dusty diamond I always think the best records you still ain’t heard so when you can check out your local record shop again and make sure you dig deep and support small…
