BALTIMORE — Were you one of those kids that would go into a local record store and spend hours flipping through albums looking for that treasured find?
WATCH: Nirvana CDs mingle with Wutang vinyl in genre bending record store
Well, Wax Atlas in Hamilton is teaching a whole new generation the magic of an independent music space. Photojournalist Kristi Harper popped by to check it out.
You might have a picture in your head of the vibe a record store owner has.
"That stereotype of, like, the grizzled old angry white dude who’s pretentious as f*ck,” said Andrew Phillips, owner of Wax Atlas.
But that’s the vibe of independent record stores of the past. This place on Harford Road is different.
Phillips has owned the store here for about a year. He tells me the space is more positivist and more inclusive. He's the first to say, “It’s not a boys club.”
It's a place to discover. "Rather than tell you what you have, I'd rather find out what you do like, even if it's not my favorite thing, and then go from there," Phillips said.
And he says right now the vibe is resonating in new ways. One, because of streaming we have access to all kinds of music.
He says, "Genre is over… They're not drawing lines by genre; they're drawing lines by vibe." One of the few ways the internet hasn't siloed us into one rhythm.
And for young people? Phillips sees a change, "Like, it's weird to me, but the 90s are cool again."
He says the resurgence of vinyl has pushed record prices up, but a kid looking to get the most music bang on a part-time paycheck can find magic on CD.
So no more goth girl side-eyeing the hip-hop kids. No grunge bro walking away from the yacht rock. He says that’s one of the most fun ways he’s seeing change, "There's a lot more women; it's a lot more inclusive."
But this new way isn't without its issues. Over the last three years or so Phillips has seen small clubs disappear in Baltimore. "Young people are drinking at a significantly lower rate, and when your entire business model of one of these small clubs is alcohol... then it's like if everyone stopped buying popcorn at the movies."
So Phillips and his ragtag crew went to work...put the bins on wheels; "they just magically wheel around like a stage show basically."
Giving space for bands to try out some things.
The all-volunteer crew is part of the magic, he says. "Younger kids here will book a bill that to me is bonkers sauce. Where it's like they'll have a harsh noise act, screaming. And then they'll end it with, like, a video game music person that does, like, 8-bit chiptune stuff… and all the people are into all of it."
It seems to be working. "I'm not saying there are lines still, but the lines are being drawn kinda differently," Phillips said.
A place where you never know... the next Wu-Tang or Sonic Youth may find their place.
Phillips says it’s the community that makes it possible: "I think that's the virtue of small businesses in general…it really is a community outreach thing as much as it is a store."
