published: 17 /
4 /
2025
In Vinyl Stories Dave Goodwin Talks to our Dutch writer Maarten Sciethart about buying vinyl online and in his native Nijmegen,
Article
DG: Maarten has been a prolific contributor to our glorious magazine for a long time now, and has helped out in the Vinyl Stories column a few times. It's been a while since I bothered with this Vinyl headcase for anything so I decided to pester him until he gave in. He gave me this telling insight into his record exploits, mostly from the year we recently saw out.
MS: The year 2024 brought several frustrating occasions when I was listening to new albums and singles; then I noticed those were limited editions or that the pressing plants couldn't deliver or received the wrong record. The first time there was a package with Heart Fresh Kopy labelled on it, but there was a Jason Molina LP inside: quite different music! Worse still is when the artists or the labels themselves make a bit of a mess. In the end, it can take easily over a year between ordering an LP and actually spinning it on your turntable.
DG: I think the worst for me is the sound quality of some records which we have explored this year in other editions of Vinyl Stories. Also, I have had a couple of albums, whilst packaged very well, either been thrown from the delivery van into the front house wall or were actually left on the front path leaning up against the door in the pouring rain!!! Rant over…..
Maarten continues….
MS: The local store sold me local treats like the Kabouter Putlucht (Stench Dwarf): ten inch and at the time of writing I still have to take the train there and pick up the new Ergo Phizmiz and Laurence Pike LPs in wonderful Nijmegen. This shop re-released Sun Ra classic on 7 inch on their Waaghals Label but moreover they have a keen hand picking cheap classic LPs like Robert Rental’s ‘The Bridge’, so each little train trip down South to Nijmegen I return with at least one crammed bag of vinyl. 2024 must be my record low: Buying new 7 inch singles, now that the little gems sell at ridiculous prices. Independent labels still strive for affordable vinyl, like The Leaf Label, Les Disques Bongo Joe, XL and Glitterbeat do. Yet it very much feels like I’m in a Top 40 menopause. On top of that, I’m going through this retro industrial new wave phase as well as enjoying the likes of the minimalist Italian dance troupe Zona Utopica Garantita.
DG: I can relate to the short trips to South Nijmegen there, Maarten. On a smaller scale travel wise, I would look forward to a trip to one of the record fairs in the Midlands here in the United Kingdom; hoping to find one or two interesting purchases and coming back with a bag full of the lovely shiny black wax. We used to have an old record shop here in Nottingham which is actually still there, but back then the owner had an upstairs room: a bit like an old loft and it was crammed with suitcases full of original Northern soul 7”ers which you could sift through and he would sell you them for just a quid each!! What a treat?!
MS: The greatest treat for me was how the Oïmiakon LP from Paris still played in spite of it arriving very warped. Imagine, even the sleeve had gone warped. A noticeable achievement was set by the Slovenly label for selling me the wrong item - once more a great one- a fourth time. 2024 also was the first year in ages that I bought a Wedding Present single, albeit one from their 2022 series. Patience rewarded as I got it for around 6 quid, the amount I keep sticking to as the standard 7 inch 45 RPM vinyl record price.
Unlike book publishers, music labels don't have set prices on their products thus allowing greedy online stores to raise them at will. Indeed, buy music on Bandcamp, as it remains the best place to go when you haven't got a good record store within travelling distance. The experience of being in a warehouse music store with thousands of LPs and singles where you can check out the vinyl on their Audio-Technica turntables cannot be beaten. Each time.
DG: I have to say the first port of call for me when buying a new release is the bands website themselves, but as Maarten points out Bandcamp is just as good I suppose? Old vinyl is the treat though. Looking forward to going somewhere new or somewhere you’ve not been for a while and browsing through all the lovely stock. It's sort of like the experience I get from fishing. I'm 100% lost in the experience and therapeutically it can be a god-send. I've never actually had the wrong record sent to me though; that would make my piss boil!
Anyway, thanks to Maarten for letting us into his world for a few minutes so we can all see what makes him tick vinyl wise. I think we all agree Maarten is a special nut of the vinyl kind?!
A close encounter of the vinyl kind - now that’s a pitch for Spielberg!