"Believe it or not, this resurgence has coincided with the rise in streaming services, like Spotify, because people like having their music on the go, but at home it just doesn't seem right to buy an MP3 for your collection - a record, a hard copy, a physical piece of music - has become meaningful to people again."

Below are the questions I asked the movers and shakers behind Harlem's premier record shop... enjoy the read!

 
So, what was the driving force behind deciding to open a record store in the digital age - since we've only just begun to see a resurgence in vinyl sales over the past few years? And why Harlem?


We love this question because it's so personal and clear cut for us. We've lived uptown for 10 years and were getting the idea that a real source for new and interesting music was missing.  Especially for a neighborhood that is historically synonymous with so much music. The speakeasies of the jazz era, the Apollo, the Bronx where Hip-Hop began.  We thought it made so much sense that all of these uptown folks deserved a music destination, instead of always being the ones to hoof it out to Brooklyn!
 
Online record shopping isn't something we do - we prefer stepping into a locally owned shop. I guess there's a selfish element - we wanted a record store in Harlem!
 
Won't bore you with the details of vinyl's resurgence, but once we started looking seriously at the growth and the demographics - not just the OG collectors, not just the hipster revivalists, but really every type of person was getting their vinyl on. Believe it or not, this resurgence has coincided with the rise in streaming services, like Spotify, because people like having their music on the go, but at home it just doesn't seem right to buy an MP3 for your collection - a record, a hard copy, a physical piece of music - became meaningful to people again.
 
Then Trump got elected, and that's when we all sort of got the bug to do something about it.  To make sure that the future of the city was in our hands, when so much else seemed out of our control.
 
 
I know you guys sell cassette tapes/mix tapes, which admittedly, I find quite fascinating. What made you decide to carry these, and are people buying them? Are people also buying the cassette tape players you carry as well? Tell me how all that has been going...


Yes! We love cassettes. It's all about accessibility and there are people who want to release a physical product, but just can't even fathom a vinyl pressing - it's not in the budget.  Cassettes give people an object they can hold and you throw a download card in there and it isn't even required to have a tape deck!  It becomes a piece of art.
 
We don't carry Walkman or anything like that yet, but we do have a cassette listening station (in addition to 2 vinyl listening stations). Records are the majority of our sales, although people do buy tapes.  We try to keep it interesting with the smaller independent tape labels that are releasing kind of obscure very experimental stuff. We also throw a dollar tape bin outside when the weather's nice and you'd be surprised how many folks either have tape players or still have cars with tape decks - the price point also pique's people's interest. 
 
One of our first big events at the shop was Cassette Store Day, which drew a lot of new faces. Geng (PTP) did a tape DJ set! We have people come in who are still talking about that - not something you see everyday.  Even more rare than the vinyl DJ!  Geng also runs a NYC-based tape label that puts out really diverse, interesting music. The packaging is always tight!
 

What is the highest selling genre of music in your store right now? What does it seem like most people are searching for when they come in?


Soul / Jazz has always been our best-selling genre. It's where the collectors live, the music students, and the vinyl purists.  It really spans the gamut from recognizable Motown stuff to the hard bop cats, to reissues of sought-after soul gems. We have our Djs and heads who are looking for that classic 90's House sound and the newer Techno releases; you've got kids just starting to collect who are looking for the latest Hip-Hop joints - it's really a diverse crowd with diverse tastes.
 
About 6 months in it became clear that we needed to start selling rock albums. Some people really love reliving their coming of age by finding their favorite music from that time, but then we'll also go deep on Instrumental Metal.  We do our best to have at least something that will intrigue any potential customer who walks through the door. Plus our musical tastes are extremely eclectic.
 
 
Do you feel there is an intrinsic difference in skill level between a vinyl DJ and a digital DJ? If so, describe that difference in your own words.. 
 

TOTALLY! No comparison. I watch vinyl Djs in awe. Look, I get that there are amazingly artistic things you can do with CDJs, looping and layering and creating these really wild textures that you can just lock into. I'm all for that. I'll go see a DJ I love play digitally any night of the week.  That said, 1) I'm always tickled when someone I dig has the turntables fired up. And 2) the technical skill of beat matching by hand, on the fly, is a major feat. 
 
It not only takes dexterity and true musical feel, it's also much harder for a vinyl DJ to audition more than a track or two - essentially both sides of a 12". A digital DJ can load a song, try it out, and skip to the next idea, searching for the right one among a sea of options. The vinyl DJ must make quick decisions and commit. What's more bad ass than that?!
 
 
And how do you feel this digital music revolution has affected the community and culture of Underground Dance Music and other genres as well?
 

Yea it's funny, I honestly thought House / Techno heads bought more vinyl... I've gotten the feeling that as it comes more and more out of the underground, people don't support the artists as much as they should. Of course, going out to shows and buying MP3s does this, but there's less connection to it than I thought. I'm having a Spanish Techno moment - I absolutely love Oscar Mulero and his the Polegroup label... before that it was Bas Mooy and the Mord label - and when I do, I just want to buy up all the vinyl I can and really immerse myself in that. 

I think this Beatport generation uses the tracks like snacks - they sort of look for music that fits into the set: the hands in the air house, the peak time bombs - rather than looking for music because of their emotional connection to it, and then building a set around that.
 

How do you feel your vinyl based In-Store events affect the community of Dance Music? I strongly believe it brings people together, beyond what's possible in a late nightclub.


Ha, good segue - perhaps our In-Stores are our best chance at affecting the dance scene, hopefully for the better!  
 
You're right - It's way more intimate than what you can achieve in a nightclub. We know dance music of yore was very community-oriented and people left with new friends after dancing all night together. Yeah, we've experienced that (wink wink, that's how we met Amunet!), but it happens much less these days. People seem wrapped up in their own thing.
 
It's different at the shop because a) we're a small space, so the DJ is kind of forced to interact with the audience on a very personal level - we're all sort of in here having a good time, shopping for records, listening to what you've brought from your collection - it's kind of a sharing vibe. And we try to bring in people who our customers are psyched to meet, not in a creepy way, just to say hey, I caught you at Output or Bossa Nova and that night has kept me going when it's 10:30am on Wednesday and I'm sitting at my desk job.
 
We certainly think it also affects the local community because it's a chance for people to come out of the woodwork to say, HEY this is amazing! I've been waiting to have something like this in my neighborhood! We really encourage people to meet and mingle and get to know each other.
 
 
What has been the most enjoyable/rewarding part of owning your own record store in Harlem? Is this the first record store of its kind in Harlem??


My (Emily) favorite thing about the shop is seeing our customers get to know each other at In-Store events. I love being able to connect with people and have a meeting place here. All my most rewarding moments are people-oriented. Whether it's saying hi to someone on the sidewalk as they walk by our shop, or meeting someone new inside who's like, "Noway! There's a record store here?!"
 
Hands down for me, Pat, is the customer who says, man you've got a lot of different things going on in here, for a small shop, you have a really diverse selection. And of course, when they ask what's playing and buy a copy hot off the turntable. That's the ultimate dream, right?  Not in an elitist taste maker sort of way, but just to have that human connection over a record, hey I dig this, you dig it, too? Cool! 

There have been legendary record stores in Harlem. The last big one closed in 2008 and like so many of these precious institutions, whether it was the financial crisis, online shopping, a shift in the business model, the bottom line is they aren't around anymore. We're the only one of our kind right now. We're Harlem's only record store and that makes us so happy to be here serving uptown Manhattan and the Bronx.
 

If you could have ANY dream that you wanted come to fruition in regard to the future of Cinderblock People, what would it be?
 

When someone mentions Harlem or Manhattan and its various musical incarnations, that we're part of the conversation. Whether it's a footnote or a feature, we'd like to have a deep impact on enough people that the shop is part of the lexicon of upper Manhattan and NYC record stores.
 

Tell us about some of your upcoming events and special announcements coming this summer!!
 

We have been having an In-Store just about every other week, lately. We just finished a stretch in June of the most in-stores we've ever packed into one month. Barbie and Paul from Love Injection came by for one of those sets, surrounding the release of their latest zine issue.  We're slowing things down over July to give us time to plan our one-year anniversary event. It'll be a year in August and we have our sights set on a daytime label market turned nighttime rave. Uptown, of course!
 

What are some of your favorite new releases in the shop right now?
 

V/A - Mother's Garden
We love this label doing great work from reissues to comps. From the brains of Paris/London-based Afro-Centric crate diggers and vinyl lovers, they began in 2015.  Mother's Garden, an all-female outing released for Women's Day 2018, is their latest offering. 
 
Blawan - Wet Will Always Dry
Elevates warehouse techno to an art form. Jamie Roberts is minimal, elegant, imaginative and downright nasty when it comes to hardware tracks.
 
Gatto Fritto - Sounds of Love International
The cheapest way to experience Croatian festival Love International is to open all the windows as the sun is setting and throw this on. The best Balearic enchantment, beware of sun-drenched smiles.

Digable Planets - Reachin' 20th Anniversary Reissue
The first reissue of their 1993 debut is coming soon. A truly unique entry in the early Jazz-sample, socially conscious rap genre. Warm, smooth, cross-over... a must-have!
 
High Fidelity - High Fidelity
This one comes courtesy of Queen Constance, one of Harlem's legendary disco imprints! A six-track EP of soulful, funky, DIY disco. Amazing piece of underground uptown history with a DIY ethos. 100% legit reissue that deserves a home in your collection.
 
ENTER: AMSPK10
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