Photographer Eilon Paz has travelled the world to capture a total portrait of global record collecting culture in his definitive Dust & Grooves project. 10 years on from the best-selling Vol. 1, Paz returns with new photobook Dust & Grooves Vol. 2: Further Adventures in Record Collecting. With 650 pages and a foreword from legendary De La Soul producer Prince Paul, Vol. 2 is released this month in the UK with a free party in East London.
Eilon Paz is bringing together some of the contributors from the book on 19 November at The BBE Store in Hackney, with vinyl-only DJ sets from the likes of Don Letts, DJ Food, Mr Thing, Dom Servini and DJ Format.
Dust & Grooves celebrates everyday collectors alongside music royalty. Four Tet, Questlove (The Roots, The Tonight Show, Jay-Z, D’Angelo), jazz icon Ron Carter (Miles Davis bassist 1963-1968), comedian Eric Andre, punk filmmaker Don Letts, A-Trak, Floating Points, Stones Throw Records founder Peanut Butter Wolf,Nabihah Iqbal, Quantic, DāM-FunK, and the family of the late BBC DJ John Peel are just some of the collectors captured across both volumes – with over 150 collectors in the new Vol. 2 alone.
Unwavering Devotion to Music
From the music-listening bars of Japan to the Suffolk family home of the late John Peel, Paz’s photography in Dust & Grooves Vol. 2 tells a truly global story of collectors’ unwavering devotion to music. Revealing the human stories and social histories that make up our record collections. Vol. 2 also comes amid a worldwide vinyl resurgence for younger fans.
“It’s a life’s work. Those records came in the door, and then it set off a whole world for so many people. It’s not just the history of him [John Peel] and his career. It’s the history of so much of the UK music scene and so many people that we love and know as musicians and take for granted. That exact copy, in that collection, is the reason why so many of us know these people.” – Tom Ravenscroft on his dad John Peel’s record collection
Alongside his mum Sheila Ravenscroft, Tom Ravenscroft, BBC Radio 6 Music DJ and the son of scene-defining DJ John Peel, offers a personal tour of Peel’s estimated 10,000 records in a gorgeous Dust & Grooves Vol. 2 chapter. Uncovering an entire barn dedicated to 12” singles alone, a second barn for 45s, personal notes from David Bowie, Marc Bolan and John Lennon, obscure rarities and countless test pressings in his father’s unmatched collection.
Falling in love with music
Many stories start at childhood as collectors remember falling in love with music for the first time. “I was around four-years-old when I first saw what a vinyl record was. I remember my parents bought me my first ones. I just loved watching the labels spin around. As a kid, that’s what I dialled in on. I remember seeing Stax and Polydor spin and spin. The first time I saw James Brown’s face on a spinning 45!”, reminisces Prince Paul, the seminal hip-hop producer behind De La Soul’s Three Feet High and Rising.
Other standout collectors include The B-52s frontman Fred Schneider, Gerd Janson, BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Deb Grant, Alex Paterson (The Orb), KEXP legend Kevin Cole, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings founding member Binky Griptite, DJ Spinna and Kid Koala.
One of the most significant shifts in the vinyl community over the past decade has been the growing presence and influence of female collectors. Traditionally seen as a male-dominated sphere, the world of vinyl collecting has increasingly embraced the diverse voices of women who are making their mark on the culture. In Further Adventures, this inclusivity is celebrated through stories like Vinyl Therapy featuring Paola Puente and Welcome to the Bric-a-Brac Section with Jen Lemasters. These women, alongside others like Coco Maria, Colleen Murphy, Melissa Dueñas, Grace of Spades, Millie McKee, Mafalda Daniel, Kornelia Binicewicz, Kristine Barilli, Victoria Rawlins, Barbie Bertisch, Zoe Baxter, Nabihah Iqbal, Christine Renee, and many others, not only bring fresh perspectives to the art of crate digging but also challenge outdated notions of who vinyl enthusiasts are. Paz made a concerted effort to seek out and highlight more female collectors for this volume, ensuring their stories were given the strong presentation they deserve.
“We’re talking about the living room being all records. The kitchen, all records. My bathroom. I kept the best records in the bathroom ’cause it was like “Where do I keep the gems at? Oh yeah, I’ll keep ’em in the bathroom!” There’s also a turntable in there.” – Questlove
Dust & Grooves Vol. 2: Further Adventures in Record Collecting is out now. For more information visit www.dustandgrooves.com @dustandgrooves