‘You have to be with a record’

I recently interviewed a DJ and record label owner in London for my blog. His name is Rob Butler, and his label is Be With Records (visit bewithrecords.com).

We’re working on a special project together — reissuing Nohelani Cypriano’s 1979 debut album this August — so I wanted to pick his brain about all sorts of stuff. The conversation was long, so here’s a direct excerpt from our discussion when I asked: How do you define good music? And why does good mu sic deserve to be on vinyl?

“I suppose the scattershot mix of records I have wanted to release reflects my background. I have always been — if you like — an ‘anything goes’ DJ. Be With’s output has and will continue to reflect what I am into and what I want to see out there on vinyl again. The only thing I would use as criteria is ‘do I like it?’ and ‘is it ripe for a vinyl reissue?’

“If I’m going to release something, it has to be on my personal want-list. This is important — it has to be something that I want on vinyl myself, or why else would I get excited about doing it at all? So, if there’s demand for the record — just look at the Nohelani Cypriano or Letta Mbulu releases — then it seems to make sense. But that’s the easy part, you could say. The hard part comes with everything after, in terms of seeking permission and working everything out — the audio and artwork issues are a never-ending process of negotiation and renegotiation.

“In terms of why vinyl over anything else, I imagine that the reasons I have are probably the same as everyone else’s. But there’s just so much to love about vinyl, isn’t there? For a start, you have to be with a record and the sound system — you engage with it in a way that’s very inclusive while it’s on, you have to go up and flip it over.

“I’m not an expert on the minutiae of sound technology, but there’s an undoubted warmth and depth to the sonic quality of a record that is clearly missing in thin MP3s. If I hear someone playing digital files out in a club, it often sounds like elevator music to me.

“The size of (a record) giving room for artwork to breathe properly is a lovely thing. It’s also tangible. I think this is great and certainly stands in opposition to what I regard as a certain transience and emptiness to the digital consumption of music.

“There’s a collectors element to it all, no doubt. Ownership of your favorite records that you can display on your shelves at home — it may sound sad to many, but that’s a nice thing. You can go up and touch it — so there’s a tactile element to it all, too. You don’t get that sense of ownership by admiring your digital playlists on your computer screen.”

Roger recently turned his blog, Aloha Got Soul, into a record label: alohagotsoul.com.