Jump up, jump up and get down to Wax Museum Records in the belly of the CBD this Record Store Day. The place is adored by hordes of Melburnians for its collection of new and used vinyl, covering hip hop, jazz, funk and soul, as well as Melbourne-made beats, plus plenty of boogie, house, techno and exclusives.
This Saturday they’ll be unleashing a limited edition RSD single for Plutonic Lab. It’s called The Crib and it features Guilty Simpson. There’s also going to be live performances from Downpat, So.Crates and Hudson James Jr, plus DJ sets from M5K, Trem, Dialect (ADL), Lady Banton, Arks, Secret Heat, Sleep D and Condensed Milk.
Oh boy, what a lineup. To give some insight into how they’ve pulled together such a list of acts, let’s look into the store’s background. Wax Museum started in early 2006, the aim being to give our vibrant city a record store that reflected its status as the music capital of the Southern Hemisphere. It lives in the subway tunnel leading to Flinders St Station, but the store isn’t just a unique fixture of the city’s underground – more significantly, it’s a beacon of light for vinyl lovers of all tastes and cultural backgrounds.
Wax Museum Records was opened by a pair of well known Melbourne DJs, Aux One and Mixa, and as a result it’s been the meeting place for plenty of Melbourne’s hardest working DJs and producers. Subsequently, it’s left a firm imprint on the city’s musical terrain. To illustrate, Guy Roseby (AKA Geezy), boogie/funk producer Benny Badge (AKA Freekwency) and Maryos Syawish (one half of house/techno outfit Sleep D) are all involved in the shop’s daily operations. Elsewhere, they’re making waves as in-demand DJs, label owners and party-makers.
The diversity of the shop’s logistic make-up is well and truly evident on the shelves. A hefty portion of the place is dedicated to hip hop (from home and abroad), soul, funk, jazz, beats and stacks of electronic styles. There’s also a wonderful of array of weird shit, like Anime soundtracks, ambient experiments and DIY art and sound projects. It’s a platitude, but there really is something for just about everyone at Wax Museum. Even if it doesn’t immediately seem catered to your tastes, just have a browse, and you’ll surely become entranced.
