small talk about records...

I could be wrong, but it seems that the Fuse-produced YouTube series "Crate Diggers" has been discontinued since January 2017. That's bad, real bad. Wrong even. What remains is an incredible bank of 56 videos, filled with stories of records, digging, collecting, trading, ordering, rarities etc. 

Along with the also discontinued Radio France-produced "Radio Vinyle" (en passant, thanks to the compiler of those videos) series, "Crates Diggers" was a great contribution to the record digging and collecting culture. Sure, it wasn't perfect, episodes were rather short, so choices had to be made. 

But other ressources exist on the web. And the most interesting ones are basically... words. And a few photos. When well conducted, interviews are increbily interesting, especially since they allow everyone to have access to the correct spelling of record titles and musicians without having to guess... The prominant websites for such ressources are :

• the obvious Dust & Grooves : founded by Israeli NY-based photographer Eilon Paz, its pace of interviews is irregular but they are always, always, essential. Eilon makes the reader feel at home, right in the middle of a casual conversation... every now and then, the reader may feel lost and buried under the amount of exchanged information, but what a sweet exhilarating feeling... Being able to interview the crème de la crème of record collectors, Eilon Paz signed a book (two editions actually) which, of course, displays his impeccable photography skills.   
• the Belgian Vinyl Frontier : sponsored by Red Bull, this website is a gold mine for anyone interested in record digging in Belgium, but not only. The interviewed collectors, all based in Belgium, have crazy stories to tell. Which is understandable as most of them are or were actors of the music industry in Belgium, either as DJ, radio host, club manager, store owner, label founder, etc. And it's in English (the best way to solve the Belgian linguistic quarrel). 
• the well-named Vinyl Factory : it is indeed a pressing plant, and a source of articles about vinyl records. You'll have to browse the website by yourself to find the interviews of crate diggers (under the "Features" category), but it's absolutely worth it. Interviews are long, intimate, well documented, and feature pretty pictures. The Vinyl Factory also has a series of mini-interviews of collectors, called Home Grown, but it is insubstantial compared to the real deal.  

I'm aware there are other websites (such as Koeppel Design, and strangely several websites dedicated to metal/hardcore) that dedicate space to interviewing record collectors, or even interviews floating here and there, but I wanted to select the most consistent websites in terms of interview conducting skills, also in terms of genre diversity. 

Oh, and this is a treat : an interview of Hans Pokora, the guy behind the world-famous Pokora guides of rare psychedelic records, courtesy of the excellent It's Psychedelic Baby blog. Not the best interview, probably done via email, but whatever, the guy is a legend.