It’s now been over a year since ear X-tacy closed its doors for good, leaving a stunned local vinyl scene in the hands of a smattering of smaller shops. While some have done admirable jobs of picking up the considerable slack for the community, perhaps no Louisville record store has generated as much excitement or intrigue in the era since ear X-tacy as Astro Black Records.
Opened during the summer of this year, Astro Black occupies just a single boxy room in the back of a Highlands coffee shop, but its many shelves and bins somehow still manage to house one of the area’s most expansive and eclectic collections of wax. Even more remarkable is the fact that the records filling the store’s inventory constitute the entire personal collection of its sole employee, Jim Marlowe, a local music lover who turned his passion for collecting vinyl into the latest small business doing its part to keep Louisville weird.
When you first opened up shop, every vinyl nerd I talked to was just as impressed with your collection as I was. How did you manage to stockpile so many great records?
Well, I’ve been casually buying records since I was a little fella. But it really started to heat up when I was around 15 and realized I could go buy new records from bands I liked rather than just getting stuff at Goodwill – slow learner.
And then you opened your own store and put all of it up for sale.
Right.I started the store off with everything from my collection, aided by a crack team of friends and mutants. But at this point it’s all over the place. We’ve had about five months to turn stuff over, buy new stuff, etc. It’s definitely more diverse than when it started, which is what I figured/hoped would happen. Now you can get ZZ Top and/or Bernard Parmegiani at the store, which is something that I like.
So what kinds of challenges go into opening a record store in the back room of a coffee shop?
I had been messing with the idea for years. But since I have zero credit, no clout, and no money, that sort of took care of that. Getting a physical retail space was the biggest challenge really, one which Nathan Quillo [owner of Quills] helped out with tremendously. He’s my retail angel. I have him and Ginger Goss to thank more than anyone else with getting this shop up and rolling. Of course, anyone that opens their own small business faces all kinds of psychic violence that you just gotta learn to deal with and channel. At the end of the day, the love and kindness people have shown for the store and towards me has truly been one of the highlights of my life. To paraphrase a David Berman poem, sometimes you feel like a turtle stuck in a trash bag. But mostly it’s fun.
How do you decide what records are offered in your store?
The focus of the shop is really on used vinyl. And that won’t ever change. I do order new records though, things that I’m really excited about or feel are underrepresented in stores – modern composition, free/improv, interesting punk/hardcore – basically anything that seems like it’s doing something special or out of the ordinary. I try to get a lot of things from small labels – do-it-yourself kinds of stuff run out of somebody’s apartment or straight from the bands themselves. There are a lot of really excellent small labels out there right now: Sangoplasmo from Poland, Galtta Tapes from Brooklyn, Kentucky’s own Karmic Swamp. At this point in history, the list of excellent music out there is almost endless.
Are you simply trying to offer a wide selection? Or does your personal taste factor into it?
I’d say that the store is deeper than it is wide, if that seems to make sense. Of course, it’s all taste-based in the end. I mean, it’s my store, you know? I guess this could be contentious, but I think most record stores worth visiting are run largely on taste.
So what specifically do you think makes Astro Black worth visiting?
There’s really absolutely nothing in my store that I think is meritless garbage. It sounds harsh, but whatever. I mean, I’m in the store every single day. And I just couldn’t do it otherwise. It would be insane to fill your house with things you hate and then live in it, right? I don’t do that at home and I don’t do that at my store, which is basically my second home, or maybe my first at this point. I’ve worked hard to have quality music in all its manifestations represented.
Do you feel like Astro Black is helping to fill the void left by ear X-tacy’s closing?
I guess that’s probably up to other people to decide. Ear X-tacy was a totally different creature – same genus, different species maybe. But yeah, I feel good about the level of success Astro Black has had so far. And I’ll say that I’m glad people have enjoyed coming in and rolling the dice on stuff that they may not have normally checked out.
Do you have any specific goals for the store’s future?
Staying open is the first thing that springs to mind. We’ll probably be doing more events, bringing some stuff here, makin’ it happen. Right now I’m just kind of baby steppin’ with the store, doing one thing at a time and trying to not overextend myself.
How about Record Store Day next year?
For sure.
And what about the location? Do you think you’d ever move into a larger space?
If that ever happens, it’ll be a long way off. The space would have to be pretty amazing. And it ideally wouldn’t be all that much bigger than it is now. I think the size of the store has worked in its favor. I’m not looking to become a local record mogul. I want Astro Black to do well, grow slowly and in the right directions, sustain itself – and me – and be an awesome record store that’s fun to visit. It might sound naive, but it’s not. That’s the plan.
If you could instantly add any one record to your collection, which would it be?
Original [BRÖ 2] press of the Peter Brötzmann Octet’s “Machine Gun.”
If you happen to have a copy of “Machine Gun” that you’re looking to get rid of, if you’re looking to support local small business, or if you just feel like perusing Marlowe’s collection for yourself, Astro Black Records is located in the back room of Quill’s Coffee in the Highlands at 930 Baxter Avenue. The store is open 12 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 12 to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
-Ryan Crist
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