Your Mix Fix: GRC

By  Joel Moya

Your Mix Fix: GRC

The word mixtape has plenty of different interpretations. It used to be that mixtapes were actually DJ sets recorded on cassette tapes, but with the coming of the digital music age, the name remained the same, but the definition expanded. Nowadays, people call mixtapes many different things, some of which are not necessarily mixed and most of which were never taped. Here we try to cover them all. In this column, Juan Data gives you a worthy one every week.

DJ: GRC
MIXTAPE: Independent Grand Showcase

This one goes out to all the vinyl addicts out there. Independent Grand is a new online store and, simultaneously, a conglomerate of some of the best U.S.-based (and some European) indie labels that still release music in this classic format.

Names You Can Trust, Electric Cowbell, Bastard Jazz, Lovemonk, Sofrito, Soundway, they’ve all pressed vinyl with cool, new, Latin music in the last few years and most of them are small operations, run just by one person from a garage, or a tight group of friends who are not in this for the money but for their genuine love of music.

Well, recently, these labels decided to join forces and create a one-stop shop where you can find all their releases. Why? Because sadly, there are less actual brick-and-mortar record shops every day, as we all know, but mainly because USPS Mail recently raised their prices for international shipping, making it almost prohibitive for small labels to distribute their records to foreign collectors. So combining shipping of multiple records seems to be the best solution to such predicament.

Names You Can Trust’s DJs Monk One (photographed above) and E’s E, collectively known as GRC (short for Greenwood Rhythm Coalition), put together this mixtape with the purpose of luring you into this new online store. They’ve conveniently included links to purchase each and every one of the songs played, on vinyl, obviously.

If you happen to be in the New York area, they have a party going on this Saturday as part of the Northside Festival, with a pop-up record shop where you can save in shipping costs all together.

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