The name “Ultra-Local-Records” is plan and so is its owner Raül. It’s a Thursday afternoon, I had just met a couple of people at art schools and agencies and as I walk along carrer Pujades, my eyes stop at a small shop, displaying with what I grew up with: Vinyl. As I enter, the man behind the counter greets me with a smile and then I look at all the material in there. I do not only spot tons of vinyl, but also cassettes that are hand labeled, hand numbered – yeah, a limited edition cassette, how cool is that?! But who buys cassettes these days, I ask timidly in my broken spanish. Raül lifts his eyebrows and tells me that there is quite a new movement happening: First of all the vinyl sales start outselling CD sales, plus people also buying cassettes again — of course in small numbers, but people value that good old stuff again!
After a while I learn that Ultra-Local-Records is not only a shop, it is actually also a label where a couple of local bands are signed to. Everything here seems like it’s not so much about money and business, but about passion and believing in with you do. I ask Raül why he opened a record shop here — with the lack of tourists, maybe even absence of buying power for such a product: “I like it here, I love Poble Nou, it’s a quiet place, no tourists, good people and a few good music venues just around the corner.”
look at some of the vinyl covers more carefully and realize that quite a lot of them are pieces of art and very carefully designed. I pick some of them up that I really enjoy and I in particular like three of them and they are all spanish bands, if not from Barcelona. One band is called “El Ultimo Vecino” and it reminds me of Joy Division and until this day, I am listening to that record. The two bands that Raül represents on his “label” are called Dexist and Anyzed and they are both local groups from Barcelona.
After I leave “Ultra Local” I know what I am gonna buy when I get home: a vinyl player!
ourselves.”
