Our friends at Norman Records are marking their 30th birthday with a series of limited edition vinyl releases from a bunch of artists tQ readers tend to rather love. These special releases go on sale today, 7 April and are 20 Jazz Funk Greats by Throbbing Gristle, Spiderland by Slint, Doolittle by Pixies and Slanted & Enchanted by Pavement, with one more to follow – keep your eyes peeled. We’ve also filled this week’s edition of The Portal archive dive with tQ writing around the artists featured on this Norman Records birthday deal – you can find that here. We dropped Phil and Nathon at Norman a line to find out more about the releases. You can order them here.
Did you ever think you’d reach this ripe old age?
Phil: Lordy no! I don’t really think I ever thought about how long I’d be doing this for but I can safely say I didn’t think it would last this long. We’ve had some shaky times over the years but then you don’t go into selling records to make money. Each year we keep going is another year ticked off.
My motivation has always been about music. I’ve gone through various phases over the last 30 years absolutely loving music, wanting to be thrilled, to being bored to death of it all having heard it all before. I’ve been listening to seven to 10 hours of music pretty much every day for 30 years and it can get tiresome. However, the thrill of finding that next thing to be obsessed about still drives me. It doesn’t happen so much these days but when it does, it’s still like wow, that’s why I do this.
Nathon: In terms of motivation, mine is probably a bit different from Phil’s. He’s a bigger music buff than I’ll ever be, and certainly a bigger vinyl collector (I own precisely zero vinyl records). I’ve always been a big believer in independent music and that won’t change, but I’m just as motivated by the idea of trying to run a decent shop where the priority is looking after customers and not just trying to be the biggest.
Can you tell us how the idea of these special edition releases came about, and how you went about picking people to do them?
Phil: The idea behind all of this was really just to choose a handful of records that shaped Norman Records into who we are. Records we all obsessed about at the time that have become part of our identity, records we could not live without. I am extremely proud we’ve managed to get some of these as they’re some of my personal favourites.
I mean, I bought Spiderland on the day it came out and it still sounds incredible now. For Norman to get our own variant of this is a bit moving for me, I gotta say.
Nathon: The idea was really just to press up a bunch of records that in some way sum up where we came from. The five we’ve gone with are all superb albums that really have been formative to us all in different ways. I mean, I’m a bit more of a Surfer Rosa fan than a Doolittle one but Pixies changed my life just like they changed Phil’s life – and Doolittle was one of the most important ways in back then. I’m sure there are countless people out there who’d say the same.
What has changed the most about the record selling business since you started?
Phil: I’d say the amount of variants for new releases has gotten way out of hand. Back in the day you’d get black vinyl and a CD. In not so recent days gone by, you’d get a CD, black vinyl LP and maybe an indies variant. These days there are Rough Trade exclusives, Blood, Dinked (which I have to say is a great thing for the indie community), D2C, Amazon, HMV and occasional other shop exclusives. I would kill for a more level playing field but that ain’t gonna happen. I suspect it’s only going to get worse. Pricing has got way out of hand too. The music industry has a habit of biting the hand that feeds, so watch this space.
Nathon: I swear it used to be easier. We sell more than we ever have, but every year now seems to throw up some big new challenge to go along with all the myriad small ones. The environment is always changing, and there have been some major disruptions – the rediscovery of vinyl, the impact of streaming, RSD, Brexit, Google being a constant dick, Covid. All of which have forced us, over the years, to widen our own tastes a fair bit: we’ve never been a purist outfit only selling obscure records, but I think it’s fair to say that 1996 Phil wouldn’t dream of stocking some of the things that 2026 Phil does. That’s maybe the biggest change since we started?
How do you see things evolving in years to come?
Phil: Well we’re having to move soon so I’m hoping that will help invigorate the business once we’ve got over the shock of the moving costs. Ever since Brexit we’ve basically been reactionary, dealing with one problem and moving on to the next. It has been a constant battle. I’d assume that would continue given worldwide instability but you’ve gotta remain positive. Hopefully we can continue to grow and keep on selling music to people who love music. It is all about the musics. It still makes my day when we receive an email from someone thanking us for an order and how much they love it. It’s the simple things.
Nathon: The pessimist in me thinks that we’re approaching ‘peak vinyl’ and that cost spirals and fiercer competition (and Google) will slowly do us in. The optimist in me thinks that as long as we keep on selling decent records and looking after our customers, the rest of it will take care of itself. If history is any guide then we probably won’t know about the changes until they’re on us. Technology is always a biggie (so for example it could be something to do with AI) but then so are many random things we can’t predict (like oil price spikes caused by mad kings starting wars).
