End of All Music co-owner David Swider poses for a portrait Wednesday.
Photo by Austin McAfee I The Daily Mississippian
Take a drive down North Lamar Boulevard and as soon as you’ve left that comfortable Oxford bubble, you’ll spot a squat building with crème-colored siding and bright blue awnings over its windows. An electric sign buzzes a single message in its crystal window: RECORDS. This is The End of All Music – Oxford’s lone record store. It opened almost a year and a half ago, March 1, 2012.
The store is thick with wooden racks of records and CDs and cassettes. In the corner you’ll find a small iPod dangling from a thin steel cable, a listening station. The walls are covered with LPs and plastered with posters.
Immediately to the left of the door, behind the register, a record is in constant rotation. The volume set at a comfortable level. The music is constantly being curated by one of The End of All Music’s knowledgeable employees. They’re either jamming out or having a congenial conversation with one of their customers, so anyone who visits is in safe hands. These aren’t the record store employees from “High Fidelity.”
“Record stores are a lot different than they used to be,” says general manager and co-owner David Swider, a 2008 graduate of Ole Miss. “I know the mentality towards record stores for a long time was, ‘Oh, it’s nothing but music snobs that hang out there, nothing but music snobs that work there.’ But we’re all approachable.”
This isn’t the stereotypical record store. It’s comfortable. Every time you walk in, the environment is as relaxed as being ten years old in your hometown surrounded by buds. Music is considered by many to be a personal and defining characteristic, so it can be intimidating to visit a store like The End of All Music. But Swider stands firm that he and his employees aren’t here for that.
“I’ve listened to just about all kinds of music. I’m down for suggestions of new music all the time, so I’m not going to judge anyone on what kind of records they buy,” Swider says. He’s clicking a pen, crouched on top of tall brown, vinyl chair. His head is covered in straw-hair – he’s blue-eyed and bearded. He continues, “If anything, it’ll help me suggest new stuff to them and vice versa. I’ll learn more. The record store should be a place of engagement and conversation, and not so much going in and being embarrassed about buying the new Mumford and Sons record.”
The door is open at the record store today. The sky is overcast, and rain pours softly onto the dark concrete outside. The temperature is nice outside. A middle-aged gentleman walks into the store, bringing a little dog with him on a leash. Jimmy Cajoleas, a former member of the band Colour Revolt and current MFA fiction student at the university, is working. He’s average height, but with shoulder length brown hair and thick glasses.
“Is this Dylan?” The man asks, a young wheezy voice is emanating from the store’s speakers.
“Yeah, it’s a bootleg that my buddy made,” Cajoleas tells him. A conversation then begins, the man inquiring about the bootleg and what it contains and how to obtain it. They’re both animated, the dog flitting between their feet. Cajoleas is helpful and all smiles and tells jokes. By the end they’re both laughing and the man asks him if he can play some Weylon Jennings. Cajoleas complies with the man’s request. When the man leaves, Cajoleas gives him a high-five.
“I love talking to customers,” Cajoleas says. “I get to see what people are into, and just get to talk about things I love. Working here rules. It’s fun to help people find some sweet-ass jams.”
Swider has noticed more and more students coming into the store. It’s another shift. Students are buying vinyl again and are starting to realize that record players don’t have to be the big boxy things that they have to dig for in their grandmother’s basements.
“I sell a ton of turntables to people that take and put them in their dorms and have a little crate of records. It’s probably something weird to find in somebody’s dorm, but I had records in my dorm when I was a freshman here,” Swider says. “Listening to records now is easier than ever because turntables are inexpensive, easy to operate, don’t have to have a lot of equipment, don’t have to have a knowledge on them, plus most new records come with a digital download. So if you buy the record, you can also take it home and download it onto your iPod.”
Social media is a big aspect of how The End of All Music promotes itself, so check out its Twitter and its Instagram. Swider is always tossing up deals and taking pictures of new stock. People even try and reserve things over the different social media platforms. The store also offers free in-store shows, promoting local or traveling bands that have released a new record. Coming up is a big event for The End of All Music – Black Friday. That and Record Store Day, April 20, are its biggest events.
“Those are international holidays for independent record stores, which means indie labels and major labels provide special limited edition, usually vinyl, that are only available at independent record stores,” Swider says. “There’ll be a line out the door, it’s really fun, everybody’s in a great mood, we have guest DJs that day. That’s a really big day for us. And it seems to be growing and getting bigger and bigger every year.”
Be sure to keep your fingers on the pulse and check out the new music this great new Oxford destination offers.
