The first thing I heard while roaming the stalls at Analog Outlaw Book and Record Fair last September was “Wicked,” a Psychic TV track that came out at the cusp of the 1980s and 1990s. It’s this seemingly endless, loopy acid house number— I hesitate to call it a song— that appeals to a very specific kind of weirdo who collects the fruits of the Throbbing Gristle family tree and spends their free time reading about cults and psychedelics and psychedelic cults. So, if you’re that type of weirdo and you hear “Wicked” out in the wild, you know you’ve found your people.
And, yes, dear reader, I did find my people that day. Organized by Bibliomancers and Nooners Books, Analog Outlaw is a counterculture physical media marketplace. At the inaugural event, held at Zebulon last year, vendors from vintage issues of Rolling Stone to Goblin on vinyl and Frankenhooker on VHS to paperback porn. Mark Webber from Pulp was on hand to sign copies of his book, I’m With Pulp, Are You? I can’t even remember how many club pals I ran into that day. It was one of those events where you spend half the time hunting for treasure and the other half showing your friends what you found.
For their second fair, on June 28, Analog Outlaw is moving to a larger venue, 2220 Arts + Archives. The roster includes mix of vintage media vendors and indie publishers, amongst them Hat & Beard Press, horror zine Midnight Companions and Neither Neither Books, as well as the first West Coast appearance of Japanese Avant Garde Books.
Continue reading Get Your Physical Media Fix at Analog Outlaw This Weekend