It’s the first day of this year’s ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event) and throughout the city there’s an abundance of industry heads walking through the streets with yellow lanyards around their necks, introducing themselves to each other and arranging plans for the evening. After starting the morning off with a quick dig in Back Beat – a store specialising mainly in Jazz & Funk – I decided to head somewhere housier.
I’d sent a message to Ferro, a local from the VBX crew who was playing throughout the week, asking for a bit of guidance on where to go for a thorough dig. He said to head over to Killacutz, a store that I had heard of when having conversations with people who had spent time in Dam a few years back.
Just off of a busy high street in the City Centre, I turned on to Nieuwe Nieuwstraat, the quiet backstreet where the Killacutz is located. The location is ideal, right in the middle of the city and easy to find. A local was outside the store having a smoke and gave me a nod followed by “Killacutz?” with a smile on his face. He introduced himself and showed me inside the store, before proceeding to dig through the many crates labelled ‘Diggers Heaven’.
The store was founded in 1998, next door to where it sits now. A few years back times got hard and the guys decided to use the space to rent bikes out to locals and tourists, whilst still having a small space to sell wax out the back, all the time selling a large quantity of stock on Discogs. A few months ago the crew took over a unit next door, solely for selling records. Their selection ranges from 10,000 – 15,000 records, including the pieces on their Discogs account which can be ordered and collected in-store.
As I looked around the store I could see a lot of crates labelled Minimal as well as Breaks, US Garage, Deep House and plenty of Techno. There is a small selection of Pop, Rock and Soul as you come through the doorway, but 90% of the wax is from electronic genres. I did happen to see a rare box set reissue of Raekwon’s classic 1995 album ‘Only Built For Cuban Linx’, containing a book with the albums lyrics and photo are from the era that the album was released, and the infamous purple cassette. It turns out this had been brought in by some Danish graffiti writers that were passing through Amsterdam a few weeks prior to my visit.
I wanted to hear some minimal grooves, and any skippy house beats from the 90’s. Richard who runs the store approached me and asked me what I was in search of, where I was from and how my day was going. He picked out some records from his personal collection, as well as a few bits from various other crates and after a minute or so I was sat in front of a deck with a stack of wax and a set of headphones. The first bits that had been picked out where great, and included an old Raum…musik release and an EP from Herbert which was exactly the vibe I was looking for.
Over the next few hours, I continued to dig through the various crates, and Richard would come and talk to me about music and the time he spent in London many moons ago, sharing fond memories and asking about the capitals scene, clubs and stores. I came across some amazing records and ended up sharing the decks with a guy who had just moved back from Berlin, where we went back and forth playing from the two piles of records we had accumulated. Richard supplied us with some truly amazing music, including a back catalogue from Stronghouse Records, a UK label that shone brightly in the 90’s. There were all sorts in there, a couple of releases from Einzelkind’s label La Peña, some Villalobos Remixes and even pieces from Ferro who had recommended the store!
I got a friend to meet me who had just flown in, he found some pieces that he had been after for quite some time and was really happy with some new finds too. Richard invited us to come back on Saturday where there would be free beer from 4-8, and a collection he was waiting on would be coming in containing another 200-300 records. The store had a really good energy for the in-store session and more gems were to be found!
The experience in this record store was homely and relaxed, Richard was really eager and excited to find records that fitted the customer’s taste, and seemed to execute each time as I watched people come in and out of the store with smiles on their faces. It was really nice having a mix too, which was encouraged by Richard! At one point he suggested me and the Berlin-based expat played back to back later on in the week! The overall condition of records at the store was above par for a second-hand spot, and the prices were really fair. The bits I was interested in ranged from €2.50 – €10.00, and seemed to be going for slightly less than on Discogs. I would say that the average price of a record was around €5.00.
Overall I had a great time at Killacutz, and walked out with a smile on my face and a bag full of records for under €50. Those in search of good records in The Dam must check this spot out before you leave, it ticks all the boxes.
Sounds:
• Stronghouse Records
• Raum … musik
• Terry Francis
• Minimal Techno
• 90’s Deep House
• Early Bassment Jaxx EP’s
• Breaks
• 2000 & One
• Perlon Sounds
Top 5 Purchases:
• Herbert – ‘Never Give Up’ – Phonography – GRAPH 02 – March 1997
• Eddie Richards & Gideon Jackson – ‘Biscuit Barrel Blues / Pull Tab 2 Open’
London Housing Benefit – LHB 005 – 2001
• Minimono / Markus Fix – ‘Split EP’ – Love Letters From Oslo – LLFO002 – Jan 2010
Various – Revolutions EP – Cyclo – CYC 0009.6 – 1999
• Kawabata – Persuasion – Drumpoet Community – DPC_013-1 – March 2008
• DeWalta / Aquatic – Skipper – Meander – Meander002 – October 2007
Details:
Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/seller/KillaCutz/profile
Address: Nieuwe Nieuwstraat 21-hs, 1012 NG Amsterdam, Netherlands
Phone: 0031204284040
