CHEMICAL RECORDS GOES INTO ADMINISTRATION

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Sadly it’s been confirmed another Bristol record shop, the longstanding Chemical Records have now filed for administration and have closed down as this statement from the appointed administrators confirms.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

Music & Lifestyle Ltd, which traded as Chemical Records from St Vincents Trading Estate, Bristol has gone into Administration. The company, which sold music related equipment and clothing, was bought out of Administration last summer by the existing management, but failed to reach its expected sales targets.

David Tann and John Kirkpatrick from the Reading office of accountants Wilkins Kennedy LLP were appointed Administrators on Wednesday 26 March 2014.

David Tann said,’We were appointed at short notice and had very little time to try and find a way forward for the business. Whilst we have spoken to a number of parties there appears to be little appetite from anyone to take on the whole business. As a result we had to take the difficult decision to close the doors completely and make all 19 staff redundant.’

The Administrators are currently considering offers for the assets of the company.

As reported on the Bristol Post website, their warehouse stocked more than 40,000 different titles of 12-inch vinyl records covering everything from house, trance, drum ‘n’ bass, techno, UK garage and hip-hop. The company started life as a record shop in Cheltenham in 1997, and was founded by friends Gordon Adam and Mark Walton. Chris Ramsay, a school friend of the pair, joined in 2000 to take on the internet side of the firm. Chris Ramsay claimed Chemical Records had the biggest and best operation in the dance scene in the UK. It was the trio’s love of rave music that drew them into the business of selling dance music gear. Mr Ramsay said they moved the shop to Bristol because of the popularity of the music scene in the city.

Glenn

I am very upset!!!! Where elso do I go now???? I loved Chemical Records, their service and their range!!!!!! I am sick of this world going digital!!!!!!! Digital is nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is just zeroes and ones and is nothing real!!!!!!!!! What do I do now??????????????
achor8

era una pagina increíble para la ropa y la musica su flow es descomunal espero que vuelvan abrir, un saludo desde el norte de africa!
nikki

Glenn, exactly!!! I only just discovered this terrible news just now ; addmitedly I have not bought from there for a while but funnily enough was just about to start again, my average £50-75 a month new vinyls was starting to become a necessity again and this place was the dogs bollocks….im gutted,after a break from djing I come back to start my hours and days long listening sessions pre buying and discover it doesn’t exist!!! This is criminal to the music scene..surely there must be a few of the top end of minted DJ’s in this country who would want to invest in this and save and preserve this much needed shop…even if it was solely online!!!!!!!?!?!?!?!!! COME ONNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!
Jim Spratling

Try here… http://www.easternblocrecords.com/
Chris

Sorry to hear this, chemical was fantastic source of music for me for nearly a decade. I was one of the last people I know to move out the stoneage and into MP3’s using serato, but it has to be said, once the initial crossover period had passed, I have to say there was very little looking back. I also seemed to me that Chemical Records were slow with the uptake of digital music, I didn’t want to shop anywhere else, but I simply found hundreds of releases that weren’t being listed on Chemical elsewhere at Juno or (god forbid) Beatport. Chemical originally drew me away from Juno about 10 years ago, but now its gone full cycle. Sorry to see you go Chemical, hope there are other enterprises for you in the future.
David Mason

Will the company open up under another name?
Guest

Yep sad news just found out now, another independent record shop bites the dust..!
The is a record shop you can still shop from, though its in Germany..
Vinyl Distribution check’em out or you can try Juno Records in London..
Aztek DJ

Yep sad news just found out now, another independent record shop bites the dust..!
There is a record shop you can still purchase vinyl from, though its in Germany, Vinyl Distribution http://www.vinyl-distribution.co.uk/ check’em out or you can try Juno Records http://www.juno.co.uk/ in London..
Aztek DJ

I’m not to sure what you mean “to move out the stoneage and into MP3’s”.. This would suggest that your moving forward to something better, though this couldn’t be further from the truth, as MP3’s are no comparison to vinyl.

On the point of sound quality your are actually going backwards as MP3’s are a heavily compressed format and sound crap when amplified on big systems..
Actually for the record MP3’s and CD’s should be a choice, not a replacement for vinyl, as they’re clearly not..!!

Chemical Records were purists, which you have to respect, though sadly ease & convenience has over thrown quality..!!
Ryan D

Screw Convenience. I will lug my records
around UNTIL THE DAY I DIE!!!!!This Stinks!!! I live in Santa Monica CA
and having been buying records at Chemical for a long time on and off!
This is a bad day for me, I truly mean this. I know there are other options,
amoeba, juno, others I won’t name. The point is chemical got the orders out
quickly every damn time. Vinyl makes MP3’s sound like garbage and all
digi. thanks for alot the dope Electronic Records i own and i
will miss u guys man oh man Ryan D aka RhinoBeats67
Chris

Vinyl sounds shit compared to 320. I am well aware of how compression works but the only people that think vinyl sounds better than digital music IS the purists. I mixed vinyl for over 10 years, but when I play my vinyl now compared to an MP3 of the same track the difference is very noticable. Vinyl may hold its own on some break heavy track or an oldskool vibe, but sat side to side with a compression heavy modern track, the Dynamic range of vinyl is pale in comparison. And lets not even go into the effects of ware on the record through plays. the compression occuring with 320 is minimal and has little effect bar removing the silence around the waveform. Every DJ I know uses MP3 unless their playing there own stuff, only the usual army of internet nay sayers want to contantly wang on about the bitrate battle, it gets old quick. When u have 10,000 tunes plus, MP3 is suffient.
Aztek DJ

Wow “Vinyl sounds shit compared to 320″…….really..! When you compare 1,411 kbps files as on vinyl and at best a seriously compressed 320 kbps file on MP3’s, there is no comparison I suggest you go back to skool mate, oh and get your ears cleaned..!

Furthermore because MP3’s are already watered down files, when they are heavily amplified as in clubs and big dance events the sound quality suffers considerably, I’ve been in the business along time, so I know..!
Christian Howe

Ive bought all the record stock – find me online here

https://www.discogs.com/user/MRDJDZ

still wading through but uploading all the time
Chris

Your right I always have people come up after my sets and say ‘damn your tunes sounded shit, if only you’d played crusty old vinyls I’d have enjoyed it so much more.’
Still at least I get a laugh selling on the odd vinyl exclusive from scientific wax or such that I rip then sell for 5 times the original price to some vinyl junkie on discogs.

Look if you have the money to support paying modern astronomical prices for vinyl and the time to love and care for your plates to stop em sounding a crusty mess, then good for you. But in my opinion the invested time and money is definitely not worth it for the result. Whilst I still use turntables I have no interest bar nostalgia for vinyl.

if u understand how Mpeg compression works then you’ll know that it saves space by isolating areas of the waveform that it considers redundant and uses logarhythms to calculate which areas can be duplicated rather than rendered in realtime. The amount of compression you choose reflects the size of waveform it effects. At 320 the compression focuses mainly on the silence spaces between the audible frequencies ie the gaps between in the spikes of the waveform. In other words you lose very little actual audible frequencies.

Vinyl has a dynamic range which is incapable of reproducing frequencies above and below certain parameters, hence why tracks should be mixed specially before being cut. Many claim this restriction is noted more in the high frequencies resulting in vinyl having more of a focus on the low frequencies which lends to the theory of vinyl having a warmth. 320 gives much the same audible restriction but without being limited in the first place by a physical bandwidth restriction and no physical degradation from use.

All said and done digital is not a fucking nightmare to carry around, doesn’t degrade, doesn’t get scratched, doesn’t cost a small fortune per plate, has about 80 times the exclusives compared to a few vinyl exclusives, can be doubled instantly, makes for much quicker mixing and list goes on…
So keep on pushing vinyl if that’s what floats your boat but give me a break cos I’m board to tears of this petty argument.
Aztek DJ

Exactly mate, If your passionate about DJing, it shouldn’t be because it’s easy and convenient, all these new digital DJ’s who’ve come out of the woodwork, you take away the tech and 80% of these wannabes will disappear back into the bedrooms from which they came, this will leave the ones who can actually mix without the use of a sync button or sequencer..!

In my experience if something is acquire to easy, it doesn’t gain respect and that’s what’s happened to the dance music scene today..!

The only good thing digital has brought us is in the music product area, where it’s removed the noise to floor issue created by tapes, apart from this they can keep it….Long live Vinyl..!