Drum

Artist: Drum

LP: 12" single

Song: "Bite-It" 
[ listen ]

I had a feeling Buffalo and I were going to get along pretty well, but I had no idea I was going to fall in love. I even bought these t-shirts to prove it. 

Buffalo is so much more my style than what Seattle has become over the past ten years. Buffalo is like a fun night out bar-hopping with The Bangles circa 1983, whereas Seattle has turned into an uppity vanilla-scented candlelight dinner with Swing Out Sister, where you're not allowed to smile at anyone and you have to be home in bed by 11pm. I mean, the prices on menus at restaurants in Buffalo still have decimals on them!  

Don't get me wrong...oh, forget it. Get me wrong. I don't care. The first record store I visited the day after I flew into town was Record Baron, in the north part of Buffalo. It's actually in a Buffalo suburb called Kenmore. The shop was full of great stuff stacked up all over the place, just the way I like it for digging. Dan, the owner, is a super friendly guy who gave me the two-minute tour, then set me loose in the bins, though he did first point out a few gems he knew I'd like. 

I found plenty at Record Baron worth posting, but settled on this 1984 hip-hop single by Drum (I was hoping maybe they were called Dr. Um) in which lead singer Gillespie Kelly performs a Swahili rap taught to him by someone called Mesfin the African. It's a doozey. The record doesn't seem to be particularly rare, but the copy I found has been sealed in plastic for the past 32 years, so it was a treat to break it open and finally drop a needle on it.
 

[ Drum ]
 

[ Record Baron — Kenmore, New York ]