Joe Daniel got into records in his mid-teens, he used to DJ a fair bit during the decade he spent running Angular Records. Then he launched the first Independent Label Market in London. Over the last twelve years Independent Label Market has brought together the founders of over 600 of the World's greatest independent record labels to host more than 80 events in 10 different countries. This simple retail format has proved popular as a social event with music fans and labels alike, providing a new platform for physical product in the digital age. Joe Daniel has chosen the timeless 7" record, which feels like the perfect format for DIY punk as much as it does for chart pop music.

Ruth / Polaroïd-Roman-Photo (Edition Paris Album - 1985)

About ten years ago I was running a record label and putting together a compilation called ‘Cold Waves and Minimal Electronics Vo.1’. This track was the starting point. I heard it and fell in love with it and made a trip to Paris to try and find the person who wrote it. Once in Paris I began the search for Ruth at Bimbo Tower, a specialist record shop where No Wave is divided into several subsections and they don’t have any records from before 1979. Everything was in mint condition and nothing was absurdly priced even when it could be. I browsed around and eventually asked if they were familiar with Ruth’s ‘Polaroïd/Roman/Photo’. It turned out that it’s creator was a regular in the shop himself and played music with two of the guys that worked there. So we met and I licenced the track and eventually the whole album from which it came.

Originally released on Paris Records in 1985 Ruth’s LP sold about 50 copies and was relegated to obscurity until the track “Polaroïd/Roman/Photo” started appearing on bootlegs and compilations in the early 00’s, slowly becoming the cult synth pop classic it is nowadays. It was written by experimental musician Thierry Muller for fun to see if he could write a pop song and I guess this is why it sounds so playful and spontaneous. I got to know Thierry and managed to persuade him to part with one of the last copies of the ultra-rare 7” promo copy of the track, l imited to 200 copies. The last 80 of the 200 were released as a "numbered special edition”, I’ve got No.10 of 80. 

The Drapels / Wondering (When My Love Is Coming Home) (Volt -1964) 

I first heard this track on a compilation made by JB Townsend from Crystal Stilts, one of the great New York bands from the last decade. It’s in my Top 5 songs ever and definitely the most I’ve ever paid for a record. It’s an old Memphis soul stroller, a lovelorn male vocal with a Shirelles-esque girl group backing. The flip is incredible too. The band had a couple of singles on Stax and ended up backing Wendy Rene on ‘ Laughter Comes Tears’. My copy is the rarer version with an incorrect catalogue number and a misspelt track title. 

Alton Ellis & The Flames  / Cry Tough (Treasure Isle - 1967)

This was a discovery during a trip to Jamaica. I was browsing in a record shop in Kingston which had masses of jukebox 7”s littered around in big piles that you had to rummage through. I picked a handful from labels like Impact!, Crystal, Gussie, Blue Beat and of course Trojan Records, all with a weirded out dub version on the flip side. This one is from Treasure Isle Records and it’s a defiant track about getting old (I think). ‘How can a man be tougher than the world?’

Suburban Lawns / Janitor (Suburban Industrial -1980)

This is the first of two badly pressed, low fidelity, self-released singles in this list. Obscure punk and post-punk are so great on seven inch. Here we have a catchy new wave pop track on the first side and the weird broody contemplative groover on the B-side. Suburban Lawns were an LA band led by Su Tissue, a thirteen year old girl with braces singing in a deadpan operatic squeal, if you can imagine that. There’s a classic public access TV performance on YouTube that’s well worth a look. 

The Petticoats / Normal (Bla-Bla-Bla Records - 1980)

Another brilliant homemade punk record, also from 1980. A UK release, although Stef Petticoat who sang and played all the instruments was German. A one-woman, self-recorded, self-released punk record with proper DIY rubber-stamped labels and a cut-out lyric insert. It sounds like it was recorded in a shoe-box, a bit like ‘Do They Owe Us A Living?’ by Crass, but more chaotic and all over the place. A friend of mine once found two copies in a charity shop in a small commuter town in Hertfordshire which is where you want to get records like this. I had to buy mine off Discogs for £25. 

ดาว บ้านดอน / เสมา ศรีสุพรรณ ‎– ทุบทิ้ง / โอ้! อิสาน

I went to Bangkok a few years ago and wanted to find some record shops. I ended up at Chatuchak Market, a huge flea market where you can buy anything from weird fruit to precious metals to baby squirrels. There were a few vinyl sellers there who gave me a crash course in Luk Thung (‘song of the countryside’), and Luk Krung (‘song of the city’). The music is pretty varied, latin, jazz, funk, surf,  and some more Western influenced sounds but it all carries a spirit that feels unique to the culture it’s from. Both Finders Keepers and Soundway Recordings have documented these sounds on compilations that I can wholly recommend. I bought a handful of singles based on the vinyl labels, and they come in brown paper bags. I couldn’t tell you the names of the artists or tracks as they’re written in Thai script, which makes them even more exotic for me.