After capping off our series highlighting businesses who have been with Copeland Park since the beginning, we now shift the focus to Holdrons Arcade and a resident who has been with us since September 2023 - Inverted Audio Record Store.

Despite being a relatively new record shop, owner Tom Durston’s connection to and presence within the wider underground electronic music scene extends over a decade and a half.

After graduating from the University of Leeds in 2007, Tom wanted to create a space for himself and like-minded people to write about music that wasn’t receiving the attention that it deserved. This coincided with the music-blogging explosion of the mid to late 00s. By 2009 The Guardian listed music blog aggregator The Hype Machine as one of its ‘100 essential websites’ – one of 4 music sites to be selected, alongside the now Conde Nast owned Pitchfork and Amazon’s MP3 store.

2009 also saw the birth of ‘Inverted Audio’ an online electronic music magazine, initially hosted as a blogspot. “It gave myself and other writers a platform to write about quality underground music, borne out of real talent, rather than just following what every other publication was covering.”

The name Inverted Audio drew from Tom’s studies in History of Art where he delved deep in the work of American psychedelic artist, Fred Tomaselli. Tomaselli’s detailed, unorthodox paintings are layered with prescription pills and hallucinogenic plants to create a mesmeric effect. One such work from 2002 is entitled ‘Eyes Inverted in Endless Audio’. The name sprang to mind when Tom was registering the blog, “it just fit and has stuck ever since, plus Tomaselli’s work has also influenced me when designing the visual language of the magazine and subsequently the record store.”

‘Eyes Inverted in Endless Audio', Fred Tomaselli

Early Inverted Audio contributor alumni include Arthur Cayzer aka Pariah, who still stands as one of the UK’s foremost DJs and producers today, Charles Drakeford – an original Boiler Room host and music journalist and producer Angus Finlayson aka Minor Science who has since had bylines in Resident Advisor, The Quietus and Fact. “The website acted as a kind of benchmark in the scene, if the music was being promoted, whether a review, feature, or event coverage, it was because we believed in it and were giving it the Inverted Audio seal of approval.”

In the intervening years Tom moved to Berlin in 2017, “because it’s the epicentre of electronic music” and became Communications Director at Farr Festival, a much missed electronic music festival set within a forest in Hertfordshire, which hosted its final edition in 2018, all while keeping the Inverted Audio thriving and expanding in Germany.

It was at Farr Festival that Inverted Audio conceptualised and curated the Campfire Headphase stage, named after the influential Scottish downtempo duo Boards of Canada’s third studio album. True to the Inverted Audio ethos, the stage placed the leftfield front and centre focusing on ambient and experimental producers and DJs featuring artists including Leafar Legov, Rising Sun, Huerco S, Terekke, Galcher Lustwerk, DJ Richard, Claro Intelecto, Rezzett and Even Tuell. This approach set the stage apart from your normal electronic festival fare and garnered coverage in both The Guardian and Resident Advisor.

When the pandemic hit, Tom moved back to England and took stock of which direction Inverted Audio would go in next. “I had this record collection that I had been building since I was a teenager. In the early days it was mostly drum & bass and jungle, but as it grew I started collecting IDM and more experimental releases too.” A record store felt like the obvious next step. Tom saw units in Holdrons Arcade advertised and got in contact.

“I knew that YAM Records had been in the arcade previously so there was pedigree there, plus the units seemed like an affordable, low risk, launch pad for me to work out whether this venture was viable.” Inverted Audio Record Store opened its doors in September 2023 and has proved its viability since then, becoming an important part of London’s independent music scene and vinyl culture, as well as hosting live in-stores from the likes of UK acid house legend, Ramjac Corporation and most recently US based DJ and dub techno producer, Federsen.

Tom has continued the spirit of his online publication into the record store, creating an environment where electronic music lovers can come, discuss and discover. “There’s more curation here than other record stores in the UK and I’m able to have conversations to get to know customers and their taste.” Tom utilises his journalistic background and the shop’s top-quality listening equipment to showcase every absorbing corner of the Inverted Audio catalogue. “It’s the story of the music and exchange of knowledge that gets people buzzing and excited to buy.”

You only need to have a cursory look over the record store’s Google reviews to see the connection between Tom and his customers with many of them detailing specific recommendations off the back of detailed music chats at his Holdrons hidden gem.

It’s this that separates Inverted Audio from other record stores and especially from the often impersonal nature of buying records online or via Discogs. With the Inverted Audio music magazine and record store acting in symbiotic harmony, allowing customers to read a review and head straight into store to buy – plus plans to expand into stocking high-quality music merchandise from Inverted Audio’s favourite record labels – this specialist electronic music record store shows no sign of slowing down.

You can find Inverted Audio Record Store open Thu – Sun in Holdrons Arcade Unit 11.

You can keep up to date with both the store and magazine on Instagram, here and here.

– INVERTED AUDIO RECORD STORE [https://inverted-audio.store/]
– INVERTED AUDIO MAGAZINE [https://inverted-audio.com/]