Record Fair by day, Discotheque by night, the Near Mint Record Fair is back for 2024…
Ahead of our traders announcement in May, we check in with Near Mint owner, Russ Ryan, to give an overview of what you can expect from this year’s edition, how the record tent has developed year on year and some recommendations on how to prep for your best digging experience while in the beautiful Dorset countryside…
Way back in 2019 we had a ¼ sized tent and a club spec sound that rattled our lock up till silly o’clock, in 2024 it packs the same punch sonically but scaled up with our a-team of dealers, labels and shops, repping from Brighton to Brooklyn.
Joining the physical dots of this wonderful weekend, our Record Fair acts as not only a space for diggers to dig but crew to hang and Djs to spin, serving everything we love about the vinyl community and an ethos true to We Out Here and all of our events. On August 15th, we re-open our doors in Wimborne St Giles for four days (and nights) and cannot wait to welcome you all back in.
In truth, when I first spoke to Noah & Joe about putting this together, I had no idea how it would land but seeing a festival first concept grow from strength to strength over the last five years has been incredibly rewarding / relieving. Early logistical lols have evolved to a blueprint which makes this tick year on year, art direction lovingly crafted by Bohdi & Sri has been consistently brilliant and of course there is the occasional unseen however our family of traders make these work with ease.
This year we’ve actually reduced the number of traders slightly to make the space more comfortable to you the festival goers, with the inclusion of sofas and a bar this is first and foremost a hang out, with some killer records on sale. On that record tip this year, we truly have some of the world’s strongest with us alongside a firm family of pushers specialising in a wide range of sounds from the known to the lesser.
We have an A Team of sellers in from NYC to Tokyo, Rotterdam to Hastings. Each seller packs a slightly different sound, genre bending beautiful music which is encompassing of the weekend, full line up soon. Two noteworthy debutants, Mr Thing’s Pressing Matters and Brighton’s legendary Rarekind Records need to be shouted out early but the whole line up is, in my opinion, the strongest we’ve put together.
© Photography by Rob Jones for Khroma Collective (www.instagram.com/khromacollective)
Here’s a couple of tips before you join us at We Out Here, to get the best digging experience:
Do your research: all sellers will have Discogs or online stores, take a look and hit them up if there is anything you want that can be packed.
Don’t be afraid to ask for recommendations: Find something you know and like and ask for recommendations based on that sound, sounds simple but something I wish 16yo me had been told.
Collection & Shipping: all sellers will either hold or ship your records to your door, no stress.
Meet & Greets: check out line up closer to the date, we’ve had some royalty through the doors and this year is shaping up no different.
On top of our daytime fair, by night we clear the tables, half the tent in size and create a cosy space to two step until the small hours. We’ve had some rather special dances in there over the years with 2021’s post lockdown session a real stand out with my bro Gilla, we’ll be back alongside a super solid line up across the weekend.
See you in the field soon…
