For the Record Only

As soon as we enter Nishant Mittal’s vinyl shop, he puts a record on the turntable and asks, “Isn’t it fascinating that music comes out of a piece of plastic when you put a needle on it?”

Even if you’ve never actually handled vinyl, the word “vinyl” instantly conjures up feelings of nostalgia and familiarity. And the 28-year-old’s freshly launched Shahpur Jat shop has an abundance of that. “Digging In India” is written on a bright yellow sign inside the business that is embellished with truck art. “Digging” is the term used to describe the process of discovering ancient documents, thus Mittal named her shop after that exact deed.

Beginning

Approximately nine years ago, Mittal’s buddy, who lives in India and is an American musician and neuroscientist named Jeff Valla exposed him to these albums. “I was given a stack of albums by Jeff. Every genre was mixed together. I had only ever seen them in movies before then. “He also taught me how to find records,” the man adds. “It felt like love at first sight the minute I held them.” However, as his interest in records increased, he quickly discovered that there isn’t much information online about them in India. Thus, Mittal created the “Digging In India” Instagram account, where he posted fascinating details about his collection.

“I was still figuring out how to get these old records for the first few years.” However, once I began writing about them online, I got in contact with a lot of vendors and collectors who had similar interests,” he claims.

Mittal Nishant
But is it simple to locate records in India? In brief, says Mittal. “There is hardly a record store in a city with a population of over three crore,” he claims. “In India, you have to travel far to find records—either to the homes of collectors or to their Instagram accounts, where they share their collections.”

Gems made of vinyl

Although Mittal had always been a fan of rock & roll and enjoyed listening to artists and bands like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Alice In Chains, and Radiohead, he discovered a counterculture in music via his path of record preservation. “I only knew Bollywood and Indian classical music, but I discovered there was a counter-musical culture through my interest in and research into vinyl,” he explains.

One of the albums that initially exposed him to this kind of music was Louis Banks’ 1983 combination of jazz and classical music, City Life.

Regarding his unique collection, Mittal brings up Rupa Biswas’s dance Jazz (1982), a 1980s Bengali dance song that went viral lately and was reissued on vinyl by an Illinois-based record label in 2019. Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat (1982), a record by Mumbai-based musician and synthesiser player Charanjit Singh, who performed the ragas as electronic music using drum machines and synthesizers, is another collectible.

Regarding Delhi, Mittal is proud of three albums: Evolution (2023) by Ravana, The Shape Of Things To Come (2021) by drummer, composer, and percussionist Tarun Balani, and Bismillah (2019) by the jazz ensemble Peter Cat Recording Co., located in Delhi.

At the moment, Mittal own over 1,500 cassettes and over 3,500 vinyl recordings.
Who are the purchasers?

At the moment, Mittal own over 1,500 cassettes and over 3,500 vinyl recordings. Bollywood, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Jazz, Hindustani Classical, Western Rock, and regional Indian music are among the genres. Who is purchasing, though?

All right, folks. People of all ages, from schoolboys to grandfathers, have bought albums from me and asked questions about them. Additionally, I get a great deal of Indian diaspora, mostly from the US and the UK, adds Mittal. Some people contact Mittal when they need someone to take care of their excessive number of documents that are laying around in their basement.

“After reviewing the data, I assign a grade. If they are of sufficient quality, I dust them off and retain them. If not, I send them to individuals that use recordings as interior décor.

Apart from collecting, Mittal is one of Delhi’s rare vinyl DJs. “Playing music is the same act. Similar to how you would normally play music from a pen drive and flip between songs, you would have to wait in line for the next track while listening to vinyl. It’s important that you understand music, know when to play the second track, and sync it with the first. He states, “You can’t play heavy metal right after a hip-hop song.” On April 26, you can see him in action at the Daily Objects flagship shop in Gurugram.