Vinyl Variety: COHN Discusses His Favourite European Record Shops

To COHN, house music is like an elaborate puzzle with many pieces that can fit together in various ways. Based in London, he is a producer and DJ who has been honing his craft now in the clubs for over a decade. Over the years, he has released a lot of music and played a lot of gigs. He has released music on well-known labels such as Kitsuné, Nervous, Ed Banger, and Bordello A Parigi.

He has received a lot of recent recognition for his latest track, “Focus On Your Breath.” It acts as a statement track for COHN, showcasing the broad range of electronic influences that he has engaged with over the years. There’s a classic European disco flavour to it, as well as a dreamy, hypnotic acid club element to it. Releases like this show the diversity of COHN’s talents. It also shows a willingness on his part to pay homage to the diversity inherent in electronic music.

A record store devotee since his teenage years, COHN joins us today for Vinyl Variety to share with us three of his favourite record stores in Europe.

COHN was kind enough to give us some extra context before diving into his vinyl shop picks…

“My name is Nathan Cohn, or simply COHN, and I’m a DJ producer hailing from London. I produce house and disco that sounds a bit like the ’80s, a bit like the ’90s, and when all goes well, a bit like me.

“I’ve been in and out of London a lot recently so I wanted to talk about one record shop in London that’s important to me and why, and then also shout out two lovely record shops I came across on my travels.”

COHN Vinyl Variety, photo courtesy of COHN

1. Phonica Records (Google Maps)
Address: 51 Poland Street, London, England, W1F 7LZ
Website: http://www.phonicarecords.com
Phone: +44 20 7025 6075

“I’m not going to go on and on describing Phonica to everyone we all know it. I’ll just take this opportunity to talk about what it means to me.

“I started buying records and working in record shops in Soho at the age of 16. I went to work for a record shop called BM Soho (toot toot) for about two years and learned the world of vinyl. Every day on my lunch break, as a long-haired spotty teenager, I would walk around Soho and stare at these record shops where my idols were releasing music, without much money to buy anything.

“In 2024, I had my first vinyl release on the legendary Italo House label Bordello A Parigi (Kafka In The Sheets (still available)) and it was stocked in Phonica. Seeing my own record in that shop, which was like a mecca of music for me as a kid, was a really emotional experience. To me, Phonica is the epicentre of Soho record culture, which has been a part of my life for such a long time, and for that reason, I have to shout it out.”

COHN Vinyl Variety, photo courtesy of COHN

2. Backflip Records (Google Maps)
Address: Via Salasco, 17, 20136, Milan, Italy
Website: http://backflip-records.com
Phone: +39 375 5246674

“I travelled to Milan recently, a city I absolutely love, and hit up a shop I’d never been to before. It was small but full of attitude. It had a great mix of electronic music, jazz, dub, and of course, loads of rare Italian goodies. I went in looking for some new house bits to play, but as often happens to me, I ended up coming out with some deep cuts of Italian jazz.

“The woman who served me, who was amazing, looked at the record and looked up at me, and asked, with all the sass and thick Neopolitan accent, ‘Do you need this record?’ I said I didn’t need it but I wanted it anyway. She looked at the record and looked back at me and nodded. This was an acceptable answer.

“We spent another 10 to 15 minutes discussing music and the scene in Italy which was a ton of fun. Not for the faint of heart, but a great record shop.”

3. Bordello A Parigi (Google Maps)
Address: Oudezijds Kolk 71, 1012 AL Amsterdam, Netherlands
Website: http://bordelloaparigi.com
Email: info@bordelloaparigi.com

“I can’t talk about record shops without talking about my favourite record shop on the planet! Bordello A Parigi is a label, record shop, party line, bar, distribution platform, and an absolute powerhouse in Italo house, electro, and all things cool.

“They released my first-ever vinyl in 2024. I went to Amsterdam to play a set with them. I walked into the shop with about an hour to kill before meeting legendary label head Otto. And I immediately started chatting with their friendly record expert and (as often happens) ended up listening to a one-hour Ted Talk about vinyl and the environmental impact of the music industry, the world of production, and we ended up just having a beer and chatting.

“I go there every time I come to Amsterdam. It’s my musical home in that amazing city and everyone should go there every opportunity they get!”

COHN Vinyl Variety, photo courtesy of COHN