by FAITH BENNETT
If you’re a record enthusiast in Jacksonville, Deep Search in Five Points is a sure addition to your top five favorite new things in Duval this year. Taking its name from the submarine in Wes Anderson’s cult hit, The Life Aquatic, the record and used book store appeals to multiple levels of cultivated subculture in our city.
Deep Search’s owner, Rich Rapp, moved to Jacksonville at the beginning of 2012 and was motivated to open the shop because he perceived a market. Rapp says, “I moved down here in January kind of aimlessly, and there wasn’t a record store, and there seemed like there should be. I thought I could fill that void. I just want it to be a part of the community. Record stores can be a strong cultural center where people come in and talk about stuff.” To further encourage such in-store dialogue, Rapp plans to sell coffee from Bold Bean starting in January and to feature performances from local musicians, which he says is more conducive to hanging out and allows for people who don’t collect vinyl to have reason to visit.
As far as content goes, Deep Search differs markedly from other vinyl retailers in Jacksonville, in that it specializes most in current indie rock, not unlike what you may find on various music blogs or NPR’s First Listen. To give a more clear idea of what can be found, Titus Andronicus, Twin Shadow, Perfume Genius, Swans, Grizzly Bear, St. Vincent, Grimes, and Tyler the Creator were all on the shelves. Rapp says, “the newer stuff is more fun for me to stock and sell and see what people are buying. It’s mostly smaller label stuff, and that seems to be the highest selling stuff, too.”
Deep Search is also an excellent source for reissues from Jazz heroes like Etta James and Dizzy Gillespie, and for records from balladeers like Bob Dylan and the ever-relevant Leonard Cohen. The used section is nowhere near bad either, stocking everything from The Clash to the Kinks. Punk, and even cry core, records can be found in the establishment, which has a door-size poster of Morrissey on the wall.
Rapp, who was an English major in college, also has a few shelves of used books for sale, making the store even more exciting. “The books are purely passion,” he notes, “I don’t expect to compete with Chamblins, because that’s the best place in the world. I don’t really even care if I break even on the books.” You can expect a lot of literary classics like Faulkner, Kerouac, Steinbeck and Hemingway, as well as poetry and a sampling of philosophy and contemporary authors like Chuck Palahnuik and Chuck Klosterman. “Most of it is curated to my taste, which people can either like or not, or go to Chamblins.” He also notes that in time he wants to carry newer, smaller press stuff.
Basically, Deep Search is an excellent addition to Riverside, as well the music community in Jacksonville, and is probably going to become a very popular part of Five Points.
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