Salsa – Kevin Sent

How family history, Latin music, and the thrill of crate digging inspired his growing online record store.

Good morning!

Today, I’m sharing a recent conversation I had with one of the coolest people in the vinyl collecting world. We’ll be back to business as usual next week.

One of my favorite vinyl pickups lately is a holiday record that Spanish airline Iberia put out in 1962. If you were to draw a Venn diagram of my life, it would land near dead center. I’ve always been the kid who looked up at planes as they passed overhead, wondering where they were going, and somehow I managed to turn a love of the golden age of aviation into a career. My feelings about records should be pretty well known by now. The cover is even blue, which happens to be my favorite color.

“One of my favorite things about digging for vinyl is the moment you pick up a record and realize it was made somewhere you’ve never been, by someone you’d never otherwise know, and somehow it still speaks directly to you.”

This particular record feels like it has a library full of backstories. Why did an airline issue a record? Was it meant for customers? Employees? How did it make its way to the U.S.? (By air, I’m sure—but who brought it?) How many hands—and holidays—has it passed through along the way?

I can daydream about that all day, but I do know the last leg of its journey: it came from Los Angeles, courtesy of my friend Kadrian Alvarenga.

Look, I know I like to kvetch about the internet. Writing about how it’s atomized us comes easily for me. But for all its faults, it still creates incredible connections with people I’d never encounter otherwise. Kadrian and I first crossed paths online—either here or on Threads—and I was lucky enough to have him contribute a guest post about KISS, where he talked about separating art from artist, and the line each of us draws in those situations.

He was also the writer behind First Pressings, a newsletter chronicling the adventures of life as a vinyl addict. The newsletter wrapped up last December. But, as you’ll see, it was for a very good reason.

Like many of us, Kadrian found solace in vinyl during the pandemic. Already a music fan, he suddenly had both time on his hands and a batch of records he’d inherited from his father. That was all the spark needed to ignite a full-blown passion for collecting.

Soon, he was attending pop-up sales around Los Angeles, first as a buyer and then eventually on the other side of the booth as a seller. At the same time, he was building a following through pop-up sales on Instagram.

Now he’s leveled up again: Latin Gold Records is a full-fledged online store.

Latin Gold Records is an online record shop—and Los Angeles-based pop-up—that specializes in Latin music: salsa, boogaloo, Latin jazz, and cumbia. But Kadrian’s taste isn’t limited to any one lane.

“I carry everything that catches my ear—from funk to punk, rock to jazz, world to weird, and all the notes in between.”

I’ve personally picked up several records from the shop already, and I’m sure there are more to come. It’s been all upside: I’ve discovered cumbia and other genres that were real blind spots for me, along with fun finds like the Iberia record I mentioned at the top.

In our wide-ranging conversation, we talk about the origin story of Latin Gold Records, the surprises he’s encountered along the way, and how inheriting records helped both of us understand our fathers not just as “Dad,” but as people.

One quick thing I want to mention up front: I’m a big believer in businesses giving back—whether that’s the “artistic tithing” we do here or direct support for important causes. Businesses can—and should—be forces for good.

Kadrian has chosen to support CHIRLA, an organization that’s important to him and does vital work advocating for immigrant communities. Currently, 10% of all Latin Gold Records sales go directly to the group.

Getting some killer records is cool enough. Knowing some of that money goes to a good cause? That’s music to my ears.

My original plan was to use this as a good time to “pivot to video” and see how it went. And I gotta say, from our side of the screen, it went great. But we had so much fun bouncing between business and real life that, without context, it might feel a little disorienting (note to self: next time, don’t pick ‘single screen.’). It was like we’d known each other for years and simply picked up where we left off.

I had a list of questions and a rough outline to keep things on track.

That lasted about 30 seconds.

What you’ll hear instead is the raw audio of two music nerds finally meeting, talking about records, and celebrating the thrill of finding the right record at exactly the right time.

Enjoy!

KA—