After Matt Muente moved from Saukville to Milwaukee four years ago, he started going to rave parties and underground clubs every weekend. Inspired by a Chicago club inside a warehouse near O'Hare Airport, he used the same name for his record shop.
Industry Records, 906 E. Center St., is a small but well-stocked shop in the heart of Riverwest. It opened quietly two years ago after Muente dropped out of school and bought a few thousand records from a Colorado record store that was going out of business.
"I needed time to figure out what I wanted to do," says Muente.
Earlier this year, he returned to school to study architecture, and closed the shop for two months to get a handle on being a student again. Recently, he and an employee reopened Industry and the two keep it going six days a week.
Muente plans to expand the business in the near future and offer more turntables, mixers, needles and headphones. He currently has a small selection of equipment.
Industry's main focus is on vinyl. The shop houses roughly 5,500 records, new and used, and specializes in electronic music -- club, trance, house, techno, etc. Last year, Muente bought out Revolutions, an independent East Side record shop that was one of the primary sources for rare, electronic music.
These days, Industry has little competition, other than Niche -- a clothing and music store on Park Place -- and Trounce Records, 422 N. 15th St., in the Menomonee Valley.
Lotus Land records opened six years ago across the street from Industry, but concentrates primarily on old school hip-hop and funk. Muente says there is plenty of room on Center Street for both record shops.
"Riverwest is the perfect neighborhood for a music business," he says. "The rent is cheap."
Industry also sells tickets to raves and "outdoor parties." Muente, who used to DJ at parties and plans to get into it again soon, says the rave scene is thriving in Milwaukee.
"It's getting better. I'd still like to see it get a lot bigger, but it's improved a lot over the years (because of) the influence coming from Chicago," he says.
Most of the advertising for rave parties is still done over the Internet -- through MySpace and message boards on sites like midwestravers.com, illuminatusproductions.com and outlawproductions.com.
Muente says anywhere from 500 to 1,500 people show up for rave parties, held in Milwaukee, Madison, Appleton, Racine and private farms in northern counties.
"We try to maintain the best possible relationship with local police. We sometimes have misunderstandings, but we almost never get shut down," he says. "We don't want to overrun small towns with too many kids."
Muente says he and the other promoters encourage carpooling and sometimes rent busses to cut back on traffic and drunk driving.
Until the outdoor party season rolls around, Muente is working on a new Web site and Industry's expansion project. "I'll be getting my new shipment in for spring any day now, so stop by," he says.
Industry Records is open from Monday to Saturday from 1 to 8 p.m. For more information, call (414) 264-6666.
Industry Records' Web site is myspace.com/industryrecords.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
