In our new series Face Your Music, we portray record collectors with their favourite music—and cover art. This time: Arjan de Mik, online marketeer and founder of Recordstack.

What do you like about the music of the Outsiders?

I'm a huge fan of the Nederbeat genre from the 60s. I feel like that's a highly undervalued period of Dutch music history. So many fantastic bands are from that era! Think of Shocking Blue, Q65, and the Golden Earrings. The music of Wally Tax and the Outsiders is unique. It's pretty punk, especially for the year 1968(!). Their music isn't very known here in the Netherlands, though. Maybe because of their international sound; in the UK they're still seen as some of the founders of the beat genre.

Can you tell us something about the artwork of C.Q.?

The sleeve art immediately grabbed my attention. A case of less is more. The design reminds me of Mondriaan. The cover design is minimalistic and clean, which doesn't fit the music at all: the music is chaotic and pretty wild. They probably made that juxtaposition on purpose to create a surprise effect. The album C.Q. didn't sell very well in the 60s, by the way. So I guess that concept didn't work out that well. [laughs] That makes this record extra special.

Do you remember where you bought this record? At a very random place and moment: while I was on holiday in Mallorca, Spain! In Palma de Mallorca I visited all the record stores in town, and that's how I ended up at a small store with, for some reason, a lot of Dutch records. Next to this record by the Outsiders, there were records like Revival by Q65 and more recent releases by bands like DeWolff. The store owner didn't speak English at all, but I still tried to connect with him through the music by the Outsiders. What I did understand, was that he's a big fan of the Nederbeat genre. So their international appeal was also present there. On Mallorca, of all places!