For some, the pandemic meant binge-watching shows or learning to bake bread. For Eric Sanders, better known in crate-digging circles as DJ E-Roc, it meant doubling down on vinyl, curation, and community. From his home on Main Street in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Sanders launched Exiled on Main Street, a Mixcloud series that has since racked up more than 400,000 minutes of listening time, drawing ears from around the world.
“I really believe there is an artistry to it,” he says. “It’s gratifying to share these relatively rare tracks and have people listen from all over.”
The project began almost a decade ago with recordings of his Universal Sound radio show in Portland, Oregon. After moving east, Sanders leaned on Mixcloud as a way to share the music that excited him. By 2020, livestreaming vinyl sets on Twitch and Mixcloud Live for collectives like Metro Sessions and Exciting Drink Radio gave the project a new momentum. The Stones-inspired name came naturally: “I actually live on Main Street and at the start of the pandemic, I was indeed ‘exiled’ there,” he laughs.
Though E-Roc’s roots stretch back to South Florida, where he attended FIU in the mid-’90s, his collection and tastes have evolved considerably. What began as a stack of indie rock CDs and glam records has ballooned into a library of nearly 10,000 LPs and thousands of 45s. These days, his obsessions run toward jazz, soul, disco, and the endless chase of “cheap heat” records. “Chico Hamilton’s Impulse records are exceptional, and cost far less than they should,” Sanders notes, name-checking guitarist Gábor Szabó and Larry Coryell as overlooked gems in the mix.
That collector’s instinct dovetails neatly with his life as an academic. “Making mixes is similar to writing a research article,” he explains, bridging the gap between his duties as an academician with a Ph.D. in speech and hearing sciences. “Both are planned out, tell a story, and require time spent refining and editing.” While his live sets around Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley with the Nite Liters LLC crew lean more on instinct and crowd reaction, Exiled on Main Street is meticulously curated. Every track, across nearly 190 mixes, is logged in a Google Doc to avoid repetition. Some sets are thematic, like tributes to producer Charles Stepney or vocal-driven jazz, while others mimic the spontaneity of a late-night set peppered with nostalgia.
Sanders still thrives on the hunt. The closure of his local shop, Double Decker Records in Allentown, left a void, but trips to Philadelphia, New York, or Princeton fill the gap. “Sometimes I’ll play a record and just be overwhelmed thinking about the journey of this 60-year-old piece of vinyl and how it ended up on my turntable,” he says.
For listeners, that reverence translates into mixes that feel less like playlists and more like sonic essays; stories told through grooves, tempo, and transitions. In the end, Exiled on Main Street is not just about rediscovering forgotten cuts. It’s about building bridges: between past and present, between the solitary act of collecting and the shared joy of listening.
