Hello, Jeffery Beats from Beijing!
Nice to meet you and welcome back to Japan. I met up with Jeffery at Ella Records who was being toured around with pal, Ryoki from the last post. They are both DJs in the hip-hop, chill-hop, city-pop-loving vein of what I am more broadly calling “Wamono” henceforth. It wasn’t Jeffery’s first visit to Japan but if memory serves me, it was his first time hanging with Ryoki though have been connected for some time online through music.
Visiting from China, I naturally was curious about the record store and music-loving scene in Beijing. Jeffery told me that it was small but well-connected, and up-and-coming. I asked if he happened to know “Michael Dada” (who happens to be a big trailblazer in the Chinese club scene, specifically in Beijing but also across China and who I met and photographed for Tokyo Record Style a while back). “YES!” Jeffery lit right up and pulled out a photo of Michael on his phone. I pulled up my TRS photo of him as well and we laughed over what a small world it is.
I also asked Jeffery if he knew Sacco and Uptown Records in Koenji, who introduced me to Michael Dada and who also has a well-known and long-established shop, “In Shanghai!” Jeffery eclaimed! “Yes, that’s right! And he has a shop here too with a well-connected and vibrant underground Chinese community. You should check out Uptown!” Wow! I didn’t expect him to know both those characters but he did! Three giant cities, tiny needles in haystacks, all connected through music. Remarkable.
Jeffery Beats also gave me his Shining Soul Mix CD, full of Japanese and Chinese Groove, Soul, Funk, City Pop, and more, the opening tracks containing a contemporary jazzy, vibraphoned-out, mellow AF, Chinese(?) female-vocalist cover version of James’s Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lovely Night” (non-shazamable). Very cool indeed and I really enjoyed listening to it as I wrote this. Nice meeting you Jeffery! Thanks for mix! Happy and safe travels until next time!
More Tokyo Record Style on the way!
Shining Soul Mix
Format: Mixed CD
Country: China
Released: 2023
Genre: JapaneseGroove, Soul, Funk, CityPop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYNifqDRh4Y
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