Record-loving homies! Brian here. I want to give an update on this weekend’s Top 5 Records event but with a busy summer family schedule, I’m still catching up on past activities, including our last “Tokyo Record Style Day” which was our 4th edition of visiting and celebrating cool record stores with out homies. For this edition, we visited Coconuts Disk in Kichijoji run by the gentle soul Yajima san, and a cast of laid-back music experts, the kind that keeps great tunes on the house system and knows all the degrees of separation from one artist to the next. We […]
Tokyo Record Style
Kazuyoshi Yajima
Record shops come in every shape, size, specialty, scale, sort, stock selection, spaciousness, sophistication, sound system, staff service standard, scene, style, and spirit. The “Seventeen S’s”, as I call them. Naw, I just made that up. But it’s kinda true. Sometimes you just choose a record shop based on one of these, or maybe just the one that’s closest, sometimes you choose one cuz you’re looking for something specific. Sometimes, any records store will do, and other times, you’re in the mood for a particular flavor. Record stores are a little like pizza, they’re always good, but some are better […]
Tokyo Record Style
Oscar
Hello, Oscar from New Jersey and Spain, visiting his buds in Tokyo, and who got slightly off the beaten path and made his way to Coconuts in Tokyo’s juuuuust-far-enough-away-neighborhood-to-be-isolated-from-Tokyo’s-bustle-but-juuuuust-barely-close-enough-not-to-be-too-inconvenient-to-call-home, bohemian and family-friendly (yeah, we have Inokashira Park …our own zoo) chilled-out oldschool hipster enclave that, those-who-know, know, forever lovely Kichijoji. Oscar was stoked to have scored Casiopea’s Eye’s of the Mind, which, I know you’re not supposed to do, that is, judge a record by its cover, but if I do just that, judge away, this record has GOT to be interesting. Looks like a GEM and in great nick! Well […]
Tokyo Record Style
Yuto
I met 22-year-old Yuto outside Coconuts as I was rolling up on the motorcycle and he was heading out, holding in his hand a recent score. I killed the engine and grabbed his attention before he could dash away. As I began to explain to him that I was a photographer and wanted to make his portrait, rather than initial suspicion, he was nothing but good vibes and warm smiles. A can badge on his jean jacket caught my eye – “Have you hugged a mutant today?” Then I noticed one untied Chuck Taylor, then a flannel layer, a sorta […]