Talk about a bubbly character, 16-year-old Cynthia had an effervescence that the world needs more of. I couldn’t tell if her Andy Warhol shirt, her blue hair, her chucks, and her recent record score, were all complimenting her contagious cheery smiley, or if they were competing for its charm. It didn’t help that she was in cahoots with equally hip her homegirl mom (who was probably also younger than me), a Jesery girl no doubt (I can say that, cuz I’ve known a few), but by way of Guangzhou, and with whom Cynthia communicates in Chinese. Here they both were […]
Tokyo Record Style
Brandon
It happens again. I’ve photographed an album neither on Discogs nor on streaming, the first EP (released just 10 days ago) “人類滅亡ワンダーランド” or “Human Destruction Wonderland”, by 3-piece indie-rockers “Brandy Senki”, and goddamn, they’re good. They have some fun videos on YouTube you can check out, one with 3M views, (and one that features a Fuji Instax Wide Camera! COOOL!”) I owe this musical discovery to Brandon, photographed here, who was part of the trio of friends I met under Miyashita Park last week. Brandon is a student at the University of Oregon in Eugene which is a sorta long […]
Tokyo Record Style
Yamazaki
A Tokyo Record Style First! Traversing central Tokyo with just a bit more of Sunday morning to kill, and with a Disk Union that I rarely visit right on my route, how could I not at least pop by and see if anybody was walking around the adjacent plaza with recently purchased records? So I took the right Yushima Seido, the black 17th century Confucian Temple, crossed Kanda River, spotted the green copper roof of the Holy Resurrection Cathedral, and there coming down the stairs of the 2nd floor Disk Union was Yamazaki san carrying a 12×12” vinyl record store […]
Tokyo Record Style
Tetsuya Hoki
A late Sunday morning with kids off tied up in a school activity afforded me a visit to RECOfan, a record shop in Akihabara with a rather huge inventory. Despite digging through nearly everything there, nothing quite jumped out of the crates at me, so I left empty-handed, even without a ¥100 7inch. With a ride clear across Tokyo to get back home, a “Records shops around me” Google search lead me to Tohto Records & Books in Yushima where I discovered a quaint shop run by the friendly Tetsuya san, who as it turns out, prior to opening Tohto, […]
Tokyo Record Style
Miyu
This is Miyu. She was one of the very first people born in the new millennium, and she just turned 23 in the year 2023, and for her birthday, her sister gave her a record player. Here, on the sad day of the passing of one of the most influential music innovators of our lifetime, Yukihiro Takahashi of legendary YMO and Sadistic Mika band, Miyu buys her 10th record, YMO’s seminal Soul State Survior. I can’t help but think about how YMO music was one of the first things to pique a deeper interest in me about potentially staying longer […]
Tokyo Record Style
Koyabashi
I spotted Kobayashi san walking down the street carrying a Disk Union bag. When I asked him if he’d pose for Tokyo Record Style, I realized I was interrupting a live stream he was either hosting or participating in on his phone. Not wishing to derail his stream I told him not to worry about a photo but then he agreed so long as he could continue livestreaming while I photographed him, to which I of course was happy to oblige. Kobayashi san produced a “not for sale” promo copy of Hard Reversal by Amore Hirosuke & Love Machine which […]
Tokyo Record Style
Koji
I spotted Koji (and his GF, Yoshimi who battles the Pink Robots) on the streets of Shimokita. He had just scored this 1980 New Wave classic of Channel Good by Sheena & the Rokkets from Disc Union. I didn’t know the album but it looked really intriguing and just quite good. After photographing Koji I went home and immediately listened to this record, for the first time (follow link in bio), and as I had expected, it absolutely slays (with a killer version of Creedence’s Suzie Q). While listening to it, I learned about the Mentai Rock scene, the name […]