“Music is a celebration of life.” I had the great privilege to tap into dance party culture in the late 90s and early 00s via Unity Gain (if you know, you know.) It was through IVY, Psychonaut, and Liondub that I got hip to techno, house, dub and dancehall, and there was a chapter where concerts and live gigs gave way to raves and house parties, a trend I brought with me to Tokyo back when we’d dance till noon at Yellow, Womb, Ageha, Air, and Unit. Though I didn’t go miles deep into all the names and players on […]
Tokyo Record Style
Asada
Asada and I were rushing past each other in opposite directions somewhere in the middle of Shibuya Station’s massive redevelopment project when I spotted him with an Ultra Shibuya Record Store Bag. I “Oh Oh Oh’d” him and proceeded to give him the pitch and asked hat he thought about sharing a couple of minutes with me and talking about the records that he scored. As I recall his girlfriend wasn’t all too pleased about the proposition, and I wondered as I took his photo, if he was more concerned about disappointing me or her. Asada didn’t “give” me much […]
Tokyo Record Style
Elmi and Sasha
Writing can be so easy. And it can be so hard. Sometimes writing requires absolutely nothing but a clear moment, a clear sheet of paper, a simple breath. Sometimes it requires more than anything and everything in the world, taking every fiber in your body, ignoring every excuse you know to just respond with one single word to that clear sheet of paper. It’s not exactly easy. And yet it is… I’ll leave it at that and you can gather what you will knowing that these photos of Sasha and Elmi were made nearly a year ago, in the LAST […]
Tokyo Record Style
Kokoe (and Kouki)
Meet Kokoe (and Kouki)! I actually met them last year at Replace Records in Nishiogikubo last year and it’s only now I’m getting around to sharing our encounter! Kokoe was a victim of being in the wrong place at the right time, or the right place at the wrong time, you decide. Days before I had spotted, at Replace, a rare and coveted, first Japanese pressing of Rocket to Russia by the Ramones, with a lovely Obi that really made the cover pop, posted the image I took of it maybe on my Instagram, soon after which Tony from the […]
Tokyo Record Style
Tony – Celebrated Summer Records
Tony is the real deal. Last summer I got a message from a stranger saying he had discovered my YouTube channel, and that he owned a record shop in Baltimore, Maryland and that he’s been making frequent record shopping trip to Japan over the last 20 or so years. He said his name was Tony and his record shop was called “Celebrated Summer Records” …(thinks to self, “Where I have I heard that name before, “Celebrated Summer”? Isn’t that a Hüske Dü tune?) Soon enough I was pursuing Tony’s online photos and getting a few glimpses of his Record Shop, […]
Tokyo Record Style
Mio
Dead middle of August, possibly the hottest weekend of the year. By 10am the heat was oppressive, the humidity was inescapable, it was like being in an oven. Despite being just a stone’s throw from Tokyo Bay, not so much as a light breeze would help take the edge off. And there we were, a family of four, walking back and forth, a kilometer or two, between stadium and convention center at Chiba’s Makuhari Messe, to see the bands of the Summer Sonic Music Festival, most of whom I admittedly did not know. It was to be an adventure for […]
Tokyo Record Style
Tom Tom
I had the great fortune of working in a diner in the 90s and early 00s where people sat at the counter for hours, drinking coffee refills and doing the crosswords. Not unlike bartending, it was a kind of hard knocks education in human nature, and not just want made people tick, but what made YOU tick. Could you maintain an ongoing conversation with a regular or navigate a conversation with a (read: “every”) stranger. I never remember a time in life lacking “people” skill but my few years at the diner honed my gift gab. And it proved handy […]
Tokyo Record Style
Thijs and Victoria
Niekerk, Netherlands, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Miami FLA, Boulder and Denver, Colorado, Tokyo, Japan! These two song birds have a love story that goes around the world. YouTube homie (soundofminder), Thijs and Lovely Victoria are owed a special kind of Tokyo Record Style award for two of the most patiently waiting subjects the project has known. So much time had passed from the time of our initial encounter at Shibuya’s infamous Tower Records and the FIRST time that followed up with them (in hopes they they could help me make sense of my chicken-scratch notes), however if you compare it to […]
Tokyo Record Style
Michael and Jessika
Michael and Jessika Ok, here we go again… Sincere apologies to all that it’s taken me a full half year and change to get back on this horse. It got moved to the back burner while I fully throttled the Tokyo Record Style YouTube channel (which has actually become NEARLY as equally rewarding a type of storytelling – please follow), but photos and prose are in my blood, and now it’s time to bring this back to the front burner. My only hope is that the next sabbatical isn’t nearly as long. But hey, these things have their own way, […]
