Vinyl From the Vault: One Way and Chaka Khan

Another great find from Disk Union in Kichijoji:

I Feel For You by Chaka Khan features the eponymous title track originally penned by Prince. Who's Foolin' Who by One Way features the funk classic, "Cutie Pie", which also currently happens to be my favorite phrase to refer to girls I have my eye on.

Maybe I will spin these two tracks at my next party on May 20th.

Vinyl From the Vault: DJing THIS FRIDAY

I'm back up on the wheels of steel this Friday at the Ruby Room.

SUGAR WALLS (DJ's & Beer Pong)
FRI, FEB 18th - 8pm~late
RUBY ROOM
¥1500 (1drink + game)
www.rubyroomtokyo.com

Yes, you guessed it, Apollonia Kotero (circa 1984), is our spokeswoman. My set will be at 8PM, so come by after work if you have time!

And adding to the tension, yesterday at Disk Union in Kichijoji, I stumbled across hidden treasure.

Prince by Prince, easily my all-time favorite record. I first found this album at a record shop in Harvard Square when I was 19. I vividly remember holding it in my hand in wondering if I wanted to shell out the $7 or not. I bought the album, took it home, set it on my turntable, and my life has never been the same.

This is Your Bloody Valentine, the first album released by My Bloody Valentine. It's nothing compared to the group's followup releases Isn't Anything (my person favorite) and their masterpiece Loveless, but nevertheless this album is an important part of rock history. The singles compilation in the purple jacket is much better musically speaking. Some of the songs have a touch of the washy shoegaze guitars that characterize the group's signature sound that they had yet to develop.

And finally, the self-titled album Skull Snaps, a legendary rare funk record whose drum breaks have been sampled by every rapper since the dawn of Hip-hop.

I'm looking forward to spinning a few of these babies in a couple of days. See you there!

Vinyl From the Vault: DJing THIS WEEKEND

I'm DJing at Ruby Room this Saturday night from 11PM until 12:30AM! Definitely come by and funk around with us!

Here are some new records I picked up at Recofan in Ikebukuro for the occasion. Pandemonium by The Time completes my collection of all the group's albums. Does anybody remember Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell? Perhaps this may help. You don't have to listen very carefully to hear Michael Jackson's voice in the background.

 And of course a little Stevie can't hurt...

Vinyl from the Vault: What Time is It?

Jackpot.

I kid you not, I've been on the prowl for this record since April. What Time is It?, The Time's second album, was released in 1982. After scouring through bin after bin in shop after shop, two copies of this record turned up at Recofan in Shibuya.

DJing in Shindaita

I did a half-hour DJ set at Fever in Shindaita this past evening. Here I am cueing up Jesse Johnson.

Earlier today, I was at Enoshima Beach with some friends enjoying the summer vibes. I've never seen so much eye-candy concentrated in one place. It was as if every beautiful girl in Shibuya packed up, donned a bikini, and went out to get some sun.

The Werewolf Wheels of Steel: Part II

Wednesday night's midnight DJ set was awesome. In fact, there weren't enough acts to fill the night, so the staff asked me to spin 2 more sets. I was nearly out of good tunes by the end of it!

Prince, The Time, Morris Day, Sheila E, Jesse Johnson, Zapp&Roger... buttocks' were bouncing the night away.

I've taken so much shit over the years for my obsession with Prince. The Haters just don't know how cool his stuff is. When I cue up Prince tracks, you wouldn't believe how hard people get down. I have to say that it is a pretty awesome feeling seeing people grooving to your favorite records. It's ironic when the uncool is just so cool. I think I feel the same about Japanese music sometimes too...

Anyway, here's me holding a delcious piece of vinyl while negotiating with the bartender in New York Jewish style.

[photo courtesy of Mimi's facebook, sorry if you're reading this :p]

The Werewolf Wheels of Steel

My DJ Set!
This WEDNESDAY@11:30PM
The Ruby Room, Shibuya

Get ready for a monstrous Tokyo Werewolf DJ set, coming up this Wednesday night at the Ruby Room. I'll be spinning super groovy funk and soul from the late 70's and early 80's.

This time, I'm definitely prepared. A few days ago, I stopped by Disc Jam in Shibuya's Udagawa-cho to pick up a pair of pro phonograph needles.

And speaking of vinyl pornography from my last couple of posts, here are my latest finds in my ongoing vinyl quest. Pornography might actually be the right characterization. Here are three sexy records that definitely cross the border into the realm of obscenity.

Do you remember this band, the Apollonia 6? Their song, "Sex Shooter", was featured in Prince's Purple Rain. A perfect mix of lacy undergarments and 80's synth funk.

And speaking of Prince...

Perhaps you remember Sheena Easton's "Sugar Walls"? The song was penned by Alexander Nevermind, one of Prince's many monikers. Tipper Gore ranked this song #2 on her "Filthy Fifteen", a list of songs that were guaranteed to corrupt the youth of America. Now in my hands, I'll be using this record to corrupt the youth of Japan.

...Blood races to your private spots, that lets me know there's a fire
You can't fight passion when passion is hot
Temperatures rise inside my sugar walls...


Eeewww.

Finally, in the background of both photos you can see Prince's Black Album, the notorious unreleased collection of outtakes from his Sign O' the Times era. I found all three in the same 10 minute span at Shibuya's motherload of vinyl, Recofan. 3 very rare, and very sexy records.

Vinyl from the Vault: Mazarati

I returned to Beat Collectors in Shinjuku the other day and picked up yet another unique find, the 12" single, "Stroke" by 80's Minneapolis band Mazarati. Of the dozens of record shops I've scoured all over Tokyo, I have never, I repeat, NEVER have seen a single one of this band's records. A truly rare find.

While it's clear to me that this record isn't quite on par with Morris Day's "Color of Success," "Stroke" is certainly a groovy tune that has its place in history along with the rest of Prince's cohorts. Check out the song here, but don't be surprised if it's a little too oldskool for your ears.

Once again, I have to give my unofficial endorsement for Beat Collectors, one of the coolest boutique vinyl shops I've stumbled across in Tokyo.  Exit Shinjuku station on the west side and walk north to the area across the tracks from the Prince Hotel. Across the street from Mos Burger is a building with a jazz record shop called Hal's Records. Find Beat Collectors on the third floor of the same building down the hall from Hal's.

If you perhaps know of another awesome Tokyo record shop tucked away in some alleyway or high-rise apartment complex, please leave a comment!! 

Vinyl Pornography

Like the guitar stores in Ochanomizu, the record shops in Shibuya are equally as salivating. This afternoon, I took a little field trip to the music block. A bib would have been helpful. I had to keep reminding myself that A) I have no money, and B) I have no record player (at least at the moment), or else I would have cleaned out the shops.

The best one I found was Recofan, a glutinous mess of incredible music covering a whole floor of an office building. The store was so overloaded with CD's and vinyl that it was difficult to browse through. Some sections were filled with boxes of cheaply priced albums organized solely by genre, as if the management didn't have time to properly catalogue their monstrous inventory. Hipply dressed DJ looking types could be seen everywhere flipping through hundreds of boxes searching for that one gem.

My litmus test for any record shop is letter "P" under Soul. If I'm impressed by the Prince and Parliament selections, then I know I've come to the right place. Sure enough, they had something like 4 copies each of Purple Rain, 1999, Parade, Around the World in a Day, and many many more, all reasonably priced.

This photo captures just one row of many in the store.

Another shop I saw sold DJ mixers and turntables. This sign was hanging outside.

It says, "Fuck PC. Real DJ's play vinyl."

Damn straight.