Tokyo, JP | Tokyo record shop Technique has closed indefinitely: Rocked by the pandemic, the beloved store will now focus on online sales. World-renowned Tokyo record shop Technique closed yesterday, March 27th, for an indefinite period. In a post on Instagram, the store said the “expansion” of the Covid-19 pandemic forced the closure. But the post, which has been translated from Japanese, also hinted at a possible return. “If the timing comes again, I would like to manage the store in a new way.” The voice behind the post is likely Technique manager Yoshiharu Sato, who, in a recent interview with Inverted Audio, said the pandemic initially caused the Shibuya shop to relocate to nearby shopping centre PARCO in 2020 because “people couldn’t come into the store, which was a problem.” But the new spot brought its own issues. “I guess it should’ve been obvious from the start,” said Sato, “but in PARCO—while there are a lot of people who visit and enjoy shopping—there aren’t many record buyers.”
Bournemouth, UK | Rocket Records in Bournemouth is Trader of the Week: A newly opened record shop owned by a power pair passionate about music: Rocket Records is our trader of the week. Bournemouth-based Rocket Records is home to an impressive collection of vinyl, posters and CDs, as well as music related DVDs, books and memorabilia. The store was opened last September by Spud and Nikki Dibley and has quickly become a ‘must visit’ for music fans. Nikki said: “We have a great variety here. “We probably have the biggest sections of Punk and Metal genres.” Spud added: “We do just about every genre of music. “We’ve had people from all over come to see us.” The pair have always been passionate about music, with both being regular festival goers and Spud having collected vinyl for 40 years.
Los Angeles, CA | On The Couch With Los Angeles’ Treasure Hunter: Zachary Wright’s Dirt Dog Records is too close to home. For now. …Wright is also the founder of Dirt Dog Records, based out of the living room of his apartment on the fringes of the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. It’s a dusty area of town, mostly laundromats, Asian-centric food markets and a Jehovah’s Witness hall. Wright and I were introduced to each other through a mutual friend, the drummer Jono Berenstein. Berenstein holds the beat for Brooklyn psych-pop outfit Dropper, Dirt Dog’s first official label sign. Their debut album Don’t Talk To Me dropped back in February 2022. Wright graciously invited me over to his domain to talk about the future of Dirt Dog, selling records out of his home, and, of course, to sample his collection.
Barnstaple, UK | 30-year-old record store is Barnstaple’s best kept secret: Wacky, niche and local – we delve inside Discovery Music: You could come to Barnstaple for years without ever stumbling across Discovery Music. Tucked away on a narrow side street in the shadow of the Imperial Hotel, stepping inside feels like entering a secret club. The shop is a vinyl emporium and music lover’s paradise. Records are stacked wall to wall, corner to corner, thousands upon thousands of them, in every genre imaginable. Overhead the ceiling is plastered in memorabilia and magazine pages, while underfoot the face of Phil Collins peeks out from a hole in the carpet. If it sounds bizarre, that’s because it is. Despite its relative obscurity, Discovery Music has been around for 30 years. It’s owned by Matthew Poulton – a man as delightfully eccentric as the shop he runs. Dressed in a top hat, bullet belt and pin-striped jacket, he looks like a cross between a rock star and ringmaster. He’s known in Devon as “Matt the Hat” thanks to his trademark headgear, which he’s never without.
Oshawa, CA | Oshawa CD & Record Show makes triumphant return after two-year absence: Vinyl record lovers packed the conference room at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Oshawa Sunday for the 35th Oshawa Record & CD Show and the first in two years. More than 60 vendors from as far away as Montreal made the trip for the event, which had the reputation as one of the biggest and best record shows in Ontario until COVID shut everything down two years ago. “It had also become one of the best events in Oshawa,” said Sonia Fudge, who has been organizing the twice-yearly shows for 18 years. Fudge took over the show in 2004 after 16 years of operation in neighbouring Whitby as the Whitby Record Show. Fudge said she was happy to be back doing what she loves and thrilled so many music fans came out. “After two years of not having shows the turnout was fantastic,” she said.
Glasgow, UK | Vinyl tap: the pleasures of looking through vintage records at the fair: IN a recent edition of Record Collector magazine, a lifelong vinyl enthusiast spoke of the library he had painstakingly built up over half a century. It had begun in 1966, when Paul Talbut’s uncle bought him a small turntable and a copy of The Monkees’ hit single, I’m A Believer. He quickly became obsessed with The Beatles, an obsession that continues to flourish to this day. Paul’s collection, preserved on wall-to-wall bookshelves in his study in Sydney, Australia (a long way from South Shields, on South Tyneside, where he was born) extends to 5,000 singles, 200 LPs and more than 1000 CDs. Factor in what he calls “the valuable stuff” and the entire collection is probably worth more than £40,000. Ever keen to track down rarities, he “religiously” tracks some 20 or 30 UK sellers on eBay almost every day. And then he made a point that every vinyl collector, irrespective of age, can identify with. Asked about the visual side of collecting, Talbut responded: “There is a thrill to holding and owning an album that is difficult to explain to a Spotify user.”
Buena Park, CA | As stars cash in on vinyl, an OC pressing plant struggles to meet demand: In 2021, vinyl record sales increased by 61%, topping $1 billion worldwide, the most since 1986. Vinyl record plants have struggled to keep up with increased demand from record labels and independent artists. However, Erika Records in Buena Park, one of two pressing plants here in Southern California, remains hopeful. CEO Liz Dunster built her pressing plant from scratch in the 1980s and is thrilled to be part of vinyl’s ongoing resurgence. In an interview for “LA Times Today,” Dunster and other Erika Records employees shared what makes their plant unique. “Erika Records is a vinyl manufacturing plant based in Buena Park, California. We do everything from picture records, splatter records, two color haze, and your standard black record. If Eric records can’t do it, then no one else can,” said Ma Nerriza dela Cerna, an account manager at Erika Records. “…“I love vinyl so much that if you cut my veins, PVC will flow out.”
AU | Australians Are Now Spending More On Vinyl Than CDs: ‘It is an important sector that deserves serious recognition.’ Vinyl sales in Australia have finally surpassed that of CDs, following a steady increase in recent years. With CD sales dropping in conjunction with the rise of vinyl figures, the two switched places last year, with vinyl accounting for the biggest segment in physical sales in Australia at $29.7 million, compared to $24.9 million for CD albums, according to figures released today by ARIA. In 2020, CD album sales were at $30.5 million, slightly higher than vinyl at $29.3 million. Going back to 2015, the difference between the two was huge: CDs at $77.7 million and vinyl at $18.8 million. “The vinyl market is an increasingly important player as our market evolves, affording music fans across generations the opportunity to add classics to their collection, but also for fans of new music to have a greater sense of connection and ownership toward recordings they love,” ARIA Chief Executive Officer Annabelle Herd said.
Salina, KS | Salina one of the leaders in vinyl record manufacturing, producing Jimi Hendrix and jazz: After starting buying, selling and trading vinyl records in the 1980s, Chad Kassem built a business that employs more than 100 people in Salina. A business that increased his love of music. Kassem’s company, Acoustic Sounds, has grown beyond his passion of buying and selling records to one that records, produces, reissues, masters and also presses what is hoped by Kassem and the company to be the best vinyl in the business. “All along, we’ve been a stickler for pressing the finest-sounding, highest-quality vinyl that could be produced,” said David Clouston, communications associate for Acoustic Sounds. That desire and hope for this kind of perfection comes directly from Kassem’s passion for music. “I like getting the rights to reissue one of my favorite albums and have it come out sounding better than it’s ever been,” Kassem said. “I know that every record that’s ever been made could sound better than it does.”
