Tokyo, JP | A new record shop has opened in Tokyo: Run by producer and DJ Chee Shimizu. Chee Shimizu has opened a new record shop called Organic Music in Tokyo. Though this is the first brick and mortar location, Shimizu also runs an online shop of the same name, as well as a label called Japanismn. According to Shimizu, the shop will stock records, vintage clothing and artwork. Organic Music is located at 4-32-17 Shimoigusa, Suginamiku, Tokyo.
Urbana, IL | Record Swap turns tables, finding new life at Lincoln Square in Urbana: Record Swap, which was on the verge of closing in April, will live on in a new space at Urbana’s Lincoln Square. Store owner Bob Diener said he’s signed a new lease to take over the smaller of the two spaces occupied by Connections resale shop, which is closing June 30. Diener said he hopes to be open at his new location by Aug. 1, and maybe even before that. In business for 40 years, Record Swap has been at its current spot at 114 E. University Ave., C for 12 years. Diener had been facing a potential closing at that location because an upcoming rent increase in July would have been unaffordable for him. After news was out that he might be closing if he didn’t find a new space, Diener said, he had several customers asking him to remain open, plus offers from property owners to show him other spaces.
Dundee, SCT | Indie band to play Dundee’s Fat Sam’s thanks to city record store: Two Door Cinema Club will play at Fat Sam’s on June 25 to coincide with the release of their fourth album False Alarm. The one-off “album show” has been organised by Broughty Ferry-based Assai Records, who have drawn the likes of Lewis Capaldi, Foals and Tom Walker to the city in recent months. Assai Records posted: “We are really excited to announce Two Door Cinema Club are playing Fat Sam’s Dundee for Assai Records in support of their new album False Alarm out June 21 2019.” The store added that tickets are expected to sell-out “quick.” The show is one of only two Scottish dates on Two Door Cinema Club’s June 2019 tour. The Northern Irish band formed in 2007 and have released three albums: Tourist History, Beacon and Gameshow.
New York, NY | In This New York City Beer Bar, Hip Hop and Hops Get Equal Billing: When considering hit-making duos in the world of wine and spirits, the usual suspects immediately come to mind: wine and cheese, cigars and Cognac; Champagne and caviar. But what about beer and hip hop? The two may seem like an unlikely pair, but they’re what makes BierWax NYC in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights neighborhood unique. Owner Chris Maestro grew up in Queens, New York during the early days of hip hop, when B-boys, graffiti, and the sounds of greats like Big Daddy Kane, RUN D.M.C. and Public Enemy began to infiltrate the airwaves. But it was jazz that ultimately kick-started Maestro’s love affair with vinyl during his college days at Binghamton University. “I purchased records by Horace Silver and Wes Montgomery, which I still have and know exactly where they are in the stacks at BierWax,” he recalls. “Eventually, I saved up money for a very cheap Radioshack record player that I connected to an old stereo and thus began the obsession with record collecting.”
Los Angeles, CA | Learning to Listen, in a Los Angeles Cafe Built for Vinyl: Mr. Cowie pays attention to the quality of pressings, and allows in the bar’s collection only reissues transferred from original analog-tape masters, as opposed to vinyl records made from digital masters, which are essentially CDs on vinyl. This means that the inherent continuity in the analog process (as opposed to the chopped, discrete sound-wave in digital) travels all the way: from the original recording technology through the storage medium through the playback gear, and then even through the purposeful, undistracted way the record was put on by the bartender that Monday morning, whose name was Dane. (I asked, as one would ask a park ranger on top of a significant mountain.) Before putting the record on, he cleaned it with a Hunt EDA record brush, then let it run for a full side, as per the practice at Lion, from beginning to end. That act could be described as analog, too — as is any conscious move toward continuity.
Dublin, IE | Ireland-Based Dublin Vinyl Launches Direct-To-Fan Service For Labels And Artists: Ireland-based record pressing plant Dublin Vinyl has announced the launch of a direct-to-fan service for independent labels & artists. The plant, which now offers vinyl manufacturing right through to fulfillment, has begun accepting orders directly from artist or label’s e-commerce sites including Bandcamp, Shopify, Woocommerce and Big Cartel, and shipping them directly to the fan. Commenting on the news, Dublin Vinyl Managing Director, Hugh Scully said: “We’re always looking for new ways to help our clients and make the vinyl process as easy and cost-effective as possible. Getting your album pressed is one thing, but the distribution and fulfillment of orders is a huge amount of work. Our new service enables artists and labels to focus on the music and marketing, while we look after everything else.”
Dave Haslam Confirms New Book About Record Collecting: A Life in Thirty-Five Boxes: How I Survived Selling My Record Collection lands this summer… Author and DJ Dave Haslam has detailed plans for a new book on record collecting. The author published his memoir Sonic Youth Slept On My Floor last year, an acclaimed account of coming of age in Manchester, and the underground community has was surrounded by. Pursuing new projects, Dave Haslam intends to release a series of mini-books he terms ‘Art Decades’. The first book tackles record collecting, and follows the belief that a record collection acts as a sort of alternative biography. A Life in Thirty-Five Boxes: How I Survived Selling My Record Collection lands on June 13th, and it traces Dave Haslam’s life and career, before ending with the DJ saying fare well to his collection – he sold 35 boxes of vinyl to Seth Troxler last year.
