Musicwhore.org

While I was visiting family in Hawai`i earlier this month, my mom asked me to help her find a repair shop to fix a violin my grandfather used to play.

I knew him for all of two weeks. He moved to Hawai`i with my grandmother when I was four years old. One night, he had a heart attack, and before I knew it, he was gone. I was too young to develop much of an emotional attachment. All I remember was the would tickle me all the time, and I didn’t like that.

After he died, his violin became a point of contention among his children — my mom and various uncles and aunts. I won’t get into the details of the various spats that have occurred with this violin, but one such recent spat landed the violin into my mom’s hands.

And it was in bad shape.

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I crossed a pretty big threshold a few days ago: I logged 100,000 listens on Last.fm.

I’ve been a member since Feb. 28, 2006, so it’s taken me nearly six years to reach this point. My Top 10 artists account for roughly 13 percent of those 100,000 listens, and the list isn’t terribly surprising:

1. Tokyo Jihen
2. Cocco
3. Duran Duran
4. Shiina Ringo
5. Eponymous 4
6. Kate Bush
7. Emmylou Harris
8. John Adams
9. Philip Glass
10. Steve Reich

One thing to know about my listening habits is the fact I still consume entire albums. As a result, my statistics indicate I listen to a few number of artists but with great frequency.

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When I lived in Austin, Texas, I had only one way to sate my addiction to Japanese pop and indie rock — order it through the Internet.

If I wanted to head to a store and pick up an Utada Hikaru album or a Cocco DVD, I’d have to visit a city with a large enough Asian population to justify the existence of a retail location. That usually meant I would have to wait till I visited Hawai`i to head to Book-Off in Shirokiya.

But you can bet your arse that if I went somewhere with either a Kinokuniya or a Book-Off, those places would be my first destinations.

Now I live in a city with a Kinokuniya, so I no longer wait nearly a month for Internet orders from Hong Kong or Tokyo to arrive. (Special orders still take about a week to fulfill.)

All the traveling I’ve been doing in the last three months got me thinking of the nooks and crannies I search to get my J-Pop fix. I’ve already compared Seattle record shops and two of three Amoeba Records locations. It’s time to fix my gaze on the stores where Japanese popular music can be found in the USA.

Kinokuniya

Kinokuniya could be considered the Barnes and Noble of Japanese bookstores. It’s the largest chain in Japan and certainly the first place I think of when I want to find Japanese books and music. I’ve so far visited four locations in the US: New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and, of course, Seattle.

I visited the New York City location in 2005, but I’ve since learned the store moved near Bryant Park in 2007. Still, that visit set the bar for the others to follow. I found a Shiina Ringo band score at that store, the only one to stock such items.

Every trip to the Bay Area means a visit to the Kinokuniya in Japan Center. If I were into manga (I’m not), the first floor of the San Francisco location would be a wet dream. Instead, I spend most of my time on the second floor, browsing the shelves on the off-chance I might find a title on which I’ve had my eye.

By comparison, the Los Angeles and Seattle stores are more like satellite locations. I patronize the Seattle store regularly, but the shopping experience isn’t really great. The music inventory doesn’t move much, and it’s haphazardly organized. More care is put into the books. I think the Los Angeles store is slightly smaller than the Seattle store, which mean its CD selection was even more limited.

Book-Off

If Kinokuniya is Barnes and Noble, then Book-Off is Half-Priced Books. Book-Off specializes in used stock, and I’ve so far only visited two locations in the US: Honolulu and  New York City.

There isn’t much of a comparison between the two locales: New York City is a complete store, whereas the Honolulu location is a corner in Shirokiya. (I’m not considering the Pearlridge location because I saw no Japanese CD inventory when I visited.)

The nature of used stock, however, means gems can be found at unexpected times. The Honolulu store has yielded some rare finds for me, including some WINO albums and Parasitic People by SUPER JUNKY MONKEY. Yes, Holidailies readers, those are real band names.

On my most recent visit, I walked away with nothing. But I could find something else on my next trip.

I would, however, love to visit the New York store again. I’m pretty sure I spent an hour just browsing when I visited in 2005.

Oh, and remember that trip to Vancouver with the outdated guide book? It mentioned a Book-Off location, but it had shut down long before I arrived.

Other

A side effect of having a Japanese bookstore in town is finding used Japanese CDs in general interest music shops.

Here in Seattle, used J-Pop CDs can be found at Everyday Music and Silver Platters, but only the latter has its selection neatly — and surprisingly accurately — organized. In San Francisco, Amoeba Records has a very tiny corner devoted to J-Pop, and it too is organized to the point where the staff leaves recommendations in the placards.

I would like to mention one more place in Honolulu: Hakubundo. Unfortunately, the news is bad. The store recently relocated from across Ala Moana Center to Ward Warehouse. The smaller space has pretty much squeezed out its music selection, which was small but well stocked.

My friend Andy flew up to Seattle back in September for a visit, and we took a day trip to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. It was my first time there, although Andy visited many years back.

Pretty much every trip I’ve taken has some sort of music shopping mission attached to it, and this one would be no different. I figured if I’m going to Canada, I would try to find a CDs by some Canadian artists: one by Royal Wood, another by the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony conducted by Edwin Outwater.

How hard would it be? As it turned out, quite difficult.

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Back in October 2012, I traveled to Berkeley, Calif., to see the touring production of Philip Glass’ Einstein on the Beach. I’ve been to San Francisco twice before, but this trip would be the first to Berkeley.

When it comes to record stores with international reputations, Amoeba Records is on the short list, along side Waterloo Records in Austin.

On my first trip to San Francisco in January 2010, I got all the tourist stuff out of the way so that my subsequent trips would pretty much revolve around visits to Amoeba, and the trip to Berkeley would be no different.

In fact, I would end up visiting two locations: the one on Haight St. and the original location on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley.

I didn’t really know much about Berkeley before I arrived, save for the fact there’s a college campus in town. I also didn’t delve too deeply into the history of Amoeba Records itself. I just knew it was a must-see destination for music junkies.

So I was afforded the opportunity to compare the two Amoebas — one I’ve visited twice before, the other for the first time.

In terms of square footage, the Telegraph Ave. store is at a slight disadvantage than the Haight St. store. The San Francisco store is fairly cavernous, whereas the Berkeley store optimizes as much space as it can.

As a result, the classical section in Berkeley isn’t as expansive, and modern composers aren’t given specialized real estate as they are in the San Francisco store.

There’s also one thing that edges out the San Francisco store over the Berkeley store — a small but dedicated section to J-pop.

That’s not to say the Berkeley store is the boonies. The stock is still incredibly thorough, and surprises lurk when you dig deep.

I do have to give the Berkeley store a point for location — it’s not the Haight. I’ve gone on record many times saying the feral children of San Francisco (read: homeless people) strike more fear in me than the ones in New York City. Those crazy motherfuckers will cut you, and they’re teeming all over the neighborhood of the San Francisco Amoeba.

On Telegraph Ave., you have to contend with hippie street vendors and slow-paced sorority girls reeking of white privilege.

Still, I’m going to have to cast my vote for the San Francisco store if I were forced by threat of garage rock to pick one.

All that’s left to do is visit the location in a city I like less than San Francisco — Los Angeles.

(This post originally appeared in my relocation blog, SEA Change.)

When I moved from Austin to Seattle, I was concerned about whether the music stores in Seattle could compare to Waterloo Records. What I’ve since discovered is collectively, the best Seattle record shops equal, and in some ways surpass, Waterloo.

Seattle has a lot of music shops, but the four that get mentioned the most are Easy Street Records, Sonic Boom Records, Everyday Music and Silver Platters.

I have my own preferences, but each have their individual strengths. I mention classical music in these reviews because a store that sweats the details of its classical section usually takes care good care of the rest of the store.

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One of my favorite discoveries of the past year has been New Amsterdam Records, a label specializing in music described as “alt-classical.”

Hurricane Sandy did a number of the label’s newly-minted headquarters in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn. Despite all the precautions the staff took, Sandy destroyed 80 percent of the label’s stock as well as a furniture, musical equipment and personal items.

The label has started a fundraising drive to help rebuild. New Amsterdam pays out 80 percent of its sales to composers and artists, so they encourage people to send donations for hurricane relief directly. I’ll be donating when pay day rolls around next week.

Just to give you an idea of why I think it’s important to support New Amsterdam, I’m embedding a few my favorite releases from the label.

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The last time I bought a SXSW wristband was 2008, when I could really afford it which isn’t to say I can afford one this year either.

But when news broke that Duran Duran would be performing at the festival, I decided to cough up the cash. I know already my chances of getting into that show with a lowly wristband are slim, and if the band stops by Texas in support of All You Need Is Now, I might travel some distance to see them. (They are actually performing in Houston on April 6, but I’ll be out of town in San Francisco for a work conference.)

Duran Duran came to Austin in support of Red Carpet Massacre a few years back, but I didn’t go. Partly because I thought the album sucked, but mostly because they played at the Austin Music Hall, which sucks even more.

I have to admit — this year was the first I bought a wristband for a reason other than Japan Nite.

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On Monday, I posted on the Facebook page news of Utada Hikaru’s hiatus. I don’t follow any fan forums, but I can imagine lots of hand wringing and rending of clothing at the news.

Utada was interviewed by Time magazine back in 2001 or so, and she mentioned she would like to retire by 28, which would be next year. The blog post on the U3 Music site states this break is not a retirement, but it sure seems like a dress rehearsal for it.

I’d certainly miss Utada if she didn’t return from her break, and I would still love to see her localize her albums into English. But if this break reached Kate Bush or Sade proportions — it’s been five years since Bush released Aerial, by the way — it wouldn’t be so bad.

She’d be leaving at a creative high, and a break would insure that level would be maintained. I’m probably in the minority that thinks this news is good.

Waterloo Records usually schedules its springtime storewide sale on the first weekend of April, but this time it was pushed to the second weekend. I wonder if Record Store Day the following weekend has anything to do with it? After having a somewhat disastrous Monday, I can’t wait for Thursday to get here so I may exercise some retail therapy.

Unfortunately, most of the albums I was anticipating for March have been rescheduled after the sale. I have to wait till May for those Duran Duran reissues? Well, I still have a shopping list.

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