Tokyo Record Style

THANK YOU for the VCLT from Record-loving homie ‪@__GaryHarris‬ , direct from the home of Record Store Day! WICKED!!!!

Skip the Carousel

1 2

1 week ago | [YT] | 10

Tokyo Record Style

Heaven just go a little more fun, a little my ornery, a little more sexy, and a lot more musical. Miss you already Bobby. Thank you for all the inspiration, vibes, and laughs. You're legend.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 15

Tokyo Record Style

Contrary to what you might think, Tokyo on the whole, uses a fairly muted color palette for its cityscape, lots of grey, beige, and neutral tones. It’s a little as if all the colors are behaving, keeping their heads down, minding not to be too flashy or to stand out in any way, keeping the harmony of the nation. But then you have, ascending above the skyline, in a vibrant chili pepper red, iconic and stately Tokyo Tower, seeming to be showing off for all in a very un-Japanese way, and yet it’s not only permitted, but most certainly celebrated and maybe only so for offsetting the neutrality of much of the rest of the city, as if there was too many earthy tones in the end. Maybe there is some metaphor for life in there. Anyway, I digress. Forgive me, it’s been a while since I last wrote.

So I was taking the long way home one night and cruising past the iconic tower when I spotted, miles aware record shop, a… wait for it… a TOWER RECORDS BAG… being toted by lovely Ayaka with her friend highschool Soyoka, and containing a copy of Tommy Heavenly6, an alter-ego pseudonym for, Japanese singer, songwriter, producer, actress, and model, Tomoko Kawase, lead singer of the alternative rock band The Brilliant Green. Ayaka and Soyoka who kindly agreed to pose for a photo, were a bit disappointed that I didn't know about Tommy Heavenly6 and insisted she was worth checking out (I did and enjoyed what I found - a bit of a throwback to my early days in Japan - my wife might have been into Tommy Heavenly6 back in the day, a sorta Gwen Stefani / Avril Lavigne attitude.

Thank you Ayaka and Soyoka for your willingness to chat me up at Tokyo Tower and for showing off some of your fashion digs (homemade macrame handbag, chic wellies, linen parachutes, chunky puffy sandals, and some Osaka Expo and Johnny’s idol bling), putting some style in Tokyo Record Style!

More TRS on the way!

#Tokyo #record #style #tokyorecordstyle #records #vinyl #vinylrecord #music #Japan #collector #recordcollection #recordcollector #recordshop #recordstore #VinylCommunity #Rock #PopRock #Pop #Punk

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 21

Tokyo Record Style

Meet friendly Jin, traveling to Tokyo on his third trip to Japan, but this time with his parents. I ran into him while VoxPopping on the streets of Shinjuku. It was a strange little corner where I had set up, a first time location and I was striking out trying to meet people, when I finally spotted Jin and called him over and he was gracious enough to humor me.

I asked Jim why he kept returning to Japan for holiday and he replied to me with a french accent “for the sophistication and harmony.” Nice answer. He didn’t have any records with him but I could see from his Tower Record bag that he has scored some CDs and when I asked to check them out, he produced a original soundtrack for the popular game “Persona4” which he told me he loved for it’s “highschool vibes”, I’m guessing me meant it too him back to his school days. He’s neither the first, nor will he be the last, Tokyo Record Style subject that I have or will photograph with video game soundtracks (in fact, a few weeks later I would run around Tokyo with the COMPOSER of the music of the Halo game series), and I was curious how one could get into a game sound track without ever having played the game. Jin replied “You have to play the game.”

I’ll take your word for it Jin. Hope you enjoy that soundtrack (and the SZA disk you scored too), and hope you might find yourself back in Tokyo again before too long. Until then, take care! More Tokyo Record Style on the way!

#Tokyo #record #style #tokyorecordstyle #records #vinyl #vinylrecord #music #Japan #collector #recordcollection #recordcollector #recordshop #recordstore #VinylCommunity #HipHop #Funk #Soul #Pop #lectronic #Jazz #Rock #Pop #Classical, #StageandScreen #Lounge #Jpop #ModernClassical #Soundtrack #Techno #Downtempo #VideoGameMusic

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3 4

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 11

Tokyo Record Style

New Year, New Avatar!

Happy 2026 from Tokyo!

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 29

Tokyo Record Style

Had a BLAST spinning records last night at FUZZ!

Thanks to Gami at Fuzz, Kinen Jiro, Katsu Yastu, Shimizu, bemsha, Gen, Tabtio, Kami, and eveybody who came out.

Here was my short setlist:
Sledgehammer 12" Single - Peter Gabriel, Chasima Records (1986)
Bongo Man - Jimmy Cliff, Give Thanks, Warner Bros (1978)
Harder They Come - Jerry and Merl, Live at Keystone, Fantasy (1973)
Undermind - Phish, Undermind, Jemp (2004)
The Rift - Ween, Shinola Vol. 1 (Rhino 2005)
Meet Me in the Morning - Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks, Columbia, (1974)
Les Fluers - Minnie Ripperton, The Minnie Ripperton Anthology, Stateside (2001)
The Great Rewilding - Adrian Sherwood, The Collapse of Everything, On U Sound (2025)
Ride On - Little Axe, The House that Wolf Built, Okeh (1994)
Christmas at the Zoo - The Flaming Lips, Clouds Taste Metallic, Warner Bros (1995)
Fairytale Of New York - The Pogues, If I Should Fall from Grace With God, Pogue Mahone (1988)

More DJ events up and coming! Stay tuned!

1 month ago | [YT] | 27

Tokyo Record Style

Hey Record-Loving Friends!

For those that might not know (how you could not know is beyond me!), there is an entire universe of music maniacs here on YouTube, particularly the record-collecting (read: hoarding) variety. It's a vast circus of characters of which I have inadvertently become one. And at one of the centers, (and there are several centers) is Rachel of Rachel's Ghost TV Show, an enigmatic larger-than-life persona, transgender, native, married-with-children, hard-core Beatles-head, Trump-lover, Christian retiree ("Canada's oldest teenager", in her own words) who hosts semi daily spirited live-streams with panels of opinionated guests, whose conversations are as frequently enlightening as they are offensively abhorrent. Viewers often suffer train wreck syndrome or have a kinda morbid curiosity. Not for the feint of heart, perhaps for those who appreciate some good 'ol gruesome rodeo bloopers.

It's also got some feels, quite a lot actually, and a documentarian named Greg Elmer deemed it worthy of a short documentary, about Rachel, her lovely Sue, the panelists (of which I am one), and two back-to-back episodes of her TV show, on Election Day, and the day after. It's called "The TV Show" and is available for rental on Greg's website linked here.

As we often say about the show, the documentary is a "Barn Burner" and a pretty darn fun little ride. My part is (thankfully) very, very small but I want to encourage anybody with a modicum of interest to watch it. It was made with a lot of passion, heart, grit, and love and deserves to get out there ...so please go watch and share, and tune into Rachel's show sometime or join her Patreon (links in comment) and let me know what you think of the doc! Congrats to all involved :-)

-B

sojudocs.vhx.tv/

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 5

Tokyo Record Style

Me, Jeff Franca of Thievery Corporation, Adrian Sherwood, Doug Wimbish of Living Colour and Tackhead. Amazing and unforgettable show, truly an experience: “The Collapse of Everything”. Got to meet these guys as well as Dennis Bovell and Mad Professor, and to share some Blue Identity with them all. Bless them, Adrian and Doug signed my copy of Little Axe’s “The Wolf that House Built” which Doug played on with Skip McDonald as Tackhead and Adrian produced and which I’ve had since I was about 22 and played too many times to remember. Thanks Jeff, Miro, Emi, An, and Iyah for aligning some literal stars for me. Wicked!

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3

2 months ago | [YT] | 24

Tokyo Record Style

On Tokyo Record Style:
tokyo.record.style/malin-and-bastian-2/

On Instagram: www.instagram.com/tokyorecordstyle/p/DQ1H2F5kpHI/

Malin and Bastian – I met this lovely couple on the streets of Shimokitazawa a little over a year ago, visiting Tokyo for their first time from Cologne, Germany, (and Dusseldorf, and I think Stockholm as well, maybe Australia too – I’m not even sure I caught it all the first or second time) but I met them actually on their honeymoon, though it seems these two have been lovebirds for a very, very long time, their love going back a way, to all these aforementioned places. And they were indeed lovebirds, cute as can be, “two peas in a pod”, or “maybe more like “two beats in a mod” … talk about 60’s style! To the nth degree! And they just don’t look the part, they live it. They are a fun duo to follow on Instagram, trendsetting with their fellow 60s appreciators, throwing the coolest and heppest-looking parties, spinning deep-cut records, playing gigs in no doubt fuzzed out bands and just living it up like legends.

At there first encounter I had with them a year ago, they were out shopping for records and I chatted them up and took some GREAT photos of them for TRS, and Malin later told me they some of their most memorable moments of their Japan trip, which had me smiling big.

So we kept in touch and much to my delight, a year or two later they decided to return to Japan and reached out for a rendezvous! Naturally we had to meet at a record store, Be-In Records, a legendary shop in Koenji filled almost completely with treasures from the Swinging 60s. In fact, they have just a teeny tiny little section called “After the 80s” otherwise it’s all pre 1979! Little spendy, but very cool. Malin and Bastian also used the chance to rendezvous with their friend Jerome (stay turned for the next post), and we all managed to find a record! After our hang at Be-In, we headed out to Koenji’s appropriately named “Pal Shopping Street” for a few photos.

I love making connections like these, that instantly feel like old friends! Thank you to Bastian and Malin for reaching back out to me again and making it feel that way! I’m already looking forward to our next dig! Until then, keep cutting the rugs!

More Tokyo Records Style on the Way!

#Tokyo #record #style #tokyorecordstyle #records #vinyl #vinylrecord #music #Japan #collector #recordcollection #recordcollector #recordshop #recordstore #VinylCommunity #Rock #Mod #Beat #Koenji

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 13

Tokyo Record Style

Sending out some stickers today! Send me a DM on Instagram ‪@tokyorecordstyle‬ if you want one :-)

2 months ago | [YT] | 10