Cleaning Records The Copydex Way
Someone told me this worked so I thought I’d try it out. I tried it on a bit of a good record, Prince’s ‘Black’ album, but luckily it seemed to work. Anyway, take one crackly record and a pot of Copydex and off you go… Step 1: Open Copydex, remember smell of youth and dead...
109 / Dr Rob / Tokyo-to Kissa #7
Sitting in a cold school playground. Neath a clear Autumn sky. Koyo in reds and browns. Pale yellows. Jealously watching my kids hot-foot it after girls. A game of “Taka Oni”. Up the slide. Round the Jungle Jim. Old tires rolled for hula hoops. I fold my arms and pull my shoulders up around my...
009 / Seigen Ono / World Collision
I’m back in Tokyo for the weekend. DJing on the Friday at Right Right Right. About to enter its 5th year. Goodness knows how we’ve made it this far. Sleep is scarce but done in a small hotel in Hibiya, called R.E.M. The more I stay here the more I love it. The rooms are...
Wally Badarou On The Gregory Isaacs ‘Night Nurse’ Sessions…
We got in touch with Wally Badarou to find out how his contribution to the classic Gregory Isaacs ‘Night Nurse’ album came about. Here’s what he said. What do you remember about the Night Nurse sessions? Everything, because my involvement was brief and very simple: February 22nd 1982, I flew from Paris to Nassau, no...
Back In The Pirate Days / Kiss 94 Newsletter
Here’s another great newsletter from Kiss dating to summer 1988. Love the awards part. Thanks to Strictly Kev on this one.
008 / Haruomi Hosono / Hotel Malabar Upper Floor, Moving Triangle
A hirsute Jonny Nash wrote a short essay on his favourite Tokyo record shops. Handed it to me as he left Japan. Both a blessing and a curse. This was back when I only had two kids and I made it my mission, once a week to head into central Tokyo and find these places....
086 / Dr Rob / Tokyo-to Kissa #6
Image by Francesco Yayoi Tanabatta. The seventh day of the seventh month. Once a year star-crossed lovers meet. Orihime and Hikoboshi. Vega and Altair. Opposite banks of the Milky Way. That heavenly river. Kawa in the sky. Seperated by Tentei for the sake of the Emporer’s new clothes, once a year the Princess and the...
Underground Resistance Special On WDET / Detroit / Mike Banks Interview
Our Giacomo is a mysterious chap. He rarely surfaces but when he does it’s with the best in techno. He’s back, and with some underground goodies… WDET broadcasts out of Wayne State University. Billing itself as ‘Detroit Public Radio’, the station has been around in one form or another since 1949, when it was set...
Test Pressing Summer Round-Up 2010
We asked those around us for a little mid-year update so here we go… Hopefully it will inspire some digging. Favourite Release Of The Year So Far: Parlour #2 Best Film: Nothing inspiring so far this year Best Rediscovery In Your Record Collection: Friedemann – Indian Summer Label: Claremont 56 / Leng Book: Simone &...
007 / Joe Hisaishi / Play On The Sands
I got up to work on a radio show, but “Sonatine” (ソナチネ) is on Channel Neco. It`s one of my favourite Kitano films. There’s no need for language or sub-titles since its practically a silent movie. Simple in its violent beauty. A small group of hoods in hiding in Okinawa attempt to entertain themselves while...
073 / Dr Rob / Toyko-to Kissa #5
Painting by Tsuyoshi Ozawa. When he calls she doesn’t pick up. As she was leaving Monday morning, he asked if there was anything she wanted to talk about. He had been surprised by the look on her face. She had remained silent, quickly picked up her bags and gone out to the taxi. Absent from...
DJ Harvey at Eleven / Macho / I’m A Man
All the smart people said they were going late. I’d been having conversations with people all week about the best time to go to see Harvey at Eleven. The last gig of his current Japanese tour. The queues would be horrendous at 10. It would be rammed until all the “non-music” club kids went home...
Postcards From Jamaica #4 / Clarks In The Dancehall
Andy’s back with more reportage on life in Jamaica, this time its back to ’88 in Jamaica as Wallabies hits the dancefloor. You can’t keep a design classic down: the Clarks revival is not just a British phenomenon. Vybz Kartel has once again shown the popular influence of dancehall artists with a trilogy of songs...
006 / Kotani Kozuya / ティンサグの花 / Blueline
We arrived in Karuizawa to six feet of snow, and a tiny old house with no central heating or air con. Saved by a kerosene heater that mockingly sings ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’ before it shuts down if you have it on longer than three hours. Kerosene’s quick easy flame. Still, it’s so cold I...
005 / Yuichiro Aratake / Beautiful Love / Live At Bunca
Shiki. I’m out here talking to an architect about building a house in the mountains. Or rather I’m talking to my wife, and my wife is then talking to the architect. I’m trusting that record storage is not being sacrificed for Jimmy Choos. To reassure me that they understand, the head architect has brought me...