Goddammit I miss going to Tower Records.
There are lots of reasons. Walking to and from Tower Records after work was my designated chill out alone time whenI could listen to music and podcasts. So that was good. But I just miss being in Tower Records. I miss being surrounded by music, and by people who love music as much as me. The kind of people who will go to a physical location and buy a physical copy of a CD or LP, those are my people.
Also, Tower Records was my primary method of discovering new music. The listening station there are a godsend, and have led me to finding out about countless artists. Without the Tower Records listening stations I would have never discovered De De Mouse. I would have never found out about Supercrush. I would have never given Perfume a chance. Drahla. Bully. The Comet Is Coming. Mitski. TEEN. They’re all bands I found out about solely because I gave them a spin at a Tower Records listening station. I know some of y’all rely on YouTube or Spotify to serve you new music, but I’ve had terrible luck trusting algorithms to steer me in the right way for fresh tunes. I need that human touch, that nudge of a curated collection, to steer me in the right direction.
And if you pick something up when you’re there, Tower Records will occasionally give you bonus swag for it. Usually this is something simple like a button, sticker, or poster. But sometimes you get lucky and you get a full-on bonus CD with exclusive tracks. I got so much rare shit this way. It’s awesome.
Things are starting to look up in Tokyo. The number of new infections each day seems to be hovering around 10 to 20. Those numbers are a bit low mostly because testing here is rather limited, but other metrics that judge the rate of infection, deaths, hospital capacity, they’re decreasing too. Some indie stores are starting to open up again. Most are beyond walking distance for me right now (I still want to avoid the trains), so I haven’t made the trek. But it’s a good sign. I suspect that Tower Records will be the next to re-open, probably near the end of the month.
I will buy so many CDs. You have no clue. It’s going to be a problem.
You guys, I’m so stoked. I hope this doesn’t all go to shit again. I can’t take it much longer.
Hare Toki Doki
Brinq DJ Mix [future funk edit]
Speaking of bands that I discovered via Tower Records, this Hare Toki Doki (ãƒãƒ¬ãƒˆã‚ド゠in katakana), a rather strange Japanese techno-pop act. They’re going for a HARD retro aesthetic, drawing equally upon online vaporwave future funk and their obvious adoration for 80s and 90s J-pop idols. Everything about them screams retro.
This display at Tower Records repeatedly touts the band’s retro sound, while a video for the band plays on a VHS tape that’s hooked up to an old-school CRT monitor. They’re not just wearing their influences on their sleeves, they’ve made a whole damn outfit out of them.
If you like Macross 82-99’s A Million Miles Away then you’ll definitely eat this shit up, trust me on that. If dance music so aggressively upbeat that it makes euro-dance sound like doom metal by comparison isn’t your thing, then you will hate this group with an unending fire of a thousand suns. From what I’ve seen there’s no middle ground with them.
When I bought their CD at Tower Records, I got a freebie bonus CD single, which contains this mix. It’s a great 17 minute overview of their entire album, and probably will let you know if this is your kind of thing or not. It touches upon all the album’s bangers in a non-stop HI-NRG way. This is usually the first track on my workout mix, and I have to be careful because it’s so upbeat it could kill me if I try to keep up to its beat.
If you like this and want to hear more from the band, check out their Bandcamp page. They only have one album, a remix compilation, and a few singles. you can get it all for about $20. Fair price.
Man, back in the late 80s when I was in high school it was such a treat to go to Tower Records in Boston. Once in awhile, I’d skip school with friends and we’d take a bus into Boston and spend the day schlepping around, going to Tower was always so cool because you never knew what you might find flipping through stuff.
$37 and change CAD. Fuck it. Purchased. Thanks.