In searching for some writing inspiration I figured why not take a deep dive into my expansive collection of 336 records. Still not certain how we got here as I infamously shat upon vinyl collecting in my youth. I blame hanging out and eventually living with my friend Amelia during my late 20’s. Either way my collection has grown exponentially since COVID and moving in with my fiancé. Take a look at some of my favorite diamonds from the rough of my crate.
Back in the heat of COVID in 2020 I spent a lot of time online with my closest group of friends. Honestly, I look back at those times fondly since I got to reconnect with them. We were all scattered around California at the time. My buddy Jake found Pops Tuna on Reddit and shared his Bandcamp with us on Discord. I was instantly hooked on “Say What You Think” and eventually Lame Fiction, which I still contend was one of the best albums of 2020. A little over a year ago I connected with Joe from Pops Tuna and he was nice enough to send me this postcard flexi-disc. Definitely one of the most items in my collection and a personal favorite.
The tale of how I actually found Clever Girl has been lost to time; however, I definitely found them during my college days which were my peak years of excavating obscenely talent bands from obscurity. No Drum and Bass in the Jazz Room was just one of many discoveries during those years. The band broke-up soon after uploading to Bandcamp in 2010 but unbenounced to them their album organically grow a cult following for the next five years. In 2018 they pressed the record for the first time and sold every single copy for sale in hours. I was lucky enough to grab one of 150 yellow copies. It’s been over 13 years since it’s release and I still regularly put on this masterpiece while reading a book or scuttling around the house.
I visited Japan for the first during Golden Week in 2017. My buddy Andrew was living and teaching English in Nagoya at the time. Part of my incredible adventures took me to the city of Nara, where the local deer roam free (and bite your ass cheek if you leave biscuits in your back pocket). Just down the street from our hostel Deer Guesthouse lies a hole in the wall record shop called Django. Like many sleepy foreign towns the hours of operations seemed a little discretionary and the seasoned gentlemen running the shop took an oblivious approach to customers.
I got his attention by asking if he had anything by The Pillows. He seemed a little shocked I knew who they were and unfortunately didn’t have any Pillows, but he offered Ranmadou’s self-titled record from 1972. This happened to be a 2001 repress but I came to find out there aren’t a lot of these out there. Super interesting rock and heavy blues from 1970’s Japan. I can imagine The Pillows possibly hearing this record, or others like it, growing up in Hokkaido. It’s a very warm record and clearly reminiscent of American blues and rock of the late 60’s. Truly a time warp, but in a positively thought provoking way. Kind of difficult to track down this album online for digital consumption but I highly recommend it if you’re into digging deep into old defunct blogspot sites.
Somehow I got obsessed with yet another band after their break-up. Headroom hailed from Manchester and made just a handful of songs, which you can find on Bandcamp. They pressed two 7″ singles from those songs. I managed to acquire Carry Me Away easily but not their self-titled 7″ until I somehow got in touch with someone at Dog Knight Productions. Whoever was running things for them at the time was on tour in his own band but was kind enough to send me the 7″ after he returned home. This self-titled single only popped up recently on Discogs after last being sold in 2018. Hard to come by, especially since it made for an excellent beginning for an emotive pop punk band. Reminds me a bit of Citizen’s Youth record.
Long story short, my high school journalism and social justice teacher fronted Tamora before becoming a teacher. Knowing him during high school years makes song titles like “Put A Quarter In Your Ass Cause You Played Yourself” totally make sense. He was always polite but underneath it all had an enjoyable sick sense of humor. I never got mp3’s of his music while in high school, which in retrospect was a mistake. I saw there was a copy available on Discog recently so I had to get it. Man did these guys throw the fuck down! This 7″ will definite put lead in your pencil before unleashing your best mosh moves in the pit. I happened to get number 295 out of 300. There aren’t many of these out there. Pretty unique record in my collection and a one of a kind teacher in my life.
Disaesthetic 