An unassuming store that I had a flick through and was about to leave when… I saw a little sign pointing downstairs. From first impression it seemed off limits as a bar style door had it closed. After leaving my bag with the nice shop owner I took the drop to an underground oasis! So […]

Northside specialises in a lovingly curated selection of what an ethnomusicologist might call “the music of the African diaspora”. We call it a crate-digging paradise. It’s located in the heart of Fitzroy, but you won’t find hipster jams and nu-disco here. While Northside’s focus is very much on soul, Latin, reggae, jazz, hip hop, Afrobeat, […]

Mixes from Smoking Jacket are available for download here. Five hours of power from Roman Bruce, Longboss and myself. Ecstasy disco, heavy downtempo jams, Italo oddities, raw analogue House, cosmic nuggets, psychedelic rock and late night sleaze.

Part of the pleasure of record hunting in Tokyo is the sheer difficulty of finding the shops. For the navigationally-challenged (like me)  the Japanese street-addressing system can take some getting used to. But it makes reaching your goal even more rewarding when you finally do. After almost an hour trawling Dogenzaka and finding only yakitori […]

Visited City Country City – a beautiful secondhand record shop in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo in December 2009. Lovingly curated selection of jazz, rock, soul, psych, disco and folk. If that’s not enough, it’s named after a WAR song and you can buy beer and food to sustain you as you browse. The very friendly proprietor invited […]