Category Archives: Music

Holy crap this place has a lot of records…and comics, and musical instruments, and dvd’s, and all sorts of fun things to geek out on!  I spent about three hours at Jelly’s literally going through every single record that they had, with the exception of their 45 section because there were just way too many and I didn’t see anything really solid in the first couple boxes that I went through.  Plus, I had such good luck at Hungy Ear Records that I just didn’t feel like searching for 45’s anymore.  I started with their regular bins, which I suppose might’ve been a mistake as those were the more expensive records. They had a really great Latin section, with lots of records from the Fania, Combo, and Discos Fuentes labels. While I’m not extremely familiar with all of these labels, I was able to pick and choose the ones that look pretty good, based on what I did know.  Jelly’s has a listening station, too!  That made a huge difference.  I was able to take stacks records and kind of sift through what really was worth buying and what was something I can live without, based on sound and price.  After spending about an hour and a half going through the main bins I finally discovered the 45’s section, which looked like this.

It was just too much for me to really go through after already spending that much time in the other sections.  I ended up going through the lower bins for the next hour and a half, which were all $2, and I found a few gems including albums from Raydio, Players Association, Quincy Jones, and much more. Somehow, someway I only ended up spending about $75 at the spot, closing out a great day of diggin!  I was hoping to pick up a last minute gig where I could play my new finds, but unfortunately that did not happen.  I had to wait a couple of days to get home and throw them on the tables in the lab.  I can’t wait to share them with you at one of my events!

I heard from a couple different people that if I was going to be in Honolulu I should definitely check out Hungry Ear Records, which is located in Kailua.  It is a relatively small shop, but very well organized with high quality, good condition records.  This calls for a little bit of a higher price but nothing drastic.  I started going through their jazz section and found quite a few really good pieces for about $5-$10 each.  Then, I found a small mini crate of funk and soul 45’s below the main bins.  I combed through a couple of them and they all looked interesting, and then I realize that the whole crate was good. I ended up buying practically the entire crate which was about fifty 45’s.  Did I mention they were all a dollar each?  I’ll post some of my finds later…
The owner, Ward, and his wife were mad cool.   We started talking about jazz records. They were okay with me taking pictures of the place, and told him I would do a little write up about my digging excursion there.  It’s really cool to meet record store owners who love music, and are quickly open to geek out on music with you.  I felt very welcome there!

I read on yelp that Requests Music has a basement with a ton of records, so I had to go there during our two days that we were in Maui. Once we got there, though, it was quite a bit of vinyl that was unorganized, dirty, water damaged, and pretty much unacceptable. I did manage to find a couple pieces, from new Jack to some soul stuff so it was cool overall.  The dude working there was really nice and he gave me a couple extra Record Store Day items including this cool tote bag. If you can spare A LOT of time to go through all these records, I highly recommend you check out request music in Maui.  I, however, was aching for some beach time, so I only stayed for about an hour.

Aloha from Honolulu. I’m sitting here on the beach thinking about how crazy this last week has been. It all started on Thursday as we (Trina and I) headed out to the Coachella music festival in Indio. We saw an amazing lineup of artists. Too many, in fact, to see them all (sorry DJ Shadow). There were quite a few people there as well!

Outside of the festival, we hung out at the Ace Hotel as well as the Saguaro Hotel, where there was a KCRW pool party on Sunday afternoon. Once we came home from Coachella, we were off to Maui for a couple of days to celebrate my birthday, and then on to Honolulu to go digging and whatnot while Trina worked a conference. More to come…

My man, DJ MZA, asked me to come play some jazz records on his radio show last month, and he mentioned that he was having a band called The Monophonics come through the following week.  I was not in the know, but I did some research and now I’m officially a fan!  Good timing, too, since their new album, In Your Brain, is scheduled for release in May, courtesy of Ubiquity Records (pre-order here).  A super fresh heavy soul, psych, and funk sound from this bay area outfit.

In doing my research, I was able to get a hold of this older 45, thanks to Colemine Records in Ohio (big up to Terry Cole for putting out some amazing music!).

Then I realized they performed in LONG BEACH (what?!) this past December at Harvelle’s.  Yet another example of me sleeping on some quality stuff in my own city.  Check their cover of “Love & Happiness.”

And here’s a quick look at one of their tracks from the new record.

Go support this record!  Afrobeat goodness from the genius of Adrian Quesada.  “High Noon” was released on the 3rd of April, so don’t wait any longer to get it.  You can’t front on ANYTHING that ESL puts out.  From Thievery Corporation to Chris Joss to the Ancient Astronauts.  They can’t do wrong.  This is The Funk Ark‘s second record, and they definitely do not disappoint.  Very strong release from this DC band.

Buy “High Noon” direct from the label, Eighteenth Street Lounge.

It’s as simple as searching for someone’s record online, that I stumble on a label that’s pushing some amazing vinyl.  Case in point: Electric Cowbell Records out of New York.  I went on their site looking for this Superhuman Happiness 7″, and came out with a handful of other 45’s.  Can’t complain.  I damn near fell out of my chair when I heard this Sway Machinery track.  Had to get it.

Spaced out g-funk instrumental goodness from this Tokyo based producer.  Buy this record, and hit the ten freeway.

I was searching for some Alabama Shakes vinyl, and it looks like Third Man, Jack White’s own record label, released a live 7″ of a couple of tracks from this southern soul-rock band.

Then I happened upon this really cool iPhone case, made out of die-cut 45’s from Third Man Records!  Just when you thought people ran out of creative ideas for records (besides actually playing them, of course).

Now, if you haven’t had a chance to witness the Alabama Shakes, check out their live session on KCRW back in January.  Big up to my man, Nate Martel, for putting me on to this fresh group.

Really looking forward to this documentary.  Long Beach heads can see this at The Art Theater on Friday, May 4th at 11:30pm.  It is important for us to take the time to learn and cherish the memory of Bob Marley.  His messages still ring true today in so many ways.