2024, December 2024, Reggae
IRIE in Japan – No Music, No Life
Jan
Kyoto
To finish out 2024 and welcome in the new year (2025), IRIE spent a few weeks in Japan, visiting hotspots Tokyo (Taito City), Kyoto, Osaka, and then back to Tokyo (Shibuya)! Each city has its uniqueness and similarities, including its love for music!
During our four days in Kyoto via the bullet train, we found ourselves in a city with forty-seven record stores. These stores were a diverse blend of old and new shops, many within walking distance from the bustling downtown areas of Kyoto. Our favorite shop was and will always be Davada Coffee & Records, which opened on November 7, 2019, in Shichijo Kawaramachi, by its owner, Gow! Davada Coffee & Records’ motto is ‘Music & Coffee is the healin’ force!’ Shout out to Gow and the tourists we hung out with at Davada Coffee & Records, including Dale & Jaclyn and Shreya & Suhani!
KYOTO:
Davada Coffee & Records
Shibuya, in Tokyo, reinforced that motto when we arrived. We saw the famous yellow and red TOWER RECORDS signage from our hotel window that called to us. We would spend the next two days exploring the nine-story Tower Records in Shibuya. And at Tower Records Shibuya, their motto is No Music, No Life!
Walking inside Tower Records immediately hits you with a nostalgic blast from the past. I reminisced about our Tower Records at Columbus and Bay in San Francisco, which closed their doors in 2006. I would skate down Columbus Street on my SCHMITT STIX Jailbird Lucero Skateboard after my job at Cafe Rocca and explore new music. Those were the days!!
At Tower Records Shibuya, there are listening stations situated in each aisle, and every sign, rack, and counter has its trademark shades of yellow and red. The floors are divided by genres, and most of the content is CDs.
Tower Records Shibuya incorporates a 360° Entertainment Store theme where they communicate excitement and passion that is born between people through music. The staff is incredible and used to tourists visiting the store. Their 250 music and culture-loving staff members conspire to propose their NO MUSIC, NO LIFE motto while helping Tower Records Shibuya be a brick-and-mortar store that anyone can visit anytime with excitement. Some of the workers speak some English. You hear a lot of ‘Arigatōgozaimasu,’ which means, thank you, kindly!
Floor Guide
Tower Records Shibuya
James Brown
Tower Records Shibuya
We found the reggae section on the 7th floor, next to the World Music section, where we were introduced to the Japanese generation of reggae bands. The latest release on sale that day was from the band Mute Beat, titled FLOWER, which we quickly gobbled up! Mute Beat is often seen as a precursor to acid jazz, ambient, and trip-hop, having created similar music before these genres emerged. Founded by Kazufumi Kodama, who was inspired by marching band music and reggae, the band aimed to explore new musical territories through dub music, incorporating marching band techniques. After original keyboardist Gota Yashiki left in the mid-80s to work with artists like Soul II Soul and Sinéad O’Connor, Mute Beat released their first cassette on New York’s Roir label and collaborated with notable musicians such as Jagatara, Gladstone Anderson, Roland Alphonso, King Tubby, and Lee Scratch Perry.
We also discovered Dry & Heavy, a reggae and dub band formed in 1991 by drummer Shigemoto Nanao, aka Dry, and bass player Takeshi Akimoto, aka Heavy. You are correct if you guessed that their name came from the Burning Spear album of the same name. The line-up that recorded the album Dry & Heavy came together in 1995, with Naoki Uchida on dub controls, Mitsuhiro Toike on keyboards, Kei Horiguchi on guitar, and the vocal duo of Likkle Mai and Ao Inoue.
Their music is influenced by the 1970s Jamaican dub sound of King Tubby, Lee Perry, and others. Oh, and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry! His spirit lives on in Japan.
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry
A sticker place underneath the Yamanote Subway Line
For 2025, IRIE will highlight reggae bands from Japan, one band every month to celebrate and say thank you, ‘Arigatōgozaimasu,’ for welcoming us and teaching us the importance of Music & Coffee is the healin’ force’ and ‘No Music, No Life!’ One Love!
TOKYO:
Tower Records Shubiya
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