Record Store Visit: Record Shop Base - Tokyo, Japan - 12/29/16

Sadly, this is the last of the Tokyo record stores that I visited on my trip to Japan.  No matter how much I write about each one, it's impossible to accurately describe how great these stores were and how much it meant to me to finally go record shopping in Japan.  It was something that I had been wanting to do as long as I can remember.  Again, I must thank Kazu from Waterslide records.  Not only did he take me around to all of these stores, he also dug with me and helped me find quite a few things I was looking for.  It would have been easy to get overwhelmed if it wasn't for his assistance.  Cheers friend!

Record Shop Base was a killer store.   It just felt right.  Kind of small, packed to the rafters with tons

of records and a pretty heavy emphasis on the punk rock side of the spectrum.  Though they stocked more than just punk rock.  They had a solid used section and in particular some great 7"s to dig through.  The thing that stood out most to me here was that this was the store that I finally was able to find a Ron Ron Clou record at.  Sure, it was their covers album, but I was so thrilled to finally find one of their albums after coming up empty at the rest of the stores.

In addition to Ron Ron Clou, I also picked up a bunch of 7"s and some CDs as well.  That's the one thing that I really took away from record shopping in Japan: CDs.  I bought more CDs on this one day than I had probably bought in the previous 5 years.  It's just different there, CDs never went away and I would say that most of the Japanese punk rock I was looking for just never was released on LP.  Still at least it wasn't a bunch of cassettes!

I had such an amazing time in Tokyo, from start to finish it was simply the trip of a lifetime.  Every day we did something amazing, but that day we did nothing but record shopping will always stand out.  Everyone should get the chance to do that.

Baby Shakes - She's A Star 7" - Yellow Vinyl (/150)

Surfin' Ki / Record Shop Base (2015)

I will admit to being slightly less trigger happy about buying some records immediately these days.  It's getting tougher and tougher to justify sending big chunks of money on single 7"s.  When this Baby Shakes 7" was announced, I could only find it from the label in Europe that co-released it.  They did two different sleeves and I preferred the Japanese style one.  Unfortunately to have it shipped to America it would have made this 7" something like $12.  So, as much as it pained me, I had to pass and wait for it to pop up in an American distro.

Unfortunately that never happened (that I saw anyway) and the first pressing went out of print.  Luckily, when Baby Shakes put their new full length on sale they also made this 7" available through their webstore.  Sure, it is the second pressing on yellow vinyl, but at least I was able to get the cool Japanese style sleeve.  This is another fun Baby Shakes 7".  The A-Side "She's A Star" is also on their new full length, but the B-side "Gimme Gimme Gimme Gimme Gimme Your Love" is exclusive to this 7".

Baby Shakes play jangly, Rickenbacker fueled guitar pop that's equal parts 60's girl group and current day power pop supergroup. The vocal harmonies completely sell me on this band and I'm thrilled they're back with some new records.  I have the new full length on tap as well, so look for a review of that sooner than later.

Baby Shakes - "She's A Star":

https://babyshakesny.bandcamp.com/track/shes-a-star