My small hands flipping through endless questions from stacks of 12-inch cover art. What could be hidden insides these sleeves? Would I find traces of the man from within these?
Some have left the impression of its vinyl circle fading away on the cardboard cover art. Others gatefold out revealing secrets they might not have been able to show on their surface.
「2017年の春についに日本に行くことができてね。
On my second day I came to Jinbocho. I often read about this legendary bookstore heaven, it wasn't what I expected... it was 10× more amazing. The first bookstore I stepped in dealt in books and magazines about movies/music. I walked out with 3 bags filled with books and magazines.
着いた翌日には神保町を訪れてた。もはや伝説的なこの本屋天国の街については、前からからいろんなとこで目にしてはいたんだけど、実際行ってみたら予想してたのと違った。もう何十倍も素晴らしかったんだよ。一軒目に足を踏み入れた本屋は映画や音楽に関する書籍や雑誌を取り扱ってて、店から出て来た頃には、本・雑誌でいっぱいになった買い物バッグ３をつも携えてたよ。
The rest of my trip in Japan was amazing and memorable, every time I look at this book I'm reminded about that trip and how much I love Japan and my friends there.
The reason I've long wanted to visit Japan was primarily because I've always been a nerd. I mean I love movies, anime, pro wrestling, books, so Japan was always on my bucket list. I knew I would visit but just never knew when. I wish I had done with much younger in my life.
なんでそんなにずっと日本に行ってみたかったかって、それは僕のナード（おたく）な性格によるところがおっきいね。映画とかアニメ、プロレスとか本、そういう類いが小さい時からずっと好きだったからさ。だから、日本に行くってのは常に叶えたいことリストにはあったんだよ。いつかきっと行くだろうなってのは漠然とあったけど、じゃあ具体的に「いつ」ってのは決めてなかった。もっと若い頃に行っときゃよかったなって、今は思うよ。
The reason I picked the movie was because I could relate to the main character, the dude, I guess. Well, when I was younger I did, at least.
I was anti-social and didn't like being around girls. Don't get me wrong, the dude's anti-social nature was largely due to his disfunctional parents unlike me (I had very very loving parents). I was shy and didn't have confidence when I was younger. I think I didn't really get confident till I was like 25 or so. This would also explain why I've been and still am into taking pictures of my friends and people around me.
Then I moved to San Francisco, where I met new friends and became a little popular. I came from a small town and had never fit in there. When I came to San Francisco, I just saw more people who had similar interest with me.
Moving to SF at a young age was the best decision I ever made. At that time, weekly art gallery shows, music shows were going on. Rent was cheap so you had so many creative people living here. I’m glad I got to experience that. I’m still here but the city isn't the same anymore. That golden era is long gone, with the increase of tech people and the decline of artist the city has changed. But SF will always hold a special part in me."
For one, getting to work on my own original music full-time was a first. Also, I had time to hone my cooking skills in the kitchen every night, have some park hangs with friends, and I got to know my neighbors better.
But here in New York City, the first several months of the pandemic from March through the summer were exhausting and anxiety ridden. When you live in the largest city in America, in a notoriously noisy neighborhood, it's weird when the only thing you hear is silence mixed with sirens. And I mean a constant barrage of sirens.
And you know it's pretty much all people suffering from Covid in those ambulances, many of which were being transported away from their loved ones to their death beds, then into refrigerated trucks parked outside hospitals because morgues are full.
This will do a number on your psyche when it goes on for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 3-4 months outside your window.
こんな状態が1日どころか1週間、3〜4ヶ月って続いたら、さすがにメンタルやられちゃうよ。
I am a huge fan of exotica music, and one of the things exotica does is whisk you away to another world. Listening to this music was healing for me during this period. Especially when the government stimulus money showed up and I could splurge on more exotica LP's!
For those of you unfamiliar with this odd genre of music, it popped up in the early 1950's as a style of easy listening that romanticized the tropics, Asia, and without any real knowledge of what music from those parts of the world sound like. It’s kind of a mix of jazz harmony and latin rhythms with bird calls and a lot of world percussion.
And very relaxing. Mostly, the songs are slow. So putting on headphones and drowning out the sirens with an Albert Harris arrangement of 'Out of This World' from Les Baxter's 'Caribbean Moonlight' took the edge off and helped to reset the brain."
でね、聞いてたらすごいリラックスするの。ほとんどの曲はスローだし。だからヘッドホン着けて、救急車のサイレンをかき消すようにレス・バクスターの『Carribbean Moonlight』、なかでもアルバート・ハリスがアレンジした『Out of the World』なんか聞いてたら気持ちがスーッと解れてきて、頭を休めるのにちょうどよかった。」
【Him】Seo Hansoo (Owner of Masil, a coffee/wine bar with selected vintage audio gears and antique furniture pieces, Seoul, Korea)
【Memorabilia】Vintage audio gear collection and new encounters they brought to his life
【彼】セオ・ハンス（コーヒー/ワインバー オーナー、ソウル、韓国）
【あの●●】ビンテージのオーディオ機器コレクション、新しい出会い
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"I basically like things that are older than I thought they are. You know, they feel a little warmer and more affectionate than the latest, cutting-edge gadgets.
I can’t really remember exactly when or which old stuff I’ve first particularly become fond of. But I guess the experiences of visiting the countryside when I was younger influence me tending to get attached to old stuff in general.
One example is my collection of vintage audio gears. There’s definitely a point in my life when I was so into collecting them. It started as hobby first, but gradually I kept myself busy loading and carrying them like fridge every day. It’s funny to look back on those days because I was almost like a sound master, who searches for great sound no matter what. I wasn’t able to achieve that master level, though.
Now, my then serious hobby has brought in many changes to my life.
でもその趣味が、今のぼくの生活にたくさんの変化をもたらしてくれた。
The biggest one started with the place I’ve stocked the speakers gradually starting to attract neighbors, where they would just hang after work for no particular reasons other than just getting together, drinking beers and coffee and just chill.
We all had a really good time there with basically strangers who share no connections other than this single connection that we’re living in the same area. That actually enabled us to chat over basically anything though, from each other’s work to hobby, without any weird tension that we might feel at office or home.
From this experience, I’ve come to make up my mind to quit my day job and properly open this coffee/wine bar using the same space. It’s not located in the commercial districts where cool kids often hang around just because I really liked how organically and naturally my space used to get filled with the locals every night, which I wanted to inherit to the bar even at the cost of location.
As I’m opening the second bar right now, I’m meeting even more new people and emotion that’s also new to me - the emotion that I didn’t even know it exists before. You will experience it only when you dare start something new. I mean, I like old stuff but I like new experiences. It’s kind of ironic, right?
実は今、2軒目のバーのオープン準備中で、たくさん新しい出会いを重ねてる毎日なんだ。人だけじゃなくって、自分の中で新しい感情も日々見出しているところだよ。これまでそんな感情が自分の中にあっただなんて、思ってもみなかった感情。それって、新しいことに挑戦し始めた人にしか味わえないものだと思うんだ。なんていうか、ぼくってものは古いものが好きなんだけど、新しいことを経験していくのもそれはそれで好きなんだよね。なんとも皮肉だよね。
I hope my bars with vintage stuff such as speakers and furniture pieces to let people casually drop by, and chill over coffee or wine. Especially when they don’t quite feel like going home straight after work or simply miss talking to someone. "Masil", which is the name of my bar, means "going to a neighborhood to play" in Korean. Creating that level of atmosphere is still far off, though.
【Her】 Christina Yuen (Founder of CHŌ, a brand of selected lifestyle pieces, London, UK)
【Memorabilia】 The poem friend made, an womanhood
【彼女】クリスティーナ・ユン（ライフスタイル・ブランド「CHŌ」オーナー、ロンドン、イギリス）
【あの●●】友人作の詩、大人/女性になっていくことについて
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“I’d love to share a poem I asked someone to make. It’s about the transition from a girl to a woman, capturing the delicate sensitivity surrounding the womanhood by words.
During the transition, we transform into something both familiar and new all at once. And many of us often get lost as we explore this new part of ourselves. But I think it’s okay. I mean, how lovely it is to become something greater than we once were.
The poetry uses a lot of references to nature around us, which irresistibly invites us to reminisce on nostalgic summer mornings where you felt safely wrapped in warm sunlight when you’re your much younger self.
It also has this power to make you realize that there is still so much inside of you to unravel, pursue, and experience to gently burst with gratitude as a woman you’re becoming.
The poetry has become more important to me especially these days, as I’m actually launching my own brand in coming December, named CHŌ. The “Woman” or the “She” and “Her” in the poetry is actually the personification of CHŌ as a female. She is a woman who’s confident and brave yet vulnerable and charming at the same time. Womanhood is something she encourages every young woman to value and celebrate.
The idea of becoming a woman from a girl has gradually started to have a meaning in me over a certain period of time. Especially during covid, it made people think a lot more about life and the future. When one realises the life is actually vulnerable and fragile, you start thinking about what life means to you and what you want to create, which for me was CHŌ.
On a personal level, I struggled a lot back then coming to the UK from China when I was 13, so I’m proud of how far I’ve come. I’d certainly want to share my experience with now girls, conveying the message of it is ok to be lost or not knowing exactly where you’re going, or what it is to overcome the ambiguity and uncertainty in life. If you dream of doing or achieving something, you will definitely be able to do it regardless. ”
【Her】Lara Lee (Animator/Illustrator/Artist, Brighton, UK)
【Memorabilia】The sunsets from the train window and Vashti Bunyan’s “Just Another Diamond Day” (album) + that snowy winter, the dream and “Little Person" (song) by Jon Brion
【彼女】ララ・リー（アニメーター/イラストレーター/アーティスト、ブライトン、イギリス）
【あの●●】『Just Another Day』（音楽アルバム）、『Little Person』（曲）
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“I’d say there are many different soundtracks that play over a whole chunk of period in my life.
Vashiti Bunyan plays in my mind when I think about the time a few years ago, for example, when I was commuting on a train watching countless sunsets over the window.
ヴァシュティ・バニヤンも流れてくるな。帰宅電車の窓から、毎日毎日夕陽を眺めてた何年前を思い出すと。
Those days often end up being all blurred and become totally meshed into a block of things. I think it’s the result of me getting burnt out emotionally. I hang on to music when I'm low and I'm low most of the time! haha
Her delicate voice soothed me. Delicate but not weak, you know. I mean, any music on a train journey is just beautiful so I would have been comforted by something else too. But I often went for the entire album of ”Just Another Diamond Day” from London Victoria station to Brighton station. Just perfect. Feel way better by the time I get off the train, facing the salty breeze.
当時は彼女（ヴァシュティ）の線の細い声が癒してくれた。なんていうか、か細いんだけど弱々しいわけじゃないというか。とはいえ、電車乗ってる時に音楽聞くと一層美しく聞こえてくると思うから、単に彼女だけに癒されてた訳じゃないかもだけど。とにかく、その頃は彼女の『Just Another Diamond Day』ってアルバムを通してよく聞いてた。ロンドンで仕事を終えて、ヴィクトリア駅からブライトン駅へ帰る電車でね。もうね、完璧。電車降りる頃にはすっかり気持ちが落ち着いてて、ふわーって潮風も浴びて。
＊ブライトンはイギリス南部の海街。
But I have one particular memory of a song.
なんだけど、ヴァシュティ以外にも殊思い入れのある曲があって。
A very cold quiet day in January 2010 after a heavy snow, I remember listening to this song called “Little Person” over and over again on my way to an artist's photography studio in a rural area near Seoul where I was an intern at the time.
The snow had covered the entire field next to the road and I was making a long line of footsteps across the building complex yard. It took almost twice as long as it would usually take for me to get to the studio but I really didn't mind that at all, in fact I wanted the walk to last the whole day. I remember there was a photoshoot scheduled that day at the studio of some peculiar objects, then I had to photoshop them into landscapes.
The song was from a film, “Synecdoche, New York”. I watched it a few days before the day so the song was pretty fresh in my head. I was initially drawn to the atmosphere of it first, then I listened to it again later, the lyrics really spoke to me.
この曲は『Synecdoche, New York.』（邦題『脳内ニューヨーク』）っていう映画で流れるんだけど、ちょうど数日前に見たばっかりだったから耳に残ってたんだと思う。最初に耳にしたときは、これ雰囲気いいなって惹かれて。あとで聞き直してみたら、今度は歌詞もすごい刺さってきた。
At the time I was thinking about someone who was living in England. I pictured him in his mundane every day while I listened to the song and contrasted myself in the snow in daylight with someone else at the dark side of the globe.
In reality, I was a graduate-to-be back then, and was quite lost about where I should be heading in life in general. I was really missing the time I spent in England too. The pressure was there for me to be a grownup with a real job but I never was ready to be a grownup! (Still am not ready)
【Him】 Max Devereaux (Musician/Artist, Saint Paul, Minneapolise, USA)
【Memorabilia】The dark days and the Walker Brother’s "The Electrician" (song) stumbled upon in “Bronson” (movie) directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
【彼】マックス・ドゥヴロー（ミュージシャン/アーティスト、セント・ポール、ミネソタ州、アメリカ）
【あの●●】『The Electrician』（曲）、『Bronson』（映画）
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"When I was 20 years old I was very sick with a serious illness that threatened my life if I did not take serious action and have a very brutal and invasive surgery. I was dying slowly for a year with my illness and losing weight rapidly. I was half the man I was before I became ill.
I knew I wanted to survive so I decided to have the surgery but the procedure went poorly and I began to bleed internally. The doctors tried giving me many blood transfusions but I was losing too much blood and having seizures so they opened me back up and tried to find the problem at the site of the first surgery. It turns out that I wasn't clotting blood because I needed Plasma infusions instead of blood transfusions which ultimately corrected the internal bleeding.
When I was discharged from the hospital a month later I was very very weak and couldn't even walk on my own. I was taking very strong painkillers and spent my days lying in bed in a lot of pain.
I had never heard the song before but the imagery coupled with the beauty of the music instantly made me begin to cry. Like the main character in the film I felt the feeling of being in a prison with my illness and I loved how the music brought this emotion fully into focus.
The way the song begins is with an extreme amount of tension, so you are instantly trapped inside this very uncomfortable, uneasy place. The tension builds and builds until you can't take it anymore and then suddenly the tension breaks and you are lifted into this beautiful chorus that is well worth the wait.
This chorus feels like flying and like dying, it is a pleasant and sweet relief, only to be thrown back into that state of anxiety and tension moments later.
I love this song very much because it represents this very dark and very formative time in my life when I stared into the pitch black mouth of death and found a way to claw my way back again, back to the neverending tension and the unease of life."
【Memorabilia】aunt's Miles Davis cassette tape, João Gilberto's "Eu Vim Da Bahia"
【彼】ティアゴ・フルーゴリ（ミュージシャン、サンパウロ、ブラジル）
【あの●●】『Miles Smiles』（音楽アルバム）、『Eu Vim Da Bahia』（曲）
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"After I graduated from high school I went to a music school for a year and a half, then I took a course that would prepare me for the public university admission tests.
I was determined to study languages and literature, but moving away from music wasn't an easy decision (I did end up going back to the decision of working with music, after all).
でも音楽と距離を置くのは簡単じゃなかった。（結局今は音楽の道に戻ってきてるしね）
Before and after class, I would listen to my walkman. I had a Miles Davis tape my aunt had recorded a long time before that.
It was the Miles Smiles album, and the music sounded so different from the music I had learned in music school.
マイルスの『Miles Smiles』。もうね、その音楽の学校で習てったのと全然違う響きなのね。
I couldn't really follow the form during solos, or understand what was happening, but I was still so touched by the music. "Dolores" was a track that I particularly liked.
It was a way to be in touch with music while doing something I wasn't really connected to, but also, a way to deconstruct a way of listening which I had learned was the "right way", in which you follow the form, understand the bassline and chord changes in order to follow the solos.
Years later, two weeks after I got my first full time job, I went into a period of pretty bad anxiety attacks. It lasted a couple of weeks, for a while I thought I'd have to take medicines or something.
I was able to pull myself together with therapy and my family's support, but also, listening to João Gilberto's "Eu Vim Da Bahia", from his 1973 album, always brought me peace.
結局、セラピーと家族の支えでなんとか持ち堪えはしたんだけど、その時聴いてたジョアン・ジルベルトの『Eu Vim Da Bahia』って曲にも救われたんだよね。
He sings the song over and over for 5 or 6 times with no substantial changes.
それ、目立った展開なしに5回とか6回とかおんなじことずっと歌い続けるの。
I've never even been to Bahia, but the way the song describes the people (and how they find the means to be happy even if conditions are less than ideal) had a positive impact on me. To this day, I feel at peace when I listen to it."
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