In the heart of downtown Los Angeles, people arrived in droves to attend the Los Angeles Records Fair in the brewery district on Jan. 19 from noon to 5 p.m.
Thuy Phon Helix Sounds, filled with Japanese city pop records, attracted many fair attendees.
Phon, who listens to Japanese city pop, explained the genre, “It has a lot of fusion in it. There are jazz elements, funk, soul, and disco and I just love the beat. Artists like Tatsuro Yamashita, Miki Matsubara, and Mariya Takeuchi.”
There were records in other languages available as well, as highlighted by Giovanna Luna, a fair attendee who was looking for Spanish records.
“So I’ve been looking for some Spanish records that might be like what my parents used to play as a kid, but there’s not a lot of Latin records stores – so this is like a good place to come to find some,” Luna said.
Customers were also drawn to Eric Beck and Marie Wade Melodic Mosaic Records.
“The Japanese genre has been selling the most right now,” Beck added.
Kaylee Lamb, who came to the fair with Arturo Chola after seeing an ad for it on Instagram, said, “It’s cool, I don’t have a vinyl or record player yet, but I do want one and it’s making me want one more.”
Veronica Pech came to Stephanie Zabala’s Beat Junkies booth and looked through the 45s on display.
Pech said, “Sometimes people overlook vinyl because they think they’re too damaged or they don’t play very well, but sometimes you’d find gems and that’s what we’re always looking for.”
Robert Powers, the organizer of the fair, said,”I always never know what to expect, but I always appreciate it whether it’s a big turnout or little turnout, I just appreciate any chance we get to bring this together.”
“Our next one is gonna be Feb. 16 and it’s pretty much every third Sunday” Powers said.
Casey Bautista, an attendee, said, “Yeah so what brought me here to the LA Records Fair – this is my first time – I’ve been curious about finding some Japanese city pop or an Brazilian funk pop album like ‘Sunshower,’ ‘Fuyukukan’ and ‘Pacific Wave.'”
Miller Aucamp and Anh Duong, who were visiting downtown, stumbled upon the event and went to G&G Music.
Gregory Ruiz Jr. of G&G Music, commented about young people buying vinyl, “The young generation getting into vinyl records – I’m just so glad that they’re able to enjoy music how it should be heard.”
“If it’s not live, the next closest thing to it is going to be vinyl.”Ruiz Jr. said.
“It’s best to have like your own physical copy of something that you can keep for a really long time,” Adrienne Taniguchi, a vinyl collector, said.