I almost regretted leaving my igloo on the last Sunday in July. It was hot af and I was still a little tired from the previous night’s DJ gig at Nocturno, but the In Sheep’s Clothing x Japonesia Summer Market was happening and that’s the one record swap that I try not to miss. So, I twisted my hair up and butterfly-clipped it, like at least 75% of longhaired L.A. this summer, and headed out to the brewery for a dig.
Once a season, the In Sheep’s Clothing x Japonesia Market happens at Homage Brewing in Chinatown. It’s a fairly small event with just a handful of record vendors and makers set up in a narrow parking, outdoor space behind the brewpub’s patio. Because Homage itself is located in a warehouse-heavy section of Chinatown a handful of blocks away from Broadway, the neighborhood’s main drag, it’s also an event that’s easy to miss unless you happen to have friends who share the flyer in their stories in the days/hours leading up to it.
This is one of the more manageable record fairs in the L.A. area. If you wanted to sift through every crate, you could do that in about the same time that it takes to dig at a small-to-mid sized record store. However, In Sheep’s Clothing x Japonesia can also be a somewhat intimidating event. The vendors here tend to have specialized collections and hard-to-find records that are priced accordingly. If, at first glance, what you notice are records that are beyond what you can afford, keep digging. Trust me. Even with my litany of rules about record shopping, I still always leave the market with a few purchases that fall within my relatively low budget, like a Melba Moore album that had been on my mental wish list for a good while, a Yello 12” with what became my New Favorite Song from the duo and the Spanish cover of “Da Da Da” that gets compliments every time I play it at a gig.
I bounced between vendor booths, flipping through whichever crate wasn’t already occupied. My first quandary of the afternoon was whether to buy God, the 1981 debut album from British post-punk band Rip Rig + Panic, for my husband or myself. Both Ari Up, from The Slits, and Neneh Cherry, who would become quite well known as a solo artist later in the ‘80s, contribute vocals to this album, and all of this is relevant to both our collections. But, also, our record collections converged when we got married, so it doesn’t really matter.
Almost immediately after that, I came across a record that I was almost 100% certain my husband didn’t have. It’s a compilation of film music from Can released in 1970, which is in between Monster Movie and Tago Mago, and features both Damo Suzuki and Malcolm Mooney on vocals. I bought the Can record for him and the Rip Rig + Panic one for myself.
At a neighboring booth, I came across the Creation Records 12” for “Loaded” by Primal Scream. Back when I was a KROQ-listening kid, I heard “Loaded” on the radio and it opened my mind. Between that song and “Higher Than the Sun,” from the same Primal Scream album, I was exposed to a fusion of rock and dance music that I didn’t realize could be a thing in the early 1990s. Years later, that vibe would influence how I DJ, maybe more than any actual DJ set I’ve ever heard. It’s wild that I never got around to buying the 12” vinyl for “Loaded” until this moment.
I like to think that music finds you when the time is right. A few months ago, during a record fair at the Music Center, I picked up two Cristina records that you would think a DJ who plays a lot of weirdo early ‘80s would have. The timing just happened to be right. During the Summer Market at Homage, at the same vendor’s booth, I found Jellybean’s 1984 single “Sidewalk Talk,” featuring backing vocals from the song’s co-writer, Madonna. It’s another one of those things that I probably should have already owned, but didn’t. That Sunday, the timing happened to be right.
Tucked inside the bins at the same booth were both a Modern Talking album and Stone Circles: A Legendary Pink Dots Anthology. I struggled to decide which one I should get.Legendary Pink Dots are one of my all-time favorite bands. They’re also extremely prolific, so aiming to be a Pink Dots completist is a futile challenge that I would in no way ever recommend to anyone. This album is a compilation of releases from the 1980s, including “Curious Guy,” which was a goth club staple for many years here in L.A. But, I already have the “Curious Guy” 12”, as well as a couple of the albums from which most of these songs are pulled. Still there are enough songs on here that I either don’t have at all or don’t have on a physical format that made this is the obvious choice. I filed the Modern Talking album back in the crate and made my purchase.
Overall, it was a good little haul. Nothing cost more than the per record limit I set for myself (for the nosy, that’s $20 for albums, $15 for 12” singles.) and a few came in well under the threshold. All of the records were in good condition and they’re all solid additions to the collection. Not one stinker in the bunch.
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs.
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