There’s some good news for L.A. crate diggers. Salt Box Records is back IRL. The record shop operated by modern funk musician and DJ XL Middleton recently reopened inside Little Tokyo venue Hello Stranger after focusing on Instagram drops and pop-up events for the past few years. The soft open was last week. I stopped by on Friday afternoon and left with some heat.
Salt Box has been a favorite of mine since the store’s pre-pandemic days inside Chinatown’s Central Plaza. One of the specialties here is what I’ll call synth heat, an international mix of new wave, boogie, freestyle and other genres of the ‘80s that goes far deeper than the era’s big hits. Over the years, I’ve picked up a fair share of tunes from Salt Box that are now go-tos for my vinyl gigs, like “Lost Without Your Love” by Intro, a dreamy new wave jam that always gets people asking, “What is this?” (If you want to know about Intro, I’ll direct you to the posts on singer Jacqui Brookes over on the excellent blog Post-Punk Monk.)
Anyhow, back to the point, the tl;dr version of which is I bought records at Salt Box and you should too.
Like I said, Salt Box is now inside Hello Stranger, where you may have seen bands play or danced at DJ-driven nights like Tokyo Love Song. It’s located on the second floor of a nondescript building on 2nd Street, just a few blocks away from the Little Tokyo A/E Metro station. On the day we visited, there was a sign on the sidewalk alerting passerby to the records inside, so keep an eye open for that marker.
Salt Box is set up in a sizable corner of the venue, right next to a window. You can dig while looking at the sunset over Little Tokyo, which is a very city pop vibe. In fact, Salt Box does have a designated city pop section, which, when I visited, had a mix of the big ticket records of the genre and lesser known releases priced for folks who want to take a chance on Japanese ‘80s tunes.
If you’re generally looking for synth heat, dig through the various sections, like new wave, freestyle and r&b/soul/boogie. Some of the less-recognizable vinyl will have stickers explaining what they are. For example, in the 7” section, a copy of Fancy “Slice Me Nice” was labeled “Moroder-ish synth disco.” Since I had actually been looking for a vinyl copy of “Slice Me Nice,” I immediately added it to my pile. At home, listening to this first time, I was struck by the extremely Moroder B-side, “Come Inside,” which is definitely getting played in my next all-vinyl set.
So, yes, in case you were curious, there is Italo disco lurking in the bins. I saw some French new wave too and promptly DMed a friend who collects those records.
In one of the boogie bins, I came across an artist whose name I didn’t recognize, Francesco Napoli, but the label noted that there was a “synth boogie” cover of “Ma Quale Idea,” the Pino D’Angio song, on it. I had not heard this, but I trust Salt Box enough to make the purchase without having heard it and am happy to report that it slaps. It’s not a big departure from the original version. Everything that makes D’Angio’s version so special, from the backing vocals to the piano melody to, of course, the raspy “Balla” is here. This will definitely get play in my vinyl sets too.
I picked up a few other records too, but somehow managed to exhibit a (very little) bit of self-control and checked out before the stack got too big. If you want to visit the store for yourself, follow Salt Box on Instagram, where you’ll get the most up-to-date information on hours of operation.
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs or listen to the latest Beatique Mix. Follow on Instagram or Bluesky for more updates.
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