James O’Connell takes a visit to a few of Beijing’s finest report shops.

Beijing’s music scenes are tight-knit and devoted. From futuristic club-heads to gutter punks and the whole lot in between, Beijing’s tune fanatics usually need to take care of quite a lot of societal roadblocks, bringing these with a real ardour collectively to create its distinctive interconnected internet of sound. Live venues, eating places, cafes, bars, and clothes retailers are sometimes shifting and increasing their definitions, open to internet hosting occasions and collaborating with one another.

The amorphous nature of those areas is finest proven within the metropolis’s report retailers, nice locations to satisfy the weirdos of town, importing weird Cambodian metallic or placing up a poster for a gallery event-cum-acid techno rave. Below is an introduction to a few of Beijing’s finest locations to select up a report, give it a spin, have a cup of espresso–or a connoisseur sizzling canine–and delve into the myriad sounds of this megalopolis.

postpost

Address: fifth Alley, Xingfusancun, Sanlitun, Chaoyang District
朝阳区幸福三村五巷菜店隔壁

Decked out in quirky, elaborate mushroom-themed decorations, postpost is a gem within the coronary heart of Beijing’s bustling Sanlitun procuring district, serving connoisseur espresso from world wide and bespoke cocktails infused with Chinese traits.

Starting as a small café within the western space of Xisi, postpost has lengthy been a hub of experimental music in Beijing, having hosted collaborations and workshops with the likes of Mexico’s N.A.A.F.I collective and sustaining a robust connection to the underground membership scene. postpost’s latest location is an improve each in measurement and scope. Alongside zines about gender, artwork books from Berlin and Japanese style magazines, there’s a devoted, curated vinyl and cassette assortment, carefully watched by the café’s resident greyhound. Strange digital sounds pulse out of the audio system and equally line the cabinets.

Aside from techno, home and breakbeat records, there are some auditory curiosities, comparable to an album of area recordings and conventional music from Southern Laos and choices from China’s finest and brightest oddball producers. There are headphones and a few decks to check out the gathering, in addition to a few of postpost’s favorite cassettes to select up alongside your alternative of vinyl, studying materials and bespoke clothes.

postpost really is a hub for all issues bizarre in Beijing. A devoted report store, however one which has much more to supply.

Indie Music

Address: 24-3 Gulou Dongdajie, Dongcheng District
东城区鼓楼东大街24-3

The rusted signal exterior this Gulou stalwart provides to the aesthetic of Indie Music as a longstanding establishment of Beijing music, intentional or in any other case. Located in one in all Beijing’s cultural centres, with innumerable cafes and craft beer joints within the adjoining labyrinthine hutong alleys, Indie Music shares a wealth of CDs, vinyl records and cassettes to spend hours getting misplaced in.

With little room to manoeuvre due to the packing containers stuffed with newly delivered treasures taking on a lot flooring house, the clientele is commonly shoulder-to-shoulder, flipping by means of the wares. The alternative of tunes is spectacular, with native digital compilations sandwiched between the FRIENDS soundtrack and the newest Taylor Swift providing. Chinese artists each outdated and new dominate the cassette choice, in addition to the sizeable heavy metallic CD part. Gig posters cowl the partitions and a blackboard behind the until has this month’s latest and finest arrivals scrawled on it in chalk, giving Indie a comfortable, private contact.

fRUITYSPACE & fRUITYSHOP

Address: fRUITYSPACE
13 Meishuguan Dongjie, Dongcheng District
东城区美术馆东街13号

Address: fRUITYSHOP
18-119 Tian’ewan South Zone, Ganluyuan Zhongjie, Chaoyang District
朝阳区甘露园中街天鹅湾南区㡳商18-119号

fRUITYSPACE and fRUITYSHOP are interconnected areas with fairly completely different choices. While fRUITYSPACE is positioned close to Beijing’s well-known Meishuguan artwork museum, with artwork provide retailers and stylish cafes in abundance within the locale, fRUITYSHOP is means out within the suburbs of Chaoyang. The two associates are as completely different as they arrive, with fRUITYSPACE a small, underground (actually) café, internet hosting gigs and stay screenings of obscure documentaries from world wide. fRUITYSHOP, however, is a devoted digger’s dream, a big, open house crammed to the brim with vinyl records.

If you desire a small, curated, boutique collection of records, cassettes, merch, and zines, fRUITYSPACE is the place to go. It’s a spot to relax out, have a espresso, and perhaps try an intimate gig.

Where fRUITYSHOP excels is in its dedication to the worlds of funk, soul, hip-hop and jazz. It’s definitely worth the trek out to Ganluyuan to discover its meticulously catalogued choice. Sections for blue notice, minimal wave and library music make fRUITYSHOP stand out amongst its friends within the ‘Jing, and the stacks of report gamers and classic amplifiers scattered across the store make for a genuinely pretty ambiance to buy in.

FunkyDogg

Address: 103, Building 4, Gongren Tiyuchang East Road B2, Chaoyang
朝阳区工人体育场东路乙2号中国红街4号楼103

FunkyDogg is a novel proposition within the metropolis–a longtime sizzling canine restaurant, serving up a plethora of permutations of sausage and bun. Beers within the fridge, smooth décor, located amongst burger retailers and pizza locations, it looks as if a reasonably regular, trendy, Western-style joint. Go upstairs, nevertheless, and it turns into a really particular report store and venue.

Record retailer supervisor Darius Pleasant tells us that the ethos of FunkyDogg is simply as a lot concerning the music as concerning the munch. He speaks of younger Beijing youngsters wandering over to the music assortment, that includes the likes of J Dilla, Armand Hammer and stacks of second-hand soulful records, and marvelling at the appear and feel of the vinyl, the state-of-the-art turntables, and the mixer. Darius takes pleasure in the truth that those that merely come for a sizzling canine can go away intrigued by Beijing’s burgeoning scene of multi-disciplinary musical venues.

Owner Kelly Hao explains that it’s tough in Beijing to fuse these concepts, with the northern metropolis being extra reticent to just accept new creative concepts, particularly within the meals and beverage trade, and factors to the aforementioned postpost as an awesome instance of the melding of F&B and music. She envisions the report store as an expertise, key to the success of the interconnected Beijing music scene.

FunkyDogg plans on increasing its scope, having hosted an all-day-long DJ gig in the beginning of 2024. With its welcoming vibes and robust dedication to a coherent imaginative and prescient, FunkyDogg’s future as a Beijing music hub is wanting brilliant. The sizzling canine are banging, too.

Words and photographs by James O’Connell.

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