Crys Cole

Discaholic interview – 2017

 

Are you an official discaholic? Is there such a thing?

Do you need help with it?

 

When I position myself against someone like you, I am not so sure! But… I would say that I am and have always been obsessed by collecting & exploring music and my magnetic draw to record stores and the hunt for music is very passionate. Also the rush of researching, seeking, hunting and finding is a serious thing for me.

 

When did you start collecting?

Was vinyl the first thing you collected?

 

When I was very young I inherited a small box of 7”’s that had belonged to my dad. In all honesty I’m not sure that he gave it to me or if I just decided that they were mine. It was a small 7” carry-case from the 60’s filled with a hodge-podge of singles from the 60’s & 70’s (see attached photo). I had a small portable turntable and would listen obsessively, studying all of the lyrics and music. I think this is the root of my initial obsession. I was always a keen listener to sound in general and music, especially the vinyl format was a major focus for me. I had a collector brain from a young age… silly things, passing obsessions… and I think as a girl, collecting things other than music was more understood. Though, when I hit my teens music collecting was fully my focus.

 

 

What was the first piece of vinyl you got?

Aside from the 7” box (which included amongst other things – John & Yoko’s ‘give peace a chance’ & Rupert Holmes ‘him’) the first 2 LP’s that I remember getting for x-mas that I asked for were Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits, when I was 6 or 7.  I collected a lot of cassettes when I was young (Motown, Soul, soundtracks, Beatles, pop stuff) because it was a cheap but mostly because I could listen to it on my Walkman. I started buying vinyl occasionally when I was around 10 but didn’t start nerding out at record conventions and shops until I was in my late teens, particularly because I didn’t have a decent turntable until I was 18 and living on my own.

 

 

What gives you the vinyl buzz? The actual hunt or the moment when you find the actual object? Do you still get the buzz?

 

The hunt! I mean, finding the gold is the best rush, but I’m driven by the hunt. I prefer to dig without anything too particular in mind. I always have a few key LP’s in the back of my mind that I’m searching for, but I prefer to dig and see what appears. I TOTALLY still get the buzz! I find flipping through record bins very meditative actually. The flipping is the build up and then when something killer appears it’s a total rush!

 

How do you measure your collection? In meters? Kg´s? by the numbers?

 

By how little space I have left in my apartment for it!

 

 

 

 

How do you sort your collection? Alphabetical? Genre? Chronological?

My collection is totally alphabetized by artist. Within the artist sections the albums are chronological. With a section for comps and soundtracks at the end. I find that genre separation starts to get far too abstract and lots of artists cross into various territories. Categorizing & genre became a pet-peeve of mine working in record stores actually.

 

 

 

Favorite vinyl color ? why ?

Black. Classic. I have the ‘ooh-ah’ moment briefly when I see colored vinyl, but honestly, I love clean glossy classic black the most.

 

 

 

Is Ora Clementi as much into vinyls as you are? Does she care ?

I don’t think Ora would be into vinyl or really anything tied to the material world to be honest.

 

 

Can discaholism be cured ?

Why??? If it feels good do it. J

 

 

 

What record has changed your life most dramatically?

For the best ?

For the worst?

 

BEST / WORST: Karuna Khyal – Alomoni 1985 – Voice Records (1974 – Japan)

It was the first rare, expensive LP that I indulged in. I found it in Tokyo on my very first trip there. It could be said that it’s the worst or the best because it broke the seal of justifying expensive indulgences… !

 

 

 

Describe a perfect vinyl shopping/hunting day!

For me, my ideal vinyl-hunting day is in Tokyo, 100%. Start the day with a mentaiko udon for breakfast and then head to Shinjuku to do the Disk Union crawl. As there are several in Shinjuku I would make my rounds with some pit stops in between for amazing food and coffee to refuel.  Possibly head over to another area where another Disk Union is and end the day meeting friends at a great izakaya for food and drinks and to go through the bags and show our treasures!

 

 

 

What records do I wanna steal from your collection?

Good question… come on over and see!

 

 

 

What record do you wanna steal from the discaholic website?

Not the rarest one, but I’d probably grab the Sea Ensemble – Manzara LP because I saw it in Milan last year and I didn’t snag it, thinking that I already had it. When I got home and realized I didn’t have that one I was so bummed.

 

 

Lathe cut, cassette, flexi, reel-to- reel or 8 – track… what is the best alternative to a regular vinyl release?

Hmm… though I grew up with cassettes, I’m really not a big fan of them. I guess I would say CD’s only because I think that the medium is a suitable format for certain types of long form music. Also, some releases (especially improv, some Japanese & contemporary music) is only available in this format.

 

 

 

When it comes to microsounds – what appeals you the most with vinyl? the actual background noises/ the sound of the grooves?

I love the noise of vinyl. Of course I don’t love it when it interferes with listening to a beautiful record but I definitely get a very comforted feeling from the warm crackle of old vinyl. This no doubt goes back to my childhood 7” collection that were battered & worn. For many years I worked with busted turntables and old records in my work specifically for that warm textural palette. Nowadays I can still hear that influence in the way I work with contact microphones and voice.

 

 

Do you have a favourite tool/ knife to open your packages (eBay/ trading parcels arriving w the mail)?

Do you have a routine / method opening the packages – or do you just eagerly trash it all open?

No special tool, but I always wait, building up anticipation before i open packages.

I think to take my time and wait until I can really spend time. Then I methodically and gently slice along the taped edges to slowly unveil the goodies inside.

 

 

Do you collect the vinyl cardboard boxes- that the albums arrive in –  as well and keep them, store them, just in case… ? ( I do…)

Umm… yes… I have a storage room with stacks of them

 

 

Is trading records the most fun you can have with your clothes on?

To be honest, it’s not something I’ve done much of.

Digging for records & listening to records with good friends are two of my favorite things to do though.

 

 

 

What is the first section you hit, while arriving to a vinyl shop, where you have never been before?

Avant Garde / experimental

Secondly? Free jazz / Jazz

Thirdly? Prog/Kraut or International

The section where you would never look in?

Hmm… I guess the Christian Music section. Pretty much any other section is fathomable.

 

 

 

What is your favorite record shop in the world?

As mentioned, I love Disk Union in Japan – because it is super diverse and full of GOLD. I love that it’s not overly curated and covers a lot of territory, so I can randomly find several things that excite me in very different genre’s.

I’ve had my socks knocked off by many shops around the world though and I love discovering new amazing places in every city.

 

Favorite city for vinyl hunting?

TOKYO (as mentioned).

 

 

 

How is Winnipeg these days, when it comes finding good shit? Or is the focus in town still mainly on Ice hockey?

Hah… well, I wouldn’t know about hockey, never been my bag but… Winnipeg is a tough town to find real gold. You can always find classics, staples, and the odd gem hidden in the bins though. It’s a great town for filling in gaps in classic rock, pop, soul etc. and at very cheap prices!

 

 

 

 

Give us a list of your 5 favorite:

 

–       Experimental/ noise vinyls:

Oh man, impossible to pick 5!! What are your top 5 jazz records?? 😉

Off the top of my head;

–       Walter Marchetti – Antibarbarus

–       Organum – Submission

–       Robert Ashley – Automatic Writing

–       Henri Chopin – audiopoems

–       Alvin Curran – Canti e Vedute del Giardino Megnetico

 

–       Canadian rock/ psych vinyls: (not really my forte)

–       Poppy Family featuring Susan Jacks – Which way you goin’ Billy?

 

–       Oren Ambarchi vinyls:

Are you trying to start trouble?

 

–       micro sound albums:

honestly, I don’t really know what micro sound means as a genre…

but most things by Toshiya Tsunoda, Bernard Gunter and Rolf Julius would likely fit the bill.

 

 

 

 

 

Two of my all time fav psych/ garage albums are made in canada: Plastic Cloud and Ugly Ducklings… how come Canada became such a hot spot for that music in the late 60´s ?

I don’t know why that is… it seems that the garage thing was pretty big in Canada and I suspect accessibility and proximity to the US nurtured some of it. There is a particular weirdness that is unique to Canadians (take the Poppy Family or Intersystems for example). I’m still discovering a lot of this stuff, often through friends who are not Canadian.

 

 

Is this interview too long?

Nah keep it coming – though as you noticed, the longer it is the longer I take to get it back to you 😉

 

 

 

 

Do you work with a wantlist?

I do. I always keep it pretty simple and streamlined. As I find things I replace them with new things. Otherwise I get too overwhelmed.

 

 

What is highest up on that list?

Current top:

Folke Rabe/ Bo Anders Persson ?– Was?? / Proteinimperialism

David Behrman’s Leapday Night

 

 

 

What kind of music / genre do you put most focus into? What is your prio?

My interests are so varied and when I shop I like to get a mixed bag of music to bring home. I definitely have more of a focus on experimental/avant 20^th century stuff but I will get just as excited about finding a fantastic disco 12” as I will a great concréte record.

 

 

 

 

What single vinyl release got you going starting making music and art yourself?

A lot of the music that really inspired me in the early days was originally purchased on CD – Organum, Hafler Trio, Zoviet France, Nurse with Wound. All due to what I could access afordably in the middle of Canada in the 90’s. From there free jazz, musique concrete, fluxus etc…

 

 

 

What vinyl makes you wanna stop making music?

Hmm… when it’s good it just inspires me to keep making music.

 

 

 

 

Who do you wanna see get interviewed in this series of discaholic interviews?

Keith Fullerton Whitman & Eiko Ishibashi

 

 

 

 

Will the collaboration with Oren Ambarchi and king Leif  (Elggren) of Elgaland/ Vargaland eventually become a vinyl album?

Yes it is!  The record is called ‘Certainly’ and it will be released by Dennis Tyfus on his fantastic label Ultra Excema this year!  Working with Leif was such a dream, he’s fabulous.

 

 

 

What record is closest to sex?

Oren & my first duo on Planam (Italy), Sonja Henies vei 31  😉

(or anything by Prince)

 

 

 

Which one is no sex at all?

Jam bands like the Grateful Dead