Sam really likes old records. He digs through big stacks of vinyl and often strikes gold, unearthing old Thai albums that haven’t been listened to in years. He puts the best on his blog, The Archive of Southeast Asian Music, with MP3s and album covers. I get the sense he’s usually the first person to do that with most of the songs.
Sam and I headed down Wualai Road to “Pooyos Trading Post (strange but not true)” (yes, that’s the full name). I guess you could call it an “antique store”, but that doesn’t really do it justice. It’s light on musty old furniture and frumpy vases, but well stocked with ancient electronics, old postcards and, of course, vinyl records. Sam took a portable turntable out of his backpack and started pulling records off the shelves.
You might not expect it after being subjected to trite, modern Thai pop every time you leave the house, but a lot of the stuff Sam finds is good. There are enough twangy guitars and R&B inspired horn riffs to make the songs accessible, but they’re interwoven with the warbly vocals, weird rhythms and tinkly percussion of classic Thai tunes.
But there’s something to these albums that listening to the mp3s can’t really convey. You know that feeling when you listen to the first two bars of a new song and you know it’s going to be awesome? That feeling is infinitely better when the song came off a forty year old vinyl record you pulled out of a dusty old box and put into your portable turntable.
If you dig this music and want more, head on over to Sam’s blog The Archive of Southeast Asian Music. There’s a lot more than just Thai music on there, so give a listen to some of the songs from Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar and tons of other places.
