Arriving in a very sleepy Chiang Mai one bright November day in 2021, it was clear to this newcomer that I’d rocked up in a creative city, but perhaps one that was slowly stretching its limbs and coming out of hibernation.
Only a few live music venues had survived 2020, and any thoughts I had of record shopping or spinning were a distant, pre-pandemic memory. DJing and record collecting was something I’d left behind in Europe, surely not on the cards again in the near future. Oh how wrong I was.
Chiang Mai’s vinyl revival is now in full swing with seemingly unstoppable momentum. A vibrant community of devoted wax lovers have launched stores, listening bars, festivals and record labels – each one determined to put the city on the global map as a music destination. Through collaboration and commitment, it seems to be working.
Centrifugal to the scene, Deaf Shop is now a local institution for vinyl lovers. Opening their doors in May 2022, owner Mum Pimolpud came with years of working in Bangkok’s music industry and her partner Laurens Brouwer, DJ and founder of independent label Liquorish Records, came with a colossal record collection. Inspired by a trip to Japan, they decided to open their own listening bar, where customers now pour in for a drink, a dance and the chance to select an LP they want to hear, from the rows of racks that line one side of their venue. It was a brave move in a city that was still finding its feet. ‘No one was waiting for this but we felt it was what the city needed,’ Brouwer enthuses. ‘Don’t wait for demand, make the demand.’
Their hunch was bang on. Open three nights a week (Thurs-Sat) and Sunday afternoons for dedicated record diggers too, the thriving hub hosts guest DJs from across Thailand, as well as a monthly Tape Night and festival-themed parties that are some of the most iconic in the city. I point out that the records up on the walls have changed since I was last in the bar. ‘Yes we change them every day; a huge part of record culture is the cover art. For us it’s important to play them but also to display them. The visual side of it is important. It’s something tangible’ Brouwer notes. But don’t people think it’s a record shop? He laughs ‘Sure, some people think it’s a record shop but we’re focusing on promoting listening culture.’
The crossover between record shopping and listening is exceptionally strong in the city. Of the 10 or so stores that now span Chiang Mai, many proprietors invite you to sit and listen, as well as purchase. Noomtaofire Record (Noomtaofire meaning: a guy who loves to dance) owner Khun Ae has been selling records in the city for five years but opened his classy, newest outlet two years ago, on the second floor of a boutique clothing store on Charoen Prathet Road. He sells both secondhand LPs and brand new shrinkwrapped releases, from across all genres – pop to indie, hip hop to jazz. Ae also makes a mean drip coffee behind the counter of his beautifully designed, airy store, so take a seat on one of the benches and enjoy the albums, caffeine and chats in here.
Similarly, Thirty Records (aka 30CM Records) in Suthep is half record store, half soundsystem, where Khun Munee has put together an incredible hifi set up across a whole wall at the back of the shop, where audiophiles can lean back on one of the sofas and listen along. He’s keen to inspire a new generation of collectors, and often has uni students hanging out, listening and learning the intricacies of analogue sound. He keeps a few crates super cheap for newbies to start building a collection, offering ‘three for B100’ - mostly Japanese finds. He also sells Thai and Western artists on vinyl and cassette.
Deaf Shop, 30CM Records and Noomtaofire Records are all partner organisations of Poy Festival, Chiang Mai’s fledgling annual vinyl get-together that combines live bands, DJs and a record market. Poy co-founder Simona Meesaiyati, a catalyst for bringing the vinyl-loving community together, noticed the boom in record shops and listening bars last year and decided to unite the scene, with high hopes of expanding it. ‘Our collective goal is to make Chiang Mai a music city,’ she told us. ‘We want international DJs and bands to know about Chiang Mai and play shows here, so it’s not just Bangkok on the gig circuit.’
It feels like an achievable dream. Poy Festival was scouted out by Seattle radio station KEXP’s Diana Ratsamee, who hosts the iconic show Eastern Echoes. She reached out to Simona, as she was a fan of one of the artists on the line-up, and attended the festival all the way from the US, giving a talk at Poy Festival and selling records too. The upshot of her visit is that many Chiang Mai artists are now getting airplay on this globally revered radio station. It’s been a long time coming. ‘I think Chiang Mai has always been a creative city,’ Simona confirms. ‘There are two big music universities: Payap and Rajabhat, so there’s a high density of musicians here. It’s a city that a lot of young creative people want to move to.’
Aside from this year’s Poy Festival, which will be held from 12-14 December, look out for the imminent launch of ‘Poy Friends’, a regular social meet up. ‘We’ll be collaborating with local stores to run events that will lead to a year round boost for the vinyl community in Chiang Mai. We’re hoping the scene will continue to grow together,’ Simona smiles. With a legion of passionate instigators rallying behind this movement, we have no doubt it will.
