top of page
AGASYAH KARIM
@mugidingdong
Music has been around in his family since he was very young and it was his uncle in particular who Aga tells me influenced his musical tastes from that early age. He then gifted him his record collection to start off his collecting obsession. Aga’s collection has grown to around 1,500 records these days with many being from his favourite genre, Indie Pop but don’t let that fool you, he has a lot of great records from other genres also.
Aga is a well loved and respected member of the Vinyl Community on Instagram and after recently taking a break he was welcomed back with lots of well wishes and I was one of those overjoyed to see him back posting his record collection and then agreeing to take part for The Record Collectors Club.
Were there records in your family growing up?
By the time I was born in the late ‘70s, my father, who was quite the music geek, had given away his record collection and switched to the more manageable, and cheaper, cassettes. When I was growing up, he and my mother always had a cassette playing, be it at home or in the car. The music was mainly ‘60s and ‘70s Pop but there were also the mixtapes that my uncle and my aunt who, at this time, were living in different cities used to send us regularly. The ones from my aunt were mostly filled with the hits of the day (mainly from the ‘80s), while the ones from my uncle were full of Classic Rock and Jazz Fusion tunes.
How did you initially get into vinyl records?
I have an uncle, my mother’s older brother, who’s a huge influence to me musically. When he went to the US for his graduate studies in the mid-‘90s, he gave me all of his vinyl collection. About 200 records which included Classic rock, ‘70s Pop, some New Wave, and plenty of Classical music which he inherited from my grandfather. A year later my father bought me my first turntable which was a cheap, Indonesian - made turntable—for my seventeenth birthday. So I guess once I had that, I started listening to vinyl more seriously.
How long have you been collecting records and how many do you have?
I’ve been collecting, on and off, since 1997. I’m a lightweight compared to some of the collectors on Instagram. I only have about 1,500 records and around 700 CDs. I used to have several hundreds of cassettes but most of them got lost after I graduated from college.
Can you remember what the first record you bought was?
It’s either Tears For Fears “Songs From The Big Chair” or The Moody Blues “Long Distance Voyager”. I can’t remember which one exactly but I do remember that I bought it at the only place in Jakarta that sold vinyl records back in the ‘90s which were the used record kiosks of Surabaya Street. This was not long after I got my first turntable.
Do you have a want list and if so, what’s on it?
It used to be quite a big list, mostly filled with Indie Pop titles. Once I decided to collect vinyl seriously in 2007 though, I immediately went hunting for most of them and bought them. Having said that, I’m still on the lookout for “The Violet Hour”, The Clientele’s debut. (Why Merge Records didn’t include it on their Clientele reissue campaign back in 2017 is beyond me?) The same goes for the first two LP’s by The Soundcarriers. Im also after a copy of the classic Indonesian pop record, “Badai Pasti Berlalu”, from 1977, which is also really rare, rare as a Sumatran rhino, is also high on that list.
Do you have a favourite record shop that you like to visit?
In Jakarta, it’s a toss-up between Laidbackblues Records (@laidbackbluesrecordstore), 33RPM (@33rpm_) and Districtwax (@districtwax) and Moonship Music (@moonshipmusic). All three are well-curated, fairly priced and restocked regularly, however my absolute favourite record store has to be the Disk Union (@disk.union) chain in Japan. Even their smaller branches always have something interesting among their crates.
Do you have a favourite genre of music you like to listen to?
Absolutely! That genre is Indie Pop. Probably because I was raised on pure Pop music, mostly from the ’60s and ‘70s on artists like The Hollies, Gilbert O’Sullivan, The Carpenters, Astrud Gilbert and Electric Light Orchestra. And, of course, the daddy of them all, The Beatles. So even today I tend to gravitate towards music that has catchy melodies and clear, strong hooks.
Do you have a certain space or room you listen to your collection in?
I used to put my collection, along with my hi-fi, in our living room. But after a while I realised that I do most of my listening right before bed and after I wake up. So three years ago, with my wife’s permission, I moved them to the master bedroom.
How do you organise your collection?
For the longest time, I didn’t organise my records in any order. But last year I finally relented and organised them in alphabetical order. Took me half a day to do it and nearly broke my back but it was
definitely worth it. Looking for records to play no longer becomes a nightmare.
Finally then, what will happen to your collection when you pass away?
I think I will give them to my son. He’s a pre-teen, so he’s just starting to get interested in music, mostly stuff he discovered via Minecraft and Fortnite, but there are the occasional records of mine that he enjoys. For some reason he really likes the jangle pop band Real Estate and ‘80s Madonna.
bottom of page