JAM JOURNAL
I find joy in judging CDs
What started out as picking a random J-pop CD has now become an ever-growing collection.
By VIVIENNE TRAN
As a design student, I often use the excuse of buying this and that as a source of inspiration draining my wallet and repeatedly fooling my brain into thinking I’m honing my creativity. I’ve bought books in a language I don’t understand, a glass espresso cup even though I don’t drink espresso, stacks of postcards shoved in a shoebox somewhere — you name it. I’d try to find uses for these objects other than plainly staring at them but had come up blank each time.
That is, until I found CDs.
In late December 2022, I stood in front of the used CD racks at Half Price Books in Berkeley, California, holding a CD with the words “Dreams Come True” written in cursive. The cover displayed three people on a carousel dressed in ’80s fashion, which gave me nostalgic feelings for a time I had never experienced.
I went through the same old routine: staring at the object while debating whether I should make the purchase. Of course, I ended up buying it. But one thing I forgot to consider was that I didn’t even have a CD player.
Luckily, in these times of streaming music, I quickly found the album on Spotify. (I know, very counterintuitive.) Nevertheless, I found that the CD was from a J-pop group called DREAMS COME TRUE, and it was its 1989 self-titled debut album. Because I didn’t feel very drawn to J-pop at the time, I was nervous to listen. I felt like the idiom “don’t judge a book by its cover” was about to slap me in the face.
But once I pressed play, beautiful, mesmerizing pop rhythms with hints of techno and jazz and Yoshida Miwa’s uplifting vocals filled my ears. “Kanashii Kiss,” one of my favorite tracks, brings on emotions of separation starting with a dreamy, slow beat and ending with the cries of a saxophone.
To my surprise, I had made the right decision in judging its cover and ended up falling in love with not only the design but the music encased inside. I immediately bought a portable CD player and kept the album on repeat whenever I could.
Because of one CD, I found myself going on quests to search for more. Back home in the San Francisco Bay Area, I would go with my cousin to several thrift stores in search of CDs, and even when I used to study in South Korea, I would venture to Dongmyo Flea Market and walk around to all of the cardboard boxes filled with old CDs.
When I traveled to Japan, I spent an afternoon admiring the used CD stores with their organized stacks of albums (and unfortunately couldn’t buy anything because I had lost my debit card … but that’s another story).
And it’s not just the CDs that I find joy in, but the whole process of skimming each stack, admiring the designs and simply spending time alone in a quaint store.
(Vivienne Tran / Daily Trojan)
Watts Music, in my hometown of Novato, California, had been there all my life and I had only gone there once when I was a high school student to check out records. Luckily, I had time during Thanksgiving break last year and stopped at the store with a fresh set of eyes.
The store was quite spacious with new and used records, CDs and cassette tapes. I immediately looked through their CDs, but compared to their record collection, it was quite sparse. I was about to leave empty-handed when the owner directed me to the hidden 20 or so boxes filled with used CDs. For the next half an hour, I sat on the floor and shuffled through each box and ended up leaving the store with five CDs, feeling pure joy.
Unlike the other objects, I have found a use for CDs. I play them when I’m cooking, getting ready, reading or just staring at my ceiling. Yes, it may be a waste to collect CDs with readily available music streaming services, but while I might sound pretentious, music does sound better coming from a CD player.
Maybe it’s the design student in me, but I’ve always preferred the physical form of things over the digital. Yes, I could just take a picture of the cover or book page and refer back to its typography for inspiration. But being able to feel something and observe its details is a completely different experience than squinting at a screen.
Similarly, I still opt for prints when developing film and design professors still always make students print or manually create their pieces, which is probably why I have symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand. Oh, and probably why my wallet is empty.
But other than that, CDs have played a role in my earliest memories. From the Vietnamese CDs that my parents would play in the car to my recent order of a used Justin Bieber “My World” album, CDs have been a staple compared to other forms of music. So, in this case, it also plays the powerful role of nostalgia.
If you ever see me sitting on the floor of a thrift shop with my face stuffed in a box, just know I’m having the time of my life.
“Jam Journal” is a rotating column featuring a new Daily Trojan editor in each installment commenting on the music most important to them. Vivienne Tran is the art & design director at the Daily Trojan.
