Unlikely but Perfect: Hot Dogs and Jazz at Shimokitazawa’s tonlist

Beyond Sound: A Dedication to Audio Quality

Another attraction of this shop is the quality of sound that makes the most of such music selection. Uno was originally an engineer working for a car manufacturer and liked not only audio equipment but also a wide range of other audio equipment. He used to spend his own time as audio engineer, helping out at friends’ weddings and live performances at cafes. His experience of making music sound in such a small space has been put to good use in the creation of the store.

The walls (perforated board), which look like an elementary school music room, create a nice atmosphere. “These walls absorb sound, so even if you play quite loud volume in a small store, it doesn’t sound too loud,” he says, casually coexisting design and functionality. The audio equipment that has been installed to create a warm, jazz cafe-like sound is also excellent, but the reason for tonlist’s good sound is not just the audio system. The soundproofing is so carefully done that even when we play a quiet record, the sound from the theater upstairs is completely inaudible. Inside the tiny store, there are many details that are not obvious until you are told.

My image of tonlist is the Alice Coltrane (reissue) record that was playing when I visited there on a whim and sounded great, and the Norah Jones record they played on the day of the interview also sounded surprisingly appealing. It seems unlikely that there is a store that can bring this kind of pleasure to us, but it is rare.

tonlist’s five records

Wolfgang Muthspiel “Rising Grace
Wayne Shorter “Live At The Detroit Jazz Festival
Cassandra Wilson “Blue Skies
Theo Crocker Quartet “Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XII: Sketches of Miles
V.A. “Jazz At The Opera House