What It Is

A vinyl record shop and bar occupying a two-story Japanese colonial-era wooden building in an alleyway otherwise given over to auto repair workshops. The acronym stands for "This Hidden Track." The owner, known as A-Se, is a former member of the Taipei grindcore band Ashen; the curation reflects a personal dual sensibility that exists nowhere else in the city: African and Middle Eastern field recordings and music — sourced extensively from the Awesome Tapes From Africa label (Malian desert blues, Nigerian afro-funk, Ethiopian jazz), Saharan guitar, and Arabic-language funk — shelved alongside extreme metal, drone, ambient, and Japanese noise.

The building interior reinforces the specificity: the second floor has natural light through old skylights, leather seating, and turntable hardware on display. The combination of the Africa/Middle East curatorial angle and the auto-repair-alley address requires knowing what to look for before you arrive. The shop serves coffee and beer alongside vinyl and functions as a bar for A-Se's own musical community.

THT has since expanded — a second store ("Room 25") opened around 2023, and a flagship "THT黑膠音樂圖書館" (Vinyl Music Library) opened in Songshan District in June 2024 — but the original Zhongshan shophouse remains the founding location.

Location

District: Zhongshan (中山區)
Address: No. 10-2, Xing'an Street (台北市中山區興安街10-2號)
Nearest MRT: Zhongshan Station (中山站, Red Line) — approximately 10 minutes on foot heading northeast along Zhongshan North Road.
Phone: (02) 2509-9633
Online: thtrecords.com / Instagram @thtrecords_taiwan

Opening Hours

Wednesday–Sunday, 12:00–21:00. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

Price Range

  • Awesome Tapes From Africa releases (12" LP): NTD 700–1,200
  • Saharan guitar / North African folk: NTD 600–1,000
  • Japanese experimental / noise releases: NTD 800–1,500
  • Taiwanese independent band vinyl: NTD 400–700
  • General second-hand Western jazz / soul: NTD 300–600
  • Coffee or beer while browsing: NTD 100–160

Specific Items Worth Buying

Awesome Tapes From Africa label releases — NTD 700–1,200. Authentic licensed pressings of Hailu Mergia (Ethiopian jazz-funk), Dur-Dur Band (Somali pop), William Onyeabor (Nigerian synth-funk), and related catalog. These specific releases are unavailable in any other Taipei shop; the Africa/Middle East section is the clearest reason to make the trip.
Taiwanese independent vinyl — NTD 400–700. Local label pressings from A-Se's musical community; not available via mainstream retailers or streaming platforms.

Why It Is Unusual

No mainstream travel guide (Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Atlas Obscura, Time Out Taipei) features this store. It appears only in music-specific publications: Hive Life Magazine, Taiwan Scene (2020), Taiwan Beats (TAICCA), and Vinylworld.org. A typical visitor researching vinyl in Taipei might encounter the name; the specific curatorial rationale — African ethnographic recordings alongside European extreme metal — is not what gets covered in those references. The auto-repair alleyway address is invisible without prior coordinates.

Verified currently open and trading: Jan 2025 visitor post (Zhongshan attic space confirmed); Instagram @thtrecords_taiwan with 14,000 followers and consistent recent activity; business expanding (Songshan flagship Jun 2024), not contracting.