Margaret lives in Brooklyn, NY. She greeted me at her place with a fresh batch of muffins straight out of the oven—a great start to our nerdy music conversation. Margaret’s focus is on psych and prog rock, and she hosts a radio show on East Village Radio called No Pussyfooting. Originally, she dropped the show after three years but picked it back up in 2024 when EVR started its operations again. Check it out when you need a fix for some Psych soulful music. Off the air, Margaret DJs at bars, parties, and for friends. She enjoys the freedom to play experimental/longer tracks on air, as well as the spontaneity that comes from the crowd at a live DJ gig. Since our initial interview, Margaret stopped working at Tropicalia, but it’s still her favorite record store.
The biggest shift in Margaret’s life was a devastating fire in her neighbor’s apartment. In the fire department’s attempts to put it out, her apartment was completely destroyed. Of course, her immediate concern was her records. Luckily, they weren’t ruined, just dusty and burnt-smelling. The Red Cross came and deemed the place unlivable, and Margaret tried to make Sophie’s Choice, picking which records to take with her. She gravitated towards her more expensive ones at first, but the cheap ones were valuable to her, too. She ultimately got to keep them all, saying, “I would have felt incomplete with just a selection since a record collection has an identity of its own, as a whole. Our collections represent us, in a way. They represent the different facets of our interests and tastes. I’m really grateful that I ultimately got to keep them all. Apparently, the fire department carried the hose up to our place but decided not to use it.” Now she has a better apartment in BedStuy, and her record collection is much bigger.
“Our collections represent us, in a way. They represent the different facets of our interests and tastes.”
Margaret browsing through her physical media mountain.
What do you do for a living?
I work for Joel at Tropicalia in Furs in the East Village. Sometimes I write for film magazines. I’m recovering from years of arrested development spent in graduate school.
What was your first album? How did you get it? At what age? Can you describe that feeling? Do you still have it?
I can’t remember exactly. My first records were from my dad’s collection—I remember loving this record of the Oscar Peterson Trio doing songs from West Side Story—ha! I still have it, too. Let’s say that was my first album.
What was your Initial interest in music? Did you have any influence from your family? Or perhaps your best friend?
I definitely inherited my appreciation of music from my dad, who is an obsessive jazzman. Though his enthusiasm kind of worked against him as I was growing up because I hated jazz as a kid. It was non-stop jazz education in my household, and I wasn’t having it. I love my dad, and I’m so grateful to him for shaping me into the music nerd that I am today. But I wouldn’t open up to jazz until I reached my early twenties and heard John Coltrane’s Infinity album, the one that was released posthumously with Alice Coltrane’s tacked-on arrangements. Then I started to dig into Pharoah Sanders, Don Cherry, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, etc. It’s typical of ’70s psych/rock fans, but I love that stuff. And now I like a lot of earlier jazz, too. So thanks, Dad.
John Coltrane – Infinity. “Sometimes, I find the string arrangements on this album a little too sentimental, and sometimes, I don’t. It’s nonetheless unique, and it encouraged me to give jazz music another try.”
Why vinyl? You mentioned that you started with CDs and moved to vinyl. Can you remember that period? What do you think made you collect only vinyl?
This is going to be a short timeline because I’m still young (29). I listened to some of my dad’s records as a kid, but I started out buying tapes. When I was 13 or 14 I bought a few dubbed cassettes and a paperback copy of Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange for 50 cents at a stoop sale, and one of the tapes turned out to be The Velvet Underground & Nico. For years, I had no idea what the hell I was listening to on that tape, but I loved it. Needless to say, The Velvet Underground and Anthony Burgess totally rocked my world in the eighth grade! I guess I started collecting music heavily in my late teens when I started working. At first, I would spend all of my tips from the coffee shop on CDs at the record store down the block, then eventually started digging into the record boxes on the floor. Now CDs are just a pain in my ass and an eyesore in my apartment.
“My favorite thing about Dust and Grooves is seeing how different people store and organize their collections, value their records, and share stories. Not everyone on here is a professional DJ, but everyone sincerely loves music.”
I don’t know if you noticed, but you are the first female collector featured here in Dust & Grooves. Any insight on that?
Of course, I noticed! And I feel very honored! First I want to say that this blog is already an amazing collection in itself because all of the people featured on it are different. My favorite thing about Dust and Grooves is seeing how different people store and organize their collections, value their records, and share stories. Not everyone on here is a professional DJ, but everyone sincerely loves music. It’s great! As for the girl-record collector thing, there are a lot of us out there but we’re still a minority. It always annoys me when people assume that my knowledge of music (or film) is stilted because I’m a girl, but on the other hand, until more girls wise up and start getting into more male-dominated hobbies like record collecting, I can’t really fault guys for being surprised when they find out that I do actually know a thing or two about music. I hate being looked at as an anomaly or gimmick but to a certain extent, I am. I know that just being a girl made my radio show more appealing to the higher-ups at the station but other DJs and listeners ended up reaching out to me because they liked the music that I was playing. And I hope that your readers will like my contribution to your awesome blog.
“It always annoys me when people assume that my knowledge of music (or film) is stilted because I’m a girl, but on the other hand, until more girls wise up and start getting into more male-dominated hobbies like record collecting, I can’t really fault guys for being surprised when they find out that I do actually know a thing or two about music.”
So you are into Prog Rock and Psych. How did you get into this specific genre? Can you trace it back to the source?
It all ties into years of working in retail, I have to say, and having a lot of listening time on my hands. I spent about 5 or 6 years working in a small used bookstore in Philly, where I was usually by myself. (R.I.P. Big Jar Books, by the way). So, I would listen to music alone in the store all day long. At a certain point, I started to get sick of lyrics and got pretty deep into guitar jams and extended instrumentals. There were already enough words in the books in the store. Then I started to get into the more “progressive” sounds, although that term is, of course, subjective. Prog rock became a new thing for me, and it just clicked. And introduced me to a lot of other genres along the way.
Margaret with her well-loved Jerry Moore LP.
Jerry Moore – Life Is A Constant Journey Home. “This is an excellent folk-rock album. Soulful singing with nice guitar playing by Eric Gale. An uncharacteristic album for its label, ESP-Disk.”
What’s your digging habit in this digital world? Do you go out to dig in basements and fleas, or are you an eBay expert? Have things changed for you since the web days?
I’ll admit that I am an eBay expert, but I am at the risk of coming across as a loser and going against the digger code of conduct. I guess I’m not really a digger. I’m a researcher, a seeker, and a browser (sorry for the zen-speak). I didn’t really consider myself a collector until I hit eBay, and “the sickness” that I see every day in our customers at Tropicalia kicked in. Before people got into downloading music, I would use eBay as a learning tool, browsing through certain seller’s stores and then researching particular albums using that piece-of-shit Allmusic guide site, hoping for an abbreviated audio clip or two. So I bought a lot of albums—both of the albums by the psych-pop band The Moon because I caught sight of the covers on eBay and then looked them up.
“I guess I’m not really a digger. I’m a researcher, a seeker, and a browser.”
The Moon – Without Earth. Margaret studying the liner notes of one of her favorite covers.
I had to put my Netflix account on hold a few months ago because my bank account balance was especially low, and I wanted to be able to bid another $5 on a record. That’s a little sick, but I won the auction! Of course, I’ve always made the rounds in record stores and occasionally flea markets too, but my favorite discoveries tend to come about through sharing and trading with friends and other DJs at the radio station and from building friendships with other record store owners and employees who offer me recommendations or kindly set things aside for me that they think I might like.
Name some holy grails from your collecting history.
Gal Costa’s second album. It’s not only an amazing Brazilian record, in my opinion it’s one of the top psych albums. Her backing band (Os Brazoes) uses their incredible musical talents to freak the fuck out, and her screams and vocal improvisations are amazing. Joel gave me an original copy in mint condition for Christmas, and I nearly passed out when I took it out of the bag. What a great boss! Maybe he thought I would take a break from draining his psych and prog stock afterward, but so far, that hasn’t happened. In general, though, original krautrock albums are pretty tough to find because (in my opinion), in addition to the rarity factor, they carry a wider appeal within the whole 70’s psych/prog genre. They’re percussion-based and have cooler sounds that appeal to people who like other types of music, like hip-hop or indie rock. I mean, I’ve seen kids breakdancing to Can in the subway! Krautrock is just cool like that. I have some nice original kraut albums, really gained through careful collecting over time. Because those are the types of records that burn up on eBay and sell for absurdly high prices.
Gal Costa – Gal. A classic Brazilian Tropicálica album, the namesake of the record store where Margaret works. “One of my favorite albums in my collection.”
Gal Costa’s first album! “This is an early ’80s reissue, and I’m okay with that. I hate to be prissy about reissues, but I can’t help it. Originals are always better.”
Terço. “Nice Brazilian heavy prog. Great riffs.”
Tom Zé – Estudando O Samba. “This album is so great. There’s no one else like him.”
Margaret adorns her face with The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band’s Vol. 3 – A Child’s Guide To Good & Evil.
The back cover of Vol. 3 – A Child’s Guide To Good & Evil, an album that subverts the ’60s pop/rock sound.
Another West Coast Pop LP, the group’s final album.
“The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was a mediocre band with some really corny tracks, but I love them nonetheless.”
I know that every “your favorite” question is a tough one, but can you name a few of your favorite album covers?
I’m partial to colorful, folk art-looking covers, like T2’s It’ll All Work Out in Boomland and the British band Nirvana’s The Story of Simon Simopath. Eddie Hazel’s Game Dames and Guitar Thangs is another favorite. Some of the packaging from the 70s is really out there. The hippies got indulgent. The poster insert for Donovan’s Cosmic Wheels is just ridiculous, and Hawkwind’s giant foldout cover for Space Ritual is something else. It’s the perfect artwork for a pinnacle space rock album!
T2 – It’ll All Work Out in Boomland. “Heavy prog-psych monster. The drummer, Peter Dunton, is also the singer. According to YouTube, he’s currently living in Thailand and performing with a new T2 formation in a local bar.”
“The guitarist Keith Cross (later of Cross & Ross) was a teenager when this album came out and he shreds like nobody’s business.”
The front cover of Nirvana’s (no, not that one) first LP.
Nirvana (the British psych-pop band)’s first album – The Story of Simon Simopath. “It’s got a wimpy sound, but I like it. They infamously sued Kurt Cobain’s Nirvana.”
Eddie Hazel – Game Dames and Guitar Thangs. “I didn’t have much money when I bought this album, but I had to have it. Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices for Eddie Hazel.”
Donavan’s 1973 LP Cosmic Wheels. A mix of pop/rock and glam sounds that brought Donavan back into the mainstream after a few self-produced records.
Margaret grins alongside her Donavan album insert.
“Donovan practicing his transcendental meditation in my bed.”
Hawkwind’s giant foldout cover for their live album Space Ritual. “This cover was clearly made by and for people using drugs. Boobs in space.”
This Hawkwind album foldout is bigger than Margaret’s torso.
Margaret gazes at the cover of Space Ritual, clearly a spiritual record.
Is there a specific musical instrument that attracts you when listening to music?
Fuzz guitar. E-bow-ed guitar playing. The mellotron (obviously). The harmonium, all kinds of synths, the mini-moog, hammond organ, moog taurus bass pedals, the Gizmotron! Slap bass is also a guilty pleasure of mine. Prog-sounds vary depending on the sub-genre. If you really want me to get specific, Mike Oldfield‘s guitar solo on Robert Wyatt’s Rock Bottom album kills me. “Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road” is the track. It’s three slightly different versions of the solo layered over each other.
Tell me about a dollar bin record you would never part with?
Queen II. I think I paid $2 for it at a record store in Brooklyn. My ex played it for me back when I first started to get into prog. I was skeptical then and maybe a little scared of it. A few years later, the $2 price tag made it a low-risk purchase, and I went for it.
Queen II – “I’ve played the entire back side on my radio show on two different occasions. Sorry, listeners; I hope you made it through.”
Tell me about a closed-down record store / Flea market you will grieve all your life.
EAT Records in Greenpoint, without a doubt. Now, it’s just a restaurant, but it used to be my personal favorite. The selection was always interesting, even when the stock was low, and the prices were very fair. It also provided me with an invaluable set of friends when I first moved to New York a few years ago and was living nearby. It’s where I met my friend Jeff Conklin, who introduced me to East Village Radio and is the most fun person to DJ with ever. Doug Pressman, who used to sell records there, now has a great shop in Williamsburg called the Record Grouch, and I’m anxious to see what the previous owner, Casey Block, decides to do next. I’m behind him 100%.
Tell me about a record that’s too weird to believe, even for a die-hard record fiend.
I’ll tell you something that’s weird to believe – this one track on the Osmond brother’s Brainstorm album, “Gotta Get Love.” It’s completely unreal. Mormon prog-psych at its finest…that’s not saying much, but you get my drift.
Margaret poses with Fripp & Eno’s first album as a collaborative duo.
Robert Fripp and Brian Eno‘s No Pussyfooting. “Frippertronics, man! Very cool layered guitar loops. I can’t remember where I found this, but I bought it based on the cover alone, without having heard the music. My radio show is the namesake of this album.”
Captain Beefheart’s Mirror Man. “I guess you could call this a progressive blues album. ‘Kandy Korn‘ is great. I’ve given up on trying to keep the cover in good shape. I’d rather enjoy listening to it than let it sit there quietly and look pretty.”
Who is the weirdest character in the world of digging?
Oh boy. There are too many, and it’s amazing how closely they resemble the characters I had to interact with when I was buying and selling used books. It would be rude to talk about specific people, but there is one guy worth mentioning because he’s actually very nice and often pleasant to deal with…he’s just obsessed with collecting Rudy Ray Moore albums. He has to own every Rudy Ray Moore album ever made, down to the last naked boob. Other record store employees in New York probably know who I’m talking about. I’ve also heard stories from my Brazilian friends about a guy who only collects Gal Costa’s India album…you know, the one with a closeup of her cameltoe on the cover. He must wallpaper his room with that cover or something.
Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes – Paix. “French, political, progressive-folk! What else? This lady is a true ‘acquired taste.'”
“I love this 45 by Birth Control, a German prog band that’s very hit or miss, mostly due to their awkward English vocals. This single, ‘Hope,’ isn’t on any of their studio albums, and was released instead as part of this cool ‘Progressive Pop’ series on the German label Ohr.”
This pile is just the beginning of Margaret’s sprawling collection. Pictured here is Goblin’s soundtrack for the Italian film Dawn of the Dead and Caravan’s For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night.
Who has the toughest record collection that you have ever seen?
My friend Cesar has the toughest record collection that I’ve never seen. He lives out in the Bronx, so I have yet to make it out to his place, but I know for certain that his collection is painful. I have him to thank for introducing me to Catherine Ribeiro a few years ago. After he gave me MP3 rips of his personal copies, her music grew on me slowly, and I recently bought an entire lot of her records from a seller in France. Though I still need a copy of Ame Debout, one of my favorites. Super weird shit!
34 Comments
Anonymous
LOVE YOU MARGARET!!!! Joel
TEA
I've been looking for that Wanderlea LP sittin' in the background!!!!!
Very nice collection!
Anonymous
came across this blog the other day. i have been going through and reading every interview from the start. Such great questions, and interesting photos. love looking at peoples collections.
a possible question to include could be about record cleaning/repairing techniques. i don't know, maybe that wont make such good reading?
everything i want in a blog and more.
Eilon Paz
That would be a good question. Thanks
Anonymous
Yet another one of great intreviews on this blog. Just love it. Big UP! /P from Sweden
Anonymous
Great blog! I think a good question would be to ask what equipment (turntables, speakers, etc) each collector uses. I also like the proposed question about vinyl cleaning tips.
Anonymous
Awesome post!!!
Thanks so much for your blog (all the work you do), I absolutely love it.
I agree, record cleaning/repairing techniques would be great!!!!
Anonymous
Whats the name of the song " Set me free - cause ive got to be !" ?
Filip
Anonymous
Great interview!
Please, please can we have a track list for the mix?!?
Margaret
Here's a track list:
1. Birth Control - Hope
2. The Moon - I Should Be Dreaming
3. Tom Ze - Toc
4. Black Merda - The Prophet
5. West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Until the Poorest of People Have Money to Spend
6. Catherine Ribeiro & Alpes - Jusqu'a Ce Que La Force Me Manque
7. T2 - J.L.T.
thanks again Eilon for putting together such a great blog!
Billy
Margaret, my home girl - great interview, great track list. You've given me several new sounds to look for during my next dig. Many thanks. All the best from Park Slope.
Anonymous
Quirky, cute, slightly geeky. Margaret is my dream girl!
sewa mobil
Very nice, thanks for sharing.
ajlounyinjurylaw
Great read. It put me back in time when the first time I noticed that records were no long sold in stores.
dnr
Nice. Because of this article I got turned on to Gal Costa.
Thanks so much to you and Margaret.
dj ny
Great article, so good to see female record collectors/ djs out there. THanks for sharing.
Anonymous
Hey Dude, I really love your blog since I'm a vinylist myself....but why the hack are there sooo few updates?? Greetings from good old Germany
Anonymous
Lyndon b
good to know their are plenty Of vinyl collectors out their ..in this age of youtube..great photo illustration too..
had to leave my records in storage while visit Saudi !
my youtube page is http://www.youtube.com/user/LyndonSoulGroove
if you want to take a look at my Djing..
x
catlover37
Even though I don't have a vinyl collection,I still like to call myself a "record collector"....cause I have lots of CDs,and I still listen to them,instead of downloading,and I had a fit when Tower Records and most other record stores started closing.I'm a girl,and I have more cds than shoes,music is my passion,not shopping or other things I'm supposed to care about.
http://last.fm/user/catlover37
catlover37
Actually its probably better to think of myself as a music collector,instead of using the word "record".
http://last.fm/user/catlover37
Gen
Cool profile! Would love to see more women collectors on the site.
ribeiro
Je vous remercie "Infiniment"... Vous pouvez visiter ma page facebook : catherine ribeiro demoulin et vous pourrez écouter toutes les musiques que vous aimez.... Je me permets de vous embrasser. Catherine RIBEIRO. A très bientôt....
babelkot
Bonjour, Je t'écris en français car mon anglais est nul.J'admire ta culture musicale et ta collection(superbe). Cela fait plaisir de voir une jeune personne s'interesser aux autres cultures à travers la musique... Je te souhaite encore beaucoup de trouvailles et de bonheurs...Kiss..babelkot
amir
hello my name's Amir I'm from iran city tehran You Good Lp's you Ashra temple LP
amir
Hello it's good LP you Ashra temple lp
Matthew
Fills my heart to bursting to see young people discovering great music not of their own generation. To see a young woman folding out Hawkwind's Space Ritual gate-fold cover (an image that if I was 20 years younger would turn me on no end) and talk of Robert Wyatt like that... just amazing. Mind you, I, too, was that person in 1988... listening to Gong, Hawkwind, Here & Now, Pink Floyd and the likes... non of which was from my own era either. My six year old stepson now bounces around the house to Brainstorm and quotes Robert Calvert lyrics - the next generation in the making. proof that great music never dies.
no insight
why there are so little female record collectors on your blog. any insight on that? how do you find your protagonists? and why do you ask the few female records collectors on their insight on female records collectors, but none of the million male records collectors you are featuring on your blog?
Finyl Collector
Why are you looking for controversy where there is none? What kind of bored mixer are you? Jeez....
Geert Rysseb
Hello Margaret. This was very nice reading and you've got a very interesting collection. Glad to read it was saved from an fire !!! Concerning the Birth Control song 'Hope'. It was also relased on an album called 'The Best Of Birth Control - Believe In The Pill' with a controversial title at the time and an even more controversial record cover. It was released on the OHR label and is a very collectible album. Greetings and happy (record) hunting!
7x7
Oh Margaret, you are very cool. Great collection. I would love to share a house with you. Greetings from Australia.
Jack
I am theoretically in love on so many levels right now it's just ridiculous. Sudden urge to move to NY... Rock on, Margaret!
jam tangan online
thanks for sharing
jam tangan online
thanks you for sharing
Naz
Wow!... You are like the exact female version of me! What amazing taste you have... absolutely loved this article :)