Michael Kurtz
Now firmly established as an important part of the music retail ecosystem, Record Store Day was launched in 2008 as a celebration of the independent record store, as well as a means to boost consumer awareness of the mom-and-pop retailers that were still stocking new vinyl releases even as big music chains like Tower Records were going under. Initially conceived as an annual US event (but now expanded to a twice-yearly international one), RSD introduces hundreds of new limited-edition vinyl reis
Kassin
If you spot Alexandre Kassin in Rio de Janeiro’s Botafogo neighborhood, you'd be forgiven for thinking he might work at a tech startup around the corner. There is little about his demeanor or outward appearance to indicate that he is one of the most prolific and accomplished musicians, composers, producers, and arrangers in the contemporary Brazilian music scene. Despite his impressive body of work, filled with legendary names like Caetano, Elza, and Jorge Ben, Kassin prefers to stay far from
Mary G
Born and based in São Paulo, Brazil, Mariana Mendes Guarnieri—known as Mary G—has become a staple of the Brazilian house scene. It took years to break into the mainstream, but now she plays the biggest stages alongside artists who once filled her parents’ modest record collection. At the Coala Festival, she opened for the father of so many generations, Gilberto Gil, and at Blue Note São Paulo, she set the stage for the legendary “wizard” Hermeto Pascoal.
Pierpaolo De Sanctis
There are reissue labels and there are archive labels. Somewhere in between, in a league of their own, lies Rome’s Four Flies Records. Specializing in lost Italian soundtracks and library records of the 1960s and 1970s, much of the label's output was never previously available outside the world of Italian film and television production.
Avidan Weiss
Working in a record store feels like being a part of a secret society. Once you spend enough time behind the counter and serve enough weirdos, you’re in. Avidan and I have been proud members of this society since our wild and wacky twenties. The years were pre-vinyl revival, and mainstream CDs reigned supreme in […]
Alex Figueira
Like many subjects in the Dust & Grooves universe, Alex Figueira is also linked to Joel Stones, the Brazilian New York transplant who famously helmed the East Village record mecca Tropicália in Furs (R.I.P.). Alex’s love of Brazilian psychedelic music, among many other styles, led to him inviting Mr. Stones to record with him and some friends in Amsterdam for a project called Fumaça Preta (Black Smoke), including a couple of singles and one album released on Soundway Records in 2014.
Coco Maria
Coco Maria, real name Ana Lucia, was born and raised in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico, and got her start DJing “in sweaty basements” in London and Berlin in 2014. Two years later, she became more active and focused as a small club DJ, getting into radio around that time as well. Later on, she started doing her weekly radio show on Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM, and currently running her successful Breakfast Show at NTS, where she has a large international following and focuses on playing glo
Grace of Spades
Grace of Spades is unmissable: She has a shock of short, platinum hair, extremities covered in tattoos, and the confident, comfortable attitude of a native New Yorker in that takes-one-to-know-one way. Crucially, Grace is often found with a bag of big, big tunes. "At the end of the day, I'm here because I enjoy myself. I like seeing people enjoy themselves," Grace says of DJing while sipping a beer inside the Roxy Hotel on a torrentially rainy Friday evening. "Obviously, as a Virgo, controlling
Lefto
Belgian DJ Stephane Lallemand is phoenix-like, rebirthing himself and shedding his given name in flames to become Lefto Early Bird. With the keen sight of a hawk, he hones in on sounds, always the first to get the worm. As he says in our interview, “I was the guy who had everything before everyone, being the early bird, even before I was “(Lefto) Early Bird.” Finally, like a few exquisite birds, he has the majesty to fly the world over, nesting in his global family’s dance floors.
Deb Grant
As an erstwhile mod, and atheist Irish Jew who grew up in Dublin before being wooed by the bright lights of London, Deb Grant isn’t your average record collector or your average DJ. Her star has risen rapidly over the past few years as the club DJ and vocalist formerly known as Anne Frankenstein (she dropped the moniker post-pandemic when radio became her main artistic outlet) moved from London indie radio station Resonance FM, to be picked up by Jazz FM, and then taken on by BBC 6 Music to ho
