Event Central | Mission Impossible | Interview of the Month | NTS show with Mafalda | Mixcloud Collaboration | Motherlode-d! | We Need You!
Hey, Fiona at the editorial desk. I can’t believe we’re already coming to the end of 2024, with our last set of editorial notes for this year – December. What a year it’s been, and although I’ve only been here since August, I think I’ve experienced enough to know that Dust & Grooves is the train that doesn’t stop! Read on to see how we’ve been getting on this last month.
Event Central
Since the book releases, we’ve been hosting release parties all over the globe, with Brooklyn, Amsterdam, London, Lisbon, and Paris on the list so far. Because there’s so much to catch up on, and so much going on outside of the parties, we’ve thought it would be a good idea to create posts dedicated to our stand-out events, and you can check out the secrets, and a digital and Lomography photo gallery from London here.
We headed back to the US at the start of December for the Miami party on Friday 6th December hosted by Dante’s Hi-Fi. We’re super pumped for San Francisco at Discodelic on Thursday, 12th December, and two Los Angeles parties—one at Commonwave HiFi on 13th December, and Gold Line Bar closing the tour on Saturday, 14th December. Get down to a West Coast celebration if you can, they’ll be great!
Mission Possible
The shipments and logistics for the book across Europe have not been the most straightforward, with a couple of delays occurring through October. This is by no means a reason for Dust & Grooves to be defeated, but an opportunity to prepare for adventure. It was made apparent that getting books to London may prove difficult, so following our Record Planet stint in the Netherlands, Eilon decided to rent a car to get over to the Belgium warehouse to take matters into his own hands. That’s where the European warehouse is, by the way, Belgium. So once he got there, Eilon stacked up as many books as he could into a suitcase, and kidnapped them to London via the Eurostar. Promises will be kept! We were thrilled that the mission was accomplished, as so many of you wanted to buy the books, and we’re so grateful for that.
Interview of the Month
This month has been busy, so we are blessed to have an interview, especially with the lovely Mafalda. This is particularly exciting for me, as it was my first interview for Dust & Grooves. It was great to chat with Mafalda, and when we first spoke back in September, I was jealous of her being in sunny Lisbon and me in rainy Groningen, but her warmth and humor shone through the call with reassuring strength. After a few follow-ups, it was great to finally meet her at the London launch party at the BBE store. Mafalda often brings up the sentiment that music brings people together, and in this case she was definitely right. In the rest of the interview, Mafalda speaks about her love for Mac Miller, the tyranny of the dancefloor, and the pseudo-concept of guilty pleasures, saying “If it’s purely good, then yeah, there are no guilty pleasures.” Read the interview in full here, to be so kind and give my writer’s ego a little boost.
NTS show with Mafalda
Mafalda also very kindly invited Eilon onto her monthly NTS radio show, Tropic of Love during his time in London. This was great fun, and a great way to share some of the amazing pieces of music Eilon has been introduced to, and reminded of through his time meeting and talking to collectors. Listen back to the show here for some incredible tracks from the likes of Azymuth, Leroy Hutson, LOS YOYI, Frog of Earth, and many more. On the show that week, there was also a fabulous performance from Pink Shabab, a dance-pop genius, so be sure to check out his groovy stuff.
Mixcloud Collaboration
Another exciting endeavor this month has been the great collaborative blog post with our friends over at Mixcloud. In this collaboration, Eilon shared some stories with Yemi about the creation of Dust & Grooves Vol.2, covering his experiences and first impressions of some notable collectors. These collectors also have a great presence on Mixcloud, and Dust & Grooves’ favorite sets were highlighted, so you can get a sneak audio peek of what these collectors are really about. It’s a great character testimonial, you’ll see here.
Motherlode-d!
As you might have realized by now, the Dust & Grooves Vinyl Motherlode giveaway is well underway. It has been stacking up the last few weeks, with additions from Strut Records, Luaka Bop, Matsuli Music, AIAIAI, and Soundway Records. There are only a couple more weeks to go now, and with a current total of $1772, this is something you’ll definitely want to bag over the holiday season—don’t rely on questionable gifts from questionable family members!
We Need You!
We are currently in the process of creating a printed calendar for 2025, filling in the most crucial music dates of the year. As always, our content’s focal point is music and records. We include features like marking vinyl fairs and events across the globe throughout the year, milestones for classic albums, and the birthdays of iconic musicians. That’s where you come in. We would like your suggestions for which vinyl events, musician milestones, and any other ideas you may have to include for the 2025 DG calendar. We trust your taste, so please drop any suggestions through our next-level, top of the line, uber sophisticated… submission form. Oh… and please ask a friend to also get involved.
Until next year, keep spinning and grooving,
Fiona, Eilon, and the rest of the Dust & Grooves team.
