October? No, Release Month | Roll on the Press | Recent Interviews | Newsletter News | The Vinyl Motherlode | Record Fairs | Affiliate Program | (Marginally) Older, Naturally Wiser | Brooklyn It’s Time
Fiona here, here to update you from the Dust & Grooves editorial desk.
We’re heading into October now (how it’s closer to December to January I don’t know) and things are falling into place! It’s no accident though, so let me tell you how we’ve done it this month.
With the book release brewing, we’ve had some time to drop some more features and projects, and as I’m writing this, I’m realizing the speed at which we do this is actually pretty impressive. We have more content, collaborators, and celebrations, so strap in!
October? No, Release Month
Have we mentioned that Dust & Grooves Volume 2 officially drops October 15th? It’s happening. It’s getting closer and closer and we can’t wait for you to finally have it in your hands! They are sitting in our warehouses and desperately asking if they can go home soon, and I’ll be able to tell them the news they want to hear. Start clearing shelves, coffee tables, and downstairs bathrooms. By the time I write the next set of Editorial Notes, you’ll be knees deep in the book! Eilon revealed to me that “the lead up to release day is undeniably stressful. I’m embracing the stress by trusting my instinct and the people around me, but I really can’t wait to just let loose and celebrate!”
Roll on the Press
Mid-September was very groovy indeed when we got featured in Rolling Stone magazine, heard of it? It was really cool and it’s great that not only us, but the vinyl community is getting recognition around the world and in more mainstream outlets. While we’re very proud to be independent, pushes like this help records stay alive, and make it even more exciting to be publishing all this fun stuff about it. We were also lucky to be featured in Electronic Sound magazine, where Eilon spoke about how Alex Paterson’s interview came to be, and how exactly he opened up in the interview.
Recent Interviews
As always, we are thrilled to keep releasing our long-read interviews with collectors from around the globe as we remain hopeful about our generation’s ability to read. This month has been great, with DJ and documentarian Melissa Dueñas, and Orb royalty Alex Paterson. Melissa spoke to the great Jessica Lipsky (in simple terms) about how there is just so much music out there, by such underrepresented people, saying “Women have always been in music. Women have always been collecting records, and just because they haven’t dominated public spaces and not been included in a lot of narratives, doesn’t mean they haven’t always been here,” This volume of music also means a vast amount of stories that come alongside them, which nods to Melissa’s East Side Story project, looking for the identities attached to records in the Chicano community—definitely worth checking out. Check it here.
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless. “This record, just the sound of it, is timeless in the sense that it sounds like it could be now. There are so many people who have tried, but failed to imitate My Bloody Valentine. Especially this album! They had an insane budget for the time and that got them dropped by Creation Records. So a lot of excess—I think that’s why I like it. Oh man, it just makes me want to curl up and cry!”
East Side Story LP Compilations, Volumes 1-12. “The creator of these compilations said this was just a business venture for him. It was very well calculated, curated, he called it his ‘product.’ He’s very much on the outside. He started selling records at the Starlight Swap Meet, selling oldies and bootlegging his own 45s. Then someone’s like, ‘Oh, make a compilation.’ He made one, turning out to be a jackpot. I wanted him to tell me the stories of all the covers, but he didn’t remember because sometimes he wasn’t there and it wasn’t his community. There are 12 volumes and there are three people [from all the cover images] that I have not identified.”
No Artist – The House Committee on Un-American Activities Recordings from Hearings in San Francisco, May, 1960. Excerpts from the actual hearings, interviews outside the courtroom, and from eye-witness accounts. “One for all ye Americans out there, to really try and suss out how fucked up your society was in the ‘50s, The House Committee of Un-American Activities. Another little gem that is on Folkways, which to me, is probably the best label for authentic weird shit.”
Ossie All Stars – Leggo Dub Part One. Ossie Hibbert was a Jamaican reggae producer and keyboardist who played in a number of different groups. In the late-1970s he became a producer at Channel One Studios, Jamaica. He opened his own production company in the 1980s, working with many of the reggae greats into the 2000s. “This is my favorite dub album ever. It wouldn’t leave my top ten. I grew up with it, it’s something that I remember listening to when I was seventeen, eighteen years old, and I still like it. This is an original Leggo Dub. True to the way I look after my records, it hasn’t got an inner sleeve, but it also hasn’t got any track titles on this particular version. I marked one of them ‘A-Dog’ [‘Doberman Skank’] because it’s a big dog barking tune. That was the inspiration for ‘Towers of Dub’ without a shadow of a doubt and gave us humor. A wonderful album that I will take to the grave with me.”
Newsletter News
We’re so excited that in September we started our newsletter, You Dig? and we have a brand new issue coming out this weekend. This is a monthly newsletter for subscribers and covers all things music and culture. It is a monthly curation of all that’s cool from the Dust & Grooves HQ and the incredible vinyl community around us. We have the incredible Rich Headland, award-winning editor and creator of the really cool Substack Record Shop Stories, as our resident editor, looking after the project wonderfully.
The main chunk of You Dig? is Dust & Grooves Curates. This segment is curated by a different friend of ours each issue, with Yale Evelev from Luaka Bop giving the rundown in the October issue, telling us what records are in his bag right now, which labels he’s digging, and even the Instagram accounts that he’s currently distracting himself with. We all do it. Look out for new issues dropping on the first Saturday of every month.
The Vinyl Motherlode Giveaway
You’ll wanna listen in for this one. To celebrate the release of Dust & Grooves Volume 2, we’re doing a huge giveaway—with one lucky winner gaining a huge load of prizes valued at over $3000! We’re calling it The Vinyl Motherlode, as it includes a whole variety of records, and state-of-the-art equipment to go alongside them.
Each week, we will reveal a new part of the prize load on our website and socials. Be sure to follow us so you don’t miss out on announcements. You have multiple chances to win, so check back every week to see the additions to the grand prize. Enter the giveaway here and make sure you come back each week to unlock more options to enter and reveal more prizes.
Meet Us At The (Record) Fairs
Get your calendars at the ready, people. We are heading to a couple of the world’s most important vinyl record fairs, WMFU on 1st and 2nd November in Manhattan; WMFU is a listener-supported radio station who will be holding their fair in the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan with a range of dealers at the scene.
There’s also Record Planet’s 59th Mega Record Fair in Den Bosch, Netherlands on 8-10th November, where music lovers from all around the globe gather to dig, attend book presentations, live performances, and exhibitions. This is also my neck of the woods, so I might see you there! Wherever you’re based, it would be really good to see you at either event if you can make it—we love meeting you! Come say hello, meet us in real life and get your copy of the book signed!
Get filthy rich with our Affiliate Program!
We have an offer for you that you can’t refuse. It includes money! There’s a new chance for you to be involved in our sales. This is open to absolutely everybody, not just collectors or members. Are you passionate about records? Do you love Money? Would you consider yourself a hustler? No matter your answer to these trick questions, this opportunity might be for you. You can register on our website, and you will receive a personal link. With this link, you will refer a friend (or acquaintance) to our store and when they buy something, you will make a whole 12% off it. Come on! This is really fun for us as we love to get everyone involved in our community, and we want to see which one of you is the biggest hustler. The cost of living is real, guys, and this program makes winners of us all.
(Marginally) Older, Naturally Wiser
The Dust & Grooves HQ has been home to celebration this month with Eilon celebrating his 50th birthday! That’s right, and he doesn’t look a day over 49. He has done his best to relax a little, as he should, but times here at DG are never quiet. Eilon took to a five-day hike in the Dolomites with a group of his oldest and closest pals to get out of the stress and into the mountains. He conquered the mountains, but left room for a little stress in the pit stops to keep up with launching, editing, and catching up with me and many others! Eilon has noted that the milestone “feels no different. The only thing that’s older are the jokes.”
The celebration has been happening in Italy together with Eilon’s Italian friends Gio and Vale and Eilon’s girlfriend Mun, which on a more selfish note (I am based in Europe) is wonderful for me. However, one of my working days this month happened to be in a tent on the coast of Albania—don’t ask—and let me tell you, laptops, tents, and torrential rain is not a feat for the fainthearted. Or the uninsured…
Brooklyn, It’s Time
Speaking of celebrations, just a departing note, remember that Saturday, October 26th Brooklyn release event at Public Records.
You’re welcome to join from the afternoon onwards, and get groovy with featured collectors spinning, and some good drinks, of course and meet with Eilon and other fellow team member…and…get your copy of Dust & Grooves V2 and Portbales signed!
We already have quite a superb line up of selectors confirmed, all featured in Dust & Grooves Volume 1 and 2.
Kristine Barilli, Cole Evelev, Shawn Dub, Grace of Spades, Dave Ma, Carter Van Pelt, DJ Scribe, Mc Boing Boing, DJ Turmix, Mr. Big Happy, DJ Strobe and surprise guests will be rotating on the decks from 4 to 10 PM
Click here to RSVP.
Till next time folks, keep spinnin’
Fiona, Eilon, and the Dust & Grooves team.
