Since we’re all a tight-knit music-lovin’ community, we created this segment so that some of our good friends who are doing good things in the industry of human happiness could share the records that they’ve been diggin’ on lately.
This edition of Grooves Shared features the great NYC shop, Record Grouch. After more than a decade of selling used records in Williamsburg, Doug Pressman launched Record Grouch at the now defunct Monster Island in 2010 and then in a small basement space at 441 Metropolitan Avenue.
In April 2012, Brian Gempp joined Pressman to open the new and improved Record Grouch at 986 Manhattan Avenue in the heart of Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
These picks were selected by Bubbie, Record Grouch’s resident mascot, peacekeeper and vinyl guru, who spends most of his days manning the front window or holding court in the rear of the store.
Bubbie with one of his favorite records from his college years, which he now considers the experimental period of his life.
Status Quo, Dog of Two Head (Pye, 1971)
Bubbie: Much like my master, I am an old blooze dawg at heart and when I just want to chill and listen to something while gnawing on a bone I go for some left-of-center British blues by Quo, or Status Quo to the less informed. I was initially attracted by the title and cover of this album, but was quite surprised that it was not your standard garage psych or blooze choogle typically associated with the Quo. Unfortunately, YouTube only has a crappy later shot of the band for my favorite track. Anyhow, check these blooze!
Black Dice, Mr. Impossible (Ribbon, 2012)
Bubbie: When I was just a puppy back in 2001, I came across something in the press about the “Brooklyn music scene” that didn’t quite sit right. The media was then—and to some degree, still is—trying to suggest that a diverse array of musicians living in Brooklyn seemed to share something in common beyond zip codes, fire hydrants, and gentrified street corners.
Lots of band (or is the word “brand”?) names were floating around back then—Liars, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Parts and Labor, USA is a Monster and, most important to my ears, Black Dice. While many of those bands moved on or disappeared, Black Dice still delivers the art/music goods and their music sounds like the perfect blend of screeching static and noise, held together with tail shaking rhythms.
Mr. Impossible is the sound of a prehistoric cockroach that will be living in Brooklyn, circa 2112—a monster that will outlive all of us and will help explain to the mutant dogs of the future what exactly it means to be, er, canine. If today’s masses were lucky, they’d be able to hear what I do when Mr. Impossible spins—so alien yet so familiar.
Call of the Wild Leave your Leather On (Kemado, 2012)
Bubbie: Sometimes I go for the harder stuff and I don’t mean acid kibble! I went to a show at Secret Project Robot here in Brooklyn a while back and remember wagging my tail and drooling all over the gravel in the yard as these guys shook the ground with some heavy thrashy N.W.O.B. H. meets Motorhead/Damned-esque jammerz.
I’ve gotten friendly with Call of the Wild’s drummer, Allison, though I don’t want to disclose the nature of our relationship. I will say she’s always slipping me a few too many Beggin’ Strips, if you know what I mean. Anyhow, their new album on Kemado is a monster and it drops on the 21st of August. Pick it up you turkeynecks sez the Bubster!
Giancarlo Toniutti & Conrad Schnitzler Кулáк (camma) (Urlo Panseri Editore, 1990)
Bubbie: A great duo recording. Toniutti uses acoustic sound-sources with analog treatments that feel almost pastoral in their presentation, though dark industrial undertones are constantly creeping in from all sides. Schnitzler does what Schnitzler did best—I can smell whiffs of Udine, Italy, and Berlin on both of these sides.
At times the record sounds heavy and weighted, like the Earth’s plates shifting. But I also hear the twittering of birds and can’t help but look up to the sky. This tension is exactly what I feel whenever I head out for a walk or stop by the dog park—the thrill of the chase . . . the back and forth of the tug . . . the mounting pressure of holding it in all day and the pleasure/pain of the long awaited release.
Jawbone – King Kong (Funky Monkey, 1976)
Bubbie: If (and when) I go clubbing I’m typically more into Techno or House, but I still wonder whatever happened to Illbient Raves? Anyhow, I picked this hot little glitter/disco 7″ penned by producer/arranger/songwriter-and-Gary Glitter hitmaker Michael Leander.
