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I love record stores and the discovery that happens when old stock mixes with new. More recently I've been getting deeper into art books and love buying books for people as gifts. NYC has a great community of shops like Karma and Mast, and thereās a gaggle of independent vendors that work the fairs like the Printed Matter MoMA PS1 Art Book Fair. I started going to the fairs a few years ago. They are like record fairs but even crustier in some ways, full of curmudgeons and characters. Check The Booksellers documentary for a nice slice of this world. I have met a few dealers and developed some rapport, one of which is Jeff Hirsch Books in Illinois, which has an incredible inventory and their sales emails are one of my favorites of all types. Even if you donāt buy, you learn something.
Apr 6, 2021
Related Recs
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Firstly, Printed Matter duh. I love it there, it truly is a hub of cultural phenomenons and information on everything and anything you can find in book-form. I also checked out Climax recently since they opened their East Village location. SOOOOO cute. very small, but amazing amazing selection. Dashwood is a classic. Miwa has my heart, shoutout her. Mast is cool but they give a little too pretentious for my liking. I still go in every time I pass it though. Karma is sick, has a really cool collection of Purple's first volumes and such. But I'm looking for more shops, lmk where I should gooooo!
Sep 18, 2024
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High Valley Books is Bill Hallās vast collection of rare and out of print books and magazines spanning fashion, art, architecture, interiors, photography, and fiction. It is run out of his Greenpoint basement (and now upstairs annex). My girlfriend Hannah is a writer and former bookseller who put me on to his place when she found a great copy of The Last Whole Earth Catalogue for me a couple years ago, and weāve had the pleasure of experiencing Billās hospitality and deep knowledge on a few occasions since then. They have an online store if youāre not in NY and their āNew Releasesā email is one of the few recurring retail emails I would recommend subscribing to.
Dec 7, 2021
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agnostic about my current neighborhood... but I love passing by and talking to the guy who just comes with tons of books, and we shoot the shit about music we're into for like, hours. this is what new york city's all about i guess
Sep 26, 2024
Top Recs from @sam-valenti
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Prob fave this year
Dec 10, 2023
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I started a playlist series called Herb Sundays, which came out of posting sort of uncool (āherb-yā) records that I was listening to online and thinking about how the perfect Sunday records get played when other people arenāt looking. I don't feel bad plugging this series because itās free and the mixes are by other people than myself. I donāt think I could host a podcast so this scratches the itch of inviting interesting people to contribute to something beyond my regular job, and its also purely for fun. Music discovery is one of lifeās great gifts. A good new song can make your week, and a good mix can make your day. This series is also a love letter to the Mixtape. I still think a hand-cranked mix is one of the greatest DIY projects as far low-effort satisfaction on both ends of the chain. Iām not anti-algo on the whole, it has a place, but you can feel it when someone puts time into making a great mix.
Apr 6, 2021
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Stripping back the cult of ENO and just looking at the music, Music For Airports has got it all. Forget the Isaac Newton-y backstory (TLDR: Eno is bedridden while recuperating after being hit by a car, friend visits and puts on record, volume too low to āhearā properly, turntable too far to reach, the idea of music as room ātintā ensues), and the brilliance of the technical execution, the tunes are what matter here. I actually met ENO once, yes, in an airport. I associate this music along with a lot of the ENO cannon as the search for a romantic life. That there is more going on than meets the eye, but only if you look for it. Also the idea of Eno as the consummate ānon-musicianā is very appealing/comforting to me. Eno apparently said he sought to create music āas ignorable as it is interestingā which is great, and is coincidentally the basis of my personality.
Apr 6, 2021