STAFF PICKS
our favorite MUSIC & BOOKS of
2023
GRIMEY
(founder/co-owner)
The Rolling Stones ‘Hackney Diamonds’
The Bis-Quits ‘The Bis-Quits’ Reissue
Photo Ops ‘Burns Bright’
Iggy Pop ‘Every Loser’
Wilco ‘Cousin’
Lillie Mae ‘Festival Eyes’
Altın Gün ‘Aşk’
Lauren Morrow ‘People Talk’
Snõõper ‘Super Snõõper’
Blonde Redhead ‘Sit Down for Dinner’
Bully ‘Lucky For You’
DOYLE
(co-owner/vinylist)
New records
Guided By Voices - Nowhere To Go But Up & Welshpool Frillies
Margo Price - Strays & Strays Live at Grimey’s
Bully - Lucky for You
Lydia Loveless - Nothin’s Gonna Stand In My Way Again
Wilco - Cousin
Anna Hillburg - Tired Girls
Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World
Geese - 3D Country
Jenny Lewis - Joy’All
Allison Russell - The Returner
Reissues, compilations & from the vaults
The Who - Who’s Next / Life House super deluxe
The Replacements - Tim: Let It Bleed edition
Shadow 15 - Days of Innocence 1983-1985
The Feelies - Some Kinda Love: Performing the Music of the Velvet Underground
Joni Mitchell - Archives Vol. 3: The Asylum Years 1972-75
Blossom Dearie - Discover Who I Am: Blossom In London, the Fontana Years 1966-70
Various Artists - Written In Their Hearts: The Stax Songwriter Demos
Jack Wilson - Easterly Winds
Jonathan Richman - Jonathan Goes Country
Nuggets 50th Anniversary box set
Books!
Paula Blackman - Night Train to Nashville: The Greatest Untold Story of Music City
Lucinda Williams - Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You: A Memoir
Sly Stone - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir
Katherine Rye Jewell - Live from the Underground: A History of College Radio
Heather Cox Richardson - Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America
ANNA
(store manager/Indie Pop Princess)
new, new records
boygenius - the record (Interscope)
Bully - Lucky for You (Sub Pop)
Feeble Little Horse - Girl With Fish (Saddle Creek)
Quasi - Breaking the Balls of History (Sub Pop)
Caitlin Rose - Cazimi (Missing Piece)
Seablite - Lemon Lights (Mt.St.Mtn.)
Marnie Stern - The Comeback Kid (Joyful Noise)
Swansea Sound - Twentieth Century (Skep Wax)
Sweeping Promises - Good Living Is Coming For You (Feels Like Records)
Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World (Matador Records)
new, old records
Bettie Seveert - Palomine (Matador Records)
The Chills - Brave Words: Spoken Bravely, the Remix (Fire Records)
Kate Fagan - I Don't Want To Be Too Cool (Captured Tracks)
Heavenly - Le Jardin de Heavenly (Skep Wax)
The Jesus & Mary Chain - munki (Fuzz Club)
The Particles - 1980s Bubble Gum (Chapter Music)
Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971 (Various Artists) (Smithsonian Folkways)
The Pooh Sticks - Straight Up: Noise Pollution C88-90 (Optic Nerve Recordings)
The Sea Urchins - Stardust (1972)
This is the Place: American Soul Music 1963-1974 (Various Artists) (Cairo Records)
WILL
(assistant manager/receiving major domo)
1. feeble little horse - girl with fish (Saddle Creek)
2. katie dey - never falter hero girl (self-released)
3. Lauren Bousfield - Salesforce (Orange Milk Records)
4. Kelela - Raven (Warp Records)
5. Caterina Barbieri - Myuthafoo (light-years)
6. Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You (Perpetual Novice)
7. Salami Rose Joe Louis - Akousmatikous (Brainfeeder)
8. Indigo de Souza - All of This Will End (Saddle Creek)
9. Hannah Jadagu - Aperture (Sub Pop)
10. Jessy Lanza - Love Hallucination (Hyperdub)
11. Melati ESP - Hipernatural (Carpark Records)
12. yeule - softscars (Ninja Tune)
13. Kate NV - WOW (RVNG Intl.)
14. Pépe - Reclaim (Lapsus Records)
15. Tanukichan - GIZMO (Company Records)
16. Yaeji - With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
17. Katie Gately - Fawn / Brute (Houndstooth)
18. Braids - Euphoric Recall (Secret City Records)
19. Laurel Halo - Atlas (Awe)
20. Sofia Kourtesis - Madres (Ninja Tune)
21. Tinashe - BB/ANG3L (Nice Life)
22. Nondi_ - Flood City Trax (Planet Mu)
23. L’Rain - I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)
24. Kali Malone - Does Spring Hide Its Joy (Ideologic Organ)
25. Waterbaby - 22° Halo (Untitled (Recs))
26. Tirzah - trip9love…??? (Domino Recording Co.)
27. Hannah Diamond - Perfect Picture (PC Music)
28. Brandon Juhans - In Scribble (Plasty ltd)
29. Salamanda - In Parallel (Wisdom Teeth)
30. Wednesday - Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans)
31. Glasser - Crux (One Little Independent Records)
32. Natural Wonder Beauty Concept - Natural Wonder Beauty Concept (Mexican Summer)
33. Frankie Rose - Love as Projection (Slumberland Records)
34. Y La Bamba - Lucha (Tender Loving Empire)
35. Gacha Bakradze - Pancakes (Lapsus Records)
36. Tim Hecker - No Highs (kranky)
37. Beta Librae - Daystar (Incienso)
38. Earth Trax - Closer Now (Lapsus Records)
39. Deerhoof - Miracle-Level (Joyful Noise Recordings)
40. slán - slán (Mines Clarence)
41. Mitski - The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans)
42. David August - VĪS (99CHANTS)
43. Marina Herlop - Nekkuja (PAN)
44. Imaginary Softwoods - The Notional Pastures of Imaginary Softwoods (Field Records)
45. Decisive Pink - Ticket to Fame (Fire Records)
46. Forest Swords - Bolted (Ninja Tune)
47. PJ Harvey - I Inside the Old Year Dying (Partisan Records)
48. Xiu Xiu - Ignore Grief (Polyvinyl Records)
49. Loraine James - Gentle Confrontation (Hyperdub)
50. ML Buch - Suntub (15 Love)
JASON
(bookstore major domo/preloved music buyer/trickster sage)
New Releases:
Shana Cleveland - Manzanita
Blood Ceremony - The Old Ways Remain
Brigid Mae Power - Dream From the Deep Well
Sally Anne Morgan - Carrying
Peter One - Come Back To Me
Meg Baird - Furling
Corrine Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows
Pretenders - Relentless
Tre Burt - Traffic Fiction
The Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds
Bob Dylan - Shadow Kingdom
Archival/Vault/Reissues:
The Who - Who's Next / Lifehouse Super Deluxe Edition
The Replacements - Tim: Let It Bleed Edition
De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising / De La Soul is Dead / Buhloone Mindstate / Stakes Is High
Neil Young & Santa Monica Flyers - Somewhere Under the Rainbow Live 1973
Little Feat - Sailin Shoes / Dixie Chicken Deluxe Editions
Maxx Traxx & Third Rail - Maxx Traxx: Third Rail
Husker Du - Tonite Longhorn
Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
Helene Smith - I Am Controlled By Your Love
Alice Cooper - Killer / School's Out Expanded & Remastered
TYLER
(preloved music buyer/resident cinema expert/sound conductor)
Top 10
1. Wilco - Cousins
2. Josh Ritter - Spectral Lines
3. Caitlin Rose - Cazimi
4. Bob Dylan - Shadow Kingdom
5. Iris Dement - Workin' On A World
6. Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World
7. Wednesday - Rat Saw God
8. Bully - Lucky For You
9. Guided By Voices - Nowhere To Go But Up
10. Tre Burt - Traffic Fiction
Reissues/Live Releases
Nuggets 50th Anniversary Box
Grant Green - Live At Club Mozambique
Grateful Dead - Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA 3/2/1969
The Replacements - Tim
My Morning Jacket - Live From Bonnaroo 2004
STEPHEN
(head silly goose/hardcore to pop girlie pipeline)
Quite Loud
100 gecs - 10,000 gecs
be your own PET - Mommy
Buggin - Concrete Cowboys
Drain - Living Proof
GEL - Only Constant
Khassarat - How Many More Must Perish In The Pursuit Of Hope? [EP]
MOVE - Black Radical Love
No Model - The Demo [EP]
Pure Terror - Blood Oath [EP]
Zulu - A New Tomorrow
Less Loud
Najib Alhoush & The Free Music - Free Music Part 1
André 3000 - New Blue Sun
Beach House - Become [EP]
Black Belt Eagle Scout - The Land, The Water, The Sky
Yussef Dayes - Black Classical Music
Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loveliest Time
Mitski - The Land Is Inhospitable & So Are We
Noname - Sundial
Janelle Monáe - The Age Of Pleasure
Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
Vagabon - Sorry I Haven’t Called
Favorite live sets
Brian Brown @ Drkmttr
Weyes Blood, Vagabon @ Brooklyn Bowl
Feist @ Brooklyn Bowl
Wednesday @ Basement East
Beyoncé @ Nissan Stadium
be your own PET @ Grimey’s
Zulu, Soul Glo, Playytime @ Exit/In
Thelma & the Sleaze @ Soft Junk
Arlana @ Nashville Public Library
GEL, Initiate, Glare @ The East Room
SPY, Toner, Spaced, Bazookatooth @ Drkmttr
Angel Olsen, Joanna Sternberg @ Brooklyn Bowl
ALEX
(director of preciousness/sandwich board funnyman)
1. Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
2. Kelela - Raven
3. Amaarae - Fountain Baby
4. Avalon Emerson - & the Charm
5. ML Buch - Suntub
6. DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ - Destiny
7. Yeule - Softscars
8. SZA - SOS
9. Fever Ray - Radical Romantics
10. Liv.e - Girl in the Half Pearl
11. Tirzah - trip9love…???
12. Hannah Diamond - Perfect Picture
13. The Japanese House - In the End It Always Does
14. Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord Who Chews but which Does Not Consume…
15. Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
16. Tinashe - BB / ANG3L
17. Sofia Kourtesis - Madres
18. Laurel Halo - Atlas
19. Midwife & Vyva Melinkolya - Orbweaving
20. Kali Uchis - Red Moon in Venus
21. PinkPantheress - Heaven Knows
22. Glasser - Crux
23. Hannah Jadagu - Aperture
24. Romy - Mid Air
25. Troye Sivan - Something to Give Each Other
MERIT
(consignment coordinator/colorful hairs/guitar calculus)
Fav Vinyl Releases:
Feeble Little Horse - Girl With Fish
Frou Frou - Off Cuts
Marina Herlop - Pripyat
Hannah Jadagu - Aperture
Jesus Piece - …So Unknown
Kelela - Raven
L'Rain - I Killed Your Dog
Janelle Monáe - Age of Pleasure
Corrine Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows
Scowl - Psychic Dance Routine
SOOT, Waxed - Idlewild
Marnie Stern - Comeback Kid
Joanna Sternberg - I've Got Me
Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
SZA - SOS
Wednesday - Rat Saw God
Y La Bamba - Lucha
Yaeji - With A Hammer
Zulu - A New Tomorrow
Fav Live Shows:
Angel Olsen w/ Joanna Sternberg @ Brooklyn Bowl
True Variety Festival @ The Cobra
The Wonder Years w/ Sweet Pill @ Brooklyn Bowl
Corrine Bailey Rae @ CMA Theater
SOOT, Waxed, Brian Brown, Circle K @ The Blue Room
Beyonce @ Nissan Stadium
Pouzza Festival in Montreal
Rico Nasty @ Eastside Bowl
Breeders w/ Bully @ The Basement East
JACKSON
(voracious music eater/image wizard)
John Francis Flynn - Look Over the Wall, See the Sky
Joanna Sternberg - I’ve Got Me
Sparklehorse - Bird Machine
Hotline TNT - Cartwheel
Larry June & The Alchemist - The Great Escape
Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist - Voir Dire
Vincent Neil Emerson - The Golden Crystal Kingdom
Wednesday - Rat Saw God
Jess Williamson - Time Ain’t Accidental
Hannah Jadagu - Aperture
Cut Worms - Cut Worms
MICAH
(enthusiasm/gregariousness/knows all the best angles)
Boldy James/RichGains - Indiana Jones
Eartheater - Powders
John Francis Flynn - Look Over the Wall, See the Sky
MIKE - Burning Desire
Earl Sweatshirt - VOIR DIRE
Danny Brown - Quaranta
Billy Woods - Maps
The Joy of Sharing - The Joy of Sharing
Brìghde Chaimbeul - Carry Them with Us
Lankum - False Lankum
Geese - 3D Country
Jesus Piece - ...So Unknown
Lauren Bousfield - Salesforce
Portrayal of Guilt - Devil Music EP
Larry June and The Alchemist - The Great Escape
Godcaster - Godcaster
Sightless Pit - Lockstep Bloodwar
Pile - All Fiction
COSA
(unshakably patient)
Favorite Albums of 2023
Mitski - The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We
Hannah Jadagu - Aperture
PinkPantheress - Heaven Knows
Samia - Honey
Annie DiRusso - God I Hate This Place EP
NewJeans - 2nd EP ‘Get Up’
SZA - SOS
Blondshell - Blondshell
Kiana - Grudges
Abby Hamilton - #1 Zookeeper(of the San Diego Zoo)
Paramore - This is Why
Tkay Maizda - Sweet Justice
Mali Velasquez - I’m Green
The Japanese House - In the End It Always Does
Zulu - A New Tomorrow
Caroline Polachek - Desire I Want to Turn Into You
Victoria Monet - Jaguar 2
Karol G - Mañana Sera Bonita
Aunty Rayzor - Viral Wreckage
Kelela - Raven
Kali Uchis - Red Moon In Venus
Arlo Parks - My Soft Machine
Wednesday - Rat Saw God
Indigo De Souza - All of this Will End
Scouty - Season 2
Jpegmafia and Danny Brown - Scaring the Hoes
Sobs - Air Guitar
Rauw Alejandro - Saturno
Janelle Monáe - The Age of Pleasure
Troye Sivan - Something to Give Each Other
James Blake - Playing Robots Into Heaven
Key Glock - Glockoma 2
Corrine Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows
Favorite Reissue
FIONA APPLE
Favorite Concerts of the Year
Rina Sawayama at Bonnaroo
Rico Nasty at Eastside Bowl
Sza at Bridgestone Arena
Twice at Truist Park
Billie Eilish at Music Midtown
Madison Cunningham at Ascend Amphitheater
Zulu at Exit/In
Samia at Brooklyn Bowl
Hannah Jadagu at Drkmttr
Annie DiRusso at The Basement East
Abby Hamilton at The Basement
Japanese House at Marathon Music Works
Caroline Polachek/Ethel Cain at Ryman Auditorium
JULIA
(relentlessly personable)
Paramore - This Is Why
Arlo Parks - My Soft Machine
Indigo De Souza - All Of This Will End
The Japanese House - In The End It Always Does
Hello Mary - Hello Mary
Briston Maroney - Ultrapure
Wednesday - Rat Saw God
Blondshell - Blondshell
Samia - Honey
Annie DiRusso - God, I Hate This Place (Ep)
Dominic Fike - Sunburn
Del Water Gap - I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left Yet
Cleo Sol - Heaven
Hannah Jadagu - Aperture
Allison Russell - The Returner
Abby Hamilton - #1 Zookeeper (Of The San Diego Zoo)
Holly Humberstone - Paint My Bedroom Black
Kiana Ledé - Grudges
Troye Sivan - Something To Give Each Other
Boygenius - The Record