Pleased to announce we’ll be hosting an art show opening this Saturday August 27th featuring the work of @movezine and @onward_azure

#everythingpassesthrough

Both of these artists (and their work) engage music, sometimes directly, while in other ways the musicality feels more intuitive.
Most importantly, their work generates an interesting dialogue. Rather than a two-person show, one might term this month-long installation a duo session.
Show runs from Aug 27th - Oct 1st.

fundraiser 2021: SIGNED COPIES OF Paul’s boutique

UPDATE: NEW ITEMS ADDED!

one of a kind signed james McNew Drawing for auction

Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz, et al.: $50

For our third annual summer fundraiser, social media provided a meaningful connection and we couldn’t be more excited.  

In late May we scored some original copies of Paul’s Boutique (Capitol, 1989) and someone in our feed linked us to Jeremy Shatan. Shatan photographed the iconic 8-panel jacket for this Beastie Boys classic.  Feels amazing how simple our connection was had, and the details and overlap linking Shatan to the Beastie Boys, proved even more impactful.      

In 1980, Jeremy Shatan was Michael Diamond’s childhood friend and, together with John Berry and later Kate Schellenbach, formed Young Aborigines.  Halfway through the summer of 1981 with Shatan working at a bakery in the Berkshires, the other three Young Aborigines—with the addition of Adam Yauch—became the Beastie Boys.  

Shatan went on to study photography at SUNY Purchase and soon began working professionally in the field, eventually having a 10-year career shooting editorial, advertising, and covers for albums and books. But we've gotten ahead of ourselves here. While still apprenticing, a conversation at lunch with Mike D. prompted Shatan to offer to take photographs that would later be used for Paul’s Boutique, inspired by a panoramic design idea that required renting equipment and hiring an assistant. On a cold morning in April 1989 Shatan captured the corner of 99 Rivington Street, shooting thirty rolls in a 360-degree panorama that included Ludlow Street and the broader ambience of the Lower East Side.  Shatan and the team then travelled north to a rooftop in Midtown, 101 Park Avenue, to capture more images. 

Though the album credits list the photographer as Nathanial Hornblower, a nom de plume used elsewhere by Adam Yauch, Shatan’s photographs were used for the cover of Paul’s Boutique.   

Now to the benefit:

• Shatan has signed ten signed copies of Paul’s Boutique.  These are 2019 represses and not the original 8-panel design.  100% of the money from these purchases will be donated to Human Rights Watch.

• We also have two copies of the 8-panel original version of Paul’s Boutique for sale.  Jeremy has kindly offered a signed copy of a rarely seen photograph of Mike Diamond and Adam Yauch taken in 1981 on the roof of John Berry’s loft at 100th Street and Broadway. This personally inscribed edition will accompany the two original LPs. From our vantage point looking back now, this incidental image captures a transition to something big, very big.  Portions of these two sales will also go to Human Rights Watch.  Please email brian@recordgrouch.com for details and quotes.

Thanks to Jeremy Shatan for the support in helping us realize this fundraiser.

Congratulations to the winners of the Grouch Reaches Out Raffle Fundraiser!

David Grubbs/Susan Howe: Joseph Piccirillo

Rich Jacobs: Thomas Pavlich

Lance Scott Walker: Michael Etten

Yo La Tengo: Matthew Walker

Sunwatchers: Steve Smith

These have been anxious times for everyone, especially those most vulnerable and living on the margins.  Record Grouch wants to lend some support.  As a small shop doing business in the northernmost part of Brooklyn, we are reminded daily why community matters and how the local impacts the everyday.  We couldn’t have made it through the pandemic shutdown without our local community’s support. 

This fundraiser aims to look beyond our immediate neighborhood while offering a reminder of how all concerns remain local and inter-connected.  Members of our community have stepped up to offer their work to raise money for specific regional causes. These local causes and organizations reveal how it is our responsibility to try to make this a better world, as one place and region leans on the other.  

We will offer five raffles involving the following artists, musicians and writers, all of whom share a history and connection to our small shop: Yo La Tengo; David Grubbs and Susan Howe; Lance Scott Walker (author of Houston Rap Tapes: An Oral History of Bayou City Hip-Hop and a forthcoming book on DJ Screw); our very own Rich Jacobs (artist, archivist and curator extraordinaire); and the pride of our neighborhood, Brooklyn’s Sunwatchers. We are thrilled that these folks donated their talent and work to our fundraiser.

100% of all money raised will be divided equally among five regional organizations, groups that also inspire us with their hard work and mission: Houston Food Bank (TX); Louisville Community Bail Fund (KY); Southern Workers Assembly (NC); Creative Growth (CA); International Neighbors (VA).