Music
WFMU
Spectacular freeform, non-commercial, listener-supported radio since 1958, and home to my show, “Sophisticated Boom Boom” on Friday afternoons from 3-6pm EST.
Cue Castanets!
Following in the tradition of Philately fanzine and PSAS, this Swedish “Wall of Sound” devotee dishes out his favorite Spector sound-a-likes, interviews writers, producers, and Spector fans, and offers a consistent place on the web for “in-depth writing on Spector’s forays in the studio.”
Ace Records
British reissue label renowned for unearthing long-lost gems and stellar pop hits from the ’50s-’80s. Home to my Japanese girl-pop compilations Nippon Girls, as well as to Chartbusters, Where the Girls Are, the Songwriters Series, and so many more of the finest compilations put together by music lovers + aficionados.
Dust & Grooves
This photographic tribute to record collectors worldwide began as a website by Israeli photographer Eilon Paz, and has since evolved into an enormous 436-page coffee table book featuring 130 vinyl collectors and their collections. I am most delighted to be one of the collectors featured in Dust & Grooves: Adventures in Record Collecting, and I also edited the book.
Boogaloo Bag
New York’s vibrant sixties scene is due in part to the sounds + enthusiasm of Phast Phreddie, aka Boogaloo Omnibus, who can be found hosting Dynagroove at Teddy’s in Williamsburg, guest-DJing at numerous ’60s parties (Subway Soul Club, Smashed! Blocked!), and promoting all record-collecting-related activities in the NY area. E-mail earlbostic (at) gmail.com to join his mailing list.
ARChive of Contemporary Music
The aforementioned Phast Phreddie also works at the ARChive of Contemporary Music, a music archive + library that houses it 2-million plus collection of records, CDs, books, and memoribilia in downtown Manhattan. Members + fans regularly update their blog with news of record sales, events, and music finds!
Project Thirty-Three
A shrine to vintage album covers designed by lovers of dots, circles, squares, and rectangles. A modernist’s wet dream!
Norton Records
New York-based record label Norton, took a heavy hit from Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed much of its back catalogue housed in their Red Hook warehouse. This couldn’t be a better time to support this 27-year-old label and check out their large array of garage, rock n’ roll, rockabilly, and most importantly, Shangri Las + Mary Weiss records!
Saint Etienne
Home of modernist pop group, Saint Etienne.
Makes You Think
Adam Curtis
He’s been called Britain’s greatest documentary filmmaker, and after having watched his four-part series “The Century Of the Self,” I’m sold. This brief description can’t possibly do justice to the riveting, stop-and-make-you-think, fact-heavy, visual collages that he’s concocted since 1983, so I suggest you take a look at his extensive filmography, and take your pick. All are available to watch for free online.
The Idler
British loafer Tom Hodgkinson provides a much-needed antidote to our work-obsessed, shopaholic, unhappy culture with his idler manifestos (“How To Be Free” is my favorite). Both light-hearted and profound.
Oliver Burkeman
Guardian writer tackles the self-help industry, happiness, and social psychology with a healthy dose of British cynicism.
Miscellaneous
Friendly Spider Programme
I am a former arachnophobe turned arachnopile thanks to this life-altering course offered at the London Zoo.
Herb Lester
Trash your traditional guide books. London-based Herb Lester Associates publish handsomely-designed, pocket-sized guides to “the usual and unusual,” with impeccably-picked places to eat, drink, dawdle, and daydream. For both tourists and locals.