Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
If this world were mine, I’d place at your feet / All that I own; you’ve been so good to me / If this world were mine / I’d give you the flowers, the birds and the bees / For with your love inside me, that would be all I need / If this world were mine / I’d give you anything
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It’s been a sad week in our “City of Angels.” The Kobe crash is weird and sad karma, and many are now asking why this is effecting us Los Angelenos so deeply. Of course I spent much of the early days of the week listening to sad songs. Today’s playlist muse, “Sadsong Street,” was penned by Richard Swift, another brilliant soul who met his end way too early. I used to tease Richard about his sad songs. Adored by many, somber tunes don’t often lead to fame and fortune in the record biz. Yet for my Idelic heart, I reach for these tunes in times of healing.
This week I couldn’t be help but think about basketball. I’ve long since stopped trying to explain the game’s significance to my upbringing in New York City. At a young age (ironically about the same age as my son Jonah) I wandered out to Central Park to play hoop. What I found was a world, community, a group of friends, heroes and villains, apart from my family and school.
Dallas, TX | After 46 years, Hit Records will close, take its final spin this weekend: Say goodbye to Hit Records at a two-day closeout sale this weekend. Hit Records was anything but a one-hit wonder. The record store in the Casa View Shopping Center will close after 46 years in business. Owner Ron Ross said on Facebook that the store’s lease is up, and he doesn’t agree with the new terms. He would rather sell than try to move, according to the post. A two-day closeout sale will take place from 3-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the record shop at 10253 Ferguson Road. “Come see Ron and buy a piece of record store history,” the Facebook post said. Ross began working at Hit Records in 1974, and bought the store in 1986, CultureMap reported. Over the years, rock bands, such as The Ramones, AC/DC and Aerosmith, have come through its doors. Every inch of Hit Records is covered in memorabilia, from Chuky dolls to baseball cards to a pair of Chuck Taylors signed by Marky Ramone. Oh yeah, the store 
Minneapolis, MN | Tes de Luna and Jason Hughes: The Curators: Tes de Luna and Jason Hughes’ introduction sounds straight out of an indie-rock rom-com. The owners of south Minneapolis record store/art boutique Rock Paper Scissors Goods initially crossed paths in Seattle, where de Luna was a regular at Hughes’ Sonic Boom Records. After hitting it off at an Elliott Smith concert in 2000, they went on their first proper date. Eventually, they would run small businesses next door to each other, get married, and have kids. De Luna, a Minneapolis native who graduated from MCAD in 1999, wanted to move the family back home. So they sold their Pacific Northwest shops and opened Rock Paper Scissors in 2018—a shop that combines their shared love of art and music under one roof. “We just wanted to use the knowledge from our former shops to start something new,” de Luna says. “Starting small in a new city made sense, and we hoped that creative folks would appreciate 
NEW RELEASE PICKS: Squarepusher, Be Up a Hello (Warp) When I learned Tom Jenkinson (the Englishman who is Squarepusher) had a new record out, I was surprised, excited and worried all at once. Surprised, because there hasn’t been a Squarepusher record in five years, excited because Jenkinson was amongst the first artists (along with Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards of Canada and a couple more) to turn me around to electronic stuff, and worried because such a long hiatus can foretell a diminishment of inspiration. Well, my fears were misplaced, as this set is a total success. Much of this is like video game music marinating in caffeine and adrenaline, but the anthemic pop angle in opener “Oberlove” is a cool twist. “Detroit People Mover” blends Nintendo and Moroder and offers contemplative regality. A-
Ross Goldstein, Timoka (Birdwatcher) Composer Goldstein’s latest continues the progressions established on his prior LP, 2018’s The Eighth House, specifically a change in direction away from psychedelia. 2017’s Inverted Jenny struck me as an orchestral pop record, and so, a transitional work, perhaps. Timoka definitely has moments, like right out of the gate with “Obsidian Cat,” that one could describe as orchestral (a digital version of the Mellotron is being used), but pop it is not. Instead, like The Eighth House, it exudes a soundtrack-like sensibility, in part through the record’s non-vocal nature, but also because Goldstein’s work is reminiscent of developments in creative film scoring from the ’60s-’80s, but without coming off like a faux OST. This last observation is very important to Timoka’s success. A-
Jason McMahon, Odd West (Shinkoyo) Here’s the solo debut of a Brooklyn guy who’s been in a lot of bands, most prominently The Skeletons (not the rootsy and defunct Missouri Skeletons), and if a first effort on his own, in large part due to experience it lacks in the tentative, which is doubly impressive as it finds McMahon, already an accomplished guitarist, diving into the deep end of the pool that is advanced fingerpicking technique, and with gusto. I said this was doubly impressive, but the achievement grows as McMahon offers more than Fahey-disciple moves. There are certainly flourishes of string glisten descended from the more ornate end of the American Primitive spectrum, but Odd West reminds me more of post-rock, and I really dig how McMahon integrates vocals into his scheme. A-
REISSUE/ARCHIVAL PICK: Jolie Holland, Esconidida (Cinquefoil) When I heard that Holland’s second album from 2004 was getting the first-time on vinyl treatment (through her own Kickstarter), I danced a little jig. It’s quite the special set, and in some ways her solo debut, as prior effort Catalpa was a demo that burst out beyond its original intention through sheer force of quality. Esconidida, first released by ANTI (who also gave Catalpa a wider pressing), avoids even a trace of a letdown; in fact, it’s even better, and a sterling example of quality in the Americana style. A major reason why has to do with her lack of politeness/ affectedness as she rewrites “Old-Time Religion” as “Old Fashioned Morphine” (and references “Billy” Burroughs) and drops a “motherfucker” at the end of “Do You.” A classic. A
Montreal, CA | Montreal Allows Record Stores to Extend Opening Hours: Shops were fined thousands by the province late last year. After raising concern with the province of Quebec over opening hours leading to thousands of dollars in fines, Montreal record stores will now be permitted to keep doors open later as of this spring. Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante confirmed the forthcoming changes on Twitter today, writing that governments will “invite merchants and boroughs to make the rules surrounding store hours more flexible.” She added, “You have to be able to adapt and that’s what we are doing!” Plante’s announcement comes weeks after Phonopolis co-owner Jordan Robson Cramer explained how his shop and fellow record stores Sonorama, La Rama and Death of Vinyl had received warnings and 
Dallas, TX | One of Dallas’ oldest remaining record stores is closing with a big sale: One of Dallas’ oldest remaining record stores is closing. Hit Records, located in the Casa View Shopping Center at 10253 Ferguson Rd., will close after 46 years in business. According to owner Ron Ross, the store’s lease was up and he “couldn’t meet the new terms.” That entire intersection at Ferguson and Gus Thomasson is in churn. The shopping center is getting a $10 million makeover, and some longtime tenants such as Casa Jewelers, which had been at the center since 1954, have been nudged out. Hit Records was almost 
