The Sharp Notes

09/05/2026

Four inches. Two songs. Plenty of questions.

On the new episode of The Sharp Notes, I talk with Tiny Vinyl co-founders Neil Kohler and Jesse Mann about the rise of the miniature record, the collector appeal, the inevitable comparison to the mighty 45, and why sometimes the best argument for a new format is simply that it’s fun.

Take a listen.

Tiny Vinyl takes the familiar record and shrinks it to four inches, creating a format that is part music, part collectible, and entirely designed to be fun. Co-founders Neil Kohler and Jesse Mann discuss how the idea grew from a miniature toy concept into a new physical music platform, why the humbl...

09/02/2026

It’s a new season. It’s a new school year. Maybe it’s time for some new plants.

We have a brand-new plant at The Sharp Notes. In fact, we now have TWO plants, and we’d appreciate it if you’d stop by and talk to them. Everyone knows that talking to plants and showing them love makes them grow stronger, happier, safer and, frankly, more fabulous. 🪴

Also arriving this Friday: a brand-new copy of Mort Garson’s Mother Earth’s Plantasia, the legendary electronic album famously described as “warm earth music for plants…and the people who love them.”

So come to the mall. Say hello to our plants. Encourage them. Maybe tell them they’re doing a good job. Then bring home Plantasia and do the same for your own greenery.

Everybody needs a little positive reinforcement. Even the ficus.

08/22/2026

Henry Rollins (2.13.61) is part of a team of rock ’n’ roll archaeologists behind the new Cramps release, Gravest Gravy, (The Cramps Official Vengeance Records) digging deep into the band’s earliest days to resurrect recordings that never saw the light of day. Until now.

Henry joins Evan Toth to talk about bringing those tapes back to life, the enduring value of physical media, and some of the good stuff we lose when everything becomes a stream.

Listen to the new episode of The Sharp Notes.

There are records that disappear because nobody wanted them, and then there are records that somehow manage to wait nearly 50 years for the right moment to arrive.Gravest Gravy belongs firmly in the second category.In October of 1977, the Cramps entered Ardent Studios in Memphis with Alex Chilton an...

08/20/2026

Early pressings in great shape don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Stop in, find a record that was well-loved for a lifetime, and give it another lifetime of love. Recycling at its finest.

It’s actually kind of amazing to think about the lifecycle of a record: where it’s been, who played it, and how many rooms it has filled with music before eventually finding its way to you.

And speaking of history, Robert Freeman took this photograph almost exactly 63 years ago this week, on August 22, 1963, using natural light in a hallway at the Palace Court Hotel in Bournemouth, England. The record keeps moving. The photograph does, too. And maybe you get to be the next stop on its journey.

#1963

08/19/2026

A nice stereo copy of The Doors (feat. Mr. Mojo Risin’) walked in this week. Looks great, sounds great. Just a Wendy bit of ring wear on this one. Reissues are great, but there’s something about hearing those 60 year old grooves in your own living room.

08/18/2026

We’ve got the new Meditations reissue in stock (Verve Records / Impulse Records), but we’ve also got this beautiful preowned pressing that we believe dates to 1970. Because when it comes to John Coltrane, sometimes the answer is: why choose?

Stop by the mall, flip through the bins and spend a little time meditating with one of America’s greatest jazz saxophonists, bandleaders and composers. 🎷

08/12/2026

It’s National Vinyl Record Day ’26, and we can’t imagine a better place to spend your day and evening than at your friendly neighborhood record store.

Come hang, dig around, and perhaps leave with this strange little single-sided 10” live Stones disc of “She’s a Rainbow” from 2019. It does not feature Paul McCartney playing that woodblock, shaker, or whatever that was that he was doing on the original recording, but that shouldn’t stop you from going home and playing along on your own woodblocks.

It’s National Vinyl Record Day. You’re allowed.

Stop by the mall!

08/11/2026

TOWA TEI is one of those artists whose influence became so widespread that it eventually just became part of the language of pop music. His new remix of Se So Neon’s “Remember!” sent us back to Deee-Lite, World Clique and the role Tei played in introducing a generation to house, sampling and international dance culture.

Even better, Ryuichi Sakamoto sits unexpectedly at the center of the story, connecting Tei and Soyoon Hwang in a way that gives the remix considerably more meaning. Naturally, this also has us eyeing Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s recent 45 RPM reissue of World Clique.

Rabbit holes have to start somewhere.

Towa Tei returns with a new remix of Se So Neon’s “Remember!,” connecting generations of international pop, dance music and sampling culture, with Ryuichi Sakamoto unexpectedly at the center of the story. For those of us who first encountered Tei through Deee-Lite and World Clique, it’s also...

08/11/2026

Did you have “Starpower” on a mixtape in your 1992 Jeep Cherokee? Well, we did.

And now we’re adults, which means we can listen to it on vinyl instead of on a cassette recorded from a CD. Like adults.

This isn’t a super-first, first pressing, but it’s early, it’s got the original insert, and, well, we’ll tell you the story later. Somehow, this is the second copy we’ve gotten into The Sharp Notes in the last 60 days.

The first one? We found it in Italy. 🤔

08/11/2026

More new arrivals for your record shopping week. Stop by the mall to say, “hello!”