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A vast symphony of social disgust. Better luck next time.

Bedouin Ascent, “Bway Boogie Woogie”

Bark Psychosis, “All Different Things”

Disco Inferno, “Second Language”

Jack Smith, “Carnival of Ecstasy” (from Silent Shadows On Cinemaroc Island, Table of the Elements)

IMAGE: FLAMING CREATURES, PROJECTED.

Sad word came down today, via P-fork, that Beggars Group imprints Too Pure and Beggars Banquet have been absorbed into 4AD. Stereolab’s next album will arrive on August 19th sporting 4AD and Duophonic logos. Sayonara, l’il Too Pure arrow. You’ll be missed.

Favorite Too Pure moments:

Seefeel, “More Like Space.” From start to finish, pretty damn breathtaking. My favorite release from Seefeel. Yes, even moreso than Quique. So sue me!

Seefeel, “More Like Space”

PJ Harvey, Dry. I would argue that Rid of Me is Peej’s true masterpiece, her startling, brazen hat trick. But it was Dry that introduced her raw, unique perspective to the world. I still remember where I was when I heard “Dress.” I went out and bought the album the next day.

PJ Harvey, “Dress”

Mouse on Mars, “Frosch/room.” Until 1994, I was decidedly on the guitar-rock side of the fence. Seefeel helped to get my incremental mental paradigm shift towards electronic music rolling, andMouse on Mars finished the job. Their music was witty, warm, and elastically inventive in a way that I hadn’t suspected electronic music to be capable of.

And, with the addition of powerhouse drummer Dodo Nkishi, their live performances ended up being more fun than a barrel full of knob-twiddlers. (No disrespect meant to any knob-twiddlers out there.)

As evidenced by their recent collaboration with Mark E Smith, Von Südenfed, they remain as radical and wry as ever. (When I once asked them how they’d gotten to the UK from their native Germany, Jan, by way of reply, simply mimed the side stroke.)

Mouse on Mars, “Froschroom”

Laika, Silver Apples of the Moon.I interned at too pure in the fall of 1994. So, if you happen to have a copy of “Silver Apples” with the original artwork —complete with hand-affixed customs labels and facsimile stamps— there’s a slight chance it was my handiwork. (Self-adhesive stamp technology has come a long way since those dark days.)

Laika, “Spider Happy Hour”

Stereolab, “Seeperbold.” My favorite Stereolab songs have traditionally been one-offs and freebies of the sort that either get sold on tour or show up on, say, cassette tapes affixed to the front ofMelody Maker (or was it NME?). “Seeperbold” is no exception. The way Laetitia rhymes “comatos-e” with “moros-e” here never fails to crack me up for some reason.

Stereolab, “Seeperbold.”

Electrelane. I only got to see Electrelane once, opening in San Francisco for Broadcast. Now, I adoreBroadcast. But putting Electrelane on before them was somewhat unfair, because their retro-futuristic, somewhat wistful music came off pallidly next to Electrelane’s exhilarating harmonic convergences.

I do hope the shake-up at 4AD hasn’t also shaken Verity Susman’s solo project Vera November loose. (Her “Jive” is my favorite unreleased single since forever —a jumpin’ juke-joint holler and all-around joyful blast. AAAA!)

Electrelane, “Only One Thing is Needed”

Long Fin Killie; Bows, “TFM.” Luke Sutherland’s work for Too Pure seemed to me perpetually (and unfairly) overlooked. His work erred on the side of quiet, subtle, and sly, with a marked lack of ego. It was that lack of ego that enabled Sutherland—a brilliant writer with a polymath’s gift for picking up every instrument from violin to bouzouki— to inhabit a vivid panoply of voices, turning each song into a fully imagined pocket world, beautifully shaped and turned out with poetic precision. If anything, his short-lived project Bows, a collaboration between Sutherland, Scottish musician Ruth Emond, and Norwegian singer Signe Hoirup Wille-Jorgensen , was even more exquisite than its predecessor Long Fin Killie.

Long Fin Killie, “Hollywood Gem” (1995)

Bows, “TFM”(from the Britannica EP, 1999)

Kick it old school with too pure founder Paul Cox’ history of the label. Then Go forth and buy lovely things at the too pure shop | Then go & express your profound displeasure to the folks at Beggars USA.

PHOTO BY ANDREA | HIGHBURY CORNER, 2007

Talk about brutal irony: this year’s Record Store Day happens to coincide with the opening of John Varvatos‘ Bowery boutique. Varvatos’ name may not mean much to you, but his pricey menswear shop just happens to be taking over the site of the former CBGBs.

After years of legal battles and fundraisers, CBs finally closed its doors last summer, putting an end to one of the most storied clubs in New York City history. (CB’s owner Hilly Kristal passed away soon after.) Varvatos —who bills himself as a “rock n’roll designer” and populates his ad campaigns with the likes of Iggy Pop and Cheap Trick— has renovated the space with a great sense of respect, keeping the graffitied and flyered walls intact, selling CDs by acts from CB’s heyday, and giving the Soho gallery treatment to framed covers of PUNK and NY Rocker. (There’s even a “Gabba Gabba Hey” sign on the back wall.)

But all of this sticks in the craw of New Yorkers fed up with the egregious Yuppification of the Bowery —the worst contender (by far) being the ostentatious Bowery Hotel, with its Studio 54-esque velvet rope and Robber Baron-luxe décor. (Second in line: the New Museum’s robotic façade with its rainbow-hued, cartoonishly chipper “Hell Yes!”)

The Bowery is one of the last frontiers for the increasingly pitched battle between those who want to keep New York accessible and those who want to keep pushing real estate prices into the stratosphere. For now, the wholesalers remain, but for how long?

Getting back to the plight of the record stores: the Bowery’s own Downtown Music Gallery (342 Bowery) is facing a potential move thanks to an untenable rent hike. Open since 1991, this scruffy shop carries some of the most adventurous music there is, with special attention paid to downtown musicians. (For instance, they sell the limited edition releases from John Zorn’s artist-curated club the Stone.)

Home in Providence, every single one of Thayer Street’s record stores has shuttered its doors. I knew the end was nigh for the last holdout, Tom’s Tracks, when a slightly desperate sign exclaiming, “Now selling comics!” appeared in their window. (Have comics ever been a lucrative cash-cow?)

Gone are the days of going spelunking for dusty rarities in basements and crammed storefronts. Now it’s all moved online, thanks to Gemm, ebay, and Dusty Groove. The plus side is that all these rarities are but a click away. The down side is that the thrill of the hunt —searching high and low for that Aurobindo record, or Kid Congo’s first EP— has been replaced with a somewhat dispiriting mouse-click on a PayPal button. Plus ça change…

I leave you with a trio of downtown favorites, Talking Heads, Kid Congo, and the (soon-to-be-reunited) Feelies…

The Feelies, “Loveless Love” (from Crazy Rhythms)

Talking Heads, “Drugs” (from Fear of Music)

Kid Congo Powers, “La Historia de un Amor” (from Solo Cholo)

PHOTO: RIP, HILLY.