Tell us a little bit about yourself! I'm Tony. a 34 year old living in Raleigh, NC with my beautiful fiancée and Saint Bernard. I'm an elementary school teacher. We love to travel and visit new record shops. I also enjoying taking photographs. 

Favorite album: Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

First album: Prince - Purple Rain 

Favorite Enjoy The Ride or Enjoy The Toons release: Hands down... The Honorary Title - Anything Else But The Truth  

Favorite album artwork: Live - Throwing Copper. As a kid in the early 90's, I was always fond of it. 

Which album do you wish you had on vinyl? Sponge - Rotting Piñata 

Which Ryan Adams variants are you missing on vinyl? I Would love to own a Test Press of Heartbreaker. A few things that I'm missing...Patty Duke Syndrome on black vinyl, Blank Label with red vover, and a copy of The Finger - We Are F*ck You on red vinyl. 

What are your favorite record shops in the Raleigh area, in case any readers are traveling through your town? My favorite shop in Raleigh has to be Schoolkids Records. Those guys are awesome! There's also Sorry State and Nice Price Books that I frequently visit. 

Were you able to snag any Record Store Day 2017 releases? Anything you missed out on? I was able to get my hands on a copy of Jason Isbell and The Smiths 7". To be honest, I wasn't really a fan of this years RSD releases. 

If you were on a desert island and you could only fit three records safely in your suitcase, which ones would you take with you? 

Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell

Butch Walker - Sycamore Meadows

Jesse Malin - The Fine Art of Self Destruction

Want to be featured as Record Collector Of The Month? Email enjoythetoonsrecords@gmail.com

Tell us a little bit about yourself [age, what you do, what you do for fun, etc.]: Hey! I'm Matt. I'm 28 years old and my life revolves around music. If I'm not listening to it, you can usually find me at a record store, concert, or festival. My full time job does not involve music, but outside of that I spend a ton of time focusing on Too Many Records. TMR started as a YouTube channel, and has expanded to a blog and podcast. I show off my collection bit by bit, review albums, and make fun music/vinyl related videos. I'm also really into trying weird and unique food, so in between music excursions I'm always on the look-out for some new and interesting dishes to explore.

First album on vinyl: First album I owned on vinyl was actually The National - Alligator, which is my favorite album. I bought it a year or so before I even got my first setup. 

Favorite album artwork: Truth be told, it has to be Brand New - Deja Entendu. The colors are just stunning and the iconic image of the Astronaut has been seared into my brain at this point. I've seen people with tattoos inspired by the cover and they are all awesome. Maybe one day I'll get one, too.

Favorite Enjoy The Ride or Enjoy The Toons release: My favorite one I DON'T OWN is Something Corporate - Leaving Through The Window. One day I'll get my hands on it... I do have North and that is a stellar pressing. Besides that, I really enjoy the Acceptance - Black Lines To Battlefields on Jungle Mix. Back when it came out, that was a super innovative variant, and that EP is so great. 

Favorite vinyl variant: There's a really beautiful ambient album by The American Dollar entitled A Memory Stream. It's on a variant that's called "Translucent Beer and Bronze with Trans and Opaque Red" and under light it looks amazing. 

Favorite album you have reviewed on Too Many Records or [Damnit Sandy]? Easily Carrie and Lowell by Sufjan Stevens. It was directly after listening to it, and Sandy started crying during the review. I came close, a few times. The album is masterful in every way and we should all feel very lucky to have the opportunity to hear such a heartfelt, intimate, personal album in our lifetime. 

Which album do you wish you had on vinyl? I'm a huge fan of Mark Kozelek and Sun Kil Moon, so finding Ghosts of the Great Highway or April on vinyl for actually reasonable prices would be amazing. I'm not holding my breath for a repress anytime soon. Finding the promo marbled versions would be icing on the cake. 

Which albums do you wish were pressed on vinyl. but still haven't been? Damien Rice's O! Come on. Beautiful album that would thrive on wax. This next one is on cassette, but lets get Brand New - Fight Off Your Demons on vinyl already. I've also asked Guster to press Goldfly (on gold vinyl, please!) and reached out to Asthmatic Kitty to release Sufjan's "A Sun Came" and "The Avalanche" - maybe one day. Finally, the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 soundtracks on 2LP or 4LP would be a very welcomed nostalgia purchase. 

What is the best record you've received as a gift? My friend Kelsey is the singer for the Austin, TX based folk band Wild Child. I stayed with her when I visited Austin a few years ago and they were just wrapping up the pressing process for their amazing album The Runaround. She gave me a test pressing of the album because she knew I loved vinyl so much, and signed it with a heartfelt note on the sleeve. It really meant a lot to me, and still does. 

If you had to choose three albums to listen to for the rest of your life [nothing else], what would you pick? This is the hardest question that anyone has ever asked me. Let's go with:

1. Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak
2. Tycho - Awake
3. The National - Alligator 

But this is in no way, shape, or form my final answer :P

Make sure to head over to Too Many Records + check out what new vinyl Matt has picked up or is listening to!

Tell us a little bit about yourself [age, what you do, what you do for fun, etc.]: My name is Harry Portnof, I’m 28 years old and I live in NYC. I run Greenway Records & I’m a CPA by profession but at the moment I don’t practice. I live with my fiancé Molly in a small studio apt that’s really great in the middle of Manhattan. Greenway takes up most of my time and I love watching ideas come to reality. Really my only hobbies and things I love revolve around music, I love to play guitar and I love records (obviously).

First album: I found my dads record collection early on in my Grandmothers attic, I dug out a shitty old player with a broken needle that kind of still worked and that’s when I realized I needed to start acquiring my entire collection on vinyl. My first real record I found was The Allman Brothers “Live at the Fillmore East”

Favorite album: Hmm this changes constantly as I’m always searching for new music. At the moment I would say my favorite records are the brand new Ty Segall S/T LP, and not so new would probably be my vinyl copy of John Frusciante’s “Shadows Collide With People”.

Favorite Enjoy The Ride or Enjoy The Toons release: I’m a big fan of Enjoy the Ride so its hard to pick just one, I think if I had to it would be the Ramones Tribute album cause its just so amazingly put together, the color combos you did were perfect and the track listing and artists involved are insane. From Enjoy the Toons would be the SpongeBob record simply because you put SpongeBob on vinyl, its so epic!!

Favorite album artwork: I really love psych album artwork with a lot of detail, I think the first one to turn me onto that was Cream’s “Disraeli Gears”. I’m lucky to work with a great visual artist on most of Greenways stuff, Dan Curran, and I really love everything he does as well.

Which album do you wish you had on vinyl? The one album I wish I had on vinyl is probably an original pressing of Jimi Hendrix “Electric Ladyland”, the one with all the naked girls on the cover. I have not been able to pull the trigger on a copy at a decent price. It was only briefly released that way in the UK and I read his American label refused to put it out with that cover.

Favorite album, based solely on aesthetics of the color variant: My favorite album based solely on the color variant would probably be King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard “12 Bar Bruise”, the original Australian pressing of the record is pretty hard to find but I’m lucky to have one. Amazing artwork by Jason Galea and the splatter vinyl is the perfect psych compliment.

Favorite album that you have released on Greenway Records: I’m clearly biased here but I really love them all! I work so hard on making each release a complete package that is as artistic and beautiful as the music on the record.  If I had to pick one particular pressing, it would probably be the Amoeba Burst variant of the Dead Coast “Shambolic” LP I released. Great band from London, I was able to go to the pressing plant and help press these records myself, we actually invented the process for the Amoeba Burst to create some records like nothing I’ve ever seen. They look like ink being dropped into a bucket of water. People seemed to love them as they sold out in like 30 minutes. I’m happy to say we’re doing the design again on a brand new Bob Forrest record I’m making, really proud of that one and I cant wait for people to hear and see it! 

Make sure to head over to Greenway Records + see some of the awesome albums + merch they have available!

Tell us a little bit about yourself! Hello, my name is Scott and I'm 35 years young. I have been collecting vinyl records since I was 11 years old. Music has always been a driving force of inspiration in my life and continues to be an outlet / vice for me to escape into my own personal Narnia. Since the age of 16 I have been a Servant Leader working within the retail industry and currently serve as a Store Manager with A Big Box Retailer. I have been married to my beautiful bride for 15 years and we have two beautiful children. When I'm not working I enjoy spending my extra time with my family, making memories with my kids, working in the yard or around the house, watching movies and our favorite tv series and as a family, we listen and enjoy the sounds of various artists wax spinning on the turntable. My hobby has become a family tradition that we all enjoy. 

Favorite album: My favorite album? This is a hard question to answer because as time passes there become more and more albums I grow to love or fall back in love with. I guess my all time favorite album that never grows old would be Aenima by TOOL released in 1996. My wife purchased this vinyl for me back in 2000 when we first started dating for $50 and today this original pressing sells for $500 to $1000. Funny enough, my wife hated this band back then and even more now but she loved me and knew how much I loved this band and album so she made the sacrifice.  

First album: My first official album was given to me by my father which was Barrel Full Of Monkeys by The Monkeys pressed in 1971. This is what started it all. Later I made my first LP purchase and that was Sin by Poor Old Lu featuring my childhood icon Aaron Sprinkle which back in 2009 I was able to meet him in person and have him autograph the album. Both will forever remain in my collection. 

What albums in your collection would be perfect for a romantic date night at home? There are without a doubt some sexy music in the mix. 

1. Frank Sinatra - Songs For Young Lovers 
2. Dexter Gordon - One Flight Up 
3. Nat King Cole - Dear Lonely Hearts 
4. Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue 
5. Michael Buble - Call Me Irresponsible 

Best breakup album? So there are a lot of ways people can read and reply to this question. For me, I say The Civil Wars ~ ST ~ 2013 release without a doubt is as epic as it comes. John Paul White and Joy Williams separate ways just before the album releases, the album is flawless and fans were left with nothing but generic answers and no resolve. That's EPIC! A band makes their best piece of work, breaks up before it's even released and BOOM, go out with a bang.  

Favorite Enjoy The Ride or Enjoy The Toons release: Sadly my favorite pressing by ETR I don't own but it's The Juliana Theory - Music From Another Room. Now, my favorite ETR pressing I do own is hands down HRVRD ( Harvard ) The Inevitable And I. 

Favorite album artwork: Circa Survive has always had the best album artwork. Juturna, On Letting Go etc. The original artwork by artist: Esao Andrews. You can follow and see his work on many media platforms and I just love the dark, mystic, morbid creativity this man uses. 

Which album do you wish you had on vinyl? Every collector has their HTF / Rare / OOP list. I would say my top include:

1. Box Car Racer - ST 
2. Starflyer 59 - GOLD 
3. Circa Survive - Blue Sky Noise 
4. Juliana Theory - Music From Another Room

There are many others but these are my top 4 simply because they would complete that portion of the artists discography for my collection. 

If you had to choose three albums to listen to for the rest of your life [nothing else], what would you pick? I had to give this a lot of thought. Looking at my music collection of 500+ albums from 1930 to present, these would be my eternal 3. 

1. City And Colour - Sometimes 
2. Foo Fighters - The Colour And The Shape
3. Journey - Greatest Hits ( hey, if it's only 3 then ya gotta simplify ) 

Are there any albums that are not currently pressed on vinyl that you would like to see pressed in the near future? Absolutely! As the vinyl industry continues to grow, as does the desire for many people's favorites. 

1. Morellas Forest - Super Deluxe 
2. Dishwalla - The Entire Discography 
3. Flyleaf - ST, Memento Mori and New Horizons 
4. Ace Enders / I Can Make A Mess - The World We Know 
5. Stabbing Westward - ST
6. Mayday Parade - Anywhere But Here 
7. Saosin - In Search Of Solid Ground 
8. We Came As Romans - Tracing Back Roots 
9. Cold - Year Of The Spider 
10. Lifehouse - Entire Discography

If you would like to be featured as Record Collector Of The Month, email us at enjoythetoonsrecords at gmail dot com

Mo Shafeek, Label Manager for Mondo Music + Death Waltz Recording Co.

Tell us a little bit about yourself! My name is Mo Shafeek, i'm 33, and I am the record label manager for Mondo. I currently live above a movie theater, and my perfect day is waking up, having some coffee, and walking downstairs to watch a new release. It's hardly a hobby to go the movies, but watching films in the theater is my absolute favorite thing to do. But from that love of movies spawned a love of soundtracks, which led me to my position here at Mondo.

 First album: Green Day - Dookie

Favorite Enjoy The Ride or Enjoy The Toons release: I Am The Avalanche - S/T - Full disclosure, before I worked at Mondo, I used to tour manage bands. I toured with IATA on this first album cycle (even did the photoshop of the gatefold image of Mikey peering awkwardly from behind the tree), so seeing the album get the treatment it deserves was really nice. Plus it's an absolutely stellar record that I cannot recommend more highly. 

Which album do you wish you had on vinyl? (The Artist Formerly Known as...) Prince - The Gold Experience, and Tom Petty's Wildflowers. They are both out there, just mega expensive on Discogs. The Artist one in particular will probably never get re-issued as it's one of his few albums in the 90's not released on a Major, but Wildflowers was re-issued in a Tom Petty Box Set this winter, so hopefully that means some individual releases soon.

Favorite records to spin at parties: 90's Hip-Hop and R&B  (R.Kelly's TP-2.COM, Aliyah - Age Ain't Nothing But A Number, LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out, Salt 'n Pepa - Very Necessary, TLC - Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip, etc.) and, well, Prince.

What was your first release with Mondo? I've been around since the first record, but I wasn't involved in the process with the production of first albums (Maniac or The Beyond) I started working on our third The Deadly Spawn, and have produced every single title since then.

Thus far, what have been some of your favorite releases from Mondo? 

The Back To The Future Trilogy

Fight Club

Over The Garden Wall (and the "For Sara" Cassette)

Batman: The Animated Series Box Set

La Cinquette 7-Inch

If you had to choose three albums to listen to for the rest of your life [nothing else], what would you pick?

Prince - Sign O' The Times, 

Smashing Pumpkins - Adore, 

Weezer - Pinkerton.

The Mondo + Death Waltz section of Mo's collection.

Tell us a little bit about yourself [age, what you do, what you do for fun, etc.]!

My name is Bryan Hoffman, I’m 30 years old, and I grew up in Franklin Square on Long Island. I have been collecting records since 2003.  I have amassed roughly 2,000 records since I began, with most of my collection being inherited from a number of super awesome people. I’ve collected albums and singles from just about every genre, with most of collection being Rock and Jazz. I work for a company called Audiam, where we deal with the administration and collection of songwriter royalties from services such as YouTube and Spotify. Most of my free time is spent going to shows around Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Long Island. I also enjoy watching sports (Islanders/Mets/Jets) and spending time outdoors with friends.

Favorite album:

This has always been a loaded question to me, and constantly changes based on where my life is at the moment. I’m choosing the first “new”/non hand-me-down album that I ever bought which was Thrice’s “The Illusion Of Safety”. Thrice has remained an important band to me over the years, and this is the album where it all started for me.

First album:

My collection started when my grandparents gave me a milk crate of records that belonged to my mother and two uncles. My late uncle John was heavily into progressive rock. So as an homage to Uncle John, I chose a live Doors bootleg called “Weird Triangle”, and Pink Floyd’s “Animals”.

Favorite Enjoy The Ride or Enjoy The Toons release:

My favorite ETR release hands down is the “Bridge & Tunnel” Movie Soundtrack. I was fortunate enough to receive a copy with the exploded label which looks absolutely incredible in person. On top of that, the track listing is stacked with a who’s who of Long Island musicians that I admire like John Nolan, Bayside, Ryan Hunter, etc. The die-cut album cover is also very sharp.

Favorite album artwork:

For album artwork, I chose Into It. Over It’s “52 Weeks”. This quadruple LP box set is presented like a book. It includes the 52 tracks that Evan Weiss recorded over the course of a year (one per week) from September 2008 to September 2009. Though aesthetically it’s black and white, everything about the packaging is clean and precise.

Which album do you wish you had on vinyl?

My dream album (that Epitaph will hopefully press in the near future) is The Sound Of Animals Fighting’s “The Ocean And The Sun”. As far as records that do exist, a clean copy of Brian Eno’s “Ambient 1: Music For Airports” is at the top of my wish list.

Want to be featured as a Record Collector of the Month? Shoot an email to enjoythetoonsrecords@gmail.com

Tell us a little bit about yourself [age, what you do, what you do for fun, etc.]!

My name is Bryan Hoffman, I’m 30 years old, and I grew up in Franklin Square on Long Island. I have been collecting records since 2003.  I have amassed roughly 2,000 records since I began, with most of my collection being inherited from a number of super awesome people. I’ve collected albums and singles from just about every genre, with most of collection being Rock and Jazz. I work for a company called Audiam, where we deal with the administration and collection of songwriter royalties from services such as YouTube and Spotify. Most of my free time is spent going to shows around Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Long Island. I also enjoy watching sports (Islanders/Mets/Jets) and spending time outdoors with friends.

Favorite album:

This has always been a loaded question to me, and constantly changes based on where my life is at the moment. I’m choosing the first “new”/non hand-me-down album that I ever bought which was Thrice’s “The Illusion Of Safety”. Thrice has remained an important band to me over the years, and this is the album where it all started for me.

First album:

My collection started when my grandparents gave me a milk crate of records that belonged to my mother and two uncles. My late uncle John was heavily into progressive rock. So as an homage to Uncle John, I chose a live Doors bootleg called “Weird Triangle”, and Pink Floyd’s “Animals”.

Favorite Enjoy The Ride or Enjoy The Toons release:

My favorite ETR release hands down is the “Bridge & Tunnel” Movie Soundtrack. I was fortunate enough to receive a copy with the exploded label which looks absolutely incredible in person. On top of that, the track listing is stacked with a who’s who of Long Island musicians that I admire like John Nolan, Bayside, Ryan Hunter, etc. The die-cut album cover is also very sharp.

Favorite album artwork:

For album artwork, I chose Into It. Over It’s “52 Weeks”. This quadruple LP box set is presented like a book. It includes the 52 tracks that Evan Weiss recorded over the course of a year (one per week) from September 2008 to September 2009. Though aesthetically it’s black and white, everything about the packaging is clean and precise.

Which album do you wish you had on vinyl?

My dream album (that Epitaph will hopefully press in the near future) is The Sound Of Animals Fighting’s “The Ocean And The Sun”. As far as records that do exist, a clean copy of Brian Eno’s “Ambient 1: Music For Airports” is at the top of my wish list.

Want to be featured as a Record Collector of the Month? Shoot an email to enjoythetoonsrecords@gmail.com