Business of the Month: Ergot Records, 32 East 2nd Street
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You can blast open the doors of perception by eating rye bread invested with ergot, a fungus that causes hallucinations, madness, and uncontrollable dancing; or you can ease your way through them at our July Business of the Month, Ergot Records, located at 32 East 2nd Street (btw. the Bowery and 2nd Ave.), a store specializing in experimental music, but happy to meet you where you are. You can find there both familiar items capable of evoking fleeting moments of your past and unfamiliar ones capable of reconfiguring your relationship to music and the world of sound.
Andrian Rew began collecting music as a young man. This interest led him to pursue a variety of jobs in the music industry during college and beyond. Along the way, his tastes drifted towards less explored corners of the musical landscape, where process, indeterminacy, and novelty take precedence over conventional compositional norms. His growing passion for experimental music eventually led him to launch a record label devoted to it, Ergot Record, and, like the eponymous hallucinogenic fungus, it gave new life to old matter. But while the label remained a side project, Adrian soon started contemplating the possibility of also opening a store focused on the music he loved. With that in mind, he started buying music collections; and, when the pandemic hit, he decided that the time was right to take the plunge.
Adrian’s choice of location was never in doubt. He knew that the agglomeration of record stores in the East Village has long made the neighborhood a destination for record shoppers and that this advantage far outweighs the challenges of having competitors nearby. And that is especially the case if you carve out a niche, as Adrian intended to do. This focus on experimental music, however, merely became one of Ergot Records many strengths. It did not determine all merchandise selection.
Despite his personal preferences, Adrian is a pragmatist who recognizes the limited size of the experimental music fanbase and who, on top of that, wants everyone to feel welcome at his store and find something they’ll like. Moreover, he lets his far-ranging musical appreciation inform his acquisitions. And he’s always on the prowl (nota bene, those of you with records to sell!). As a result, you could easily walk out of there with used or new copies of, say, Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, Sun Ra’s Lanquidity, Sade’s Diamond Life, Kiss Alive, and a record of Bulgarian folkloric vocal music.
It is, however, when you’re looking for minimalism, electronic music, ambient, noise music, or sundry sonic experiments that the store truly shines. Not only will you find at the store plenty of hard-to-find items in these genres, but you will also be able to count on Adrian’s invaluable guidance in navigating this musical terrain. In fact, Ergot Records owes its success to no small degree to the effort that Adrian devotes to promoting experimental music and educating the public about it at the store and through social media. During our visit, he shared with us a small sample of titles that he’s excited about.
Divine Music from Jail is a 1999 album by Tuvan throat singer and accordionist Oidupaa Vladimir Oiun, who spent over 30 years in Soviet labor camps. This album was recorded inside a warden’s office and features Oiun accompanying himself on a set of raw folk tunes.
Visit Me is Daystar’s debut album, which consists of British folk-inflected ambient pop, with children’s keyboards and layered harmonizing.
Midtown 120 Blues is a conceptual deep house masterpiece from 2009 by DJ Sprinkles and one of Adrian’s favorite albums.
Robert Ashley’s 1978 pioneering avant garde work Private Parts might be even higher on Adrian’s all-time list than Midtown 120 Blues.
Nexus is the latest release by Iranian percussion master Mohammad Reza Mortavi. It marries for the first time Mortavi’s renowned virtuosity with vocals and electronic effects. The album’s artwork is by experimental filmmaker-painter Jordan Belson. On the day Adrian posted on social media about this work, Anthology Films Archive did a screening of Belson’s work. Synergies with nearby businesses and institutions, deliberate or coincidental (as in this case) are yet another virtue of being a record store in the East Village. Adrian does, for instance, a weekly show on Thursday nights at East Village Radio’s storefront studio, a block away. The station’s listeners get exposed to new music, and Adrian gets to promote albums available at his store or to offer a sneak preview of ones about to be. And, as we’ve seen, Anthology Film Archive occasionally gets in on the action. Just a few weeks ago, Adrian featured in his radio show music from the legendary Egyptian singer Umm Kulthüm, in anticipation of what would have been her 122nd birthday. He had acquired about 200 records by her that he planned to make available in honor of the occasion. On the day of the show, Anthology screened a film about her.
By now, Ergot Records has deservedly become a destination for record collectors, DJs, casual listeners, and all manner of people who just want to learn, talk, and even read about music. Hidden amidst stacks of records, the store has a small inventory of books.
In fact, the best selling item in Ergot Record’s history is not a record. It is a book—the manifesto Quantum Listening by Pauline Olivero, a pioneering experimental music composer, performer, and author. In it, Olivero argues that listening in as many ways as possible simultaneously holds the potential to effect change through the listening and to be changed by it.
For its commitment to changing the world one listener at a time, we are thrilled to name Ergot Records our July 2026 Business of the Month.
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Here is a map of all our Businesses of the in Month: