Luscious Jackson “In Search of Manny” 1992. Grand Royal Records. Today is Luscious Jackson singer/bassist/songwriter Jill Cunniff’s 55th birthday (b. August 17th, 1966). In Search of Manny is their first release, a 7-song EP, and the first release for Beastie Boys’ label Grand Royal. It’s also one of my top releases of the 90′s: a little sleazy, a lot slinky, laid back and über-cool. Going on 30 years old, I still listen to the record a lot. It reminds of me of when I first heard it in the early 90′s, not too long after I moved to Milwaukee after finishing under-grad. I had a horrible 9-5 office job and also had a second job working retail at a hip shoe store (Goldi’s) in Bayshore Mall and one of the other girls working there played the CD almost every night during our closing duties. The job kinda sucked (helping rich older ladies trying to jam their feet into cute shoes way too young and way too small for them: “Sure, we can stretch those for you!”) and I didn’t last long there but out of the experience I got a sweet employee discount and exposure to Luscious Jackson. I genuinely love every track but of the seven, four are my big standouts: the groovy “Let Yourself Get Down,” the slacker anthem “Life of Leisure,” the cool girl call-to-arms “Daughters of the Kaos” and the raw “Keep on Rockin’ It.”