Playlist:
!!! / Take Ecstasy With Me (Magnetic Fields cover) (2005) / Bandcamp

Playlist:
Bloc Party / Helicopter (2005) / YouTube

Playlist:
The Mountain Goats / Palmcorder Yanja (2004) / Bandcamp

Playlist:
Ride / Time Machine (1992) / Bandcamp (reissue)

I only learned Ride's Going Blank Again had been reissued when I was looking for a link for this song; it's definitely worth a listen (or many).

Playlist:
Fad Gadget / Life on the Line (1982) / YouTube

Playlist:
Sparks / Sherlock Holmes (1982) / YouTube

The bookshop Sara enters is on West 19th Street and is next to a photo shop. There used to be many of these in the area before digital photography really took off -- 23rd Street had a large photo and copy center called Clicks, there was Manhattan Color Labs on West 20th, there were several locations of Spectra Photo, and on and on. The camera store Adorama is still on West 18th Street but that's about all you'll find now. The area's bookstores have also mostly moved or closed, though there's still an independent children's bookstore on West 17th. The cavernous flagship Barnes & Noble was located on 5th Avenue and 18th Street (it opened in 1932 and closed in 2014 and carried textbooks but not magazines or really any sort of non-book media). Nearby Union Square still has The Strand and a more typical Barnes & Noble with a café.