I just received my $600 from President Bush. I feel suddenly rich. Who said money doesn't grow on trees? In order to do my part in stimulating this dismal economy, I've decided to purchase a few phono accessories. (Yes, I will also be buying more records. Duh.) Wee!

I had been browsing around several websites, looking for inexpensive goodies, and I finally decided to begin my shopping at Mobile Fidelity. I like the guys from MoFi. They're a lot of fun at parties and they give good advice about girls. Plus, I'm hoping that by writing this I will have reminded them (passive-aggressively) to send me a copy of Santana's Abraxas.

Hello? MoFi guys, are you out there? Oye, como va?

READ MORE »

Recent CD purchases that I need to buy all over again on vinyl, in alphabetical order (obviously):

Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
Cat Power: Jukebox
Dengue Fever: Venus On Earth
Devendra Banhart: Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
Devotchka: A Mad and Faithful Telling
Joanna Newsom: Ys
Man Man: Rabbit Habits
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
PJ Harvey: White Chalk
Radiohead: In Rainbows
She & Him: Volume One
Sun Kil Moon: April

READ MORE »

On Saturday, I accompanied my 14-year old sister and her friend to the Bamboozle Festival, held at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Saturday was cold, windy, wet, and gray—not the best circumstances for an all-day outdoor festival. On top of that, I had a shocking hangover—a gift from the previous night spent with my 26-year old sister and her husband. I wasn't in the mood.

READ MORE »

I am a lucky guy. The Stereophile team is always looking out for me. Today I received this e-mail from Bob Deutsch.

Hi Stephen,

If you ever find yourself in the unfortunate position of suffering a romantic disappointment, fear not, for help is at hand. I spotted this in a store in Pacific Mall, an Asian mall in Toronto that is said to be the largest such mall in North America. "Warm music never have heart break"—sounds good, doesn't it? "Make you feel relax" is pretty good, too. I'm telling you, it's tempting.

Bob

Warm music never have heart break. Truer words have rarely been spoken.

The 2008 Vacuum State of the Art Conference & Show will take place on May 24-26 at the Hilton in lovely Vancouver, Washington. VSAC was started in 1997 by Dan and Eileen Schmalle of the Bottlehead Corporation, designers of some sexy vacuum tube kit amps and preamps. While the Schmalles are no longer involved in managing the conference, they will be on hand as exhibitors, along with many others offering some similarly sexy, tubey goodness (like Experience Music's The Chase amplifier in the pic above).

Between 1997 and 2003, the show was held every other year in Silverdale, WA. The last five years have missed the show, and this will be the first time it's ever been held in the Portland area, so it is set to be a very special event.

READ MORE »

Perhaps the greatest praise anyone can let loose upon any silly piece of audio gear is that it inspires the discovery of new music. Right? Alright then. The Rega P3, in all its ashen splendor, does this for me. So much so that I'm going broke. I feel as though I'm single-handedly (with one hand behind my weary back, that is) revitalizing the record industry. I've spent so much money on new (used) records that I could've purchased my own P3 by now. In fact, I've decided that that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to buy my own P3. I'm in the office now, wishing I was home with the P3. I'm proofreading Michael Fremer's review of the P3-24, which will appear in our July issue, and I'm thinking, I'm going to buy this thing.

John DeVore and Michael Lavorgna will have to come on over to Jersey City for another visit. We'll pick up a couple of six packs, maybe even some Chimay. We'll get a pizza from Frank's Famous. Or maybe we'll stop by Ox and say hi to Heather Duby. Whatever. John DeVore and Michael Lavorgna will have to come and get this magnificent disease out of my home. Take back your P3. I'm going to buy my own. (Not yet! In a few weeks or so. I'm just saying.)

READ MORE »

In our January 2003 issue, we introduced Art Dudley's "Listening" column. I didn't know it then, but that particular column, like those that have followed, would be very important to me. In AD's first column, he says a lot of cool things about a lot of cool things, and this is just one of them:

Music is easy to miss for the listener who thinks his job is to concentrate on the sound.

Dusting is boring and makes me sneeze, so I had been putting it off. I don't know how many months and months had passed. It had been awhile. In fact, to an outside observer, it might have appeared as though I was trying to determine just how much dust I could collect on my bookcases. It was even starting to bother me. My bookcases no longer boasted their cheap cherry shine, but had taken on a soft, sickly grey. This weekend, I figured it was time.

READ MORE »

Buddha said:

One day some people came to the vinyl lover and asked:
How can you be happy in a world of such impermanence, where you cannot protect your beloved LPs from harm, wear and death?

The vinyl lover held up an LP and said:
Someone gave me this LP, and I really like it. It plays music admirably and its sound pleases me. I touch the needle to it and it sings! One day the wind may blow it off the shelf, or my elbow may knock it from the table or scratch it irreparably. I know this LP is already broken, so I enjoy it incredibly.

If you visit our Gallery, you'll see that Christian bought an LP. Vinyl, that is. Funny thing about that: Christian doesn't own a record player.

And so goes the sweet cycle. Poor dude's walking in my own drunken steps. Like me, like ErikB, like Catch 22, like countless others—I am sure—Christian is already collecting vinyl. He cannot help himself. Michael Lavorgna and John DeVore knew.

Michael Lavorgna and John DeVore—audiophiles, music lovers, enablers that they are—exchanged dark, deliberate glances as they watched my vinyl collection grow and grow. "So, you bought all this vinyl, and you don't have a turntable?" they asked.

Those dudes knew.

READ MORE »

Dear Readers,
I admit it. When Jerry commented to last week's entry, saying that vinyl wears out with every single trip around the platter, it kind of shook me up. My heart raced and blood rushed to my head. I began to sweat. What had I done? What was I getting into? How would I afford this? Had I stepped into AlexO's bottomless pit?

While some queer, poetic part of me enjoys the idea that vinyl is this living, breathing thing that slowly dwindles and decays over time—like a flower, like love—I would really prefer for my records to last the next fifty or so years, and sound just as good tomorrow as they do today. I don't want to watch them die, listen as they weep and sigh death's dark song.

Screw the bad poetry! I want perfect sound forever.

Is it true, then? Is it true, what they say? Am I killing my records simply by listening to them? By loving them? Should I ditch the vinyl, and run back to CD?

READ MORE »

Besides the reading I do here at Stereophile, I read a lot on the morning train. When Murakami is pissing me off with his cats and dead friends, I turn to the free dailies handed out by the dudes in the bright orange jackets standing outside the station. I pick one up and I say to myself, "I think I'll get a little stupid this morning." I go for Metro—"the world's largest global newspaper." Dressed in a cheery green and with a friendly font, it is clearly designed for those in jeans and sneakers, whereas AM New York is meant for the more serious suits.

READ MORE »

A couple of nights ago, I got this big idea that I'd go shopping for some picture disc vinyl to go along with the component we'll be featuring on our July cover. (Hint: It's not a speaker.) You know, I was thinking it'd be no problem to find Jimi Hendrix all lit up in a purple haze or, better yet, some new indie band dressed in skinny jeans and moccasins being chased by a puma, or something. But I discovered that new picture disc vinyl isn't all that easy to come by. Surprisingly, I found that today's picture discs come from three main sources:

READ MORE »

To cheer myself up after the picture disc disappointment, I went ahead and bought Attack & Release by The Black Keys and Trouble In Dreams by Destroyer. Of course, I couldn't buy only two albums. Two is an even number, you see. So, I also picked up Light in the Attic's beautiful Betty Davis reissue.

READ MORE »

The gorgeous gatefold opens up to show watercolors of The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. In the left sleeve, you'll find a glossy lyrics sheet and a complete promo CD!

The album is produced by that crazy cat, Danger Mouse (The Grey Album, Gnarls Barkley), and is a soulful, bluesy, slow, slow burn.

I'm not quite sure what's going on in the art here, but I can't stop looking at it. I love the colors. If music wasn't meant to be played, I'd hang this up on my wall.

Each sleeve of this gatefold holds a slab of vinyl. All of Daniel Bejar's poetic lyrics are displayed on the right sleeve. You'll also find a friendly coupon for a complete digital download.

Truth is: I know diddly-squat about Frank Zappa. I've heard this and that, of course, and all I've heard has always been intriguing, but, for no good reason, I've just never taken the time to dive into Zappa's world. Perhaps it's because his world seems so enormous and wild and foreign. His world is full of barking pumpkins and utility muffins and Sprechstimme and other things I can neither imagine nor pronounce. I mean, even his name is strange. Like an exclamation, like a shot of electricity. Zappa! Say it three times, and something bad might happen. Zappa! Zappa! (No, don't!)

Zappa!

READ MORE »

Tomorrow is Record Store Day. Celebrate responsibly. Celebrate appropriately. It will make you feel good.

"So, what have you been up to?" she asked.

"A couple of friends recently hooked me up with a turntable. I've never really listened to a turntable before, so now I'm anxious to get home and listen to my vinyl. It's a totally different experience. It's just great."

"Isn't it? The reason I prefer vinyl," she said with a laugh, in her lovely British accent, "is because it forces me to actually listen to entire albums. I hate to say it, but with CDs, I tend to skip around and just listen to certain tracks. With vinyl, I listen more."

We agreed on many more things, all the way home.

It is spring! Without doubt, it is spring. The skinny trees on Monmouth Street have suddenly bloomed all pink and purple and white, while the birds outside my kitchen window have learned to sing new songs. They make a wonderful racket in the morning. I like it. It makes me feel somehow closer to the world, to nature, to love and god and shit. This music of spring is a nice contrast to the sirens and jack hammers that normally make up a Jersey City morning.

I was late for work today. I'd like to say that it was because I got caught up in some sweet springtime birdsong, but it wasn't anything so pleasant.

READ MORE »