Stephen Mejias Blog

Deck's Like the Wind Posted Thu Feb 4, 2010, 11:13 AM ET

Perhaps impatience is my fatal flaw, the thing that keeps me forever this close to complete and undying happiness, but never quite there. I’m impatient. About certain things. I’m impatient, for instance, about acquiring a cassette deck. My cassette collection is growing large. My colorful cassettes sit on my little footstool, waiting to be played, looking at me like what the hell. What the hell?

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Sony TC-WE475 Posted Thu Feb 4, 2010, 10:13 AM ET

The Sony TC-WE475 dual auto-reverse cassette deck plays tapes(!), offers all sorts of unecessary conveniences (like Fast-Forward and Reverse), costs $149.95, and is available NOW.

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TEAC W-600R Posted Thu Feb 4, 2010, 10:08 AM ET

The TEAC W-600R double auto-reverse cassette deck plays tapes(!), offers all sorts of unecessary conveniences (like Fast-Forward and Reverse), costs $149, and is available NOW.

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Onkyo TA-RW255 Posted Thu Feb 4, 2010, 10:02 AM ET

The Onkyo TA-RW255 dual auto-reverse cassette deck plays tapes(!), offers all sorts of unecessary conveniences (like Fast-Forward and Reverse), costs $199, and is available NOW.

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Pioneer CT-W208R Posted Thu Feb 4, 2010, 9:59 AM ET

The Pioneer CT-W208R double auto-reverse cassette deck plays tapes(!), offers all sorts of unecessary conveniences (like Fast-Forward and Reverse), costs $194, and is available NOW.

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Put Me In the Equation, It's Alright Posted Wed Feb 3, 2010, 12:38 PM ET

Happy birthday, Lee Ranaldo. The Sonic Youth guitarist turns eternal today. Again.

Here's a video for "Mote," from the 1990 album, Goo. "Mote" is one of my all-time favorite SY songs and the one that defined my appreciation for Lee's work.

And here's the band performing "Mote" live, just a few years ago, somehow still with as much fire as when they first released it.

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She & Him: Volume Two Posted Mon Feb 1, 2010, 12:39 PM ET

Might as well add this one to the list.

While kicking around the Merge website, I learned about the upcoming album, Volume Two, from She & Him. M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel make some beautiful music together, and Zooey hypnotizes me with her voice and her big blue eyes. The album is scheduled to be released on March 23, and is available for pre-order now.

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The Magnetic Fields: 69 Love Songs Posted Mon Feb 1, 2010, 12:06 PM ET

Just this morning, I was thinking about the Magnetic Fields, and specifically about how I haven’t really enjoyed their work since 1999’s inspired 69 Love Songs. While i had plenty of fine moments, I can’t stand to listen to it anymore. It strikes me as mawkish and false. Distortion bothered me from the very beginning. There was nothing to hold on to. And though I’m mildly interested in the new one, Realism, I'm not excited enough to add it to “the list.”

69 Love Songs, however, is something else. “If it were reissued on vinyl,” I thought to myself, “I’d just have to buy it.”

Dammit. The Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs is scheduled to be released on April 20. The deluxe box will be limited to 3000 sets, and will feature remastered versions of all 69 compositions, pressed to six 10-inch discs. I need it. Just thinking about it takes me right back to so many sad, quiet, late-night drives along the Jersey Turnpike.

I haven’t seen anything on the Merge website about this; I heard about it on the Stereophile Twitter page, in a post from MBV. Pitchfork is talking about it, too.

Also, there is this: 69 Love Songs, Illustrated.

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Album Art: Joanna Newsom's Have One On Me Posted Mon Feb 1, 2010, 11:28 AM ET

Wild. Peacocks and stuff.

The triple-LP is scheduled to be released on February 23, and can be pre-ordered from Drag City now.

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Life Magazine Posted Mon Feb 1, 2010, 10:56 AM ET

Here's the video for 2009's "Single of the Year" (as determined by me), the undeniably catchy "Life Magazine," by Cold Cave.

Directed by Focus Creeps.

Yes. If you have a television, you might have also heard this song in a certain Radio Shack commericial. There was a time in my life when that kind of thing would have bothered me. I'm okay with it now. (I gotta say, though, this Acura ad is killing me.)

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Gang Gang Dance: God’s Money Posted Fri Jan 29, 2010, 2:00 PM ET

And, dang it, just when I thought it was safe to check my e-mail, it turns out that Gang Gang Dance’s long out-of-print 2005 release, the highly acclaimed God’s Money, is available again—and on vinyl, hallelujah. A note from The Social Registry, another one of my favorite labels:

The album's initial vinyl pressing all but sold out on the band's first tour and has been only available in scant numbers or from ebay-based price gougers ever since.

We are happy to be able to offer this music to you, the fan, on vinyl again at a reasonable price. Pressed on a 140-gram vinyl in a gatefold jacket with full color inner sleeve it even includes a download code, which is a bit of a step up over its initial release (download codes were barely a twinkle in the eye in '05). We promise not to do a double 45rpm 280 gram vinyl edition anytime too soon so buy with confidence.

Nice of them, right? Add it to the list.

And, while we're there, we might as well buy the double LP from Interference, too. Oh well. I definitely need it.

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Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me Posted Fri Jan 29, 2010, 1:39 PM ET

Photo: Annabel Mehran

Jeez, what’s up with the suggestive album title, Joanna Newsom?

Whatever. I definitely need this one. Every audiophile’s favorite harpist releases her third full-length masterpiece, Have One On Me, on February 23. It’s already on Art Dudley’s 2011 “Records To Die For” list.

Oh: It’s going to be a three LP package. You can listen to a track called “’81” at the Drag City website. It’s very good. Joanna's having a little party in the Garden of Eden, and she's naked as a trout.

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Wild Nothing: Gemini Posted Fri Jan 29, 2010, 1:29 PM ET

Wild Nothing is 21-year old Virginian, Jack Tatum. Last year, he released a 7" single on Captured Tracks, another one of those labels that just knows what I like. Gemini, his full-length debut, is scheduled to be released on May 18. You can listen to a few tracks at the Wild Nothing Myspace page.

I’m not sure if I need this one, or if I just really want it. But I do love the massive collision of pop hooks.

Yeah, I need it.

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Massive Attack: Heligoland Posted Fri Jan 29, 2010, 1:13 PM ET

It’s been awhile since I last hooked up with Massive Attack. Heligoland is the unit’s fifth full-length studio release and, with collaborations from Damon Albarn, Hope Sandovol, Tunde Adebimpe, and Martina Topley-Bird, it has to be good. Right?

I think I need it. Do you need it? You can listen to a track (“Girl, I Need You”) at the Massive Attack site.

Due out February 8. I believe there'll be a review of this in an upcoming issue of Stereophile, as well.

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Four Tet: There Is Love In You Posted Fri Jan 29, 2010, 12:38 PM ET

Any album named There Is Love In You is an album for me. Especially when it’s the new one from Four Tet, aka Kieran Hebden, 32-year old, post-rock/electronic DJ/musician/wizard.

Need it.

Dreamy deluxe vinyl due out any day now, I believe.

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Jimi Hendrix: Valleys of Neptune Posted Fri Jan 29, 2010, 11:26 AM ET

These are previously unreleased tracks, with a previously unknown fire and happiness. I pried the advance copy from Robert Baird's kung-fu grip, and listened to it on the hi-fi. I don't want to say too much about it because our April issue will include a whole psychedelic feature on the topic, as well as a formal album review, so I'll just say this: I need it.

Due out this March.

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Now on Newsstands: Stereophile, Vol.33 No.2 Posted Thu Jan 28, 2010, 7:09 PM ET

The February 2010 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. What do you think of the cover? I like it more than any cover we’ve done since the October 2009 issue, which featured the lovely Zu Essence speaker. The styling of the current cover may seem a bit soft and feminine (for Stereophile), but I think it’s elegant and graceful, like the speaker it frames. Vienna Acoustics’ Kiss is a beautifully finished three-way design with an integral stand. It uses a 1" silk-dome tweeter coincident with a 7" proprietary Spider-Cone midrange and a 9" Spider-Cone woofer. Wes wanted to make out with it. Can you blame him? He wrote: “The Kiss was exquisitely capable of revealing the emotional core of every type of music I played through it.”

And isn’t that what we’re after? Aren’t we all trying to get closer to an emotional core?

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The Curve of the Earth Posted Wed Jan 27, 2010, 5:29 PM ET

Spending time on the coast, with nothing to impede your view, leaves you feeling more aware of your connection to the planet, this gorgeous blue rock, spinning about in space. One remarkable thing about being so close to the edge of the continent is that you can actually see the curve of the earth. Here I am, committing it to memory.

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Jon's Rainbow Posted Wed Jan 27, 2010, 5:28 PM ET

On Wednesday, at around 5PM, Jon Iverson pulled off the road and snapped this shot of a complete double rainbow. The symmetry was accidental. Jon just happened to be in the right place, at the right time. Funny how things work out.

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My Rainbow Posted Wed Jan 27, 2010, 5:25 PM ET

While Jon was on his way home, I was back at Lucia Lodge, working on “Recommended Components.” Earlier in the day, Jon and I had had a big lunch, but I knew that Tom, the lodge manager, would be expecting me for dinner at Lucia’s restaurant. Though I wasn’t particularly hungry, I shut down my laptop, and walked outside. Funny how things work out.

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