Stephen Mejias
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Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Aug 17, 2012 0 comments
Over at AudioStream, my man Michael Lavorgna mentions Diogenes: Digital Home for Experimental Music. I stumbled upon the site yesterday. Thinking that ML would love it, I forwarded the link to him immediately. I was right!

For the adventurous music lover who craves new, unusual sounds—stuff that might challenge, that might delight, and that will certainly expand your mind—and for the audiophile who primarily uses a computer as a source, Diogenes is an online heaven.

Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Aug 10, 2012 19 comments
Stereophile’s editorial assistant, Ariel Bitran, directed my attention to this USA Today article on an interesting turntable from U-Turn Audio, a company founded by three close friends—Ben Carter, Bob Hertig, and Peter Maltzan—all in their early 20s, who were tired of playing records on cheap USB turntables.
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Aug 03, 2012 1 comments
Until the quiet comes, we can enjoy Flying Lotus’s new mixtape, Lovers Melt, Pt.III. Here in the Stereophile office, it’s been blowing our minds all week, helping us get through the beast that is “Recommended Components.” We hope you enjoy it, too.
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Aug 03, 2012 9 comments
Congrats to Josh Ray and Urban Fidelity for reaching their Kickstarter goal. With the funding necessary to get off and running, Urban Fidelity seems poised to make a big debut at this year’s Rocky Mountain Audiofest. In pictures, they're gorgeous, but I can’t wait to find out how these speakers really look and sound.

But at just $399/pair ($299/pair, if purchased before August 8), they seem like a bargain: floorstanding loudspeakers, made in the US, featuring several unique designs by independent artists.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Aug 03, 2012 8 comments
In my August column, page 43, just before I have a blast with the $400/pair Definitive Technology StudioMonitor 45 loudspeakers, I discuss a few letters I’ve recently received from readers, asking if I’m satisfied with reviewing “lower-end” gear.

Am I satisfied?

Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Aug 03, 2012 0 comments
I spotted this familiar magazine in the lobby of the hospital where, just last Saturday, my sister gave birth to a healthy, handsome boy.

It was our March 2007 issue—someone needs to renew the hospital’s subscription. Flipping through its pages was like taking a walk back in time.

Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Aug 02, 2012 0 comments
Back in July 2011, we discussed the New Face of Vinyl. Young vinyl enthusiasts, Ben Meadors and Owen McCafferty, turned to Kickstarter to fund their dream of traveling across the country and meeting teens who were similarly interested in collecting and playing LPs. They met their goal of $6500 and made their way across the US, documenting every step along the way.

Now, Dust & Grooves’ Eilon Paz wants to document every face of vinyl. Paz, a Brooklyn-based photographer and vinyl enthusiast, plans to travel across the country, telling the great American story through its vinyl collectors.

Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Aug 02, 2012 0 comments
Steve Shelley, rock-solid drummer of Sonic Youth and various other bands, has started a new record label called Vampire Blues. Releases will be available as LPs (with MP3 download cards) and as digital downloads. Will hi-res files be made available? We can hope.
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Jul 27, 2012 0 comments
When I first met Josh Ray at a hi-fi show several years ago, I was impressed by his desire to bring high-end audio to a larger audience—an endeavor that I can easily appreciate. At the time, Josh sat atop the masthead of the forward-thinking audio review website, Sonic Flare. Along with Danny Kaey and a small cast of writers, Josh made Sonic Flare a fun and interesting web destination. But while SF’s reviews were consistently informative, I always wondered if Josh’s interests were more aligned with promoting the overall idea and allure of high-end audio.

Today, Danny Kaey has assumed full responsibility for Sonic Flare, while Josh Ray turns his attention to a new endeavor: Urban Fidelity, a loudspeaker company aimed at bringing hi-fi to a new generation of listeners. Josh sees an opportunity:

Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Jul 25, 2012 0 comments
And speaking of birthdays, today is Thurston Moore’s. To celebrate, let’s groove and flail to Chelsea Light Moving’s latest track, “Groovy & Linda.” The song, like most from Thurston, is a twisted love story.
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Jul 25, 2012 3 comments
Composer Kevin James looks a bit tired of making field recordings. Recordings for 100 Waltzes for John Cage were captured during 45+ nearly continuous hours of driving around New York City. Photo: The [kāg] ensemble.

Tuesday–Thursday, August 21–23, 7:30pm: In celebration of John Cage’s 100th birthday, The [kāg] ensemble will perform Kevin James’s 100 Waltzes for John Cage at the DiMenna Center, Mary Flagler Cary Hall (450 West 37th Street, New York).

Inspired by Cage’s 49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs, for which a score was created by randomly selecting 147 locations on a New York City map, James’s work is said to answer the question, “What would Cage have done with the advanced technologies that have shaped our ever-expanding information age?”

I'd like to think he'd have thrown them out the window and made a score from their shattered bits and pieces. Kevin James, it seems, feels similarly:

Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Jul 19, 2012 3 comments
I approached The xx’s self-titled debut with caution. The hype surrounding it was enough to turn me away. I remember talking about the record with Karen at Other Music. “It’s definitely one of those albums that polarizes people,” she said.

Soon, though, it became unavoidable. I might be able to hide from it at home, but I couldn’t escape it at work. By the middle of 2010, a hi-fi show wasn’t complete without The xx.

Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Jul 18, 2012 2 comments
Cosmogramma, Flying Lotus’s adventurous 2010 release felt, and still feels, like a sonic joy ride, a fusion of jazz, pop, funk, and electronic music styles. Complex, playful, and sophisticated, Cosmogramma conjures 8-bit video games and Saturday morning cartoons as much as it does 1950s sci-fi, 1970s Impulse jazz, 1990s house—all while sounding entirely advanced, connected, soulful.

How do you follow up something like that?

Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Jul 12, 2012 1 comments
The KLF's awesome 1990 masterpiece, Chill Out, the latest album featured at Classic Album Sundays.

Reader Robert Stewart shares “A King’s Ransom from Queens,” a truly remarkable, eclectic record collection soon to be available from Amoeba Records.

Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias Jul 12, 2012 3 comments
The Audiophile Tree of Life—a present from AudioStream's Michael Lavorgna. This guy watches over me while I listen to music.

In May, I exchanged a few e-mails with Wojciech Pacula, editor of the Polish online magazine, High Fidelity.

We discussed publishing, music, hi-fi, and life. (I can’t believe I didn’t mention Natalie, Nicole, the Mets, or beer.) You can read the interview here. There are also lots of pictures of my listening room and gear, which you might find interesting.

Pacula did a great job with the images and the translation. I don’t look or sound too painfully ridiculous. Whew!

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