Stephen Mejias
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Payday Albums: 3/29/13
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias • Mar 29, 2013 • 8 comments
Today’s payday. I bought just one title.
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Sarah Vaughan: "Tenderly"
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias • Mar 27, 2013 • 4 comments

Sarah Lois Vaughan was born on this day in 1924, in my hometown: Newark, NJ. In this clip, taken from a 1958 performance, she sings “Tenderly.”

Thanks must go to Lester Perkins and Jazz on the Tube.

When Saints Go Machine: "Love and Respect"
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias • Mar 27, 2013 • 0 comments
The strange trembling vocals, warm synth sounds, and chamber pop movements of Konkylie, When Saints Go Machine’s full-length debut, appealed to me in unusual fashion: slowly at first, confounding my senses for a time, before finally winning me over. With time and repeated listening, the album became one of my very favorites of 2011.
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The Entry Level #27
The Entry Level
Stephen Mejias • Mar 19, 2013 • 2 comments
If there's an audio company that has it all, it's Jade Design, parent of Emotiva, Emotiva Pro, and Sherbourn. Before my visit to the company headquarters, in Franklin, Tennessee, I had invariably seen in the company's founder, Dan Laufman, a special kind of contentment, an ease, a happiness. Or was he merely arrogant? I couldn't be sure.
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Book Review: How Music Works
Features
Stephen Mejias • Mar 18, 2013 • 13 comments
Measuring 7.1" by 1.6" by 9.1" and with an attractive paper-over-board cover, [Talking Heads founder] David Byrne's boldly titled new book resembles the textbooks often found in public-school classrooms. If not for the author's brief lapses into street talk—he uses the word shit just a bit too freely for the youngest readers—one gets the impression that Byrne wouldn't mind having his book taught in elementary school. He quotes from Oliver Sacks's brilliant Musicophilia: "For the vast majority of students, music can be every bit as important educationally as reading or writing."
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Payday Albums: 3/15/13
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias • Mar 15, 2013 • 5 comments
Today’s payday. These are the albums I bought.
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The 2013 Pitchfork Music Fest Announces Initial Lineup
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias • Mar 06, 2013 • 1 comments
While John Atkinson, Jason Victor Serinus, and many more of our friends and colleagues prepare for Axpona in Chicago, where they’ll face what we all hope is this winter’s last frigid gasp, I’ve got my eyes set on this summer’s Pitchfork Music Festival, to be held Friday–Sunday, July 19–21, at Chicago’s Union Park.

I hear it's gonna be hot.

Tickets are on sale now, with single-day passes priced at $50 and three-day passes selling for an attractively discounted $120. But, taking into consideration the outstanding headliners and the well-rounded initial lineup, I suspect most music fans will have a very difficult time attending this Pitchfork Music Fest for just a single day. Three-day passes are practically mandatory.

The initial lineup, highlighted by Bjork, Belle & Sebastian, and R. Kelly, was announced this week:

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Three Days in England with KEF
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias • Mar 04, 2013 • 4 comments
It was around 9:30am on Monday, November 12, when my plane landed in gray and chilly London. I managed to get through Customs with nothing more than the usual amount of stress and embarrassment, satisfactorily answering all of the agent’s odd questions. That out of the way, I next had to find my host—KEF’s head of brand development, Johan Coorg. Because my cell phone wasn’t working, I was worried that I’d be left stranded at Heathrow, but I recognized Coorg immediately: At the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, he had introduced me to the stunning KEF Muon, and, at KEF’s lavish 50th Anniversary celebration, he had introduced me to a delicious Pimm’s Cup. Now he was standing casually at the Arrivals gate. He wore a dark brown blazer, striped button-down shirt, gold cufflinks, faded blue jeans, shiny leather shoes, and a look of comfort. He was busy pressing buttons on an iPhone.

“Johan,” I said.

“Hello! You made it!”

He led me from the airport, through the parking garage, and to an impressive black Mercedes. After loading our bags into the trunk, I instinctively walked around to the right-hand side of the car and nearly opened the door.

“Wrong side, mate. Unless you want to drive.”

It was a mistake I’d make a few more times before our three-day trip was over.

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Payday Albums: 2/1/13 & 3/1/13
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias • Mar 01, 2013 • 23 comments
I started this Payday Albums project in January. By February, I’d already fallen behind. So, let’s play catch-up:

Today’s payday. These are the albums I bought.

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Vondelpark: "California Analog Dream"
Stephen Mejias
Stephen Mejias • Feb 28, 2013 • 8 comments
London-based Vondelpark is Lewis Rainsbury (vocals, production, bass, guitar, keys), Alex Bailey (bass), and Matt Law (keys). Their debut album, Seabed, will be released by R&S Records (In Order to Dance) on April 2nd.
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