LATEST ADDITIONS

Wandering, Searching, Cool Struttin'

Sort of like a drunk wandering around the East Village in search of companionship or something, I stumbled upon <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/97dec/vinyl.htm">this outstanding article</a> by <i>Stereophile</i>’s former senior contributing editor, Jonathan Scull. The piece, “All Sales Are Vinyl,” which appeared in the December 1997 issue of <i>The Atlantic Monthly</i>, takes the reader on a brisk tour of Greenwich Village record shops. Though many of the shops mentioned are long gone, others such as A-1, the Jazz Record Center, Academy Records, and Other Music are still going strong, and Jonathan’s writing is at its best. Not only does he capture the joy of the vinyl hunt, he illuminates this unreal city, and does so with his unique, charming wit&#151his comic timing is brilliant.

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The Young Guy

And look who’s back: It’s Ariel Bitran! Ariel worked as our part-time editorial intern, enabling us to complete the 2008, 2009, and 2010 editions of the <i>Stereophile Buyer’s Guide</i>, before departing for a full-time gig with Mini-Circuits.

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Video: "Heathen Child," Grinderman

On Tuesday, September 14th&#151two days before my 33rd birthday&#151<a href="http://www.anti.com/artists/view/43/Grinderman">Anti- Records</a> will release <i>Grinderman 2</i>, the second studio album from Nick Cave’s heathen child, Grinderman. And we are in for a treat. The review will appear in our October issue, but I’ll just let you know now: The album is violent, powerful, horrifying, and hilarious.

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Gradient Helsinki 1.5 loudspeaker

A clever engineer with an interest in home audio says that the real obstacle to high-fidelity sound is the adverse and unpredictable way in which speakers interact with most domestic rooms. To address that need, he brings to market a loudspeaker that disperses sound in a new and original way. Controversy ensues. Controversy endures.

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Data Density Eats Tweaks for Breakfast

Otto von Bismarck (1815&#150;1898), the Prime Minister of Prussia who brought about the unification of Germany, was not a nice man. But he was no dummy, either. One of his most prophetic remarks was in response to a journalist's question about what Bismarck thought to be the single most decisive factor in modern history: "The fact that the North Americans speak English."

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