Stephen Mejias

Forumhttp://forum.stereophile.com/forum">Forum; member, dbowker, gave me the heads-up on this special Record Store Day LP. With This LP Crashes Hard Drives, ten of my favorite hard-core crate-digging specialist labels came together to release one hell of a deluxe, limited-edition, gatefold masterpiece&#151just one of the many reasons to raise our voices and rejoice for Record Store Day. The awesome package includes a CD sampler, zines, catalogs, stickers, and posters from all participating labels.

New York City's Matador Records rewards hardcore music lovers and promotes the growth of the music industry with their intelligent "Buy">http://www.buyearlygetnow.com/">Buy Early Get Now" plan. With BEGN, fans can pre-order upcoming albums through participating trustworthy retailers across the nation. In addition to the actual album, BEGN packages include exclusive bonuses such as MP3s, posters, band merchandise, and, a free, legal stream of the entire album weeks before the official release date. I like it.

During our">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/a_visit_to_mikeys_and_the_gla… visit to Michael Fremer's house, alongside all the LPs and cables and enormous amplifiers, I found myself thinking: If only others could experience this, here, like this, they'd understand what all the fuss is about...

Remember that">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/my_bat-lightning_heart/">that crush I had on Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan?

I was very impressed by the hi-fi dealers I encountered while at the 2009">http://blog.stereophile.com/ssi2009/">2009 Salon Son & Image show in Montreal. Representatives from Son-Or-Filtroniquehttp://www.filtronique.com/en/default.asp">Son-Or-Filtronique;, Audio">http://www.audiobasics.com/">Audio Basics, and Coup">http://www.cdfaudio.com/">Coup de Foudre seemed intelligent, enthusiastic, friendly, energetic, and cool: All qualities the high-end audio industry could use more of.

Alright, back in action. Montreal was a blast. Seriously the most fun I've ever had at a hi-fi show. This was due partly to the fact that we didn't have to adjust to a different time zone, partly to the overall laidback, friendly atmosphere, and partly to the smaller, less demanding size of the show. And I didn't even get sick!

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