Mogwai’s latest album, the band’s seventh full-length studio release, due in stores next Tuesday, February 15th, is called Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. I just found out about this today. Stephanie Scola of KEF told me because she knows I like Mogwai. Thank you, Stephanie. My reaction to this news was simple and unambiguous: With a name like Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, the album had already earned my blind and stupid love. That’s right: Before ever even hearing this record, I knew that I was going to own it and I was going to love it. That’s the kind of guy I am. If you didn’t already know, now you know. Maybe this changes your opinion of me, but I don’t care.

Clogs in the snow. Photo: Tamara Bogolasky.

Saturday, March 12, 7:30pm: Clogs, Shara Worden, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus will perform at Merkin Concert Hall (129 West 67th Street, New York). The performance is part of Merkin’s inaugural Ecstatic Music Festival. Stereophile readers who have enjoyed John Atkinson’s 2007 recording, Attention Screen: Live at Merkin Hall (available here), will be familiar with the rich, inviting sound of the space.

Sunday, February 27, 12-6pm: Brooklyn Bowl (61 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg) will host the Collect-i-Bowl Record Show.

The Snell Type C/IV's design has been highly influenced by both the testing methods and philosophy of Canada's National Research Council in Ottawa. Other well-known loudspeakers to have benefited from the NRC's testing facilities include the Mirage M-1 and M-3, PSB Stratus Gold, the Waveform, and Camber 3.5. The NRC provides a variety of services to loudspeaker designers, notably use of their testing facilities which include a full-sized anechoic chamber. In addition, the NRC is heavily involved in carefully controlled blind listening comparisons between loudspeakers, used to aid the loudspeaker designer while the product is under development. The NRC doesn't provide design services, but rather the means of testing and evaluating work in progress and finished products.

Despite not offering design aid, many loudspeakers created with the NRC's testing and listening laboratories share some common philosophies. Chief among these is the belief that flat amplitude response is far and away the most significant factor in listener preferences and thus should be the paramount design goal. Many NRC-influenced loudspeakers share steep crossover slopes, wide dispersion, smooth off-axis response, and pay considerable attention to the way the loudspeaker interacts with the listening room.