Back in the 1990s, my friend Nick Despotopoulos and I published an article in The Tracking Angle titled "Zen and the Art of Record Cleaning Made Difficult," describing author Michael Wayne's record-cleaning methodology. That regimen, like the article itself, was the most comprehensive one I knew of at the time.

Fontaines D.C.: A Hero's Death, Paul Weller: On Sunset, Jenny O.: New Truth and Joan Osborne: Trouble and Strife.

Maria Schneider Orchestra: Data Lords, Keleketla, Joel Ross: Who Are You? and John Zorn and Jesse Harris: Songs for Petra.

Eric Whitacre: The Sacred Veil, Beethoven: 9 Symphonies, Beethoven: The Piano Concertos, Shostakovich: Symphonies 5, 1, Gyda Valtysdottir: Epicycle II and Augustin Hadelich: Bohemian Tales.

In March 2003, as news networks broadcast images of American tanks racing north toward Baghdad, my infantry platoon dug shallow foxholes in southern Iraq. We were part of a defensive perimeter guarding FARP Exxon, a helicopter refueling point for the Army's 101st Airborne Division.