The album is produced by that crazy cat, Danger Mouse (The Grey Album, Gnarls Barkley), and is a soulful, bluesy, slow, slow burn.
search
The gorgeous gatefold opens up to show watercolors of The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. In the left sleeve, you'll find a glossy lyrics sheet and a complete promo CD!
To cheer myself up after the picture disc disappointment, I went ahead and bought Attack & Release by The Black Keys and Trouble In Dreams by Destroyer. Of course, I couldn't buy only two albums. Two is an even number, you see. So, I also picked up Light in the Attic's beautiful Betty Davis reissue.
AUDIOPHILE QUALITY
…
Both The Black Keys and Destroyer albums are luscious gatefold affairs, with intoxicating artwork—I could just stare and stare and stare. The Black Keys album had a sticker on its plastic wrap that read:
HALF SPEED MASTERING
AUDIOPHILE QUALITY
…
A couple of nights ago, I got this big idea that I'd go shopping for some picture disc vinyl to go along with the component we'll be featuring on our July cover. (Hint: It's not a speaker.) You know, I was thinking it'd be no problem to find Jimi Hendrix all lit up in a purple haze or, better yet, some new indie band dressed in skinny jeans and moccasins being chased by a puma, or something. But I discovered that new picture disc vinyl isn't all that easy to come by. Surprisingly, I found that today's picture discs come from three main sources:
1. Boy bands
Fall Out Boy, The…
Matthew Guerrieri (aka Soho the Dog) has a new installation of his ongoing series Strauss and Mahler Re-Enact Your Favorite Movie Moments. Today's episode is The Ten Commandments. Read 'em all—they're hilarious.
Besides the reading I do here at Stereophile, I read a lot on the morning train. When Murakami is pissing me off with his cats and dead friends, I turn to the free dailies handed out by the dudes in the bright orange jackets standing outside the station. I pick one up and I say to myself, "I think I'll get a little stupid this morning." I go for Metro—"the world's largest global newspaper." Dressed in a cheery green and with a friendly font, it is clearly designed for those in jeans and sneakers, whereas AM New York is meant for the more serious suits.
I really don't care…
Dear Readers,
I admit it. When Jerry commented to last week's entry, saying that vinyl wears out with every single trip around the platter, it kind of shook me up. My heart raced and blood rushed to my head. I began to sweat. What had I done? What was I getting into? How would I afford this? Had I stepped into AlexO's bottomless pit?
I admit it. When Jerry commented to last week's entry, saying that vinyl wears out with every single trip around the platter, it kind of shook me up. My heart raced and blood rushed to my head. I began to sweat. What had I done? What was I getting into? How would I afford this? Had I stepped into AlexO's bottomless pit?
While some queer, poetic part of me enjoys the idea that vinyl is this living, breathing thing that slowly dwindles and decays over time—like a flower, like love—I would really prefer for my records to last the next fifty or…
If you visit our Gallery, you'll see that Christian bought an LP. Vinyl, that is. Funny thing about that: Christian doesn't own a record player.
And so goes the sweet cycle. Poor dude's walking in my own drunken steps. Like me, like ErikB, like Catch 22, like countless others—I am sure—Christian is already collecting vinyl. He cannot help himself. Michael Lavorgna and John DeVore knew.
Michael Lavorgna and John DeVore—audiophiles, music lovers, enablers that they are—exchanged dark, deliberate glances as they watched my vinyl…
Buddha said:
One day some people came to the vinyl lover and asked:
How can you be happy in a world of such impermanence, where you cannot protect your beloved LPs from harm, wear and death?
The vinyl lover held up an LP and said:
Someone gave me this LP, and I really like it. It plays music admirably and its sound pleases me. I touch the needle to it and it sings! One day the wind may blow it off the shelf, or my elbow may knock it from the table or scratch it irreparably. I know this LP is already broken, so I enjoy it incredibly.
There it was again. Goosebumps. Even a grainy old out–of–synch YouTube video of a 1986 sound check at Maxwell's in Hoboken still evoked a shiver. At the risk of living in the rock 'n' roll past, The Replacements were one of the best bands, bar or otherwise, that I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Over the years I saw Westerberg, Mars and the Stinson Bros many, many times. I saw them when they were riotously drunk, careening from one tune to the next, never finishing any of them. I saw them once at an unbilled gig do not a note of their own music, preferring instead to rip through TV…
Friday night, I went to the 55 Bar—one of several small, inviting, low-to-no-cover jazz clubs in New York City’s West Village—to hear Kendra Shank sing in celebration of her (improbably) 50th birthday. Audiophiles will recall Shank’s mid’90s album, Afterglow (on the Mapleshade label), one of the best-sounding jazz-vocal records in recent times as well as a balladeer’s strong debut. In the years since, her voice has grown suppler, deeper, more versatile, dynamic, controlled, and adventurous. Her first mentor was the late Shirley Horn, and her biggest strength remains the ballad (she opened…