But I'd love to introduce him to some Digable Planets or A Tribe Called Quest.
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You know how life is: It's just one damn thing after another. I spent some time attempting to re-imagine this blog and I dealt with a health issue. clickfor sound effect Well, I'm better now and I have some fun things (I think) in store.
Such as?
Factory tours (I leave for Focal within the hour), designer interviews, small reviewlets, and, of course, some Friday cat-blogging and the usual linkage.
Stay (ahem) tuned. click for sound effect
"So how many records did you buy last night?" Elizabeth asked me.
"Six."
She gave a look—a sort of grimace—that expressed sympathy for my bank account. I nodded.
"What did you get?"
"I've had this total crush on a girl called Santogold.
"Her music is this dub, hip-hop, indie-rock fusion, and it's really fucking great. The store had her full-length, but only on CD. I almost bought it, but I held back because I know I'm eventually going to buy the vinyl. So, instead, I just bought the LP single. It was six bucks."
"A 45…
My first record cleaning purchases: A Hunt EDA carbon fiber brush for dry-cleaning (footnote 1), a MoFi brush for wet-cleaning, a couple bottles of MoFi fluid (Super Deep Cleaner for the really nasty records, and Super Record Wash for the plain old dirty ones), 100 Polyline inner sleeves (because of all the different options these were the least expensive per sleeve, but, at some point, I'd like to try the MoFi rice paper sleeves), and 100 4-mil outer sleeves (because 4-mil seemed just thick enough, and because I liked the packaging).
I am totally pumped to spend some time…
Her name was E. and the gentle quaver in her soft voice gave me the impression that she was nervous, anxious, young. Something about it seemed sweet, seemed sincere. Which made me want to help her more. She was calling from England, and the connection was crystal clear. I could hear her perfectly, though she was so far away. She was doing research on the high end hi-fi industry.
"I'm not so sure that I'll be able to help," I said, "but I'll certainly try."
We talked about this and that, and I could sense that she was taking notes, when she finally asked, "So, how do…
Reminds me of so many of the '80s music videos that absolutely scared the bejesus out of me. Love it.
Part of the problem is that I'm almost always thinking about what I should, or could, be writing here on the blog. I'll be in the shower, thinking: "Man, I haven't written anything good lately. Haven't written anything that's inspired discussion. Maybe, today, I'll write about my father and how his alcoholism relates to speaker cables…."
Shit used to piss her off. We'd be at dinner or walking through the park, and I'd bring up some audio-related topic, and she'd hear something in the tone of my voice.
"Are you thinking about writing this in your blog?" she'd ask.…
Dear Stephen,
You probably will be cleaning records over the long holiday weekend, as your cleaning machine was shipped today.
You probably will be cleaning records over the long holiday weekend, as your cleaning machine was shipped today.
Have a great weekend.
Sheila
This isn't "perfect sound," it's perfect life.
—George Reisch, Stereophile, Vol.20 No.9
—George Reisch, Stereophile, Vol.20 No.9
Vinyl News from Mikey Fremer: Last week, Michael Fremer sent me a copy of his 21st Century Vinyl DVD. Originally released in June 2006, Mikey's "Practical Guide to Turntable Set-Up" has sold over 7000 copies. While I recommend it to anyone interested in learning how to set up a turntable, I think it provides benefits to recent converts as well as experienced analog lovers. It is highly informative and entertaining. That Mikey, he's a funny dude.
Today, Michael announced…
The Jeff Gauthier Goatette’s House of Return, on the L.A.-based Cryptogramophone label, is one of the most sinuously pleasing albums I’ve heard in a while. I confess that I haven’t followed this quirky label or its roster of musicians as closely as I should have, but I intend to make up for lost time. The Goatette (don’t ask me why it’s called that—there are five musicians, so it’s not even a Dada play on “quartet”) consists of Gauthier, violin; Nels Cline, guitar; David Witham, piano; Joel Hamilton, bass; and Alex Cline, drums. The way each of them weaves in and out of different tempos,…