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Boris

I can't stop smiling. Boris arrived today.

As I held the package in my hand, the word that came to mind was heavy. There must have been some mistake. Southern Lord Records must have sent me two or three albums instead of just the one that I had ordered. The LP box was just too heavy.

But there was no mistake. On vinyl, Boris' new album is as heavy as their music.

Smile is a double-LP, packed into a substantial, silver-lined gatefold, with each individual slab of vinyl housed in its own thick, full-color inner sleeve.

It is, in every way, beautiful.

Green

It's a good, good thing you voted for green because that's the color I was going to pick anyway. It was a landslide. Foreshadowing of something greater, perhaps. (Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.)

For the record: Yellow and white each garnered three votes, black received five nods, red was called for six times, and green won a total of 12 victory cries. (This does not include the two additional green votes offered by "mrlowry," although his enthusiasm is appreciated.)

Red was a bit too obvious; black a bit too boring; white a bit too Cupertino, California; and…

I've Got My Eye On You

Every now and then, people will ask: "How do you find out about this stuff?"

They are totally baffled. Which is always funny to me because it's not like I'm a musical super sleuth or anything. I find out about bands by doing the same things I've always done: I go to shows, I read reviews, I talk to my friends, I buy records.

I am approaching my 31st birthday. It's not a big deal. I only mention it because, for me, it means I don't have the energy or patience to attend as many rock shows as I did when I was 17. I go to fewer shows, but I read more reviews. The…

Weekend Plans

Set times for tomorrow's East Village Radio Music Festival have been announced. Looks like this:

Main Stage performances at Pier 17, from 12:45 to 9pm
12:45 — 4-ize
1:15 — Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
1:45 — Dr. Lonnie Smith
2:30 — lf Arnalds
3:00 — Vivian Girls
3:45 — High Places
4:30 — Awesome Color
5:00 — John Oliver
5:30 — Devin the Dude
6:15 — Flying Lotus
7:00 — Mark Ronson
7:45 — BORIS 7

"On-the-Side" @Seaport Second Stage performances, from 1:30 to 7:45pm
1:30 — Lil' Dusty
2:30 — Bunnybrains
3:30 — Hex Message…

Timeless, Unforgettable, Enduring

We recently posted all of our coverage of two classic turntables: The Rega P3 and the Sota Sapphire. And when I say "classic," I don't mean old. I mean timeless, unforgettable, enduring. Take a look at our Hot 100 list of all-time most important products, and you'll see that the British Rega ranks at number 30, while the all-American Sota stands proud at number 54. Our reviews of these turntables date back to 1984, and provide information that is still very much useful and interesting today.

I've mentioned that I love the Rega P3, and I plan to buy the updated P3-24. I was…

New Arrivals at the Princeton Record Exchange

Omar and I were enjoying breakfast at Skinner's Pub. Monica makes a great Bloody Mary. The storms hadn't arrived yet&#151in fact, the sun was still shining&#151but the Mets game had already been canceled. The forecast was bleak. We could have easily spent the entire day chatting with Monica, but decided to take a ride down to Princeton.

At Newark Penn Station, we bought two 24-ounce cans of Modelo Especial and a couple of one-way train tickets. By the time we reached the platform for track 4, the rain had begun to fall. The train was right on time. The rain grew…

Babylon!

If you were to judge this album just by its cover, you might imagine the music inside to be weird and awesome. At least that's what I imagined. If you're like me, you'd be absolutely desitively right. Dr. John's Babylon is something else.

Dr. John's Babylon rocks without rocking, swings without swinging, smokes without smoking. Dr. John can't decide whether he should wail from the left channel or the right. Maybe this time he'll hit you right between the eyes. Dr. John is black and he's white, he comes in every color, he's a student, a teacher, and he's dying from stone hunger…

Guitars and Digital Only

It’s been a Guitar Fest here in NYC lately. I’ve seen Bill Frisell (always superb), Kenny Burrell (a very rare pleasure because he hates to fly) and Mike Marino (with new Blue Note pianist Aaron Parks). Tonight is a tribute to Fender's Jazzmaster guitar headlined by Nels Cline, J. Mascis, Thurston Moore and Tom Verlaine. Must be frets in the water or something.

Concord Records, the proud but often confused owners of the wondrous Fantasy Records catalog have made yet another really….um, interesting move by announcing they plan to release a number of new volumes in their ongoing…

Between Heaven and Hell

As I searched through the new arrivals at the Princeton Record Exchange, I kept coming back to this album. I knew nothing about Oscar Brown Jr.&#151had never even heard of the guy&#151but the pain communicated in the album title and cover art intrigued me. Even if it turned out that I didn't like the music, I'd at least get an interesting piece of art. And for just four bucks!

Turned out I liked the music.

In fact, I was pretty much blown away. Again, judging from the album art and liner notes, I was expecting something like a male Nina Simone&#151a deep…

Maybe

We have the same birthday. Isn't that nice? Today the blog is 3, and I am 31. Happy birthday to us.

Three years ago, I was just introducing myself. Two years ago, I was staring in the mirror (searching for myself, maybe). Last year, I was crying over the Mets, but I had also just (re)discovered salsa. And this year, I am in love with vinyl LPs.

We can look a bit into the future. We know that I will be purchasing my first real turntable: A Rega P3-24. And we know that I will be helping a friend restore her first real turntable: A Sota Sapphire. We can also assume,…