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Wye Oak

Wye Oak is a sort of American folk duo. Andy Stack plays drums and keys (at the same time), while Jenn Wasner sings and absolutely wails on the guitar. This is a video for their song, "Please Concrete," from their 2008 debut If Children.

If Children is great, but the new album, The Knot, writhes and burns and delights. You can read more about it in the October issue of Stereophile. I hope you will. For now, you can go to Merge and stream the entire album. I think you should. If The Knot isn't released on vinyl, I might have to kill someone. Or buy the compact…

Morning

I woke up this morning with the sun in my face and Heather Duby's "Places Shape Lives" churning through my mind. I heard the old moan of cello and the aching melody, the hypnotic precision of the just-tuned drums, the constant trembling of the strangled guitar, and I knew it would be a good day.

Heather Duby will be performing new and old songs at Piano's (158 Ludlow Street, NYC) on August 17.

Floods: <i>Transmission</i>

I think it's time to talk about Floods' Transmission, as the album is now almost a year old. It was released on August 8, 2008. I know this album very well because I'm one of Floods' two band members. I played a lot of guitar for Transmission and even sang a little bit, while my good friend, Brother Todd, handled the synths, programming, and editing. We shared arrangement duties and we never fought about anything, I swear.

It's sort of an interesting story, and it begins in the winter of 2002. I don't want to tell you the whole story&#151what fun would that be?&#…

Freakin' at the Beacon

They were quite a couple. Like a pair of Octopi in heat. First, he was grabbing her ass. Then he had his hands up the back of her shirt. Then, up the front. Then he had his hands down the back of her pants. Then, down the front. Both hands and about half of his forearms. Her only reaction was to smile, swoon and stick her tongue in his mouth. I'm damned impressed that she was able to keep her clothes on during this determined assault upon her New Jersey virtue. Best of all, during this entire spectacle, they were simultaneously kissing and falling down at the same time. Groping does…

Nine Years

Me, in the old cubicle at 110 Fifth Avenue, just eight months into the new job. I was thinner then, and had more hair.

I began working with Stereophile exactly nine years ago, on August 10, 2000. I was 22 years old, I was living in my uncle's basement, and I didn't even know that "high end audio" existed. I had never heard the word "audiophile." I was in a band. I listened to all of my music through a simple Magnavox boombox.

My life has changed considerably since then, thank goodness.

I live on my own in a small apartment, and I know a little more about hi-fi…

The Ecstasy and Agony

Marantz America is supporting the launch of their attractive KI Pearl components with a decidedly august hardcover book and matching dual-layer SACD. Like the KI Pearls themselves, both the book and SACD celebrate audio designer Ken Ishiwata's 30-year relationship with Marantz and offer insights into his life and work.

Ishiwata&#151violinist, fashion photographer, and electronics engineer&#151built his first amplifier when he was only 10 years old. While in high school, a friend's father sat Ishiwata down in front of a hi-fi system built around a Marantz Model 7C…

(I'm just kidding!)

Eric met with Wilson's John Giolas at Wilson's warehouse where they had all of the necessary tools for the shoot.

Zip me up.

She didn't ask. She demanded.