Stephen Mejias

"Man, hemp seed drivers?!"

I'm looking forward to the new Bill Callahan album, Woke On A Whaleheart, not only because I have this aching feeling that it's going to be a beautiful piece of work, one that I can relate to and fall in love with, but also because I think it's going to offer excellent sound quality, and I just can't wait to hear it on the hi-fi. This is interesting to me because I never looked forward to an album for its sound quality before. Even when reading our own Stereophile record reviews, I've paid little attention to the number of stars placed besides the "Sonics" heading, except to make sure they're the right size and font.

The oppressive heat shook hands with the violent rain, and I couldn't summon the drive to do much of anything at all. Rather than wilt, I decided to visit Tunes and dirty my fingertips with some old vinyl. Outside, the day danced furiously back and forth, the rain so hard at times that drops fell from cracks in the ceiling to land among the album stacks. I waited it out.

Thishttp://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118953936892024096.html">This; Wall Street Journal article asks: "Are MP3s and the iPod ruining pop music?"

More to get excited about: FatCat Records, the Brighton, UK-based label, home to some of my favorite bands and artists (Hauschka, Animal Collective, Black Dice, Johann Johannsson, Sylvain Chauveau, to name a few), has announced the new Palmist imprint, “a project dedicated to releasing limited, vinyl-only runs of artists we love who are home-recorded or otherwise steeped in the DIY tradition.”

The first three releases will be 12” split singles, scheduled for US release on August 16th:

On my way to work this morning, I noticed that the cool air felt like the first days of school. Though I often hated those first days of school, I enjoyed the feeling of this morning's cool air.

Though many of the highway’s trails were closed due to floods and mudslides, Jon and I found one that took us right down to the ocean. Partington">http://www.hikinginbigsur.com/hikes_partingtoncove.html">Partington Cove was furious, relentless, and beautiful. No subwoofer can recreate that massive sound made by the waves as they crashed into the land.