Stephen Mejias

Remember my friend, Eden? The one with the">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/project_sapphire_at_the_end_o… amazing apartment and the Sota Sapphire? I visited her the other day. Slowly, so slowly, we're revitalizing the old turntable. Getting her ready to spin again. Getting her ready to sing again.

Although it was a really lovely autumn Sunday with soft blue skies, abundant sunshine, and a crisp breeze, I was still feeling rather worn out from shipping our December issue. Instead of finding a place to watch the Giants demolish the Raiders, I decided to stay inside and listen to records. I considered taking notes to accompany each album, but doing so would have felt too much like more work, so I opted to simply listen and deal with the subsequent guilt.

To be moved by Sharon Van Etten’s warm, sensuous voice, the remarkable power and soul in her phrasing and delivery, the heaviness of her sad words, you need only listen to her latest album, Tramp (see my review in the March issue, on sale now). Its effects are immediate. To be absolutely captivated, charmed, dazzled by her presence and promise, to want to get to know her better, it helps to see Van Etten perform live.

On Saturday, February 25th, Sharon Van Etten walked out onto the stage before a packed house at Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom. She wears a red dress, black heels, a guitar, and an honest smile.

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I knew nothing about Shintaro Sakamoto, but there was just no way I could have resisted such provocative album art or a title like How to Live With a Phantom.

Mark Levinson has thick, black eyebrows and big, beautiful hands which flutter with energy and something more.

Have you guys seen those Vincent">http://www.wsdistributing.com/">Vincent Audio ads? (See page 128 of the April issue, or page 130 of the March issue or, even better, page 183 of the January issue.) I love them all.