The Transformation
That first morning, I woke and immediately began to worry. How would I know what to wear? What if there were train delays? What if there had been some horrible catastrophe requiring that I stay away from Manhattan?
The Ultimate Ice-Breaker
Try this:
The Ultimates and the Slims
If you were to do a Google image search on my work at Stereophile, you'd see that, basically, my days are simply filled with reading, writing, coordinating, and planning. No two consecutive days, however, are the same.
The War On Drugs
Lately, when I’ve been hungry for some good, uncomplicated, headshaking, soul-lifting songwriting, the kind that drops from the summer sky like a sudden shower and leaves a rainbow in its wake, I’ve turned to Slave Ambient, the sophomore release from The War On Drugs.
Recorded over the last four years in front man Adam Granduciel’s home studio in Philadelphia, Jeff Ziegler’s Uniform Recording, and Echo Mountain in Asheville, NC, the album is a drive to the ocean, windows down, head back, shades on. Acoustic and electric guitars, synthesizers, drums, and Granduciel’s voice, rambling and drifting and howling, together recalling heat waves, long days, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
The Way Buddy Holly Made Them
The July issue of Stereophile (which you should totally get a hold of; steal it, if you have to) includes Robert">http://blog.stereophile.com/musicroom/robertbaird/">Robert Baird's interview with Sonic Youth. Robert visited the band at their studio, Echo Canyon West, in Hoboken, NJ. I wish I could have been there. I would've laid right down on that floor and soaked it all up.
The Way We Listen Now
Okay, read this: The">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121023882">The Decade in Music: The Way We Listen Now, from NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
The Way We Listened Then
Have you read thathttp://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/the_way_we_listen_now/">that<…;, yet? Okay, now read this: “Reconsidering">http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/116282-reconsidering-the-revival-o… the Revival of Cassette Tape Culture,” by PopMatters’ Calum Marsh.
The Weight of My Loneliness
Remember when my living room looked like thishttp://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2173/size/bi…;? Cozy, comforting, warm, functional, and tidy. Not bad at all.
The WFMU Record Fair
I should have known by the looks in their shining eyes. When people told me that I'd probably enjoy it, that it was probably a good idea for me to go, they were being coy. But never mind: No words could have prepared me for the enormity of the event, for the knee-weakening prospect of innumerable treasures. And so, on Saturday morning, when I decided to go to the WFMU">http://www.wfmu.org/recfair/">WFMU Record Fair, I was entirely, woefully, indubitably unprepared. I am reminded of my">http://www.stereophile.com/news/010605cessm/index.html">my first Consumer Electronics Show. You can't know what it's like until you've been. And only after it's over can you pretend to prepare for the following year. I will begin pretending to prepare for next year's event today—taking for granted that next year will exist—but, until then, I'm left wanting a do-over, wondering why didn't anybody tell me it would be like this, while nevertheless enjoying the few treasures I did come home with.
The Wind Cried: Vinyl
If you visit our">http://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/1646">our Gallery, you'll see that Christian bought an LP. Vinyl, that is. Funny thing about that: Christian doesn't own a record player.