Strange thing about cassettes and vinyl records: Every now and then, while listening to them, I find myself wondering what’ll happen to them when I’m dead and gone. These beautiful things will outlive me and someday someone else will “own” them. What will that person think of me? Will that person think of me? What do my records say about me?
The Cherry Thing, the surprising album from vocalist Neneh Cherry and free-jazz trio The Thing (Mats Gustafsson on saxophones, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass, Paal Nilssen-Love on drums) will be released by Smalltown Supersound on June 19th.
Dear colleagues:
The year is almost over. The air has grown cold. Our rivers are stuck in deep, deep thought. Outside my 6th-floor window, countless, swirling bits of snow are decorating this gray city like little answers blowing in the wind, like so many true loves: A sure sign that the annual Consumer Electronics Show in glittery Las Vegas is right around the bend. It opens on Thursday, January 8th and runs right on through Sunday, the 11th.
Hey, have you guys heard the new Iron & Wine album, The Shepherd's Dog? It's been out for awhile now, but Robert just let me borrow his copy. I don't know what it is about Sam Beam, but his music has a way of getting me all nostalgic for every love I've ever felt. Then I imagine myself older, looking out of some unfamiliar window, a scene dressed in orange and green and blue, warm air, some trees, alone and feeling alright.
"Come As You Are" came to an end, and Billy Joel took its place. I lifted myself slowly, studied the radio, and pressed the button marked "Band." Just as ever, like magic, an AM station came through, covered in static and fuzz. It took me only a few moments to find the familiar voice and the catchy jingle, "Let's go Mets! F – A – N!"
Unlike that of the less-expensive Rega turntables, the Sota Sapphire's substantial dust cover works on heavy-duty hinges and holds itself in place. I don't know what this is good for, but it's cool. The Rega dust cover, on the other hand, is hinge-less and does not stay open half-way.
Cold Fact, the recently unearthed 1960's psychedelic folk album from obscure Detroit songwriter, Sixto Rodriguez, has been pretty much everywhere these days. Last week, in fact, I walked by John Atkinson's office to hear him blasting the outstanding opening track, "Sugar Man."
Alright, Kristina, before you leave us for your boyfriend and Boston, before you dive into ontology and photography, before you dedicate your days to the books and your nights to the booze, before you lose track of the earth's revolutions keeping time, instead, with semesters and exams before all of that and everything else, if, in fact, you do decide you want to fill your spare moments with music good music, produced with magic then I've found a few things for you to read. I hope this will help.
Whenever I mentioned "Project Sapphire" to anyone, they always wanted to know what tonearm the 'table used. At the time, I didn't know. I can now tell you that Eden's Sapphire is equipped with a Sumiko Premier MMT.