Stephen Mejias

Boris is new to me, but Smile is the Japanese trio's 14th full-length album. The album boasts a metallic silver gatefold jacket and is limited to just 1000 copies.

I can't stop smiling. Boris arrived today.

Alright, who's been hiding Natasha Khan from me? Friends, don't you know me by now? Is it not obvious that I would absolutely adore this woman?

A couple of weeks back, a staff writer from the">http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Story/08-15-turntables">the Observer Reporter contacted me.

You can walk by 21 First Avenue on any given day to see some of our city's most beautiful and talented DJs spinning rare and wonderful vinyl. It's true! It's East">http://www.eastvillageradio.com/">East Village Radio. There's a big glass window. Look in and you might see Queen Majesty or Melody Nelson or Mark Ronson or a few of the colorfully dressed peeps from The Fader, those taste-makers. In fact, East Village Radio provides more than 70 unique, and often excellent, two-hour shows, covering musical genres from rock and electronic to jazz and folk to roots and reggae. Lots of good stuff.

The music industry is responding to our recent enthusiasm for vinyl, reports">http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/la-et-vinyl18-2008au… the Los Angeles Times. Original Recordings Group, a small vinyl-only label, needed only 24 hours to sell 4000 copies of TV on the Radio's excellent Return To Cookie Mountain. The label is on the way to grossing their first million dollars, and expects to double its vinyl output in 2009. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. has increased their vinyl production from 2000 copies per title to up to 15,000 copies. Such increases, of course, have a dramatic impact on pressing plants. Record Technology Inc's average pressing per title has doubled to 3000 units over the last few years.

Fans of the Fiery Furnaces will be happy to know that the band is releasing a collection of live material. Charmingly titled Remember, the album brings together songs from the entire Fiery Furnaces catalog, digging way back to 2005 and even including tracks from last year's Widow City. With 51 tracks in all, Remember will be available as a triple-LP gatefold, and will include a coupon for free MP3 download. Pretty artwork, too.