Stephen Mejias

The February 2011 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. You want it, you need it, you love it. A quick look at what’s inside:

Last night, I listened to Mississippi Records’s latest Abner Jay release, Last Ole Ministrel Man, a lovingly packaged 10”, three songs on each side, rawer than winter in New York City.

I’ve been listening to Kompakt’s excellent Pop Ambient 2011 compilation, which opens with ANBB’s arresting “Bernsteinzimmer” from their album, Mimikry, and ends with Thomas Fehlmann’s interpretation of Gustav Mahler’s magnificent Symphony No.1. This is heavy stuff, and it forms the perfect bridge from the chaos of Las Vegas and the Consumer Electronics Show to the cold misery of mid-January in New York City. There’s warmth in this music, and it has a sort of transportational power. Meaning: It gets me the hell out of here.

Furutech's GTX receptacles are well built, seem made to last forever, look like serious business, and increase your hi-fi security.

Bruce Springsteen's The Promise is fascinating not only because of the high quality of each of its 21 "lost" tracks, but because of the way it bridges 1975's Born to Run and 1978's Darkness on the Edge of Town.

SM lists his favorite records of 2010: Every now and then, I hear people complaining about the lack of good, new music. I figure these people just aren’t paying attention, or they’re looking in the wrong places, because I have the opposite problem: I am overwhelmed by all the good music there is to explore.

Great Britain is dreaming of a silent night. A new recording of John Cage's controversial piece, “4'33",” stands a good chance of becoming Britain’s best-selling single during Christmas week. (Woo!)