Stephen Mejias

Today’s payday. I bought just one title.

The strange trembling vocals, warm synth sounds, and chamber pop movements of Konkylie, When Saints Go Machine’s full-length debut, appealed to me in unusual fashion: slowly at first, confounding my senses for a time, before finally winning me over. With time and repeated listening, the album became one of my very favorites of 2011.

Sarah Lois Vaughan was born on this day in 1924, in my hometown: Newark, NJ. In this clip, taken from a 1958 performance, she sings “Tenderly.”

Thanks must go to Lester Perkins and Jazz on the Tube.

While John Atkinson, Jason Victor Serinus, and many more of our friends and colleagues prepare for Axpona in Chicago, where they’ll face what we all hope is this winter’s last frigid gasp, I’ve got my eyes set on this summer’s Pitchfork Music Festival, to be held Friday–Sunday, July 19–21, at Chicago’s Union Park.

I hear it's gonna be hot.

Tickets are on sale now, with single-day passes priced at $50 and three-day passes selling for an attractively discounted $120. But, taking into consideration the outstanding headliners and the well-rounded initial lineup, I suspect most music fans will have a very difficult time attending this Pitchfork Music Fest for just a single day. Three-day passes are practically mandatory.

The initial lineup, highlighted by Bjork, Belle & Sebastian, and R. Kelly, was announced this week:

It was around 9:30am on Monday, November 12, when my plane landed in gray and chilly London. I managed to get through Customs with nothing more than the usual amount of stress and embarrassment, satisfactorily answering all of the agent’s odd questions. That out of the way, I next had to find my host&#151KEF’s head of brand development, Johan Coorg. Because my cell phone wasn’t working, I was worried that I’d be left stranded at Heathrow, but I recognized Coorg immediately: At the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, he had introduced me to the stunning KEF Muon, and, at KEF’s lavish 50th Anniversary celebration, he had introduced me to a delicious Pimm’s Cup. Now he was standing casually at the Arrivals gate. He wore a dark brown blazer, striped button-down shirt, gold cufflinks, faded blue jeans, shiny leather shoes, and a look of comfort. He was busy pressing buttons on an iPhone.

“Johan,” I said.

“Hello! You made it!”

He led me from the airport, through the parking garage, and to an impressive black Mercedes. After loading our bags into the trunk, I instinctively walked around to the right-hand side of the car and nearly opened the door.

“Wrong side, mate. Unless you want to drive.”

It was a mistake I’d make a few more times before our three-day trip was over.

London-based Vondelpark is Lewis Rainsbury (vocals, production, bass, guitar, keys), Alex Bailey (bass), and Matt Law (keys). Their debut album, Seabed, will be released by R&S Records (In Order to Dance) on April 2nd.

Tales of a GrassWidow, CocoRosie’s fifth full-length album and first since 2010’s excellent Grey Oceans, is scheduled to be released on May 28th. The album is being self-released, features appearances by Antony Hegarty, and was produced by CocoRosie with extraordinary Icelandic composer Valgeir Sigurdsson&#151so I expect greatness in sound and music.