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.
Stephen Mejias
Update
At home, I’ve been playing around a little bit with my new Anniversary Ringmat 330 replacement platter mat for my Rega P3-24 turntable. However, I haven’t been in the best mood for comparative listening sessions—I came home from work with a">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/100705advil/">a headache the last two nights, and I’ve stillhttp://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/030706dragonflies/">still; been suffering from some post-static stress disorder (PSSDhttp://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/armed_and_ready/">PSSD;) while playing LPs—so I’m not ready to make any value judgments.
Armed and Ready
A couple of friends came over this weekend to listen to records, and I’m happy to report that we experienced no trouble at all. No static, no distortion, no woman, no cry. Record after record, beer after beer, the Rega sounded just fine. I do believe my">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/all_schmutzed_up_and_i_dont_k… days of vinyl misery are over. But just in case the static monster decides to come round again, I also picked up a can of StaticGuard ($4 at DuaneReade). Before the dudes came over, I sprayed the stuff on the rug in front of my system, as well as on the curtains behind the system. The smell wasn’t so bad and the dry mist evaporated quickly. My apartment has never been so static-free.
Making Music Again
It’s alive! Nirvana brings nirvana to SM’s listening room.
Being Ultrasonic and All
The">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/all_schmutzed_up_and_i_dont_k… problem has not been solved.
Bewitching, Rewarding
Joanna Newsom’s third full-length LP, Have One On Me, is available today. You can stream">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123981491&ft=1&f=9… the entire thing from NPR, if you’re interested. Today, after work, I will go out into the light rain and hunt down this album. The arrangements are as intricate as ever, but Newsom’s voice has never been so seductive, alluring, inviting. So far, I especially like the kindness and yearning of “No Provenance,” but the entire thing—three LPs, 18 tracks, and two hours long—is bewitching and rewarding.
Thinking About John Fahey and America
The guitarist John Fahey was born on February 28, 1939, and died just days before what would have been his 62nd birthday, on February 22, 2001. Like so many other beautiful things that continue to have enormous impact on my life, Fahey’s music was introduced to me by Michellehttp://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/clouds_taste_metallic/">Miche…;. The album was 1997’s City of Refuge. We were in our second year at Fairleigh Dickinson University, in the second year of our relationship. Michelle had claimed the album from our campus radio station and brought it back to our dorm room and played it for me.
The Love Crowd
Last night at Le">http://lepoissonrouge.com/">Le Poisson Rouge,
Kieran">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/four_tet_there_is_love_in_you… Hebden made all the kids
slither and groove.
Kieran">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/four_tet_there_is_love_in_you… Hebden made all the kids
slither and groove.
Now on Newsstands: Stereophile, Vol.33 No.3
The March 2010 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. Open it up and you’ll see that Steve Guttenberg has rediscovered his faith in vinyl. Hooray! What did it for him? A new turntable: the VPI Classic. “Coming back to vinyl,” Steve writes, “I now see that digital’s primary fault is that it encourages passive listening.”
John Fahey Reads
If you’re a fan of John Fahey—a fan of his music, his writing, his thoughts on life, whatever—and especially if you’re sort of sad, like I am, about having never met him, then you’ll enjoy this disc. The Three Day Band is Fahey and musician Ayal">http://www.myspace.com/ayalsr">Ayal Senior who, in addition to capturing Fahey on four-track here, also edited much of Fahey’s second collection of stories, Vampire">http://www.dragcity.com/products/vampire-vultures">Vampire Vultures. (Senior’s also got a bunch of good-looking cassettes available.)