Under the Soft Blue Light
Under the soft blue light: Grails' most awesome <i>Interpretations of Three Psychedelic Rock Songs from around the World</i> goes for the ride of its life on the massive SME 20/12 turntable.
Stephen Mejias
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Etched in Vinyl
Grails' <i>Interpretations of Three Psychedelic Rock Songs from around the World</i>, part of Southern Records' incredibly dope, limited-edition <a href="http://www.southern.com/southern/label/LTT/">Latitudes</a> series, was a gift from Michael Lavorgna. Note the radical etching of the white vinyl. Only 700 copies are/were available.
Boris Isn't Smiling
After sticking my copy of Boris' <i>Smile</i> in the freezer for a few hours, Jenna thought it'd be a good idea to thaw it out in the microwave. Thanks, Jenna!
A Glorious Day
It was a glorious day. The Good Lord smiled upon our little blue world with clear skies, warm sunshine, and limited edition 7" singles. I strolled into Tunes at 11:30am, just a half-hour after the store had opened. A large crowd of happy shoppers was already huddled round the main display shelves. Radiohead singles from every era of the band's brilliant career and so many colorful 7" discs and samplers and posters and platter mats and they have already run out of the Sonic Youth/Beck splits. What? Figures! Oh well. I am not disappointed—not too terribly. Instead, I am happy for those who came before me, happy for the bands and happy for the labels and happy for the world.
Record Store Day
"Ariel?"
This LP Crashes Hard Drives
<a href="http://forum.stereophile.com/forum">Forum</a> member, dbowker, gave me the heads-up on this special Record Store Day LP. With <i>This LP Crashes Hard Drives</i>, ten of my favorite hard-core crate-digging specialist labels came together to release one hell of a deluxe, limited-edition, gatefold masterpiece—just one of the many reasons to raise our voices and rejoice for Record Store Day. The awesome package includes a CD sampler, zines, catalogs, stickers, and posters from all participating labels.
Buy Early Get Now: Sonic Youth's The Eternal
New York City's Matador Records rewards hardcore music lovers and promotes the growth of the music industry with their intelligent "<a href="http://www.buyearlygetnow.com/">Buy Early Get Now</a>" plan. With BEGN, fans can pre-order upcoming albums through participating trustworthy retailers across the nation. In addition to the actual album, BEGN packages include exclusive bonuses such as MP3s, posters, band merchandise, and, a free, legal stream of the entire album weeks before the official release date. I like it.
Gizmodo Hearts Audiophiles
During <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/a_visit_to_mikeys_and_the_gla… visit to Michael Fremer's house</a>, alongside all the LPs and cables and enormous amplifiers, I found myself thinking: <i>If only others could experience this, here, like this, they'd understand what all the fuss is about...</i>
Open to Differences
At Salon Son & Image, I had my ears opened to <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/ssi2009/the_nordost_difference/">the differences cables can make</a> when Nordost's Bruno de Lorimier demonstrated several of the company's interconnects, from the popular Blue Heaven ($230/1m pair) to the hallowed Valhalla ($5000/1m pair). I wrote:
Bat For Lashes: Two Suns
Remember <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/my_bat-lightning_heart/">that crush I had</a> on Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan?