Finding your groove: getting into vinyl with Audio-Technica
I’d like to think that I could’ve been friends with the late Hideo Matsushita, founder of Japanese Hi-Fi powerhouse Audio-Technica. If I could, I’d travel back in time to 1960’s Tokyo, where a young Matsushita curated “vinyl listening sessions” at the Bridgestone Museum of Arts, exposing visitors to the sounds and possibilities of high end audio and the warmth of vinyl records. I imagine sitting with him in a mod coffee shop, listening to the stories of what he witnessed in those sessions, the conversations he had with visitors, and what ultimately motivated him to head back to his small apartment above a ramen restaurant and start an audio company of his own. In the histories I’ve read regarding AT’s humble beginnings, Matsushita’s motives seem clear. Produce high end audio at affordable prices, bringing audio excellence into spaces and to customers that simply didn’t have access to it before. His first two products, the AT-1 and AT-3 phono cartridges did exactly that, and...
Dec 6, 2023
1. Ry Cooder - Paradise & Lunch 2. Kenny Dorham - Afro-Cuban Jazz 3. Bud Powell - The Genius of 4. Oliver Nelson - Blues & The Abstract Truth 5. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks 6. The Ramones - The Ramones 7. Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street 8. Nathan Milstein - Bach Sonatas & Partitas 9. Glenn Gould - The Goldberg Variations (Sony) 10. John Coltrane - Crescent 11. Miles Davis - Relaxin, Steamin', Workin', Cookin' 12. The Clash - The Clash 13. S. Balachander - Veena Virtuoso 14. Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced 15. Muddy Waters - The Real Folk Blues 16. Robert Johnson - Complete Columbia vols 1 & 2 17. Bessie Smith - Complete Columbia 18. Billie Holiday - Complete Columbia 19. Count Basie - Decca Recordings 20. Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus