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
Being a huge dork & former radio show host, I've naturally gotten around to putting my favorite albums into some sort of an ordered list. I find it changes every few years I've done it. Let's hear what you all have! Feel free to include any sort of ranking system (or lack thereof), or any number of albums.
Here's how mine shook out:
10. Neil Young - Harvest
9. Wire - Pink Flag
8. Judee Sill - Judee Sill
7. The Beach Boys - Smile Sessions
6. Sun Ra - The Antique Blacks
5. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
4. Can - Ege Bamyasi
3. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
2. Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
1. Joanna Newsom - Divers
BONUS NERD ROUND: Ok, this is silly, but what are your favorite years in music? I had this conversation recently with some friends after going through the RateYourMusic album charts: https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/.
5. 1970
4. 1968
3. 1991
2, 1988
1. 1977