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
This is probably the album that has had the most impact on me though:
Kool and the Gang // Wild and Peaceful
November: Miles Davis / Live-evil Donald Byrd / Black Byrd Axiom Funk / Funkcronomicon Ali Farka Touré & Ry Cooder / Talking Timbuktu Alpha Blondie (and the wailers) / Jerusalem
December: Young Marble Giants / Colossal Youth Ry Cooder / Boomers Story Young fresh fellows / The Men Who Loved Music Dr John // Gris Gris John Scofield / Guitarra de Jazz January: Little Feet / Dixie chicken John Coltrane / a love supreme Sun Ra // Space is the Place Funkadelic / Maggot Brain Boomtown rats / Mondo Bongo February: Nick cave // Murder ballads Herbie Hancock / Mwandishi Michael Jackson / Off the Wall Blaze Foley / Oval room King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizards / Quarters
March: Bill Frisell // Disfarmer Bjork / Debut Frank Zappa // Zoot allures Steve Earle - Townes Van Zandt - Guy Clark – Together At The Bluebird Café Dandy Warhols / Come Down
April: Stanton Moore / With you in mind Fela Kuti // Zombie Eddie Harris an Les McCann // Swiss movement Jeff Beck / Blow by Blow Billy Bragg / The Internationale