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
Radiohead- Maquiladora <--- If this doesn't muddy up when cranked, you have good cans.
Photay - Reconstruct <---Funky digital twists and samples.
Greensky Bluegrass - Time > Breath Reprise <-- Insane bluegrass live performance so you get to either feel like you are there, or you don't.
Rootkit - Wildfire <--- Digital feels or it is empty electric. Really is a 1 or a 0 depending on the headphones imo.
deadmau5 - I remember <--- A real classic that you either get a good trance groove off or again with bad headphones just sounds bland.
The Underachievers - The Mahdi <--- The sax, the beat, the grimey voice. Bad headphones it just sounds like a normally produced song but there is real detail in there on some good headphones. 93' til infinity feels.
Queen- Who Needs You <--- This is a 5.1 or 7.1 or 2.1 tester. Guitar left channel/ Mercury right/ nice bass and rythm that ties it together in a good set of headphones.
Skyzoo, Illmind - Frisbees <--- On a good pair of headphones the lyrics in the song are the most insane you will ever hear and the futuresound synth hook is beast. Good pair bonus is an all encompassing synth throughout the whole song. Bad pair of headphones you won't be able to hear clearly what he is saying and the hook blends into blandness.
Tame Impala - The Less I Know The Better <--- I just groove to this.
Killer Mike - Reagan <--- Will give you goosebumps on some good headphones when you listen to the lyrics and the story. Paints an incredible picture and has a distorted piano that I am in love with. Bad headphones will just be a headbobber with ill lyrics.
Talking Heads - Crosseyed And Painless <--- This touches all the bases. The singer goes crazy. You get these sporadic notes of different guitars in the left and right channels that play off each other with a groovy piano holding a beat with a beast bassist.
Fucked up - Queen of Hearts <--- On a rocking set of headphones the harmony is incredible when Sandy Miranda starts in.