Each Friday, Stephen Mejias, AudioQuest’s Director of Communications and former Stereophile and Audiostream.com columnist, will browse through the many exciting albums released that day and select 15 worth a closer listen.
New albums used to be released on Tuesdays. Immediately after work, I would walk the few blocks from Stereophile’s Madison Avenue office to Grand Central Station, take the 6 train down to Astor Place, and practically race into Other Music.
Now new albums are released on Fridays and Other Music is gone. I don’t sleep well. I never have. On Friday mornings, when it’s still too early to get out of bed, I wait there wondering about the new albums in my phone until I give up on sleep entirely.
I probably start with Tidal. Streaming services are today’s record stores. Tidal and Spotify and Bandcamp and maybe eventually Qobuz, too, have, in a sense, replaced my Other Music. (But nothing can replace Other Music.)
From there, I check e-mail. I receive a number of newsletters from record labels and online shops that I admire. They give me more.
And then I make this list. (What have I missed? So much, I’m sure.)
Kelly Moran, Ultraviolet (Warp Records)
Richard Devine: Sort\Lave (Planet Mu)
Reto A Ichi: The Lapse of the Exchange (!K7 Records)
Thought Gang: s/t (Sacred Bones)
Ian William Craig: Thresholder (Fatcat Records)
Moonface: This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet (Jagjaguwar)
Beacon: Gravity Pairs (Ghostly International)
Chromatics: Camera (Italians Do It Better)
Hiss Golden Messenger: Virgo Fool (Merge Records)
Marianne Faithfull: Negative Capability (BMG)
Bill Ryder-Jones: Yawn (Domino Recording Company)
Woven Skull: s/t (Oaken Palace Records)
Guttersnipe: My Mother the Vent (Upset The Rhythm)
Vince Staples: FM (Def Jam)
Colin Self: Siblings (RVNGIntl.)