As one Jacob Martinez has thoroughly established over the last few months, high-quality music blogs are great resources for any tune junkie. The Internet hosts enough of these auditory outposts to present an amaranthine procession of new sensations in any medium, and music is no exception. Aficionados of obscure music: be at peace, assured that […]

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I have a nasty habit of getting into good bands after they break up. Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins… the list goes on. I first heard Portishead’s Dummy in the late ’90s, several years after its release, at the dawn of a decade of radio silence from these Balboan trip-hoppers. But the wait is over: Third, […]

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Today is a very special day for record collectors. Saturday, April 19th: Record Store Day. Today, independent record stores across North America are celebrating the wonders of the digging lifestyle with sales and special in-store performances.
It’s also an opportunity to boost flagging sales of physical media - especially your favorite and mine, VINYL!

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The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is one of the largest outdoor music festivals in the world. Last year’s festival sold out in less than two hours, and the previous festival (in 2005; there was no festival in 2006) sold out in less than four. But this year, the tickets just aren’t selling.
On Monday, […]

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I’m probably going to get slammed for this one. Here’s the thing: I don’t get Stone Temple Pilots. I never did. Here’s a band that rode the coattails of grunge into 17.5 million album sales (and counting). A band that’s probably canceled more tour dates for rehab and court dates than it’s actually played. But […]

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If there’s one thing that defines hipsterism, it’s irony - and the mashup is fertile ground for irony. Since this is a hip(ster)-hop mix, I tried to distill the oddest, funniest, and most unexpected tracks from the irony-fest that is The Hood Internet. Hang on - it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

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This was a very special week for Diggin’ the Crates. Over the weekend, the Philadelphia suburbs played host to a summit of the record-heads as Eric, Adam, and I took the region’s used record stores by storm. This is the play-by-play.

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After a brief hiatus, Diggin’ the Crates is back. This week, let’s talk about thrift store records. In a lot of ways, this is my favorite kind of digging. You never can tell what you’ll find in a crate in the back of a suburban Goodwill. So, what are the keys to successful thrift store […]

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When was the last time you made a mixtape? Until five minutes ago, the answer for me was, “It’s been so long, I don’t remember.” But now, thanks to Muxtape.com the answer is, “Just five minutes ago. Want to hear it?”

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This week, I’m putting Diggin’ the Crates on hold to write about a recent construction project of mine. I built an instrument called a theremin. For Christmas, I got a kit made by Moog. I finally got around to building it over the weekend.

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