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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We at Listen In just don’t seem to be able to get away from In Rainbows, do we? Radiohead’s headline-grabbing 2007 release has been reviewed, awarded, and generally discussed a number of times in the scant few months we’ve been doing this. Indeed, the Listen In archives reveal no less than seven articles touching on […]

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This week, I broke one of my own rules: I bought records online. Fortunately, everything turned out fine. It wasn’t a major expenditure – I picked up three funky 45s (AKA 7-inches, for future reference) that were on sale. So, today we’re going to experiment with a format change. In the future, when I review […]

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I don’t like buying used records online. You lose out on all the charm of the dusty little record shop, the joy of flipping through records in crates, and – most crucial – the all-important chance to try before you buy. A damaged record isn’t much use, after all, nor is one that you just […]

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Reissues are always controversial in vinyl-collecting circles. The true purist never buys reissued records (or such is the rhetoric). But of course, unless you’ve got a nearly unlimited budget, there are some records you simply won’t be able to own without compromising your principles a little. So, where do you draw the line?

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Records are big, fragile, unwieldy, and generally inconvenient. Digital alternatives like MP3s and CDs are, on the other hand, small, portable, durable, easily reproducible, and generally convenient. Plus, you look totally trendy with your iPod (keep telling yourself that). So, why would anyone bother with vinyl? Why not melt all your records down into some […]

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One thing that’s universal to all record collectors is the desire to maximize the value of every dollar spent on vinyl. There are a lot of records in the world, and you’ll never ever get all the ones you want. Ever. Most of us simply can’t afford to spend $300 on a first-edition copy of […]

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My name is Evan, and I have an addiction: I’m a vinylholic. For me, there’s nothing quite like the sound of a needle touching down on a record. There’s nothing quite like the smell of a room full of dusty album jackets. There’s nothing quite like discovering an unexpected gem in a crate in the […]

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Liberation, the brainchild of rapper Talib Kweli and producer Madlib, was available as a free download from Rappcats.com and the artists’ MySpace pages for about a week starting December 31, 2006. When two such distinguished and critically acclaimed artists release a free album, it’s tough to be critical of it. It’s especially tough when the […]

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Over the holidays, Atmosphere released a quasi-LP called Strictly Leakage on their website, for free. No, not Radiohead pay-what-you-want free - just free. Here: see for yourself.

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