risingtiderecordsa

Put on your favorite song with both earbuds in. Now take one earbud out. Something changes, right? Maybe the guitar disappears a little. Maybe the beat still hits, but the song feels flatter. Maybe the singer suddenly sounds like they moved from the centre of the room to one side of your head. That tiny earbud experiment is the easiest way to feel the difference between mono and stereo sound. Mono and stereo are not just technical labels printed on speakers, headphones, TVs, and audio...

Okay, before anybody shows up in my comments with pitchforks: yes, Michael McDonald has one of the great voices in American music. That's not in dispute. I'm not here to dunk on the man, but somewhere around '75, the Doobie Brothers I loved turned into a different band wearing the same jacket, and I've never fully forgiven the switch. Sorry. It's a hot take, that's the whole point! Most people talk about "the Doobie Brothers" like it's one continuous thing. It's not. It's two bands. They...

I've listened to Aja more times than I can count. I understand what it is. I'm just not sure it ever loved me back. Go ahead. Say it out loud at a dinner party. Watch the wine glasses tremble. Watch someone set down their fork with the slow deliberateness of a person trying very hard not to scream. Can't Buy a Thrill is a better Steely Dan album than Aja. I've said it. It's out there. We can't go back. And look, I want to be clear about something before the letters arrive. I have listened to...