Mike Mettler

Sometimes, musicians come together at a specific moment in time and capture lightning in a pop bottle. Such was the case with Tinted Windows, the unfortunately short-lived post-punk power-pop foursome that came together in 2009 and was comprised of the late, great bassist/composer Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), guitarist James Iha (The Smashing Pumpkins), lead vocalist Taylor Hanson (Hanson), and drummer Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick). In honor of the self-titled album’s 15th anniversary, BMG is releasing Tinted Windows on vinyl for the first time on April 20, 2024, as a Record Store Day Exclusive in a limited edition of 1,800 copies. In a recent Zoom interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Hanson discussed how rewarding it’s been to finally have Tinted Windows available on vinyl, how the “bliss” of record listening is inevitably intertwined with the vinyl experience, and how the very existence of music helps further the tenets of human connection. . .

Now that we’ve all pretty much returned to our respective home listening labs after having an exhilarating four-day AXPONA experience at the Schaumburg Convention Center just outside of Chicago last week, we’re ready to do some deeper-dive show coverage here on AP, starting with this Luxman PD-191A turntable and Acoustic Sounds Atlantic 75 listening session combo. . .

We are officially on our way to AXPONA, and we’ll be bringing you a number of firsthand reports during and/or after the course of the big show, so stay tuned!

With AXPONA now only just a few days away, we’re continuing onward with our new-gear preview series, right up until we arrive at the show itself. Today, we zero in on some exciting news from the Poland-based company J.Sikora, who have announced the unveiling of the 15th Anniversary Edition of their Standard Max turntable as a “worldwide premiere” at AXPONA. Read on to see what to expect from this limited-edition anniversary table. . .