Did you grow up with a record player/console in your house, did your family listen to much music? 

I was an 80s baby so I grew up with cassette tapes mostly. For my 3rd birthday all I wanted was a pink tape player and a Bon Jovi tape. I can’t help but think that this moment was where my love of music and quirky design came in. As far as the music in my family, my dad was a huge Zeppelin, Van Halen, Lou Reed fan so those are some of my earliest musical memories. My mom loved people like Queen, Bowie, Skynard, and Aerosmith. However, I think my the person who had the biggest impact on my musical taste was my older brother, Jason, who sparked my love for a lot of weird alternative and indie bands. He taught me about The Pixies & Frank Black, Nirvana, all of Steve Albini’s projects, My Bloody Valentine, Magnetic Fields (Stephin Merritt), Jesus & Mary Chain and so many more that I could go on about this question alone for 10 pages! Also, I’m from Texas and have a lot of family members who play country music so there was a lot of Willie Nelson and classic country music happening during family festivities!

FUN FACT: I one time got hired for a job assisting a famous Japanese rock star because I told him that my favorite music was Nirvana and Garth Brooks. He hired me on the spot because he thought it was so ridiculous!

What was the first vinyl record LP that you purchased?

I believe it was Queen “A Night at the Opera” for .99 at Goodwill.

Do you have a listening room in your house, what’s your current setup like?  

We have about 10 “listening rooms” at our house thanks to Dan. Every room in our house has a record player/audio system of some sort. Even our bathroom has some sort of hybrid tube amp contraption Dan set up. Our living room has a Soundburger / Mister Disc portable record player that comes through our surround sound. Our bedroom has a Barbie Disco suitcase style record player I got at Goodwill that we refurbished and it actually sounds fairly good all things considered. Our office has a U-Turn turntable that Dan uses to test out a lot of our new speakers and listen to when he’s working. Last but not least, we finally just brought home one of our KC27 consoles that lives in our dining room. It sits at the end of our 12 foot dining table so it’s the perfect entertainment and conversation piece. (We would have brought the EGB2 but it didn’t fit properly, that thing is a beast!) We even currently have it voice activated so you can yell at it to play stuff for you which is pretty fun after a few cocktails!

What did you do before you started LUNO?

I moved to Los Angeles from Texas in 2003 to go to acting school – isn’t that why everyone comes to LA?! After a year of that, I realized that it wasn’t for me and I really like being behind the scenes. My boyfriend at the time was in a band and his manager also managed The Killers so I started helping him out occasionally. Also, all of my friends that I had met when I moved out here were musicians. I wasn’t even really aware of the “the industry” side of things before moving to LA nor had I considered it a career option, but found it fascinating and it seemed like everything was pointing me in that direction. I enrolled in MI and studied music business and interned at Interscope Records. From there, I went on to do radio promotion, marketing for a startup music platform, promotion for live venue, assisting a famous rock star, and artist relations for a guitar company. I dabbled in a bit of everything on the marketing side of the industry and absolutely loved it. It’s still my dream to someday own a beautiful live venue that I can design and Dan can do sound – future LUNO Lounge idea!? Working on the live side of things was by far my favorite experience. Everyday was something different and it was never boring. I loved being able to create experiences that allowed people to have a good time, which is something we try to do with LUNO. After I got laid off from my last industry gig, I had decided that I didn’t want to work for anyone ever again – it was natural for me as I’m stubborn as hell and both of my parents are entrepreneurs so it is in my DNA. While I was working on a startup I’d wanted to do for a while called BandPass (similar to MoviePass but for music) and trying to figure out my plan, I started painting vintage furniture in my garage as a hobby. I ended up putting some of it on Craigslist for fun and it sold. So I did more, and it sold. BandPass soon took a backseat. People soon started asking me for custom pieces, then started asking me build stuff for them (WTF) so I just sort of figured it out by being extremely obsessive and persistent! It was a very organic process and nothing I ever intended to do, but I fell in love with the design process. I studied and stalked everyone I could who knew anything about it sometimes hanging out at paint stores for hours on end. Just a few years later, we now have 2 successful furniture lines and LUNO has allowed me to combine my love of music & design. We’re planning on launching new products at ICFF 2019 and talking about doing a design show in NY this October, as well.

It sounds like you’ve met a lot of celebrities in your work, any stories you can share?

I think it’s inevitable that living in Los Angeles, you’re going to meet and know celebrities especially when working in the entertainment industry. One that stands out in my mind is when I met Paul Stanley of KISS when I was working at Daisy Rock. It was Halloween and I had no idea he was coming by and I was wearing a Kurt Cobain costume, as I would. He was not in a costume. It was such a random experience and he was super nice! I also got to meet Shonen Knife, who I had been a fan of for a while. We ended up becoming friends and they sent Dan and I a wedding gift that we still have, a beautiful Sake Set! Meeting Davey Havok from AFI deserves an honorable mention too because he’s one of the nicest people on the planet.

If you could make a custom hifi console for anyone, who would it be, describe the style and design for us?

My original intention of doing a lot of the custom designs (such as Prince, Bowie, etc) was to make them for the artists, sadly they never came to fruition. I really love the design and customization process and the ability to make something so wild that totally reflects a specific person’s style. I’m currently obsessed with trying to make a Yeezy console for Kanye. Dan and I are HUGE Kanye fans and Kanye is also a huge interior design and furniture fan and I recently read that he’s opening up a Yeezy architecture branch so I think it’s in the realm of possibility?!

What speaks to you about mid-century modern style?

Mid Century Modern style evokes a nostalgic feeling. When we launched at ICFF almost every person that came into our booth (one of them being Terry Crews) immediately would smile and say “this brings back some memories.” This is the exact feeling we wanted to create and the Mid Century Grandma aesthetic brought that to the table.

If you could choose one record to describe yourself, what would it be and why?

Neil Young’s ‘Harvest’ because damn near every song on that record is perfect and relatable.

“Think I’ll pack it in and buy a pick-up

Take it down to L.A.

Find a place to call my own

and try to fix up.

Start a brand new day”

Can you explain to someone what the experience of having one of your record consoles is like?

From someone who doesn’t know much about audio, I can say that they sound like being at a live concert. Dan is a phenomenal live sound engineer and really makes it feel like an immersive experience. We even had a customer once say as soon as we turned up the volume “Sounds like a concert!” – there is a video to prove it! In terms of the design, we tried to take a lot of aspects of the vintage players that we liked and clean them up a bit. I used Marshall Grill Cloth to really make it feel as authentic to the old stereo cabinets as possible. For our custom consoles, the sky’s the limit, you want me to wrap one in hundred dollar bills or add a mini-fridge – let’s do it! The funkier, the better! I’m up for the challenge.

What was your first concert, who did you see and what impression did that have on you?

The first concert I saw alone with friends was The Smashing Pumpkins Zero Tour in 97 or 98, I believe. I was hooked from that day forward. I remember going to the after party at a local club called Numbers hoping they would be there (they weren’t.) I’m still upset about that. Call me, Billy.

Can you tell us about the creative process of making one of your record consoles? Where do you take your inspiration from?

Typically it starts out with me seeing something I like and trying to incorporate it into one of our pieces somehow. No matter if our cabinet makers tell us it’s not possible, we always figure out a way! I’ll send my sketches to our designer and he’ll make them actually look good (and realistic) not like a 5 year old drew them. From there, my cabinet makers and I figure out what is and isn’t doable – the former always wins if I have anything to say about it! Dan spent a lot of time developing the audio components and sound quality of the consoles so we do have certain restrictions we’re working with but in terms of the cabinets & design aspect, we can get pretty funky (within reason) as long as the materials don’t affect or hinder the sound in any way. It’s a bit of trial and error when working on new designs. Most of my inspiration comes from pop culture, I would say, I’ve always been fascinated by it.

You’ve designed a lot of very unique custom hifi record consoles, can you tell us about a couple of your favorites?

My favorite to date by far is the new Limited Edition piece we just designed. I can’t get too much into it until we announce it but it’s stunning and was an extremely complicated process. It took multiple people with various skills to pull it off.  Besides that, I did a really cool Louis Vuitton piece that I’m in love with, and the Bowie was very interesting because the base had a welded constellation pattern which looked really amazing.

Can you tell us a little about what’s coming up for LUNO?

We have a new Limited Edition console coming up that we collaborated on with a famous artist so keep your eyes peeled for that! I’m extremely proud of the design, it was a long  process but the end result is phenomenal and some of the best work we’ve done. We also have a desktop/portable type console that we’ve been working on for a while that will be announced soon, as well as several cabinet designs sans equipment. We also collaborated with a whiskey company on multiple pieces that they’re using for a giveaway so you may have a chance to win one! Lastly, we’re in the process of moving our listening room aka “LUNO Lounge”, production facility, showroom, all under one roof so that’s really exciting! We’ll be able to hold inventory, have listening parties and all that cool stuff that’s been difficult to do so far.

I hear you’re also a musician, can you tell us a little about that and your current project?

I wouldn’t really call myself a “musician” per se. I learned to play bass for a band called Ghostel than Dan, I, and our friend Bryce had for a little while. It was super fun and our song “Buckley Get Your Gun” got a placement in the trailer of an Oscar nominated film called “Mustang” so that was pretty wild and got us a decent amount of attention. I’m not formally trained on any instruments and pretty much only know how to play our songs! I sort of made up my own tablature and Dan worked with me and taught me in a way that I understood.  It’s a really fun experience and I love the rush of being on stage and hope to do it again soon. The full album entitled 1414 was just released on Spotify. Currently, we’re so busy with LUNO and MVV that Dan and I write some songs here and there for fun and hope to turn those into a new project at some point in the future and release it on vinyl!

If you could give anyone a single piece of advice what would it be and why?

My dad always told me you gotta spend money to make money! So basically buy one of our damn consoles and it’ll make you rich!!!! No, but seriously, in the words of one of my favorite professors “Try to make one room in your house as beautiful as possible.”

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Their most recent album, 2015’s Better Nature has become a fan favorite, and considered an underrated classic by indie rock aficionados. Better Nature was also the first LP released on their own independent imprint New Machine Records, and was fan funded with a Pledge Music campaign, allowing the band the freedom to make this record entirely on their own terms. The sonic pallet of this record was showcased with the lead single “Nightlight” with its grinding guitars and epic chorus, the song was an exciting introduction to a new era for the band’s sound. Retaining all of the classic trademarks of their debut, but with a darker mood and more complex arrangements.

Better Nature’s second single “Circadian Rhythm (Last Dance)” was an infectious entry into the band’s catalog, with one of the groups most memorable melodies, and swooning interplay between Nikki and Brian’s beautifully complementary vocals. Over the span of the album’s ten tracks, the band hit some major highs, with some of their most beautiful moments and engrossing arrangements to date. The record, helmed by the production skills of Garret “Jacknife” Lee who has worked with U2, R.E.M. and The Cars, delivers an incredible analog experience. The album packs a punch, with diamond sharp clarity, expert mastering and incredible use of dynamic range. The album has a wonderful sense of space and breath, and avoids the trappings that many over-polished modern rock records seem to fall into. An album that could easily be classified as a sleeper classic, that is finding a greater audience with each passing year. However, there is no substitute for hearing it for the first time in its full analog glory on a high quality stereo console.

The post LA LOCAL VINYL – SILVERSUN PICKUPS – BETTER NATURE appeared first on Luno.

KANYE WEST’S MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED SLUSHIE

1 bottle 1964 Glenlivet ‘The Winchester Collection’

1 bottle of Coca Cola

1 bag of ice

Hundred dollar bill

Grab a bottle of 1964 The Glenlivet ‘The Winchester Collection’, a bottle of coke and a bag of ice. Throw it all in your Slush Puppie machine. Pour into a Baccarat Crystal Louxor whiskey glass, garnish with a hundred dollar bill and have a toast to the douchebags – then runaway as fast as you can!

If you love this one, check out our whiskey cocktail recipe for AC/DC Back In Blackberry Fizz.

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On tracks like “No Option” and “Leave,” Post Malone showcases his vibe at its best, laid back, with a voice that doesn’t 100% fit the mold of other current artists in trap. It almost has a throwback 90s feel to it in some ways, but there is a deeper level he achieves with his tracks than the typical throwback party anthem. There’s another dimension of  depth that seems to be resonating with his fans, an emotional chord that he effortlessly strikes on almost every track from Stoney. While he is rooted purely in hip-hop, one of his other passions is emo music, and this complexity is on full display on tracks that strike a balance of his two favorite worlds like “I Fall Apart.”

Whereas the traditional function of emo music is pure catharsis and release of angst for its listener, there’s a perspective that comes across in Post Malone’s lyrics and delivery that almost achieves celebratory heights. There are other artists in trap that display an emotional complexity, but this usually comes across as a representation of the binary, either party anthems or slow jams. But its the nuance and his turn of phrase displayed, unusual word usage paired with his voice and delivery that makes this debut what it is. The record was even able to withstand a guest appearance from Justin Bieber, which actually is one of his best cameos, and sees him blending into the Post Malone aesthetic.

This record is well produced and sounds excellent in its vinyl format, and is an exciting journey from first track to last. Make no mistake this album is primarily a trap record, but Post Malone is one of the first who has taken this extremely minimal sonic pallet, and woven it into a flow that pushes this genre into new territory, to become a genre defining work that will influence a flood of new talent entering the game.

The post Post Malone – Stoney – Modern Classic Vinyl | LUNO appeared first on Luno.

So now that I’ve exercised my evangelical style rant, it’s important for me to point out that this one album is just a drop in the bucket of one of the greatest catalogs of music ever released. His work with the legendary Mothers Of Invention, his collaborations with other incredible artists including Captain Beefheart, Don Van Vliet (who can be heard on Hot Rats), runs a staggering gamut of styles and genres, so much that there are times when you will experience disbelief that all of this music came from the same artist.  Do yourself a favor, go out and buy a copy of Frank Zappa’s Hot Rats, play it on an a record console that will do it justice, and make today the first day of the rest of your life.

The post Classic Vinyl Album – Frank Zappa – Hot Rats | LUNO appeared first on Luno.

30 Seconds To Mars – America

There’s nothing like the corporate world selling political ideas back to the people with a hollywood actor’s vanity project, that could maybe be the worst band ever to have charting singles. How the 30 Seconds To Mars train doesn’t derail itself after a decade plus of horrifying productivity is one of the last great mysteries. Pure nausea condensed into song form, filtered through vocoded trap vocals, with millennial whooping and lyrics that even Imagine Dragons would have left on the drawing board. My only wish in this life is for Jared Leto to get to hear his overproduced abominations through my ears. He should have quit while he was ahead with Frozen Embryos.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium

“Dani California” should be the only words I need to use to describe the horror in store for those bold enough to unwrap this record from its plastic. If that doesn’t frighten you away, I will add “Snow (Hey Oh)” as damning evidence of the least effort ever put into a top 20 hit. Their history of musical crimes is long, and it spits in the face of very very few redeeming moments. But this album is the case of having 20 years plus of continually favoring their worst qualities, and constantly refining what makes your music annoying and churning out constant gut punches for fans who believed they had a few good songs sometime in the early 90s. When we wake up from the nightmare that has been the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the album that will have us screaming in a cold sweat will be Stadium Arcadium.

The Black Eyed Peas – The E.N.D.

As Satan welcomes you into hell you can hear some of the biggest hits of both Fergie and The Black Eyed Peas playing in the background. They do fortunately let you choose which song from this album will be played during your descent into madness.

Katy Perry – Witness

It’s hard to believe that someone would go to such great lengths to make Taylor Swift look like the John Lennon of our time. I have not had the displeasure of hearing this on vinyl, but the only format this should have been released on is self-deleting MP3 that automatically drag themselves to your garbage. Her constant illuminati symbology and odd sense of humor that doesn’t always lead to distinguishable jokes has finally reached full maturity on this record. I would say she’s past her prime, but unfortunately it looks like this album is the ultimate distillation of whatever it is that she does. If you have any questions about the assertions made in this review, please click here.

Hoobastank – Self Titled

If you had ever hoped for an infinitely less talented version of Incubus, fortune smiled upon you in the early 2000s. A band that was so benign, pointless and unnecessary that it makes you nostalgic for the edginess of the dad from Gossip Girl’s fake television band. I honestly am not sure if this band ever enjoyed writing our playing these songs, which is the correct emotional response to tracks like “The Reason” and the endless garbage that comprise the rest of the indistinguishable tracks of this album. Songs that seem to freeze time, and stretch it into eternity, which makes sense they are warning you with the infinity sign in their logo.

Cleanse your pallet with one of our classic album reviews here.

The post 5 Albums That Should Have Never Been Released On Vinyl I LUNO appeared first on Luno.

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER THE BEST YACHT ROCK VINYL RECORDS EVER MADE

STEELY DAN – AJA

One of the funkiest albums ever recorded that you could also fall asleep to. This apple falls closer to the smooth jazz tree, but these ice cold jams will treat you real nice when when you’re out for a dinner with that special lady at the Bonaventure hotel, or taking an ocean drive in your metallic blue Lamborghini Countach, coked out of your mind. There are a lot of great Steely Dan records, once you fall down the SD rabbit hole, most fans never resurface and become raving evangelists of this incredible band.

ROXY MUSIC – AVALON

Many would want to strangle me for including this on a yacht rock list, but it ticks all of the boxes of our nautical genre. Not only is this album front to back flawless, it blends the sophisticated synth sound that brought Roxy Music into the 1980s. From its timeless classic “More Than This” to the etherial fantasy of “True To Life,” this album has some of the best studio recordings translated to vinyl I have ever heard.

THE DOOBIE BROTHERS – MINUTE BY MINUTE

All I have to say about this one is four grammys, count ’em 1, 2, 3, 4.  If that’s not enough for you, my secondary evidence is “What A Fool Believes.” Michael McDonald has one of the most distinctive and beautiful male voices of the 70s and 80s, he went on to achieve some of the greatest achievements of the Yacht Rock genre, this entire post could be dedicated to this somewhat under appreciated genius.

MIAMI SOUND MACHINE – PRIMITIVE LOVE

This album has almost all of the tracks that you love but may not know are performed by Miami Sound Machine. This album is a monster, I call this record soft proto-freestyle, but where it gained popularity was in the safe spaces that smooth jazz and adult contemporary provided during 1985. Gloria Estefan absolutely kills it on “Bad Boys,” “Conga,” and “Falling In love (Uh-Oh),” how did albums in the 80s each contain an endless amount singles?

DOUBLE – BLUE

A song that was un-escapeable between the years of 1986 and 1989, “Captain Of Her Heart,” was soothing yet haunting, and as beautiful and reassuring as the yacht itself. What many did not appreciate at the time, mostly because they were a one hit wonder in the US, was how great Kurt Maloo’s voice came across on every single track of their magnum opus Blue. This record could be the dictionary definition of what smooth jazz is, and defined the mellow sound of the elegant 80s, so much so that you’d swear this album was recorded on a yacht.

HALL & OATES – H2O

You can’t have this list without Hall & Oates, and it’s an extremely difficult decision as to which of their albums most deserves to be on this list. This one edges out Private Eyes primarily for how incredible this vinyl record sounds, and the diamond pristine production that went into making this one of the most iconic albums of the 1980s.

STEVE WINWOOD – BACK IN THE HIGHLIFE

Winwood has been a part of so many great music projects, but it’s hard to see any resemblance between the LSD traveler who sang “Dear Mr. Fantasy” with Traffic in the 60s reflected at all in the peak of his commercial success, Back In The Highlife. If you don’t think you know Winwood, you most probably do, his songs “Higher Love” and “The Finer Things” still haunt waiting rooms until this very day.

CHRISTOPHER CROSS – CHRISTOPHER CROSS

The only thing more impressive than McDonald’s 4 grammys with The Doobie Brothers, are the 5 that Christopher Cross won for his extremely impressive debut, that many refer to as the blueprint for yacht rock, referring to his timelessly smooth classic “Sailing.” His voice is as clear and beautiful as a horn, clearly an angel walking among us.

FLEETWOOD MAC – TANGO IN THE NIGHT

If you thought you couldn’t make Fleetwood Mac into an 80s band, think again. Lindsay Buckingham lead this incredible band into some of the most complex productions, and vocal arrangements of their career. This album is so smooth, there are literally almost no words to describe it. Every convention that 1980s production came to be known for is distilled here into one record. If you need to put on something to come down from listening to all of Christopher Cross from front to back, this could be one of the few records worthy of that challenge.

Please make sure that you listen to these albums responsibly on a quality hifi stereo record console.

The post The Best Vinyl Records Ever Made – Yacht Rock Edition | LUNO appeared first on Luno.

“In April 1968, the unique and very special Beatles movie „Yellow Submarine“ came into the cinemas. It was one of their most famous pieces in history. Now, fifty years later Apple Corps Ltd and Universal Music Group are reintroducing this movie, restored in 4k digital resolution. In order to offer Beatles fans of all ages the enjoyment of watching this one of a kind experience. The movie will be released across many cinemas in Northern America with remixed 5.1 stereo surround sound.”

“As big fans of the work of the Beatles, we are proud to introduce this collaboration and number five of our Beatles series. The Yellow Submarine turntable has a unique shape and is sure to attract a lot of attention from Beatles fans. By adding a glass platter to the turntable it has been made sure that this masterpiece won‘t get covered and can be enjoyed in its full glory.
The supplied cartridge comes from Ortofon. Especially for this edition, Ortofon has created a yellow Concorde cartridge, called Sonar. The S-shaped aluminum arm adds a touch of harmony to the sound. Special decoupling feet make sure that the turntable is safely standing on its ground.”

• Unique special Yellow Submarine look
• Belt-drive with synchronous motor
• Ortofon Concorde quality pickup
• Vibration absorbing feet
• Glass platter
• Rigide MDF chassis
• Highly precise and light aluminium tonearm
• Saphire-tonearm bearing
• Gold-plated contacts
• Silicon belt with optimum dampening
• Hand-made in Europe

Speed 33,45 (manual speed change)
Principle Belt drive
Speed variance 33: 0.60% 45: 0.50%
Wow & Flutter 33: 0.19% 45: 0.17%
Platter 300 mm glas with felt mat
Main bearing Brass with teflon plate
Tonearm 8.6” aluminium
Effective arm length 218.5 mm
Overhang 18.5 mm
Effective tonearm mass 6.0 g
Counterweight for mass 2 – 5.0 g
Tracking force range 0 – 25mN Power consumption 4.0 Watt max
Dimensions 500 x 120 x 400 mm (WxHxD)
Weight 4.5 kg netto

The post Custom Record Players: Pro-Ject’s Yellow Submarine Turntable | LUNO appeared first on Luno.

This new album, Astroworld has brought new dimension to Scott’s catalog, and a deeper exploration of concepts that have both biographical and esoteric significance to Mr. Scott. The album’s title is taken from a classic feature of the Houston, TX landscape, now long defunct and having descended into ruins. The title of this album gives us a peek into what must have been one of the centerpieces of his early years growing up in Houston. Sonically we’re seeing some of the most fully realized arrangements, and some of the most engaging and immediate soundscapes in one of Scott’s productions. The Astroworld title is extremely fitting on album opener “Stargazing” providing an almost etherial backdrop to lyrics that set the tone of the journey of this record. The references to psychedelics lend themselves well to the world he has created within the frame of his imagination.

This album is one of Travis Scott’s most fully realized, both lyrically and creating an experience that sustains the length of a full LP. I think Astroworld will split the core of his fanbase, but will win over new converts to the Travis Scott sound, the album is already generating buzz from musical spheres outside of those previously initiated. If you are already a fan then this record is a no-brainer to purchase immediately on vinyl, the only format that matters.

Check out our review of Post Malone’s classic “Stoney” here.

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