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As the first year physical music sales finally succumbed to online downloads, 2013 also records the unlikely ballooning of box sets. Paradoxically, as CDs begin going the way of vinyl back in the Nineties, boutique compilations keep growing in size, cost, and ambition. Thumb drive collections are the future of the medium, but lavish gather-alls continue uncovering earthly treasures that may get lost in translation up in the clouds.
This article appears in December 20 • 2013.
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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993. More by Raoul Hernandez
