Whenever I want to good-naturedly harangue my vinyl-only friends, I joke that my next musical project will arrive in just three formats: printed sheet music, player piano roll and on Edison wax cylinder.

When I served that one up to veteran Milwaukee musician Dan Hintz (Alien Farm, Leavenworth, etc.), he told me that he's involved in two new 78 rpm releases.

No joke, Hintz's "The Grey Goat" is the debut release in a series of one-sided, 10" vinyl 78 rpm discs and he plays guitar on the second in the set: "Air Train," by San Francisco label boss Julia Mazawa.

As you can see from the photo above, the design is very basic; the discs look like 10" 45s issued by English vintage roots reggae reissue label Blood & Fire.

I'm no luddite nor am I a technophile. I love music -- the format is just a means of delivery. Of course, these days I favor CDs because I can listen to them at work, in the car and at home. Vinyl's great, but I can't get a turntable that fits on my dashboard and doesn't skip.

I know, however, that your suggestions will now start flooding in.

Alas, my turntable only spins at 45 and 33 (so much for my vast collection of 16 rpm spoken word LPs!!!), so I can't tell you if these records are any good. But knowing Dan since his days with Alien Farm, I'm willing to vouch for them.

And even if they were terrible, I'd applaud the moxy and the sass behind releasing 78s in 2009!