In Heavy Rotation
April 8th, 2025
With An RSD Reissue Of Pharoah Sanders’ ‘Izipho Zam (My Gifts),’ Strata-East’s New Morning Is Looking Bright DIVE DEEPER INTO SPIRITUAL JAZZ WITH A RIVETING, LESS-HERALDED SANDERS OFFERING FROM 1973 By: Morgan EnosRoiled by political uncertainty and contention over race and identity, the late 2010s and early 2020s witnessed a resurgence of what’s now commonly called spiritual jazz. And close to the end of his life, with his final statement to the world, Pharoah Sanders found himself at the center of its discourse.The product of myriad cultural and ideological influences, this tenuously defined subset of the music nonetheless has identifiable hallmarks. It runs the gamut between... Read More
Comments: 1April 7th, 2025
Acora Acoustics Granite Pyramid Is Worthy of the Sonic Gods will Acora's "flagship" loudspeaker float your boat? By: Michael Fremer“Stunning. They can hang out in the living room”. Forty reviewing years and that comment from wifey was a first! Her response early last Fall seeing the dramatically “painted by nature” Acora VRCs unpacked and sitting in the driveway in the early morning sun.The light made an already dazzling looking speaker look even more so. It also resembled the delivery of our granite kitchen counters back in 2011, during which the narrowest section had cracked during the truck... Read More
Comments: 10April 6th, 2025
Tracking Angle Looking To Add A Few Good Equipment Reviewers to Our Team published experience helps, but not a requirement! By: Michael FremerTracking Angle wants to add a few equipment reviewers to our already impressive writer roster. Published experience is not required, though it would be helpful. When I began writing for The Absolute Sound in 1986 it was as a music reviewer/editor but I wanted to review equipment. The late, legendary Harry Pearson was willing to give me a chance so he sent a pair of inexpensive Siefert Research bookshelf loudspeakers for review and over the next few months the... Read More
Comments: 17April 6th, 2025
If You Like Music, You Really Should Thank the Frankish Infantry of A.D. 732 A Survey of Choral Music, from Plainchant to Boney M.; Part 1 of 2 By: John Marks
Here are the first six (of a total of a dozen) choral settings of extraordinary value, most of them unaccompanied (a-cappella). The settings are from Medieval times to our era, but are not necessarily in chronological order.
The Qobuz playlist is here: https://play.qobuz.com/playlist/25258347
Read More Comments: 6April 5th, 2025
The Southwest Audio Fest 2025 Hi-Performance Audio in Dallas ... Yippee-Ki-Yay By: Ken RedmondThe Southwest Audio Fest returned to Dallas, hosted at the beautiful Hotel Anatole . Both media representatives and manufacturers I spoke with were looking forward to a repeat of last year's successful SWAF, which I reported on here. Overall, show organizers Lou Hinkley and Gary Gill have been successful in their efforts, and they announced that the SWAF will return in 2026, albeit with a significant change in date format. Instead of the usual Friday through... Read More
Comments: 2April 4th, 2025
Ozawa's Ravel Box: A High Point For Both Conductor and Orchestra The new 4LP box set from DG's Original Source series contains one of the best Ravel cycles you can buy By: Michael JohnsonThis year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of France’s most distinctive artistic voices: Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). When one thinks of French painting, they think of Claude Monet. When one thinks of French sculptor’s, they’ll likely conjure to mind Auguste Rodin; and when one thinks of French music, the melodies that enter their head are likely to sound a lot like those of either Claude Debussy or Maurice Ravel. Both composers contributed greatly to... Read More
Comments: 14April 2nd, 2025
Rhino Provides The Ultimate Sonic Experiences for Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper The newest High Fidelity series titles honor the hard-rocking year of 1971 By: Dylan PegginToday, the audiophile market is a goldmine for vinyl consumers. Whether it's Analogue Productions’ commemoration of Atlantic Records’ 75th anniversary or WMG’s Because Sound Matters venture, the pressings these and other companies are releasing have, for the most part, set a new sonic standard for timeless albums— in some cases outdoing originals. Reissue specialist Rhino Records, which it could be argued started the vinyl reissue ball rolling in the late... Read More
Comments: 27March 31st, 2025
Roman Holiday— The Glorious Sound of the Thrax Spartacus Amplifier and Libra Preamplifier Founder and chief designer Rumen Artarski has one foot in pro, and the other in high performance consumer audio By: Jacob HeilbrunnMaximinus Thrax, a Roman emperor from the third century after Christ, was supposedly eight feet tall and possessed of superhuman strength. It was a bold move for Rumen Artarski, the head of Thrax audio, to name his company after this legendary emperor, but he and it have more than lived up to the challenge. After listening to Artarski’s formidably powerful tubed equipment for several weeks, I half expected to hear it ask through my loudspeakers, “Are you not... Read More
Comments: 14March 30th, 2025
Jerome Sabbagh's Analog Tone Factory Label Produces and Releases First "Non-Jerome" Record Saxophonist Chris Cheeks' "Keepers of the Eastern Door" gets full, ATF live to 2 track analog treatment By: Michael FremerLike Sabbagh's award winning Heart, Keepers of the Eastern Door was recorded live to 2-track 1/2 inch tape at 30 ips by James Farber at Power Station C, to the label's custom Ampex 351, and mastered and cut all analog by Bernie Grundman. Like Vintage and Heart, this one is being pressed at Gotta Groove on 180g vinyl. In an email, Sabbagh told me he's been experimenting with 140g vs 180g and 1-step versus "regular" 3-step pressings. He prefers... Read More
Comments: 18March 28th, 2025
Celestial Sounds - Neil Ardley's Seminal 1979 "Harmony of the Spheres" Is Given New Life Analogue October Records' Stunning Reissue Reviewed - Plus an Interview with Label Founder, Craig Crane By: Mark Ward
One of the most important - and least known - artifacts of 1970s jazz/rock fusion, Neil Ardley's Harmony of the Spheres, arrives in an exceptional AAA limited edition reissue from fledgling label Analogue October Records in the UK. I delve into the background and history of this groundbreaking record, assess the new reissue, and talk in detail with label founder Craig Crane about how this project came together, and his future plans for this label - one to watch.
Read More Comments: 8March 27th, 2025
ERC Does Coltrane's "Lush Life" true mono cut using mono cutter head, cut "master tape to lathe" By: Tracking AngleThe Electric Recording Company announced today the "true mono" reissue of John Coltrane's Lush Life cut "tape to lathe" fitted with a mono cutter head. It's how they roll.From the ERC press release:John Coltrane’s “Lush Life”, originally released in 1961 by Prestige Records, is a remarkable snapshot of a transitional moment in the saxophonist’s career. Released over a year after Coltrane had signed to Impulse! Records and compiled from... Read More
Comments: 6March 27th, 2025
Philharmonic Audio Balanced-Mode Radiator (BMR) Monitor Loudspeaker The Loudspeaker Bargain of the Century—At least so far! By: John Marks
How would I define the BMR Monitor’s “Personality”? How about “This loudspeaker sounds like it was designed by an orchestral string player who knows enough engineering to achieve his goals with admirable economic efficiency.” The BMR Monitor is especially remarkable for its timbral and temporal coherence; midrange and treble articulation and detail; and its extraordinary soundstaging and imaging.
Read More Comments: 5March 26th, 2025
HSE Swiss Masterline 7 Phono Preamplifier Takes Noise to New Lows originally designed as the world's best microphone preamp By: Jacob HeilbrunnSwitzerland may be the land of neutrality, but its audio gear has been steadily invading my audio system. It started with a CH Precision P1 phono stage. Next came a DartZeel preamplifier and monoblock amplifiers. Now a new entrant has arrived—the dual mono HSE 7 Masterline phonostage with separate power supply.Fans of Michael Fremer, the head honcho of this website, may recall that he reviewed this phonostage in The Absolute Sound, the very magazine where he commenced... Read More
Comments: 16March 25th, 2025
Nagra Launches "Compact Phono" Phono Preamplifier now available in the U.S. for $4950 By: Tracking AngleNagra today announced the release of a new "Compact Phono" phono preamplifier now available in The United States for $4950. Here's the Word Doc that somehow didn't make it into our "in-box":Romanel, Switzerland – 25th March 2025 —Perpetuating a long legacy of excellence in phono stages since the Nagra PL-P, the new Nagra Compact Phono offers the greater part of its predecessors’ quality and performance in a compact and elegant housing.... Read More
Comments: 16March 25th, 2025
Of Montreal Finally Broke Through with “The Sunlandic Twins” The first-ever audiophile treatment given to the indie pop legends By: Dylan PegginIn just under ten years, songwriter/instrumentalist/vocalist Kevin Barnes transformed Of Montreal from a unified collective to a one-person operation. Having churned out whimsical baroque pop albums like Cherry Peel and The Gay Parade within the confinements of a band, Barnes took to working solo by dabbling in sonic experimentation and, inspired by their first marriage to Nina Grøttland, started writing in a more personal style. The initial fruits of this new... Read More
Comments: 3March 24th, 2025
Catherine Vericolli Resurrects the Funk: Org Music, Westbound Records, and the Pursuit of Perfecting the Imperfect The Archivist Provides an Inside Look at the Restoration Process Behind Org Music’s Reissues By: Evan TothTeamwork - as they say - makes the dream work. Over the last several years, Org Music has been quietly amassing a catalog of well-produced reissues and original recordings in all genres. On the reissue front, however, the label has reached its goals by employing a select group of audio specialists all working toward the same goal: to find forgotten music deserving of a second chance to reach an audience, and to approach its restoration with straightforward respect and... Read More
Comments: 9March 23rd, 2025
Resonance's Archival Mingus, Hubbard, & Dorham: This Record Store Day, Go For… Well, The Records WHEN IT COMES TO THIS SLATE OF ARCHIVAL JAZZ RELEASES, THE VINYL BEATS THE CD EVERY TIME By: Morgan EnosHere are my reviews of three new Resonance Records offerings: Charles Mingus’s In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts, Kenny Dorham’s Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco, and Freddie Hubbard’s On Fire: Live from the Blue Morocco. All three are due out on Record Store Day, April 12; you can pre-order them now.It’s not Charles’ Mingus’s final set of performances, but it’s close. On June 2 and 3, 1977, the Angry Man of Jazz was nearing the end of the... Read More
Comments: 8March 20th, 2025
Deutsche Grammophon Announces a Treasure Trove of Releases in Batch #8 of the Original Source Vinyl Reissue Series Brilliance, Virtuosity and Eclecticism Rule the Day in This Outstanding Selection of Titles, all mastered and cut AAA directly from 4 and 8-track masters By: Mark Ward
This latest batch of Original Source releases shows that Deutsche Grammophon has been listening to collectors of this series who have been clamoring for more chamber and instrumental music. Here we have two such peaks of the 70s catalogue in superb performances, plus two blockbuster orchestral releases that will seriously put your system through its paces. All in all it’s a list of releases I am salivating over - and you should be too!
Read More Comments: 56March 20th, 2025
The Unreleased 1977 Neil Young Album We are Lucky to Have Today should have been released between "American Stars and Bars" and "Comes a Time" By: Brian FisherThis is a good time to be alive if you are a Neil Young fan. For years, Neil Young, an archivist like few others, has saved everything. And when I mean everything, take a gander at the Neil Young Archives. Here we find photographs, original lyric sheets, ephemera, videos, and all the music. The music quality, it goes without saying, is also presented in a similarly archival manner. For those who stream, you are treated to a digital source that is as close as you can... Read More
Comments: 3