Here are notes on a selection from my favorite books on the history of recording technology, the history of the record business, and the interactions between recording technology, the record business, and the art of music. One example of what I mean by all that is, in the late 1920s, piezoelectric “crystal” microphones supplanted carbon microphones for radio broadcasting. Crystal microphones had a better signal-to-noise ratio than carbon microphones. Therefore, the... Read More

A perfect black and white frozen New York City cover for an album released February of 1974 when winters there were still really cold and "pretzles" (sic) were 15 cents. The master tape images in the fold out containing Donald Fagen's notes show that the mixes were finalized on February 5th, lacquers cut at The Mastering Lab on the 6th and the record released for sale on the 20th. That's a pretty fast turnaround! Speaking of fast, compared to the... Read More

Montreal – July 26, 2023 – Focal Naim North America is excited to announce the addition of the highly reputable brand AVIDHIFI to its North America distribution network. With the incorporation of AVIDHIFI, Focal Naim North America adds a lineup of high-end turntables made in England to its current audio partners. “Focal Naim North America is proud to distribute AVIDHIFI with its exceptional build quality and outstanding sonic performance,” said Roman Vet, VP Marketing... Read More

When we listen, what are we really hearing? Are we transfixed on the mastering, the quality of the vinyl, the hardware we’re using? Or, perhaps we are merely listening to the sound and skill that the musicians are creating as a group? The truth is we’re listening to all of those things, but there is one element that we often tend to forget about and it reminds me of the old adage, if a tree falls in the woods - and there’s no one there to witness the event - does it... Read More

As I’ve noted a few times in this space, Jason Moran is the most versatile, virtuosic jazz pianist on the scene. Around the turn of the decade, as player and composer, he focused on elegiac melodies, deceptively simple in form, rich in harmonies and textures, stirring, even spiritual, in their quest. Some tracks on this album from that period, The Sound Will Tell You, resemble movie music (but deep movie music); two of them were written for the HBO adaptation of... Read More

During the past decade, consumer demand for vinyl outpaced pressing capacity, resulting in delays of as much as 10 months. But that changed in the past year when existing players on both sides of the Atlantic dramatically expanded volume capabilities by adding machinery, and new plants became operational. Moderator Eric Astor, whose Furnace Record Pressing recently sold a majority ownership stake to Metallica, discusses the topic with pressing newcomer Connie Comeau, COO of The ADS Group/Copycats Media, and two indie label execs jazz specialist Zev Feldman, and Andrew Rossiter, of reissue label Org Music.

Michael had such a good time interviewing Peter at the Seattle Audio Fest, he got himself invited to the Koolance warehouse where he saw all of Peter's vintage and replica vintage audio gear along with a few new KLAUDiO products. Also interesting was seeing Peter's "real" business, which involves industrial water management and cooling systems. Mr. Cheon has 200+ products he's designed in his line, many of which are patented. This is a short,... Read More

July 21, 2023 (New York, NY) – Today marks the Verve Records/UMG release of You’ve Got To Learn, a previously-unreleased recording of Nina Simone’s performance at the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival. The album arrives as part of the “Happy Birthday Miss Simone” campaign, a year-long celebration of Simone’s 90th birthday. Listen to the album HERE. You’ve Got To Learn is a major find for Simone’s fans. The album includes Simone’s first-ever recording of “Music For Lovers”... Read More

Blue Note Records has announced The Francis Wolff Collection, a new series of limited-edition fine art photography collector’s pieces that celebrates the legacy of Blue Note co-founder and photographer Francis Wolff as well as the musicians he loved. The series launches today with a collection of one-of-a-kind pieces featuring Wolff’s iconic photographs of the legendary saxophonistJohn Coltrane at the 1957 recording session for his masterpiece Blue Train (BLP 1577).... Read More

Here's Tracking Angle's exclusive look and listen to Intervention's upcoming limited to 2500 copies Frampton@50 3 LP box set cut from analog tape by Chris Bellman and sounding like it! Intervention worked with Peter Frampton to get this box to look and sound the way he wanted it and the results are what every great reissue should look and sound like. The box rights a musical wrong.

This review was brought to the attention of the producer Jason Jones who insists, and I believe him, that this record and "Dixie Chicken" as well, were cut by Bernie Grundman using the original master tapes. A number of readers asked why I didn't first check with people involved. A few times in the past I was assured what I was hearing was AAA even though it sounded otherwise and later I found out I'd been correct and had been handed a line. Here Jones says he can provide documentation that it was cut from tape so I'll take his word for it and issue here a "mea culpa". I was wrong and I apologize. However, I will still write reviews based on what I hear and I'm happy to be corrected and issue a mea culpa later, if only because I've previously been burned. So, Jason, my apologies and I've revised the review below but not to "cover my tracks".

People are hardly self-sustaining. Everyday life neglects and misaligns our spirit. Periodically, everyone must seek a spiritual tune up. Some read, some paint. Others meditate, chasing the unrivalled clarity silence offers. Most reading these words prefer music. Though not all artists create equal music. Many albums, while fun, are just that; lighthearted pleasure. Compelling music reorients its recipient. Of course, lighthearted pleasure isn’t especially compelling. Susanne Sundfør’s Blómi is. The Norwegian artist’s sixth studio album checks all boxes. It’s creative, inquisitive, and intricate, incorporating multiple cultures. Chiefly, Blómi certainly spiritually revitalises its listener.

In 2023, Serge Gainsbourg is possibly more controversial than he’s been since his 1991 death from a second heart attack at age 62. The upcoming museum opening of the artist’s Paris home, at 5 bis rue de Verneuil, sparked more than a few debates: can we still listen to the album about pedophilia made by a 42-year-old man with appearances by his 24-year-old girlfriend? Is it alright that he made a song with his then-12-year-old daughter about incest? Does anyone even... Read More

[Updated November 2023] Kyoto is not only a microcosm of everything that those on the outside looking in love about Japan—vermilion torii gates x infinity, the pale pink petals of sakura trees, and occasional whiter-than-white geisha faces—it’s also home to a thriving underground live music scene, a friendly cottage recording industry of local labels and cassette-sharing, and a central mile or two filled with excellent record shops. Here are ten [now eleven] of my favorites, followed by the best of the rest.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 13, 2023Audio ResearchFrom the Office of Our CEO: A Message from Valerio CoraMaple Grove, MN: Audio Research gains ground as new ownership makes strides towardaddressing customer questions about what, if anything, will be changing at ARC.First, existing and future customers should be aware that all Audio Research warranties – past,present, and future – remain intact and will be honored.Second, Audio Research has a stable and abundant supply... Read More

For what may have felt like a death knell for the godfathers of metal, vocalist Ronnie James Dio was a saving grace for Black Sabbath when in 1979 original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne made his exit. Dio brought forth some fresh approaches to the Sabbath mold, adding fantasy-based lyrics and more intricate vocal melodies. This allowed the band to write in a new direction and evolve further. The first offering of Black Sabbath Mark II, 1980’s Heaven and Hell, broke the slump... Read More

Hagerman Audio Labs recently announced aesthetic upgrades to a number of its most popular and popularly priced products including the $589 Cornet MM vacuum tube phono preamplifier pictured above, now upgraded into a metal chassis with optional available wood side panels.Hagerman Cornet "sporting wood"The circuit topology features common cathode class-A gain stages with no feedback, passive equalization, and cathode follower output buffers with constant... Read More

A $7900 turntable featuring an air bearing tangential tracking tonearm and an air bearing platter? Sounds too good to be true, and if it is true, what’s the catch? There must be a catch. I first spotted the manufactured in Slovenia Holbo at Munich High End 2022 and it sure caught my attention. It’s featured in a YouTube video I shot at that show, but with no American importer then, a review didn’t make sense. Now there is one: Metavoxaudio so now’s the time for a... Read More

Where to start here? They still can't spell the late Doug Sax's name correctly so let's start there. It's not "Sachs". They made a mistach on the original, understood. If they repeated it to preserve the jacket's "authenticity", then why add the additional credits? But more to the point, why take a wonderful, magical recording, with depth, space, transparency, transient purity, shimmer, delicacy, three-dimensionality and... Read More