In early September Tracking Angle editor Michael Fremer flew to Salt Lake City, Utah and then took a car ride to Wilson Audio Specialties in Provo, Utah, where on assignment, he shot this factory tour video with assistance from TAS's Lee Scoggins. TAS's Charles Kinder expertly assembled the raw footage to produce this fascinating tour. If you've never seen how capacitors are made by hand you'll see it here. Of course, that's but a small part... Read More

It’s tragic that, in the past decade, physical catastrophes have struck two of our greatest jazz masters in their prime. Pulmonary thrombosis stopped Sonny Rollins from blowing the saxophone; two strokes prevented Keith Jarrett from ever again playing the piano. At least Rollins was in peak form for an 80th birthday concert (captured on "Road Trip, Vol. 3)"; Jarrett stayed active barely past his 70th. (Both are still alive, at 89 and 72, respectively.) Lucky... Read More

Luxman’s LMC-5 MC phono cartridge got “caught” in the move from my previous endeavor to TrackingAngle.com, so this review has been delayed for many months, but what’s the rush when there’s a forty year gap between this cartridge’s introduction last March and the LMC-2’s debut back in 1982?Not sure what took them so long, or what happened to LMC-3 (four is an unlucky number in Japan, which is why when you play golf there you yell “three!” or “five!”), but welcome back!... Read More

Recorded in 1977 but not released until 1981 after Evans passed away September 15th, 1980 at age 51, You Must Believe In Spring was kind of "the great lost Bill Evans album". For those who bought it when it was first released as a single LP mastered by Doug Sax (Warner Brothers HS 3504) the question always was "Why was this not released immediately upon its completion?" The music is certainly up there with Evans' best on record and on a more... Read More

The absurdity of any culture is probably best seen from the outside, but by someone with first-hand experience inside of it. On paper, this puts Sebastian Murphy, tattoo artist by day and frontman of Swedish post-punk/dance-punk band Viagra Boys, in a perfect position to comment on the far-right’s increasing presence in America; born and raised in the US, Murphy knows America, but living in Sweden would give him a more distanced view. In execution, however, Viagra... Read More

The first time I ever saw a Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) symphony on my music stand, I was an 18-year-old student at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was the Symphony No. 1 in D Major (sometimes subtitled “Titan”) and I was tasked with playing the delicate low English horn notes in the opening measures. From that point on Gustav Mahler’s orchestral works would hold a special place in my musical growth, heralding the finale concerts of various... Read More

When Anthony Wilson is not on the road playing jazz guitar, he sometimes steps into a recording booth and exits Clark Kent-like as a sensitive ‘70s era singer/songwriter.For those more accustomed to Wilson backing Diana Krall or leading jazz ensembles on a series of Groove Note releases or providing orchestrations and/or playing on dozens of studio dates (for instance on Paul McCartney’s “Kisses on the Bottom”), his sumptuously packaged, sensitively drawn 2019 Songs... Read More

We now can add embedded videos to stories so here's the latest YouTube video unboxing the Rolling Stones 7" 1963-1966 45rpm singles and EP box set plus a closer look at the new U-Turn Orbit Theory turntable reviewed elsewhere on this site. Read More

The 4th generation Bugle MC Phono preamp from Hagerman Audio Labs eliminated DIP switches and moves gain and loading switches to the front panel. As the specs below indicate, the Bugle has plenty of gain for all but the very lowest MC cartridge. The previous iterations were encased in plastic. This new one is in an aluminum chassis, which probably makes for a better shielded enclosure. The price is a very reasonable $249.00Specifications40/52/58/64dB gain... Read More

Replaces "wall warts" with linear power supply that includes a large toroidal transformer. Blurb says: "A linear power supply consists of a massive toroidal transformer which disallows interference from the mains to negatively impact the performance of your audio gear. The built-in transformer has a much higher power reserve compared to the standard power adapter. It has very low output impedance and in combination with a large filtration capacity, it... Read More

Busy Pro-Ject just announced yet another new turntable. The $1,199 Debut PRO S features a new 10" "S" shaped arm that includes a CNC-machined nickel-plated bearing block, removable headshell and adjustable VTA/SRA and azimuth. Also included is a die-cut aluminum platter and aluminum sub-platter.Platter removed to show subplatterThe minimalist-looking turntable features built-in electronic speed control and 33 1/3/45 push of a button control as well as... Read More

Though it was shown at last Spring's Chicago AXPONA show and has been available overseas for awhile, Luxman America last month began distribution of its now PD-151 MKII turntable, which replaces the well-regarded 151A. The new model features a new, original LTA-309 tonearm featuring a knife-edge bearing originally developed by the classic Japanese brand SAEC. The new static-balanced arm features a machined aluminum arm base and VTA/SRA adjustability.The 3 speed... Read More

(This piece originally appeared in slightly different form in Issue 73, the September/October 1991 issue of The Absolute Sound. It has been edited and updated for Issue 5/6 of The Tracking Angle, Winter 1995/96.)Beginning with his eponymous 1970 debut, and continuing throughout 11 Warner Brothers solo albums, Ry Cooder has demonstrated that in addition to being an extraordinary folk/blues guitarist—particularly on bottleneck—and a serviceable though hardly... Read More

U-Turn’s most ambitious and sophisticated turntable yet offers an impressive package of performance-enhancing features starting with a new one piece molded tapered magnesium 220 millimeter effective length, gimbal-bearing tonearm fitted with a pre-installed and aligned nude elliptical stylus Ortofon 2M Blue MM cartridge. The Theory adds electronic speed control that at the turn of a knob lets you change from 33 1/3 to 45rpm . More important than the convenience of it,... Read More

The mystery of Bladee increases yet again. Never slowing down for anyone, the 28-year-old Swedish artist and Drain Gang leader returns with Spiderr, his second album this year after March’s Ecco2k collaboration, Crest. Bladee (Benjamin Reichwald) is this era’s most prolific and enigmatic cult icon, constantly evolving his aesthetic as legions of terminally online teenagers rush to copy his every move (and horrifically fail). Since his 2018 mixtape Icedancer, Bladee’s... Read More

This week, Temporal Drift announced the first official CD and vinyl reissues of Japanese psychedelic rock band Les Rallizes Dénudés' three-album discography. Originally released on limited edition CDs in 1991, this series marks the first official vinyl and digital releases of these seminal recordings.The three albums—’67-'69 Studio et Live, Mizutani / Les Rallizes Dénudés, and ’77 Live—capture the band from their formation to their artistic height, and were... Read More