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Latest

"La Strada"

Details
Blu-ray movies

December 2021

A True Masterpiece Receives the Criterion BD Treatment

The Criterion Collection 219
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
*****

Picture Quality
****1/2

Sound Quality
***

Extras
****

Released in the United States in 1956 (1954 in Italy), La Strada has proven to be a true cinematic masterpiece capable of withstanding the test of time. The film garnered international acclaim, both for director Federico Fellini and his wife, featured actress Giulietta Masina. Since Fellini set the movie in an indeterminate era (albeit one with motorcycles) and tells the story in the form of a fable, it can still elicit the same number of smiles and tears as it did 67 years ago.

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Streaming Contemporary Composition Through the EarMen Tradutto DAC

Details
Art+Tech

Note: for the full suite of measurements for the EarMen Tradutto DAC from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.

December 2021

For a time, about a decade ago, I had this fantasy of promoting a concert that would feature an all-star band of top-flight musicians who held PhDs. As it happens, it wasn’t as far-fetched as it seems; pianist Vijay Iyer and saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa have already collaborated, and the French Moutin twins, drummer Louis and bassist François, would make a great rhythm section.

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Ray Charles: "True Genius"

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CD music

December 2021

Tangerine Records TRC-2107
Format: CD

Musical Performance
****

Sound Quality
****

Overall Enjoyment
*****

Let’s begin with a quiz: There are 99 individual performances on this extensive six-disc overview of singer-pianist Ray Charles’s career. How many of the songs do you think he composed?

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Fix It in the Mix: Recording a Rock Band

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Pulse!

December 2021

Last time, I talked about recording solo artists and duets and offered some general advice about recording. This time I’m going to focus on recording a standard rock band: drums, bass guitar, guitar(s), keyboard, and vocals. Working with a band requires more experimentation, and it will challenge you to come up with more creative solutions than recording and mixing smaller acts. But in my book, that’s part of the fun. So this time, I’ll concentrate mainly on process and production tips to help make the final product (your music) better; they may also save you some time and a few headaches. I’ve already covered some basics on microphones and how they “hear” in prior articles, so if you haven’t read those articles, now’s a good time to catch up.

Read more …

JBL PartyBox On-The-Go Bluetooth Speaker

Details
Music Everywhere

December 2021

JBL started its PartyBox lineup with the huge floorstanding PartyBox 300 speaker that I reviewed a little over a year ago. Since then, the company has added speakers of various sizes to the line, the latest being the PartyBox On-The-Go model, which is portable and can play from its internal battery without having to be plugged in. At $349.95 (all prices USD), it’s not inexpensive, but you get a lot for your money: a very good-sounding PA/disco/guitar/karaoke/party speaker with lots of neat features.

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"Masculin féminin"

Details
Blu-ray movies

November 2021

A Study of Banality That is Simply Boring Today

The Criterion Collection 308
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
**1/2

Picture Quality
****

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
***

Director Jean-Luc Godard’s film about Parisian youth was polarizing from the very start. Most praised it as perceptive and clever, others not so much. Looking at it from a contemporary vantage point, I must say that I fall in the latter camp.

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Discovering Contemporary Trios Through the Arcam SA30 Intelligent Integrated Amplifier

Details
Art+Tech

Note: for the full suite of measurements for the Arcam SA30 from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.

November 2021

In 1997, pianist Brad Mehldau, then 26, released The Art of the Trio, Volume One, his second album for Warner Bros. Records. That was followed by four additional volumes, the latest in 2001. The aggressively declarative title was conceived by producer Matt Pierson, who was also the head of A&R for jazz at the label. The idea was clearly to establish Mehldau as the heir to the postwar jazz trio tradition that had been established by artists like Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, and Keith Jarrett. Each of these pianists recruited band members who could improvise at a high level and be counted on to play outside the standard role of a rhythm section.

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The Tragically Hip, Curated

Details
Curator

November 2021

The first time Bruce Dickinson, then a vice-president at MCA Records, saw The Tragically Hip play live was at the Toronto Music Awards in 1988. “I guess it was during the first song,” Dickinson told the National Post in 2016. “Gord [Downie, the band’s lead singer] drops the mic on the floor inadvertently. It comes unattached from the cord, and the top of the mic comes off. I remember distinctly, Bobby Baker [guitar] and Gord Sinclair [bass] just looked at each other like, ‘Oh, crap. What are we going to do?’ Downie, as you know, is a great improviser. He just picks up the mic, puts it back together and tells a whole story in the middle of the song that involves the mic. I thought that was really cool.”

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Sony SRS-XB33 Bluetooth Speaker

Details
Music Everywhere

November 2021

Continuing on the topic of compact Bluetooth speakers, a category I’ve been delving into in my past few reviews, I’ve encountered a worthy candidate from Sony: the SRS-XB33. It’s waterproof, dustproof, rustproof, and shockproof, and should prove to be a good companion for outdoor activities. Moreover, it operates in real stereo, sounds pretty good, and has a mesmerizing light show with DJ effects. At $148 (in USD), it’s a strong contender in its price and size class.

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John Coltrane: "A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle"

Details
Vinyl music

November 2021

Impulse! Records B0034291-01
Format: 2 LPs

Musical Performance
****

Sound Quality
***

Overall Enjoyment
*****

Pianist McCoy Tyner was only 26 when he left John Coltrane’s band in 1965, and interviews with him over the next 55 years, prior to his death in 2020, rarely failed to touch on Coltrane and the saxophonist’s towering legacy. It seems no one was inquisitive enough—and I include myself here; I interviewed him twice—to ask him if Coltrane had performed his cornerstone suite, “A Love Supreme,” more than a single time in 1965, at the Antibes jazz festival in France, and one other time at a Brooklyn fundraiser. It was just a given, and a large part of the myth surrounding the composition, that the saxophonist never returned to his masterpiece after those two occasions.

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"Mona Lisa"

Details
Blu-ray movies

October 2021

A Tour-de-Force Performance by Bob Hoskins on Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 107
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
****

Picture Quality
****1/2

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
****

What a joy it was to receive a pristine Blu-ray edition of this cinematic gem in the mail. Mona Lisa has long been a favorite in my household, and it has now received the treatment it deserves. Only 4K could make it better.

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Decoding Henry Threadgill through Focal Alpha 50 Evo Studio Monitors

Details
Art+Tech

October 2021

I have a self-imposed rule when assigning stars for albums I review for SoundStage! Xperience or on my other gig at DownBeat magazine: As a service to consumers, I deduct half a star if the artist provides less than the 45 minutes of music I would expect on a typical album without discounting the retail price.

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The Cookers: "Look Out!"

Details
CD music

October 2021

Gearbox Records 1571CD
Format: CD

Musical Performance
****

Sound Quality
****

Overall Enjoyment
****

If you followed popular music in the late ’60s and early ’70s, you likely remember the hype surrounding so-called supergroups. Bands like Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were touted as truly special things by the rock media.

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Bose SoundLink Color II Bluetooth Speaker

Details
Music Everywhere

October 2021

Bose is a legendary name in the world of audio speakers. The company has diehard fans. Having never experienced a Bose product firsthand, I determined that I should try one. In this case, it was the Bose SoundLink Color II. Though I found a few things to quibble about, this little speaker mostly lived up to the Bose hype. At $129 (all prices USD), it is a strong contender for purchase if you’re considering a speaker in its size category.

Read more …

  1. "Ashes and Diamonds"
  2. Summer on the Porch with Tom Petty and the Audio Pro Addon C5A Wireless Multiroom Speaker
  3. Fix It in the Mix: A Seven Nation Army of Me
  4. McCoy Tyner: "Expansions"
  5. Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 Bluetooth Speaker
  6. "History Is Made at Night"
  7. Time Traveling to Mid-1960s Chicago via AudioQuest's DragonFly Black and Red DACs
  8. JBL Flip 5 Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker
  9. Lee Morgan: "The Complete Live at the Lighthouse"
  10. "Pickup on South Street"
  11. The iFi Audio Zen Phono Breathes New Life into Andrew Hill's Missing Masterpiece
  12. Fix It in the Mix: All About Mike(s)
  13. JBL Pulse 4 Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker
  14. Ben Goldberg: "Everything Happens to Be."
  15. "Nightmare Alley" (1947)

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