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"Art+Tech"
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Latest

Neko Case: “Wild Creatures”

Details
CD music

August 2023

Anti- 87824-2
Format: CD

Musical Performance
****1/2

Sound Quality
****

Overall Enjoyment
****1/2

The singer-songwriter Neko Case has been a singular voice in music for more than 25 years, both as a solo artist and as a member of the New Pornographers. Her versatility and restless creativity have led to collaborations with a number of other musicians, including the Sadies, Carolyn Mark, k.d. lang, and Laura Veirs. In 2022, Case released a 23-song compilation of solo recordings as a digital download. Wild Creatures has now been released on CD and vinyl.

Read more …

Stupid Audiophile Tricks

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Pulse!

August 2023

I have a friend, a guy I worked with for a long time, who drove a modest little Geo sedan for his long commute. Ugly car, really. And small. He looked after it, though; it ran well and was dependable. Every workday, he drove 90 minutes or more each way, and I don’t think he ever missed a day of work because of car trouble. When my friend retired, he stopped driving that car and got a new Camaro. He deserved that reward. I have no idea how many miles he had racked up on that Geo, but I’m willing to bet it was over 300,000.

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The Mobile Fidelity Settlement—an Update

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Pulse!

July 2023

On the day that my comments about the recent MoFi settlement were posted on this site, I received a copy of Tuttle v. Audiophile Music Direct in the mail.

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The Leroy Vinnegar Sextet: “Leroy Walks!”

Details
Vinyl music

July 2023

Contemporary Records / Craft Recordings / Acoustic Sounds CR00594
Format: LP

Musical Performance
****

Sound Quality
****

Overall Enjoyment
****

Bassist Leroy Vinnegar was born in Indianapolis and moved to Los Angeles in the 1950s, where he appeared on albums by nearly every jazz musician who passed through LA or was based there. He played on sessions with Stan Getz, Benny Carter, Kenny Dorham, and many others. He was the bassist on popular trio sessions with Shelly Manne and André Previn, including My Fair Lady (1956), a Contemporary Records release that was one of the label’s biggest sellers. He played on another big seller, Swiss Movement, a 1969 live collaboration between Les McCann and Eddie Harris.

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A Second Trek through the Vinyl Jungle with MoFi

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Pulse!

July 2023

When the news broke last year that Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab was using high-resolution digital files as the source for some of its vinyl releases, including its costly Ultradisc One-Step pressings, a predictable outcry from vinyl lovers ensued. The story even got national attention, with a writeup in the Washington Post. Several SoundStage! Network contributors addressed the issue, including Jason Thorpe. I weighed in as well, as did SoundStage! founder Doug Schneider, who also posted a video about it.

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Sly & the Family Stone, Curated

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Curator

July 2023

On August 17, 1969, the final scheduled day of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, Sly & the Family Stone appeared onstage at 3:30 a.m. Stage announcer “Chip” Monck’s sonorous voice brought the group out, and they played a tight, 50-minute set. Two songs from that performance, “Dance to the Music” and “I Want to Take You Higher,” made their way onto Michael Wadleigh’s documentary film of the festival, and were among its most electrifying moments.

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André Previn and His Pals, Shelly Manne & Red Mitchell: “West Side Story”

Details
Vinyl music

June 2023

Contemporary Records / Craft Recordings / Acoustic Sounds CR00390
Format: LP

Musical Performance
****1/2

Sound Quality
****1/2

Overall Enjoyment
****1/2

André Previn’s long career included well-regarded work as a pianist, composer, and conductor in classical music, film soundtracks, and jazz. Previn appeared on many recordings for Contemporary Records in the late 1950s, both as a solo pianist and in a trio setting, and recorded three Broadway-themed albums with drummer Shelly Manne and bassist Red Mitchell. Manne himself recorded albums of show tunes for Contemporary, on which he was the bandleader, with Previn on piano and Leroy Vinnegar on bass. Manne’s My Fair Lady (1956) was the first of those albums. It was so popular that Contemporary encouraged him and Previn to continue making records consisting of tunes from various shows.

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An Interview with Mastering Engineer Kevin Gray

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Pulse!

June 2023

It’s hard to think of a currently active mastering engineer whose initials appear on more LP lead-out grooves than Kevin Gray’s. He cuts the lacquers for Blue Note’s Tone Poet and Classic Vinyl series, as well as for rock recordings released on vinyl by Intervention Records. He also remasters vinyl reissues for some of Concord’s Craft Recordings reissues, including the newly resurrected Original Jazz Classics series. And that’s just a sampling of his current work.

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Three Distinctive Voices Flow through the Pro-Ject MaiA DS3 Stereo Integrated Amplifier

Details
Art+Tech

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

June 2023

If you caught last month’s column, you’ll know that one of the recordings I featured was Van Morrison’s signature major-label debut, Astral Weeks. I noted that—typically for a pop recording in the late 1960s—the recording setup was pretty basic. Morrison’s voice is centered in the soundstage, and there appears to have been little or nothing altered in post-production. One consequence is that Morrison occasionally sounds slightly off-mike. Having seen Morrison perform several times, I expect those off-mike incantations were deliberate.

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Van Morrison: “Moving On Skiffle” | Joe Lovano: “Our Daily Bread” | Carmell Jones: “The Remarkable Carmell Jones”

Details
Music, Movies & Shows

May 2023

Van Morrison: Moving On Skiffle
Exile / Virgin Music 2448191410
Format: CD

Musical Performance
***1/2

Sound Quality
****

Overall Enjoyment
****

If you’re a Van Morrison fan, you get used to the singer’s crankiness, but he probably pushed a little too hard on two recent outings—Latest Record Project, Volume 1 (2021) and What’s It Gonna Take? (2022). Van was mad that he couldn’t tour because of the COVID-19 pandemic and went after everyone from government officials to the media. He released the first album during the worst of the pandemic and received some blowback; some of it deserved, some unfair.

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An Interview with Producer Joe Harley

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Pulse!

May 2023

If you want a good example of vinyl’s healthy return as a format, take a look at Blue Note’s Tone Poet reissue series. Jazz lovers have embraced it, despite the slightly higher costs. The Tone Poet LPs are mastered to an audiophile standard and the packaging reflects the care everyone has taken in presenting the great Blue Note and Pacific Jazz titles in the series. The covers are made of heavy cardboard, with tipped-on, laminated artwork prepared by Stoughton Printing. Most of the covers are gatefolds, with photos from the original sessions. Record Technology Incorporated, one of the best vinyl plants in the world, presses the 180gm LPs.

Read more …

How Good Can the Focal Utopia Headphones Make Remarkable Recordings Sound?

Details
Art+Tech

May 2023

For most of my “Art+Tech” columns so far I’ve led with the music. More often than not, I’ve used the art to see how well a piece of technology can reproduce it.

Read more …

GoGo Penguin: “Everything Is Going to Be OK” | Vince Mendoza and the Metropole Orkest: “Olympians” | En Attendant Ana: “Principia”

Details
Download music

April 2023

GoGo Penguin: Everything Is Going to Be OK

XXIM Records
Format: 24-bit/48kHz WAV download

Musical Performance
****

Sound Quality
***1/2

Overall Enjoyment
****

GoGo Penguin’s new album, Everything Is Going to Be OK, arrived April 14 on CD, LP, and download, about nine months after the band’s EP Between Two Waves was released. Like that EP—the band's first record since moving to Sony’s XXIM Records—the LP features the band’s new drummer, Jon Scott, and integrates the occasional synthesizer in the mix. The trio has used studio technology to alter and process its sound in the past, but now it has embraced electronic keyboards to help it move in some new directions.

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Looking Back 50 Years with Wadada Leo Smith and the NAD C 3050 LE Integrated Amplifier

Details
Art+Tech

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

April 2023

Composer Wayne Shorter died on March 2 this year, at the age of 89. Along with the release of a massive, career-capping biography of fellow saxophone giant Sonny Rollins, this is a landmark—the symbolic end of a jazz era studded with remarkable iconoclasts. Miles. Monk. Trane. Wayne. Sonny. We all know their unique sounds; hearing them in our heads as soon as those single names pass the lips.

Read more …

  1. James Brown, Curated
  2. Ralph Towner: “At First Light” | Ralph Alessi Quartet: “It’s Always Now”
  3. Vinyl's Growing (or Not Growing) Pains
  4. Vintage Improvisation Meets Contemporary Elac Debut ConneX DCB41 Powered Speakers
  5. Fred Hersch & Esperanza Spalding: "Alive at the Village Vanguard"
  6. Experience "Xperience" Anew
  7. For the Love of Sound: Kenny Barron and the RME ADI-2 DAC FS
  8. Uni Boys: "Do It All Next Week"
  9. Making Records: Blue Sprocket Pressing Plant Tour
  10. Taking the Jazz Detective's Latest Releases to the Woods with the Helm Audio DB12 AAAMP Portable Headphone Amplifier
  11. What I Heard: 2022
  12. XTC, Curated
  13. PMC's Dolby Atmos Immersion—An Exciting New Way to Hear and Experience Music
  14. Mali Obomsawin: "Sweet Tooth"
  15. Exploring Indie Improv through the Zidoo Neo S 4K UHD Media Player

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