And then there were … Liner Notes: Keith Jarrett’s Budapest Concert is ever so poignant given the latest news regarding his health, strokes, and his present/future as a performer. This concert album is from performances in 2018. Jhene Aiko’s Chilombo has me pleading guilty. This recent Deluxe expanded edition of her 3rd studio album did […]

My publisher, Constantine Soo, suggested I improve on my NAD PP-1 phono stage with a more updated unit. I have resisted the urge to make changes because, after years of experimenting with different components, I finally have my stereo system sounding the way I want. It is very natural and pleasing to me and this […]

And then there were … Liner Notes: Found me and/or the industry hitting a wall this past week. Can’t put my finger on it, but not just the quantity, but the quality wasn’t there in abundance. No matter though, as there were indeed some nuggets. Melody Gardot’s Sunset in The Blue, her 5th album, and […]

The setting This is my first review in quite a while. I took an extended break these last two years while orchestrating my transition out of the business I built over the last thirty years, but I never stopped checking out new components. I actually have extensive notes on over a dozen audio products. Unfortunately, […]

Author’s note: What follows is a series of interviews with the coordinators and industry participants who collaborated to make the event possible. Others, inside and outside of the industry, should take in the content, using the knowledge gained to consider running micro-shows of their own across the country and around the world.   The Now […]

And then there were … Liner Notes: Artemis’ eponymous ARTEMIS is the power debut album from some extraordinary women, whose individual respective musicality boggles the mind and taken as an ensemble, be prepared to have that mind of yours blown. Who comprises Artemis? We’re talking about a jazz supergroup featuring pianist and musical director Renee Rosnes, […]

Note: Two years ago, my fellow Dagogo staff member, Doug Schroeder, reviewed an earlier model of the BorderPatrol DAC, the SE, which, unlike the SE-i, did not make use of Jupiter Beeswax film and foil output capacitors. Doug did manage to ask Gary Dews of BorderPatrol several questions relating to the philosophy and design of […]

And then there were … Liner Notes: Penguin Café’s Handuls of Night (Explored). Simon Jeffe’s Penguin Café Orchestra’s albums changed my world. And now his son, Arthur, is not only playing his dad’s music as Penguin Café but also new compositions on this album commissioned by Greenpeace to herald the life and times of various […]

The Southern California city of Dana Point is a sleepy beach front community of villas, mansions and a beautiful harbor of luxury boats, sixty-four miles south of Los Angeles, right off I-5. Aaudio Imports, the venerable importer of Wilson Benesch speakers from the UK and Ypsilon electronics from Greece, among other notable brands, has moved […]

Wild and Woolly are the words to come to mind as I pen these liner notes: How can I say NO to the SHATNER? This album of his entitled The Blues will become a classic. If for nothing else, in 20 years, his version of Sunshine for Your Love will be covered by The Family […]

It was/is my intention with NARP to not only shine a light on new music, release and re-issues/re-masters (R, R & M), but to introduce a rather eclectic mix of music to members of the New Album Releases Project (NARP). Members have asked why I focus so much on re-issues/re-masters, and I’ve had to explain […]

“Vinyl is making a comeback.” I hear or read this statement all the time. When anyone says this to me, I always reply, “To me it never left.” I must have missed something because I have been playing records continuously since I was a teenager, especially for the past 20 years. I have been using […]

Refreshing to see so much new music out there. There was a lull over the summer but not now. I’m going to bullet point the MUST-LISTEN recordings of the New Releases: Matt Berry: Phantom Birds Mary Hopkin: Another Road Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets: Live At The Roundhouse The Dream Syndicate: The Universe Inside Diego […]

This morning I awoke at 3 am. I had just had a dream about an experience at my store from about 32 years ago when I compared a B&O turntable against an audiophile turntable system that cost over five times as much. I will describe that later. Then my mind drifted to cartridges I had […]

This week’s New Releases shines the spotlight brightly on Classical music, a bumper crop indeed. For those of you dis-inclined do take note of new albums by The Flaming Lips, The Pineapple Thief, Afel Boucom, Chick Corea and Terje Rypdal. And, in the Re-Issues, Re-Masters & Miscellany category:  Earth Wind and Fire, Marvin Gaye, Fleetwood […]

There are days when I need to refresh my listening habits and switch to the analog system headed by the Clearaudio Master Innovation turntable and the Top Wing Suzaku coreless cartridge, before playing music on the SACD player again, vice versa. Prior to receiving the Aurender, hard-disk and Tidal music listening meant connecting a USB […]

Casa Loma Orchestra set the highest standards for excellent musicianship, superb arranging, collective spirit, classy presentation, romanticism and hard-driving dance rhythms.  At the outset of the Swing Era, before 1936 and until the rise of Benny Goodman, Casa Loma was the premier popular orchestra playing hot jazz, sweet tunes, riff-based head arrangements and fully written […]

There ought to be a law against this much quality music being made available. The pandemic is damned, as so many artists are not using that as an excuse to hold back. Back to the front as it were, the Re-Issues, Re-Masters & Miscellany Re-Issues bats 1,000 this week. It has gone from strength to […]

Introduction Until twelve weeks ago, my reference cartridge for the last three years has been a Lyra Atlas SL with which I have been extremely happy. In fact, I could not have imagined replacing it with anything but another Lyra cartridge; however, fate intervened, perhaps to punish me for my hubris. My Atlas began to […]

‘Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a week could be’.  To say it represents and embarrassment of riches would be an understatement. I’m hard-pressed to single out one recording, the banger which stands out in a particular week, but I have to say that Gregory Porter’s latest on Blue Note: […]

The list is short this week but not for want of trying. Nothing struck a chord in the way of Re-Issues and Re-Masters so this week we shall only be having New Releases. Thank t.he heavens for Bebel Gilberto’s Agora. I have been a huge fan ever since her debut and her Tanto Tempo is […]

On more than a few occasions I have been asked to name my favorite actors and while my preference for certain thespians over others doesn’t manage to raise eyebrows, sparking discussion, my opinion surely does. I like the roles actors play to be memorable and for the actors themselves to be not so much. Case […]

This weekend has been somewhat of a blur. I took a mini-vacation at my sister’s home and went 72 hours without access to my music, systems, computers and most of all my sanity. It was a necessary break. A few online interactions in online music and audio forums had me thinking long and hard about […]

Vinyl is alive in 2020 and records have made a strong comeback over the last several years. Unlike CD, SACD, or computer audio, I have always felt that turntables require a certain level of mechanical quality to play them back properly.  While on audio forums I would often read that vinyl was better than digital […]

This quarantine has been difficult and although I do play records a lot during the day, I’ve needed some other things to do audio-wise. So, I have been changing things around in my stereo: swapping cartridges, rolling tubes, and even substituting different electronic components. In this article, I am writing about my experiences and the […]

Jumping right in, once more into the fray. Mulatu Astatke & Black Jesus Experience’s To Know Without Knowing is a bonafide banger. It has just about everything I could want an album. The music is challenging, and the integration/melding of styles and genres just blew me away. Recently I have been on a world music […]

In 1954, the Japanese audience in Nagoya, Japan attended the premiere of the original black-and-white movie Godzilla (Gojira) by director Ishiro Honda. Toho Studios produced and distributed the movie and is credited with the invention of the modern-day giant monster movie genre. Godzilla is a giant creature born from the radiation fallout of underwater hydrogen […]

  Real winners this week, I spent a lot of time listening and re-listening to recordings, so let’s dig in. Jennifer Pike’s Elgar and Vaughan Williams. I am such a fan of hers, having attended numerous performances in London and just got lost In the fluidity of the music and the intimacy of the recording. […]

I get several messages and missive folks with strongly worded suggestions and rants, so this week I open the mailbag and address some of them. I do not earn any money off of NARP. There are no affiliate links to Amazon or any other site unless I post a separate link in a separate post […]

When one has a phono stage as powerful and delicate as the Pass Laboratories Xs Phono, he/she is emboldened to expand his cartridge search criteria to include those with ridiculously miniscule outputs. One such example that I came across is the Top Wing Red Sparrow Suzaku at 0.2mV. Who is Top Wing? In 2015, three […]