The press release poop: Los Angeles, CA (May 30, 2023)‒Jazz Dispensary is proud to announce the next harvest of its offerings from the acclaimed Top Shelf series, with a triple groove of reissues featuring Jack DeJohnette’s Sorcery, Idris Muhammad’s Black Rhythm Revolution!, and Leon Spencer’s Where I’m Coming From. These reissues mark the first wide vinyl release of all three albums in over 40 years. As with every title in the Top Shelf series, which reissues the... Read More

Massive new career retrospective on Athens, GA's college rock heroes from a former local scenester

Recently reissued for its 50th anniversary, Haruomi Hosono's 1973 solo debut Hosono House wasn’t the start of his career, but the first development towards forging his own path. It’s a short, comfortable-sounding record whose homely, domestic charm has proven its lasting appeal.

In 1970 Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman thought that the many wonderful, obscure singles by post-Beatles American rock bands should be preserved. He assigned staffer Lenny Kaye to assemble a lineup that was released in December 1972 as "Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968". It didn’t sell well enough to make the charts. In 1998 Rhino’s four-CD box set—compiled with Kaye’s input—got the attention it deserved and sold... Read More

Some important products are in this video shot Sunday, the show's final day. Especially interesting was the Supatrac arm made in Chelsea, London, England as well as the Takumi turntable, made in The Netherlands, though the name sounds Japanese. High End 2023 was a fantastic show in every way. Details upcoming in the final show post. When it was over and I'd returned to my hotel room to edit video, by around 8 PM I got really hungry but there were no... Read More

At audio shows, music can all too easily be reduced to just signal –  a tool by which to evaluate equipment, or the success or failure of a gear maker to get decent room sound. All the more reason to celebrate the people bringing great, eclectic and surprising music – and great sound. Jan Omdahl spoke to some music-loving audio mavericks at Munich’s High End.

Saturday was the first of two consumer days at High End Munich 2023 and the MOC was packed from 10:00 AM opening time until just about the 6 PM close. Among Saturday's highlights was a special demo of CH Precision's new P10 two chassis phono preamp—a step up from the already outstanding P1/X1 combo that's my solid state reference. A direct comparison made clear that the P10 is even better than the P1/X1, but of course there will be a full upcoming... Read More