I think I was 18 or 19 years old the first time I heard Title Fight play. I remember standing in the hot summer Texas sun at the Mohawk on Red River street waiting for Converge to play, and all of a sudden this group of unassuming kids in loose-fit denim from Kingston, PA took the stage. They were followed quickly by a cohort of 20 or so teenagers that took over the crowd with the kind of energy that made damn sure everyone knew that we were watching the greatest punk... Read More

Ortofon's MC X line introduced at last Spring's High End Munich show is an all new moderately priced moving coil series that from bottom (X10) to top (X40 reviewed here) is a major mechanical and electrical upgrade from the older Quintet lineup introduced in 2017. Despite the all new design, and worldwide inflation between 2017 and now, Ortofon has kept prices relatively stable. The Quintet Black (and Quintet Black S that Malachi Lui reviewed on AP during... Read More

Tuesday, July, 22nd: Today, Secretly Distribution announces a worldwide distribution deal with Org Music, the Los Angeles-based independent record label that has established itself as a premier destination for both high-quality vinyl reissues and innovative new music. Furthering Org Music’s commitment to preserving essential recordings and championing forward-thinking artists, Secretly Distribution will now handle physical and digital music distribution, digital and... Read More

The introduction most often associated with producer—and champion of unfairly unheard music—Zev Feldman, compares him to an archaeologist: the “Indiana Jones of jazz,” as The New Yorker wrote in 2023. Fittingly, Feldman’s occasional SiriusXM radio show is cleverly titled Jazz Detective. In a reissue landscape often focused on bringing listeners albums they may already own in triplicate, Zev shines his producer’s flashlight into unexplored corners of the archive:... Read More

Compilations tend to carry a certain stigma: contractual obligations, a stopgap between releases, executed without consent, or labels ringing every last dollar from a catalog. Some are subject to scrutiny regarding imbalanced tracklists and why certain songs were included or excluded. Regardless of intent, it provides curious fans with an ‘all-in-one’ primer, or sways the diehards with a dull obligation because of one exclusive track. Beyond the generalized view where... Read More

The Late Show is dead. Long live The Late Show. Last week, CBS announced that its flagship late-night show — launched by David Letterman in 1993 after his departure from NBC’s Late Night, and hosted by Stephen Colbert since 2015 — will end by May of next year. Not just Colbert’s version, which was never quite my bag, but the whole damn thing. Officially, it’s a cost-cutting move, but plenty see political pressure behind it. For me, it’s mostly a marker of time.As a... Read More

Product lines are generally drawn straight. But not always. That is, as you move up from the least expensive to the most expensive, quality usually improves—in terms of materials, construction consistency and performance, whether you're talking about cars, cameras or high performance audio. Phono cartridge lines are sometimes crookedly drawn. Spending more money on one doesn't guarantee that in the critical cantilever/stylus interface you'll be getting... Read More

The Chadster introduces the final 10 Atlantic 75th Anniversary reissues in the video below and you can read them in the image above. A quartet of Arethas covering the full span of her Atlantic days, a Ray, an Otis, a Billy Cobham solo fusion debut and two Boomer classics: one from Graham Nash and the other Stephen Stills' somewhat overlooked but notable solo debut album previously reissued by Classic Records decades ago. The big surprise, Death Cab For... Read More

12-CD, DIGITAL AND AUDIOPHILE 18-PIECE VINYL BOX SETS INCLUDING: 

HEATHEN, REALITY, A REALITY TOUR, THE NEXT DAY, THE NEXT DAY EXTRA, ★ (BLACKSTAR), PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED 31-TRACK LIVE SET FROM THE MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL AND RE:CALL 6 FEATURING 41 RARE NON-ALBUM TRACKS NEW KILLER STAR (SESSIONS @ AOL LIVER VERSION, 23/09/03) AVAILABLE NOW AS A DIGITAL SINGLE

LISTEN HERE

PRE-ORDER DAVID BOWIE 6. I CAN’T GIVE EVERYTHING AWAY (2002 – 2016) PRE-ORDER HERE

CHINO, CA – July 10, 2025 — Manley Laboratories Inc., the California-based manufacturer of world-renowned analog tube audio gear, is proud to announce its acquisition by audio entrepreneur and industry veteran Dirk Ulrich. The all-cash transaction includes all operating assets of the company. Co-founder and longtime president EveAnna Manley is stepping aside from her active duties effective immediately, but will support a smooth transition for customers, employees and... Read More

Readers of this website might look to me as an authority on classical recordings, but one thing that continuously humbles me is just how vast and rich the history of this field is. This is especially true for the middle of the 20th century, where there are untold riches of performance and sound. By now, hopefully readers here are familiar with names like Kenneth Wilkinson, Lewis Layton and Robert Fine, but learning the history of recorded classical music is to... Read More

11 July 2025, Cambridgeshire, UK: AVID, the British founder-owned-and-run analogue hi-fi manufacturer, announces the launch of Relveo, its first all-new turntable in 12 years (£6,900). The new ground-up-design Relveo is the brainchild of AVID’s founder/owner Conrad Mas. Designed, engineered and handmade in England, the new Relveo marks a significant evolution for the company, blending AVID’s acclaimed engineering pedigree with a new suspension system, reimagined... Read More

The Surrounding Green is Fred Hersch’s first piano-trio album in seven years—a fact that surprised me when I looked it up, since, in Hersch’s 40-year recording career, nearly half of his albums up until then were trio dates, befitting of his classic-jazz style and repertoire. The six albums between 2017’s Live in Europe (with bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson) and his latest (with Drew Gress and Joey Baron) have been an eclectic bunch—solos, duets, a... Read More

RCA RECORDS & LEGACY RECORDINGS ANNOUNCE ‘SUNSET BOULEVARD’ — AN UNPRECEDENTED LOOK INTO ELVIS PRESLEY’S LOS ANGELES STUDIO SESSIONS (1970–1975), OUT AUGUST 1: 89 TRACKS OF RARITIES + NEW AND NEVER-HEARD MIXES TO BE RELEASED IN 5-CD AND DIGITAL FORMATS, ALONGSIDE A 2-LP ‘HIGHLIGHTS’ EDITIONLISTEN TO “BURNING LOVE – TAKE 2” — A RARE GLIMPSE INTO ELVIS’ FINAL TOP TEN HIT: SPECIAL ‘SUNSET BOULEVARD’ LISTENING EVENT SET FOR AUGUST 13 AT GRACELAND, AS PART OF ELVIS... Read More

Of all the groups from the Detroit music scene in the early 2000s, The White Stripes were a group shrouded in enigma. Jack and Meg White played into their mythology, portraying themselves as siblings to distance their reality as ex-spouses in a child-like uniform of red, white, and black regalia. Working within strict limitations couldn’t contain the duo’s explosive sound, which embodied the brash garage rock influence from the Motor City, yet was soaked in bluesy... Read More

(July 11, 2025 - Los Angeles, CA) On the 50th anniversary of its original release, the self-titled album has been certified 9x platinum by the RIAA. In celebration, Rhino announces two new premium audio editions of Fleetwood Mac, the 1975 album that ushered in a new era for the band. On August 8, the album will debut in Dolby Atmos and arrive on vinyl as part of the Rhino High Fidelity series of high-end reissues. The Blu-ray Audio edition features a new Dolby ATMOS... Read More

Analogue Productions and Acoustic Sounds founder Chad Kassem was recently interviewed by Marc Maron for his WTF podcast. This was a particularly good Kassem appearance because Maron is a serious record collector/audiophile enthusiast.In case you missed the news, you can listen to Marc and Chad chat here. Read More

Erhard Audio located in beautiful Ennis, Montana is the exclusive American Lundahl transformer distributor—(along with offering a variety of custom built, limited supply tube-based electronics) . It's basically a one couple operation with Holger doing the designing and building of a wide range of products and his wife Kelly doing the books—at least that's what I gleaned from the website. This review is way late and to the couple I apologize. Erhard supplied... Read More