The absurdity of any culture is probably best seen from the outside, but by someone with first-hand experience inside of it. On paper, this puts Sebastian Murphy, tattoo artist by day and frontman of Swedish post-punk/dance-punk band Viagra Boys, in a perfect position to comment on the far-right’s increasing presence in America; born and raised in the US, Murphy knows America, but living in Sweden would give him a more distanced view. In execution, however, Viagra... Read More

The first time I ever saw a Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) symphony on my music stand, I was an 18-year-old student at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was the Symphony No. 1 in D Major (sometimes subtitled “Titan”) and I was tasked with playing the delicate low English horn notes in the opening measures. From that point on Gustav Mahler’s orchestral works would hold a special place in my musical growth, heralding the finale concerts of various... Read More

When Anthony Wilson is not on the road playing jazz guitar, he sometimes steps into a recording booth and exits Clark Kent-like as a sensitive ‘70s era singer/songwriter.For those more accustomed to Wilson backing Diana Krall or leading jazz ensembles on a series of Groove Note releases or providing orchestrations and/or playing on dozens of studio dates (for instance on Paul McCartney’s “Kisses on the Bottom”), his sumptuously packaged, sensitively drawn 2019 Songs... Read More

We now can add embedded videos to stories so here's the latest YouTube video unboxing the Rolling Stones 7" 1963-1966 45rpm singles and EP box set plus a closer look at the new U-Turn Orbit Theory turntable reviewed elsewhere on this site. Read More

The 4th generation Bugle MC Phono preamp from Hagerman Audio Labs eliminated DIP switches and moves gain and loading switches to the front panel. As the specs below indicate, the Bugle has plenty of gain for all but the very lowest MC cartridge. The previous iterations were encased in plastic. This new one is in an aluminum chassis, which probably makes for a better shielded enclosure. The price is a very reasonable $249.00Specifications40/52/58/64dB gain... Read More

Replaces "wall warts" with linear power supply that includes a large toroidal transformer. Blurb says: "A linear power supply consists of a massive toroidal transformer which disallows interference from the mains to negatively impact the performance of your audio gear. The built-in transformer has a much higher power reserve compared to the standard power adapter. It has very low output impedance and in combination with a large filtration capacity, it... Read More

Busy Pro-Ject just announced yet another new turntable. The $1,199 Debut PRO S features a new 10" "S" shaped arm that includes a CNC-machined nickel-plated bearing block, removable headshell and adjustable VTA/SRA and azimuth. Also included is a die-cut aluminum platter and aluminum sub-platter.Platter removed to show subplatterThe minimalist-looking turntable features built-in electronic speed control and 33 1/3/45 push of a button control as well as... Read More

Though it was shown at last Spring's Chicago AXPONA show and has been available overseas for awhile, Luxman America last month began distribution of its now PD-151 MKII turntable, which replaces the well-regarded 151A. The new model features a new, original LTA-309 tonearm featuring a knife-edge bearing originally developed by the classic Japanese brand SAEC. The new static-balanced arm features a machined aluminum arm base and VTA/SRA adjustability.The 3 speed... Read More

(This piece originally appeared in slightly different form in Issue 73, the September/October 1991 issue of The Absolute Sound. It has been edited and updated for Issue 5/6 of The Tracking Angle, Winter 1995/96.)Beginning with his eponymous 1970 debut, and continuing throughout 11 Warner Brothers solo albums, Ry Cooder has demonstrated that in addition to being an extraordinary folk/blues guitarist—particularly on bottleneck—and a serviceable though hardly... Read More

U-Turn’s most ambitious and sophisticated turntable yet offers an impressive package of performance-enhancing features starting with a new one piece molded tapered magnesium 220 millimeter effective length, gimbal-bearing tonearm fitted with a pre-installed and aligned nude elliptical stylus Ortofon 2M Blue MM cartridge. The Theory adds electronic speed control that at the turn of a knob lets you change from 33 1/3 to 45rpm . More important than the convenience of it,... Read More

The mystery of Bladee increases yet again. Never slowing down for anyone, the 28-year-old Swedish artist and Drain Gang leader returns with Spiderr, his second album this year after March’s Ecco2k collaboration, Crest. Bladee (Benjamin Reichwald) is this era’s most prolific and enigmatic cult icon, constantly evolving his aesthetic as legions of terminally online teenagers rush to copy his every move (and horrifically fail). Since his 2018 mixtape Icedancer, Bladee’s... Read More

This week, Temporal Drift announced the first official CD and vinyl reissues of Japanese psychedelic rock band Les Rallizes Dénudés' three-album discography. Originally released on limited edition CDs in 1991, this series marks the first official vinyl and digital releases of these seminal recordings.The three albums—’67-'69 Studio et Live, Mizutani / Les Rallizes Dénudés, and ’77 Live—capture the band from their formation to their artistic height, and were... Read More

Creed Taylor produced records are no doubt among your most treasured, whether on CTI, which he founded in 1967, or Verve or other labels in which he was involved. Taylor passed away Augusts 22nd, 2022 at age 93. The recently released documentary "Creed Taylor, The Music Came First" is now available as a free, high resolution stream on the Snapshots Music and Arts Foundation website. If you click on "Vimeo" from that site you can watch full screen... Read More

(Revised Sept 17, 2022)Yes, yes, I know what you’re thinking: “What’s this now, another audiophile reissue of Kind of fu*king Blue?!” But here’s the thing: not only is this new one—pressed by Acoustic Sounds at 45rpm across two slabs of 200-gram UHQR Clarity vinyl—the best of the bunch; there almost certainly won’t be a better one for the foreseeable future.Not much need be said at this point about the 1959 Miles Davis classic: the best-selling jazz album of all time;... Read More

Dear Tracking Angle reader: the site has been live for a few weeks now with both new and "vintage" content. We hope you are enjoying both. However, as we post more "vintage" content and new readers arrive, they have to "dig" to find the new content, so, I've decided to move all of the new content to the front of the line and push the old (but equally interesting and useful) content to the back. This is a onetime move but for now... Read More

The year was 1976, long before "hot stampers" were even a thing. John Lennon presided over a good old-fashioned record pressing shoot-out-- in federal court, no less. The pressings played in the Southern District of New York's federal courthouse had songs familiar to lovers of Lennon's ROCK 'N' ROLL album, his beautiful homage to early rock and roll, but the two albums' quality couldn't have been farther apart. The first... Read More