Los Angeles, CA (June 23, 2026)—Craft Recordings and Bluesville Records are excited to announce the release of two peerless album reissues from a pair of blues heavyweights, Jimmy Reed and Skip James. A studio LP despite its name, the Jimmy Reed title is the first disc of his classic 1961 double album, Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall, which spawned the enduring hit song “Bright Lights Big City.” Devil Got My Woman is James’ 1968 swan song, released just a year before the... Read More

Even if you can't afford to spend $788,000 on a pair of loudspeakers, it will cost you nothing to go listen to them at the Audio Salon in Santa Monica, CA. and hang with some people who can. You'll also have the opportunity to meet CEO Daryl Wilson and talk to him about the design and why it costs what it does. You'll also have an opportunity to meet Peter McGrath, who in addition to being Wilson's "Brand Ambassador" and speaker set-up... Read More

LOS ANGELES – Joni Mitchell’s masterpiece Blue celebrates its 55-year anniversary today with new audiophile editions from Rhino High Fidelity on reel-to-reel and vinyl.(ed note: why the publicist or Rhino or both feel it necessary to highlight "surface noise" and "groove wear" in a press release announcing a vinyl and R2R release escapes me. Then why not mention the hassle of R2R threading, the expense and that it's a 3rd gen tape versus... Read More

LOS ANGELES – Curtis Mayfield’s Super Fly soundtrack pioneered socially aware soul in the early ’70s with its groundbreaking, orchestral-funk arrangements and unflinching lyrical commentary. Today, new audiophile editions are available from Rhino High Fidelity on reel-to-reel and vinyl.Super Fly (Rhino High Fidelity R2R) was duplicated in real time from a 1:1 copy of the original analog master tape. The result is a master-quality listening experience that captures... Read More

Los Angeles, CA – June 17, 2026 – Interscope-Capitol Records’ Definitive Sound Series (DSS) announces Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On as the next release in its acclaimed premium audiophile vinyl collection. Arriving July 17, the limited-edition AAA 180g high-definition vinyl One Step pressing is available for pre-order. "Mr. Gaye created music that was deeply personal, yet universally understood,” says The Estate of Marvin Gaye. “Let’s Get It On remains one of his... Read More

Los Angeles – June 18, 2026 – Though separated by nearly three decades and rooted in different musical traditions, The Band’s Music From Big Pinkand D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar share a common distinction: both debut albums fundamentally reshaped the course of American music. The latest additions to UMe’s Vinylphyle series exemplify its mission to present essential albums across genres with uncompromising sound quality and packaging.Available to order today exclusively via... Read More

No.4 will not be the final video from High End Vienna 2026. There's more to come. In this video you'll see the new compact Boulder 808 phono preamplifier, the new 12" The Wand tonearm, the Mavis phono preamp from Vietnam, and one from WestminsterLab making its European debut.Pear Audio's Odar turntable has a new configuration that puts the arm on an outboard platform, JMF will inboard transformers on its PH 7.2 phono preamp, Korf Audio introduced a... Read More

Wow. This is the 3rd 1/2 hour video from High End Vienna and there's so much more to be edited and posted. In this one you'll see the debut of a new $54K Constellation Performance phono pre, the new circa $7500 Wattson Madison phono pre available for MM, MC or DS Audio optical cartridges, the Thales Reference TT featuring a mechanical speed regulator, and Magnifier preamp/phono preamp, the new Dr. Feickert Virgo S and Virgo SE turntables, two new Dynavector... Read More

In these excellent Original Source remasterings on vinyl - courtesy of Emil Berliner Studios - two more titles from this landmark series arrive for a new generation maybe more receptive to their musical and sonic experimentation.

You can read Part 1 of this series here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here.

Of the 73 million people that watched The Fab Four move the needle on the Ed Sullivan show, young Joe McEwen was part of that tiny percentage of Americans that weren’t moved by what they’d seen.“It didn’t make any connection with me at all. But there was something nagging inside. To paraphrase Bob Dylan, something was happening here, but I didn’t know what the hell it was.”Clarity eventually came to him by way of a small transistor radio. As McEwen writes in the... Read More

Though Pro-Ject turntables are manufactured in the Czech Republic, Vienna is home to Pro-Ject's founder Heinz Lichtenegger, who pulled out all the stops to create a major impression at this first Vienna High End show. Covering everything new from Pro-Ject and Heinz's other acquisitions takes up a great deal of this video, but of course there's far more and it will require additional videos to cover all that's new in analog this year. There was even... Read More

Vienna High End 2026 was an incredible success. Record-setting consumer attendance and speaking of records and vinyl playback, so many new analog-related products debuted at the show it will take many videos to cover them all. This first video begins with a look at the new Audio-Technica AT-MCD1 cartridge featuring a one-piece diamond cantilever/Shibata stylus assembly. Unlike the previous AT MC2022, this new one will have unlimited production. Cost is steep—$11,000... Read More

Includes a review of the first of these finely executed Original Source Remasterings of DG Avant-garde titles on vinyl, comprising three albums in total from this landmark series of the 1960s and 70s - arriving for a new generation maybe more receptive to their musical and sonic experimentation.

You can read Part 1 of this series here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 5 here.

In the early days of LPs, it wasn’t easy to buy records of contemporary and avant-garde music.  But slowly the labels realized there was a market for this music, and the 1960s and 70s saw a proliferation of specialist labels and imprints that managed to cover a lot of this repertoire - even if it wasn’t always easy to track down these records in your local record emporium.  

The DG Avant-garde series, released between 1968 and 1971, represents perhaps the most dedicated commitment to new music from any major label - but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a ton of other interesting stuff coming out on other labels too.  And much of that continues to show up in the used record bins, often in excellent playing condition.

So we take a little trip down memory lane to explore how modernism and the avant-garde were represented on various record labels.

You can read Part 1 in this series of articles here, Part 2 here, Part 4 here and Part 5 here.

At High end Vienna, Ortofon, Audio-Technica and TechDAS introduced new products sure to be of great interest to all Tracking Angle readers, even if they are unaffordable. There are brand new "flagship" cartridges from A-T and Ortofon. At a well attended press conference Ortofon introduced the new Vertex MC cartridge featuring a diamond cantilever and a new diamond stylus that replaces the Replicant and is not bonded to the cantilever as in previous MCs.... Read More

June 1, 2026: Continuing the celebration of Oscar Peterson’s centennial, Mack Avenue Music Group and Two Lions Records have announced their most expansive collection of work from the renowned pianist titled World Tour, a limited edition, 6-LP 180-gram vinyl box set due out August 28. The collection celebrates the “Maharaja Of The Keyboard” with five never-before-heard live performances and a TV studio recording, spanning across nearly three decades, and is accompanied... Read More

How the classical Avant-Garde launched a stealth attack on the general listening public.

By the early 1970s, everyone had heard avant-garde music, often without knowing it.

I take a deep dive into some of the ways film, popular music, and even TV were taking us to the New Frontiers of the Avant-garde.

You can read Part 1 of this series here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, and Part 5 here.

The lies being told online about me, about Tom 'grover" Biery, about the new DSS version of Pet Sounds, about the "One Step" process etc. etc. are just getting to be TOO MUCH for me. So I've made this one take soliloquy in an attempt to set the record straight about Pet Sounds, about reissues, about "One Steps" about people with no resumes pretending to be authorities and a lot of others stuff. I'm fed up with all of the... Read More