Sweet, sweeping strings, fluttering flutes, melancholic trombone, soft bass line and an insistent bossa nova beat tapped out on a snare rim, back the then little known performer but well known composer Antonio Carlos Jobim on his first studio album (though his songs had previously appeared on a 1958 João Gilberto album and of course of Stan Getz's Jazz Samba). Jobim plays rhythm acoustic guitar and taps out on one finger piano the melodies to a dozen of his most... Read More

I just got a report from show organizer Adam Mokrzycki about last week's record breaking show. According to Adam, the show attracted 14,881 unique visitors. Counted as they are at the Munich and AXPONA shows that would be around 19,000 attendees as those shows count a single visitor going all 3 or 4 days as 3 or 4 visitors. In addition, the Warsaw show had 230 exhibitors--an all time high, exhibiting in 188 rooms another all time high. 71 members of the... Read More

(Press release): Newark, N.J. (October 24, 2025) – Today, renowned hi-fi brand, Technics, debuts the ultimate version of the SL-1200/1210G model. This sets a historical and quality milestone for the globally acclaimed series of turntables. “First introduced in 1972, the SL-1200 turntable series is widely regarded as one of the most iconic in the world,” said Bill Voss, Business Development Manager at Technics U.S. “Over the decades, it has continuously evolved,... Read More

Yesterday, October 29th, Acoustic Sounds announced pre-orders for a new selection of reissue titles from the RCA Living Stereo catalog scheduled to ship in early 2026. This marks the first new releases in this series of reissues from Analogue Productions since 2018. These 25 titles will be released as double 45rpm pressings housed in gatefold jackets.The majority of these titles will be pressed from metal parts owned by Acoustic Sounds from its buyout of the Classic... Read More

A new Technics turntable—the SL-1200GME, a new Aspire from Polish turntable manufacturer J.Sikora, and a new Doshi Audio designed J. Sikora Reference phono preamp are this video's highlights—as far as new audio gear is concerned. There was also a graphic exhibit from Zbigniew M. Bielak, the artist responsible for all of the fantasmagoric album covers for the Swedish metal group Ghost. Mr. Bielak was there and I interviewed him as he walks us through the exhibit.... Read More

DALI’s Kupid is a small, relatively affordable ($750/pair) two-way passive loudspeaker, with a 4.5-inch paper-and-wood-fiber woofer and a one-inch soft-dome tweeter, in a cabinet measuring 9.3” H x 5.5” W x 7.7” D. Each loudspeaker weighs 12.8 pounds. The Kupid is ported at the rear. The crossover frequency is stated as 2,100Hz.

This year's just ended Warsaw Audio Video show was by far the best yet—at least among the dozen or so I've attended. The crowds at all 3 venues were large, enthusiastic and skewed young to middle-aged, with many girls and women attending—and not necessarily stringing along with their husbands. When I did spot couples, they were sitting together, listening and commenting to one another. This was refreshing!This year at the sports stadium, show organizers... Read More

Ghost is the ultimate entity for admirers of heavy metal and theatre. The group, satirizing the Catholic Church by praising the Devil instead of God, is fronted by Tobias Forge, who dons a prosthetic mask and devilish papal regalia under the pseudonym Papa Emeritus. In the eyes of devout liturgics, Ghost’s schtick is blasphemous and has become the root of some minor controversies over the years. Their live show is still a spectacle to witness, borrowing elements from... Read More

Every album by tenor saxophonist Charles Lloyd these past few years is a voyage of sorts, his latest, Figure in Blue, more than most, and not just because he turned 87 while recording it this past March, though every birthday at that point is a milestone, and every creative endeavor is both a reminiscence and an ambitious plunge into the now. This double-LP—98 minutes of starkly revealing music, Lloyd blowing front and center, backed only by Jason Moran on piano and... Read More

On Thursday November 6th at Innovative Audio in NYC Chad Kassem will make a few very special announcements about upcoming events and a few to other things that cannot be revealed before that evening. Sorry to be secretive.I'll be there too, to play records and lacquers and tell stories related to these "other things". As the image suggests, there will be 5 hour long sessions in all during which these "special things" will be revealed. So if... Read More

Fifty years after Neil Young recorded Tonight’s The Night, to mark the half-century milestone, Young has announced a limited deluxe 50th Anniversary edition of the 1975 LP, complete with six bonus tracks drawn from the original 1973 recording sessions.Released in June 1975, Tonight’s The Night was recorded on analog tape during August-September of 1973 at Studio Instrumental Rentals (S.I.R.) on Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.Musicians: Neil Young – piano, vocal; Nils... Read More

Back in the mid '60s, the popularity of The Monkees mystified many a maturing adolescent craving authenticity not just in music but in everything. According to a Wikipedia post then aspiring filmmaker Bob Rafelson developed "the initial idea" for The Monkees in 1962, well before Beatlemania arrived in America, and for that matter in the U.K. as well. The Wiki story doesn't make clear precisely what was "the initial idea", but whatever it... Read More

To a certain hopelessly romantic, jazz loving, vintage gear lusting, analog audiophile demographic, the jazz kissa has gravitational pull like a black hole. The traditional Japanese jazz listening café is, more often than not, a dark, comforting and sometimes quite messy space, stacked to the rafters with beautiful vintage American audio gear, vinyl records, well-worn wooden furniture, photos and posters, assortments of trinkets and memorabilia, and an offering of coffee, whisky, or whatever the jazz kissa master chooses to serve. A sanctuary for deep listening, the jazz kissa proudly and anachronistically stands as antithesis to disjointed modern music consumption, and to some aspects of the typical audiophile experience, like the sterile, brightly lit and decidedly non-cool vibe endured at most audio shows in hotels and convention centres.

(Press Release): New York, NY — October 2025 — To celebrate its tenth anniversary, Newvelle Records proudly presents the Newvelle Ten Collection, a curated series of five extraordinary vinyl releases from some of the most exciting voices in contemporary jazz. Each album in the collection pairs meticulous recording and production with striking original artwork by internationally acclaimed visual artist Ragnar Kjartansson, creating a unified experience of sound and... Read More

If you've ever longed for a "tube-like" sounding solid state phono stage in an ultra compact enclosure that could accommodate 2 arm/cartridges (one dedicated MM, 1 dedicated MM via single-ended RCA connections) with both RCA and balanced outputs, a full compliment of loading options and capable of accommodation an MC cartridge with as low as 0.04mV output (Audio Note owners rejoice!), priced at under $6,000 (as of last tariff review) then your and my... Read More

When you pick apart the College Rock era, it’s probably fair to say that it dawns in a feisty little college town 70 miles north of the capitol dome in Atlanta. For all that’s been written about the New Wave to Indie Rock handoff, the fertile scene in Athens, Georgia was one of the principal arteries feeding the transition in the U.S. Fellow scenesters Pylon got there first with their "Cool / Dub" 7" released in April 1980, but the thousand copies of... Read More

Intervention Records just announced a test pressing giveaway for its upcoming "Dance Album of Carl Perkins" release coming this December. Pre-order and you're automatically entered in the drawing for the TP, which is the very first one off the press!

Continuing this video series produced by Emil Berliner Studios that takes you behind-the-scenes of the Original Source Series. It's been just over two years since Deutsche Grammophon launched its series of AAA vinyl reissues mastered directly from the original 4 and 8-track master tapes of treasured recordings from its 1970s catalogue. In response to collectors' numerous questions concerning every aspect of this important audiophile reissue series, Rainer... Read More