LATEST ADDITIONS

The November 2009 issue of <i>Stereophile</i> is now on newsstands. On the cover, you’ll see a close-up of the Aerial Acoustics Model 20T V2 loudspeaker, which John Atkinson praised for its silky treble and weighty, well-defined bass. An interview with Aerial’s designer, Michael Kelly, appears <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/467/index.html">here</a&gt;, while Michael Fremer’s review of the original 20T can be found <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/404aerial/index.html">here…;.

For 15 years, lovers of low-power amplifiers have clamored for more and better high-efficiency loudspeakers (footnote 1). For 15 years, their choices have remained limited to products with varying combinations of colored sound, poor spatial performance, basslessness, high cost, and cosmetics that range from the weak to the repulsive.

It’s that kind of place. Despite it’s economic distress, the empty streets, the half&#150;assed Bourbon Street mess that Beale Street has become (goddamned is it bad!), and what seems to be a full on crime wave in certain parts of town, in Memphis you cannot keep the music out of your head. It may be the wash over that comes from being so close to the Delta, but I couldn’t keep, “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohen or the words to one of John Hiatt’s greatest songs, (and that my friends is truly saying something because John Hiatt has written a shitload, okay, like 25 genuinely great songs) “Memphis in the Meantime” out of my head.

<I>“If we could just get off a that beat little girl
Maybe we could find the groove
At least we can get a decent meal
Down at the rendez&#150;vous”</I>

Needless to say, I wasn’t in town half an hour and I was at the Rendezvous (www.hogsfly.com), down in the basement as it were, wolfing down chopped chicken, pickles, big hunks of cheddar cheese, cole slaw with vinegar and cumin, sweet tea, fries, red beans and rice (laced with sliced mushrooms?) and the best ribs I have ever tasted. The best. All covered in that secret shake mixture of spices that makes this place world famous. My God it was good. It’s so damned nice to find a “legendary” restaurant that actually lives up, or in this case exceeds its billing.

Espers (from left): Meg Baird, Helena Espvall, Greg Weeks, Brooke Sietinsons. Photo: Daniel Coston.

These days, it seems you can't shake a stick without hitting a USB DAC, but Ayre's QB-9 ($2500) is something a little different. Ayre's marketing manager, Steve Silberman, was adamant: "The QB-9 isn't a computer peripheral. It makes computers real high-end music sources."

Keith Jarrett’s <I>Paris/London: Testament</I> (on the ECM label), a three-CD set consisting of two live solo concerts, is a stunning album, a career peak.

I had been curious about the gorgeous releases from UK indie label, <a href="http://typerecords.com/">Type Recordings</a>, but because I knew none of the artists, I held back. Invariably, however, I would be drawn to their albums, simply taken by the quiet, thoughtful cover art and album titles like <i>I Could Not Love You More</i> and <i>Your Eyes The Stars and Your Hands The Sea</i>. How could I not be attracted to this?