LATEST ADDITIONS

I've long admired Vacuum Tube Logic's line of amplifiers and preamplifiers. Owners <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/153">Luke Manley</A> and his wife <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/607vtl">Bea Lam</A> routinely appear at the Consumer Electronics and Home Entertainment shows with luxurious, microprocessor-controlled tube gear, soothing new music, good-sounding rooms, and a friendly, unhurried manner. Their show setups are dialed in so well that I often find myself taking refuge there, sitting and listening for hours with other <I>Stereophile</I> writers.

Now that more and more music lovers are turning to the Internet to purchase CDs, DVDs, and downloadable files#151;see WP's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/062507itunes3/">story on iTunes</A> this week&mdash;Naxos isn't taking any chances. The world's largest classical music label, whose US branch, Naxos of America, also claims to be the #1 independent distributor of classical music in the US, has recently set up multiple websites to lure music lovers into the fold.

We received a e-mail recently from long-time reader Sharon Churchill, which linked to an <A HREF="http://www.newscientist.com/blog/invention/2007/06/sticky-sweet-spot.ht…; in the <I>New Scientist Invention</I> blog concerning a recent Sony patent application for a system that will automatically recalibrate its response to put the sweet spot where the listener is, wherever that might be.

The old saw about "the first album was their best" is often true, truer than most artists want to admit. And no where in music is that state more widespread than with singer/songwriters who only have a guitar, their voice and their material and no band to hide behind. Trying to hack out a career as a solo act is a bitch. Takes guts or overweening ego to get through it. Most soloists fall prey to the natural reaction which is to pour all their best ideas into the first project. That's cool until you're faced with coming up with a second and perhaps a third record. Yet sometimes the process can reverse itself, and after a fallow period a songwriter can recharge, again have something to say, and they come through with a late season masterpiece.

And Dramatic Chipmunk is the proof.

I was expecting to hear from so many more of you. But no matter: The band will grow in time.

Bagheera, ever the lady, looks askance at Huck's antics.