LATEST ADDITIONS

Another South by Southwest is in the books. My 21st out of a possible 23 festivals. Let me start with three acts that were among the most prominent participants there in terms of appearances. It seemed like every time I turned around—day, night, those sunny, warm Austin spring afternoons when the free drinks flow freely and the good times roll—there would be Raul Malo, the Heartless Bastards and/or M. Ward playing yet another gig.

Beginning with this issue, <I>Stereophile</I> readers will notice that more of the subjective equipment reviews are augmented with technical reports describing certain aspects of the component's measured performance. Although test data have lately been increasingly included in reviews, <I>Stereophile</I> has recently made a major commitment to providing readers with relevant measurements of products under review. We have just finished building an audio test laboratory featuring the Audio Precision System One, a sophisticated, computer-based audio test measurement system.

It’s rare that a live concert captures the mind-bending joy of mainstream post-War jazz. (Recitals of the bebop repertory tend toward the worshipfully literal, like museum pieces.) But just such a rare experience was had last night at Smalls, the convivial (and, yes, small) jazz club in the West Village, where pianist Ethan Iverson played standards with a trio that featured Albert “Tootie” Heath on drums.

It's really serious. I mean, in the beginning, you might give yourself a $25 spending limit, knowing very well that you'll find a little spot on the floor, alongside several others who'll be furiously rifling through the dollar bins. You'll almost certainly come away with a nice little stack of a dozen or so beautiful vinyl LPs. And that's all you'll need, really. That's all you'll need.

I’ve just glommed on to TV on the Radio, and let me tell all those who are as out-of-it as I am, when it comes to contemporary rock, the band is really very good. I first heard them play on Steven Colbert’s show, then bought their latest CD <I>Dear Science</I> (which the <I>Village Voice</I> and others touted as the best album of 2008), and I’ve listened to it since at least a dozen times. As I <A HREF=''http://blog.stereophile.com/fredkaplan/012208jazz/''>wrote</A&gt; a little over a year ago about Radiohead, after I first heard <I>In Rainbows</I>, it’s as harmonically and rhythmically sophisticated as just about any work of modern jazz—which is not to say that it’s <I>like</I> jazz but rather that, on any musical level, the purest jazz purist has no grounds for looking down on it.

Audiophile websites cover every niche of the hobby, and new ones are always fun to find. Are there any worthy audiophile links that <I>Stereophile</I> readers may not be aware of?