Jeff Gauthier's Goatette (wha'?!)

Jeff Gauthier's Goatette (wha'?!)

May 26, 2008

The Jeff Gauthier Goatette’s <I>House of Return</I>, on the L.A.-based <A HREF= "http://cryptogramophone.com/"&gt; Cryptogramophone</A> label, is one of the most sinuously pleasing albums I’ve heard in a while. I confess that I haven’t followed this quirky label or its roster of musicians as closely as I should have, but I intend to make up for lost time. The Goatette (don’t ask me why it’s called that—there are five musicians, so it’s not even a Dada play on “quartet”) consists of Gauthier, violin; Nels Cline, guitar; David Witham, piano; Joel Hamilton, bass; and Alex Cline, drums. The way each of them weaves in and out of different tempos, rhythms, and chart-parts (shifting effortlessly from melody-line to chords to between-bar filigree to sonorous atmospherics) is astonishing. The songs range from mysterious ballads to electric rock, with much in between, sometimes within the same song. There’s wit in the compositions and breeziness in the ensemble work, but there’s no fooling around; the air is loose, but the motion is surefooted and the hand-offs are tight, like a Mondrian painting but with more indigo color. Nels Cline is the player I’m most familiar with; he may be second to Marc Ribot as the most versatile jazz guitarist on the block, and it’s due mainly to him that, when the band rocks, it really does rock; it doesn’t sound like some tame fusion-y rock. But the softer tunes have a rich melancholy, an off-centered swing, and a hazy core of blues. The engineering is very good, capturing the tones and overtones of all the instruments and the bloom of the mix.

My first system, need your inputs

Forums
The Entry Level
Submitted by vibez on

Okay everyone. Being a newbie I have now collected (with a lot of pain and cursing) a little money for my starter system. I have about $2300 which I can stretch to about $3000 if the upgrades are worth the money. However, since I am totally new, I do not know where to begin. I am okay with buying used gear, but here in Pakistan where I live there are no shops with used hi-fi gear, and very few with new entry level gear which is way overpriced compared to US or UK costs.

Day at DUP's - Checking out the Legacy speakers at the dealer

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General Rants 'n' Raves
Submitted by bifcake on

My friend Stew and I visited DUP a few weeks ago and we were very impressed with the sound of his system. However, DUP did everything wrong: he fed one preamp into another, used cheap cables, employed all kinds of crazy equipment, so we decided to check out the Legacy Whispers at a dealer using good equipment and better controlling the listening environment.

Death of the CDP: Suicide?

Forums
General Rants 'n' Raves
Submitted by ChiDave1 on

Why do so few CDP's have digital inputs? Are they expected to change this in light of more servers needing a DAC?
I know there must be many others in the situation I find myself in now. I want to upgrade my CDP in the next year, and have also set up my PC as a server recently. The server is just using an M-audio PCI card since I viewed it as proof-of-concept before spending real money.

OPPO DSD to Onkyo

Forums
Digital Sources
Submitted by Welshsox on

Hi

In my TV setup ive just upgraded to a Onkyo 875 receiever and playstation for Blu Ray. Has anyone got any direct exeprience of using the Oppo for Multichannel HDMI playback from SACD & DVD-A.

Im trying to decide if its worth buying an Oppo or just stick with my older multiformat player as a PCM input into my Quad CDP 2 in my two channel system.

Thanks

Alan

Can you hear a faint "background" ringing or hissing in your ears when it is dead quiet?

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Vote
BeeJay DeeJay

Reader BeeJay DeeJay would like to know if readers can hear a faint "background" ringing or hissing in their ears when it is dead quiet? If so, what is the extent of that hiss or noise, and is it bothersome when listening?

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