Kathryn Dawn Lang was country ... until she wasn't. A native of the Canadian province of Alberta, lang (who prefers her name lowercase) grew obsessed with Patsy Cline and country music in general before she was out of college. She joined the Patsy-focused country act The Reclines in 1983 in Edmonton. They released their first album, A Truly Western Experience, in 1984.

Styled as "cowpunk" by many, the album caught the ear of pub-rocker Dave Edmunds, who produced the band's next, rockier album, Angel with a Lariat. That album, in turn, found its way to Patsy Cline's one-time producer Owen Bradley, who in 1988 produced lang's solo debut, Shadowland, on Sire Records. Shadowland and the Reclines' final album, 1989's Absolute Torch and Twang, convinced lang that she was too adventurous—not to mention too gay and Canadian—for the 1980s country music establishment.

This show report covers over two dozen exhibit rooms from the 2025 Montreal Audiofest. Inside, you’ll find systems that impressed with powerful bass, nuanced detail, expansive soundstages, and a few surprises that left lasting impressions.

At an early-morning breakfast, Michael Børresen, co-founder and chief designer of Audio Group Denmark, unveiled the Børresen M2 loudspeakers ($190,000/pair) and their companion Bass Modules (price to be announced). Also shown for the first time in North America was the Aavik R-880 phono preamplifier ($70,000), designed to work with DS Audio optical cartridges. The R-880 enables users to adjust high cut, low cut, and absolute phase on the fly.

Arturo Manzano, long a fan of Koetsu phono cartridges, has reassembled Koetsu’s original team of artisans to return the legendary brand to the international market.

The PS Audio room on the ground floor drew a full house for Paul McGowan’s much-publicized “The Great Reveal.” No music was played during the 20-minute presentation, but McGowan, PS Audio’s founder and resident raconteur, easily kept the crowd engaged.

The largest and most important audio show in the United States, AXPONA, is poised to open in the greater Chicago area’s sprawling Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center. Well before the three-day show opens on Friday, April 11 at 10am, you can expect scores of eager attendees lining up at the long registration desk in the Convention Center lobby.

Larry Goldings: I Will; The Fury: Live in Brooklyn; Joachim Kühn: Échappée.

John Zorn: The Complete String Quartets, JACK Quartet; Lassus: Penitential Psalms, Cappella Amsterdam/Daniel Reuss; Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, London Symphony Orchestra, Tenebrae/Sir Antonio Pappano.

The Saints: (I'm) Stranded; Lambrini Girls: Who Let the Dogs Out; Franz Ferdinand: The Human Fear; Being Dead: Eels.