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Electropop Pioneer Boris Blank's Blank Canvas Page 2

Yello live at Kraftwerk Berlin, 2016. (Photo: Michael Wilfiling.)

Of Atmos and forensics
We finish our cappuccinos and climb into Blank's electric Volkswagen e-Up. About 10 years ago, he received it in lieu of cash for VW using his song "Electrified" in a commercial. We're headed for the town of Küsnacht, 15 minutes away. (It was once home to psychiatrist Carl Jung and soul belter Tina Turner, who died there about a year before I visited.) In a state-of-the-art sound studio next to Lake Zurich, Blank and studio owner Leo Gerteis are working on Dolby Atmos mixes of some older…

Capital Audiofest 2024, Rockville, Maryland

So there I was, in the parking lot of the Rockville Hilton, cigar smoke curling into the crisp autumn air, grilling Gary Gill about his brainchild, Capital Audio Fest (CAF). This East Coast audio extravaganza has grown into a monster, bursting at the seams of its Rockville venue.

“I’m up to around 125 rooms,” Gill explained, as Romeo y Julieta smoke rings circled into the autumn sunset. “I’m maxed out, totally maxed out. Our shipper, RG Logistics, has a ton more work than he did last year. I’m practically putting vendors into closets to fill the demand for space.”

To…

Fidelis Distribution Presents Pure Fidelity, Lab 12, and Argent Pur

Fidelis Distribution’s Walter Swanbon plays the long game. Like other legacy manufacturers—think Audio Note, Tannoy, Audio Research—Swanbon’s equipment offerings are classics: some in waiting, some long established as leaders.

One of those soon-to-be-classics is Pure Fidelity’s Harmony Turntable mated with a new Savant Tonearm ($13,995).

Swanbon brought another soon-to-be-classic brand, Lab 12, including the Lab 12 Melto 2 Tube Phono Preamplifier ($4600), Lab 12 DAC 1 non-oversampling DAC ($3300), Lab 12 Pre1 remote controlled Class A Tube Preamplifier…

Fern & Roby with Miyajima, ModWright, Black Cat Cable

Christopher Hildebrand, the man behind Fern & Roby, is a bit of a romantic. He's got that same sentimental streak I do, a deep appreciation for the simple things – music, books, and the love of family. It's no surprise, then, that he's poured his heart into his unique audio creations, honoring the memory of his grandmothers, Fern and Roby.

When I look at Hildebrand’s equipment—from his Montrose Heirloom Turntable with Schröder CB Ebony Tonearm ($16,500), Fern & Roby Amp No. 2 Integrated Amp ($6950/show special), driving Fern & Roby The Raven II loudspeakers (in Ash…

Fidelity Imports/The Listening Room

Compared to past years, Fidelity Imports and its stable of brands kept a lower profile at this year’s Capital Audiofest. It shared rooms with local dealer, The Listening Room (“Audio Systems of Distinction” since 1978), showing equipment I have become familiar with both from afar and up close, as in my recent review of the Michell TecnoDec at Analog Planet, and soon, the Union Research S6 integrated amplifier for Stereophile. It was alive and kicking in room 753, the two rooms manned by FE’s Erik Smith and The Listening Room’s Michael Hoatson.

In the Perlisten Room (750), The Listening…

Analog Corner #237: Ortofon MC A95 phono cartridge, Brinkmann Audio Spyder turntable and 12.1 tonearm

It's difficult to believe that more than five years have passed since Ortofon introduced its ground-breaking MC A90 moving-coil cartridge ($4200 when last available). The limited-edition MC A90, with its radically shaped body made of powdered stainless steel Selective Laser Melting (SLM), celebrated Ortofon's 90th year in business. The MC A95 ($6500), celebrating their 95th year, retains the A90's seductive shape, but the new body is built of powdered titanium, and thus is even more effectively self-damped (footnote 1).

At High End Mässan 2015, an audio show held in Stockholm in early…

Analog Corner #237: Ortofon MC A95 phono cartridge, Brinkmann Audio Spyder turntable and 12.1 tonearm Page 2

The Spyder's platter is driven by an outboard motor pod containing the Sinus—a new AC synchronous motor, designed and manufactured by Brinkmann, that replaces the Pabst motor used in the La Grange. The Sinus is based on the motor Brinkmann designed and manufactured for the direct-drive Bardo and Oasis. It's a four-phase design (4 × 90°) that produces 16 pulses per revolution, and has a 500gm body of nickel-plated steel that rotates to produce a flywheel effect. The motor drives the platter with an O-ring that rides in grooves machined into the platter's perimeter and the motor's pulley.

…

November 2024 Jazz Record Reviews

Giovanni Guidi: A New Day
Guidi, piano; three others
ECM 2808 (CD, available as LP). 2024. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Gérard de Haro, eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½

Twenty-five years ago, Giovanni Guidi was a child prodigy. Today he is the best jazz pianist under 40 in Italy. On A New Day, the latest addition to his work on the ECM label, he makes a move no one expected: He brings tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis into his world-class trio with bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer João Lobo.

On the one hand, it is not surprising that a leader would want to join…

November 2024 Rock/Pop Record Reviews

Will Kimbrough: For the Life of Me
Daphne Records (No catalog #) (auditioned on brown splatter LP). 2024. Kimbrough, prod., Bobby Hall, Walt Gilmer, exec. prods.; John McBride, eng.
Performance ***½
Sonics ***½

Will Kimbrough—former member of Will & the Bushmen and the Bis-Quits and a key sideman for Todd Snider, Kim Richey, and Rodney Crowell among others—is a hugely talented, ridiculously underrated songwriter—his songs have been recorded by Jimmy Buffet and Little Feat—and performer who splits the differences among modern-day troubadour, jangle-rock enthusiast, and…

November 2024 Classical Record Reviews

Bruckner: Symphony No.4 "Romantic"
Anima Eterna Brugge/Pablo Heras-Casado
Harmonia Mundi HMM902721 (CD). Evil Penguin (sic), prod.; Steven Maes, eng.
Performance ***½
Sonics ***

"Period" Bruckner? Really? In the '90s, the historical-practice movement's incursions into Romantics extended to Verdi's Requiem, so maybe Bruckner isn't so far-fetched. Neither does this depart much from a standard Romantic approach, although Pablo Heras-Casado, a "modern" conductor, eschews routine interpretive touches and underplays certain episodes in favor of the larger picture. In the first-…