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Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters Sings "Big Bill"
Muddy Waters, guitar, vocal; James Cotton, harmonica; Otis Spann, piano; Pat Hare, guitar; Andrew Stephenson, bass; Francis Clay, drums.
Chess Records LP 1442 (LP) 1960/Geffen (2015). Leonard Chess, prod.

The day after Election '24, John Atkinson asked for R2L4 picks. What music could possibly be powerful enough to deal with the comatose Blues I had fallen into? There was only one answer: Muddy Waters's first studio album for Chess Records, recorded in 1959, Muddy Waters Sings "Big Bill." The band was…

Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand
Domino Recording Co. DNO27CD (CD DNO27CD; Qobuz 16/44 file). 2004. Tore Johansson, prod.; Jens Lindgård, Stefan Kvarnström, eng.

I've struggled to describe this album's style to friends and have come up with something like "catchy, danceable post-punk art rock with modern glam rock flair." First, the angular guitar hooks, well, hooked me in. Next, the quiet lead-ins erupt in sudden, ecstatic, noisy bursts, rocking our world. Suggestions of after-hours dancing, darkness, and debauchery pop up amid minor-key tones and…

Grieg: Homeland: Piano Concerto In A Minor, Op.16
De Falla: Noches En Los Jardines De España
Judith Jáuregui (piano), Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Kaspar Zehnder (cond.).
Eudora Records EUD-SACD-2405 SACD (auditioned via a 5.0 channel, 24/192 download from NativeDSD). 2023. Martin Rust, artistic prod.; Gonzalo Noqué, eng., prod.; Tom Caulfield, DSD mastering.

It has been decades since the Grieg Piano Concerto was a concert staple, but Jáuregui and Zehnder give it new life. The opening Allegro is brilliant but not blatant, the…

PJ Harvey: Rid Of Me
Island Records ILPS 8002 (LP). 1993. Steve Albini, eng.

The late Steve Albini hated to be called a record producer, and when one of the literally thousands of bands he recorded insisted that he be credited, he preferred the term audio engineer. Albini's stripped-down recording style aimed to capture the true live sound of a band, with as little studio trickery as was possible. This approach, combined with PJ Harvey's raw, hard-hitting songs, results in an album of truly intense emotion and power. The sound is stunningly real, as…

While Kal and I sat chatting on his couch, he told me that reading obituaries was not only fascinating but had actually helped him find out what happened to a few people he had lost touch with. I told him I hadn't read Times obits in years but when I did, I did it to enjoy the quality of writing. We agreed that the Times's obituaries (as well as…

Holding that thought, I asked Kal to demonstrate his meticulously executed 5.3 channel system. Which he did by playing original five-channel orchestral recordings using JRiver's Media Center and Dirac Live.

What I noticed immediately as I stared at three (L/C/R) KEF Blade Two Metas backlit by a fierce October sun was a profound sense of refined spectral balance. No sounds seemed overemphasized or out of place. The image that floated in front of me was considerably taller and wider and deeper back and…

Talented turntable designer Allen Perkins, the brain behind Spiral Groove, Immedia's RPM turntables, and various SOTA models, is first and foremost a jazz drummer. Yours truly, after pounding soul-funk beats up and down the East Coast in a silk jumpsuit during the 1980s, played and studied jazz drums for years.

Allen, who are some of the greatest jazz drummers?

"Buddy Rich, because he showed all of us what exceptional technique looks like," Perkins responded, over email. "Joe Morello was exceptional like…

Acknowledging both the vinyl and, apparently, the shellac resurgence, the MasterDeck offers a multiplicity of speeds: 33 1/3, 45, and 78rpm. A discreet dial, stationed in the turntable's southwest corner, allows for speed selection. Adjacent to this dial, a trim dial enables fine-tuning for absolute accuracy of the platter's pacing. A four-digit digital readout provides granular control over speed adjustments.

Stationed in an isolated mount to quiet signal-muddying resonances, the MasterDeck's three-phase sinusoidal ("one with a smooth, repetitive oscillation"—Wikipedia)…

Description (turntable): Three-speed, belt-drive turntable with 10" hybrid unipivot/gimbal carbon-fiber tonearm. Constrained layer MDF core with aluminum top plate within a solid wood frame. Speeds: 33 1/3, 45, and 78rpm with speed adjustment and four-digit LED readout. Motor: three-phase brushless AC. Bearing: bronze sleeve, steel shaft with precision steel ball and Teflon thrust pad. Platter: 1.75" thick, 14.35lb aluminum platter with integrated Delrin surface, round belt formed from a proprietary material. Harmonic Resolution Systems (HRS) isolation feet.…

Analog sources: Thorens TD124 turntable with Korf TA-SF9R tonearm. Denon DL-103o, Hana Umami Blue, Luxman LMC-5, MoFi Electronics UltraGold MC phono cartridges.
Preamplifiers: Rogue Audio RP-7 (line); Tavish Audio Design Adagio, Manley Chinook (phono).
Integrated amplifier: Riviera Labs Levante.
Power amplifier: Rogue Audio Stereo 100.
Loudspeakers: Volti Audio Razz, Voxativ Ampeggio 2024.
Cables: Interconnects: Triode Wire Labs Spirit II, Argent Pur (all RCA). Speaker: Auditorium 23, Iconoclast. AC: AudioQuest NRG Z, Triode Wire Labs…