Somesh Mathur's Time Stood Still Now Live at Positive Feedback

My review of Somesh Mathur's amazing Time Stood Still is now live at Positive Feedback. You can read it here!

ORG Music Reissue of Shirley Horn's Softly at Positive Feedback

My latest review for Positive Feedback, the ORG reissue of the 1988 Shirley Horn album Softly, is now live. You can read it here.

The ORG Reissue of Dave Brubeck's Time In Now Live at Positive Feedback

My latest music review for Positive Feedback, the ORG Music reissue of Dave Brubeck's 1966 classic Time In, is now live. You can read it here.

Sunny War's With the Sun Now Live at Positive Feedback

My review of Sunny War's extraordinary new LP on ORG, With the Sun, is now live at Positive Feedback. You can read it here. Enjoy!

Got a New Job!

I'm honored to join the Part-Time Audiophile team on a regular basis as Managing Editor of The Occasional, their lifestyle publication. You can read the press release here for more details. We'll be attempting something unique with The Occasional--instead of being yet another high-end audio website, we'll be focused on things audiophiles also enjoy. We're painting on a much bigger canvas here--fine wine, fashion, cigars, watches, automobiles and, hopefully, a lot more about the music.

I'll be returning to the equipment reviewing game as well, something that I've missed greatly during the last seven years. I'll be covering high-end audio shows as well, starting with the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest which is right around the corner, October 3-5.

As for this blog, I'll continue posting as time permits. I will also continue posting music reviews for Positive Feedback, since they partner with Part-Time Audiophile in posting content. I receive so much music from artists, record labels and publicists that I'm not sure how to cover it in a quarterly publication. So we'll let everything evolve naturally.

Suffice it to say that I'm extremely happy with this sudden and unexpected turn of events--I've always thought of myself as a writer more than anything else, and now I get to live that dream! Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me over the last few years...I appreciate it.

Sarah Reich's New Change Now Live at Positive Feedback

My latest music review for Positive Feedback, Sarah Reich's New Change, in now live. This is an exciting and innovative release since Reich is a tap dancer, and is employing her talented feet as a lead instrument! You can read it here. Enjoy!

My Thoughts on the Furutech NCF Boosters at Positive Feedback

Positive Feedback Online has just published my first equipment review in quite a while--the Furutech NCF Boosters. I've been using these in my system for the last few months, and felt I needed to get the word out on these very interesting audio devices. You can read the article here.

Lee Hazlewood's Woodchucks--Cruisin' for Surf Bunnies Now Live at Positive Feedback

My latest review for Positive Feedback Online is now live! This one is about Lee Hazlewood's lost surf rock recordings from 1964, now lovingly restored from the original master tapes by Light in the Attic Records. You can read it here.

Tom Hook's 62 Now Live at Positive Feedback

My review of Tom Hook's 62, an exceptionally fun and lively jazz revue, is now live at Positive Feedback. You can read it here.

David Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7's The Giver Now Live at Positive Feedback

My review of David Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7's The Giver, which is so far my favorite record release of the year, is now live at Positive Feedback. You can read it here.

The Difference Between Talking About Music and Reviewing Music

I just received a comment from a reader in regards to one of my recent reviews. It's been quite a while since I've fielded this specific complaint, but there was a time, more or less when I started this blog more than eight years ago, where I received some criticism about the way I review music and audio. Evidently I talk a lot about myself when doing reviews, and my critics feel that this is unprofessional. Reviews are supposed to be straightforward. Is it good? Is it bad? How does it compare to the artist's prior work? What artists should I already like if I'm going to like this one? There is a specific reason to read a music review, and that's to know whether or not an album or an artist is worth your time and money. Right?

I've always had a set of ready answers for these critiques of my reviews, but I don't always get to reply in public. One of my most vocal critics is a very well-known writer and reviewer in the world of high-end audio, and I've heard him complain in print about this lousy new wave of "internet" writers who spend more time talking about themselves than the object they're reviewing. (I've mentioned this story before--I quickly read his latest magazine column and discovered he had used me, myself or I several times in the first few sentences. He also told a story in the same column about how someone had recognized him at a recent rock concert. Wow, how exciting for you!)

Anyway, I don't want to get all grumpy about this. I did write about this once before in the original Vinyl Anachronist column in Perfect Sound Forever almost seven years. If you get me going, I'll wind up repeating everything I said back then. But you can read that column by clicking here.

Let me just give you a few quick reasons why my reviews read the way they do:

1. Music reviews are subjective. A product review can contain many facts and specific points. But when you review music, it touches something intangible deep within you, and that touch is going to feel different to every single person on the planet. I've seen reviews where the writer merely says whether the release is "good" or "bad" or if they "liked it" or "didn't Like it." (My favorite crappy review was from a former colleague who told everyone to play hooky from work the next day to wait in line for the new album from one of his favorite bands. That was the nadir of music criticism in the modern world, in my opinion.)

In other words, I doesn't matter if I like it or I don't like it, because you just might. I happen to think Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend" is the worst song ever, mostly because of the incredibly inane lyrics. It might be your favorite song ever, however, because that song was playing on the radio the first time you met the love of your life. What I try to do is give you a little more detail and context about why I felt this music was good or bad based upon my own life experiences. If you can relate to why I liked something, you might have a better idea of why you might like it, too.

2. It's a blog, FFS. I'm not pretending that this is the leading resource for well-written music reviews on the internet. This is my blog, and blogs are the place where you share your feelings and your hopes and your dreams and whatever the else you want to talk about, including yourself. I do not get paid to write this blog--Google unplugged the money-making machine from this site once it got too popular. I could start a website and put ads on it, which to tell you the truth isn't a bad idea. But I don't make any money from this blog. I do it because I love to write, and writing every day is what keeps me sane.

If someone wanted to hire me to write music reviews and they told me I had to stop talking about myself so much, of course I'd do it. I've written for many magazines and websites and I've worked with many editors and I've also been an editor. I know how this stuff works. In fact, I do get paid to write music reviews for other publications such as Perfect Sound Forever, Part-Time Audiophile and Positive Feedback. And so far, everyone's cool with the way I write. I think it's because they consider my articles to be features or editorials and not so much reviews. I'm cool with that.

3. People like me! They really, really like me! Eh, this is hard for me to say because in my everyday life I'm quiet and introverted and full of self-doubt. But for every person who complains about my writing, there are many, many people who seem to really enjoy it. Remember when I said that writing keeps me sane? People saying they really enjoy my writing makes me something better than sane--it makes me happy. So to the person above who told me I needed an editor to cut out all references to myself, I say to you...

...well, actually I'd love an editor. I'm always going back into this blog and fixing typos and removing commas.

It sounds like my feelings were hurt by this complaint, and maybe they were...just a little bit. But my reason for droning on and on about this is a little more complex. Reviews, quite frankly, are a dime a dozen. I rarely read them anymore, because my tastes have become so specialized that no one else's opinion matters to me anymore.

Oh, but to talk about music! To share really cool music with others! To remember music from the past, and talk about how some new band reminds you of one of your favorite old bands! To tell a funny story from your past that is somehow connected to music!

That's the stuff I want to read about. How about you?

Andy Zimmerman's Half Light Now Live at Positive Feedback

My review of Andy Zimmerman's incredible new LP, Half Light, is now live at Positive Feedback Online. You can read it here. Enjoy!

The Fred Hersch Trio's Live in Europe at Positive Feedback Online

My review of the Fred Hersch Trio's Live in Europe is now available at Positive Feedback Online. You can read it here. Enjoy!

The B3B4 Organ Jazz Quartet

My latest review for Positive Feedback Online is now live. This one is on the B3B4 Organ Jazz Quartet, a great new release featuring one of my favorite instruments, the Hammond B-3!

You can enjoy it here.

Gabriel Mervine's People, Places and Things Now Live at Positive Feedback

My review of jazz horn player and composer Gabriel Mervine's ambitious trilogy, People, Places and Things, is now live at Positive Feedback. You can read it here. Enjoy!

Diving Into RTR with Lyn Stanley Now Live at Positive Feedback

My latest article for Positive Feedback is now online. I discuss my continuing adventures with reel-to-reel tape, and Lyn Stanley's new Signature Series Tape releases. You can read it right here. Enjoy!

Luis Filipe Fortunato's Caminhos

"Oh...FADO!"

Bartolomeo Nasta, my Italian brother from another mother who runs Unison Research and Opera Loudspeakers with his family, was talking to me about some of the trends in European music at a recent trade show. I mentioned that I had just reviewed Luis Filipe Fortunato's Live and Pure for Positive Feedback Online, and I asked him if he was familiar with this traditional Portuguese genre, oh what is it called...it's all love songs and it's based upon old songs that the sailors used to sing when they had to leave loved ones behind, and...uh, I think it's called FAY-doh. Bart stared at me blankly for a moment and then a light appeared behind his eyes. "FAH-do!" he replied. I could tell from the look on his face that he knew fado, he enjoyed fado and he had a tremendous amount of respect for it.

While reviewing Live and Pure, I gained a tremendous amount of respect for fado as well. On the surface it might remind you of a variety of musical genres from Spain, Mexico and Latin America--the instrumentation is heavy on strings from guitars, acoustic basses and the like. The vocals are delivered with enormous power and emotion from singers who excel in all the classic ways. Finally, most of the songs are indeed about love, although the love themes in fado are usually separated by great expanses of ocean.

Fado, ultimately, is different because it is so pure in its execution. As I mentioned in my review of Live and Pure, "It must be simple, with minimal accompaniment, and sung with conviction." Another important component of fado is audience participation, that the crowd is already familiar with these classic love songs and they often sing along when they aren't applauding knowingly. Live and Pure captured this magic perfectly, but Caminhos has a distinct disadvantage here--it was recorded in the studio. Does it matter? I don't think it does.

Enter Freddy Rodrigues of Dogma Musicae, the Portuguese record label that puts out these incredible releases from fadista Luis Fortunato. Freddy is as much of a purist as fado itself--he uses no compression, equalization or any other types of "destructive" types of processing in the studio. That's why his Dogma releases are so clear and clean and natural. This lack of compression is daring since Fortunato is such a powerful, dynamic singer, and he puts his heart and soul into every single note. That means the listener is hearing the same intense and emotional delivery that would be experienced at a small fado restaurant in Lisbon. It's not a relentless, in-your-face kind of delivery, but it will give you plenty of goosebumps each time Fortunato's flawless vibrato launches mournfully into the night air.

Fortunato's voice is amazing, but I'm also intrigued with his musical accompaniment which includes Ricardo Silva on Portuguese guitar, Fernando Nani on acoustic bass and Bernardo Saldanha on viola de fado. Each one of these instruments has an exotic timbre, a product of both construction and playing style, and my first reaction was "I don't know these instruments--and they are so beautiful! What are they?" Well, the Portuguese guitar is actually mandolin-shaped, which is why I thought it was a mandolin at first. The viola de fado is not a viola, but a classical guitar that uses steel strings and has a slightly different rosette than Spanish guitars. In fado, bass is often supplied by a four-string bass guitar, but I'll have to check with Freddy to see if this is what Nani is using. The lower registers seem too deep to come from something that is held in the lap.

(Edit: Freddy has conformed that it is indeed a four-string bass guitar, albeit one that was custom-made for Nani. You can see it in the video here. )

The combination of Fortunato's voice and the beautiful sound from these uncommon musical instruments provides a sound that is, well, flawless. Live and Pure amazed me with its accurate rendering of the inside of a fado restaurant--it made me feel like I was there. Caminhos is more focused on the performance, the essence of these incredibly talented musicians doing what they love, and doing what they do better than anyone else in the world.

FAH-doh. Remember the name. If you're an audiophile with a killer system, Caminhos will shine and steal your heart. Even on a less than stellar playback system, this album should still make you swoon. Trabalho bonito, Freddy!

You can purchase the hi-rez digital download of Caminhos right here.

Noa Fort's No World Between Us at Positive Feedback Online

My latest review for Positive Feedback Online, Noa Fort's No World Between Us, is now available. You can read it here.

Takaaki's New Kid in Town Now Live at Positive Feedback

My review of Takaaki's New Kid in Town is now live at Positive Feedback. If you're a fan of the original Three Blind Mice recordings from the '70s, you'll dig this! You can read it here.

Denny Zeitlin and George Marsh's Expedition on Positive Feedback

My review of Denny Zeitlin and George Marsh's new CD Expedition is now available at Positive Feedback Online. You can read it here.