The Occasional Buyers Guide for 2019

The new 2019 Buyers Guide for The Occasional is now live! You can download a copy of this PDF right here.

My 2019 Capital Audiofest Preview

My preview of next week's Capital Audiofest is now live at Part-Time Audiophile. You can read it here.

Interview in High Fidelity Magazine

I was recently interviewed by Wojciech Pacula for High Fidelity magazine out of Poland. We met in Munich, and I've been reading his reviews for many years so it was a pleasure to see him in person.

You can read more here.

The Occasional Summer 2019

We’re proud to announce that the Summer Issue of The Occasional from Part-Time Audiophile is now online! We’re committed to more than just audio reviews and music—just like it says on the cover, “not another audiophile magazine, but a magazine for audiophiles and the things they love.”

YOU CAN READ IT HERE

This is what you’ll find in the Summer Issue of The Occasional:

EgglestonWorks Emma EVO loudspeakers—can you find more value in a American-made loudspeaker at this price?

Technics SL-1200G turntable—can a long-time critic of the original SL1200 find happiness with the latest generation of direct-drive turntables?

Eric and Marc Visit Fern & Roby—can the team at Tektonic Design Group redefine “lifestyle products” for the high-end”?

GoldenEar Triton Reference loudspeakers—okay then, can you find more value in a speaker at THIS price?

Project 103: The Cap—can you turn a nearly sixty-year-old cartridge design into a monster for less than $100?

The Smoking Jacket—what kind of a nut spends $100 on a single cigar?

The Best of High End 2019—would you like more photos from the greatest high-end audio show?

AudioQuest NightOwl and DragonFly Red—is this the combo that makes you subscribe to Qobuz?

Barbirolli and Mahler’s 9th—still hunting for the perfect LP pressing for this masterpiece?

Luxman LX-380 integrated amplifier—is this the ultimate all-arounder?

The Galaxy’s Edge—can our intrepid reporter emerge from Disneyland’s newest without PTSD?

The Reluctant Sommelier—what do you mean, you haven’t tried Oregon wines?

Charney Audio—who wouldn’t like to see beautiful bespoke single-driver loudspeakers being made?

Doug White’s Barcelona—who wouldn’t want to tag along with The Voice That Is!?

We hope you enjoy the Summer 2019 issue of The Occasional. We’ll have another issue ready in the fall.

Thanks!

The Occasional--Spring Issue!

My first issue of The Occasional, the Spring Issue, is now available! You can download it here.

Skylark Quartet's Live in Tokyo

I have to tell you a story about the first time I listened to this CD. Just after it arrived in the mail, I stuck it in the CD player and pressed play and then walked into the next room so I could give it a cursory listen while I worked. Minutes before, I had started the dishwasher in the kitchen on the other side of the house. Suddenly I heard a huge crashing sound, like glass, and I thought maybe the dishwasher was busy destroying our drinking glasses. I stopped the dishwasher, opened the door and looked around and found nothing out of the ordinary. Then it occurred to me--was that crashing sound on the CD? I went back to the beginning and listened and there it was, a sudden crash, followed by a series of low mechanical sounds. Skylark Quartet? Live in Tokyo? Did someone stick the wrong CD in its case back at the publicist's office?

Suffice it to say that you haven't heard music like this before, much less jazz. I have to go back to the fact that this came from the Marginal Frequency record label. My first taste of Marginal Frequency was Alloys from Lori Goldston and Judith Hamann, which I reviewed just about a month ago. I called that recording "a full dissection of the cello and how it interacts with its human counterparts." Shortly after I received that release in the mail, I nearly deleted an email from recording engineer Al Jones simply because I wasn't sure if he was talking about music or not. Marginal Frequency takes such a novel, off-road approach to experimental music that I thought I was being offered a course in some long-forgotten science. Marginal Frequency is so intriguing and strange that I've talked to Al about writing an article for the summer issue of The Occasional. (Yes, we're still trying to get the Spring issue out as I write this.)

The Skylark Quartet consists of Orlando Lewis on clarinet, Franz-Ludwig Austenmeister on keyboards, Hayden Pennyfeather on bass and Roland Spindler, but you wouldn't know that from merely listening to these eleven tracks, all titled "Skylark," which of course is the classic song written by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer. You won't know that by listening, either. These tracks, recorded live but without audience response, are deconstructions in the most dramatic sense, a supreme reduction in the sounds of each instrument until they resemble a series of random noises recorded in a haunted, vandalized factory. The clarinet is defined mostly by the sound of air passing through the reed, the keyboards sound like random beeps and blips from a computer and the bass is so austere that you'll forget it's there until you hear a single plucked note. The drums, of course, are equally spare, a minimal amount of percussion and no beat, other than the occasional smashing of more glass on that factory floor.

Does this sound too weird for you? It doesn't for me. I can dive into my LP and CD collection and pull out all sorts of weird recordings, ones I heard once and swore never to hear again, ones I put on when I want the party to break up and ones I actually truly love because they touch something rusty and dark in the corners of my soul. Live In Tokyo is fascinating, however, for a couple of reasons. First, the music slowly appears and evolves as you progress through the tracks, and you start to recognize the strains of "Skylark." Secondly, it's "permanently archived here, and available for a time in a limited pressing of 150 CDs from glass master," according to the Marginal Frequency website, which adds to the mystery. "Documentation of this rare performance is limited to the recorded audio, and what could be gleaned from observers Kanji Nakao, Sam Sfirri, Taku Unami, and Reiji Hattori."

In other words, I don't possess all of the puzzle pieces yet, but as I chat with Al Jones and prepare for an article about Marginal Frequency, I hope to solve that mystery.

Pikefruit's Sprig

My review of Pikefruit's Sprig is now up at the Vinyl Anachronist section at Part-Time Audiophile. This is the first review we're doing this way, so hopefully this transition will be smooth.

Just click here to read the review of this endearing electronica duo!

Coming Changes to The Vinyl Anachronist Blog

I'm experimenting with a change to this blog, which will probably happen over the next week.

As my duties increase as a contributing writer to Part-Time Audiophile and as Managing Editor of The Occasional, PTA's quarterly magazine, I'm making an effort to consolidate everything I write. That means I will be publishing all my music reviews in a special section on the PTA website. All this means is that my reviews will have a much bigger reach, while hopefully generating more web traffic for my paid gig. (This blog is, as I've mentioned, for glory and not for money.)

I will continue to use this blog as a way to direct readers to the articles on PTA and elsewhere, and perhaps to make a few goofy personal asides. But I came to this decision for several reasons. First, everyone's been asking me why I still do the blog when I obviously have a more lucrative venue for publication. Second, the musicians I cover deserve more exposure than I can provide on my modest little blog.

For you, the reader, it should only involve an extra click to read the reviews. Perhaps, over time, readers will know to go directly to the PTA site instead of going here first--if the Google numbers reflect this trend, this blog may go bye-bye. We'll see. But until then, I hope my dedicated blog readers follow me to my new home. Thanks!

Project 103: The Aluminum Body Cap

In my recent year-end Vinyl Anachronist column for Perfect Sound Forever, as well as the VA column that will appear at the end of this month, I mention a couple of phono cartridge projects I want to finish in 2019. Both involve my current cartridges--the Transfiguration Axia and the Denon DL-103. The Axia needs a re-tip, and I'm going to investigate a few options. The Denon DL-103--a legendary cartridge that has been manufactured since 1962, the year I was born--has inspired a cottage industry for modifications for those who have discovered that once you replace the cheap plastic body and flimsy mounting hardware with more robust materials, you'll wind up with a "giant killer."

I've just started the first modification for the 103--the Denon Aluminum Body Cap. This is the easiest and least expensive Denon 103 modification that I know--this simple aluminum shell simply fits over the 103 and does not require any "surgery" to your cartridge. (Many of the other body replacements require that you remove the existing plastic shell with an X-acto knife.) The Cap, as it's called by the manufacturer, costs just $85.

I'll be reviewing this mod, the first chapter of Project 103, for an upcoming article for either Part-Time Audiophile or The Occasional.