Airtight Supreme v Monster Alpha Genesis 1000 (WuT?) Or the Path to Older Phono Cartridges…. I know, this seems like a stupid comparison, but bear with me. My Airtight Supreme phono cartridge is aging and I’m looking to replace it.  The price of the top tier cartridges, like Airgtight’s Opus, their current flagship, is just prohibitive when you consider that it is a consumable. Much as I’ve winced at cartridge pricing in the past, I’ve just bitten the bullet—when I upgraded from my original Airtight PC-1 to the Supreme some years ago, the improvement was... Read More

The Analog Relax Record Brush I have had an unhappy relationship with “dry” record brushes over the many years I used them. Such brushes don’t seem to do an effective job of removing surface detritus and despite the “anti-static” moniker applied to some, I have found that dry brushing can generate, rather than mitigate, a static charge. Some also shed fibers. As explained below, I eventually abandoned dry brushing altogether, instead using an “air puffer” to address any surface lint that was introduced after the records had been thoroughly cleaned using a combination of... Read More

Good Things Come in Big Packages- Sammy Miller and the Congregation Big band style jazz probably reached its peak in popularity before WWII.Sammy Miller and the Congregation aim to bring it back, with a few surprises, a laugh and an impressive, tuneful display of musicianship. If Sammy & Company prove anything, it’s that what we think of as “big band” music is an archetype and does not represent the music itself: vibrant, full of soul, life, blues and joy, with lots of space between the different instruments, offering an interplay of sounds that are immensely satisfying. I used... Read More

A History of Ultrasonic Record Cleaning   Despite the attention paid to ultrasonic record cleaning in the last few years, including the various DIY efforts that have broadened its appeal due to lower cost (as well as providing a more flexible feature set than some of the commercial entries), little has been said about the history of ultrasonic cleaning for records. Mike Bodell changes that with a paper entitled  “The Curious Case Of Record Cleaning In The Quest For Sonic Perfection” which is being published here for the first time. Mike, who has both a science and business... Read More

Psych Folk   Soon to be published here is the first in a series of articles, essays and interviews about psych or “freak folk.” This sub-genre, which was borne out of the folk revival of the ‘60s, had many progenitors and its influence is even stronger now in contemporary works from a range of artists, including Meg Baird, now associated with the hard psych band Heron Oblivion. I’m not a stickler for genre classifications; to the contrary, during the period when this music was first being created, boundaries were crossed and genres were pretty much ignored, which is one of the... Read More

The Vinyl Press Goes Digital!   Not for all purposes, all the time, but I resisted the pull of digital media in my main system until now. Why? I didn’t have a very good impression of the sound of CD when it was first introduced. Although I was aware of the improvements wrought by better players, DACs and hi-res, I succeeded in ignoring the audiophile digital side, until now. Why the change? Many of the reissues of rare old albums are taken from digital copies of the master tapes; though I like “all analog,” it simply isn’t realistic if you want to have access to a broader array of... Read More

Two from Ramseur: National Reserve and Ruen Brothers   I like the folks at Ramsuer Records- Dolph Ramseur has tapped into something special in his release of a diverse array of music that has one common attribute: it’s genuine. From Ramseur’s much needed reissue of Josh at Midnight  to the recent release from the Steep Canyon Rangers, Ramseur is mining various veins of music that don’t seem to share much in terms of genre or style. But, that word “genuine,” probably much overused these days to hype all kinds of stuff, is probably the best way to describe it. The two... Read More

Incoming: Atomic Rooster Death Walks Behind You     Soon to be published, a closer look (listen) to Atomic Rooster’s Death Walks Behind You, a “heavy” album from a band that grew out of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and originally included Carl Palmer on drums (who left the band to join ELP before this album was recorded) and Vincent Crane. Crane’s  keyboard work is sorely overlooked—the organ sounds are majestic, dark and gothic in an almost classical sense. Crane’s piano work is also stunning- the sense of weight and tone is a magnificent counterpoint to the... Read More