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"Art+Tech"
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SoundStage! Encore
An original series on making music

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Latest

JBL Go 3 Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker

Details
Music Everywhere

December 2020

JBL’s new Go 3 portable Bluetooth speaker, attractively priced at $39.95 USD, is no mere update but instead a virtual redesign of their popular Go 2.

Read more …

The Nels Cline Singers' "Share the Wealth" and Dave Douglas's "Marching Music"

Details
CD music

December 2020

The Nels Cline Singers: Share the Wealth

Blue Note 0737079
Format: CD

Musical Performance
*****

Sound Quality
****

Overall Enjoyment
****

Dave Douglas: Marching Music

Greenleaf Music 1078
Format: CD

Musical Performance
*****

Sound Quality
****

Overall Enjoyment
****

Jimi Hendrix’s epochal “Machine Gun” in the time of Richard Nixon, the Clash’s unforgiving “Clampdown” in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, Bruce Springsteen’s elegiac “Long Walk Home” in response to George W. Bush: musicians frequently have created some of their best work in response to autocratic leadership and social oppression. Those artists who employ vocals can easily make their opposition known; for composers who work in instrumental settings, it’s a higher bar.

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"The Hit"

Details
Blu-ray movies

November 2020

A Slow-Burn, Murderous Road Trip Through Spain

The Criterion Collection 469
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
***1/2

Picture Quality
****

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
***

Stephen Frears directed The Hit in 1984, shortly before making what many consider his best-known film, My Beautiful Laundrette (1985). In The Hit, Willie Parker (Terence Stamp), a London gangster, turns court evidence on his four co-conspirators. Flash forward ten years -- Willie, living the life of Riley in Spain, has a hacienda with a spectacular view, a fabulous book collection, and goes on bicycle rides accompanied by an inept bodyguard.

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Audioengine A1 Powered Bluetooth Loudspeakers

Details
Music Everywhere

November 2020

Powered and active loudspeakers continue to grow in popularity. They offer an inexpensive way to set up a high-quality music system without having to assemble separates: a receiver, integrated amplifier, or preamp and power amp. Audioengine has had great success with its larger A2+ stereo speaker system ($269/pair, all prices USD). Now they hope to repeat that with the less expensive A1 ($199/pair).

Read more …

Cindy Blackman Santana: "Give the Drummer Some"

Details
CD music

November 2020

Copperline 105
Format: CD

Musical Performance
****

Sound Quality
***

Overall Enjoyment
***

At 60, drummer Cindy Blackman Santana has had an exceptionally varied career that has seen her perform at both massive arenas and tiny clubs. The former came courtesy of her long tenure with singer-guitarist Lenny Kravitz, whom she first played with in 1993, the latter from her long apprenticeship as a jazz musician. In an interview, she once told me that the primary difference was what happened before and after the shows.

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"Brute Force"

Details
Blu-ray movies

October 2020

Prison-Reform Agitprop ca. 1947

The Criterion Collection 383
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
****

Picture Quality
****

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
***1/2

In these weeks and months following the death of George Floyd, we’ve heard a lot about prison reform and police brutality. The issue has been around a while -- witness this 1947 film from director Jules Dassin and producer Mark Hellinger. But there’s a huge difference between the prison-reform controversy of the 1940s and today’s: Few Black faces are seen among the prisoners in Brute Force, who are mostly white. The themes, on the other hand, are all too familiar.

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JBL Link Music Wi-Fi Speaker

Details
Music Everywhere

October 2020

JBL’s Link Music Wi-Fi speaker is a handy listening device with built-in Bluetooth and Chromecast, and it’s AirPlay 2 compatible. It also includes Google Assistant -- it responds to verbal commands -- and it can serve as the hub for a home’s worth of smart appliances, controlling lighting and much more. At its current low price of $69.95 USD, it seems a winner -- but how does it perform?

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Marvin Gaye's "What’s Going On" Curated

Details
Curator

In 1970, Marvin Gaye fell into a deep depression following the death of Tammi Terrell, the singer with whom he had recorded a number of duets that were among Tamla Records’ biggest sellers. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” had hit 19 on the pop charts, while “If I Could Build My Whole World Around You,” “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” and “You’re All I Need to Get By” were all in the top 10 in 1967 and 1968.

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Ron Miles: “Rainbow Sign”

Details
CD music

October 2020

Blue Note B003239502
Format: CD

Musical Performance
*****

Sound Quality
****

Overall Enjoyment
*****

Jazz is both blessed and cursed with a creation myth, which is so oft-repeated that you might be able to recite it with me: born in New Orleans, it spread north to Chicago on the first waves of the Great Migration, and then east to New York City. Except, as jazz historian Mark Miller eloquently proved in his 1997 book, Such Melodious Racket, it’s not true.

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"The Comfort of Strangers"

Details
Blu-ray movies

September 2020

Terror Lurks in the Shadows of Venice

The Criterion Collection 1041
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
***

Picture Quality
****1/2

Sound Quality
***1/2

Extras
***

In The Comfort of Strangers (1990), Colin (Rupert Everett) and Mary (Natasha Richardson) are on holiday in Venice, trying to define their relationship. Mary wants a firmer commitment; Colin is happy with the loose arrangement they’ve had so far. In early scenes, they frankly address their differences -- or rather, Mary addresses, Colin deflects. Seemingly by accident, they run into a married couple, Robert (Christopher Walken) and Caroline (Helen Mirren), who live in a luxurious, Byzantine-style apartment. Robert tells them much of his history and acts as a tour guide; Caroline’s part in this story grows more gradually.

Read more …

Audioengine B-Fi Multiroom Music Streamer

Details
Music Everywhere

September 2020

Streaming music files used to be for listeners who cared more about quantity than quality. Times have changed. In the past ten years, various streaming services have begun offering files in resolutions of CD quality or above. At $189 USD, Audioengine’s B-Fi multiroom music streamer offers a simple, inexpensive way to receive and distribute CD-resolution files. The B-Fi has dramatically changed the way I listen to music.

Read more …

Matt Wilson Quartet: "Hug!"

Details
CD music

September 2020

Palmetto 2196
Format: CD

Musical Performance
****

Sound Quality
****

Overall Enjoyment
****

I heard about drummer Matt Wilson before I heard his music, and what I heard about him made me anticipate that first interaction as I had for few other musicians. What I heard about Wilson was that he brought intense joy to everything he played, along with a sense of curiosity, and technique that made him sound like no other drummer on the scene.

Read more …

"The War of the Worlds"

Details
Blu-ray movies

August 2020

A Sci-Fi Classic Reborn on Criterion BD

The Criterion Collection 1037
Format: BD

Overall Enjoyment
*****

Picture Quality
****1/2

Sound Quality
*****

Extras
****1/2

H.G. Wells’s science-fiction novel The War of the Worlds was first serialized in Pearson’s Magazine in 1897, and published in hardcover by William Heinemann the following year. In the 122 years since it has appeared in numerous versions, including several films. But the 1953 version directed by Byron Haskin and produced by George Pal, though freely adapted from Wells’s story, has proven the most iconic and durable. Nearly 70 years after its release, The Criterion Collection’s bang-up edition informs us that it’s a classic that will remain in the repertory.

Read more …

JBL Link Portable Wi-Fi Bluetooth Speaker

Details
Music Everywhere

August 2020

The Portable is the latest member of JBL’s Link line of Wi-Fi speakers. It’s distinctive in that you can lift it right out of its charging dock and carry it anywhere in your home that your Internet network is available. It seemed a bit costly at its original price of $179.95 USD, but for this summer JBL has halved the price, to $89.95.

Read more …

  1. What's a Movie Lover to Do?
  2. James Booker: "Classified"
  3. "An Unmarried Woman"
  4. Aomais Go Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker
  5. Laura Nyro, Curated
  6. Ran Blake & Andrew Rathbun: "Northern Noir"
  7. "Matewan"
  8. Active, Powered, or Passive Speakers for the Studio?
  9. DuoTen Waterproof Bluetooth Shower Speaker
  10. John Scofield: "Swallow Tales"
  11. "Torso"
  12. High-Res and Multichannel for Music Playback
  13. Kanto YU Powered Bluetooth Loudspeakers
  14. Todd Rundgren's "Something/Anything?" Curated
  15. Nina Simone: "Fodder on My Wings"

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