LATEST ADDITIONS

Features
Malachi's December 2019 Playlist: Christmas Music!!!
Malachi Lui  |  Dec 23, 2019  |  6 comments
It’s been a while since I’ve posted an AnalogPlanet playlist, mostly since I’ve busied myself with many other projects. But because it’s the holiday season, it’s only appropriate to bring, with a selection of my Christmas favorites, some holiday fun on here. There’s a mix of the normal picks (Nat “King” Cole’s “The Christmas Song” and the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas) and some seasonal tracks from a couple of my favorite artists (Tyler’s “Lights On,” the White Stripes’ “Candy Cane Children,” and the David Bowie/Bing Crosby collab) as well as some “how did anybody let this happen?!?!?!” Christmas songs (Dylan’s “Must Be Santa” and Eilert Pilarm’s rendition of “Blue Christmas”). Below are Tidal, Spotify, and YouTube playlists (sorry, Apple Music users) followed by commentary on each song. (Note: David Bowie and Bing Crosby’s “Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy” isn’t on the Tidal playlist. The record label made every effort to delete the song’s original version from streaming services in favor of the far inferior “modernized” London Symphony Orchestra-overdubbed version.)

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Book Reviews
"Hi-Fi" — Gideon Schwartz's Image-Rich Coffee Table Book
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 22, 2019  |  10 comments
Gideon Schwartz's "Hi-Fi" is a sumptuously produced "Coffee Table" style book published by Phaidon, a self-described publisher of "creative arts" books including art, photography architecture, food, travel and fashion.
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Features
M&M Visit Woodblock Chocolate Manufactory, Portland, Oregon
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 22, 2019  |  2 comments
Last Spring when analogPlanet editor Michael Fremer visited analogPlanet contributing editor Malachi Lui at his Portland, Oregon home, the two visited record stores, interviewed Discogs founder Kevin Lewandowski, shot a not yet published video at Cascade Record Pressing and toured Woodblock Chocolate Manufactory, which as you will see resembles in some ways a record pressing plant.

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Short Cuts
Review Explosion Fall/Winter 2019: Charli XCX, JPEGMAFIA, The Who, Beck, & More
Malachi Lui  |  Dec 17, 2019  |  43 comments
On her latest proper album Charli, British pop star Charli XCX creates a work that epitomizes, with an artsy bend, all of 2010’s pop music’s hallmarks. Blown out, hyper-compressed production, glistening synths, giant drum machines, and digitally-stressed vocals are in abundance on Charli, yet the choices that she and executive producer A.G. Cook (known for running the PC Music label) make often surprise the listener. Following the relatively normal and upbeat Troye Sivan-featuring “1999” (no relation to the iconic Prince song, but Charli’s track holds its own) comes “Click,” which thanks to Dylan Brady’s production, in the last third takes a noisy, abrasive left turn. Similarly, Cook and Lotus IV anchor “Cross You Out” with a warped synth bass that oscillates in and out of tune, with other electronic sounds unexpectedly popping out
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News
Turntable Set Up Seminar Friday, December 20th At Audio Advisors, West Palm Beach, FL.
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 16, 2019  |  8 comments
The previous in-store event at Audio Advisors in West Palm Beach where I spun records in one room while in another, Wilson Audio Specialties' Peter McGrath demoed the WAMM Master Chronosonic Loudpseakers and Mat Weisfeld introduced the new VPI Avenger Direct Drive Turntable went so well, the store asked me back to do a turntable set-up seminar and I could not refuse.

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News
Rest in Peace, Roger Modjeski
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 16, 2019  |  3 comments
Roger Modjeski passed away December 11th 2019 at age 68 after a year long battle with cancer. He was a brilliant audio engineer who, after working at IBM and teaching at Stanford, joined Harold Beveridge in Santa Barbara, CA where he worked on that designer's electrostatic loudspeakers before becoming a reluctant manufacturer whose no-nonsense products have stood the test of time. He favored teaching and mentoring to manufacturing but managed to do both very well.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Dire Straits Debut Delivered as a 45rpm Sonic Spectacular
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 16, 2019  |  22 comments
When first released in America in 1978 Dire Straits’ debut was an immediate sensation, though cautious record labels at first rejected signing the group until Warner Brothers bit. The original Vertigo release hit the U.K. earlier. Eventually, propelled by the catchy single “Sultans of Swing”, the album was Top Ten throughout Europe and much of the world.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Grant Green's sunday mornin'—A Blue Note That Got Away!
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 15, 2019  |  23 comments
Single-line guitarist Grant Green's fourth Blue Note album released in 1962 is as easy to listen to and relaxing as the title suggests. Kenny Drew is on piano with Ben Tucker, bass and Ben Dixon on drums in a set of six tunes with inspiration and/or vaguely religious themes, three of which are Green originals.

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News
Legendary Loudspeaker Designer Andrew Jones Receives LA&OC Audio Society Founders Award
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 14, 2019  |  2 comments
(Photo: Ben Williams)
Legendary loudspeaker designer Andrew Jones (KEF, Infinity, TAD/Pioneer and now ELAC) received the Founders Award from The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society December 8th at the organization's annual Gala. AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer was again asked to "roast" and introduce the recipient.

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News
More Blue Note "Tone Poet" All-Analog Reissues Coming in 2020!
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 10, 2019  |  49 comments
Blue Note Records just announced the 2020 continuation of the acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series. "Tone Poet" Joe Harley (so named by jazz great Charles Lloyd) produces the series, originally launched in 2019 to honor the label's 80th anniversary. The all-analog 180g series mastered directly from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed at Camarillo, CA-based RTI features deluxe Stoughton Printing "Old Style" Gatefold Tip-On Jackets.

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