LATEST ADDITIONS

This week, we’re cueing up a newly released 2LP set in order to revisit music from an acclaimed indie artist via an album we had only heard on CD (and digitally) before it got its most welcome analog upgrade. The ostensibly self-titled album, Nourallah Brothers, is a sprawling, expanded 26-track collaboration initially released with 10 fewer tracks in 2001, and it’s the brainchild of Texas-based indie artist and jack of many aural trades Salim Nourallah, along with key contributions from his brother Faris Nourallah. Read on to see why the atmospheric, intimate, wide-stereo sounds of Nourallah Brothers make this 2LP set an immediate, on-the-table winner. . .

“You put the load right on me.” That’s a line from The Band’s seminal 1968 song “The Weight,” which never actually mentions its title by name in the lyrics — but that above-noted key phrase, which serves as the linchpin line of its chorus, could also be the first thought an LP has the moment you put a record weight on top of it for stabilization purposes. (Go with me on this one, folks, and don’t just call me Crazy Chester.) One such manufacturer, Origin Live, have just literally dropped their next record weight, rightly dubbed the Gravity Two. Read on to see the features and specs of the Gravity Two, and how it builds upon the success of its predecessor, the Gravity One. . .

To borrow a line from the late great Oscar Peterson, “We get requests.” What I mean by that is, we here at AP are constantly inundated with album review requests on a daily basis — and while we can’t cover them all (as much as we’d like to!), sometimes, that certain special LP makes it through to our tables and ears, reminding us why we do what we do. Case in point is NYC-based multi-instrumentalist Dawn Drake, who reached out to us via email to see if we would review Nightshade, a self-released LP credited to her full band, Dawn Drake & ZapOte. Read on to see why the worldbeat-meets-funk grooves of Nightshade are worth getting on your turntable ASAP. . .

Nestled in the lowlands of the Netherlands, Grimm Audio has carved out quite a nice niche for itself, one that resonates with precision engineering and well-reviewed sound quality. With that in mind, we were quite eager to get our respective hands on the Grimm Audio PW1 phono preamp. Read Ken Micallef and Mike Mettler’s combo review to see if the PW1 is able to deliver robust and precise handling of instruments and vocals as well as potent bass, and if it can also maintain a balanced tonal and frequency profile. . .