Michael Fremer

The beating heart of this remarkable collaboration between electronic musician/composer Sam Shepherd, better known as Floating Points, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and The London Symphony Orchestra is a repeated series of ethereal drops of glistening arpeggiated sonic dew Shepherd plays on synthesizer, piano and what sounds like a harpsichord over which Pharoah Sanders delicately flutters and dances—only occasionally producing the voluminous blasts heard in his late ‘60s and early ‘70s albums.

Despite surging Covid Omicron cases, the organizers of Florida Audio Expo 2022 plan on holding the show February 2022. Here's the press release. By the way, there's a new variant called OmicronMQA. You get Covid, and it unfolds in your body smallpox and diptheria (rimshot).

Canada-based Fluance’s $250 RT81 reviewed here a little over three years ago was a pleasant surprise. It offered reasonably good mechanical and sonic performance as well as useful convenience features and attractive looks. Fluance’s new RT85 Reference turntable doubles the cost to $499.95. Is it twice as good?

It doesn’t take a turntable forensic genius to note that the RT81 is manufactured at the same Taiwanese factory that produced the $1099.99 Thorens TD 402 Direct Drive Semi-Automatic turntable that back in November took a review beating here.