New-Music Mondays
Mondays spotlight new and recent recordings of special merit.
Month: January 2017
Gilad Hekselman Trio: “Eyes To See” (Hekselman)
I last featured Gilad Hekselman in some lovely electric-guitar J.S. Bach. Here he is now in a trio (Gilad Hekselman – guitar; Joe Martin – bass; Marcus Gilmore – drums; and special guest Jeff Ballard – drums), in a pensive modern mood, shot in pensive black-and-white. No need for much commentary from me; the lovely music making speaks for itself.
Gilad’s album Homes is here. Just buy it!
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Graham Slee Revelation M Phono Stage
Photo by John Marks.
This is the third installment in my series about choosing Pareto-Optimal equipment to make digital archival copies of vinyl LP (long-playing) phonograph records. The first part (an overview) is here. Part 2 (Rega’s Planar 3 turntable package) is here. But even if you are not planning to make digital transfers, you might be interested in my thoughts on turntables and phono stages.
Phono stages are necessary to (1) amplify the faint electrical signal generated (literally) by the phono cartridge, and (2) reverse the drastic frequency changes imposed on the music signal in order to make LPs playable. If an LP were to be cut without treble pre-emphasis and bass pre-de-emphasis, the high treble would be lost, while the deep bass notes would cause the stylus to jump out of the groove. Continue Reading →