The "Grail" edition, the "ne plus ultra", the prized O.G. here is supposedly the green label WB original with "KD" initials in the run out groove. It's the one with the upside down rear cover. For anyone who thinks the upside down rear cover was a mistake: the original 1970 U.K. orange label edition printed by West Brothers Printers also has it upside down. Mobile Fidelity's double 45 edition also has it upside down, but Rhino... Read More

(Press Release): Discogs, the world's largest music discovery and record collecting platform, and NYC’s stalwart independent shop Academy Records today announced a special public sale of records from the personal vinyl collection of Tom Verlaine, musician, poet and founding frontman of the influential New York band Television. Beginning June 26, collectors and music fans worldwide will have the opportunity to purchase records from Verlaine's archive through... Read More

There was much to muse about on Monday evening at the grand opening of The Pocket, a new jazz club in located in midtown Manhattan inside the boutique Muse Hotel. The 4,500 square foot underground venue can hold up to 170 patrons. Designed to resemble the jazz clubs of yore on 52nd street, this intimate listening space features elegant booths lined with green velvet as well as white-cloth tables. The cheap seats, or as cheap as it gets, are the so-called “rail seats”... Read More

Los Angeles, CA (June 23, 2026)—Craft Recordings and Bluesville Records are excited to announce the release of two peerless album reissues from a pair of blues heavyweights, Jimmy Reed and Skip James. A studio LP despite its name, the Jimmy Reed title is the first disc of his classic 1961 double album, Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall, which spawned the enduring hit song “Bright Lights Big City.” Devil Got My Woman is James’ 1968 swan song, released just a year before the... Read More

Of Montreal is a musical entity that defies the notion of ‘staying in one's lane.’ It’s remarkable to consider the whimsical baroque flourishes on albums like The Gay Parade and the synth-pop glitz of Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?. All are by-products of songwriter Kevin Barnes channeling wherever their creative trajectory veers. Since abandoning fantasy characters and concepts during the group’s early years, they’ve never strayed from exposing the... Read More

Even if you can't afford to spend $788,000 on a pair of loudspeakers, it will cost you nothing to go listen to them at the Audio Salon in Santa Monica, CA. and hang with some people who can. You'll also have the opportunity to meet CEO Daryl Wilson and talk to him about the design and why it costs what it does. You'll also have an opportunity to meet Peter McGrath, who in addition to being Wilson's "Brand Ambassador" and speaker set-up... Read More

Aesthetix Audio Corporation introduced the original version of its single chassis, tubed phono preamplifier - the Rhea in 2002 - nearly 25 years ago. The Rhea was designed to give listeners most of the sonics of Aesthetix’s reference level phono stage, the Io, but at a less celestial price point and with a lot fewer tubes.[1] Since the introduction of the original version of the Rhea (which Aesthetix now refers to as the “Standard” version), Jim White, Aesthetix’s... Read More

LOS ANGELES – Joni Mitchell’s masterpiece Blue celebrates its 55-year anniversary today with new audiophile editions from Rhino High Fidelity on reel-to-reel and vinyl.(ed note: why the publicist or Rhino or both feel it necessary to highlight "surface noise" and "groove wear" in a press release announcing a vinyl and R2R release escapes me. Then why not mention the hassle of R2R threading, the expense and that it's a 3rd gen tape versus... Read More

LOS ANGELES – Curtis Mayfield’s Super Fly soundtrack pioneered socially aware soul in the early ’70s with its groundbreaking, orchestral-funk arrangements and unflinching lyrical commentary. Today, new audiophile editions are available from Rhino High Fidelity on reel-to-reel and vinyl.Super Fly (Rhino High Fidelity R2R) was duplicated in real time from a 1:1 copy of the original analog master tape. The result is a master-quality listening experience that captures... Read More

Los Angeles, CA – June 17, 2026 – Interscope-Capitol Records’ Definitive Sound Series (DSS) announces Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On as the next release in its acclaimed premium audiophile vinyl collection. Arriving July 17, the limited-edition AAA 180g high-definition vinyl One Step pressing is available for pre-order. "Mr. Gaye created music that was deeply personal, yet universally understood,” says The Estate of Marvin Gaye. “Let’s Get It On remains one of his... Read More

Los Angeles – June 18, 2026 – Though separated by nearly three decades and rooted in different musical traditions, The Band’s Music From Big Pinkand D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar share a common distinction: both debut albums fundamentally reshaped the course of American music. The latest additions to UMe’s Vinylphyle series exemplify its mission to present essential albums across genres with uncompromising sound quality and packaging.Available to order today exclusively via... Read More

Bassist Ben Allison, guitarist Steve Cardenas, and multi-reedman Ted Nash make up an odd sort of trio (no piano, drums, or second horn), which in other hands might produce the stuff of “chamber jazz,” but in theirs spans the gamut from hot to cool, sometimes both at once, sprightly but dense with clipped rhythms, twisty intervals, and a quiet virtuosity. Over the past decade, they have recorded albums covering the music of Jim Hall (Quiet Revolution), Carla Bley... Read More

No.4 will not be the final video from High End Vienna 2026. There's more to come. In this video you'll see the new compact Boulder 808 phono preamplifier, the new 12" The Wand tonearm, the Mavis phono preamp from Vietnam, and one from WestminsterLab making its European debut.Pear Audio's Odar turntable has a new configuration that puts the arm on an outboard platform, JMF will inboard transformers on its PH 7.2 phono preamp, Korf Audio introduced a... Read More

Wow. This is the 3rd 1/2 hour video from High End Vienna and there's so much more to be edited and posted. In this one you'll see the debut of a new $54K Constellation Performance phono pre, the new circa $7500 Wattson Madison phono pre available for MM, MC or DS Audio optical cartridges, the Thales Reference TT featuring a mechanical speed regulator, and Magnifier preamp/phono preamp, the new Dr. Feickert Virgo S and Virgo SE turntables, two new Dynavector... Read More

There are times when a record is just on time. Flea’s Honora is most certainly one of those efforts. And it’s not the Flea we know. This album is actually the work of a Flea we’ve only heard of. If, like me, you were an early Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, you no doubt remember early interviews with Flea where he discussed his childhood trumpet playing. I also recall his awesome mother saying her son could really play like a "m.....fker", or something of that... Read More

In these excellent Original Source remasterings on vinyl - courtesy of Emil Berliner Studios - two more titles from this landmark series arrive for a new generation maybe more receptive to their musical and sonic experimentation.

You can read Part 1 of this series here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here.

Face obscured by wavy brown locks and donning a flannel over his Waylon Jennings shirt, Kurt Vile is a name that’s hard to bypass or ignore within the indie music circles. The man is a legend in his own right, having sustained a 20+ year career and making the glow-up from being a part of the Matador roster to the major-label big leagues of Verve. Vile’s brand of psychedelic indie rock–with roots circling back to folk and Americana–makes him a uniquity within an... Read More

Of the 73 million people that watched The Fab Four move the needle on the Ed Sullivan show, young Joe McEwen was part of that tiny percentage of Americans that weren’t moved by what they’d seen.“It didn’t make any connection with me at all. But there was something nagging inside. To paraphrase Bob Dylan, something was happening here, but I didn’t know what the hell it was.”Clarity eventually came to him by way of a small transistor radio. As McEwen writes in the... Read More