BUDDY GUY: News

GUITAR MAGAZINE writes ….. After seven decades of performing, the Blues virtuoso’s final trek will take place next year. Blues legend Buddy Guy has announced his retirement from touring, with the guitarist set to initiate his final tour in early 2023. Having begun his extensive career back in the mid-1950s, Buddy Guy has spent over […]

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SPOTIFY: News 01

Spotify’s Equalizer Sessions in Germany Help Women Build Lasting Connections What do you get when you bring an impressive collection of women artists, podcasters, and influencers together for dinner? Magic—and an environment that inspires meaningful connections.  Spotify has hosted Equalizer events in Europe to combat gender inequality in music for some time. The latest event, […]

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JOHN MARTYN: News

ALL MUSIC / ROB CALDWELL The Apprentice was mostly completed a full two years before it was released. Martyn’s record label, Island, rejected the tapes of the songs in 1988, even though artistically they were not too far removed from his previous release, Piece by Piece. In fact, this album turned out to be the […]

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BENJAMIN BRITTEN: News

From the archives “This month sees the issue of several records of Britten’s music from Decca including one in the ‘World of…’ series. It also marks the 25th anniversary of the night that transformed the face of British opera – the premiere of Peter Grimes on June 7, 1945, at Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Britten himself […]

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CHARLES MINGUS: News

JAZZWISE: Bassist Charles Mingus shook up the jazz world like few others, Kevin Le Gendre assesses his legacy and speaks to contemporary bass stars Christian McBride and Boris Kozlov about his influence Instruments owned by famous musicians have been a staple at auctions for many years. When a rock star guitar goes under the hammer […]

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This post-war Japanese sound, primarily sung by ladies in their 50s and 60s, is adapting to seek a younger audience. My besotted daughter is first in line

DANIEL ROBSON / THE GUARDIAN Since her father is a longtime music journalist and her mother is a musician, it was inevitable that my 10-year-old daughter would fall in love with music. But I never imagined that the music she would fall in love with would be enka. Enka is often considered “traditional” Japanese music […]

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SPOTIFY: News 02

THE GUARDIAN: Sped-up versions of existing songs are becoming more popular than the original versions. But who’s behind the trend? I’m listening to the accelerated, chipmunk voice of the British singer Raye on Escapism, a rebound-sex anthem that’s currently climbing UK pop charts. Raye actually has a low, brassy singing voice, but I’m not listening […]

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THE CURE: News

FRED THOMAS / ALLMUSIC.COM The Cure’s 1989 album Disintegration was the band’s inarguable artistic peak, and surprisingly also their biggest commercial success to date. A rare feat for any group, but especially unexpected when considering how Disintegration abandoned much of the pop excitement the Cure had been working with through the mid-’80s and returned to […]

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THE INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE BAND: News

MARK DEMMING / ALLMUSIC.COM Safe at Home, Gram Parsons’ first full-length album (and the only LP he would record with the International Submarine Band), today sounds like a dry run for the country-rock he would later perfect with the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers; it’s also a major changeup from the psychedelically shaded pop/rock […]

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HENRY THREADGILL: News

Kevin Le Gendrte / THE INDEPENDENT Chicago is one of the great musical powerhouses of America. Since the Twenties, its Black population has produced colossal talents, such as classical composer Florence Price and soul singer Curtis Mayfield, not to mention any number of jazz pioneers, from Sun Ra to Quincy Jones to Herbie Hancock. Less […]

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BEST OF THE REST: The classical CDs we missed in 2022

THE GUARDIAN / Andrew Clements It took Maurizio Pollini more than 30 years to complete his recordings of the Beethoven piano sonatas for Deutsche Grammophon. The first instalment of that series, which appeared in 1977, was devoted to the last five sonatas, including magisterial performances of the two paired on this new release, which was […]

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MQA: The Rolling MQA Debate: A Sound Quality Test on TIDAL That Leaves More Questions than Answers – writes Trav Wilson

A recent video published (on April 15, 2021) by GoldenSound has once again stirred up the MQA pot. In the last couple of weeks, the video made the rounds (again, and again) through most audiophile groups, and, as of writing, has racked up about 150,000 views. Additionally TIDAL (the main distributor of MQA) has announced […]

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HARVEY MANDELL: News

THOM DUREK / allmusic.com Who’s Calling is the 16th solo album by guitarist Harvey “Snake” Mandel, and his second for Tompkins Square. He is widely considered one of the most innovative guitarists to emerge from Chicago in the 1960s, alongside icons Charlie Musselwhite, Barry Goldberg, Steve Miller, Michael Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Corky Siegel. Along […]

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