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The New York Times Covers The Electric Recording Company
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 29, 2020  |  20 comments
The print edition of today's New York Times includes an article titled "The Vinyl? It's Pricey. The Sound? Otherworldly", written about The Electric Recording Company by music critic Ben Sisario. To prep for the article he visited, bringing with him an ERC mastered Johanna Martzy Bach Violin Sonatas recording and a newly mastered CD version produced by Warner Music Korea. He wanted to compare on the kind of system ERC buyers might own. He also visited The Electric Recording Company in London.

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News
Mack Avenue Music Group Webstore Event Distributes 100% of Sales Directly to Artists
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 29, 2020  |  0 comments
Mack Avenue Music Group launches an all-sales-go-directly to-the artist event starting Thursday, April 30th, which is also International Jazz Day, running through May 3rd. Mack Avenue Senior Director of A&R Will Wakefield says, "Almost everyone I know—musicians, managers, venue owners and booking agents—are facing unemployment or worse for an unknown amount of time. We are keenly aware of what that means and wants to be there to help in whatever way we can and I think this is good start."

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News
qobuz Offers Free Hi-Res Downloads During Coronavirus Confinement
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 28, 2020  |  5 comments
Hi-res streaming service qobuz just announced a now through May 15th offer of 21 CD resolution and hi-res titles you can download free. The music includes classical, jazz and "world".

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Turntable Reviews
Cambridge Audio’s Alva—A Serious Plug’n’Play Direct Drive Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 26, 2020  |  16 comments
Cambridge Audio’s $1699 Direct-Drive Alva (named after Thomas Alva Edison) is not the first “plug’n’play turntable, but it’s the first serious, well-engineered one that combines set up ease with high performance, both mechanical and sonic. An added attraction is high resolution Bluetooth SBC [lowest resolution 320 bit MP3]/apt X/apt X HD [up to 24 bit/48kHz Hi-res] functionality that allows wireless connectivity to a Bluetooth loudspeaker or headphones.

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News
Sam Records and Saga Launch new ARTISAN Record Series Aimed at Jazz and Art Lovers
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 24, 2020  |  22 comments
From the Sam Records press release:

“By the late 1940s, the emergence of vinyl records created new opportunities for graphic artists to express their talent. The new 12'' square format seemed particularly suitable for experimentation and many labels became reputed for their innovative designs. Amazingly gifted artists such as David Stone Martin, Jim Flora, Pierre Merlin, Burt Goldblatt or Reid Miles, to name just a few, made a name for themselves illustrating or designing jazz record covers.

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News
Amoeba Music May Be a Covid-19 Victim
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 24, 2020  |  19 comments
Amoeba Music with record stores in Hollywood, Berkeley and San Francisco says that due to the Covid-19 virus it faces an "uncertain future" as all three stores since mid-March have been shut down. Savings are running out and while the company is paying staff salaries it cannot continue much longer without help from customers and friends.

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Album Reviews
Lori Lieberman’s Exquisite Album of Loss and Regret
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 23, 2020  |  2 comments
Cushioned by the Netherlands-based Matangi String Quartet, plus bass drums, percussion and occasional guitar, singer/songwriter/pianist Lori Lieberman delivers a tender, occasionally excruciatingly intimate song cycle replete with regret, heartache, abandonment, longing and loss.

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NewsSet-Up Accessory ReviewsSet-Up Tips
WallyTools Are Back From The New WAM Engineering
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 21, 2020  |  13 comments
WAM Engineering's new universal WallyTractor is now available from the newly formed company, a partnership between the late Wally Malewicz's son Andrzej, himself a mechanical engineer and Wally's former production assistant J.R. Boisclair. They've just launched the Wallyanalog website where you will find complete details of the new $395 universal WallyTractor and the available services the Santa Rosa, CA based company provides.

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News
Newvelle Records "Opens Vault" Now Through April 26th
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 21, 2020  |  1 comments
Subscription series based Newvelle Records has opened the vaults for a limited time to help ease the missing Record Store Day pain. Now through the Sunday April 26th, selected Newvelle titles are available as single LPs priced at $60 each.

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Book Reviews
The Haçienda: How Not To Run A Club— Peter Hook’s Page-Turning Quarantine Read
Malachi Lui  |  Apr 16, 2020  |  5 comments
Staffers stealing beer crates every night. £5000 in cash misplaced and incinerated by New Years’ Eve pyrotechnics. A lighting engineer stealing equipment for his own rental business. Seemingly endless tax problems.

Starting with their solicitor’s £5000 company registration fee (compared to the £175 DIY cost), Factory Records’ Manchester, England nightclub, the Haçienda, quickly became a financial black hole and later a cultural icon. Established between Factory and New Order at manager Rob Gretton’s insistence, it opened in 1982 at the corner of Whitworth Street West and Albion Street, in a former yacht warehouse. Assigned the Factory catalogue number FAC 51, it established an amalgamation of the era’s Manchester and New York’s clubs, always being too far ahead of its time. In The Hacienda: How Not To Run A Club, former Joy Division/New Order bassist (and Haçienda co-owner) Peter Hook (aka Hooky) recounts the club’s inner workings, with Andrew Holmes providing additional context blurbs between Hook’s stories.

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