Blogs
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Mark Lanegan: Straight Songs Of Sorrow
|Straight Songs of Sorrow, the twelfth studio album by gravel-voiced grunge survivor Mark Lanegan was never going to be an easy listen. In fact, it’s one of the darkest records he’s ever made, which is ...read more -
Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier – Book 1 (BWV 846‑869) performed by Trevor Pinnock
|Trevor Pinnock’s first encounter with Book 1 of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier came in the late 1950s when he was about 12 years old. Now, aged 73, he’s finally taken the plunge and produced a glowingly ...read more -
Bruno Walter: The Complete Columbia Album Edition
|When it comes to big ‘complete editions’, nobody does it quite like Sony. Back in the mid ‘90s, they issued a fairly comprehensive survey of Bruno Walter’s recordings for Columbia (CBS) on CD, and very ...read more -
![Stephen J Malkmus: Traditional Techniques [Domino, LP]](http://tas.zeitpress.com/resizer/articles/images/Contemporary_I.jpg/?size=115,115&crop=smart)
Stephen J Malkmus: Traditional Techniques [Domino, LP]
|Stephen Malkmus, the J is optional, has been making music with a variety of line ups since his teens but got his commercial break in the early 90s when he formed the band Pavement with ...read more -
Lana del Ray: Norman F***ing Rockwell!
|I am late to the Lana Del Rey party I know but when Hi-Fi Choice alumni Del Gentleman played the first track of last year’s fellow NFR! the combination of fabulous production and potty mouthed ...read more -
Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um
|Mingus Ah Um, Mobile Fidelity’s latest Ultradisc One-Step release, like most of the prior One-Steps, the music needs little introduction. If you have any passing interest in jazz music you’ve heard the music countless times. ...read more -
Beethoven, Piano sonatas (complete), Paul Badura-Skoda – period pianos
|I recall buying Beethoven’s late sonatas with Paul Badura Skoda on vinyl way back in 1980/81.The recordings were made between 1978 and 1989, Alas, the original Astree LPs/CDs were always hard to find, and never ...read more -
Exclusive: Linn's new Majik DSM – First Impressions
|I’ve been fortunate in being the only person not working for Linn who got an exclusive pre-release listen to the new £2,950 Majik DSM. OK, to bring myself into line I had to change my ...read more -
Music Interview: Amy LaVere
|Painting Blue, the new album by Memphis-based singer-songwriter Amy LaVere, was penned against a backdrop of doom and gloom and global issues, including Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory, global warming and racist and civil tensions. ...read more -
Dvorak: Requiem Mass Op 89; 10 Biblical Songs*; Te Deum
|Dvorak’s Requiem was written in 1890, and given its first performance in 1891 - in Birmingham, with the composer conducting. Dvorak’s vocal/choral music had become hugely popular in England after a performance of his Stabat ...read more -
Music Interview: The Hanging Stars
|London country-psych-folk-rock band The Hanging Stars are in a good place – and I’m not just talking about the traditional East End pub that we’ve agreed to meet in. The five-piece – singer and guitarist ...read more -
Meet Your Maker: CH Precision
|This has been a long time coming. I visited CH Precision’s small, efficient manufacturing and design facility in the middle of last year. CH Precision was named after the first letters of the surnames of ...read more -
Music Interview: Jerry Leger
|Canadian singer-songwriter Jerry Leger is a voracious collector of vinyl records. When I spoke to him on his last UK tour, ahead of a gig with his band, The Situation, in East London, he told ...read more -
Exclusive: Hi-Fi+ branded Cardas Douglas Fir blocks
|We have teamed up with Cardas Audio and its UK distributor Audiofreaks. We have a limited number of sets to give away to the first 50 subscribers who take out a new or extend an ...read more -
A Nation of Shopkeepers
|Napoleon famously dismissed the English as “a nation of shopkeepers”. It’s a criticism that holds more than a grain of truth… but in the last three months, any non-essential shopkeepers were shut down as part ...read more