Category Archives: Music

A Star Extinguished

blackstarA star burned out today. Perhaps not the one shining the brightest but arguably the firmamentally most prominent of stars. A man of artistic integrity to the point where it almost broke him followed by a restored artist balancing arts with the personal integrity he then lacked. Eventually the mark he left on the world is unequivocal and his latest album a worthy swansong,  as it so tragically turns out. It would have been just like him to do that deliberately, wouldn’t it?

Good Tidal to You, And All of Your Kin

Tidal just announced another 5 countries on their list of supported locations. Tidal is now available in these countries: USA, UK, Canada, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Italy, Singapore, South Africa, Denmark, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Audio Streaming Tidal Wave

Streaming services such as Spotify and WiMP are becoming as ubiquitous as Dr. Martens at a 1980’s punk concert. Unfortunately the audio quality is often not far from that either; the boots. When Swedish Aspiro, who are the powers behind WiMP, announced Tidal, a new streaming service for audiophiles, it was not without a certain anticipation and definitely not without a certain skepticism from audio boffins. In September and October they touched down in USA, UK and Canada, and with limited access in a number of other countries. Likely a judicial matter. Judging from their web page, they are now getting ready to take on mainland Europe as well. “Can I get it now, or must I hesitate?” to quote one song, “First we take Manhattan…” to quote another.

Tidal is available on major platforms, Android, iOS, Windows and Mac, and integrates with Squeezebox, Sonos, Linn and Simple Audio. Highest streaming quality is Flac at 1411kpbs, which amounts to 16bit/44.1KHz. Not hi-res but definitely a major leap in online audio.

Bob Brozman Has Died

Bob BrozmanAt only 59, Bob Brozman was found dead on April 23, 2013. If that isn’t sad enough, it appears he took his own life. Bob Brozman was a sharp critic and preached dedication when performing. Physically he was a short man but he could easily fill an auditorium with a larger than life attitude and shear force of his playing. A lifetime of dedication to performance and the proliferation of roots music doing his self-coined ethnomusicology has been abruptly ended.

One of Bob Brozman’s initiatives is the Global Music Aid, attempting to collect instruments and musical equipment, large and small, in aid of those who can’t afford to buy it themselves. So if you feel like following in the footsteps of a truly philantropic man of the world, do go and donate equipment if you have it or point those who do to this wonderful foundation.

Allman Bros must-have gone HD

Allman Brothers Band At Fillmore East One of [if not just] the finest live recordings of all time has been released in 24-bit/96KHz Flac. In 1971 Allman Brothers shook the Fillmore East church of rock ’n’ roll good and presented the world with a massive energy outburst combined with one of those moments where everything seems to just collide into super natural wonderfulness dwarfing even the CERN LHC… I’m getting carried away here. The fact of the matter is that this mandatory piece of music history has been released in high definition. Do go and get it.

Happy 70th to Hugo Rasmussen

© BOGT Danish jazz bassist Hugo Rasmussen turned 70 today. Although he is the quintessence of all things analogue, congratulations from this site of digital should be in order all the same… og når han hjem fra skole går, Hurra! Hurra! Hurra! etc… og et stort tillykke herfra!

Qriocity gets music service

qriosity-logo-v6Sony’s content-on-demand cloud service Qriocity will be offering music in addition to the existing video-on-demand that debuted in USA earlier this year. Qriocity will be running on a multitude of devices, particularly and hardly surprisingly Sony devices. The service includes some novel features such as synchronising with iTunes and other media players – upstream that is. The press release does not disclose file formats so let us just assume that like all the other music services, Qriocity will be spewing out MP3s for indiscriminate masses.

Captain Beefheart dies at 69

troutFrank Zappa peer and master of all things unusual Don Van Vliet has died at 69 after suffering from multiple sclerosis for many years. Following a career of musical greatness mixed with equal measures of not-so-greatness, he dropped music for his painting and sculpting, and pretty much disappeared from public view. Do go and get your copy of Trout Mask Replica if you haven’t got it already. It is a master piece if there ever was one and a milestone at the least.

24-bit Christmas present from Bravura Records

bravurarecordsStudio owner and audiophile Bill Schnee has issued 5 tasters from his record company Bravura Records, showcasing 5 artists and their caroling aptitudes in each their recording. But these tasters definitely aren’t tasters as tasters come most. They are full length 24-bit/44.1KHz audiophile candy floss pointing at what to expect from the 24-bit/192KHz records that are scheduled to come. Oh, what joy!

The 5 artists are singer/songwriter and pianist Bill Cantos, guitar player George Krikes, pianist Jamieson Trotter (right) with dad Terry, jazz quartet Open Hands and master of intricate timing, drummer Simon Phillips with friends wrapping Carol of The Bells in ultra cool. Yup; this is real nice. Real nice, indeed.

Copenhagen Records offers 24-bit lossless

Danish record company Copenhagen Records announced 30th June that they will offer their releases in 16-bit and 24-bit lossless resolution. Which sample rates will be available, however, they do not reveal. Presumably 44.1KHz is what they mean when they say CD-quality. Master-quality would then likely be 96KHz or perhaps even 192KHz. Their ambitions, though, are much more well defined: They intend to offer their coming releases as 24-bit – directly off of the master. File formats are Apple Lossless, WMA and Flac.

Copenhagen Records already sell CD-quality 16-bit  WMA and Apple Lossless covering most of their backlist. What the new formats are concerned, so far only Nephew’s new album Danmark Denmark is available as 24-bit master quality. A brilliant band so perhaps I will just buy this album as Flac and tell you what rate it is.

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