Twittering Machines

Question: What music fills you with Joy?

September 25, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

I often think about two of music’s categories—beautiful and joyous. When people ask, typically at hifi shows, what kind of music do you want to hear, they’re looking for answers like “Classical” or “Female Vocal” or “Jazz” or “Large-Scale Classical”. My brain does not have […]

Books and Company

September 25, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

The Isaac Mendoza Book Company, situated at 15 Ann Street in NY, NY, first opened its doors in 1894 making it the oldest bookstore in the city before it closed its doors for good on February 28, 1990. I worked downtown from 1986 to 1994, […]

MusicAnswers Celebrates Improvements to the MMA

September 24, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

The News: the Music Modernization Act (“MMA”) has passed the Senate and looks like it’s a green light for approval. You can read all about MMA but in brief, the Bill creates a new entity, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), which will be responsible for […]

RMAF 2018: “Colorado Here I Come…”

September 24, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

“…right back where I started from!” It was a cool crisp 2011 fall day when I headed to the airport to attend the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest as Editor of AudioStream for the first time. Next Thursday, on what looks to be a cool crisp […]

Album of the Week: Bitter Funeral Beer Band with Don Cherry

September 21, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

Don’t tell anyone, but I follow Don Cherry wherever he goes. I’m like the paparazzi of his records and there are so many great records bearing his name as leader and side man. Just take a look! Some of my favorites, beyond the obvious, are […]

Question: Why Aren’t There More Negative Reviews?

September 19, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

This question necessarily assumes there are bad products that do not get reviewed. I’m going to have to answer a question with a question—who, in their right mind, would design, manufacture, and sell bad hifi? Of course this happens all the time in the pharma, […]

AURALiC Goes Hybrid

September 19, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

In an effort to provide more efficient support for their network-based products, AURALiC has decided to move to a hybrid sales model, combining direct and dealer-based distribution.

Question: Are Streaming Services Good or Bad?

September 18, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

My friend (and one of my favorite writers on all things hifi) Art Dudley voices his views on streaming in this month’s Stereophile. I quote, “Then again, maybe it’s time to heave ourselves up out of our Lay-Z-Boys, find the switch that controls the sodastream […]

SiriusXM vs. Everyone

September 18, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

We know that technological progress can outpace the law. The music industry is one such poster child where existing copyright law is as old as the hills, with some legislation dating back to 1909. The last major re-visit occurred in 1998, which is still B.S. […]

Marc Ribot and Tom Waits Team Up Against Fascism

September 18, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

Tom Waits has been quiet these past few years. Thanks to Marc Ribot, Waits has broken his 2-year song silence by appearing on Songs of Resistance 1948 – 2018, Ribot’s new album of protest songs. “Bella Ciao” is as Italian anti-Fascist folk ballad and Waits […]

Album of the Week: Ipek Gorgun

September 14, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

Ecce homo, “behold the man”, are the words spoken by Pontius Pilate as he presented a bound and crowned Jesus Christ to the angry masses before the Crucifixion. It has been referenced throughout history by painters, writers, poets, and philosophers. I owned a copy of […]

Review: Ayre EX-8 Integrated Hub

September 12, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

Last year, I reviewed and compared six streaming integrated amplifiers as Editor of AudioStream. I find value in these types of comparisons both as a doer and as a reader because comparative listening to like-components allows us to readily hear the sonic flavors baked into […]

Pitchfork’s 200 Best Albums of the 1980s

September 11, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

Music lists, you gotta love ’em. Pitchfork has just posted their picks for the 200 best albums of the 1980s, in descending bestest order. And it goes a little something like this:

Where Were You?

September 11, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

I was commuting into Brooklyn on my way to work on September 11, 2001. Our train stopped about 250′ shy of the Hoboken station, which was not an unusual occurrence. I buried my head back into my book, Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End […]

Lovely Music Hosted By Darren Henley

September 10, 2018 Michael Lavorgna

I wonder if many of you, like me, run into this issue when making a list: there is simply too much music to share. Add to this the desire to deliver something of interest to a larger group of readers, and (for me) this effort […]