Garricking 💫

 

💫

Too commercial!

 

When I’m happy, I play… when I’m sad, I play…

 

… when it’s hot outside, I play… when it’s rainy, I play…

… and so on and on…

(and I record, too!)

💫

Stradivarius 💫

 

💫

Troppo 💫

 

One of the most sought-after discs in my collection.

🖖

The Thiele TWD-01 double idleer-wheel turntable in Wien

 

My pal Jaap Pees collaboration with Helmut Thiele.

💫

Sage 💫

 

Schooldays 💫

 

Red ❤️

 

💫

93 Current 93

 

A new David Tibet’s disc is always a noteworthy event…

I ordered my copy.

💫

Peter Hammill & a Gibson L5 💫

 

Any idea, folks?

 

That’s history!

😉

Riding the wave 🥳😉

 

Only one in the world!

 ☺️

100% handmade, Finemet transformers, 1.700 mW per channel stereo amp with Alps RK-50 potentiometer and vintage PCL82. 

Diamond-polished volcanic obsidian cabinet (~ 300 kg), massive bronze knob from Agamemnon’s helmet, hard-wired and soldered by Albert Einstein’s nephew.

💫

.

Is it possible?

 

Is it what’s only important, nowadays?

World is celebrating highest price-tags and never, ever a word about the musical performances of these amazing, impressively built gears.

Is it a lack of descriptive and argumentative abilities or an intellectual and cultural drift, now more than ever focused on money and the power that this implies and intends?

Status symbols, adult-toys for distracted, annoyed Julio Iglesias’ fans billionaires?

Do these machines play music or are just a show-up of the technical bravery and skills of their makers?

The arduous sentences to posterity.

💫

Low level/High resolution 💫

 

It’s all here, much better than the obsolete, abused and overused “High Fidelity”…

My system truest raison d’etre is the following:

• Low-Level Reproduction: Unlike many horn-based systems designed for high volumes, Kato's system was optimized for reproducing the finest details at realistic, home-friendly low volumes, allowing subtle nuances such as the musicians' breathing or the touch of their fingers on the instrument to clearly be audible.

Thanking to Hideo Kato-san for the above illuminating definition: I realized, to my surprise - thanks to Quad ESL and Gotorama 2.0 (the all-drivers, woofer-less one) - that I don’t need high SPL to enjoy my music of choice, but I sure need a breathtaking resolution, silence among notes and awesome detailing, which I get a-plenty.

 It’s really so simple, but worth insisting: not deafening SPLs or belly shaking low frequencies, but low level resolution; if your system is able to resolve the tape-hiss, the hum of a vintage guitar amp, the ambient noises, the musicians breathing, etc. the music will fully blossom in all its beauty… and won’t be by chance!.

Everything else is BS and musical illiteracy, as only a naturally neutral, black-as-a-coal mine background, allows any music to blossom and be nourishment for the soul and the mind. 

🖖

HBD, Anthony Braxton 💫🥂🍀💫🥂

 

Happy 81st birthday to Anthony Braxton 

Photo: Cody O'Loughlin for The New York Times

💫

Tono visits Tomohiro Kawakita-san 💫

 

Tomohiro-san’s company, Amitechs Corporation in Osaka, represents Goto Unit outside Japan; I spent with him and Shinichi Tanaka-san, some wonderful hours at Kato-san’s place, in 2017.

 

💫