Munchen Files - Highest End at M.O.C.

Thanking Tim's Eagle Eye and good taste...

Perfection... aehm... better: Natural Science:-)

Kudos to God... cannot think of anything better.

Munchen Files - Lutz Aeterna

Mr. Volker Lange of Lutz Precision got the bug!

... teeth and tapes at MSM - yours truly and mr. Lange with Oscar Peterson's new tapes!

Volker Lange

He fell in love with open reel tape recorders many years ago and never forgot it.

Part of an huge corporate firm, he had the means and the strength to enter audio industry through main door and this is the result.

Prices of the metal reels, two for a full album, 1:1 master dubs with premium tape, are for the first time pretty right and the catalog isn't nice sound and crappy music/musician as sometimes found in other tape efforts, BUT superb music and recording.

Chatting with Volker at MSM Studio's evening in Munchen - also joined by witty and cool Amphion's managing director Anssi Hyvonen -  I got the feeling that now it's really the time for a  renaissance of tape and open reel enjoyed at home.

The Lutz Precision's plans are also of a new handy, cheap, audiophile play-only tape machine  to be produced and marketed, soon... coming from a Studer A-80 hard-core lover, well...

That's breaking news, folks!

Let's stay tuned on Volker and Lutz Precision.

Worth it!


Thanks to Michael Vrzal for teeth pix:-)

M.O.C. Files - Vinyl records washing machine frenzy

Yes, first was Keith Monk's...

It was a washing machine frenzy, at last Munchen's M.O.C.... everybody was showing variations of old KMAL - a spinning platter, one, two, even three arms with distilled purified water and cleaning solutions and suctioning dirty water from the virgin-again grooves... Nessie, Okki, Hannl, but only KLaudio, a S. Korean/USA joint-venture company with their KD-CLN-LP200 model and Kuzma from Slovenia with their prototype - only a spinning motor and drying nice array, as the Cavitek by Allendale Ultrasonic Co. UK was not included in the offer - were cleverly on Audio Desk Systeme's path, the first and, maybe, the best of this new breed - i.e. easily, conveniently cleaning both sides and drying, giving a perfectly clean disc in a single, some minutes long shot.

People - myself included - were running, discs in hands, to try this or that, then rushing to a friendly booth to ask for auditioning the cleaning effectiveness.

A new interactive way of meaning an Audio Fair, more reminding a village fair, where everyone was collaborating in the name of... you name it...

My already quoted Muddy Waters'  "Folk Singer" original pressing copy was flawlessly cleaned two times at KLaudio and then auditioned two times and the results were really top notch.

Thanks goes to them for their kindness.  

When back home, I repeated the washing cleaning with my Audio Desk Systeme and the already good results were further improved as the German-made RCM uses four rotating brushes which are even more effective in removing also the smaller debrises and dust bugs.

30.000+ vinyls...

That's - more or less - what's it looks a-like...

... from somewhere Downunder... just click on the pix for a better overall view, folks.

Thanks to Reinhard for hinting.

It's me!

Rehab? ... naaaaahhhh!

Musings?

Unfortunately not...

Musings - A foot can make the difference

When posing for a group pix, a foot can make the difference...

Charlene, Dick, Ann

:-)

Munchen Waxes - "Doc Watson and Son" on Vanguard Stereolab VSD 79170

One of the (shame on me) several vinyl discs I bought, cheap or less cheap, during M.O.C....

A minty copy of Doc and Merle Watson on Vanguard, Vanguard Golden Label... I'm not an huge fan of ol' Doc, only owns a couple of discs, an amazing live double album, always on Vanguard... amazing playing and recording quality and a superbly captured audience...

I guess I listened to the above ten years ago.

This VERY disc I knew for being Doc's first, with its black & white pix and father and son beautiful, honest faces and acoustic guitars  blinked me at Fenn Music, a few days ago, in Munchen.

Paid a pizza for this old, pristine copy... when back home, I played it as the first disc and... cannot believe at the beauty and zestness of Doc's powerful voice and beauty, mellowness and details in spades.

A 2Die4 disc... a Superdisc... my Gotorama is steaming like an Appalachian train... the mouth harp joke where Doc call for "mama" is a dream of dynamics and Doc is using a zillion years old incredibly crisp Martin's, not the Gallagher's he then played for decades.

I suggest you go find your copy and enjoy a simple, natural voice and loose you in the humble complex sound of two acoustic guitars and a (great) voice.

Your ears and audio system will smile.

Munchen Blues - first impressions and some thoughts

Blues, so... sadness, you'd say?

'cos I had bad time, heavy weather, no parking, bad food, the worst of companies, you'd guess... DEFINITELY NOT, folks!!!

Feel bluesy as I already miss, how Mr. Fremer told me yesterday evening at MPS' Oscar Peterson vinyl and open-reel tape reissue party - "The Best Show in The World"... M.O.C. of course!

... and it's absolutely true the contrary, as, even more than other times, the friends from Germany, Belgium, USA, France and England have been, truly and no kiddin', my family for three days...

Just back home with an average of 5 hours sleep per-night, after chatting of virtually everything, from politics (how could't be asked by everyone about our fave badass national hero, Berlusconi:-)))), music, food, places, dreams and ideas, after hangin out with Peter, Joe, Mr. Chang, Frank, Wolfgang, Micheal, Holger, Michael, Christoph, Laurence, Timothy, Christian, Norbert, Thomas, JC, Roberto, Pierre, Christian and Gitta, Alessandro, Maciej,  Dominique, Eckart, Wolf, Dirk, Serge, Dirk and others great guys and pals I apologize to do not name, my fault... well... I miss kampaing loudly and laughing, and making noise, soaked in music... deeply, painfully.

Blues it's what I'm listening right now, on a supremely unaudiophile Arhoolie wax of Sonny Boy Williamson and Big Joe Williams... a pagan mantra...

Beer was a nectar for me and my pals and mr. Chung at Silbatone's Shrine was demonstrating WE 12A and 13A telling the same story for three days (plus today I wssn't there, I suppose...) talking about these dinosaurs horns and drivers, the Stone Age technology involved which someway matches with Old Technology of our ears... and every listening session and relative tale was always including nice variations and adding...

Roberto & Mayer's four chassis 211/211 amps... 

David, me and Kang Su

Wolf & Joe & beer lady...

Michael, Manho Oh from South Korea, unknown gentleman and mr. Chung, Silbatone's patron from South Korea

Holger, JC and Frank

Dirk and Dirk

Eunice Kron's 1610 triode

Christoph and his cockpit

Kang Su Park's 1610 triode amp

A 3-ways passive crossover, all silver foil Duelund's caps... 

Commonwealth 12A and Priority Control arm

A Priority Control arm detail

Met my dear friend David from Canada and Kang Su Park from S. Korea and, again, empathy in spades... said hello to Tim De Paravicini, chatted briefly with Per Lundahl... kissed Hildegard and hugged Thomas Mayer and Bernd...

Met and chatted with Chad Kassen from Salina, KS... he's the Analogue Production Man... great guy and a HUGE (again) blues lover and scholar!

Music... yes, it was there... the best overall aural experience was at WE/Silbatone room, but, ya know, I'm partial, 'cause there was the party...

Like vessels at night, needing a safe harbour, my friends and me were gathering there at intervals after visiting other boots... back home, swapping some wittiness with Joe Roberts or Frank "Dr. Sardonicus" Schroder or Timothy Gurney... Maria Callas or Willie Nelson were there with us...

How could we ask for more, don't us?

An harbor... music, friendship, that awesome so easy and difficult to find sense of being part of a group yet unique, precious...

Isn't music and the needed audio ancillaries, after giving us all some relief from life facts our refuge and safe harbor... making time a differently clicking stuff and the invisible palpable.

So... best room or gear?  ... don't ask, folks... just don't ask...  gears... foggetaabouit... cars, fuck cars... I'm after travelling, sightseeing, not clutches and carburetors... audio?... gimme music!

Buy a shitty (kidding...) Lenco L 75 and play Capt. Beefheart or Tom Waits, not audiophile muzak...

Seriously: let's try to never forget we're music and audio lover and scholars, not audio lovers, only...

So boring, empty... strange... no, NOT that strange, my friends and me talked very sparingly about audio... but partied a lot and music was the amniotic fluid which made so plesant being together...

Joe Roberts, I love him, was sweating and chatting and drinking and laughing and I mirrored my eyes in his and others and we were like kids... doing the Right Thing... being in Da-Place.

The Navel of the World... the place to be... how excessive, romantic, doped I am...

... naaaahhhh... that's Munchen Blues... blues of a town where young ladies dance in the bars... where people is cycling in evening under a light rain and look cool and brave, not saving on gasoline... where MOC repeats the miracle of making people from around the world to gather and share and have good time or whatever...

Blues is also the minty copy of Muddy Waters' "Folk Blues" on Chess I found at Fenn Music, waiting for me...

Muddy Waters' "Folk Singer" 1st pressing label...

The above finding being the only blues which makes me feeling, definitely, not bluesy...  but it's one year sharp to next year MOC!

...  at Augustine brewery, last Friday night: Wolf von Langa, great guy... cleverly howling - auuuuuhhhh, beer in hand - like his nice name would suggest... and Joe asking to me if I ordered a veggie platter when one kilo meat was being served and laughing to tears...

Thanks all, pals... thanks to Munchen and Muncheners, for GREAT hosting... and music, for being.

Later...

Goldmine Dept. - Stereo Mono Webzine

WOW, folks... just a loud, sincere WOW...

Have a look here and, then and at your convenience, browse here...

Every link is a new opening world... thanking Stereo Mono superb site and... Kavi Alexander, of course.

Jenny Lysander's new video, produced by Piers Faccini

From Piers - "Jenny Lysander is the first artist to have signed to my label Beating Drum so I'm really excited to be introducing her beautiful songs to you!"

Her debut EP 'Lighthouse' will be out very soon on the 26th May but until then take a look and listen to her song 'Dancing on the edge' taken from the EP we made together.

Piers talking again - "I filmed the little video on an iPhone while we were recording!"

Lovely song and... use of iPhone, as well...

Women and vinyl records - what a marriage!

Macho, male-only... maybe also (slightly) sexist and (sometimes) unrespectful, this very site - gladly suggested by my pal Reinhard - still shows us all a romantic, poetic way our beloved "other half" handle and handled and related with vinyl-records, obviously a sexy media per-se, with the large covers, perfect (vs. the CD's) for expressing a message, artwork, whatever...

The pixies, coming from everywhere in a period of time spanning several decades, also here to a larger extent, are very nice, funny, amusing, tender and cute.

Thanking the people who lovingly collected and shared these time capsule-like better world, where gals were enjoying music and having good time and not, for example, only shopping for... shoes and the like:-)))

Enjoy, as I did...

- 2 days countdown to Munchen Hi-End Show

See you at Silbatone's Shrine, folks!

In the name of Music, audio and friendship...

Rollei 35

I recently decided to undust and use again my old, trusty little cutie, the Rollei 35... found a 1,35V adapter in UK to use non-mercury oxide cells as previously used and now discontinued and still have a correct light-meter reading and felt goose-bumps while feeding the B/W film in the camera...

Such an old timey, Zen act... I realized I didn't use ANY old, analog camera in the last nine years... NINE years, yes.

I wish to reappropriate myself with the art of choosing a subject, to think about shooting and frame and not using this faaaar too common iPhone/Digital camera syndrome... hey, it's easy, it's free...

A film add drama to taking any picture... it's eye & soul archery vs. lazily and random shooting... and Arjuna is my hero!

Then will - I hope - enjoy again the time lapse waiting for the printing.

A renaissance... almost an awakening.


*********************************************************************************

P.S. - I've been asked about the cell adapter - I recently bought it at Small Battery Company in London and the part is called MR-9, Made in Japan, which thanking a tiny built-in diode is able to lower a conventional and easily available watch and general purposes Duracell 1,55V to the 1,35V needed for correct light metering, as previously performed by the now banned and discontinued PX13 and 625 mercury-oxide cells. Worth pointing it out, the mercuric-oxide and the silver oxide cells have the same character to do not change their voltage - like other cells do - during their lifespan, but to keep it up to specs... 'til they abruptly pass away... The above mentioned MR-9 also comes with a Duracell 386 silver-oxide cell, included in the order.

No comment!

His Bobness crowned with Medal of Freedom

Well deserved, Bob... but, hey... who's that Afro-American guy near His Bobness?

:-)

Icarus

My wife's eye and my dreamy mind...

Jack White's "Lazaretto" vinyl disc... the weirdest disc, ever...

One side is shiny, the other is mat... one side begins from... the most inner groove and ends at out groove, near rim...  there are electric & acoustic songs intro suddenly merging in the complete song... there are on-label phantom grooves and... daa-daaaaa... the first "floating angel" hologram engraved on one side end, visible when spinning the record...

OK, cool... and the music?

... mmmmhhhh...

Is it worth the effort or... just gimmicks?


Frightening looking the arm working wrong, anyway...


Out on June 9th, 2014... if any:-)

Harmonia Mundi - a brief history

Thanking The Audio Beat Blog... a much worth reading essay.

Harmonia Mundi headquarters in Aix-en-Provence, France

... and thanking Harmonia Mundi for the decades-long commitment to great music and superb recording, sure the most cherished in my discotheque!