RAI is back to 16” discs 😳

 

A new RAI Radio3 Suite segment takes us into the Via Asiago archives to unearth some of the oldest musical recordings. 

Every Friday, we discover one of the so-called *padelloni*—jargon for the large lacquer discs used in radio broadcasting during the 1950s. 

The first episode, dedicated to Carmen Bulgarelli Campori—a pioneer of conducting in Italy—is available as a podcast here: tinyurl.com/3xsfyzts

As a vintage gears lover and scholar, cannot but moan about the el Cheapo looking turntable on the above picture, while RAI used in the hey days the mighty EMT927 with its imposing 16”/44 cm Ø platter, purposely made for the old lacquers.

With such a treasure in their archives would have been wise to keep at least one of these behemoths in use, just in case… as it’s happening nowadays!

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Gary Burton’s signed autobiography 💫

 

I recently learned of and ordered this book.  As I usually do, I bought a used copy online from a thrift store.  It just arrived and lo’ and behold when I cracked it open, there was a written dedication and autograph from Gary Burton himself!  

Can’t wait to get started on it.  Anyone else read it?  Thoughts?

EDIT:  Great read - can’t put it down!

Thanks to Arthur Di Dio and congratulations for the cool find 🍀🙌🍀

Perena cables, Made in France

 

When also cheap, everyday objects were made well, with care… these vintage DIN cables for my Quad 33/303 combo are just fine.

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Gotorama - effortlessly taxing it around…

 

 ...for the long-awaited visit from the air-conditioning technician; I took the opportunity to make some minor, almost subtle adjustments to the height and tilt of the mid-bass and midrange horns on both loudspeakers.

They are 250 kg each and I’m able to move them with a finger (or so).

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John Renbourn’s Faro Annie

 

Here is the mastertape on BASF of the iconic, classic album on Transatlantic.

Recorded at Bill Leader’s studio.

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Details 💫

 

Cables-wise: I don’t let brands, machism and huge-per-se to rule my choices, BUT material, concept and performance, only… so don’t be fooled by hair-like diameters and cheap-looking banana-plugs.

The thinner wire between Goto drivers and crossover is a Siemens 1930 solid core copper with cotton sleeve, the fatter wire between power amp and crossover is Audio Consulting’s cryogenic-solid silver wire with cotton sleeve… all cables ends are carefully deoxidized before inserting in banana plugs for optimized contact.

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Paparazzi 😳

 

Yesterday I got emailed a pix of myself from back, paparazzi-ed by someone who recognized me but didn’t stop to say hello.

I had my green-grocery bag on my right-hand and last Mojo magazine on my left-hand.

What a strange, weird feeling and evenience.

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Evening listening 💫

 

Some organic, acoustic music masterfully played by two wonderful musicians, an HDCD issued by a tiny, obscure label, played on a vintage audio system, listened by a vintage, well: aging music lover… what else?

There is a definite feeling of quietness which is refreshing, tuning the life-flowing to a natural pace.

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DeArmond 💫

 

From the early days of flat top amplification, meet the DeArmond RHC-B. 

Used famously by Chicago Blues legends Lightning' Hopkins and Elmore James, the RHC-B is sought after for its bright, punchy single-coil sound.

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News from Brian Eno 💫

 

Cats and musicians 💫

 

A cat asleep on your lap has little interest in whether you have just changed the history of music.

These photographs bring together Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Bernard Herrmann, John Cage, Dmitri Shostakovich, Alfred Brendel, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Michel Legrand, Tōru Takemitsu, Thelonious Monk and Vladimir Horowitz in moments of feline company.

What makes them so touching is the smallness of each gesture: a hand resting on fur, a kitten perched on a shoulder, a smile far from the concert platform. Familiar figures become wonderfully human.

Different musical worlds, one shared pleasure: the company of a creature perfectly happy to interrupt a masterpiece for a little attention.

And whatever the score says, the cat chooses the tempo.

The new (mild) bass horn is under construction!

 

… and here’s unveiled - at last - the sQUAD who’s after the task!

… and they’re working day & night!

It’s not the workmen are minute, it’s the horn which is HUGE. 😉

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Pultec EQP-IA 💫

 

One of most sought-after studio pieces of gear!

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A sought-after Nick Drake’s disc 💫

 

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Silent Friend (2026)

 

I truly, heartfeltly loved this little movie!

Here below a cold, concisely written synopsis… but there is MUCH more in the slow, s l o w poetic movie to guess, interpretatively think about and loose our mind.

Set in the botanical garden of a medieval town in Germany. Three epochs, three personalities, three sometimes clumsy but sincere attempts to free themselves and to create links with the plants and the world of the garden. An encounter.

Also acting is beloved Lea Seidoux 🌸

A closing note about the music, very appropriately chosen throughout… BUT the closing song masterfully sang by Blixa Bargeld on a Goethe poem is worth the movie.

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A Norman Blake’s pre-owned ol’ 000-18 Martin…

 

… is for sale.

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New from David Sylvian 💫

 

The freshly minted label Nanoq release a new album by David Sylvian titled “The Distance Between The Killer and the Killing”. 

It’s the first album Sylvian has released in 15 years, composed of sessions recorded between 2012 - 2025, the album is based on recomposed improvisational sessions with a variety of artists ranging from Otomo Yoshihide, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bilianna Voutchkova and Miako Klein, to Jamie Drouin, Lance Austin Olson and more.

The 46 min instrumental is unlike anything tackled by Sylvian before and is seen by Sylvian himself as the official follow up to his 2009 album Manafon. In Pauline Nadrigny’s essay on the album, she describes something of the listening experience. ‘… voices surge that belong to no one in particular. 

One that hoots and hums across a violin, worked until it loses its voice, becomes mere matter among other matter. A voice inside the breath of a clarinet or a recorder. Grunts, gurgles, distant cries, somewhere between man and bird, woman and nuthatch. Fragments of choirs, far off, snatches of a song long since lost. Too far to be recovered.’

‘What a remarkable piece of work. At times it feels like listening to a symphony; at others, as though (Sylvian’s) voice is speaking through the music. At first, I was trying to find my own sound, but somewhere along the way I completely forgot about that and became utterly absorbed in the music. Hearing Ryuichi’s presence emerge here and there throughout the piece also brings a very special feeling for me. Thank you for creating something so extraordinary.’

Available on January 2027 💫