Avi Kaplan - I’ll Get By
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Departure Songs
Hammock
Post Rock . Shoegaze
What a beautiful poetic image - “Let’s kiss while all the stars are falling down.” It is one of the song titles on this gentle, majestic and oftentimes sad record. Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson find a deep musical expression for life - the introspective, silent experience that can be as intense as anything outside of us.
They intricately layer sounds of synths and guitars to create enveloping soundscapes. Most tracks are instrumental. Some with lovely voices - where the voice almost becomes part of the soundscape. The musical craft on this album is very rare. And it pays to sit down and exclusively listen to the almost two hours long double album in one go.
Inner Song
Kelly Lee Owens
Electronic . Indie Pop
Kelly Lee Owens hails from Wales in the UK. She released her debut album in 2017 and this, her current and second album, in 2020. There is more to her music than just music. What this album ultimately evokes in the listener varies from individual to individual. If we let the music seep into us, things will certainly rise up. And in the meantime, there are some excellently crafted grooves to enjoy.
“One of the most beautiful records of the year”, according to a five-star review from NME’s Ben Jolley in 2020.
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Roon radio served this up the same day you posted. Lovely stuff 
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Nice coincidence, Ben. 
Yes, it’s beautiful, sometimes easy, sometimes difficult and has lots of depth. The NME interview is interesting:
American VI: Ain’t No Grave
Johnny Cash
Singer-Songwriter
What a life he lived. I bow to all who are as courageous in blazing their path as he was. Famed producer Rick Rubin approached Cash wanting to do a series with him. Sales of Cash’s music were minimal at the time. The two men started a very fruitful and long collaboration. ‘American VI: Ain’t No Grave’ is the last in that series and Cash’s last record. He died shortly after. Parkinson’s had him in its grip and he played whenever his body permitted him to do so. You can hear his intimate confrontation with the end of life throughout this brilliant record. If I had to chose two of his albums, it would be this and ‘At Folsom Prison’.
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Such a voice. To my ears, the Blue Coast DSD256 sounds a touch different from the Qobuz 192. Not sure if it’s better, but not the same.
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That’s some jazz guitar.
Into Valhalla
Juno Reactor
Trance
Juno Reactor began in 1990. ‘Into Valhalla’ is the newest of their 18 EPs and appeared in 2019. Their claims to fame include having composed for the ‘Matrix’ movies series, a number of anime movies, and having toured with large acts like Moby.
A number of the tracks are variations on a theme. Juno Reactor employ powerful electronic blasts. The rhythms are fast, driving and hard hitting - sometimes even danceable. The song structures are exhilarating and precise. If the sounds on ‘Into Valhalla’ had a color, it would be a dark black. This is half an hour of music for warriors of the 21st century.
Captures a lovely sense of lively intimacy at the Village Vanguard.
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This is one of my favourite jazz albums so, when I read this review, I decided to take a punt.
I am very glad that I did!
Notwithstanding the necessity (hopefully for not much longer 
) for dCS owners to downsample to DSD128, it sounds superb on my system.
I echo the sentiments of the reviewer. “Oh my, oh my…”
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That’s a great one.
Never gets old.
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Still sounds ‘live’, after all these years…
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I’m fond of that live album too. Another favourite is Shelly Manne’s own group “At the Blackhawk” (all five volumes). The pianist on that album is Victor Feldman, who seemed to more or less disappear from jazz a few years later to do session work. He appears on some Steely Dan albums in the 70s. His early jazz album “Arrival”, which includes Bill Evans’ bass player Scott LaFaro, is excellent.
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Yes, us British chaps all dress like that.
The moment that sax starts playing on Autumn Leaves is pure magic…
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I know this is from January, but it’s worth posting to share how much it means to me thet all of us as colleagues share our musical experiences with each other. I already owned a PCM192 and a DSD64 version—a rip of the hybrid SACD containing the Analogue Productions remaster, which is very nice—of this recording. Thanks to this post by Jonathan, I now have something even better. And not merely incrementally so. On the MSB Select II, it is superb. As it is also on my Vivaldi stack.
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