Jana Dagdagan

Cans, You Dig It?

Jana Dagdagan Aug 29, 2016 First Published: Aug 29, 2016

The graphic above was created with data provided to me by the CTA (Consumer Technology Association). I understand that this data cannot possibly account for every single pair of headphones sold in any given year, but I believe that this is the most accurate account of data currently available to us.

Jana Dagdagan

Some Groovy Data

Jana Dagdagan Aug 22, 2016 First Published: Aug 22, 2016

The graphic above was created with data provided to me by the CTA (Consumer Technology Association). I understand that this data cannot possibly account for every single turntable sold in any given year, but I believe that this is the most accurate account of data currently available to us.

Jana Dagdagan

She Lit Up a Candle and She Showed Me the Way

Jana Dagdagan Aug 15, 2016 First Published: Aug 15, 2016

It's a Sunday in suburbia. Sunny, 95°"sweltering," some would say. The kind of heat where, you grab that cold can of Guinness, and the moment it leaves the cold comforts of the fridge, it's dead on impact.

You invite your good ole non-audiophile pal Stan over. You use a ruse you know Stan will fall for, like "Let's flip some burgers and listen to the cool commercials on Spotify's free tier," or "I just mastered the piña colada and torrented David Bowie's entire discography" (as if the piña colada alone wouldn't be enough to lure that sucker Stan), or "You left your phone at my place, want to come pick it up?" (In this last scenario, you would have to steal his phone first.)

Jana Dagdagan

Same As It Ever Was

Jana Dagdagan Aug 08, 2016 First Published: Aug 08, 2016

The year was 2116, and the Earth was finally great again.

War, poverty, global warming, starvation, racial inequalitythese, among many others, were all trivial, long overcome matters of the past.

Generation ZZZZers glided around in auto-piloted, eco-friendly, space/time ships. They communicated with each other via holographic telekinetic mind messages. (Though there was always the occasional hippie, of course, who'd pull out a vintage, non-functioning wePhone 2000 or whatever technological dinosaur was making a comeback these days. Lame, if you ask me.)

Interviews Jana Dagdagan

Nels Cline: His Upcoming Blue Note Debut and the Vinyl Trend

Jana Dagdagan Aug 01, 2016 First Published: Aug 01, 2016

Guitarist Nels Cline will make his Blue Note debut on August 5this coming Friday as a download, with CD following on August 19 and LP on September 2with his album Lovers. It's a beautiful, wide-ranging, 18-track, 23-person-ensemble look inside Nels's soul, and a project that's been in the making for 25 years. It contains a mix of Cline's originals as well as songs by Sonic Youth, Arto Lindsay, Jimmy Giuffre, and Great American Songbook Standards.

Jana Dagdagan

Remembering Jim Hall: a Jim Hall/Red Mitchell ArtistShare Project

Jana Dagdagan Jul 25, 2016 First Published: Jul 25, 2016

A fleeting memory:

Hazy.
Early morning.
I'm sitting outside Penn Station.
Next to me sits Jim Hall.
A boy with an upright bass walks past us.
"Is that a walking bass?" Jim chuckles.
The boy, in passing, raises an eyebrow, glances over.
Keeps walking, doesn't think twice.
Oh, the irony.

If you are a lover or a maker of jazz (or any music at all) you must be a fan of the legendary guitarist Jim Hall. At least, that is the hope I have seared into my mind, as to not completely lose all faith in humanity.

Interviews Jana Dagdagan

Fred Hersch

Jana Dagdagan Jul 18, 2016 First Published: Jul 18, 2016

New York, NYNews Bar Cafe, Union Square. It's 11am. Low jazz can be heard playing on the overhead speakers, along with background chatter and the occasional ambulance. Caffeinated beverages and breakfast sandwiches are present. I take a tentative sip of cappuccino, reach under the table for my trusty Zoom H5. Across from me sits jazz pianist and composer Fred Hersch. A man who has meant many things to me in my lifetimea musical role model, a source of inspiration, a friend, a set of frequently played digital music files... I sit anxiouslyis it the awe or the beverage? I think to myself: he's now entering the realm of debatable audiophile and breakfast co-conspirator. Cappuccino sip. Let us begin.

Jana Dagdagan

The Record Hunt: Williamsburg (Brooklyn, NY)

Jana Dagdagan Jul 11, 2016 First Published: Jul 11, 2016

At 5pm on a Thursday, some Thursdays ago, Robert Baird and I embarked on a post-work record hunt in Brooklyn. More specifically, we explored Williamsburg, otherwise referred to as "Hipster Land" (footnote 1). Aside from being an all-round neat neighborhood, Williamsburg is also home to quite a few record shops. This trip, we decided to keep our stops to a minimum and focus on two of our favorites: Rough Trade (64 N 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11249) and Earwax Records (167 N 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211).

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Why Apple Acquiring Tidal Could Be Exactly What The World Needs

Jana Dagdagan Jul 02, 2016 First Published: Jul 02, 2016

Apple is reportedly in exploratory talks to acquire Tidal. Though it's possible that nothing could come of this, and much of the online chatter surrounding this news is processed, regurgitated press releaseI'd like to contribute to the speculation by sharing my thoughts: I think it's exactly what the world needs. It would be an intelligent move on Apple's part that would simultaneously benefit listeners, musiciansand of course, boost the high-end audio industry.

Interviews Jana Dagdagan

Do We Need A High-End Audio Industry Association?

Jana Dagdagan Jun 27, 2016 First Published: Jun 27, 2016

As I was scanning the comments under Jason Victor Serinus's insightful piece, "What If They Gave a CES and Nobody Came?", Bill Leebens's words caught my eye. Being the (relatively) new audiophile on the block with high hopes to entice the masses, the concept of forming a trade body to promote high-end audio was immediately appealing to me. Dying to know more, I decided to stalk Bill and get to the bottom of this.