Regrettes

Lead by outspoken frontwoman, Lydia Night, and comprised of Genessa Gariano on guitar, Sage Nicole on bass and drummer Maxx Morando, the group have left the LA rock scene floored, managing to capture the hearts of jaded rock critics while opening for acts like Kate Nash, Jack Off Jill, Bleached, Pins, Deep Vally and more. With nothing but demos available online, the group are already beginning to generate hype, from outlets like NPR, and with NYLON already heralding them them as a punk act you should be listening to.

Lead by outspoken frontwoman, Lydia Night, and comprised of Genessa Gariano on guitar, Sage Nicole on bass and drummer Maxx Morando, the group have left the LA rock scene floored, managing to capture the hearts of jaded rock critics while opening for acts like Kate Nash, Jack Off Jill, Bleached, Pins, Deep Vally and more.

This collection of her live performances at the
Olympia Theater (1961 & 1962) in Paris, her venue
of choice, is remarkable and presents her at her
very best. Edith Piaf in front of an audience, she
was both grand dame and one of the girls or guys,
depending on who you were. Performances of her
most famous songs, such as "Non Je Ne Regrette
Rien", "Les Mots D'amour", "Mon Dieu" and "La
Belle Historie D'Amour," are all here in dramatic
excellence. Here stands Piaf, her voice and her
audience full of pathos, pain, and grace.

Automatic starts off with the album's title track, which is a tribute to the band's dedicated fan base. The reggae-rock-dub tune is signature Iration and features a catchy chorus, along with an arrangement full of smooth baselines, keys and vocal affects. For longtime fans and reggae lovers, Automatic offers "One Way Track," "Go That Road," "Uptown" and "Mr. Operator." The latter is a roots reggae and R&B tune with an infectious chorus and hypnotizing layers of keys. "Go That Road" is a fun, country-reggae tune with a upbeat, catchy chorus, aptly-timed harmonies and relatable story.

Some of the album's strongest songs feature collaborator and co-producer Lincoln Parish. "Show Me" is a synthesized, 1980s-sounding dance tune with tempo changes and layered, echo-filled vocals. "Home" starts off with a country picking pattern and dust-bowl feel. The track then transitions into a bass heavy reggae-rock tune, before finishing with a alt-rock interlude/outro. The track is overflowing with sounds, which regrettably swallow-up the vocals during the song's chorus.

Finally, "Milk and Honey" is a reggae-funk-dance tune with shades of funk-soul phenom Robert Randolph. These songs might surprise some listeners and catch others completely off guard; however, these radio friendly tunes are a refreshing change from the often recycled sounds of the genre. The songs are welcomed editions to the album, and should help Iration expand to audiences outside the reggae-rock genre.

Automatic is hard to categorize. It's not really a reggae album or a rock album. And, it's not a pop album or R&B either. It's all the above. Automatic is an album for all listening moods. If you want some reggae, you got it; if you want to dance, you got it. If you want upbeat pop, you got that as well. The beauty of Iration's "all of the above" approach is that it is unique and refreshing, as well as unpredictable-which makes Automatic accessible to new fans while keeping the old ones satisfied.

- Kit Chalberg (The Pier)

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Phono Preamplifier

Thorens turntables can be considered state-of-the-art in hi-fi technology as they would extract even the most minute details from your precious vinyl records. The signals generated by the pickup cartridges are however very small and therefore must be amplified to a much higher level. Regrettably, most of today's amplifiers are no longer equipped with a dedicated phono stage. This unfortunate situation was a good reason for Thorens to develop the TEP 302, a complete phono preamplifier including RIAA equalization, which was to complement the outstanding playback performance of our turntables.

The TEP 302 is a pure-bred Class-A amplifier which employs selected, very special low-noise operational amplifiers throughout. The circuitry has been optimized "by ear" after several extended listening sessions. Of course, the TEP 302 also features a 15-Hz subsonic filter in order to protect the woofers from dangerous excursions when a warped record is played. More details, more dynamics.