Audiophilepure

https://www.stereophile.com/content/ta-mp-3100-hv-g3-multisource-player

Now, more than 50 years later, when two of my friends came for tea, I reupped my artist-hipster status by playing Brigitte Fontaine’s 2025 release, Baraka 1980, which also features composer and multi-instrumentalist Areski Belkacem (24/96 FLAC, Kuroneko Records/Qobuz). Baraka 1980 consists of raw demo tapes recorded in Fontaine’s and Areski’s home studio (footnote 3). Right now, I think Brigitte Fontaine is trending in Bed-Stuy. I’ve seen people in Von King Park sporting Fontaine’s signature hairstyle: little pixie bangs.To impress my guests, Baraka 1980 had to come through my speakers with enough vibey presence at low background-listening volumes for people to notice and admire who was performing. Brigitte and Areski had to make my guests ask, “What is that record?” Which, thanks to the 3100, they did. It did. Brigitte’s voice rasped with ear-catching impishness.I was beyond impressed. The T+A MP 3100 HV G3 presented this track, and this album, and all the other recordings I tried with perfect clarity and compelling immediacy—right there, raw, bedrock solid and so, so, French.