From Oriental meets Baroque to the Aaron Parks Little Big was just two clicks away thanks to modern streaming conveniences. Electroacoustics, some free jazz nuances and rocking dynamics are Aaron's ingredients for his swooping melodies. Intelligent multi-layered semi improvisations all well recorded characterize this album. With the Audio Alto and Avantgarde speakers both, the sound was palpable, rich, spread out and well defined. Dynamic attacks from percussive instruments and piano added to the great aural illusion of having the band with us in the room.

For some more complex music we turned to Yo-Yo-Ma / Eric Jacobson / The Knights on Golijov: Azul. In the opener "Ascending Bird", there is a build-up of tension which culminates in a large organ opening up in haunting fashion. Nature vistas arose across our mental retinas with the original Persian folk song about a bird wanting to fly to the sun which succeeds after two failures. Compared to the generic USB cable, the track now was that much more involving and enveloping. This was true also for the magnificent title track composed by Osvaldo Golijov where Argentinean tango influences and continuous percussion carry the composition from nice and sweet to frenzied once the horns kick in.

Des pas sous la Neige is a project by French percussionist/composer Joël Grare. Here he plays a unique instrument called the clavicloche, a set of chromatically tuned cowbells spanning 3½ octaves. It took him two decades to collect all of these correctly tuned bells at farms and flea markets. The album fascinates from first note to last, with all 18 tracks different from each other to stay captivating. Next to compositions by Grare himself, he adapted three "Abel Torbak" pieces by Béla Bartók for his bells which start with a clear sudden attack then build up the sound before decaying over a long period. Each bell had not only its distinctive sound but also size.

Srajan was once lucky to attend a live concert by trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf on lake Geneva and both thrilled and deafened in the process. It's true that Maalouf and band like to turn the volume way up. That plus frequent audience participation add something special though his live concerts should be attended with care to protect our hearing. Live Tracks 2006/2016 is a compilation covering 10 years of performances though the Tidal 24-bit cover only contains performances from 2011 to 2016. Nonetheless the album is pure fun starting with "Red & Black Light" as it was recorded in Nantes where a solo piano kicks off before a single vocal picks up the simple but catchy melody. That melody is then sung by the audience in increasing numbers leading to a heavy guitar-driven outburst rocking the venue. Six minutes into the track, Maalouf's eerie trumpet appears atop a slowly plucked bass. This continues until a sudden stop after which band and audience continue the melody for the remainder of the 10-minute number. Comparing generic cable and  Audiocadabra, the latter rebuilt the Zénith venue inside our listening room – and that venue was a big amphitheatre!