Seven years have passed since Oldham-born, Nashville-based Karen Elson released critically acclaimed debut album "The Ghost Who Walks", a work that was notable less for its solid collection of murder ballads and blues jams than the person who produced it: the model and singer-songwriter’s then-husband Jack White. In the time since, the pair have undergone a not terribly amicable separation (though are reportedly now friends), and Elson’s musical tastes seem to have drifted away from White’s bluesy leanings and towards something more luscious and Laurel Canyon-esque. This set includes collaborations with Patrick Carney (The Black Keys), Father John Misty, Pat Sansone (Wilco), Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), Laura Marling, Nate Wolcott, Paul Cartwright, and Dhani Harrison.

The colours of The Magical Forest glow in this remarkable recording which brings together Sinikka Langeland’s Norwegian-Finnish-Swedish Starflowers quintet with the singers of the Trio Mediӕval. It’s an inspired concept: the Trio Mediӕval, with their affinity for folk music and their unique vocal blend, adapt themselves ideally to Sinikka’s sound-world, which is once archaic, timeless and contemporary. The quintet members, all bandleaders in their own right, are amongst the most characterful players in Scandinavia today, and Sinikka sets them free to improvise around her cycle of songs, built upon myths and legends of the world tree.

One of the great fusion saxophonists, Bob Malach made the move from his hometown of Philadelphia to NYC in 1976. He soon found work with the likes of Stanley Clarke and Alphonse Mouzon (he’s featured on Mouzon’s MPS release Baby Come Back), and was in the studio with Stevie Wonder, Spyro Gyra and the Brecker Brothers. For the first album under his own name, Malach assembled a group of well-known playmates: John Lee and drummer Gerry Brown were high school buddies, and he and keyboardist Jasper van’t Hof had worked together in Mouzon’s group.

"Villains" is the seventh studio album by American rock band Queens of the Stone Age. The evolution of Queens of the Stone Age has been slow and steady; and 20 years in the band still sounds amazingly energized. Even more miraculous is the notion that Queens of the Stone Age have perhaps yet to hit their creative peak—no small feat for any band, let alone one that still tinkers with a form of music as old as rock.

Produced by Grammy Award winner Joe Henry (Billy Bragg, Elvis Costello, Aimee Mann), "The Traveling Kind" comprises 11 duet tracks, including six new songs written by Harris and Crowell with co-writing by Mary Carr, Cory Chisel, Will Jennings, and Larry Klein. Also featured are new renditions of previous Crowell cuts including "No Memories Hanging Around" as well as new interpretations of Lucinda Williams' "I Just Wanted to See You So Bad" and Amy Allison's "Her Hair Was Red". This album is Country & Bluegrass, 2016 Grammy Nominees.

In 2015, the young American singer Cécile McLorin Salvant won a Grammy with her album "For One to Love", and this live follow-up from New York’s Village Vanguard, with her classy trio and an occasional string quartet, reworks plenty of standard songs (there are a few shrewd originals too) with audacity, imagination and unerring dramatic timing. Some say Salvant largely avoids jazz models, but the great Betty Carter is a significant influence, even if Salvant and her fine pianist Aaron Diehl arrange the plotlines and payoffs of songs much more meticulously.

In September 2013 Katatonia returned with "Dethroned & Uncrowned" released through Pledge Music and in partnership with Kscope, Peaceville’s sister label. "Dethroned & Uncrowned", a reworking of 2012’s "Dead End Kings", allowed the band to explore a more progressive sound, creating new moods and textures while still staying truthful to the core of the songs.