New Herd and genius arranger and composer Masahiko Sato cooked up this spiritual work of Japanese big band magic over half a century ago but its sound still resonates today. It's a violent mix of styles that has become a cult classic with its fiery brew of alto and baritone sax, big drums and bass, wild guitars and trumpets, trombones and piano.

Culled from half a decade of home four-tracking, Remote Echoes is a hissy, crumbly, and ungrounded expression of Clay Parton and Canaan Amber’s ongoing Duster project. A mix of cassette only demos released under the banners Christmas Dust and On The Dodge, this 14 track album also includes a bevy of previously unissued stragglers. Duster’s unique blend of fuzzy guitars, bargain synths, muffled percussion, and hushed vocals anticipated chillwave, mumblecore, and corecore, elegantly illustrating the holy trinity of slacker vices: cigarettes, coffee, and the weed supreme.

On the front cover of Aziza Brahim’s new album, Sahari, a young girl poses in ballet shoes and a glistening white tutu. It’s a common childhood scene, but it’s tipped upside down. She’s not privileged and the backdrop isn’t a comfortable suburban home. She’s an exile, living nowhere near her homeland, and behind her stand the tents and buildings of a refugee camp. There’s a desert on the ground and a burning sky above. Yet even in this bleakness, she has optimism. She believes in a better future.

Seven years in the making, the official retrospective of one of Somalia's most famous and beloved private bands, Iftin. Digitized from cassettes recorded between 1982 and 1987 at the legendary Al-Uruba hotel's secret studio and the jams for the masses performed in the basement of Somalia's national theater. Banaadiri rhythms from Somalia's south, Mogadishu's finest vocalists, Dhaanto reggae-like guitar licks, and smoldering brass blend seamlessly with the sounds of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa to form one of rawest, most cosmopolitan eras of music anywhere. Iftin's Mogadishu is where the world's sounds begin and end.

Sim Sim Sim' is the Latin Grammy award-winning debut album from Bala Desejo. A band who are at the forefront of Rio de Janeiro's artistic renaissance, they channel influences of Brazilian 60s Tropicália, 70s psychedelia and MPB to create a nostalgic, yet joyfully, avant-garde sound.

The small island of Cholao is intriguing. What forgotten writings mention it? Both musicians and senior leaders of the archipelago, the members of the Cholao National Orchestra are the latest ambassadors of the musical folklore of the republic of the sun. The music of Cholao, with heady melodies and carnival rhythms, is imbued with the happy melancholy of great festive days.

For many years, Tabea Zimmermann has been regarded as one of the most renowned musicians of our time. Audiences and fellow musicians value her charismatic personality and deep musical understanding. Arguably the finest violist in the world today, Tabea Zimmermann owes her success not only to her exceptional talent, but also to the support of her parents, thorough training by excellent teachers, and a tireless enthusiasm to communicate her understanding and love of music to her audience.

On October 13th, Round Records will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Cats Under The Stars with a pair of 180gram vinyl reissues of the classic album. Both editions are now available for pre-order here. Recorded and mixed in 1977 at the Grateful Dead’s Club Front, Cats Under The Stars represents Garcia’s 4th solo studio record and the only studio record presented as the Jerry Garcia Band. Garcia enlisted John Kahn, Ron Tutt as well as Keith & Donna Godchaux for the recordings with contributions from Merl Saunders and Maria Muldaur, among others. The album’s iconic cover art was created by Stanley Mouse who drew his inspiration from Egyptian iconography while the Grateful Dead were planning their landmark performances at the Great Pyramids of Giza.

Rouvaun (real name: Jim Haun) was born in Bingham, Utah. Rouvaun was a virtual unknown until February 5, 1967, when he appeared in Las Vegas as the headline singer leading the 100-person Frederick Apcar French stage review Casino De Paris at the Dunes Hotel. His first record label, KALAMO, described him on his debut album cover as "The World's Greatest Singer". Nicknamed "The Vocal Vesuvius", Rouvaun continued performing on stage to sellout crowds and recorded a number of albums for RCA Victor label.

A late 70s gem from Tyrone's years on Columbia Records - one that shows both sides of his talents for the label! The set starts out with an extended clubby groover called 'Get On Up (Disco)' - a bumping sort of number that's clearly trying to push him into Johnnie Taylor territory, and which comes off surprisingly well. But even better are the rest of the tracks on the set - which update Tyrone's older Brunswick sound with a smoother, more sophisticated sort of style – still recorded in Chicago, and with some southern soul traces - but usually done in a warmer midtempo groove, with excellent lead vocals and great backing from The Haywood Sisters.

The king of romantic Chicago soul, Tyrone Davis' warm, aching vulnerability and stylish class made him especially popular with female soul fans during a lengthy hitmaking run that lasted throughout the '70s. Best known for the classics "Can I Change My Mind" and "Turn Back the Hands of Time", Davis was a versatile baritone singer who could handle everything from pop-soul to funk to bluesy chitlin-circuit R&B, but smooth soul was his true bread and butter. Once Davis broke through in the late '60s, he never really stopped recording; although the R&B chart hits dried up by the early '80s, he was still going strong into the new millennium, decades after his first single was released.

At one time a topflight soloist and accompanist in textbook bop fashion, Joe Castro eventually departed jazz world for more profitable territory of show biz and Las Vegas. On this inspired release, world renowned pianist Joe Castro is joined by Teddy Edwards, Leroy Vinnegar and Billy Higgins. This soul-jazz recording features the standouts “Groove Funk Soul”, “That’s All”, “Yesterdays” and “Play Me The Blues”.

The Corrs step back into the limelight with their stunning 2015 album "White Light". Having sold over 40 million albums, White Light is their first studio record in over a decade. The album features 12 brand new songs that exquisitely mix that endearing, classic Corrs sound with modern pop and traditional Irish folk music. Highlights are many and include the gently political 'Ellis Island', a song already praised by Bono; and the evocative 'Gerry's Reel', an instrumental dedicated to their late father, Gerry Corr who sadly passed away earlier this year.

After three and a half years of sweat, pain, tears and love – and even a little bit of blood – Colorado singer/songwriter Lara Ruggles is releasing her debut full-length album, "Cynics & Saints", on Immersive Records. Proof that good things come to those who wait, Cynics & Saints’ powerful vocals, lyrics as metaphorical as they are personal, and guitar-and-piano driven melodies take the listener on a journey that looks fearlessly into what it means to be willing to be broken; a reflection of the album’s creation. Lara Ruggles is well known among audiophiles. Her song "Snowflake" in DSD format was one of only 4 High Resolution tracks chosen to be pre-installed on every Sony Hi-Res Walkman sold around the world. The track was also featured on a sampler for Sony AR-1 speakers and will soon be included on a sampler by PS Audio!

Battles are the Networked Band, or perhaps the-band-as-network. An island chain linked by a unique combination of artistry, experimentation, technology and singular focus. A band that holds computerized loops in their brains, leaves sweat on their machines and whose sonic heartbeat is almost brutally human. Dave Konopka, Ian Williams and John Stanier have turned the tables on themselves this time, confronted their own ideas of what Battles is and here on their third album, have willed an answer to that question into existence. As the name might imply, "La Di Da Di" is a mushrooming monolith of repetition. Here is an organic techno thrum of nearly infinite loops that refuse to remain consistent. The rhythmic genus of Battles is here as ever; full frontal, heightened and unforgiving the gauntlet through which melody and harmony must pass, assailed at every turn.