Alterazione presents a critical statement - distinguished by its technical execution and breathtaking artistry. The album itself is a cathedral of sound, each cavernous chamber an exploration of space and consciousness. Presented in four movements (one track per side), altogether they extend as a transportive experience of evolution for the listener. Iniziazione - a steady departure that unfurls like the opening of a portal; a process of molecular transfiguration commences. Panoramic landscapes begin to stretch wide, glistening with an exotic beauty, before the shamanic incantations of Rituale draws things deeper…

Watt had many of the same ingredients as its predecessor, Cricklewood Green, but wasn't nearly as well thought out. The band had obviously spent much time on the road, leaving little time for developing new material…

Swans Soundtracks for the Blind, their last studio album released in 1996 prior to their 2010 reformation, will be released for the first time on vinyl by Young God Records on July 20th 2018. The album will also be reissued on CD featuring a repackage of the original digipak for the 1996 Atavistic release plus a bonus disc of the contemporaneous Die Tür Ist Zu EP (a German language version of some of the material from Soundtracks that also includes unique material) recently released for the first time on vinyl in the USA for Record Store Day 2018.

"Jon Hassell’s 1980 album Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics, produced alongside Brian Eno, is perhaps the most common entry point in the trumpeter’s catalog, arriving during the latter’s ascendance as a pop theorist and alchemist. But Hassell’s 1977 debut contains many of the same ideas in a more muted and subtle form. Inspired by raga music, particularly the work of the vocalist Pandit Pran Nath, Hassell processes his trumpet sound and focuses on notes that change in tiny increments, giving his melodies a slippery quality where you’re never quite sure where they are coming from or where they might go next. The background is filled with quiet twitches of rattles and bells, gurgling talking drum, and snippets of bird songs, creating a bed of sound that is hard to pin down but easy to absorb as a whole. Sources stretch in all directions, from the “Shhh/Peaceful” jazz of Miles Davis to Indian classical music to twinkling New Age, but the music’s refusal to be any one thing makes each listen feel like the first one." - Mark Richardson

Lapsley releases her highly-anticipated second album. Titled Through Water, it’s the follow up to her 2016 album Long Way Home, one of that year’s most acclaimed debuts. Released while she was still a teenager, Long Way Home featured Låpsley’s breakthrough moments Station and Falling Short and spawned one of the biggest club tracks in recent years (DJ Koze's edit of Operator) as well as inspiring a new generation of electronically minded songwriters including Billie Eilish, who name checked it as a key influence on her sound.

Switching from Epic to Capitol with 1985's Heart proved to be a wise move for the Wilson sisters, who experienced a major resurgence in popularity and gained many new followers. Heart's arena rock sound had become even glossier, and the band was selling more albums than ever…

This album is part of a series of budget imports from Warner that pulls from their huge archives to highlight some of jazz's most classic musicians. Compilations, especially budget-line collections, tend to be either boring greatest-hits lists that any fan would already own or poorly recorded live tracks that sound like they were issued from the inside of somebody's bathtub. This series is neither, combining quality live tracks with the truly classic studio recordings from each artist. A nice version of "Take Five" is included from the Newport Jazz Festival, as well as other classic Fantasy recordings like "Jeepers Creepers" and "I'll Never Smile Again."

Sleepy LaBeef - Larger Than Life (1955-1979) {6CD Deluxe Box Set, Bear Family BCD15662 rel 1996}
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© 1955-79, 1996 Sun / Bear Family Records | BCD 15662
Rockabilly / Country / Traditional Country

All of Sleepy LaBeef's most important records – from his early singles for Starday to his latter-day sides for Sun – are included on the mammoth, six-disc box set Larger Than Life. LaBeef recorded for a number of different labels during his career, and during that time, he explored a variety of roots music, from rockabilly and country to blues and soul. Spanning three full decades, Larger Than Life contains 158 tracks, including all of his recordings for Starday, Dixie, Columbia, and Sun.

Live in Amsterdam, Holland - Concertgebow, September 17, 1969. This is a more complete recording than the normal FM braodcast ROIO's of this show and hence it is some 10 minutes longer and does not have the interruptions to the programme that the FM version has. 'The Man and the Journey' were one of Pink Floyd's early concept-shows performed the first time April 14, 1969 in Royal Festival Hall, London…

For the most part, 1979's Eve is somewhat overlooked as being one of the Alan Parsons Project's finest work, when in fact it involves some of this group's most intricate songs. The album's concept deals with the female's overpowering effect on man…

J.J. Johnson & Al Cohn - The Birdlanders (1954) {Fresh Sound Records FSR-CD170 rel 1991}
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© 1954, 1991 Fresh Sound Records | FSR-CD 170
Jazz / Bop / Trombone / Saxophone

In 1954, Henri Renaud was highly regarded in jazz circles. The French pianist/producer had played with his share of American heavyweights, who ranged from Lester Young to Clifford Brown to Sarah Vaughan. So when Renaud visited New York in 1954 and launched an all-star project that he called the Birdlanders, he had no problem attracting a lot of first-class beboppers. In order to be a Birdlander, one needed to be a regular at Birdland…this time, Renaud himself is on piano, and he is joined by an impressive cast that includes vibist Milt Jackson, trombonists J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding, tenor saxman Al Cohn, bassist Percy Heath, and drummer Charlie Smith.

Peter Pearson is a composer of mainly instrumental music, with an emotionally driven style that crosses the genres of Easy Listening and Chillout with elements of Ambient, Lounge, Jazz, Blues, light Classical and Rock. Simplicity and emotion are his driving forces - if there is no passion, there is no music.

This is a must-have for the Holiday season. The set features 37 Christmas classics on 2 discs and is the perfect stocking stuffer for any rocker on your Christmas list. Gary Hoey is vastly underrated as a guitarist, mostly because he insists on doing the things he likes. That includes hanging out in the fairly exclusive country of instrumental guitar rock with the likes of Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, and includes his personal proclivity for Christmas music. This is actually his fourth Christmas release, and is a rerelease of the tracks from the first three with bonus tracks. With the exception of a few drum tracks, Gary plays virtually all the instruments on the album, which are limited to guitar, bass and drum, with a second guitar track often laid down to harmonize. Overall, this is a very satisfying album.

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XXI - Alfonso Ferrabosco - Consort Music To The Viols In 4, 5 & 6 Parts (2003) {Alia Vox AV9832}
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© 2003 Alia Vox | AV9832
Classical / Renaissance / Baroque / Chamber Music

Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger (b. Greenwich, c. 1575; bur. Greenwich, March 11, 1628) was an English composer and viol player of Italian descent. Although he gained access to the royal court as early as 1592, it took him almost 10 years to come to the attention of the queen, but in 1601 he became a member of the royal consort of viols. Ferrabosco marks the true beginning of the English Baroque. When Elizabeth I died in 1603, her successor James IV appointed Ferrabosco as music teacher to Henry, Prince of Wales and Ferrabosco continued to work in the king's service, becoming Composer of the King's Music in 1625, in 1626 succeeding John Coprario in the post of official court musician. The respect shown for him by his contemporaries proves that Ferrabosco was the court musician of his day, borne out by the fact that he was also the most copied.

Apartment House give new life to Julius Eastman’ s irrepressible ensemble piece from 1974. Unbounded energy and clarity of sound. Unmissable.