Reprogrammed, resampled and reimagined, 11 5 18 2 5 18 is a collection of 9 tracks that serve as a translation of Tiersen’s live show, taking songs from his 2021 release Kerber plus additional tracks from his catalog, completely restructured to present a brand new album. With a mesmerizing mix of piano patterns, swirling electronics and dancefloor-ready grooves, these songs continue an exciting new chapter in his career.

That 2022’s GET ON BOARD is Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal’s first collaboration in more than 50 years is trivia and nothing more—these guys have sounded ancient since they were teenagers, and, like the folk-blues legends Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee to whom they pay tribute here, they never cared about trend or passage of time such as it pertains to art. Even those only glancingly exposed to American folk music know these songs: “Pick a Bale of Cotton,” “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee,” “I Shall Not Be Moved,” “The Midnight Special.” And while artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf followed the raw, modern sound of the electric guitar, Terry and McGhee remained stubbornly unplugged, as connected to the white folk of Pete Seeger as the Black blues of their Southern forebears. Some songbooks come alive with fresh interpretation; GET ON BOARD does its source justice by doing nearly nothing at all.

The planets align as the mighty Sun Ra Arkestra, under the direction of the maestro Marshall Allen, are releasing their first studio album in over twenty years, ‘Swirling’.

Lonely Robot, the project masterminded by producer, guitarist and singer/songwriter John Mitchell (It Bites, Frost*), returns with its 5th studio album A Model Life. Broadening his sonic palette, John explores new territory on this record, crafting sounds more expansive in nature but never lacking his inherent feel for big melodies and even bigger choruses. From the introspective title track, to the soaring and epic ‘Duty Of Care, this a record unlike anything in Mitchell’s catalogue. Once again joined by drummer extraordinaire Craig Blundell (Steve Hackett), ‘A Model Life’ is yet another brilliant entry into an already impressive career.

Neglecting two other émigrés and their works—five symphonies by Beethoven pupil Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838) that he composed for (and premiered at) the Philharmonic Society between 1813 and 1822, as well as the surviving fragments of four ambitious later pieces by Muzio Clementi (1752–1832) —Cipriani Potter emerges as the first England-based symphonic composer of Beethoven’s time. Potter would continue to foster the development of this tradition in London; for instance, through George Alexander Macfarren (1813–1887; nine symphonies, 1828–1874) and William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875; five symphonies, 1832–1864), both students of his.

Drawing inspiration from late-'60s psychedelia and mid-'90s pop underground acts like Matthew Sweet, Australia's Lovetones formed in the early 2000s with Matthew J. Tow, Matthew Sigley, Serge Luca, and Chris Cobb.

"Bricolage," a French word meaning to assemble something from available materials, is such a perfect term for the art of the remix that it's surprising no one has ever used it before. It's less surprising that Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose work has always had a cool Continental flair despite the artist's Japanese roots, would choose such an elegant term for his swish remix collection. Focusing on reworks of material from 2005's back-to-the-roots electro-pop experiment Chasm, Bricolages features a cross-cultural and cross-generational batch of remixers including Cornelius, whose playful sense of pastiche is to current hipster Japanese pop what Sakamoto's Yellow Magic Orchestra was a quarter-century before; his take on the spoken word cut-up "War & Peace" is considerably lighter and groovier than Aoki Takamasa's tense, austere version. Former Japan drummer Steve Jansen, whose collaboration with Sakamoto goes back to the early '80s, contributes the skittering "Break With," bridging the gap between new wave disco and contemporary IDM.

This double-album budget set collects Bach recordings made by French harpsichordist Pierre Hantaï in 1997 and 1998, about halfway between his two celebrated versions of the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988. If you like the engineering – close-up and intense, but not oversaturated with ambient noise – these are excellent picks for some of Bach's lesser-known early keyboard pieces. The star attraction is very strong as well: the extreme Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903, comes out spectacularly on Hantaï's harpsichord, a copy by Dutch builder Joel Katzman of a Flemish Ruckers instrument of the 17th century.

Hyperion is delighted to present the world’s best-loved cello concerto performed by one of the world’s best-loved cellists: national treasure Steven Isserlis. Isserlis has waited 40 years to record this pinnacle of the repertoire, and here with his regular collaborators, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Daniel Harding, this long gestation has proved to be overwhelmingly fruitful. Isserlis writes of the concerto that ‘the power of its emotional journey, expressed with Dvorák’s characteristically folk-like simplicity and directness, offers an irresistible mix of the epic and the touchingly confessional’. The combination of emotional power and simplicity is also a feature of Isserlis’s playing, and part of what makes him such a consummate performer of this work.

Christophe Rousset in his two-CD set confines himself to the three principal collections of 1706, 1724 and c. 1728 additionally including La Dauphine (1747) and the charming but slight Les petits marteaux de M Rameau. This last-mentioned piece was until recently thought to be by Rameau's one-time pupil and champion, Balbastre.

Reign Ghost (1969). Reign Ghost was a late '60s rock group from Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The member lineup was a changeable one, consisting at one time or another of singer Lynda Squires, guitarists Bob Bryden and Jim Stright, keyboardist Dave Hair, bassists Jerry Dufek, Russ Erman, and Joe Gallant, and drummers Helge "Rich" Richter and Bob Stright. In 1968, the band signed with the Allied Records label. The result was a self-titled album released in January of the next year.
Even though they were still children (Bob and Lynda were both 17 when the sessions happened), they managed to tap into the universal psych font. And while there is some occasional clunkiness, it really sorta adds to the record's charm…

As is the way for a lot of atmospheric black metal, the music of Belore is essentially the work of a single person. In this case, a French chap by the name of Aleevok is the founding musician of Belore who came to life in 2019. Since 2021, Aleevok has enlisted the assistance of drummer Charlie Videau (Nydvind) but the remainder of the music is created by the hand of the main protagonist, including all lyrics. Belore's first two albums were journeys into forgotten lands, where each title told a story - a world where landscapes, magic and medieval history exist side by side. Continuing in this tradition, the third album features seven captivating and varied songs of Epic/Atmospheric Black Metal reminiscent of bands like Summoning, Caladan Brood or Emyn Muil. The album transports listeners to a fictional, medieval world where they can let themselves be carried away by their imagination.