In his 1919 essay “The Uncanny,” Sigmund Freud defines the term as follows: “the ‘uncanny’ is that class of the terrifying which leads back to something long known to us, once very familiar.” To this end, a feeling of uncanniness distinguishes itself from just being afraid because of its relation to what we already know, a disturbing variation of what we expect to see when we look in the mirror or the kind of horror that comes from inside the house. The uncanny valley, for instance, describes the creepiness that seeps in when we encounter an almost but not quite perfect replica of a human being (robots, computer animations, the list goes on).

INFINITE MOMENTS is an hour of ambient electronic music from veteran Norwegian composer Erik Wøllo. Across nearly four decades, 40 albums encompass Erik’s unique mix of layered synthesizers, melodic guitars and expansive percussion. This time he takes a different approach — there are no synthesizers! The album is performed entirely on electric guitars processed with the diffused sustain of the EBow and layered note structures of harmonizers. No rhythms, only long, vast and engaging soundscapes. Minimal, extended and infinite in its essence, the album is a meditative inward journey of stillness and reflection — an emotional mapping of the mind, beautifully weightless and contemplative.

Born 25th August, 1925 in Montreal, Canada, Oscar Emmanuel Peterson grew up in Little Burgundy, a predominantly black neighbourhood in greater Quebec. He took up piano and trumpet at age five, quickly becoming adept on both instruments. At seven he was diagnosed with tuberculosis which prevented him from playing the trumpet, he thus concentrated on the piano during this time, practising four to six hours a day. Studying under the Hungarian-born player Paul de Marky - himself a student of virtuoso Istvan Thoman - the young Oscar began learning classical piano but later switched to jazz styles, most notably 'boogie-woogie'. By 1961, with the piano-bass-drums line up now firmly established, the OPT performed a week's residency at The London House, a renowned jazz spot in Chicago. These performances were among the finest the new line-up ever gave, and were released on Verve as four separate albums; The Trio, Something Warm, The Sound Of The Trio and Put On A Happy Face, in '61 and early '62. The following year, Peterson's most commercially successful record Night Train (Verve, 1963), was released, another Trio masterpiece that due to its shorter track times, received considerable radio play.

This four CD collection however represents the first phase of Ellis's solo career when he acted as leader or co-leader through an era which is generally considered the great man's glory years. Featuring eight stunning and extraordinary albums released originally between the mid-1950s and mid 1960s, this compilation provides both a perfect starting point for newcomers and a welcome reminder of Herb Ellis's musical prowess and creative flow for everyone else.

Def Leppard celebrated the release of their "Drastic Symphonies" album (released the day of this show) by revisiting their club days and playing an intimate show in front of just under 900 die-hard fans at The Leadmill in their hometown of Sheffield, in support of the Music Venue Trust. Those lucky enough to score a ticket to one of the group's most unique shows in years, along with the global audience tuning into the livestream, were treated to a set filled with hits and rarities spanning their entire catalog from "On Through The Night" to the band's most recent album "Diamond Star Halos."

After Le Chat Bleu, this Mink DeVille record foretold the depth and dimension of Willy DeVille's talent and the lengths he would go to as a vocalist and songwriter to get the right mix of emotion, drama, and rock & roll attitude. Featuring the core band from Coup de Grace – Louis Cortelezzi on sax; Kenny Margolis on keyboards, including accordion; DeVille and Rick Borgia on guitars; and Tommy Price on drums – the seam in the album comes on the second track, "River of Tears," with its stunning soprano saxophone lines, marimbas, accordions, and howling, raw, Gato Barbieri-like tenor lines in the choruses. When DeVille sings, "Every night lonely, empty dreams/Here comes that tide washing over me/Not again/Oh no/Not again/I don't want to cry/But there's tears in my eyes/I don't want to cry/That river of tears," the horns and accordion swirl around him until the final 16 measures, when the guitars and marimbas envelop all his loss in their warmth. His voice is the grain of every rock & roll lothario's Waterloo. DeVille follows this with a scorching Cuban son called "Demisado Corazon," featuring full salsa horn and percussion sections.

This is a fine CD of Blues Brothers material, featuring the original Blues Brothers Band and frontman Larry Thurston, performing at Montreux Jazz Festival on July 12, 1989. From the late '80s through the early 90's, the Blues Brothers Band was a popular touring act throughout Europe, with Mr. Thurston doing a fine job on lead vocals. None of the other 90's Blues Brothers frontmen (Dan Ackroyd, John Goodman, Jim Belushi) appear on this CD or in this Line-Up. Not exactly "essential", but a good performance of the tour band during this period of the band's history.

The Book of Genesis tells us that in the beginning was the Word and that the Word was sound. But what if it was music? What if God, in contemplating the creation of Creation, sang being into being? If so, it might have sounded something like the Sacred Songs of Valentin Silvestrov. In this seventh ECM album devoted to the Ukrainian composer’s music, we thusly encounter a sense of space unique to the Russian liturgy: the more the voices unify in movement, the more they lift from one another like temporary tattoos, leaving behind mirror images that wash away with baptism into infinite oneness with the Holy Spirit. Sin as sun. Firmament as fundament.

Pål Thowsen is a Norwegian drummer, mainly in jazz. He is known for his collaboration with a number of Norwegian and international jazz musicians, and has also released several solo albums and received two Spellemann awards. He started his career in the early 1970s as a musician in Arild Andersen's quartet, which experienced international success throughout the decade. At the same time, he was also a member of the jazz rock band Moose Loose. In 1973, he collaborated for the first time with the jazz guitarist Jon Eberson, a collaboration that has lasted throughout his career in various constellations. Has otherwise played with musicians such as Radka Toneff, Terje Rypdal, Palle Mikkelborg, Odd Riisnæs and Dag Arnesen and was a member of the Jazzpunk ensemble, the Net, Halle/Eberson/Thowsen/ Kjellemyr and Metropolitan. Thowsen has released several albums under his own name and won the Spellemannprisen 1979 in the jazz album Surprise . Jon Eberson, Knut Riisnæs, Terje Venaas, Iver Kleive, Arild Andersen and Håkon Graf also play on the album, just to name a few.

Pål Thowsen is a Norwegian drummer, mainly in jazz. He is known for his collaboration with a number of Norwegian and international jazz musicians, and has also released several solo albums and received two Spellemann awards. He started his career in the early 1970s as a musician in Arild Andersen's quartet, which experienced international success throughout the decade. At the same time, he was also a member of the jazz rock band Moose Loose. In 1973, he collaborated for the first time with the jazz guitarist Jon Eberson, a collaboration that has lasted throughout his career in various constellations. Carnival was Thowsen's second solo album, and contains e.g. a cover version by Gino Vanellis Brother to Brother.

Endlessness is a deep dive into the cycle of existence. The 45-minute album delicately spans 10 tracks with a continuous arpeggio playing throughout, creating an expansive, mesmerising celebration of life cycles and rebirth. Following Sinephro’s critically acclaimed 2021 debut album Space 1.8, Endlessness further elevates her as a transcendent and multi-dimensional composer, beautifully morphing jazz, orchestral, and electronic music.