Here are a dozen hidden gems from the Sahara. Rough hewn, but intimate and beautiful recordings by Tinariwen, the world’s most famous Tuareg band. Some are demos that were later released in more produced versions on subsequent albums and four of them have never been released before. This is music to transport you, music that makes you feel you are in the Sahara with these extraordinary musicians for whom it is their home and their inspiration. These are raw desert treasures, recorded live with no overdubs, that are only emerging into the sunlight with this album of rarities, Idrache, Traces of the Past. With their long desert robes and Tuareg turbans or shesh, Tinariwen are the originators of what’s become known as ‘desert blues’, a style of music they themselves call ‘assuf’ which also means ‘longing’ or ‘homesickness’ in the Tamasheq language. Exchanging Kalashnikovs for guitars after participating in the 1990 Tuareg rebellion, Tinariwian really are rock ’n’ roll rebels, drawing people into their growling vocals, spacey guitar lines and clapping rhythms. The songs on this album were recorded in 2002, 2006 and 2008, the first about a decade after the band started to become known internationally.

Jones, of course, is George Jones, frequently described as the greatest country singer of all time. He had an instinctive ability to inhabit a song totally and embody the emotion of the lyrics. Listening to Jones sing a song is to experience the pain, the loss, the yearning - and sometimes the joy - that Jones himself is feeling as he sings. A George Jones song is an emotional experience. The music in this album is as unique as George Jones himself. Although many of the song titles will be familiar to his fans, none of these actual recordings have ever been commercially released until now. These recordings were made explicitly for radio airplay in the 1970s.

Cinque Profeti is a little known Christmas cantata by Alessandro Scarlatti. It has a power and subtlety redolent of Handel coupled with touches of early Monteverdi. Sung here to great effect by the five soloists with sensitive instrumentalists, they play together to bring the gentle and subtle melodies - surely written to confer a sense of the special nature of the Christmas season - to life. It’s a recording which is sure to please. Opera was not performed in Rome for much of Alessandro Scarlatti's lifetime; that's why his vocal church music mostly comprised oratorios and cantatas, of which he wrote three for the Palazzo Apostolico. Only one survives: to a libretto by Silvio Stampiglia. Cinque Profeti takes the inventive form of a conversation between the five old testament prophets, Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Abraham (the cinque profeti) about the birth of Christ – which was about to be celebrated on the occasion of the cantata’s first performance, in 1705 at the Papal Palace in Rome.

Platinum-selling band Sister Hazel is thrilled to unveil their forthcoming 13th studio album. Produced by Ben Jackson and Sister Hazel, the album's ten tracks guide listeners through personal and introspective experiences, exploring themes of vulnerability, love, growth, and renewal. Lead singer Ken Block shares his enthusiasm for the album, stating, "This time, our studio mantra was 'let's have FUN.' We aimed to swing for the fences, keep things fresh, and throw out the rulebook!

After introducing a fresh concept with 2019's 'Reboot', they've now pulled out all the stops. 'Reboot II' is here, and it's like nothing else. Not just a tribute - an experiment. The project is 'No Rules', and it's not an exaggeration. Featuring 18 Brooks & Dunn classics recreated from a blank slate, maximum creative freedom was given to a select group of today's most engaging artists - not just from country, but from outside the genre as well. Each was given a near-impossible task by Brooks & Dunn themselves: Take an iconic hit and reimagine the song to fit their own taste and style. What came out is not a traditional tribute album - in fact it's the exact opposite, a clear refusal to put these songs under glass in the museum of country history. Instead, it shows just how alive Brooks & Dunn's influence is across today's musical scene . and how versatile their songwriting really was.

TLC’s ‘CrazySexyCool’ Turns 30.

Rare Mingus tracks unavailable for decades, reassembled as a stand-alone album The sequel to Incarnations , which charted in the CIMS Top 40 for RSD Black Friday 2023.

"Brighter days are up ahead," declares Dwight Yoakam on the title track of his new album Brighter Days (Via Records/Thirty Tigers), his first release of new original material in nine years. Written and recorded over the last three years, Brighter Days features 12 brand-new songs written/co-written by Yoakam, as well as two seemingly disparate covers of “Keep On The Sunny Side” by the Carter Family and “Bound Away” by Cake, artfully woven into the same body of work in the unmistakable style that could only be Dwight Yoakam. The infectious lead single “I Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom),” was written by Yoakam specifically for a collaboration with self-proclaimed Dwight Yoakam superfan, Post Malone.

Bouquet is the fifth studio album from Gwen Stefani, featuring the singles "Purple Irises" and "Somebody Else's."

A treasure trove of rarities and alternate versions of familiar songs from folk icon Melanie, including "The Nickel Song," "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)" and "Brand New Key!" Not only does Melanie reimagine her own works but also the works of others offering superb covers of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and more! An essential addition to any folk music lover's library!

Born in Dublin, Mississippi in 1943, Jimmy Burns derived his earliest inspiration from the records of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and others. After Jimmy moved to Chicago in the mid-'50s he discovered a scene that was perfect for the meld of traditional blues, churchy emotionalism, and forward-looking pop/R&B sophistication that by then comprised his musical aesthetic. When he finally signed with Delmark in the mid-'90s, he was primed and ready to take his place as a leading blues recording artist. Live at B.L.U.E.S. captures perfectly the indelible combination of joyful spirits, warm-hearted intimacy, and sharp-witted intelligence that characterizes Jimmy Burns, as both a musician and a man. With special guest vocalist Jesse Fortune.

Blue’s Moods is a 1960 album by jazz trumpeter Blue Mitchell. Originally released on the Riverside label it features Mitchell alongside Wynton Kelly (piano), Sam Jones (bass), and Roy Brooks (drums).

Following its nomination for a Gramophone Early Music Award in 2014, Contrapunctus releases an album of motets from the Baldwin Tudor partbooks, on the theme of mortality. Conducted by Owen Rees, the album includes Sheppard’s epic Media vita and other Tudor gems by Byrd, Parsons, Mundy, Taverner, Gerarde and Tallis, with Contrapunctus’s own reconstructions of the missing tenor parts.

Monk’s Music is a 1957 album by legendary jazz pianist Thelonious Monk and his Septet. Reading like a who’s who of jazz the album features players including John Coltrane (tenor sax), Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax), Art Blakey (drums) and Ray Copeland (trumpet).

Earlier this year, St. Vincent’s Annie Clark released All Born Screaming, an album which managed to capture the absolute clusterfuck of emotions that make up being alive in the year 2024 in a compact 10 songs and 42 minutes. The self-produced record is raw and gritty and sensual and experimental and fun. It also showcases Clark as an artist in her peak, in absolute control.