Extremely happy to say that next in the series with a stunning interpretation of quiet details, is the electronic music titan, James Clements, here as ASC. Active since the late nineties, James has repeatedly shown himself to be one the most creative and hardworking artists around - with a huge body of work covering multiple genres (from ultra-diverse jungle/drum and bass, to techno, to atmospherics, ambient and far more besides), film scoring and more - releasing on numerous leading labels. Plus establishing his own seminal labels including Covert Operations Recordings, Auxiliary and others - he’s an industry veteran who’s stayed completely true to his vision, making no compromises and now universally respected as an artist and focal point for the community. Tales of Introspection is ASC at his most ethereally emotive - an incredible exploration of his creativity we both agree feels like a major milestone in his work.
Always known for the highest level of production skills, this album is a heart-felt expression of an artist in a perfect state of flow - the ability to create a pure representation of their innermost thoughts in impeccable musical form.
Vast soundscapes invoke the sense of infinite space, out of which emerge mesmeric motifs and meticulously crafted harmonies - the music envelopes you completely in dreamlike bliss. Finely honed electronics mix with electro-acoustic and vocal textures, with a dynamic arc that takes you from quiet reflection to full emotional release and back again - incredibly beautiful and something only James could have made.

Track 1 to 13: A & E live by request Sony Music Studios, New York, June 15, 2002. Track 14: live on David Letterman show, New York, June 10, 2002. Track 15 to 17: live on the Today Show, New York, June 14, 2002.

Piah Mater, the Brazilian progressive death metal duo, return from the blazing tropical gloom on their new album, 'Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun'. Six years removed from their latest effort, the band picks up the broad brush of influences that gave their previous two albums a modest cult following and add new colors to the rusty canvas of the genre, aiming towards a landscape that stands as uniquely their own.
'Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun' sees the band venturing deeper into familiar territory while still managing to bend the expectations of how far the death metal tag can be stretched. Elements of jazz fusion are more pronounced on cuts like 'Fallow Garden', with its extended solo section and interplay between guitars and saxophone, courtesy of Norwegian extraordinaire Jørgen Munkeby (Shinning, Ihsahn)…

Despite his long history with ECM Records, Argentinian composer and bandoneon master Dino Saluzzi has never released a live recording until now. These four new compositions are separate but equal parts of a larger work; in essence, the concerto that is El Encuentro. They were recorded with the Metropole Orchestra under the direction of conductor Jules Buckley for NPS Radio in the Netherlands. The soloists are Saluzzi, his brother Felix on saxophone, and cellist Anja Lechner. El Encuentro ("The Meeting") is a series of musical short stories that ultimately become an entire narrative. The opening work, "Vals de los Dias," is a waltz that, in the beginning, lets its colors get shaped by strings bowed and plucked, overlapping in a dark, harmonic swirl before Saluzzi enters to play just the skeletal melody with traces of a folk song before they take over again…

Mona Bone Jakon only began Cat Stevens' comeback. Seven months later, he returned with Tea for the Tillerman, an album in the same chamber-group style, employing the same musicians and producer, but with a far more confident tone. Mona Bone Jakon had been full of references to death, but Tea for the Tillerman was not about dying; it was about living in the modern world while rejecting it in favor of spiritual fulfillment. It began with a statement of purpose, "Where Do the Children Play?," in which Stevens questioned the value of technology and progress. "Wild World" found the singer being dumped by a girl, but making the novel suggestion that she should stay with him because she was incapable of handling things without him…

This is an excellent compilation of some of Muddy Waters's lesser-anthologized singles, all of them dating from the late '50s. Some of these were surprisingly hard to acquire in any form until this appeared; the original version of "Got My Mojo Working," and for instance, as well as some of his higher-profile tracks, like "Rock Me," "Trouble No More," "Close to You," and "Don't Go No Further."

Great straight work from the legendary Sonny Stitt - recording here in a mode that's different than his funky sides of the time - and a lot more back to basics! The group's a quintet - as Sonny blows both tenor and alto, with help from Joe Newman on trumpet, Duke Jordan on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Roy Brooks on drums - and excellent combo who really keep things interesting.

Pierre de la Rue wurde möglicherweise um 1452 in Doornik/Tournai im heutigen Belgien geboren. Dort arbeitete sein Vater Jehan als Illuminator (Buchmaler), seine Mutter, Gertrude de la Haye, stammte ebenfalls aus Tournai. Im 15. Jahrhundert waren dort beide Familiennamen geläufig. Wir nehmen an, dass Pierres Ausbildung, besonders als Musiker, mit einer Verbindung als Chorsänger an der berühmten Kathedrale der Stadt anfing. Als solcher bekam er dann, wie dort alle Chorsänger, die Tonsur. Wenn so, dann war das die erste entscheidende Situation seines Lebenslaufs, den er letztlich als Diaconus beschließen sollte. Zum Priester wurde de la Rue anscheinend nie geweiht.

Foremost among Swedish Baroque composers, Johan Helmich Roman travelled to England (1716-21) then to France, Italy, Austria and Germany (1735-37), gaining valuable firsthand knowledge of European music. At home in Stockholm he conducted the court orchestra, introduced Handel’s music, and was active in developing public concert life. His rich output includes these twelve charming and highly accomplished Flute Sonatas, the first such published in Sweden, whose galant character combines the baroque and emerging pre-classical styles.

Mozart and Gluck may make natural bedfellows for a program of arias, but Josef Myslivecek is not a name that would jump to most minds to join them. Czech mezzo Magdalena Kozená may be about to change that. In his time (1737-1781), the Czech composer was up there with the greats after his studies in Italy. He couldn't have a more persuasive champion than Kozená, who sets out to show why Myslivecek was counted among the country's 10 most successful composers. The young Kozená's mantelpiece is already crowded with competition trophies, including a 2001 Gramophone Award for her CD of eastern European love songs with Graham Johnson.

All That Might Have Been, issued in the same year as Other World, is Peter Hammill's excellent duet offering with guitarist Gary Lucas, and it's among the most intellectually challenging, conceptually sprawling, and musically satisfying offerings in his career. Given its heft, it is more than likely that this is a record he couldn't have made when he was younger. It is the work of a master in full control of his vision. Described by Hammill as "cinematic by design," it features 21 tracks which were deliberately edited to be incomplete. Taken together they create a conscious narrative; its scenes are sonic episodes that move backwards and forwards just as an actual film would. This is not the same thing as creating a soundtrack without a movie, this is both: a soundtrack and an aural movie. Hammill wrote and recorded the songs in full, then slashed them apart, and stitched the story together from the fragments…

With One Times One, released in late 2007, Eastgate started to issue so-called 'cupdisc' releases, that is, CDs with a running time of about 40 minutes (about the time classic vinyl albums offered back in the 70s and 80s), wrapped in a simple cardboard sleeve instead of a jewel case.
The album contains four completely new compositions by Edgar Froese as well as an instrumental version of a vocal track originally released on Madcap's Flaming Duty (2007) and another remix of Loved By The Sun. This one is based on the version released on Plays Tangerine Dream (2006) but is overlayed with an additional guitar line.

Southern roots rockers Larkin Poe were formed around core members Rebecca and Megan Lovell, formerly the Lovell Sisters. A bit edgier and rockier than the Lovell Sisters, Larkin Poe's electric and slide guitar riffs quickly earned them comparisons to the Allman Brothers. After introducing their sound on a set of seasonal EPs in 2010, they topped the Billboard blues chart with their fourth long-player, 2018's Venom & Faith. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Larkin Poe took shape after the Lovell Sisters called it a day in 2009. The sisters, a bluegrass/Americana trio comprised of siblings Rebecca, Megan, and Jessica Lovell, had started performing professionally in 2005 when all three were still in their teens.

STUNNING LIVE BROADCAST RECORDING FROM EVERONE S SECOND FAVOURITE BAND TO FEATURE PHIL LYNOTT Formed in 1984 as the brainchild of - by then - ex-Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, following the break-up of Lynott s legendary former group, the birth of Grand Slam can be traced back to the solo band Lynott formed during his July/August 1983 a tour of Scandinavia. This line-up featured Magnum keyboard player Mark Stanway, Thin Lizzy members Brian Downey (drums) and John Sykes (lead guitar) plus rhythm guitarist Doish Nagle (ex of The Bogey Boys). When Thin Lizzy completed its farewell tour in September 1983, Lynott continued working with this configuration as a band project that eventually became known as Grand Slam. Sykes departed following an offer to join Whitesnake and was replaced with ex-Stampede guitarist Laurence Archer. Prior to the band's first shows, Downey left to be replaced by Robbie Brennan. With the line-up of Lynott, Stanway, Archer, Nagle and Brennan, Grand Slam played its first show in Waterford, Ireland on 26 April 1984. The band's live set contained a mixture of new songs, written by various combinations of Lynott, Stanway and Archer, as well as songs from Lynott's solo career plus selected Lizzy songs. Grand Slam toured extensively in the UK and Eire throughout 1984, with shows favourably received by both audiences and media. The band also appeared at high-profile festivals such as Crystal Palace (as special guests of Status Quo), Nostell Priory (as special guests of Marillion) and the Kerrang Weekender festival in Great Yarmouth. It is the extraordinary show that Phil and Grand Slam put on in Great Yarmouth on 12th October 1984 that is the subject of this new CD release, a performance recorded for live FM broadcast at the time ad which today still sounds as fresh, dynamic and exciting as the day it was recorded more than 35 years ago. Available here for the first time, this release is certain to become a live favourite among Lynott, Lizzy and Grand Slam fans and collectors the world across.

Southside Johnny and Little Steven go back a long way. Both original members of the Jersey Shore music scene, when Johnny Lyon formed the Asbury Jukes in the mid-1970s, Little Stevie Van Zandt was a founding member too, and he produced the first three Jukes albums. The pair has often performed together too, both within and without the confines of the Asbury Dukes, and indeed on November 21st 1993 such an occasion took place, at the K-Rock Hungerthon Rent Party, a charity event for the homeless and the hungry in New York. Performing a strictly acoustic set alongside early Jukes members Bobby Bandiera and David Hayes on guitar and bass respectively, and Soozie Tyrell from the E Street Band on violin, the show was a vibrant one. Playing an extraordinary set, including covers-a-plenty and a few home-grown numbers too, this in-studio recording is now available on this CD in its entirety for the first time.