Tags
Language
Tags
March 2024
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
25 26 27 28 29 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31 1 2 3 4 5 6

Rosemary Tuck, English CO, Richard Bonynge - Carl Czerny: Grand Concerto in A minor; Grand Nocturne Brillant (2016)

Posted By: Designol
Rosemary Tuck, English CO, Richard Bonynge - Carl Czerny: Grand Concerto in A minor; Grand Nocturne Brillant (2016)

Carl Czerny - Grand Concerto in A minor; Grand Nocturne Brillant;
Variations de Concert de l'Opéra "Le Siège de Corinthe" (2016)
Rosemary Tuck, piano; English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Richard Bonynge

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 256 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 165 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Naxos | # 8.573417 | Time: 01:06:13

Carl Czerny, one of Vienna’s most illustrious musicians, was Beethoven’s student and devoted friend. Renowned today for his piano treatises, he was also a prolific composer in almost every genre, but it is the music for his own instrument that has aroused the most curiosity. The Grand Concerto in A minor, a work both serene and spirited, is historically important as one of the first romantic concertos ever written. The lyricism and playful bravura of the Grand Nocturne Brillant is balanced by the delicious Rossini Variations de Concert.

VA - Mashed (2007)

Posted By: Designol
VA - Mashed (2007)

VA - Mashed (2007)
XLD | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 418 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 134 Mb | Scans included
Electronic, Pop/Rock, New Wave | Label: EMI | # 00946 3 87629 2 8, VTCD 858 | 00:57:30

2007 compilation of 'mash ups' from some of the biggest (and coolest) names in Rock and Dance music. Two of the most popular would be 'Rapture Riders'(which mashed Blondie's 'Rapture' with The Doors' 'Riders On The Storm') and 'Proper Education' (DJ Eric Prydz meets Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick In The Wall'). There are others here that have been filling dancefloors recently including 'Franz Buffalo' (Malcolm McLarenn meets Franz Ferdinand), 'Passenger Fever' (Peggy Lee meets Iggy Pop), 'Flashing For Money' (Deep Dish and Dire Straits) and 'Horny As A Dandy' (Mousse T Vs. The Dandy Warhols). A brilliant collection that will surprise, shock and get you groovin'!

Al Miller Chicago Blues Band - ...In Between Time (2012) with John Primer, Billy Flynn and Dave Specter

Posted By: Designol
Al Miller Chicago Blues Band - ...In Between Time (2012) with John Primer, Billy Flynn and Dave Specter

Al Miller Chicago Blues Band - …In Between Time (2012)
with John Primer, Billy Flynn and Dave Specter

EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 472 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 195 Mb | Scans included
Chicago Blues, Harmonica Blues | Label: Delmark | # DE 826 | 01:12:42

Harmonica player Al Miller brings in three guitar aces to help him create this unique blues album: John Primer, Dave Specter and Billy Flynn. But Al doesn't just play harp. Whether he is wailing away on harmonica, singing, writing songs, or providing guitar accompaniment, Al imbues every aspect of his involvement in the music with feeling, which, as every blues fan knows, is what the blues is all about. Al sings most of the songs, however John Primer sings lead on three. "…In Between Time" has seventeen songs in all, including the previously unissued "Blizzard". Miller’s instrumental excursions display immaculate taste; never overplaying, he always adheres to the all-for-one, one-for-all ensemble approach characterizing postwar Chicago blues.

Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996)

Posted By: Designol
Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996)

Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 379 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 144 Mb | Scans included | 00:57:19
Post Rock, Dream Pop, Indie Pop/Rock, Experimental | Label: Elektra | # 61840-2

Stereolab was poised for a breakthrough release with Emperor Tomato Ketchup, their fourth full-length album. Not only was their influence becoming apparent throughout alternative rock, but Mars Audiac Quintet and Music for the Amorphous Body Center indicated they were moving closer to distinct pop melodies. The group certainly hasn't backed away from pop melodies on Emperor Tomato Ketchup, but just as their hooks are becoming catchier, they bring in more avant-garde and experimental influences, as well. Consequently, the album is Stereolab's most complex, multi-layered record. It lacks the raw, amateurish textures of their early singles, but the music is far more ambitious, melding electronic drones and singsong melodies with string sections, slight hip-hop and dub influences, and scores of interweaving counter melodies. Even when Stereolab appears to be creating a one-chord trance, there is a lot going on beneath the surface. Furthermore, the group's love for easy listening and pop melodies means that the music never feels cold or inaccessible. In fact, pop singles like "Cybele's Reverie" and "The Noise of Carpet" help ease listeners into the group's more experimental tendencies.

Nitin Sawhney - Prophesy (2001) [Japanese Edition]

Posted By: Designol
Nitin Sawhney - Prophesy (2001) [Japanese Edition]

Nitin Sawhney - Prophesy (2001) Japanese Edition
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 393 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 157 Mb | Scans ~ 207 Mb
World Fusion, Electronic, Downtempo, Trip-Hop | Label: V2 | # V2CI 102 | 01:07:19

With Beyond Skin, Nitin Sawhney set a high bar for global fusion music. Now he's raised it with Prophesy, taking advantage of a larger budget to bring in Indian strings, a South African choir, a Chicago cabbie, soul singer Terry Callier, and Nelson Mandela, among many other things. But what could have been an awkward grab bag of sound comes together under Sawhney's sure hands and inspired songwriting. He makes the unusual work. On "Sunset," for instance, flamenco and rai meet Brazil, and the vocals of Cheb Mami and Nina Miranda work to glorious effect. Trilok Gurtu contributes some stunning kannakol (vocal percussion) to "Breathing Light," while Natacha Atlas beguiles with her singing on "Acquired Dreams." But this is more than a collection of great tunes–it's an album that ponders the way our world and civilization is developing, asking questions and challenging assumptions while still delivering some sumptuous grooves and melodies.

Susanne Heinrich - Mr Abel’s Fine Airs - Carl Friedrich Abel: Music for solo viola da gamba (2007)

Posted By: Designol
Susanne Heinrich -  Mr Abel’s Fine Airs - Carl Friedrich Abel: Music for solo viola da gamba (2007)

Susanne Heinrich - Mr Abel’s Fine Airs - Carl Friedrich Abel: Music for solo viola da gamba (2007)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 341 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 179 Mb | Artwork included
Genre: Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA67628 | Time: 01:17:46

Carl Friedrich Abel (1723–1787) was a contemporary of J C Bach, and a fashionable performer and promoter in London in the eighteenth century. By that time the viola da gamba was a rarity, but Abel’s performances sparked a revival of interest among performers and audiences. The works recorded on this disc (six of which have never been previously recorded) can be seen as musical expositions of sensibility, inhabiting the same tragic world as the gamba solos in J S Bach’s Passions. Abel’s contemporary Charles Burney commented on the musician’s ability to ‘breathe’ the notes as he played them, and this extraordinary sensitivity is present too in the beautiful playing of Susanne Heinrich.

Nitin Sawhney - Beyond Skin (1999) Japanese Edition

Posted By: Designol
Nitin Sawhney - Beyond Skin (1999) Japanese Edition

Nitin Sawhney - Beyond Skin (1999) Japanese Edition
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 487 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 180 Mb | Scans ~ 120 Mb | 01:18:28
Downtempo, Jazz-House, Trip-Hop, Ethnic Fusion | Label: Toy's Factory | # TFCK-87993

Nitin Sawhney's Beyond Skin works on at least two levels. First, it's a plea against racism and war, relating, as Sawhney writes in the liner notes, that one's identity is defined only by oneself – that identity is "beyond skin." Second, the music is an extremely accomplished blend of classical, drum'n'bass, jazz, hip-hop, and Indian elements. The album's political statements are seen most clearly in the samples imbedded in the beginning and ending of most tracks. Dealing with nuclear testing and identity, the samples are effective in setting the tone for the songs. The music is quite lush, featuring among other instruments, tablas, pianos, and cellos to equally beautiful effect. The production brings a crystal-clear polish to nearly every element in the mix, whether it's the passionate, intense vocals of the Rizwan Qawwali Group on "Homelands" or the stunning, impossibly gorgeous voice of Swati Natekar on "Nadia." The entire album is bathed in eclectic touches which never fail to maintain a poetic, accessible sense of charm and wonder. Rarely has electronic music been crafted with as much substance and style as it has on Beyond Skin. Sawhney travels back and forth between genres quite effortlessly. The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Lightnin' Hopkins - Goin' Away (1963) Remastered 1990

Posted By: Designol
Lightnin' Hopkins - Goin' Away (1963) Remastered 1990

Lightnin' Hopkins - Goin' Away (1963) Remastered 1990
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 177 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 80 Mb | Scans ~ 88 Mb
Acoustic Texas Blues | Label: Prestige Bluesville | # 00025218052221 | Time: 00:35:10

For the 1963 album Goin' Away, Lightnin' Hopkins was backed by a spare rhythm section – bassist Leonard Gaskin and drummer Herb Lovelle – who managed to follow his ramshackle, instinctual sense of rhythm quite dexterously, giving Hopkins' skeletal guitar playing some muscle. Still, the spotlight remains Hopkins, who is in fine form here. There are no real classics here, but everything is solid, particularly "Stranger Here" and "You Better Stop Her," making it worth investigation by serious fans of Hopkins' classic material.

Jimmy Witherspoon - Blues For Easy Livers (1966) Remastered 1996

Posted By: Designol
Jimmy Witherspoon - Blues For Easy Livers (1966) Remastered 1996

Jimmy Witherspoon - Blues For Easy Livers (1966) Remastered 1996
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 227 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 105 Mb | Scans included
Jazz-Blues, Jump Blues | Label: Prestige/Bluesville | # 00025218058520 | Time: 00:38:37

Despite the title, this actually leans considerably further to the jazz side of Witherspoon's muse than the blues one, with backing by Pepper Adams on baritone sax, Roger Kellaway on piano, Bill Watrous on trombone, Richard Davis on bass, and Mel Lewis on drums. The songs, too, are much more in the jazz/pop vein than the blues/jazz one, heavy on standards by the likes of Johnny Mercer, the Gershwins, and Ellington. Witherspoon's one of the masters of closing-time bluesy jazz, and he doesn't let anyone down on that account on this relaxed (but not sleepy) session.

Vieux Farka Toure & Julia Easterlin - Touristes (2015)

Posted By: Designol
Vieux Farka Toure & Julia Easterlin - Touristes (2015)

Vieux Farka Touré & Julia Easterlin - Touristes (2015)
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 223 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 88 Mb | Scans included
Label: Six Degrees | # 657036-1230-2-1 | Time: 00:36:50
World Fusion, African, Indie Folk, Desert Blues

Like his legendary father, Ali Farka Touré, Vieux is a guitarist who likes to collaborate. He has worked with the Israeli keyboard player Idan Raichel, and now comes an even more powerful partnership, with American singer Julia Easterlin. The opening Little Things starts with the familiar guitar lines of that Malian favourite Kaira, before Easterlin eases in to nudge the song towards western balladry. Elsewhere, this bravely original fusion switches from an African funk treatment of Fever Ray’s I’m Not Done to slow, thoughtful laments. The traditional In the Pines has been covered by everyone from Lead Belly to Nirvana, but is here reworked with chilling, whispered vocals and desert blues guitar, while the most startling track is a slow, African-edged treatment of Dylan’s Masters of War, which sounds like a pained meditation on the recent chaos in Mali.

Yevgeny Mravinsky, LPO - Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No.5, Op.47; Symphony No.12 'The Year 1917', Op.112 (2016)

Posted By: Designol
Yevgeny Mravinsky, LPO - Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No.5, Op.47; Symphony No.12 'The Year 1917', Op.112 (2016)

Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No.5, Op.47; Symphony No.12 'The Year 1917', Op.112 (2016)
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra; conducted by Yevgeny Mravinsky

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 419 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 200 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Praga Digitals | # 350 122 | Time: 01:19:27

Shostakovich's Symphony No.5 was given its premiere in 1937. It was outwardly in compliance with the ruling party, but the public heard a message of suffering in Shostakovich's masterpiece and it was an unprecedented triumph. Symphony No.12 "The Year 1917" was dedicated to Vladimir Lenin. Both works were premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Yevgeny Mravinsky. The performances featured here were recorded in December 1965.

Peter Horvath - Absolute Reality (2016)

Posted By: Designol
Peter Horvath - Absolute Reality (2016)

Peter Horvath - Absolute Reality (2016)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 362 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 148 Mb | Scans included
Contemporary Jazz | Label: Foreign Matter | # 101201 | Time: 00:56:05

CTI meets GRP, Bob James meets David Benoit on Absolute Reality What a joy to listen to this album! The second CD by keyboardist/arranger Peter Horvath is an absolutely pleasant effort, full of killer grooves and lovely melodies. Guest stars like Bob Mintzer (shining on Carla and Escape From Oakland and Randy Brecker (who overdubbed a nice solo on Foreign Matter add an extra spice to Horvath's perfectly built tunes, but the disc offers many other pleasures. The main hero is the leader himself, a terrific soloist, specially on the Rhodes electric piano. Norbert Stachel, a superb reedman who co-wrote six of the ten tunes, sounds like an entire horn section. The album also includes some of the last recordings by late drummer Ricky Lawson (1954-2013). Among them, the title track that mixes a James Brown-like riff with a glamorous melody played by Horvath on the acoustic piano. Mintzer and Horvath share the spotlight on the funkyfied Escape From Oakland while Kenny Washington's wordless vocal effects add a special flavour to the laidback groove of Nassau Nights, on which Horvath's hands seem to fly on the Rhodes over a lush horn arrangement.

Ben Frost - Theory of Machines (2007)

Posted By: Designol
Ben Frost - Theory of Machines (2007)

Ben Frost - Theory of Machines (2007)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 204 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 89 Mb | Scans ~ 62 Mb
Label: Bedroom Community | # HVALUR 2 | Time: 00:38:42
Experimental Electronic, Noise, Ambient

Blending the current trend for all things noisy with something altogether more 'composed' we end up with a curious concoction of Cliff Martinez and Wolf Eyes, stopping at planet Badalamenti for a strong cup of Joe ("black like midnight on a moonless night"). Frost's primary influence (and sound source…) for the album was Michael Gira's seminal noise-rock band Swans, an influence which bubbles majestically on the album's central piece, cunningly titled 'We Love You Michael Gira'. The track starts simply enough; shifting, moody synthesized tones sitting eerily next to shivering waves of guitar noise before both give way to the sort of glacial blip-work that would make Mika Vainio jealous, and then it hits you; chunks of percussive noise that enter the sound-field like a serial killer bursting into the family home, gritty and abrasive, raw and untamed. The Swans factor isn't lost in this track, it's something that needs to be played so loud that it almost hurts the eardrums for full, visceral effect and proves as if proof be needed that Ben Frost is a rare producer who really knows how to use the loud as it should be used.

David Geringas & Ian Fountain - Malincolia: Works for Cello and Piano by Edvard Grieg and Jean Sibelius (2015)

Posted By: Designol
David Geringas & Ian Fountain - Malincolia: Works for Cello and Piano by Edvard Grieg and Jean Sibelius (2015)

Malincolia: Works for Cello and Piano by Edvard Grieg and Jean Sibelius (2015)
David Geringas (cello) & Ian Fountain (piano)

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 262 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 160 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Profil | # PH15005 | Time: 01:08:13

The Italian word malinconia was very commonly used in the nineteenth century as a title for melancholy pieces. Yet the idea of malinconia covered a myriad of romantic notions, so that simply translating it as "melancholy" does not do it justice. It subsumes many other emotional states as well - all kinds of dejection, gloom, unknown sadness, desperation, depression and even frustration. Each language has evolved its own terms, and interpretations of the word itself also differ from region to region. Malinconia in sunny Italy or Spain is quite different from melancholy in Norway and in Finland, where the winters are harsh and long. The Nordic variant is expressed here in various musical examples; words alone are anyway inadequate.

Marlboro Festival Members - Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: String Quintets (1978) CD Reissue 1990

Posted By: Designol
Marlboro Festival Members - Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: String Quintets (1978) CD Reissue 1990

Marlboro Festival Members - Felix Mendelssohn: String Quintets (1978) CD Reissue 1990
Jaime Laredo, Ani Kavafian, Heiichiro Ohyama, Kim Kashkashian, Sharon Robinson

EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 314 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 151 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: CBS/Sony Classical | # MPK 45883 | Time: 01:00:37

An exceptionally fine performance of the Mendelssohn string quintets by Jaime Laredo, Ani Kavafian, Heiichiro Ohyama, Kim Kashkashian and Sharon Robinson can be found on CD45883 (61 minutes: ADD). These are rhythmically alert and spirited readings, played with great charm and eloquence. They are an especially welcome addition to a catalogue that sports no rival version of No. 1 and only one of No. 2. The 1978 recording is one of the best in the batch, exceptionally well balanced with a fine feeling of depth and presence. Strongly recommended. (Gramophone)