Ola Asdahl Rokkones, Per Kristian Skalstad, Arktisk Filharmoni – Arctic Saxophone (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:16:30 minutes | 2,64 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Lawo Classics
Arctic Saxophone is the second album where Ola Asdahl Rokkones (b.1983) premieres three new classical saxophone concertos commissioned by him. The album title Arctic Saxophone is not only a reference to his hometown Tromso, but also to the three composers on this recording that all have some link to the Arctic. The two Norwegian composers Alexander Aar?en and Terje Bjorklund both originate from Northern Norway, and the Russian composer Alexander Manotskov caught his inspiration from the Russian city of Arkhangelsk.
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Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit – Penderecki: Symphony No. 6 “Chinesische Lieder”, Trumpet Concertino & Concerto doppio (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:51 minutes | 1,08 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
Penderecki’s Symphony No. 6 ‘Chinese Songs’ is an intimate, chamber-scale work for bass-baritone and orchestra. It sets eight Chinese poems in German adaptations linked with interludes for the two-stringed erhu. It proved to be Penderecki’s last completed symphony and is imbued with great pathos as well as melodic beauty. The Trumpet Concertino is taut, spirited and full of dextrous interplay between the soloist and orchestra. His single-movement Concerto doppio for violin, cello and orchestra, is a work of keen unpredictability.
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The Poker Club Band – Tullochgorum: Haydn – Scottish Songs (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:01:38 minutes | 1,06 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS
Between 1791 and 1804, Joseph Haydn arranged some 400 traditional songs for publishers in Scotland and England. Almost all of the songs were Scottish and the most common setting was for voice and piano trio. There have been numerous recordings and performances of the arrangements by these forces, but on this disc The Poker Club Band offer their listeners something quite different. Taking its name from one of the Edinburgh clubs at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment, the ensemble consists of four early music specialists and a traditional singer. They have retained Haydn’s violin and cello, but the keyboard part has been adapted for harp and guitar following indications that the harp was commonly used for contemporary performances of Scottish traditional repertoire. The Gaelic singer James Graham, with his idiomatic Scottish timbre, and the period instruments – of which Masako Art’s single-action pedal harp from 1809 is known to have been in Scotland around the time – brings us that much closer to what a performance in an Edinburgh salon might have sounded like around 1800. The songs themselves range from the cautionary tale of a girl who married for love and now is doomed to a life of hard and dirty work on her husband’s farm (The Mucking of Geordie’s Byer) to love songs such as Oran Gaoil, with a text by Robert Burns. Providing variety, some instrumental 18th century arrangements of Haydn originals are included while the album ends with the well-known atmospheric Lament by the Scottish fiddler Niel Gow.
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The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys – Toil, Tears & Trouble (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 40:59 minutes | 504 MB | Genre: Bluegrass, Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rounder
After winning The International Bluegrass Music Association’s 2018 Emerging Artist of the year Award, the Po’ Ramblin Boys came to Rounder Records for their third album Toil, Tears & Trouble, where they’ve made a diverse track list sound like The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys and no one else. The album boasts a fuller sound, thanks in part to engineering by Gary Paczosa (whose credits include Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss) as well as the addition of fiddler Laura Orshaw. Performances sparkle throughout the album’s twelve tracks, showcasing why the band has not only energized fans of the traditional bluegrass sound, but younger fans of progressive string band music as well.
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The Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin – Bernstein: Mass (Live) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:47:41 minutes | 1,83 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
Mass by Bernstein, first performed in 1971, defies classification. It is not really a mass in the strict sense, but more of a kind of deconstruction of a traditional mass; after all, the full title is MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancersand the theme resembles a divine service which turns sour before finally discovering universal peace. At the outset, the world seems to be at one, but then “street musicians” begin questioning the need for, or even the very existence of, a god. Cacophony reigns until the cataclysmic elevation of the host, when finally peace breaks out, when the Celebrant brings everyone together around the holy spirit, before intoning a final “go in peace”. Bernstein’s score brings together all the myriad elements of 20th century music: jazz, blues, rock, Broadway, expressionism, dodecaphonism, modernism with a hint of Britten, street music, fanfares, classical song mixed with rock and jazz voices and Gospel recitations: a veritable Tower of Babel which is hard even to list in a single breath. But Yannick Nézet-Séguin can be trusted to knit all these disparate elements together. Note also that this is a live concert recording, with a breathtaking spatial distribution. Putting history aside, the FBI – never one to miss out on a chance to look ridiculous – decided that Mass was pacifist, anti-establishment propaganda and begged Nixon to boycott its opening night. After all, the work had been commissioned by Jackie Kennedy for the inauguration of the Washington Kennedy Center for the Arts, when America was in the middle of its Vietnamese quagmire…
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The Paul Horn Quintet – Monday, Monday (1966/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 31:11 minutes | 1,15 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA – Legacy
Paul Horn was an American jazz flautist and saxophonist, and an early pioneer of new-age music. “Monday, Monday” is an album by the Paul Horn Quintet with an orchestra arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson which was originally released on the RCA Victor label in 1966.
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The Nashville Guitars – Nashville Guitars (1966/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 26:37 minutes | 996 MB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Monument
Nashville Guitars, a supergroup of well-known session players, creates a wall-of-guitars sound with four lead and six rhythm guitars. The effect is not as dramatic as you might expect since the players often double (and triple, and quadruple) each other’s parts, creating a full but not especially unusual sound. Nashville Guitars’ debut album mixes Joe Tanner’s originals with diverse cover material ranging from “Yakety Axe” to the Supremes’ “Where Did Our Love Go.” The concept is interesting, and the players are among the best in Nashville, but the results are more similar to easy listening fare such as 101 Strings Plus Guitars Galore than the hot country picking many listeners would prefer.
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The Moore Brothers – Autobiography (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:33 minutes | 897 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Fast Atmosphere
Unlike many bands claiming to be brothers, Greg and Thom Moore actually are siblings, growing up together in Altadena, CA. And although they had both been playing in various projects for years, it wasn’t until 2001 that the two finally established the Moore Brothers. Beginning in the late ’80s, Thom Moore formed several bands, including Colorful Calliope with R&B singer Jon B. Greg released a solo record before joining Thom for the folk-punk band Thumb of the Maid. After its other members departed, Thom and Greg formed Moore Brothers and released their debut, Colossal Small, on Amazing Grease (founded by Pavement’s Scott Kannberg).
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The Queen’s Six – The Queen’s Six Murder the Songs of Tom Lehrer (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 35:00 minutes | 1,19 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Signum Records
Following Tom Lehrer’s decision in 2020 to release almost 100 of his songs into the public domain (for anyone to perform and adapt without permission), The Queen’s Six take up the offer with relish in this album of a cappella renditions of his “catchy and savage musical satire”. Based at Windsor Castle, the members of The Queen’s Six make up half of the Lay Clerks of St George’s Chapel, whose homes lie within the Castle walls. This rare privilege demands the highest musical standards, as they sing regularly for the Royal family at both private and state occasions.
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The Queen’s Six – Journeys to the New World: Hispanic Sacred Music from the 16th & 17th Centuries (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:06:20 minutes | 1,99 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Signum Records
This is a musical trip from the mid-sixteenth century to around 1700, involving music in Late Renaissance style, carrying Spanish Catholicism across the Atlantic to supplant an indigenous culture. Once the invasion had taken root with the conquest of Tenochtitlán and its transformation to Mexico City, the country became the target of fervent friars and preachers. Franciscans were first in 1523, then Dominicans, all fired with Christian zeal to convert the native population. From the outset they used music to great effect. The accounts that survive show how successful they were in teaching singing and playing, training choirs to perform liturgical music. By the mid-century it was claimed that standards had reached that of Charles Vs chapel. Churches and cathedrals were established throughout the rapidly expanding New Spain. Conquest and Christianity imposed an almost exact replica of Old Spain. Liturgical books, prints of plainchant and polyphony were shipped in throughout the century. In this recording the singers present music by eight composers. Four of them never went to the New World; their music did. Three of them were born in Spain and were trained in music there; they held appointments in Spain and later emigrated to the new colonial cities. One more became the first composer-choirmaster to be born there of Spanish parents, thus criollo.
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The Puppini Sisters – The High Life (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 44:11 minutes | 500 MB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Millionaire Records Ltd
The Puppini Sisters’ fifth studio album, The High Life, is the trio’s first with Emma Smith joining original members Marcella Puppini and Kate Mullins. Aside from new membership, the vocal group stays the course, offering more of their close-knit, three-part harmonies on versions of big-band classics, a couple of original songs, and swing era-inspired rearrangements of more contemporary hits. The trio holds a few surprises in its selections of the latter, such as a medley of the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” and Sia’s “Chandelier,” and a fluid cover of Missy Elliott’s “Work It.” Their take on “Rapper’s Delight” works especially well, riding the original’s natural swing. The bass-driven medley eases back and forth between the rap classic and 2014’s “Chandelier” with scatting and melodic percussion, and proves to be a highlight of The High Life. Not as much fun is their David Bowie cover, a piano-led, rim-clicking arrangement of “Changes” that comes off more like an exercise than a reinvention. They’re back in form on “Material Girls Medley,” though, which includes pieces of several female-led, money-themed songs, including Meghan Trainor’s “Dear Future Husband” and Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money.” All of the above are worked into the set list alongside expectedly capable versions ’30s and ’40s classics, such as Arlen-Mercer’s “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” and the even earlier Brazilian work with many versions including a film appearance by Carmen Miranda, “Tico Tico” (aka “Tico-Tico No Fubá”). Ultimately, as on past albums, the Puppini Sisters thrive on the original tunes, which were written with their distinct delivery in mind. “Is This the High Life” employs a clarinet, piano, bass, and drum combo to support a rhythmic melody that slides between solo vocals and full three-part harmony, and for a taste of the women at their most Andrews Sisters, don’t miss “We Love to Bebop.” – Marcy Donelson
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The Prodigy – The Day Is My Enemy (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 56:18 minutes | 701 MB | Genre: Electronic
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Take Me To The Hospital
The Day Is My Enemy is the sixth studio album by British electronic music group The Prodigy. It is the follow-up to 2009’s Invaders Must Die and was released on 30 March 2015 (and for Friday-release countries is on 27 March 2015). The album will be released by Three Six Zero Music/Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The first single, “Nasty”, was announced on the band’s Instagram and Facebook pages on 29 December 2014.
The album title is a reference to the Cole Porter song “All Through the Night”, in particular its lyrics “the day is my enemy, the night my friend”, although it is the Ella Fitzgerald version that first inspired the title track. On 26 January 2015 the band released the official audio for the title track “The Day Is My Enemy” on their official YouTube channel. On 23 February 2015 the band released the official music video for the third single “Wild Frontier”.
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The Prodigy – No Tourists (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 37:45 minutes | 455 MB | Genre: Electronic
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited
Three years after the release of their fifth straight U.K. chart-topping album, original electronic bad boys the Prodigy returned with their seventh collection of high-octane rave-punk anthems, No Tourists. Much like preceding albums The Day Is My Enemy and Invaders Must Die, No Tourists leaves little space to breathe, delivering a short and sweet set of blows to the head that was designed specifically for performing live. For better or worse, there aren’t many new ideas here, but main man Liam Howlett is so adept at crafting explosive body-shakers that the lack of fresh concepts can be overlooked. Aggressive and pounding, No Tourists benefits from the tight track list, kicking off with the muscular swagger of “Need Some1” — which combines the group’s early devotion to hip-hop beats and the stabbing synths indicative of their late era — and propelling without pause until closing highlight “Give Me a Signal,” which features English singer/songwriter Barns Courtney on a surprisingly fitting union between Courtney’s smoky blues voice and the Prodigy’s clattering mayhem. In between, it’s typically exhilarating, with songs such as “Light Up the Sky,” “We Live Forever,” and “Timebomb Zone” setting a straight trajectory toward festival headline stages. Keith Flint and Maxim appear when needed — though they aren’t as crucial to the formula as during the glory days of Fat of the Land — blending seamlessly between the breakbeats with animated mischief and ominous mantras. Elsewhere, spooky rap-punk duo Ho99o9 slather some grit onto a particularly threatening “Fight Fire with Fire,” but the collaboration offers little, serving as the sole stretch where the energy is not as completely overwhelming. Even though No Tourists is yet another same-sounding entry in the Prodigy’s late-era discography, it’s also another satisfying dose of thrills designed to wreck the dancefloor and the mosh pit.
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The Proclaimers – Angry Cyclist (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:34 minutes | 812 MB | Genre: Folk Rock, Classic Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Cooking Vinyl
New album from the Scottish folk/rock duo composed of the identical twin brothers Charlie and Craig Reid. This is Craig and Charlie’s 11th studio album recorded again at the legendary Rockfield Studios in Wales featuring 13 new Reid/Reid songs produced by Dave Eringa (Manic Street Preachers, Roger Daltrey). Angry Cyclist finds The Proclaimers at the peak of their songwriting prowess. Instantly catchy hooks and melodies, gorgeous close harmonies, moving, as well as clever and subtle, biting lyrics, great arrangements and fantastic production (produced by Dave Eringa), all on a perfectly sequenced album.
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The Pretty Things – Singapore Silk Torpedo – Live at the BBC & Other Broadcasts (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:53:57 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Repertoire Records (UK) Limited
The Pretty Things are an English rock band, formed in 1963 in London. They took their name from Willie Dixon’s 1955 song Pretty Thing. A pure rhythm and blues band in their early years, with several singles charting in the United Kingdom, they later embraced other genres such as psychedelic rock in the late 1960s (with 1968 S.F. Sorrow being one of the first rock operas), hard rock in the early 1970s and new wave in the early 1980s.Despite this, they never managed to recapture the same level of commercial success of their very first releases.
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