Olafur Arnalds, Alice Sara Ott – The Chopin Project (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 45:36 minutes | 858 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mercury KX
Award-winning young Icelandic pop/classical musician Ólafur Arnalds uses a radical new approach to recording the music of Chopin. Arnalds developed an intimate, fragile and often charmingly imperfect sound using old/unusual/altered pianos captured on vintage recording equipment and various mixing techniques to re-enforce feelings of solitude or loneliness, and to create dreamlike ambient soundscapes. Pianist Alice Sara Ott joins and Ólafur has composed new works to link the album together.
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The Chicks – Gaslighter (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 47:00 minutes | 499 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia
Natalie Maines has had it up to here and isn’t going to take it anymore. “You’re only as sick as your secrets, so I’m telling everything,” she sings on “Sleep at Night” from Gaslighter, her fifth album with The Chicks. (The band dropped “Dixie” in the midst of 2020’s global protests over racial injustices.) Coming on the heels of what was apparently a very ugly split from actor Adrian Pasdar, the album is laden with eviscerating, nakedly honest lyrics. Maines has said the band was considering releasing a covers record, just to fulfill their contract with Sony, but that her divorce “sparked me being ready [to make new music].” The story kicks off with the album’s title track, an absolute delight—bright as the Southern California noontime sun—that paints her ex as a lie-lie-lie-liar. (The narrative only gets worse from there.) From the start, producer Jack Antonoff’s fingerprints are all over the songs, mostly for good. “Sleep At Night” (“My husband’s girlfriend’s husband just called me/ how messed up is that?”) is loaded with his signature Disney-like melodies, punchy percussion and Beach Boys ohhhhhs. In other words, it sounds like a song from his band fun., in the best way. So does the super-catchy “Texas Man”—all bounce and joy with staccato percussion and appealingly weird guitar flexes. Throughout, the Chicks sound as young and fresh as anything on pop radio: The spare piano ballad “Everybody Loves You” could’ve been recorded by Demi Lovato or Halsey, while the simple, reggae-kissed “Tights on My Boat” with its acoustic guitar and hints of violin is Ed Sheeran-esque. It also addresses the much-speculated-about innuendo from “Gaslighter,” on which Maines sings, “Boy, you know exactly what you did on my boat/ and boy, that’s exactly why you ain’t coming home” Here, she lobs the line: “You can tell the girl who left her tights on my boat that she can have you now.” Is it a country record? Not particularly, and some fans might be irked that the band’s beloved harmonies are not as prominent as usual. (This is very much Natalie’s show, vocally and lyrically.) But the Chicks have always been comfortable as outsiders, and it’s hard to imagine another “country” band making a song as edgy as “March March,” which urgently references reproductive legislation, climate change and gun control. By the last three songs of the record, all ballads, Maines can see her way out of the tunnel. As strings tumble like creek water on “Young Man,” she reaches for her highest, purest register to seemingly encourage her son to “take the best parts” of his father and “leave the bad news behind”—”my blues aren’t your blues.” – Shelly Ridenour
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The Chainsmokers – Memories…Do Not Open (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 43:24 minutes | 508 MB | Genre: Electronic, Dance
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Disruptor Records – Columbia
“Memories…Do Not Open” is the debut full-length album from Grammy Award winning artist/producer duo The Chainsmokers. Comprised of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, The Chainsmokers have evolved into a dominating musical force with a diverse repertoire of songs that have led them to become today’s hottest young artist/producer duo. With a signature sound that deftly reaches across indie, progressive and pop realms, their original tracks and remixes have topped the charts throughout the world.
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The Chainsmokers – Collage EP (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 18:49 minutes | 233 MB | Genre: Electronic, Dance
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Disruptor Records – Columbia
Collage, the second EP from electronic duo the Chainsmokers, compiles the pair’s five 2016 singles, including their smash hits “Closer” featuring Halsey and “Don’t Let Me Down” with Daya. Rounded out by equally shimmering electronic pop tracks with XYLØ, Phoebe Ryan, and Swedish singer Charlee Nyman, Collage debuted atop the Dance/Electronic chart and in the Top Ten of the Billboard 200. “Closer” reigns as the most successful single of 2016, sustaining a near record-breaking run atop the Hot 100 for 12 weeks straight and topping the charts in no less than 15 countries. ~ Neil Z. Yeung
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The Cars – The Complete Elektra Albums Box (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 03:56:59 minutes | 8,93 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Elektra
The Cars are an American new wave band that first formed in 1976 in Boston, Massachusetts. This box set includes a whopping 60 tracks of early Cars material featuring digital remastering supervised by frontman Ric Ocasek. Albums in this box set include The Elektra Years includes The Cars (1978), Candy-O (1979), Panorama (1980), Shake It Up (1981), Heartbeat City, (1984) and Door to Door (1987).
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The Cars – Studio Album Collection (1978-1987) (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 03:57:43 minutes | 8,75 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Elektra
The Cars are an American new wave band that first formed in 1976 in Boston, Massachusetts. For the first time, listen to their complete studio album collection of six albums in hi-res. Albums in this collection are: The Cars (1978), Candy-O (1979), Panorama (1980), Shake It Up (1981), Heartbeat City (1984), Door To Door (1987).
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The Cars – The Cars (2016 Remaster) (1978/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 35:10 minutes | 1,34 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Elektra
American art-rock was often stilted and lacking in humor until new wave arrived. This ranks as one of the best debut albums from a rock band. The Cars are filed under rock, but they are closer to power pop than any other genre. Ric Ocasek sounded like a cross between the Raspberries and Television, punk sound with a pop attitude. Liberated by the influence of the Velvet Underground, Roxy Music and punk-era fellow travelers like Blondie and Suicide, the Cars methodically linked hookiness (enough to produce three hit singles and several other FM favorites from this debut album) and at least one raised eyebrow. The result still plays as a rock & roll classic. And if charm wasn’t their aim, the fact is, it’s undeniable. In 2003, the album was ranked number 282 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
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The Cars – Shake It Up (Expanded Edition) (1981/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:18:56 minutes | 2,46 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Elektra
“Shake It Up” is the fourth studio album by American rock band The Cars, originally released in 1981. This Expanded Edition features the original album, remastered in 2016, expanded with rare and unreleased bonus tracks, including an early version of “Since You’re Gone”, the demo for “Shake It Up” and an unreleased song called “Midnight Dancer”.
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The Cars – Moving In Stereo: The Best Of The Cars (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:11:33 minutes | 2,68 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Elektra
In 1978, the Cars had a Top 40 hit with the band’s very first single, ‘Just What I Needed.’ That streak continued over the next 10 years, as the band revisited the Top 40 a dozen more times with radio hits ‘Let’s Go’ and ‘Shake It Up’ along with iconic videos like ‘Magic’ and ‘You Might Think,’ which won MTV’s first-ever ‘Video Of The Year’ award in 1984.
The collection is produced by the band, with all surviving members contributing to song selection. Ocasek also supervised digital remastering of all the audio with Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound.
The collection features the band s big hits along with a rare, single mix for I m Not The One, as well as a live version of Everything You Say, and a new mix by producer Philippe Zdar of Sad Song, a track from the band s last album, 2011 s Move Like This.
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The Cars – Heartbeat City (Expanded Edition) (1984/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:09:11 minutes | 2,56 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Elektra
“Heartbeat City” is the fifth studio album by American rock band the Cars, originally released in 1984. This Expanded Edition features the original album, remastered in 2016, expanded with rare and unreleased bonus tracks, includes unreleased versions of “Why Can’t I Have You” and “I Refuse”, as well as the demo for “Drive”.
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The Carpenters – Singles 1969-1981 (2000/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:17:10 minutes | 898 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © A&M
Singles (1969-1981) expands the popular Singles (1969-1973) album with more of the group’s later hits, such as “Please Mr. Postman,” “Only Yesterday,” “Touch Me When We’re Dancing,” and “I Won’t Last a Day Without You.” “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Superstar,” and other ’70s hits are still here, making this a definitive collection of their best-known songs.
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Zefiro, Arnold Schoenberg Chor & Alfredo Bernardini – Fux: La corona d’Arianna (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:08:15 minutes | 725 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Arcana
In 2018, the Styriarte Festival in Graz launched, in collaboration with Zefiro, a project to rediscover the operatic output of the Styrian composer Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741), Kapellmeister at the imperial court in Vienna for forty years, with the aim of restaging six of his nineteen operas, one per year. With a cast of Baroque vocal specialists, led by Monica Piccinini and Carlotta Colombo, this set of La corona d’Arianna represents the second instalment of the Arcana series which documents the recordings made in the course of this six-year cycle, following the success of Dafne in lauro (A488, 2021 – awarded Gramophone Editor’s Choice and rated Eccezionale by Musica).
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Various Artists – Life & Death on a New York Dance Floor (1980 – 1983) (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:47:57 minutes | 1,27 GB | Genre: Electronic, Nu-Disco, House, Leftfield
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Reappearing Records
For the last 20 years London-based author and party organiser Tim Lawrence has dedicated himself to excavating the history of New York City party culture and bringing some of the most powerful aspects of that culture to London’s dance scene, from where it has ricocheted around the world. Having conducted the first set of major interviews with David Mancuso, Lawrence started to put on Loft-style Lucky Cloud Sound System parties with David and friends in London in June 2003. In early 2004 he published Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-79, which tracked the influence of the Loft on the wider New York DJ, dance and disco scene. In 2009 his biography of the iconic musician Arthur Russell became the first book to map the wider downtown music scene. These beautifully written and politically insightful histories have educated, inspired and celebrated the previously overlooked foundations of contemporary dance music.
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Various Artists – Holy Church Of The Ecstatic Soul – A Higher Power: Gospel, Funk & Soul at the Crossroads 1971-83 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:00:50 minutes | 692 MB | Genre: Funk, Soul, Gospel
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Soul Jazz Records
Soul Jazz Records’ Holy Church of the Ecstatic Soul: Gospel, Funk and Soul at the Crossroads 1971-83 draws upon the extensive links between black American gospel music and soul music, showing how the sensibilities of gospel artists such as Shirley Caeser, Dorothy Norwood, Andrae Crouch and others crossed over into secular soul music during this period.
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Udo Lindenberg, Das Panik-Orchester – LIVE (2023 Remaster) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 04:31:28 minutes | 3,10 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Music Central Europe
Half a century, or in other words: 50 years. It’s been that long since Udo Lindenberg founded the legendary Panikorchester. This merger was made official on August 13, 1973, and since then it has been like an inseparable alliance, and even though the band’s line-up has always undergone some changes, it should remain as such until the end.
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