A disc of Handel opera arias from Roberta Invernizzi is remarkable in its own right because it breaks new ground for the Milanese soprano. True, she has taken part in complete operas on disc as on stage, and has recorded plenty of arias by other composers of the time such as Vivaldi, Leo, Porpora, Feo or Mancini (Arias for Domenico Gizzi and I Viaggi di Faustina being two recent albums). This new release from Glossa, however, sees Invernizzi reflecting Handel’s special brand of emotional investigation and making her selection from the many regal characters which pepper Handel’s operas – Cleopatra, Berenice, Arianna and Alcina, among them – and their ardent, affecting, distraught and stately feelings.

On her first Pentatone album, pianist Tamara Stefanovich presents a highly personal selection of solo works by Bach, Bartók, Ives and Messiaen. Influences shows how these extraordinarily original and idiosyncratic composers let themselves be inspired by the exterior world, thereby demonstrating how authenticity comes from looking outside as well as inside. The repertoire spans from Bach's embrace of Italian musical elements in his Aria variata alla maniera italiana, Bartók's incorporation of folk elements in his Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs, and Messiaen's use of Hindu rhythms in Cantéyodjayâ to the collage of marching bands, sounds of trains and machinery, church hymns, ragtime and blues in Ives' first piano sonata.

What…do they sound like when played on a modern concert grand? The answer is: wonderful, life-enhancing and completely convincing. But really, assuming the performers are out of the top drawer (as they are here), no one should be astonished…Kirschnereit brings rhythmic elan and a light-handed touch to the solo part. Matthias Kirschnereit performs Handel's Six Concertos for the Organ and Harpsichord, op.4 on piano. It is only now that the depth and beauty of these concertos can be heard in full!

Richly detailed, alternately rugged and studio slick, the airy and expressive debut album from Montreal's Half Moon Run is caught somewhere between the pastoral, harmony-laden northwoods folk of Fleet Foxes, the hazy classic rock meanderings of Band of Horses, and the soulful midnight din of Alt-J and Jeff Buckley. Formed via a craigslist ad, the band's internal anonymity is hardly relative with regard to its cohesiveness, as each track on the brainy yet intuitive Dark Eyes sounds like the sum of its parts, but there is enough space between those parts to suggest a sort of unspoken agreement to avoid any sort of showboating.

Combining virtuosic tapping, ferocious shredding, and deep hooks, Controlled Chaos is the debut solo album from versatile American guitarist Nita Strauss, who first caught the metal scene's attention playing in the all-female Iron Maiden tribute band the Iron Maidens and the popular West Coast hard rock/glam metal outfit Femme Fatale. Citing influences like Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker, and composer Johann Strauss, the latter of whom is actually a distant relative, the 11-track instrumental set delivers a lethal blend of melody and might.

Japanese original release. Jackson Browne brings a live album with tracks selected from his Japan tour in 2015, featuring a tight band of top-notch musicians. The songs are selected and mastered by Jackson Browne himself, including “These Days,” “The Crow on the Cradle,” and “Far From the Arms of Hunger.” Clyde Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Coming to prominence in the 1970s, Browne has written and recorded songs such as "These Days", "The Pretender", "Running on Empty", "Lawyers in Love", "Doctor My Eyes", "Take It Easy", "For a Rocker", and "Somebody's Baby". In 2004, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, and given an honorary doctorate of music by Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. In 2015, Rolling Stone listed him as the 37th greatest songwriter of all time in its list of "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time".

This is the best record of the year and Minott is the best male vocalist of the decade. The Jolly Boys deserve a best vocalist Grammy, best cover song Grammy, best album Grammy, best all around Grammy and those who value solid music with raw power and hair-raising soulfulness deserve to honor their ears with this one. The Jolly Boys take some great songs on here and make them better as they own them, and they elevate some other mediocre pop songs (that until the Jolly Boys got hold of them were just whiny lyrics and plasticine substance around bubble gum basics) into the bluesy phenomenal stratosphere of hair-raising profound expressions of old school realism.

Dirt is Alice in Chains' major artistic statement and the closest they ever came to recording a flat-out masterpiece. It's a primal, sickening howl from the depths of Layne Staley's heroin addiction, and one of the most harrowing concept albums ever recorded. Not every song on Dirt is explicitly about heroin, but Jerry Cantrell's solo-written contributions (nearly half the album) effectively maintain the thematic coherence - nearly every song is imbued with the morbidity, self-disgust, and/or resignation of a self-aware yet powerless addict. Cantrell's technically limited but inventive guitar work is by turns explosive, textured, and queasily disorienting, keeping the listener off balance with atonal riffs and off-kilter time signatures. Staley's stark confessional lyrics are similarly effective, and consistently miserable…

By 1968, Waters was no longer reaching black audiences, who were mostly listening to soul music by that time, and he also wasn't selling records to more than a relatively small cult of white blues enthusiasts. Meanwhile, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and Cream were selling millions of records each using licks and sometimes songs learned from Waters. Previously, in 1966, Chess Records had recorded Waters' Brass and the Blues, trying to make him sound like B.B. King, and this time Leonard Chess' son Marshall conceived Electric Mud as a way for Waters to reach out to the Rolling Stones/Hendrix/Cream audience. Recorded in May of 1968, Electric Mud features Waters in excellent vocal form, running through new versions of old songs such as "I Just Want to Make Love to You," "She's Alright," "Hoochie Coochie Man," "Mannish Boy," and "The Same Thing"…

One of the best recordings for Keith Jarrett's mid-'70s American quartet (whose style differed sharply from its European doppelgänger), The Survivors' Suite opens with Jarrett's aching, breathy sigh on the bass recorder, evoking the sound of a horn somewhere across a great expanse of fog. Percussion soon punctuates the melodic line to give the opening a more spiritual, ritualistic feel, which is only the first of many mutations that this album will go through. Divided into two parts, entitled "Beginning" and "Conclusion," this suite effortlessly flows between its movements which range from fiery free jazz to open, meditative atmospheric pieces showing heavy input from indigenous musics to instrumental solos that owe a sylistic debt to the music of the previous decade…

The Windmill are a Norwegian progressive rock band formed in 2001 in the outskirts of Oslo. The music is symphonic neo prog influenced by several bands from the golden years of the seventies, such as Genesis, Pink Floyd, Camel and others. The debut album "To be Сontinued …" was released May 2010.
The album is filled with excellent compositions, built around melodic guitars, powerful organs, lovely vocal arrangements and some superb synthesizers. The album even contains a fantastic 21-min. epic, entitled ''A Day in a Hero's Life'', with strong Genesis, Yes and Camel inspirations, led by strong breaks, dramatic changes, instant melodies and a very rich and sensitive approach, incorporating influences also from Folk Music and Heavy Rock. But the remaining pieces are actually on the same level, full of delicate flutes, smooth organ and intricate guitar ideas to go along with quite decent vocals…

Classic Berlin School electronic music recorded live in Montana and evokes dreamy images of Yellowstone with influence of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Steve Roach and even Ashra.
Recorded live in 2007 with the Ricochet Gathering Yellowstone 2007. Mario is also well known for his solo works, collaborations and the German electronic music label Manikin. Thomas Fanger has played in many ambient and techno electronic line-ups. He is also in film production. This release contains an epic long Berlin School electronic track akin to Tangerine Dream in the mid 1970's. Rainbow Serpent with Gerd and Frank have long followed in the Berlin School electronic music tradition and this CD features two tracks showing Rainbow Serpent in their prime. Guaranteed to please any fan of this electronic music genre.