Tom Waits has said: "I like a beautiful song that tells you terrible things. We all like bad news out of a pretty mouth." When it comes to the material on Blood Money, I don't know if I can call Waits' mouth pretty, but he certainly offers plenty of bad news in a very attractive, compelling way. Released simultaneously with Alice, a recording of songs written in 1990, Blood Money is a set of 13 songs written by Waits and Kathleen Brennan in collaboration with dramatist Robert Wilson. The project was a loose adaptation of the play Woyzeck, originally written by German poet Georg Buchner in 1837. The play was inspired by the true story of a German soldier who was driven mad by bizarre army medical experiments and infidelity, which led him to murder his lover - cheery stuff, to be sure…

The Music Machine are one of the most respected and best loved American bands of the 1960s, renowned for their powerful sonic assault and intelligently crafted repertoire. The monochromatically-garbed combo’s hit ‘Talk Talk’ era was anthologised on Big Beat’s Ultimate Turn On compilation from 2006, and now the focus turns to the latter half of the Music Machine’s career.
The Bonniwell Music Machine was originally released in early 1968 and consisted of outtakes and single sides by the original Music Machine, along with newer recordings featuring the band’s second line-up: both incarnations headed by charismatic singer, songwriter and rock savant Sean Bonniwell. Now with this deluxe 2CD expanded reissue…

Originally known as a cool-toned altoist and occasional flutist, Bud Shank's playing from this recording forward surprised many listeners. There was a forcefulness and a passion to his alto solos (he had given up the flute) that had not been heard that much from him previously. Assisted by pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Al Foster, Shank rips into five bop standards, his own "Cotton Blossom," and Walter Norris' "Space Maker" with plenty of intensity, stretching himself and inspiring his sidemen.

This 45-minute mini-set captures the quartet - Adrian Belew (guitar/vocals), Robert Fripp (guitar), Trey Gunn (Warr guitar), and Pat Mastelotto (percussion) - thrashing out some of the most intense and rhythmically diverse sounds to ever bear the King Crimson moniker. Likewise, Level Five reveals a band reaching for and obtaining new levels of soul - a quality sorely absent in the " alternative" rock of the early 21st century. A majority of the instrumental material makes its debut release on this disc. However, "The ConstruKction of Light" and "The Deception of the Thrush" date as far back as the ProjeKcts - five unique incarnations of King Crimson circa the mid-'90s. These various ProjeKcts toured, recorded, and rehearsed, finally settling into the reformed quartet heard here…

Self-described as "…a cosmic rock relaxation creation to elevate sensory awareness to include the aura of intuitive perception of higher realm of human/divine consciousness using the astral body projection experience vehicle to pierce time/space/logic dimension barriers on the return voyage to the ultimate concept." CD reissue of this classic 1974 private press album. Moolah was comprised of two youths from New York, Walter Burns and Maurice Roberson. This revolutionary psychedelic album features piano, keyboards, electronic percussion and other electronic sounds, an esoteric, Buddhist vocal sound, with bits of concrète, tape and delay effects.

It's been long time since Tom Waits recorded an album as saturated with tenderness as this one. The carny-barker noise merchant who has immersed himself in brokenness and reportage from life's seamy, even hideous underbelly for decades has created, along with songwriting and life partner Kathleen Brennan, a love song cycle so moving and poetic that it's almost unbearable to take in one sitting. Alice is alleged to be the "great lost Waits masterpiece." Waits and Brennan collaborated with Robert Wilson on a stage production loosely based on Alice Liddell, the young girl who was the obsession and muse of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland books. The show ran in Europe for a time and the production's 15 songs were left unrecorded until now…

Prog metal supergroup O.S.I. return with their second album, which finds the duo of singer and keyboardist Kevin Moore and guitarist Jim Matheos moving away from the fairly standard-issue epic metal of 2003's Office of Strategic Influence into something that sounds more like Evanescence's gothy metal-pop crossed with late-era Radiohead's fondness for electronic interference. Moore, formerly of Dream Theater (his ex-bandmate Mike Portnoy plays the album's few non-electronic drums), and Fates Warning leader Matheos are venturing into relatively new territory here: Free is downright commercial in a way that none of the duo's previous projects have been. Moore sings with a new, less aggressive voice and Matheos' guitar is downplayed in favor of keyboards and sequencers…

Eri Ohno is a Japanese pop, funk and jazz singer.
Eri Ohno recorded her debut album Feeling Your Love and the single "Trad Man" (Better Days) in 1979, followed by several albums on the Denon and Nippon Columbia record labels. She recorded the album Eri My Dear (1982) with Toshiyuki Daitoku (keyboards), Cecil McBee (bass) and Billy Hart (drums). With Hank Jones, Eddie Gomez and Jimmy Cobb, an album with songs by Cole Porter like "I Get a Kick Out of You", "Love for Sale" or "Night and Day" was released in Tokyo in 1984.

Lagger Blues Machine consist of the Duponcheel brothers on keyboards and drums, Michel Maes on bass, Jose Cuisset on guitars, Vincent Mottouille on keyboards and Carmelo Pilotta on winds instruments. On their sole release, LBM develops a somber mood rock that takes elements from Soft Machine, some from Magma, some more from Zappa & Crimson. But make its own sound with relative good interplay between the solo instruments but sounds nothing like blues (actually, the name was a pun as they always longed for beers in their locale). The live album was never really released until 1988 but was recorded prior to the studio album and is of dubious quality.

Maretimo Records presents Buddha Gold Vol. 5 - The Finest in Mystic Bar Music. Immerse yourself in mystical sound collages of the whole range of world music.

During his post-Police musical career, guitarist Andy Summers has compiled a series of altogether distinctive, fusion-based solo outings marked by his shrewd compositional pen and laudable technical acumen. Moreover, Summers displays a somewhat lyrically driven guitar sound, teeming with animated lines, a rubato-like methodology, and bone-crushing crunch chords, as evidenced on this 1995 release. Here, the artist garners strong support from ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker, along with notable session musicians Mitchell Forman (keyboards), Jerry Watts (bass), and Greg Bissonette (drums). More importantly, the guitarist integrates strings (the Trouserfly String Quartet) into this rather vibrant mix, consisting of Afro-Cuban rhythms, wailing lead soloing, East Indian modalities, and more…

Recorded, helmed, and mostly produced by Phoenix, AZ blues renaissance man Bob Corritore (club owner, record label exec, writer, manager, radio DJ, and harp player), this hour-long disc is a potent example of loose, straight-ahead blues played with guts and low-boil intensity. Spanning 1986-1998, these 16 tracks recorded in Phoenix and Tempe studios feature a variety of classic bluesmen such as Lil' Ed Williams, Henry Gray, R.L. Burnside, Bob Margolin, Jimmy Rogers, Pinetop Perkins, and Bo Diddley (who is prominently pictured with Corritore in the CD's tray). It's well-recorded - clean but never slick - and the performances find a genuine and spontaneous rugged midtempo groove. Which is exactly what the blues should be…

Previously unreleased until 1991, this 1959 date features Frank Wess leading a septet of players mainly associated with Count Basie, pianist Hank Jones the only one not from some version of the Count's organization.
Unlike some of the other Savoy releases in the Opus De series, this is not chamber jazz, but a relaxed, blowing session. The five blues-based themes are pleasant, easygoing vehicles, familiar ground for any Basie associate. The playing is skillful, although unremarkable. The exceptions, typical for a Wess session, occur when the leader switches to flute, giving listeners a taste of the most interesting aspect of his musicianship: a satisfying blend of fluid grace and breathy impertinence…

Ideally, one would avoid compilations of the Doors' work, except perhaps for the hit singles and moments when one wanted very light listening. This was a band that took itself very seriously, almost to the point of self-parody at times, and their music ought to be discovered in the setting and context in which it was intended, but assuming that one needs a Doors anthology, this 19-track collection is the place to start. It started life during the quadrophonic era as a single LP of the same title, with programming intended to combine the concepts behind two earlier compilations, 13 and Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine, under one cover. In 1985, the two-LP version, the fourth compilation of the group's work, and the most comprehensive, was released, providing a good overview to the most obvious different sides of the group's output, and in 1991 this was remastered for CD with improved sound and an extra track…

A stunning masterpiece from Swedish composer Magnus Birgersson who once again takes us by surprise and delivers a wide, lush and electric 10th album. Until We Meet The Sky has a an intensely cinematic sound; from introspective, wispy and intimate ambient electronica it slowly builds up to a shoegazing spirit engulfing the listener in an ethereal dreamworld.An album of dizzying beauty composed by Solar Fields as a one track story in twelve phases from nightscapes to the sky. Deep and addictive.