Arriving 12 years after the release of the film, Vangelis' soundtrack to the 1982 futuristic noir detective thriller Blade Runner is as bleak and electronically chilling as the film itself. By subtly interspersing clips of dialogue and sounds from the film, Vangelis creates haunting soundscapes with whispered subtexts and sweeping revelations, drawing inspiration from Middle Eastern textures and evoking neo-classical structures. Often cold and forlorn, the listener can almost hear the indifferent winds blowing through the neon and metal cityscapes of Los Angeles in 2019. The sultry, saxophone-driven "Love Theme" has since gone on as one of the composer's most recognized pieces and stands alone as one of the few warm refuges on an otherwise darkly cold (but beautiful) score…

The second album of this Danish group has very similar sound textures as found from their first album. They are emphasizing acoustic, carefully constructed harmonies, analogue organs and beautiful singing melodies for painting lush feelings to being paired with upright rock'n'roll passages. In addition of the more delicate and dynamic parts, there are also some quite straightforward and more unimaginative moments here, like the track "Classified Adds" - A symptom of filler-track syndrome, which was diagnosed already on their first album. The beginning of the fourth tune "Late Night Woman Blues" returns back to more ethereal feelings, morphing as a traditional blues number with acoustic slide guitars and amplified rhythm guitars…

Hoist the sails, sharpen your cutlasses, and fill your tankards - Alestorm is back with their brand-new album, The Thunderfist Chronicles! The Scottish party pirates return with their eighth album, containing eight new anthems packed with blistering riffs, wild shanty-driven melodies, and utterly ridiculous lyrics - taking the high seas of metal to new depths.
The Thunderfist Chronicles arrives as the successor to Alestorm’s epic seventh studio album, Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum, which peaked at #5 on both the US Current Hard Music and Top New Artist Albums charts, #7 on the German Album charts, and many others. After the release of last year’s Voyage of the Dead Marauder EP and a journey of extensive touring, the pioneering pirate metal band returned to their ship and once again teamed up with Lasse Lammert of LSD-Studios (Gloryhammer, Wind Rose) for production, recording, mixing, and mastering of The Thunderfist Chronicles…

This album has an interesting concept, alternating four original blues with five adaptations of melodies from classical works by Bach. The Modern Jazz Quartet had long been quite adept in both areas, and despite a certain lack of variety on this set (alternating back and forth between the two styles somewhat predictably), the music is largely enjoyable. Vibraphonist Milt Jackson, pianist John Lewis (doubling here on harpsichord), bassist Percy Heath, and drummer Connie Kay were still all very much in their musical prime during the 21st year of the MJQ's existence.

Deep Purple announces ‘Rapture of the Deep (20th Anniversary Remix)’ and releases new single, ‘Junkyard Blues’, through earMUSIC.
It’s no secret that ‘Rapture of the Deep’ isn’t the first album that comes to mind when listing Deep Purple’s classics – and while it was met with interest at the time, it gradually faded from view. Despite solid sales, the album arrived during a period when there was little spotlight on the world of classic rock, and over the years, ‘Rapture of the Deep’ developed into an overlooked chapter in Deep Purple’s rich discography.
It’s equally true that this record, and the story behind it, marked a turning point - the quiet beginning of a run that would eventually lead to four consecutive No. 1 albums (2013, 2017, 2020, 2024)…

Claus Zundel (aka "The Brave") is a German composer, songwriter, producer and pianist. He has created several worldwide successful musical projects, most notable Sacred Spirit and B-Tribe (sold 20 million. copies combined), as well as more Indie projects such as "Moroccan Spirit", "Classical Spirit", "Divine Works", Ancient Spirit and his latest project "Tango Jointz". His music style is usually called as "The Brave Sound" as it considers a large number of music styles mixed in his special way. He often collaborates with musicians and singers from around the world and creates "The Brave Sound" projects with them.

Cheap Thrills, the major-label debut of Janis Joplin, was one of the most eagerly anticipated, and one of the most successful, albums of 1968. Joplin and her band Big Brother & the Holding Company had earned extensive press notice ever since they played the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, but for a year after that their only recorded work was a poorly produced, self-titled album that they'd done early in their history for Mainstream Records; and it took the band and the best legal minds at Columbia Records seven months to extricate them from their Mainstream contract, so that they could sign with Columbia. All the while, demand continued to build, and they still faced the problem of actually delivering something worthy of the press they'd been getting…

The potential for a collaboration between B.B. King and Eric Clapton is enormous, of course, and the real questions concern how it is organized and executed. This first recorded pairing between the 74-year-old King and the 55-year-old Clapton was put together in the most obvious way: Clapton arranged the session using many of his regular musicians, picked the songs, and co-produced with his partner Simon Climie. That ought to mean that King would be a virtual guest star rather than earning a co-billing, but because of Clapton's respect for his elder, it nearly works the other way around. The set list includes lots of King specialties - "Ten Long Years," "Three O'Clock Blues," "Days of Old," "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer" - as well as standards like "Hold on I'm Coming" and "Come Rain or Come Shine," with some specially written and appropriate recent material thrown in, so King has reason to be comfortable without being complacent…

Swingin' Easy is one of Sarah Vaughan's lesser known albums for Emarcy, combining two separate trio sessions from 1954 and 1957. The earlier date includes pianist John Malachi (who also worked with singers like Dinah Washington, Billy Eckstine, and Al Hibbler, plus bassist Joe Benjamin and drummer Roy Haynes. Vaughan's lush ballad technique is in full force in "Lover Man," "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," and "Body and Soul," while she scats in a midtempo setting of "If I Knew Then (What I Knew Now)" and her own "Shulie a Bop." The second trio include pianist Jimmy Jones, bassist Richard Davis, and Haynes. Aside from a brisk, miniature treatment of "Linger Awhile" and a playful setting of "I Cried for You," the session is highlighted by a breezy "All of Me." Vaughan is in terrific form throughout both dates, with the songs mostly running around the three-minute mark.

Recorded on September 8, 1974, this set features Robert Wyatt (post-accident) with a slew of mates, including Ivor Cutler! Introduced by John Peel and recorded by the BBC - only a little over half the concert survives - this is a wild, freewheeling document featuring Wyatt, Cutler, and Julie Tippetts on vocals; Dave Stewart and Tippetts on keyboards; alternate drummers Nick Mason and Laurie Allan; Hugh Hopper on bass; Fred Frith on guitar, violin, and viola; the late Mongezi Feza on trumpet; the late great Gary Windo on reeds; and guitarist Mike Oldfield. It's quite a lineup and an awesomely inspiring performance. Wyatt is in excellent form here, and the bandmembers, who are a bit ragged in places, are nonetheless tight and full of fire…

Piet Blank and Jaspa Jones - the producers known worldwide. For two they have let out already many albums and tens magnificent singles, reliably having fixed in world history of dancing music. Their hits more than once appeared at tops of charts, and each new album stably got to number 50 of the best to Germany. The first release which has left in 2003 of an album "Relax: Edition One" to a descent has occupied 22 place in charts of Germany, and a chill-miss the version of track Pet Shop Boys "Love Comes Quickly" from this album became the present hit. Celebrating 10 years of Relax compilations, Blank & Jones compile the best remixed tracks from the last decade on Disc One. The second disc features an exclusive mix by Blank & Jones themselves of the best of Relax!

An excellent collection of some of the best tracks from Judy Collins' early Elektra albums, Colors of the Day will both entertain and leave you wanting more. Lovingly programmed (it leads off with her excellent country-pop hit "Someday Soon," an Ian Tyson classic), this is Collins at her finest. Earlier explorations into folk-pop ("Both Sides Now"), British folk ("Sunny Goodge Street," "In My Life"), and gospel ("Amazing Grace") clearly show her eclecticism. Some of the record's finest moments are from her exquisite 1968 album Who Knows Where the Time Goes (such as that album's title track and the aforementioned "Someday Soon"). This anthology brings the "best-of" collection to a new art form.

Redshark was founded in 2012 in Barcelona - Spain, by Philip Graves (guitar) with the aim of delivering Classic Pounding Heavy Speed Metal. Their traditional 80s metal influences may plunder the nostalgia circuit but Redshark are ruthlessly carrying the torch with great attitude, and powerful melodic songwriting. Their debut official release "Evil Realm" EP came out in 2019 and showed the band pushing the velocity further. Those intense five songs drew a roaring response and helped to spread Redshark name nationwide and abroad. Redshark have since honed their gloriously raw yet precisely incisive, dark, catchy and addictive speed heavy metal crunch staying faithful to their original influences taken from undisputed metal legends like Judas Priest, Savatage, Exciter and Metal Church…

Thomas Hardin Trio is a trio from Japan, performing jazz arrangements of compositions of various genres - from classical to Japanese pop music. The group's repertoire includes Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Kuwata Keisuke, Yosui Inoue, and Hikaru Utada. The name Thomas Hardin is fictitious, in fact the leader of the trio is Junichi Kamiyama - arranger and producer. The trio's main line-up includes pianist Haruki Mino, bassist Tohru Kase, drummers Milton Tomita and Yasushi Ichihara.

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…