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.

“Chopin at Midnight” is a reimagining of some of my favorite Chopin pieces for solo piano. I’ve wanted to do a solo piano / classical project for years, and Signum’s Steve Long embraced my vision. While Chopin mostly wrote for small, live performances in the salons of Paris, I’ve wondered for some time what his compositions would sound like if he were alive today in the age of streaming? What lengths would they be; which motifs would he choose to repeat; which tempi and miking techniques would he use?

Exploring the sessions that yielded the ahead- of-it’s-time ‘I Hear A New World’ album. Previously unheard versions and out-takes! All in superb new clarity, taken directly from joe meek’s own tape archive.

Dan Briggs from Between The Buried And Me's solo project. It is an ethereal electro-rock project, with material being written as early as 2012.

Quiet Houses are an indie-folk duo made up of Edinburgh-bred, Manchester-based Jamie Stewart and Hannah Elliott.

In popular mythology Haydn’s name is far less closely associated with the piano sonata than with the string quartet or symphony. Though a more than competent pianist (one writer in London described his playing of the brilliant fortepiano solo in the Symphony No 98 as ‘neat and distinct’), he was by his own admission no ‘wizard’ on the keyboard, and unlike Mozart and Beethoven never wrote sonatas for his own performance. Yet the keyboard remained central to Haydn’s creative process. His morning routine would invariably begin with him trying out ideas, for whatever medium, on the clavichord, the harpsichord or, from the 1780s, the fortepiano; and he composed prolifically for keyboard through most of his adult life, beginning with the harpsichord works he produced for aristocratic pupils during his ‘galley years’ in Vienna and culminating in the three great sonatas (Nos 50–52 in Hoboken’s catalogue) inspired by the sonorous Broadwood instruments he encountered on his London visits.

CASIOPEA's best album "Early Alfa Years", released in April 2012, is considered an exceptional hit among the best albums by instrumental bands released recently. The reason for this is not only the excellent song selection, but also the outstanding sound quality of the original master tapes from Alpha Records, which were kept at the gates of the city until then and brought to Sony Music Studios (Nogizaka) for careful re-mastering. This collection of gems from Cassiopeia's live performances, featuring four songs each from their three classic live albums from the Alpha Records era: "Thunder Live", "Mint Jams" and "Cassiopeia Live". Of course, the original master tapes were again brought to Sony Music Studios in full collaboration with Alpha Records for a high-quality HiRes mastering.

"As a descendant from both a family and country of mixed origins, I have always admired the richness that such blend produces. I have always been a searcher of union, of unity in diversity; always rooted in my Brazilian soil. As a friend of creation, the composition would clearly reveal its source of national belonging. Julio Falavigna and Antonio Porto have given me hands and together we’ve been threading various territories. Their own stories have brought me new horizons, so my Brazilian heart could feel many of the different saps that were already pulsating inside this composing tree of mine. I’ve let myself out to navigate onto faraway and primordial lands. And the heart has recognised itself as transatlantic, unveiling seas, yet just like the tree, maintaining its eternal root and original harbor."

We know little about Pierre de Manchicourt's biography and recordings of his music are rare. "beauty farm" takes up the cudgels for this Franco-Flemish master of the Renaissance, who is probably only known to insiders. The album "Manchicourt - Masses" sheds a representative light on the sacred music of the composer, who worked as Kapellmeister to Philip II in Madrid in the last years of his life. Four masses - including the first recording of the "Missa de Domina" - show that Manchicourt was one of the grand masters of vocal polyphony.

For over 20 years, Bob Seger was one of the best mainstream rock & rollers in America, developing a distinctive body of honest, hard-rocking songs. More songs than can be put on this single-disc set, unfortunately. While many of Seger's trademarks are here – "Turn the Page," "Old Time Rock & Roll," "Night Moves" – there is no "Rock and Roll Never Forgets," "Katmandu," "Shame on the Moon," or any of his pulverizing early records, when he was as tough as fellow Michigan rockers the MC5 and the Stooges; this is one time when a double-disc set would have held enough quality material. Nevertheless, what is here is fine and contains enough first-rate material to satisfy most fans.

Way back when, this was the first Elton John album I owned, and it’s one I’ve returned to regularly over the years. Now it’s been reissued for Record Store Day in expanded form on double vinyl, at long last giving us the full concert. The original release back in 1971 contained only six tracks, although a further one – Amoreena – was added to the cd reissue in the mid nineties. Now though the remaining six songs have been dug out of the archives for this release.

Elton John English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist, born March 25, 1947, Pinner, Middlesex.Elton John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s. He has sold over 200 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits including seven consecutive No. 1 U.S. albums, 59 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won five Grammy awards and two Academy Awards. His success has had a profound impact on popular music and has contributed to the continued popularity of the piano in rock and roll.

French producer, drummer, songwriter, and arranger Marc Cerrone is one of disco's most influential figures, and easily the most significant European disco artist besides Giorgio Moroder.

If Count Basie had hired James Brown to replace Joe Williams as his featured male vocalist, what would the results have sounded like? Brown offers some suggestions on Soul on Top, which finds the Godfather of Soul making an intriguing detour into jazz-minded big-band territory.

The eight five-star reviews on Amazon for "Road to Travel" (as of today) notwithstanding, I would say "Inside…" is a much better album… definitely Bert's best (and I believe I have all Bert Sommer's albums).