The “Nuggets”of Krautrock?
“Cologne Curiosities” collects, for the first time on vinyl, all the otherwise unpublished/un-reissued material that firstly appeared on the three "Unknown Deutschland - The Krautrock Archive" CDs released on Virgin during 1996. These CD only releases were originally compiled by Trevor Manwaring (Paratactile, Impetus, Virgin, Harmonia Mundi) from tapes supplied to him by Toby Robinson. Toby - aka The Mad Twiddler, aka Genius P. Orridge - is well-known to Krautrock collectors as one of a number of engineers working at Stockhausen’s WDR and Dierks Studio in Cologne in the mid-1970's, where he assisted on recordings by many famous Kraut bands such as Can, Birth Control, Mythos or Dzyan. The recordings included here were made between 1972 and 1976 using studios in and around Cologne, produced by Toby Robinson for his own amusement, just having fun on the studio. Inevitably, bands would come in for practice sessions, to record demo's, and during slack periods impromptu jams would happen. Most of these sessions were recorded by Toby, and they feature Toby himself plus a revolving cast of friends and musicians (some of them apparently big Kraut names under pseudonym).

A special full moon edition of moon music is now available as a digital download. Featuring the full moon music album plus 10 ‘blue moons’ bonus tracks, including three stunning new tracks: the karate kid, man in the moon, and a wave.

Andy Grammer Releases New Album MONSTER.Los Angeles, CA (October 4, 2024) – Today, Emmy Award winner and acclaimed multi-platinum singer/songwriter Andy Grammer releases his new ALBUM, MONSTER via S-Curve Records. The release comes on the heels of his performance of “I Do,” featuring Maddie & Tae, on Live With Kelly and Mark.
Out today, Monster sees Grammer elevating the high-energy songwriting that has won him millions of fans around the globe and leaning into acoustic melodies inspired by a novel foray into the mandolin. Across 11 poignant tracks, the project explores themes of family, relationships, happiness and letting go. At its core, Monster is Grammer’s most personal and sonically versatile album to date. Rife with vulnerable lyricism—yet still brimming with his distinctive optimism—the project is layered in dichotomy. It spans from catchy, uplifting anthems like “Still Smiling” and “Monster,” which simultaneously reflect on overcoming darkness and the complicated nature of relationships, to bright, soaring moments in “Magic” and “Friends and Family,” which, in contrast, showcase the beauty and hopefulness in connection. Monster is a testament to Grammer’s prowess as a songwriter and artist, as he explores the human condition in all its complex beauty.

The Devlins Return With ‘All The Days’ To Navigate Human Connection.Blue Élan Records have announced the upcoming release of All The Days, a new album from The Devlins, marking the band’s first full-length project almost a decade, following Waves. All The Days brings together the classic lineup of brothers Colin (vocals, guitar, piano) and Peter Devlin (bass), drummer Guy Rickarby and guitarist Mark Murphy, with Producer Rob Kirwan (Hozier, PJ Harvey, Depeche Mode) at the helm. The album’s lead single and title track, is out now, and sets the tone for the album with its themes of “resilience and navigating human connections.”

As part of The Stranglers' celebration of their Ruby Anniversary, the definitive collection of the B-side recordings they made whilst signed to Epic is released for the first time, via their own label. Appropriately, as befits a band marking forty years together, Here & There: The Epic B-sides Collection 1983-1991 gathers 40 tracks across 2 CDs and is also released as a 40 track digital package. The Stranglers released no less than 13 singles in the UK during this period, which saw them produce five albums: four studio and one live. The Stranglers signed to Epic Records in 1982 having been with United Artists / Liberty since 1977. The change of label coincided with changes in marketing policy across the UK industry - often dubbed "the Frankie Goes to Hollywood effect". Previously, The Stranglers' had released only one 12" single - an extended version of Bear Cage in 1980 - but from 2nd Epic single, Midnight Summer Dream until 1990, each release had a 12" version which required extra studio or, increasingly, live tracks to "add value" to the package.

INTEGRAL JIMMY SMITH 1957 - 1962 (Remastered Version) is a comprehensive collection of Jimmy Smith’s works from this highly influential period in jazz. Released in 2024, it includes 93 tracks that showcase Smith’s pioneering mastery of the Hammond B-3 organ, blending jazz, blues, and soul. This remastered version brings renewed clarity to his collaborations with notable musicians such as Kenny Burrell and Art Blakey. It features classics like "The Sermon!" and "Back at the Chicken Shack"​.

Burt Bacharach: One Amazing Night is a tribute from one of today's greatest living American popular composer - Burt Bacharach. This special evening was taped April 8th, 1998 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City and has been aired numerous times on TNT Network Cable Artists featured: All Saints, Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five, Elis Costello, Sheryl Crow, George Duke, Chrissie Hynde, Mike Meyers, David Sanborn, Luther Vandross, Dionne Warwick, Wynonna, and Burt Bacharach. Track highlights include: "Rain Drops Keep Fallin ON MY Head" by Ben Folds Five, "They Long to Close to You" by Barenaked Ladies, "Walk ON By / Say a Little Prayer / Do You Know the to San Jose" by Dionne Warwick, and more!

After the ban the Nazi rabble-rousers had imposed on him, it took a long time for Schreker’s oeuvre to be rediscovered, excavated from the archives, subjected to a re-appraisal and acknowledged as an indispensable element in one of the most fascinating periods of musical history. Although being taken for granted may bear the risk of renewed negligence, Franz Schreker’s status should no longer be challenged today. This makes it possible, apart from dealing with all of his main works also to consider what he himself perhaps did not deem his most ground-breaking works, ones permitting interesting insight into a musician’s workshop and displaying cross-references to his other works like you can hear on this recording.

With this album - subtitled La Bella Cubana - the Mozart y Mambo trilogy is complete. After two critically acclaimed albums, three documentary films, two international tours and fundraising to help support classical musicians in Cuba, Sarah concludes this adventure of a lifetime with the Havana Lyceum Orchestra and their conductor, José Antonio Méndez Padrón by recording Mozart's Concerto No. 4 with its famous final Rondo. Also on the album, three of her colleagues from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Jonathan Kelly, Wenzel Fuchs and Stefan Schweigert, join her for more Mozart, performing the Sinfonia Concertante for four solo wind instruments and orchestra.

The Changeling was Toyah's follow-up album to the critically acclaimed Anthem. Although it has a similar overall sound, the band's writing took a darker, almost gothic direction. Tracks such as "The Packt" and "Brave New World" take a rather dystopian although still hopeful view of the future, a theme which largely pervades the whole album. The Changeling was not released on CD until 1999, although this long-awaited release did at least include six bonus tracks, four of which were previously unavailable on CD.

Eternal Nightmare is the debut album by the San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal band Vio-lence. It was released on June 27, 1988 through MCA Records' Mechanic sublabel. A limited 10" promo single was released, with two tracks "Eternal Nightmare" and "Phobophobia"; the release was quite unique, as it came in a "vomit pack", a sealed plastic cover containing fake vomit. Shortly after, thrash metal innovators Slayer released a single in a similar format but with fake blood, and rock band The Revolting Cocks released a single with fake semen.

Rave Tapes is the eighth studio album by Mogwai. With Rave Tapes, Mogwai's mastery of sound and space is firmly at its apex. The album is a lustrous collection mined from the same quarry as its predecessors, wreathed in painterly textures underpinned by increasingly electronic beats. Mogwai wrote and recorded Rave Tapes at the band's Castle Of Doom studio in Glasgow, Scotland, with Paul Savage, who also worked on their 2011 album, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. Japanese edition includes two bonus tracks.

Backed by a punchy horn section and sizzling rhythms, Neal didn't suffer from any sophomore jinx. Between Neal, his bass-playing co-producer Bob Greenlee, and drummer Jim Payne, there's some very crafty songwriting going on here – "Any Fool Will Do," "Bad Check," and "Can't Have Your Cake (And Eat It Too)" are among the standouts.

Although being generally acknowledged as one of the leading composers of his native Switzerland, Othmar Schoeck (1886–1957) has never acquired a stable reputation outside the German-speaking world. This is partly due to his strong focus on the sung word: His output comprises eight operas, some 400 songs and a couple of smaller works for instrumental forces. Moreover, Schoeck’s essentially late-romantic style was considered démodé after the second world war when the avant-garde was arguing for a more rational and emotionally restricted approach to composition. One of his most personal works is the “Notturno” for baritone voice and string quartet. Written between 1931 and 1933 it served as a personal confession after an unhappy extra-marital love affair. Its five movements set verses by German 19th-century-poet Nikolaus Lenau and by the great Swiss writer Gottfried Keller. The highly differentiated interpretation by baritone Christian Gerhaher – one of the most distinguished young German “Lied” singers and a former disciple of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – and the Rosamunde Quartett offers a strong plea for Schoeck’s expressive music and sheds an exciting light on his artistic preoccupation with the dark abysses of human existence.

The very thing that made Luther Allison noteworthy became an albatross around his neck. Years after his initial run of records in the '70s, he was known for the same thing he was at the time – he was the only blues artist on Gordy, or any Motown affiliated label. This was true and novel, but many focused on the novelty, not the truth, ignoring Allison's status as a terrific torchbearer of raw Chicago blues. Some of material illustrates some contemporary influence – dig that funky groove and organ on "Raggedy and Dirty," or the rock-oriented slow burn of Mel London's "Cut You A-Loose" – but as his original title track illustrates, he can also deliver a torturous, impassioned slow grind. Still, this isn't an album about originality, it's a record how tradition can remain alive in a contemporary setting. Apart from the slightly cleaner production and the extended running time, this could have been released 15 years earlier, since its heart is in classic Chicago blues, particularly Chess. He draws on Willie Dixon via Howlin' Wolf for the first two tracks, dipping into Elmore James and B.B. King's catalogs later on in the record.