Jessica Moss has been blossoming as a solo artist since the release of her acclaimed debut album Pools Of Light in spring 2017. The violinist, composer and singer best known for her fifteen-year tenure in political post-punk band Thee Silver Mt. Zion is newly ascendant as a soloist, captivating audiences with gritty, warmly expressive electronic- and drone-inflected post-classical Minimalism (and sometimes Maximalism), accented by a distinctive melodic sensibility that channels Klezmer, Balkan and Middle Eastern tropes. Moss has played 80 shows in the past year, including appearances at Big Ears, WSO New Music, Le Guess Who?, Zemlika and Supersonic, participation in multiple editions of Basilica Hudson’s 24-Hour Drone Fest, and a mix of headlining dates and opening slots for the likes of Zu, BIG|BRAVE (on whose most recent album she also plays), and labelmates Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

The final 2018 installment of the Grateful Dead’s Dave’s Picks live archival series will feature the band’s show at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey on June 17, 1976. The 3-CD set is limited to 18,000 individually numbered copies mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman.

Ronnie Earl's third release for Black Top heralded the official formation of his band The Broadcasters, so named after the first solid body electric guitar, built by Leo Fender back in 1950. And in that band was one-time Rocket Darrell Nulisch and ex-Muddy Waters sideman and harpist extraordinaire Jerry Portnoy among other luminaries, plus a special guest appearance by Ronnie's Roomful of Blues mate Duke Robillard.

‘Faramondo’ was produced in 1738 at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket after the collapse of the rival Opera of the Nobility. This means that, unlike some of his Covent Garden operas which were produced whilst his rivals performed at the King’s Theatre, ‘Faramondo’ was written for a superb cast which included the bass Antonio Montagnana sang the role of King Gustavo and the castrato Carestini (making his London debut) in the title role. Writing for such fine singers means that Handel takes for granted the ability to sing virtuoso passages. In fact, singers would have expected to be able to display their talents in the requisite number of arias. These arias were crafted (or fine tuned) once the cast was known, so that they take advantage of the best points of a singer’s voice. King Gustavo’s arias takes good advantage of Montagnana’s amazing range and all the singers would have expected the divisions to lie in the best part of their voices.

Blues guitarist Ronnie Earl has been making records since the end of the '70s, and he has a long legacy of fine picking to live up to, but it's not hard to wonder how much the man still has to say musically in a career that's spanned five decades. Released in 2015, Father's Day shows that Earl is not only still a master of the six-string, he still has a few new tricks up his sleeve. Father's Day gets its title from a song dealing with Earl's long estrangement from his father and their belated reconciliation, and it's a personal piece that gives Earl plenty of room to stretch out on spare, jazzy figures while the lyrics weigh the emotional hardships that come with family strife.

March 24, 1976: Steve Lacy plays his first concert in Montreal, at St.-Jean l'Évangéliste Church. This solo appearance was recorded but only 25 minutes of the performance can be found on side one of the 1979 Quark LP The Woe (side two being "The Woe"). Over 20 years later, the label Emanem released the complete concert (minus an aborted piece and applause) on the CD Hooky…

Gravestone was a German heavy metal band, formed in 1977 as originally a progressive rock outfit, before going in to the heavy metal genre. Gravestone released five studio albums between 1977 and 1986 before splitting up. With origins dating back to 1977, Gravestone were one of several German hard rock bands who initially experienced nothing but failure (they released two early LPs few people have ever heard of: 1979's Doomsday and 1980s War), yet hung around long enough to enjoy a small taste of recognition following the colossal '80s success of countrymen like the Scorpions and Accept. Capitalizing on this sudden surge of interest, vocalist Berti Majdan, guitarists Mathias Dieth and Klaus Reinelt, bassist Thomas Sabisch, and drummer Dieter Behle would release three additional albums…

The time has again arrived for us to check in with Nordland, the one-man black metal band from the damp east coast of England, whose distinctive musical contemplations of a pagan past and looming death have gripped our attention in past releases, the last of which was the excellent European Paganism album in 2017. Not one whose creative inspirations go dormant for long at a time (or maybe ever), Nordland’s creator Vorh has recorded a new album named The Dead Stones which will be released on October 24th by the Russian labels Satanath Records and More Hate Productions.