Energy abounds from these German thrashers. Hot on the heels of last year’s solid Blood on Canvas album, Death Squad Chronicles as the seventh album sees the group expand back to a quintet with the arrival of second guitarist Dominik - yet no lapse in bone crushing material. Taking a lot of the classic 80s material from early demos or albums and giving this a spit shine polish befitting of the band’s 40th anniversary, the record also includes two new songs to prove their vitality remains razor sharp.
Speedy riffs bounce next to equally rabid rhythmic-style vocals, the additional gang-like punch and relentless tempo pummeling indicative of these musicians appeal to a lot of the ardent thrash followers especially across the German/ European scene…

Once you’ve heard Pat Metheny you will always recognise him, no matter what company he’s in or what instrument he’s playing, be it a simple acoustic guitar or some unlikely invention of his own. Beneath it all there’s a frank, open-hearted tunefulness that keeps the music airborne. This double album, recorded at the end of a year-long tour by his Unity Band, is as polished and sophisticated as any, but moments such as the opening melody of This Belongs to You or the gradual unfolding of Born are just plain elegant. There’s a similar quality about saxophonist Chris Potter’s playing, and all four are so relaxed in each other’s company that everything flows beautifully.

Marsbéli Krónikák (The Martian Chronicles) is one of the greatest symphonic prog albums of all time. Solaris provide some great swirling keyboards (and lots of them), injected with some incredible flute, bass and guitar, surrounded by complex drumming . This recording moves in and out of many different moods throughout the recording taking on many different personas. This is some of the coolest space instrumental prog you will ever hear. The intro is quite psyched out and has some alien child like voices throughout providing an very uneasy feeling. After the "Martian Chronicle Suite" we are treated to a couple of extra tracks which seem to blend in quite well actually.

Analogue Productions presents Hybrid SACD editions of Jimi Hendrix Experience's landmark 1967 album Axis: Bold as Love. Newly remastered by by noted mastering engineer Bernie Grundman from the original analog master tapes, it contains both the mono and stereo mixes for each historic title in sensational pure DSD sound.

ASYNC – REMODELS is an album of "reconstructions" of tracks from Japanese producer Ryuichi Sakamoto's nineteenth solo studio album async (2017). The album includes eleven reworks (twelve on the Japanese release) by producers such as Jóhann Jóhannsson, Fennesz, Cornelius, Oneohtrix Point Never, Electric Youth, and Arca. Released in Japan in December 2017 by Commmons and in February 2018 in other countries by Milan Records, ASYNC – REMODELS garnered generally positive critical reviews and peaked at number 15 on the Billboard American Top Classical Albums chart.

Digitally remastered edition of this album from the pianist, poet and composer extraordinaire from Montenegro. Funky Tramway is often considered to be one of the rarest and most well de-veloped of Janko Nilovic's records, easily rivaling his famous cult album Rythmes Contemporains. And yet, apart from a few already compiled tracks and enthused descriptions on the web from lucky record hunters here and there, little was actually known about this opus which only made its way into the hands of lucky or enlightened collectors. The tracks take on a real cosmic dimension thanks to the judicious use of backing vocals and synths. Hiding behind its beautifully naive sleeve (painted by the composer's wife) lies a great record which dares to wager an exciting and rebellious fusion, delectably playing with the codes. A compendium which brings the entire career of the Yugoslavian composer into perspective.

Erik Truffaz received an early introduction into the world of a professional musician, thanks to his saxophone-playing dad. When he was ten years old, the French trumpeter began performing in his father's dance band. As he grew older, Truffaz performed with other bands in the region until he was 16 and heard Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. The great jazz trumpeter's music inspired him to learn more, and he set off for Switzerland's Geneva Conservatoire, where he became a student. Truffaz's repertoire expanded to works by Mozart and Verdi, and he performed as part of L'Orchestre de Suisse Romande. He also played in cover bands before establishing a group called Orange. The band concentrated on Truffaz's compositions. Among its members was Marc Erbetta, a drummer who continued to play with Truffaz as the trumpeter evolved…

An artist may be called a "musicians’ musician", and by that be described as a musician, whose genius is admired by his colleagues in the highest degree; maybe his art has formed the style of a whole musical genre, but due to whatever reasons has never found mass appeal and popularity. Ewen Carruthers´ folksongs are unbelievably condensed matter; they are diamonds reduced to their essential artistic content which have influenced many of his fellow musicians - among them Allan Taylor and Mike Silver.

Recorded on Halloween night in 1979, this pairs up Wells and Guy in a fashion that hasn't been heard since Hoodoo Man Blues, their first, and best collaboration. Solid backing by the Philip Guy band (Buddy's brother) makes this album a rare treat.

One of the more curious characters of the new wave movement, singer/guitarist/songwriter Moon Martin issued several critically acclaimed yet commercially underappreciated releases from the late '70s through the early '80s, before reappearing in the mid-'90s.

SWEET FUNK AND BEAT-HEAVY BALLADS 1968-1975 This anthology follows Now-Again's Loving On The Flipside, issued more than a decade ago. And that anthology itself got its start in a different time, a decade even earlier - the era in which Now-Again's Egon and his friends chased down funk 45s and the odd LP for their testosterone riddled, aggressive sound. Often times the funk song on one of their chosen is would be the throw-away b-side, the hasty afterthought the band cobbled together the night before hitting - or while in - the studio because they'd put all of their energies into writing the amazing ballad that would ensure their entry in soul's history books.

Kiss Rooted in the campy theatrics of Alice Cooper and the sleazy hard rock of glam rockers the New York Dolls, Kiss became a favorite of American teenagers in the '70s. Most kids were infatuated with the look of Kiss, not their music. Decked out in outrageously flamboyant costumes and makeup, the band fashioned a captivating stage show featuring dry ice, smoke bombs, elaborate lighting, blood spitting, and fire breathing that captured the imaginations of thousands of kids. But Kiss' music shouldn't be dismissed – it is a commercially potent mix of anthemic, fist-pounding hard rock driven by sleek hooks and ballads powered by loud guitars, earworm melodies, and sweeping strings.

Scintillating pianism in music from Mozart to Messiaen: the complete Argo and Decca recordings of John Ogdon. John Ogdon began to study at the Royal Northern College of Music in 1953, at the age of 16. Fellow students such as Alexander Goehr and Harrison Birtwistle were astonished by the speed of Ogdon's mind, matched by his facility at the keyboard. He could perform and make sense of the most complex scores, old and new, as though they were child's play. Further study elsewhere led to his triumph at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition in 1962, when he shared the gold medal with Vladimir Ashkenazy. He began to record for Decca six years later, in December 1968, with the piano cycle by Olivier Messiaen, Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jesus, which renewed the Lisztian tradition of pianism for a new postwar age. Over the next three years he made four further albums for Decca, three of them with his wife Brenda Lucas. The diversity of repertoire testifies to the range of Ogdon's musical talent and intellectual curiosity. More elevated but virtuosic Messiaen (the Visions de l'Amen) sits alongside freewheeling youthful concertos by Mendelssohn and Shostakovich.

To anthologize the often overshadowed solo career of Brother Gregg Allman, Capricorn Records released this luscious, 34-track, 2CD collection in 1997 entitled One More Try: An Anthology. But, instead of packing it with “hits,” someone got the bright idea to stuff it full of demos, band rehearsals and 26 previously unreleased recordings. Which is very cool for fans and collectors. So… is there a buzz killer here, you ask? Of course. Just two years later, Capricorn unceremoniously deleted the collection. Maybe the bean counters were bummed at the lack of radio-worn favorites, or Capricorn thought a by-the-book Best Of would sell better. Perhaps Allman himself just changed his mind about having it out there. Who knows? But what got overlooked is that One More Try: An Anthology might be the single most interesting release in Allman’s solo catalog. The recordings often showcase Gregg alone on acoustic guitar. Some are live band rehearsals. Even the Allman Brothers Band staple, “Wasted Words,” appears here as a loose studio jam featuring Johnny Winter, Buddy Miles and the late Berry Oakley. Polished or not… profitable or not… perhaps this is the best way Gregg Allman deserves to be heard, by himself or just casually jamming with friends.

The Korgis, formed in 1978 by James Warren and Andy Davis after their time in Stackridge, broke through with hits like "If I Had You" and the worldwide smash "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime," followed by South American success with Trevor Horn's "Don't Look Back." Mismanagement and lineup changes stalled their momentum, but after a brief '90s comeback attempt, they re-emerged in 2017 with a fresh lineup, new energy, and eventually Kartoon World (2021), hailed as a career high. Collaborations with writer and guitarist Joe Matera brought strong new songs, while 2023's Orchestrations reimagined classics with lush arrangements. In 2024, they released their most ambitious project yet, the double concept album UN-United Nations, tackling global issues while honoring their roots, with additional material later expanded by Al Steele on Alienated Nations. With reworked classics like "Coffee in New York" and a brand-new orchestral take on "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime," The Korgis continue to prove their knack for reinvention while staying true to the sound that first put them on the map.