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Recloose's wonderful and diverse 5-track EP blends sophisticated emotive soundscapes, nuanced late-night jazz smoke, nocturnal energy, and playful dub-infused experimentation. Funky, cassette-like textures meet high-tech musicianship, all filtered through his meticulous standards. Over 25 years after his legendary demo submission to Carl Craig, Recloose continues to refine his craft, delivering a sound that is unmistakably his own. Made for those that know.

Deicide ist eine der drei großen US-Death-Metal-Bands, zusammen mit Cannibal Corpse und Morbid Angel. Nach ihrem letzten Album "Overtures of Blasphemy", das 2018 erschienen ist, kehren Deicide nun mit ihrem neuen Werk "Banished By Sin" zurück.

Deicide sind bekannt für ihre kompromisslose Musik, und dafür, dass sie in den mehr als drei Jahrzehnten ihres Bestehens einige der esten und härtesten Death Metal-Songs hervorgebracht haben. Erwartet die intensivste, brutalste und einprägsamste Florida Death Metal-Platte!

Austin, TX legends, The Sword, welcome in the Twelfth vinyl release in the Live at LEVITATION series. On June 27, 2024, the band announced they would reunite for a one-off concert on November 3 at the 2024 edition of LEVITATION in Austin. In celebration of this reunion, we pulled from the archive and this limited live release showcases the bands appearance at the festival with their 2015 and 2021 performances. These recordings are now immortalized on beautiful limited colored vinyl. "With the band originating in the great city of Austin, a city that's proven to be a nucleus for a wide range of distinct and eclectic musical acts, it only felt natural to be included on the Levitation roster in 2015 and again in 2021, adding our own flavor to its diverse landscape. What an honor it has been to be included at such a cool festival. We've had two memorable sets so far, playing alongside some truly amazing bands. When we began entertaining the thought of returning to the stage after a two year hiatus, playing a reunion set at Levitation became the only appropriate solution, to play in front of the fans in Austin Texas, where it all began. We're very excited! Being asked to be part of the "Live at Levitation" LP series is also a great honor. The tracks we selected from each performance, at Carson Creek Ranch and Empire Garage, captured a special energy and enthusiasm that only Levitation could provide. It truly means a lot to share these memories with everyone and be included in this series!" - The Sword LEVITATION and the LIVE AT LEVITATION Vinyl Series The first Austin Psych Fest was held in March 2008, and expanded to a 3 day event the following year. The event quickly developed into an international destination for psychedelic rock fans, with lineups spanning the fringes of indie rock, from up-and-comers to vintage legends, and capped off with headline performances from co-founders The Black Angels, along with Tame Impala, The Flaming Lips, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Thee Oh Sees (in various forms) and many more. LEVITATION helped spark a movement, inspiring the creation of similar events across the globe and a burgeoning psych scene that would soon ignite. The series captures key moments in psychedelic rock history, and live music in Austin, Texas, pressed on beautiful limited edition colorful vinyl pressings - each an eye popping visual representation of the music contained within. The artists and sets showcased on Live at LEVITATION have been chosen from over a decade of recordings at the world-renowned event, and document key artists in the scene performing for a crowd of their peers and fans who gather at LEVITATION annually from all over the world.

Seitdem sie sich 1992 ihren Weg aus der düsteren Unterwelt Tokios gebahnt haben, haben DEFILED mit ihrer knochenbrechenden Aggression und komplexen Kunstfertigkeit eine blutige Schneise in die globale Death Metal-Szene geschlagen. Sie haben ihr Vermächtnis als Vertreter der Grausamkeit zementiert und ihre unerbittlichen Angriffe sind so unerbittlich wie immer geblieben.
Willkommen in den Abgründen von Horror Beyond Horror, DEFILEDs katastrophalem neuesten Werk, das mit der Bosheit veredelt ist, die nur erfahrene Dämonen des Todes beschwören können. Jeder Track ist eine weitere groteske Erkundung der Tiefen menschlicher Verderbtheit, und das Album verschmilzt auf bösartige Weise die Grausamkeit des Death Metal alter Schule mit Strängen von technischem Thrash und progressiver Psychose.
Schalt DEFILEDs Horror Beyond Horror ein und lass dich vom Wahnsinn befreien - das einzige, was brutaler ist als die Realität, ist dieses Album.

FFO: Cryptopsy, Hate Eternal, Dying Fetus

Katia und Marielle Labèque, das berühmte Klavier-Schwestern-Duo mit mehr als fünfzigjähriger Karriere,
veröffentlichen ihr neues Album, das der Musik von Philip Glass gewidmet ist als umfangreiche 3-LP Box.
Mit Begleittexten von Philip Glass und Fotos von der Aufführung in der Pariser Philharmonie.
Sein zwischen 1993 und 1996 komponiertes Triptychon, das auf den Filmen von Jean Cocteau basiert, wird
hier vervollständigt. Nach ihrer viel beachteten Aufnahme von ”Les Enfants Terribles”, die hier enthalten
ist, präsentieren die Pianistinnen nun zusätzlich auch die beiden verbleibenden Werke der Cocteau-Trilogie:
”Orphée” und ”La Belle et la Bête”, arrangiert von Glass’ Musikdirektor Michael Riesman.
Nach seiner Porträttrilogie (Einstein, Gandhi und Echnaton) wandte sich Philip Glass für seine Opern
den Werken von Jean Cocteau zu. So greift er den Mythos von ”Orphée” (Orpheus) und ”La Belle et la
Bête” (Die Schöne und das Biest) wieder auf. Er schließt seine Trilogie mit ”Les Enfants Terribles” (Die
schrecklichen Kinder) ab, einem ebenso tragischen wie erschreckend leichten Roman, in dem zwei Kinder
in den vier Wänden ihres Zimmers eine imaginäre und grenzenlose Freiheit erlangen. Dies sind Themen,
die Glass’ hypnotische, unendliche Musik unter den Fingern von Katia und Marielle Labèque aufs Schönste
beschwört.

Mehr als nur ein My Dying Bride Nebenprojekt.

High Parasite loten die Grenzen zwischen Metal, Gothic Rock und dunklem Synthie-Pop auf ihre unverwechselbare Art ganz neu aus.

Als verehrter und anerkannter Künstler, Gründungsmitglied und Sänger der bahnbrechenden My Dying Bride, die seit über drei Jahrzehnten Erfolge feiert, wird sich das Rampenlicht zweifellos auf Aarons unverwechselbares Profil richten. Zusammen mit Bassist, Sänger und Songwriter Tombs, der maßgeblich an der Entstehung von High Parasite beteiligt war, bildet er eine lebendige, atmende Einheit. Alle Songs tragen die klare Handschrift der Beiden. Zusammen bilden sie das schwarz schlagende Herz der fünfköpfigen Band, die von Sam Hill (Rhythmusgitarre), Jonny Hunter (Leadgitarre) und Dan Brown (Schlagzeug) ergänzt wird.

Zeitgleich mit der Veröffentlichung des Albums geht die Band auf ihre allererste UK-Tournee als Support von niemand Geringerem als Cradle of Filth.

Produziert von Gregor Mackintosh von Paradise Lost und gemastert von Tim Turan.

- Ltd. Col. LP: (White Vinyl)

Following Sonescent, Matchess" 2022 album documenting "the final moments in the life of music", Stena goes further, reanimating dying waves with a collage of found sounds, frequency experiments and new music compositions. Pouring over notebooks rife with polarities and doppelgangers, considerations of biological and symbolic ancestry and the spirits that infuse places we leave behind, Matchess crafts an encompassing work of psychoacoustic music.

Written over the last two years - in Somerset, Los Angeles, and London; hotel rooms and tour vans; good places and rough patches - Welcome The Night is a mutant document of Sad Night Dynamite’s mission and scale. Deliberately chaotic, their grab-bag approach to sound creates an album ranging from dark club bangers, trippy folk, hip-hop and bugged-out storytelling. An ‘anything goes’ space that offers total creative freedom through absurdism.

Die US Death Metal-Ikonen NILE kehren mit ihrem mit lang ersehnten, zehnten Studioalbum The Underworld Awaits Us All zurück, das via Napalm Records erscheint.

Wieder einmal verbinden sie technische Präzision mit unbarmherziger Brutalität zu einer markerschütternden Death Metal-Attacke. Dabei beweisen ausnahmslos alle Bandmitglieder – von Gründungsmitglied und Gitarrist Karl Sanders, Schlagzeuger George Kollias, bis hin zu Sänger und Gitarristen Brian Kingsland Zach Jeter, sowie Bassist Dan Vadim Von – enormes musikalisches Können an ihren Instrumenten.
Das neue Album wurde erneut in Sanders' eigenem Serpent Headed Studios in Greenville, South Carolina produziert und aufgenommen. Für das Mixing und Mastering arbeitete die Band mit dem Produzenten Mark Lewis (Dying Fetus, Whitechapel, The Black Dahlia Murder) zusammen, der auch schon am Vorgängeralbum Vile Nilotic Rites beteiligt war und die gewaltige Bildwelt des Covers wurde von Micha "Xaay" Loranc gestaltet, der sich vom Jüngsten Gericht inspirieren ließ.

`Think Differently' is the debut LP by the duo of Callahan & Witscher. Jeff Witscher has been one of the most daring voices in underground American music for two decades, highlighted by releases on Pan and NNA Tapes. Jack Callahan's focused, uncompromising approach to sound caught the attention of both Demdike Stare's DDS label and Swiss composer Jürg Frey, who took Callahan on as his first composition student. Fans of their individual work might expect opacity, disruption, or rhythmic irregularity from their collaboration, but `Think Differently' sounds like a pitbull in a convertible, a sand-kicking beach party, the dopamine hit you get from 311 or Smash Mouth. It's a punchy, crunchy, highly infectious record. How did Callahan & Witscher cut the path from the ghostly margins of avant garde musics to the gutters of post-grunge American hard rock? In the words of Callahan, "at some point, you start to need a stronger drug." The most potent characteristic of this stronger drug is the guitar. And not just any guitar, but a sassy, contagious, blithe guitar. Its presence is a drastic shift for two guys who've combined to make dozens of records over the years, not a single one of which has a recognizable guitar sound on it. Alongside the cool breezes and hyperactive fretwork of Callahan's guitar playing, the songs are backboned by strutting, groove-happy vocals: all bark, all bite. Every song is a careful collage, light but dense, ornate with gang choruses, soulful femme vocals, autotune and whisper scratches. This accumulation almost manages to hide the record's potent undertow of dread. `Think Differently' unfolds carefully, a slow-motion demolition that reveals the anxiety of second guessing, the exhaustion of tour, creative bankruptcy, willful misunderstanding, the pain of caring. Setting this lyrical cynicism against such sonic glee isn't a spoonful of sugar, it isn't a bait-and-switch, it isn't a prank. After all, the dumb bliss of Sugar Ray's "Fly" shades a song about Mark McGrath's mom dying. "All Star" is about climate change. Most Sublime lyrics are a bummer. But there's still room for a raised beer, for a dumb grin. Like these ancestors, Callahan & Witscher aim at maximum uplift, at sounds that warm and dazzle like a sped-up sunrise. In spite of overdraft fees, in spite of bad art, in spite of self-doubt.

The legendary UK Thrash Band Solitary mark three decades of metal, with the release of a brand new album " Embrace The Darkness" which is the fifth of their thirty year career - and not only is it their heaviest, hardest, most confrontational release to date, it's undoubtedly their best yet, following on from the highly acclaimed "The Truth Behind The Lies" (Metalville Records 2020).

The UK's resolute and relentless kings of thrash, Solitary, have tapped into the thick, black blood that pulses sluggishly through the fat and filth congested veins of society. It is fact that we live in dark times; alongside war, pandemics, grief and horror. These are the days of division, where we turn against each other in politically driven hatred and against ourselves, choking on a social media diet of self-loathing and isolation.

Through our ever-glowing screens we watch the crumbling of virtue and the slow, agonised death of decency and honour. Solitary have stared into the alleyways, the cellars and the broken minds of our youth and forged their most unflinching album yet. This is their hymn to a dying world, their soundtrack to the end of days it's time to "Embrace The Darkness"

For over three decades Toby Marks, aka Banco de Gaia, has been redefining world electronica, leaving an indelible footprint on the global music scene, rousing many a dancefloor, and inspiring countless musicians to follow. At the forefront of blending acoustic and electronic sounds, integrating themes and techniques from cultures and traditions the world over, Toby has worked with musicians and producers as ingenious and diverse as Pink Floyd's Dick Parry, Natacha Atlas, Tim Wheater and Hawkwind– to name just a few.

Ranging from cinematic ambience to pounding dancefloor-fillers, his music defies genres, and borrows from a wealth of musical sources and styles. Toby's background in jazz and rock combine with his love of dance and world music to produce a glorious, uplifting and, at times, mesmerizing sound.

Black Bile compiles some of Umberto"s most resplendent, sanguine music to date The solo work of LA composer Matt Hill draws heavily from the world of cinema, spinning immersive narratives and rich atmospheres using sound alone. Hill, an active composer for film and television, recently scored the 2022 Jerry Pyle film Loveseat (soundtrack was released in 2023). Other recent scores include the 2020 thriller Archenemy, from the producers of cult classic Mandy. Inspired by the ancient Greek theory of the "four humors," an early medical theory linking the inner workings of the human body to the elements. "Black bile" specifically links the feelings of melancholy with autumn. Hill"s celestial compositions are an autumnal soundtrack conveying beauty, yearning, reflection and comfort. Many of the album"s phrases are constructed from just two notes or sounds, arranged by Hill into complex patterns that undulate with an organic pulse. The spare melodic structure holds a myriad of small and beautiful details. The songs began with Hill improvising on the piano, to find the notes and patterns that created the musical and emotional structure from which he could expand with textural detail. Hill then would often remove the initial structure leaving a sparer and more skeletal one which he could again expand upon to create a full piece. The careful attention to each detail gives his minimal compositions emotional heft. The album masterfully stakes Umberto"s claim among other avant-ambient boundary pushers such as Lawrence English or Laurel Halo.

The UK’s first and only emo band Los Campesinos! return with their highly-anticipated seventh album, All Hell. It is perhaps their most ambitious and assured album yet, whilst simultaneously recalling everything we’ve come to love about LC! over their faultless discography. Recorded between October 2023 and February 2024, it is the first album to be wholly self-produced by band member Tom Bromley (having co-produced previous albums Sick Scenes and NO BLUES). The album is also self-released on the band’s own Heart Swells record label.

In the band’s words All Hell is an album about…

Drinking for fun and drinking for misery // adult acne // adult friendship // football // death and dying // love and sex // late-stage capitalism // Orpheus // day dreaming // night terrors // the heart as an organ and as a burden // suburban boredom // Tears of the Kingdom // the punks on the playlist // increments of time // climate apocalypse // the moon the moon the moon ///

Los Campesinos! have become one of the most important and influential cult acts in the UK since they formed in the mid-2000s. Starting out in the Cardiff indie scene and soundtracking Budweiser adverts, the seven-piece’s musical evolution since then has been slow, steady and remarkable. From the frenzied chaos of debut album Hold On Now, Youngster… (2008) through 2010 breakthrough Romance is Boring and the self-mythologising of latter day highlights NO BLUES (2013) and Sick Scenes (2017), their discography is an interconnected web of niche references, big swings and unflinching honesty.

Making self-professed sleeper hits for weeping dipshits, they’re as influenced by The Beautiful South as they are US emo, with emotional intensity and connection always at the core. Their lyrics are a treasure trove of football references, tales of romantic woe and painfully frank exorcisms, which have been tattooed across hundreds of fans’ bodies and served as comfort and insight during that break-up you had (there’s a reason the band’s tagline is “your ex-girlfriend’s favourite band”).

Now with the release of All Hell, Los Camp! approach their third decade as a band more brilliant, more potent and more vital than ever.

In den letzten 15 Jahren hat sich Ryan Gustafson von THE DEAD TONGUES zu einer der markantesten Stimmen des modernen Folk entwickelt. So eigenwillig und gespenstisch seine Songs manchmal auch sind, Gustafson hat seine Visionen und Verse immer mit der Art von Hooks verknüpft, die man wie Talismane aufbewahrt und im Notfall hervorholt. "Dust", "Unsung Passage", "Desert": Die Alben von THE DEAD TONGUES gehören nach wie vor zu den fesselndsten und kuriosesten Werken in diesem Bereich in diesem Jahrhundert. Das magnetische "Body of Light" und das diskursive und wunderbar elliptische "I Am a Cloud", besteht aus 16 kompletten Stücken, die sich auf verschiedene, miteinander verwobene Alben verteilen. Auf den Alben sind Auftritte von Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak, Bon Iver), Mat Davidson (Twain), Matt Douglas (The Mountain Goats), Joe Westerlund (Califone, Megafaun), Jeff Ratner (Bing and Ruth) und anderen zu hören. Gustafson wollte die Zeit im Studio nutzen, um nicht nur Songs aufzunehmen, sondern auch etwas Neues zu schaffen, mit neuen Improvisationen. Die beiden Alben, die digital als eigenständige Veröffentlichungen erschienen sind, vereinen sich im physischen Format zu einem wunderschönen, luxuriösen Doppelalbum. Das 2LP-Paket enthält ein sorgfältig geprägtes Cover und wunderschöne, individuell gestaltete Innenhüllen für jedes Album.

Für das vierte blutrünstige Album der Band und das erste für 20 Buck Spin, nachdem sie sich in den letzten Jahren im Death Metal-Underground immer mehr einen Namen gemacht haben, präsentiert Fulci "Duck Face Killings", eine Hommage an einen von Lucios abscheulichsten und meist geschmähten Filmen, "The New York Ripper".

Musikalisch entfesseln Fulci eine Flut von fesselnd grausamen Riffs, blutigem Gemetzel, mörderischen Schlägen, tiefen, gutturalen Gesangsmustern und unheimlichen Intros und Zwischenspielen. Das Songwriting der Band ist bewusst darauf fixiert, die brutalste und schärfste Musik zu kreieren, die möglich ist, um die extreme Grausamkeit des Films zu vermitteln, wobei man sich einen Soundtrack für den grausamsten und zynischsten Slasher-Film aller Zeiten vorstellt.

Was für den einen Müll ist, ist für den anderen ein Schatz, und so ist es auch bei einem so schäbigen und abscheulichen Film wie "The New York Ripper". In Duck Face Killings" leuchtet Fulcis brutale Darstellung der gewalttätigen Welt seines Mentors wie der Schimmer von Blut unter den Straßenlaternen von New York, schockierend und wild. Eine Hommage an den kontroversen Meister in all seiner dekadenten und degenerierten Pracht.

- Die mit Spannung erwartete 4. LP der italienischen Lucio Fulci-Fanatiker, basierend auf seinem Film 'The New York Ripper'.
- Cover-Artwork von Wes Benscoter (Autopsy, Sinister, Mortician, Broken Hope, Nile)
- Gastauftritte von Lord Goat von Non Phixion und Sherwood Webber von Skinless
- Komplette US Devastation in the Nation Tour im November / Dezember 2024 mit Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Mortiferum und mehr.

FFO: Cannibal Corpse (TOTM, The Bleeding), Dying Fetus, early Madball, Merauder, Mortician, Skinless, 100 Demons, Goblin, Giorgio Moroder, Devourment, Suffocation, Slayer, Crowbar, Bolt Thrower, Immolation, Non Phixion, Franco Micalizzi, Monstrosity

Für das vierte blutrünstige Album der Band und das erste für 20 Buck Spin, nachdem sie sich in den letzten Jahren im Death Metal-Underground immer mehr einen Namen gemacht haben, präsentiert Fulci "Duck Face Killings", eine Hommage an einen von Lucios abscheulichsten und meist geschmähten Filmen, "The New York Ripper".

Musikalisch entfesseln Fulci eine Flut von fesselnd grausamen Riffs, blutigem Gemetzel, mörderischen Schlägen, tiefen, gutturalen Gesangsmustern und unheimlichen Intros und Zwischenspielen. Das Songwriting der Band ist bewusst darauf fixiert, die brutalste und schärfste Musik zu kreieren, die möglich ist, um die extreme Grausamkeit des Films zu vermitteln, wobei man sich einen Soundtrack für den grausamsten und zynischsten Slasher-Film aller Zeiten vorstellt.

Was für den einen Müll ist, ist für den anderen ein Schatz, und so ist es auch bei einem so schäbigen und abscheulichen Film wie "The New York Ripper". In Duck Face Killings" leuchtet Fulcis brutale Darstellung der gewalttätigen Welt seines Mentors wie der Schimmer von Blut unter den Straßenlaternen von New York, schockierend und wild. Eine Hommage an den kontroversen Meister in all seiner dekadenten und degenerierten Pracht.

- Die mit Spannung erwartete 4. LP der italienischen Lucio Fulci-Fanatiker, basierend auf seinem Film 'The New York Ripper'.
- Cover-Artwork von Wes Benscoter (Autopsy, Sinister, Mortician, Broken Hope, Nile)
- Gastauftritte von Lord Goat von Non Phixion und Sherwood Webber von Skinless
- Komplette US Devastation in the Nation Tour im November / Dezember 2024 mit Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Mortiferum und mehr.

FFO: Cannibal Corpse (TOTM, The Bleeding), Dying Fetus, early Madball, Merauder, Mortician, Skinless, 100 Demons, Goblin, Giorgio Moroder, Devourment, Suffocation, Slayer, Crowbar, Bolt Thrower, Immolation, Non Phixion, Franco Micalizzi, Monstrosity

Citrus Swirl Vinyl. honeybee table at the butterfly feast is the first album from the elusive Baltimore's band Teen Suicide in years. For over a decade, guitarist, vocalist and project runner Sam Ray has been sometimes quietly and sometimes very noisily setting standards in the indie scene by changing genres, live lineups and even band names, but the one constant has been an undeniable gift for songwriting. honeybee table sits at an interesting point in the teen suicide timeline, following years of relative quiet following the releases a whole fucking lifetime of this (2018) and fucking bliss (2019), both released under the short-lived alias American Pleasure Club. Lockdown times saw a viral moment for the song "haunt me (x3)", a cult-classic catalog track featured on the 2015 Run For Cover reissue of the band's two beloved EPs dc snuff film and waste yrself. Now the band returns with what could be their next classic record, 16 songs that oscillate between noisy garage-rock, intimate acoustic songs and even blistering powerviolence in the vein of 2016's ambitious double album it's the big joyous celebration, let's stir the honeypot. The album is as varied and captivating as the cover art of the record - a painting by Ray's mother - and is held together by his unique artistic vision, captured not only in the genius of his songwriting but the power of lyrics that turn his lived experience of the past few years into harrowing poetry.

In the early 1990s gangsta rap was becoming more popular. KRS-One took to the mic and continued to write socially conscious raps resulting in the hard-hitting 1992 album Sex And Violence which would be the fifth and final studio album under the Boogie Down Productions name. Produced by KRS-One, Pal Joey, Kenny Parker, D-Square, and Prince Paul, the album explores the darkest sides of the American urban landscape and psyche, with KRS as narrator, detailing all sides of the matrix. While singles like the alarming drum-driven "Duck Down" and the funky-as-hell "We In There" got most of the attention in ‘92, the deeper sequence reveals plenty of additional gems: the history lesson of the dark and dusty "Drug Dealer"; "Ruff Ruff", with scowling MC favorite Freddie Foxxx (aka Bumpy Knuckles); the grooving "Questions and Answers," and the frantic record industry track "How Not To Get Jerked." The album kicks off with an intro skit featuring KRS-One as a DJ in panic needing vinyl which at the time was a dying format while cassettes and CDs became the dominant format. Thirty-two years later vinyl DJs and Hip-Hop vinyl collectors no longer need to panic. Get On Down in partnership with Sony Music's CERTIFIED is proud to bring back to vinyl this underrated gem in the BDP catalog. Featuring one of the dopest album covers by American artist Robert Williams, Sex and Violence is pressed on colored vinyl and packaged in a gatefold jacket with full lyrics.

Lebanon oud master Rabih Abou-Khalil's stunning 1996 album 'Arabian
Waltz' is appearing here on vinyl for the first time."Arabian Waltz is the
pinnacle of Rabih Abou-Khalil's achievement as a composer and arranger
It is a sublime fusion of jazz, Middle Eastern traditional music, and Western
classical. In addition to Abou-Khalil on oud (the Arabic lute), Michel Godard on the
tuba and the serpent (the tuba's antique kinsman), and Nabil Khaiat on frame
drums, the album also features the Balanescu String Quartet instead of the usual
trumpet or sax. The presence of the Balanescu might seem to pose a dilemma
for the composer: traditional Middle Eastern music uses no harmony but a string
quartet is all about harmony. Abou- Khalil achieves a compromise by generally
writing the string parts in unison (or in octaves), in effect using the quartet as a
single voice, but also letting the quartet split up to play parts in unison with the
other instruments or to provide ornamentation. Without surrendering jazziness at
all, the presence of the strings makes possible a wondrous atmosphere, almost
as if one is listening to the soundtrack of a classy movie set in Beirut or
Damascus during the '40s. This feeling is greatest on "Dreams of a Dying City"
with its brooding tuba and cello motifs and grave, repeated rhythms. "The Pain
After" starts with an impressive tuba solo that turns into a long interlude for tuba
and string quartet; sad, slow music that sounds like one of Beethoven 's late
quartets. Then Abou- Khalil finally enters on oud, bringing a sustained note of
wistfulness. Fortunately, beside the darker numbers lie the propulsive drama of
"Arabian Waltz" and the bobbing and weaving quirkiness of "Ornette Never
Sleeps." Abou- Khalil is known for experimenting with the possibilities his guest
musicians bring to his style. In this case, the guests have inspired the host to
reach a new height and maybe even a new style. This recording suits every fan of
world music, jazz, classical, or just good music." - Kurt Keefner