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On the outskirts of Bratislava, in the pulsating shadows of a refinery's burning chimneys, on the plot of a family house, there stood a small shack. Initially, it housed trials in domestic mushroom growing. Later, after a makeshift acoustic touch-up - lining the walls with old cardboard egg cartons - it became a shelter for music. Sensitive, evocative, nostalgic, lo-fi music by a man named Cadillac Face.

Today we would probably use the term 'safe space', but back then it was (in Cadillac's words) kutica, a cubbyhole. He hid there from a world that ached. Here, Cadillac secretly smoked, sang, and composed. And tried not to go crazy from anxiety. He wrote music unlike anything during his time.

Here, he struggled. With sound (unable to adjust it to his liking), with instruments (which he couldn't bring himself to play), with the world (with which, understandably, he was at odds).

Cadillac Face was a man who didn't belong here.

He wrote and sang in English (in a post-socialist and early-capitalist Slovakia, when command of English was no matter of course); he also wrote in Slovak (blogs and diaries, which, due to a stream-of-consciousness and surrealist style, were as incomprehensible as they were immersive and intimate); gave advice to teenagers (to their quasi-banal questions on talking forums about relationships, life and adolescence, where they were often met with ridicule and mockery); he composed electronic and noise music (at a time when no one had a clue what the abbreviation DAW meant).

This Cadillac's compilation album is not aiming to compete with/replicate Noizy Days - a compilation of Cadillac's contributions to the project Noize Konspiracy. Underground compilations circulated through a local proto-social network. Borderline music without rules - open but often inaccessible. There, Cadillac contributed mostly with experimental-electronic compositions. Noizy Days was compiled by Ďuro Ďurček, one of the initiators of Noize Konspiracy. Both Ďuro and Cadillac have been dead for years.

Songs For The Trees is a selection from Cadillac's songwriting. The most intimate of his intimate recordings. Cadillac at his most fragile, brittle, and quiet. The most romantic, the most tormented, the most painful and direct of his songs I know.

Cadillac became an anthropomorphic grotesque tree. Neither broadleaf nor conifer. Or perhaps it's a candle slowly incinerating – bored, sad, playing the guitar. A tragicomedy. Sometimes it kindles what it doesn't mean to, and it can't put itself out. Or can it?

To understand the significance of the word 'featuring' on Featuring Pharoah Sanders And Black Harold, consider how infrequently Sun Ra used it and the exact way it had been used. The October Revolution in Jazz, organized by Bill Dixon in the West Village in 1964, presented a vivid cross section of approaches to the new music, including a sextet led by Ra. For the October Revolution's continuation, titled Four Days in December, held at nearby Judson Hall on the last days of 1964, the Arkestra performance presented Pharoah Sanders as well as a flautist (who was and remained obscure thereafter) named Harold Murray, nicknamed Black Harold. It wasn't until long after Sanders had achieved worldwide acclaim with John Coltrane that Ra and manager Alton Abraham decided to issue the music they'd recorded at Judson Hall. After its first release in plain or handdecorated covers in 1976, Featuring Pharoah Sanders And Black Harold remained an exceptionally rare item in the El Saturn discography, known to a few lucky collectors. We're lucky to have this glimpse of what Sanders sounded like in such a different context, galvanizing the large group and in turn being inspired to make his first significant contribution on record.' —John Corbett (excerpt from the liner notes)

"'Hey Babe' sounds like classic Trummors – their voices a perfect match for one another, Dan Horne’s lingering pedal steel adorning the piece like chapparal, just an ambling walk through life together." - Petal Motel "Is there a scientific formula for creating the perfect country rock record? If there is, the Taos, NM duo of Anne Cunningham and David Lerner — AKA Trummors — have cracked it." - Aquarium Drunkard "Trummors capture a classic country sound — flirting with the heavy-hearted, but formative voices that lent credence to the ‘70s crossover out of psychedelic troupes." - Raven Sings The Blues Trummors are excited to announce their new album 5 out April 12 on Ernest Jenning Record Co.

The Magic City is the third album in the Red Hot & Ra series. This entire album was imagined, produced & curated by Meshell Ndegeocello. The album is a features Marshall Allen, Immanuel Wilkins, Deantoni Parks, Pink Siifu, Stuart Bogie and Justin Hicks. It is a dreamlike strange & soulful interpretation of Sun Ra's composition, This record follows Ndegeocello's 2023 album "The Omnichord Real Book", named the #1 jazz album of the year by NPR and nominated for Best Alternative Jazz Grammy.

The Magic City is the third album in the Red Hot & Ra series. This entire album was imagined, produced & curated by Meshell Ndegeocello. The album is a features Marshall Allen, Immanuel Wilkins, Deantoni Parks, Pink Siifu, Stuart Bogie and Justin Hicks. It is a dreamlike strange & soulful interpretation of Sun Ra's composition, This record follows Ndegeocello's 2023 album "The Omnichord Real Book", named the #1 jazz album of the year by NPR and nominated for Best Alternative Jazz Grammy.

If The Druids are named after a quiet pond lost in the heart of Brittany, their music is more inspired by the stories the elders tell in a low voice, and the secrets of those roads where it's forbbiden to go by yourself at night. The Druids are hidden behind their hoods so they can scramble the tracks, melting their garage-rock with stoner-metal and post-punk, but also shoegazing and acid-rock. In their fuzzy and reverberated black masses, they invoke at the same time Black Sabbath, The Stooges, Bauhaus and The 13th Floor Elevators.

New year, new stars, same route. The final part of our VA series embodies a futuristic and meticulously crafted production of atmospheric and incessant techno.

Outstanding artists named Hadone, HWRD, Justine Perry and Quelza bringing their unique flair to the table to tell a profound story full of eclipsing soundscapes and eternal width. The four dark and intangible contributions are made to tear down floors whilst maintaining their sophistication and depth.

Out on April 5th - Make sure to grab your limited copy and be ready for the next one!

Bartees Strange has been one of the most significant indie artists to break out in the post-Pandemic era. He debuted with ‘Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy’, an album length collection of The National songs released in March 2020, on the cusp of the Pandemic. Later that year came his first LP, ‘Mustang’, which was named in endless year-end Best Of lists, including those from Pitchfork, Stereogum, Rolling Stone and NPR Music. He quickly signed to 4AD, and his debut for the label, ‘Farm To Table’, turned him into a club headliner and an arena-sized opening act with genre-defining artists such as The National, boygenius, Phoebe Bridgers and Courtney Barnett. The vinyl-exclusive release, ‘Magic Boy’, represents the Bartees story before this story began -33 1/2 minutes of recordings created before he entered the public eye, with eight out of ten never previously released. It finds his ever-malleable sound touching on genres like coffee house folk (‘IDK’, ‘Best Of You’, ‘You’re Here’), emo troubadour (‘Count It Back’, ‘Little Brother’), and wigged-out experimentation (‘Eat Your Heart Out’). Appended with two tracks previously available only as digital Bsides from ‘Say Goodbye’ (‘HAGS’, ‘Going Going’), ‘Magic Boy’ reads as a kind of ‘lost’ album for someone shaping up to be a major voice in indie music.

After several EP’s and collaborations with artists - such as Elderbrook, Hayden James and Novaa – the producer and singer releases his solo debut album "Aniimals" on April 5th.
With great attention to detail, Moglii creates his very own genre „organic electronic“, defined by a modern mix of warm beats, analogue synthesizers and soulful vocals. Each track explores the relationship between intelligent life forms and humans, such as "Fungii," "iinsects," or "Roots“, aiming to draw attention to the incredible organic diversity on this planet.

„Aniimals“ represents biodiversity in each track named after a wonderful and inspiring creature, that Moglii relates to. This DIY-release campaign includes a limited bio-vinyl pressing and a sustainable merch edition.
Why biodiversity? The extinction of many species (often undiscovered) is perhaps the most underestimated problem of our time. There is a lot of public debate about CO2 budgets, but according to experts, the basis of our survival as humanity could also depend significantly on the preservation of genetic diversity in our limited planetary garden. Due to destruction of nature, the loss of species will continue to worsen unless there is a cultural rethink.
Moglii proves his appreciation for animals of any kind and fascination for other intelligent life forms in a very impressive musical way with his debut album, aiming to create an emotional bridge between our urban lifestyle and the animals that inhabit this planet with us.

The Nomads remastered reissue of their album Solna, recorded by the Swedes in 2012, limited edition of ww 500 copies. The tracklist here is following the 2013 US release of the album, comprised of nine original album album tracks, but cutting three tunes to have those replaced with three songs culled from the Loaded Deluxe EP. After many years of career, The Nomads produced their strongest album to date. The group perfected their sound, live and in the studio. Solna is the distilled essence of what Nomads are known for. The Nomads deliver hair-raising authenticity of rock and roll with unsurpassed purity. Nobody coughs on them or will cough on them. They are still as good as ever. The formula is simple: a strong frontman, Nick Vahlberg, a guitar hero, Hans Ostlund, a powerful drummer, Joakim Werning, and a multi-talented bassist and composer, Bjorne Froberg. The Nomads are an institution in Europe after more than 40 years of career. Their last album, "Solna" was named after the Stockholm neighborhood from which they emerged in 1981, paving the way for the garage rock scene of the time. "Aside from the Pebbles compilations, not much was known about the garage bands of the 60s and many people first heard those great songs in The Nomads version," according to Chips K (famous Swedish producer - Hellacopters, la Secta_- and member of Sator). "But one thing that distinguishes the band from many other revival bands is that they never just copied the sound of the originals. They added extra influences such as punk, power pop and hard rock. That special recipe is what still makes their sound unique." Bands like The Hellacopters, Maharajas and Sator are direct descendants of what The Nomads created. They were closer to Australian punk rock and took varied influences to create something completely their own.

First vinyl issue for this 2023 release with bonus track not available on CD.
Nine majestic electro-acoustic threshold devotionals.
**ELECTRONIC SOUND - review (issue 98) “While there are shades and texture in the journey from glowing opener “Cyan” to the glowering conclusion of “Magenta”, they’re so subtle that they make ‘Colours of Air’ the musical equivalent of Rothko’s paintings - monotone at first glance, but with intriguing depths if you’re prepared to search for them.”

MOJO - ★★★★ review in the Underground column (March issue) “Loscil and English’s manipulations drift closer to the ambient techno of Gas.”

UNCUT - 8/10 review (March issue) “Subtle complex, and not always pacifying…’Magenta’s extraplanetary grace is tempered by unresolved tension for distinctly uneasy listening.”
The union of composers Lawrence English and loscil aka Scott Morgan is seamless, sublime, and long overdue.
Born of a conversation centered on the notion of “rich sources” as a forge for electronic music, Colours Of Air is a collection of recordings of a century old pipe organ housed at the historic Old Museum in Brisbane, Australia, which were then processed, transformed, and elevated into eight majestic electro-acoustic threshold devotionals. The timbre of the instrument and spatial fluctuations of room tone infuse the music with a subdued, sacred feel, like vaulted light in a nave of stained glass. They describe the album as “an iterative project, a reduction and eventual expansion,” sifting the swells and drones of the organ for every shivering shade of radiance.
The tracks are named for the hue each piece suggests – from the gauzy levitational miasma of “Yellow” to the pulsing melancholic mirage of “Violet” to the seething twilit sandstorm of “Magenta.” Morgan and English are both adept at conjuring moods of muted grandeur, like landscapes veiled in dusk, still looming and luminous.

limited repress available! *gatefold sleeve + insert, regular 120g black vinyl!0 Through the recent years of lockdowns and silence and having too much time to think, Tex Perkins always found solace in the company of song. Having his friend Matt Walker as a co-writer-conspirator, Perkins revelled in the experience which prompted the forming and recording of the first Fat Rubber Band album at Walker & #39's Stovepipe Studios with bassist Steve Hadley, drummer Roger Bergodaz and percussionist Evan Richards. After such an affirmative and creative experience Perkins was itching to commence work on what has become the band's second album, Other World. "The first Fat Rubber Band album was kind of deliberately a little ragged. A bit fuzzy around the edges" said Perkins. "There is a certain maturity that we now possess where ideas can be realised and take form very quickly. We've become a real band. I think what you heard on the first album is the band being formed." While he's played with many musicians, finding true collaborators is something that Perkins treasures. During the lockdowns, he pondered whether he would ever have that day-to-day musician experience again. With The Fat Rubber Band it's not just another grouping of musicians playing music together, but a gathering that is very much about the head, heart and soul and something he is clearly grateful for. "Roger Bergodaz was incredible. His drum kit was in the control room and he engineered the record and played drums pretty much at the same time! He constantly created the surroundings where an enthusiastic and positive atmosphere always prevailed. We never came away empty handed. I loved making this record so much," Perkins says, "because fucking magic happened. Yes, that's right, magic or how about alchemy? (A medieval science with a mysterious process that seeks to turn base metals into Gold.) Well, I dunno about gold, but I witnessed ideas, thoughts, whims and imaginings transmute almost effortlessly into living breathing songs with a soul and a heartbeat and even their own private history every time we went into the studio for this recording. Actually, no, magic is better." Perkins explains "This magic came about with the help of over 4O years of experience from each of the Fat Rubber band members. They're all truly great players and they're all really generous collaborators, so I guess what I'm saying is, it doesn't matter what happens from here. I'm very aware these days, with 100s of new releases each week, it's harder than ever to get people to give a shit about a new album from anybody, let alone from a bunch of hairy blokes in their 50s from Australia fronted by a dude that's been around since the early eighties named Tex. Actually, I can't believe you're still reading this! But you know it doesn't really matter, I've seen the magic."

Out of print as a stand-alone release for decades since its original 1974 issue. Produced by George Harrison, Shankar Family & Friends is an almost-forgotten masterwork – an emotional and sonic pact between two like-minded souls to both advance their spiritually minded bond and unite musical styles, cultures, and sounds in wondrous fashion Contributions from Ringo Starr, David Bromberg, Billy Preston, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voorman, and a host of virtuosic Indian musicians add to a diverse album that melds Eastern and Western traditions; encompasses jazz, funk, bhajan, Indian, and pop; and represents the spirit and breadth of Harrison's Dark Horse Records imprint.

Memorable contributions from an A-list of American and English musicians — Ringo Starr (drums), David Bromberg (electric guitar), Billy Preston (organ), Nicky Hopkins (piano), Jim Keltner (drums), Klaus Voorman (bass), Robert Margouleff (Moog), Malcolm Cecil (Moog), Tom Scott (saxophone) included — add to the richness of a set that melds Eastern and Western traditions. These “names” mesh with a host of Indian virtuosos — Alla Rakha, Ashish Khan, Kamala Chakravarty, Hariprasad Chaurasia included — who turn Shankar Family & Friends into a journey laced with percussive, string, and vocal components that aren’t soon forgotten.

Throughout, Shankar Family & Friends remains true to its title — a mesmerizing record named to reflect the group participation approach of its creators. The idea started when Shankar told Harrison about a ballet he wrote. The Beatle, who first met Shankar in June 1966 — roughly a year after Harrison became interested in Indian music after overhearing it in a restaurant while filming Help! — immediately was convinced they needed to record it. Harrison’s staunch admiration of Shankar and serious approach to Eastern styles are reflected throughout the album.

Indeed, for Harrison, Shankar Family & Friends marks the culmination of a years-long effort to master the sitar, study Hinduism, and incorporate elements such as drones, unusual chords, and expressive picking into his own songs. The seeds of this unique collaboration can be heard in Beatles works such as “Norwegian Wood,” “Love to You,” and “Within You Without You.” Both musicians were also fresh from performing at the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh shows. Yet Shankar Family & Friends remains entirely unique in each visionary artist’s history — and ultimately, led to a collaborative tour Harrison and Shankar staged across North America.

Encompassing jazz, funk, bhajan, Indian, and pop, Shankar Family & Friends is thematically split into halves. Side One reveals Shankar’s uncanny ear for melody — even when applied to Western forms. The lead-off “I Am Missing You,” the first single ever released by Dark Horse Records and reportedly the first pop composition Shankar completed, underscores his skills as a composer and global ambassador. Beautifully sung across three octaves by his sister-in-law, Lakshmi Shankar, the devotional song features multiple drummers and production that mirrors Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound approach. Harrison plays autoharp and guitar; Starr sits in on drums; Scott handles flute and soprano saxophone. It’s the inviting start of a musical adventure teeming with color, majesty, and mysticism.

A second version of the track — designated with a “(Reprise)” tag — appears minutes later. Unfolding in different ways, it follows a folk ballad structure stitched together with Indian instrumentation. Here, according to Shankar, the musicians “attempted to convey the sounds and atmosphere of Vrindavan, the ancient holy place where Krishna grew up.” Both renditions speak to the cross-continental fusion that came so naturally to Harrison and Shankar, whose oversight on the side’s other vocal tracks ensures listeners familiar with Western methods gain easy access to the hypnotic allure of his native country’s music.

Nowhere is this more evident than on Dream, Nightmare & Dawn (Music for a Ballet), the side-long piece that served as the genesis for Shankar Family & Friends. Launched with an airy overture and unfolding across three movements, the mostly wordless suite features everything from call-and-response interplay and classical lyricism to uptempo dance figures, stacked rhythms, and intoxicating grooves. Blurring the lines between contemporary and traditional, and Western and Eastern, the inspirational work is the exclamation point on a record that defined “world music” well before the term became co-opted as a catch-all genre.

Recorded by award-winning mastering engineer Kevin Gray's record label, Anthony Wilson's Hackensack West is Cohearent Records' follow-up to Kirsten Edkins' Shapes & Sound album. Produced by Joe Harley and recorded all-analogue/all-tube at Gray's studio, Cohearent Recording, the AAA vinyl release is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI and housed in a deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket.

From the liner notes:

The week before these sessions in the summer of 2023, I sat down each morning with the goal of composing one new song by day's end. I knew I'd soon be in the room with my dear friends Gerald Clayton, John Clayton, and Jeff Hamilton, three musicians whom I trust the most, and with whom I've played the most over the last couple of decades. I tried to imagine themes that would feel natural to us, the kinds of songs we could simply dive into without much thinking. When we headed to Kevin Gray's studio to record, I brought seven new songs along with me. Five are included on this album.

"Daido" is dedicated to Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama, who became known in the late 1960s for his grainy, sometimes blurry, high-contrast black and white images made throughout Japan. I love his pictures taken on the streets of various Tokyo neighbourhoods such as Shinjuku. His portrait of a menacing stray dong, from his series "A Hunter," is the kind of picture that, seen just once, is unforgettable. These days Daido is still out on the street making pictures, at the ripe young age of 85.

"Verdesse" has a sinuous, chorinho-like melody and rhythmic feel. The tune seems to weave and bob playfully in a space of brightness the way a grapevine seems to curl towards the sunlight. So I named it after a wine grape native to the pre-Alpine region of Isère, near Grenoble in eastern France, that makes a particularly delicious and drinkable white wine.

I wrote "Sunday," well...on Sunday. It unfolds slowly, like a good Sunday does when there's nothing to do, you can sleep in, you've got your person beside you, and you just relax into the day.

"The Lands" is dedicated to a family very dear to my heart: that of tenor saxophonist Harold Land. My mother met Harold when they were both teenagers growing up in San Diego, California. The two of them became lifelong friends, and a little later, Harold enjoyed a fruitful musical association and close friendship with my father, Gerald Wilson. Harold, his lovely wife Lydia, and their son Harold Jr. were extended family for us; they looked after me with love and care. Some of my first gigs ever as a young guitarist were with Harold's incredible band that included Oscar Brashear, Billy Higgins, Richard Reid, and Harold Land Jr.

I've loved Todd Rundgren's "Marlene" since I first heard it on his epic double-album Something/Anything. With its tender, well-contoured melody buoyed by a few special harmonic surprises, it almost seems like something from the pen of Burt Bacharach. It tells such a complete musical story. Rundgren's recorded version has a beautiful endlessly repeating tag. So we played the melody simply, and used the tag as a small staging area for a bit of improvising.

Hackensack West is our alias for engineer Kevin Gray's studio Cohearent Recording, a place inspired by Rudy Van Gelder's first studio in Hackensack, New Jersey. Located inside Van Gelder's parents' home, the musicians played in the living room! It was there, in 1954, that Thelonious Monk recorded his classic tune "Hackensack," a "contrafact" melody over the chord changes to the Gershwins' "Oh, Lady Be Good!" In contrafact-like fashion, my own bebop-spirited melody "Hackensack West" seems to nod toward the changes of a few recognizable standards, without corresponding to any particular one.

At just 21 years old Peter Frampton had already played with The Herd and co-formed and left Humble Pie. So he struck out on his own with the appropriately named, “Wind of Change.” Freed from Humble Pie’s narrower focus on hard-rock boogie, Frampton’s debut solo album reveals an artist exploring more dimensional, delicate and nuanced songwriting and guitar playing … Frampton showed his own brand of rocking hard with tunes like “It’s a Plain Shame,” “All I Wanna Be (is by your side)” and even made a Stones song his own with “Jumping Jack Flash,” which became a staple of Frampton’s live shows. But these tunes and even the hook-laden “The Lodger” are balanced with intricate, beautiful tunes like the elegiac “Fig Tree Bay” and the title track “Wind of Change.”

A showcase for Peter Frampton’s growth as a songwriter and guitar player, Frampton’s Camel is named after his touring band, honouring the groove this collective had reached in 1973. Prominently featuring Mick Gallagher’s superlative keyboards, the hard-rocking hooks and catchy melodies here lay the foundation for the superstardom that would come just a couple albums and tours later with Frampton Comes Alive. Camel includes the smash hits “Lines On My Face,” “Don’t Fade Away” and a majestic cover of Stevie Wonder’s “I Believe (When I Fall In Love With You It Will Be Forever).” Camel also introduced the world to the all-time classic rock anthem “Do You Feel Like We Do,” with a songwriting credit to the entire band. This fan favourite has remained a highlight of Frampton’s legendary live performances for decades.

Transnational Speedway League ist Clutch’s allererste Album Veröffentlichung (1993) und wurde bis dato nie auf Vinyl veröffentlicht. Es ist das nächste Album in unserer Clutch Collector’s Serie. Clutch’s Gitarrist, Tim Sult, war federführend inder Neuentwicklung dieses Albums. Das Album ist remastered und die farbige LP wurde auf 180 gr Vinyl gepresst. Das Artwork ist von Dan Winters (dem ursprünglichen Grafiker) und Tim Sult neu interpretiert worden. Der Hochglanzdruck des Albumcovers auf einem Spezialpapier lässt Teile des Gatefold Covers fast metallisch erscheinen. Wie üblich beinhaltet das Album einen nummerierten und von den Bandmitgliedern handschriftlich unterzeichneter Kunstdruck ist vielleicht das wichtigste Element fuer den potentiellen Käufer. Clutch Fans weltweit werde sich um diese limitierte Auflage von 7,500 Stück reißen.

Il Quadro di Troisi presents La Commedia
Everything changes, all things evolve: four years after their eponymous debut, Il Quadro di Troisi return with a new album and a new line-up.

The perfect circle traced by Eva Geist (aka Andrea Noce) and Donato Dozzy (aka Donato Scaramuzzi) becomes a triangle with the permanent addition of Pietro Micioni, who collaborated in the previous recordings and had been part of ll Quadro’s live set.
Nothing stays the same, and the world is a lot different from what it was in 2020. The global crisis generated by the constant escalation of conflict and by the pandemic was mirrored by a time of individual crisis and personal, often irreversible transformation that underscored the entire period of the album’s composition.
The influence of these turbulent times is felt in the writing: La Commedia is about turning a crisis into an opportunity and using change as a catalyst for rebirth. Much like the characters in classic Italian comedies, who are masters in using irony to face life’s hardships, Il Quadro di Troisi explores the vast and unpredictable terrain between the lighter and darker sides of the human experience, matching the magical with the mundane.

La Commedia is about the many facets of life: each song is named after an archetype (e.g. the truth, the night, the Earth, the prophet), as though our existence were a tarot deck and its reading an exercise in collective consciousness.

La Commedia marks the band’s embrace of a more traditional song form, shaped by a very personal and distinctive musical style. The distinguishing elements of Il Quadro di Troisi’s music – classic Italian songwriting with an electronic spin – meld into a unique mix that is both seductive and eerie, elegant and earthy, contemporary and timeless. La Commedia celebrates the band’s cultural roots while constantly moving into new territory, balancing nostalgia with a forward-thinking approach.

La Commedia is a rare gem that confirms Il Quadro di Troisi’s relevance in the international music scene, as demonstrated by the number of top-level artists featured on the album: from Suzanne Ciani, a legend and a pioneer of independent music with a career spanning five decades, to Aimee Portioli, aka Grand River, a Dutch-Italian musician, composer and sound designer based in Berlin, along with Francesca Colombo’s eclectic violin (the de facto “fourth angle” of Il Quadro di Troisi’s frame), Fiona Brice’s strings, cultural agitator and icon of the Roman underground scene Stefano Di Trapani (aka Demented Burrocacao and a member of Trapcoustic and System Hardware Abnormal, among other projects), Maestro Daniele Di Gregorio, an excellent musician and a longtime collaboration of songwriting legend Paolo Conte, and Tommaso Cappellato, whose professional description goes well beyond “drummer” and who has been working with artists like Rabih Beaini and Maurice Louca.
The cover of the album, as well as those of the singles, was designed by Francesco Messina, another icon of Italian music. Messina is a longtime Franco Battiato collaborator and co-author, a cult musician (his Prati Bagnati del Monte Analogo, made in collaboration with Roul Lovisoni, is considered a seminal record by the alternative Italian music scene), as well as a photographer, visual artist and the author of legendary record covers.

Anna Gréta goes gentle...into her second album on ACT, “Star of Spring”. The Reykjavik-born pianist, singer and a songwriter, who has lived in Stockholm since 2014, has her own way of approaching the art of quiet, artful, deeply personal songs, often drawing inspiration from the beauty and power of Iceland’s natural landscape. Her 2021 ACT debut "Nightjar in the Northern Sky" was named after a bird, and this follow-up album lands gracefully on a flower, the “glory of the snow”, also known as the "star of spring", which symbolises the ending of winter and the arrival of spring.

But look closer, and there are always other levels of meaning. Her "Nightjar”, the rare bird she once saw in front of the northern sky, was a metaphor for the search for the things which are special and essential. In fact, almost all of Anna Gréta's lyrics have more than one significance, and her storytelling has now taken a leap forward on "Star of Spring". She says of the little flower on the title track: "I wasn't just inspired by the way it takes over the meadows in spring and turns them from green to blue, but also by the fact that it blooms because it is compelled to do so. It cannot do anything else."

Anna Gréta's starting point to creating music was and is the piano. She first studied classical music, then switched to jazz. She only started singing later, when she was writing the songs for Nightjar and wanted to express herself in words. Anna Gréta's debut as a singer, pianist and songwriter earned her international acclaim: Downbeat Magazine called it „an album with the metamophoric diversity of a year’s seasons and a voice like the everchanging colours of the Northern lights“, France Musique “a remarkably immersive experience” and Jazzwise “starkly beautiful”.

On "Star Of Spring" Anna Gréta has further developed her individual style. Her vocal lines can resemble piano motifs, often doubling them and resonating with an impressively quiet vibrato, sometimes quirkily reminiscent of Björk, at other times with the brooding ease of Norah Jones. The album also bears a very distinctive production style. For each of the songs, Anna Gréta has created her own little world of choirs, rhythmic textures and various smartly used keyboard instruments. The album ranges from the hymnal and elegiac - in "She Moves" or in the title track - to the playful and cheerful "Space Time" or the extremely pared-down melancholic ballad "Denouement". And even if the general mood of the music exudes above all warmth and comfort, Anna Gréta also deals with serious topics, such as the forced birth control of women in Greenland during the 60s and 70s in the song "The Body Remembers".

There is a directness of expression and emotionality, even sensuousness about the new album, and that is not least because Anna Gréta’s band has developed and become a properly played-in unit with the experience to take this album’s more complex arrangements in its stride. The sheen and brightness of her piano playing is contrasted with a deeper voice, that of her father Sigurður Flosason's bass clarinet, on three tracks. "This album is more playful and experimental," she says. "A lot of things were easier for me than on the first album. And while I was still completely focussed on my own world then, now I was even more conscious and aware of what was going on around me."

The result is music that is rooted in jazz, but at the same time goes far beyond it in a very subtle and deeply touching way.

Code: Selfish is a 1992 LP by British rock band The Fall. Their 14th full-length studio album, it entered the UK chart at number 21, although it spent only one week on the chart.

The album is characterised by its harsher sound in relation to the previous year's Shift-Work, and is influenced by techno music (techno fan Dave Bush had been added on keyboards and computers).7 Despite this, the album also has some notably mellow moments, with "Time Enough At Last" (named after an episode of The Twilight Zone) and "Gentlemen's Agreement" being at odds with the overall sound of the album.

Largely recorded in a converted church in Glasgow, Code: Selfish features the group's only self-penned Top 40 single, "Free Range". The album would prove to be their last for the Phonogram label, as the group were dropped following the release of the Ed's Babe EP later in 1992. Simon Ford reports in his Fall biography Hip Priest that Phonogram had to compensate the band for the early termination of their five-album deal and that these funds were used to record what became The Infotainment Scan.

The album was re-released by Voiceprint in 2002 under licence from Phonogram, and also appeared in a double-CD set coupled with an edition of Shift-Work on the same label in 2003. This edition added "Ed's Babe" and "Free Ranger" to the track listing. It was reissued again in expanded and remastered form by Universal in May 2007.