Louise Devenish – Stuart James: Alluvial Gold (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 47:48 minutes | 522 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Huddersfield Contemporary Records
Alluvial Gold is a bold new ecologically inspired composition for percussion and electronics developed by percussionist Louise Devenish and composer Stuart James (Decibel New Music), in collaboration with visual artist Erin Coates, that seeks to expose listeners to the world that lies below the surface of our river systems.
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Amanda Majeski, Simon ONeill, Katarina Dalayman, London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Simon Rattle – Janáček: Katya Kabanova (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:39:26 minutes | 3,17 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © LSO Live
The second release in LSO Live’s cycle of Janáček opera recordings, Katya Kabanova tells a story of love, entrapment and, ultimately, tragedy. The album’s cast includes the superb tenor Simon O’Neill and, appearing in one of her signature roles as seen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Amanda Majeski as Katya.
“Majeski gives such heartfelt commitment to the role of Katya that one worries how she can come back down from the emotional peaks and precipices that she scales.” – Opera Today
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James Mastro – Dawn of a New Error (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 39:50 minutes | 791 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPress Records
James Mastro has been a highly-regarded songwriter and guitarist since his teen years in CBGB stalwarts The Richard Lloyd Group. A member of The Bongos, a radio and MTV staple who released three lauded records via Gem and RCA including 2023’s re-release Numbers With Wing, Mastro later moved to center stage as frontman for Americana fave The Health & Happiness Show, releasing three critically acclaimed albums on Bar-None and Cropduster. Mastro has opened on tour for Wilco, Johnny Cash, Golden Smog, Barenaked Ladies, Beat Farmers, The Blasters, Kirsty MacColl, and collaborated with Texas troubadour Butch Hancock. In 2001 he joined ranks with Mott the Hoople‘s legendary singer Ian Hunter and has served as his left-hand man ever since, touring and playing on Hunter’s last six albums. Additionally, he’s toured as a guitarist with Patti Smith, John Cale, Alejandro Escovedo, Garland Jeffreys, The Jayhawks, and Southside Johnny.
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Hamburg Chamber Players – Ferdinand Thieriot: Chamber Music, Vol. 2 (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:03:56 minutes | 646 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Toccata Classics
The Hamburg-born Ferdinand Thieriot (1838–1919) not only shared a teacher – Eduard Marxsen – with Brahms; both composers use a very similar musical language, one which is richly melodic and effortlessly contrapuntal. The musicologist Wilhelm Altmann wrote that ‘Thieriot’s chamber music is without exception noble and pure. He writes with perfect command of form and expression’ – as the works on this second Toccata Classics volume prove, in their exquisite balance of depth and beauty.
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Geneviève Leclerc – Big Band (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 37:11 minutes | 440 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Independant
“Geneviève Leclerc Big Band” You are invited to an exceptional concert that will transport you to a legendary era where music was synonymous with class, elegance and celebrations. This show is a real retrospective of the great Swing classics, such as those immortalized by legends such as Peggy Lee, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and many more.
Accompanied by seasoned musicians, the exceptional performer will offer with the Big Band great jazz songs and swing music, tinged with blues, carried by a brilliant brass section. An electric atmosphere where the public will clearly not be able to not resist the urge to move.
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Erika de Casier – Still (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 43:16 minutes | 497 MB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 4AD
The 33-year-old Danish singer, songwriter and producer built a cult following with her 2019 debut album Essentials, and built on that “cult” designation with 2021’s Sensational, her first for 4AD. Since then, she’s performed at some of the biggest festivals in the world, written for pop stars (NewJeans) and sung on hyped dance tracks (Mura Masa, Shygirl). But when she ushers you into the expanses of her third album she’s inviting you to leave any crass The Nordics’ Next Big Thing or Rising Alt-Pop Star epithets at the door. She may have won a lot of new fans in the past three years, and a lot of high-profile collaborators (Dua Lipa, Blood Orange, Eartheater, etc.) but as this album’s title confirms, she’s the same old Erika de Casier. Still.
All of this to say the album is classic de Casier, her idiosyncratic mix of luxuriant electronica and moonlit R&B drilled further into that one-of-a-kind sound here. Her songwriting is as masterful and universal as ever, and her proficiency as a producer heightened as she produces other voices (They Hate Change, Shygirl, Blood Orange) for the first time. She also invites new collaborators, working with live musicians in addition to samples. N, co-producer of Essentials and Sensational, returns here, but added to the fold are Jonathan Jull Ludvigsen, Carl Emil Johansen, Niels Kirk, Christian Rhode Lindinger, Nick León, Kirsten Nyhus Janssen and Tobias Sachse, adding live drums, synths, guitar, bass and more.
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