Wilbur Whitta – Wildfire (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 48:22 minutes | 496 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ABC Jazz
From award-winning pianist and composer Wilbur Whitta comes a musical call to action on climate change. Whitta has gathered together three of Sydney’s leading, young voices for this collaboration: Tom Avgenicos on trumpet, Jack Stoneham on alto sax and drummer Alex Inman-Hislop. Together, they form the band ‘Wildfire’, playing music that draws on environmental negligence in Australia and around the globe.
The band navigates Whitta’s music with a fierce intensity, presenting a unique distortion of the boundaries between the written and improvised. ABC Jazz is thrilled to be releasing their debut, self-titled album. Wildfire is a response to climate change-driven natural disasters in Australia, with a focus on what we stand to lose.
Originally from Canberra, Wilbur Whitta has performed extensively around Australia, the UK, Europe and Japan. He has appeared as a member of legendary Australian jazz outfit Ten Part Invention and has performed alongside acclaimed international artists Kit Downes and Will Vinson. He was selected as a finalist in the 2021 National Jazz Awards, and in 2019, while living in London, won the Dankworth Jazz Composition Award.
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Various Artists – Brown Acid “The Eighteenth Trip” (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 36:56 minutes | 450 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RidingEasy Records
EIGHTEEN AND I LIKE IT… if you survived trips 1-17 with one tiny speck of psychedelic sunshine intact, Brown Acid The 18th Trip will be your coming of age nightmare. Vintage underground ’70s hard rock, coming at you from bizarre angles, local scene wasteland America when everybody was out for themselves and the drugs went bleak. The guitars kill, the attitude is twisted, even the sex is headed down the wrong road. Real people, no compromise, pure and potent. Get stoked, take the 18th Trip and know that the artists will get paid for pulverizing your soul!
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Tim Lin – Birdwatching (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 48:49 minutes | 979 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Linsanity Music
Songbirds learn how to sing by mimicking their elders, passing songs down from generation to generation. Alexay Kozhevnikov, professor at Penn State, explains: “If a bird doesn’t hear the tutor, it will sing, but … it will be nothing like the song of an adult bird. It will … lack the wealth of acoustic structure.”
Charlie Parker, the greatest Bird in jazz, showed musicians the blueprint to play his style of music: bebop. He learned songs from his elders (Bach, Lester Young, Stravinsky), but he also added his own twist. Bird’s defining characteristic was that he could play with complete freedom rhythmically and harmonically, but he was never out of control.
Birdwatching is a product of Tim’s long study of Parker. You’re about to hear some of the greatest sounds in jazz: David’s classic legato touch and in-the-pocket rhythms, Peter’s signature boomy sound, Kenny’s articulate cymbal and snare work, Ralph’s brilliant and versatile tone, and Tim’s colorful and complex sound. This album is an ode to Charlie Parker and his songs: wealthy in acoustic structure and full of Tim’s own delightful twists.
Bang! “Mohawk” begins with a strong power walk with the Washingtons, followed by a chorus peppered by David’s earthy voicings. Tim’s solo is strong with loads of rhythmic variety. Reminiscent of the great tenor battles between Coltrane and Rollins, Tim and Ralph trade ideas in their solos.
Read moreThe Flirtations – Still Sounds Like The Flirtations (2024) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]
The Flirtations – Still Sounds Like The Flirtations (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 32:54 minutes | 395 MB | Genre: R&B, Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Molecular Scream
Limited to 1000 copies for RSD UK. The Flirtations are poised to release ‘Still Sounds Like the Flirtations’ – their first album of new material in 55 years. They are best known for their 1969 signature song, “Nothing But A Heartache”, off their debut album ‘Sounds Like the Flirtations’. That song spent 14 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100, and its success saw the group tour with Stevie Wonder, Tom Jones, The Four Tops and The Temptations. “Nothing But a Heartache” remains an undeniable Northern Soul classic; it has been streamed over 13 million times, and in 2022 was remixed by Tobtok and Oliver Nelson. On their forthcoming album, which was produced, engineered, mixed, and co-written by Ben Rice (Joan Osborne, Valerie June), Earnestine Pearce, Shirley Pearce, and Viola Billups aka Pearly Gates tell the stories of their lives. Drawing inspiration from the churn of personal, social, and political situations that they have lived through over the past five decades, they capture a timeless and well-earned perspective on love and life.
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Stomacher – Sentimental Education (Remixed & Remastered) (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 40:30 minutes | 489 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Diablo Recording Co.
The San Francisco 5 piece, Stomacher, sounds like they listen to a lot of Radiohead. The first CD under their new moniker (the band was formerly known as In Reverent Fear) plays like what could be a more commercial Radiohead record from a few years ago. Jarrod Taylor’s vocal style sounds like a more angsty Thom Yorke without being a complete rip off. His voice carries the songs with a slow and relaxed delivery, at times layering with itself to create a lush blanket of voices.Sentimental Education has a very diverse 10 songs, constantly varying in tempo and arrangement without making the songs feel out of place.
Stomacher sounds more at home with the slower more sparse songs on Sentimental Education. “The Devil” features a lush organ sound, twinkling electronics, and a bed of strings slowly brewing for three and a half minutes below the high and slow vocal. The album closer “Untitled/Dark Divider” has a consistent acoustic guitar rhythm and a catchy yet relaxing electric guitar melody. The song builds but never becomes overly epic, rather blurring itself into a murky mess, drowning Jarrod’s voice before returning again to its original form.
Sentimental Education may at times sounds a little too much like it’s influences but never the less is still impressive.
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Shabazz Palaces – Exotic Birds of Prey (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 23:01 minutes | 474 MB | Genre: Hip-Hop, Rap
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sub Pop Records
Shabazz Palaces release two new mini-albums, Robed in Rareness and Exotic Birds of Prey. Shabazz Palaces is masterminded by Ishmael Butler (Digable Planets), whose relentless drive to reimagine hip-hop – even as he enjoys his fifth decade on Earth – remains undiminished. Exotic Birds of Prey furthers the modus operandi of Robed in Rareness: a respectful eye on the past, an embrace of an ever-evolving present, with its feet firmly planted in the future. Where Robed warped sounds like shoegaze and ambient music into the Shabazz Palaces multiverse, Exotic cross-pollinates these elements with twisted electro and funk vibes.
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Secret Garden – Storyteller (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 51:54 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Classical Crossover
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Universal Music AS
Storyteller is the first new studio album in over five years from Norwegian/Irish duo Secret Garden. Featuring a full-scale production with incredible instrumentalists from Norway and Ireland and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the album includes three brand new and original songs: “Strength” “Beautiful,” and “Sunshine,” all performed with longtime singers from the Secret Garden touring ensemble.
From the initial concept of the album to the final mix, its been a truly wonderful journey of writing, arranging, recording, producing and working with some of the most wonderful incredible artists including the incredible Czech National Symphony Orchestra. We have traveled between Norway, Ireland, the UK and the Czech Republic to produce “Storyteller”.
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Ras Teo – Ion Man in Dub (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 30:09 minutes | 331 MB | Genre: Reggae, Dub
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Forward Bound Records
Realised in parallel with Ras Teo aka Jah Menelik’s Ion Man album on Forward Bound, this is a dub version of the exact same tunes. The eight tracks all tap into deep roots and find the artist working with drum and percussive maestro David “Jah David” Goldfine as well as alongside Roberto “Lone Ark” Sanchez who mastered several instruments including the melodica, guitar, drums and organs. Between them they all manage to cook up steamy roots jams that centre the culture with a timeless sound. It’s seriously alluring and here without the vocals the whimsical melodies and rolling beats all have even more of an impact.
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Ras Teo – Ion Man (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 30:11 minutes | 341 MB | Genre: Reggae
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Forward Bound Records
Ras Teo aka Jah Menelik is back on Forward Bound with a brand new eight track vocal roots offering. It finds him pairing up with bass, kette drum and percussion player David “Jah David” Goldfine and with Roberto “Lone Ark” Sanchez at the helm on everything from key to melodic, guitar to drums and organs and serving up red hot roots jams that centre the culture, too. The sound is timeless and effortlessly alluring with its whimsical melodies and rolling beats all bringing the sunshine into your life under often poignant bars.
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Petter Asbjørnsen – The Birds Sing a Pretty Song (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 41:59 minutes | 468 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Nice Things Records
The Birds Sing a Pretty Song is Funderuds first project in his own name. In addition to himself on the guitar the band consists of Petter Abjørnsen (bass), Ben Rodney (trumpet), Sigrid Aftret (saxophone), Ingvald Vassbø (drums) and Tore Ljøkelsøy (drums). The somewhat untraditional sextet presents an album that explores Funderud’s compositions, taking the listener through free jazz, soundscapes and delightfully weird melodies. Everything is wrapped up in mystical song titles, leaving it up to the listener to make sense of them.
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Peter Maffay – live-haftig Hamburg 2005 (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:08:18 minutes | 823 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA – Red Rooster
Peter Alexander Makkay (born 30 August 1949), known as Peter Maffay (ˌpe.tɐ.ˈma.faɪ̯), is a Romanian-born German musician, singer, and composer.
Maffay’s career started with the publication of his first single, “Du” (“You”). It was his biggest German hit in 1970 and brought him instant fame. With the 1979 album Steppenwolf, he became a major music star in Germany. The album sold 1.6 million copies, making it one of the best selling albums at that time. In 1980, the album Revanche (“Revenge”) broke his previous record, selling more than 2.1 million copies.
Together with German Singer-Songwriter Johnny Tame he formed a successful country rock duo in 1976 called Tame & Maffay. They released two albums and continued a close cooperation until 1985.
Maffay also created a string of fairy tales about a little green dragon named Tabaluga. The tales, which spanned across five albums, were also turned into a musical. Maffay went on tour individually with Tabaluga & Lilli in Germany; he later released a live album, DVD, and live TV broadcast. The tour included Maffay, Alexis, Nino de Angelo, Rufus Beck, and Carl Carlton, among others.
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NOFX – Half Album (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 14:46 minutes | 174 MB | Genre: Punk Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Fat Wreck Chords
NOFX’s first and only double album has a 5th side! Half Album is the final chapter to NOFX’s epic double album. The songs that comprise this EP – as well as it’s two predecessors, were all recorded at the same time. Half Album is not simply the leftover songs from this session, but rather an integral part that ties the entire project together.
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Mark Seymour & The Undertow – The Boxer (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 42:55 minutes | 515 MB | Genre: Indie Folk, Indie Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Bloodlines – A Mushroom Music Recording
“The Boxer” is Mark Seymour’s 11th solo studio album, and the fifth to be credited to Mark Seymour & The Undertow, featuring Cameron McKenzie on guitars, John Favaro on bass, and Peter Maslen on drums, with special guest Cameron Bruce on keys.
“We’ve thrown everything at these songs,” Mark says. “Portraits of women, men, urban decay. Life in a landscape of uncertainty. And love, of course. You can never abandon that. After all, beyond despair, there is nothing else.”
Celebrating a remarkable 50 years, the Mushroom Group is thrilled to present this new album from Mark Seymour, a songwriter who has been a part of their family for over 40 years. Dean McLachlan, Bloodlines Managing Director, expresses his honour, stating, “The Boxer is, in my humble opinion, his finest hour.”
Intriguingly, Mark Seymour draws inspiration for “The Boxer” from a newfound love for boxing. The album is a collection of songs that delve into portraits of women, men, urban decay, and life in a landscape of uncertainty. Love, an ever-present theme in Mark’s work, is explored with a profound depth. As Mark puts it, “After all, beyond despair, there is nothing else.”
Contrary to what one might expect, there are no angry songs on this record, reflecting Mark’s lessons from his recent venture into boxing. “Boxing taught me how to let go of anger and find self-respect,” he shares.
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Mari Kodama – Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 11-13, 15, 22 & 27 (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:48:22 minutes | 1,75 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PENTATONE
“This sonata has had a wash …” With these words, Beethoven gives a very clear description of his Sonata in B flat dating from 1799-1800 in a letter to his publisher. But how are these words justified? By means of which innovations or developments? At first glance, Op. 22 is nothing more than a well-organized and structurally flawless sonata. But precisely therein could lie the key to Beethoven’s words. After the rather more experimental work in his Op. 10 and Op. 13, here the composer again finds his way back to the original model of the genre. However, this should not be considered a step backwards, precisely because formal and sonic experiments in the form and sound fail to materialize. A close proximity to Mozart in general – and to his Sonata K. 333 in particular – has been established, espe- cially in the development of the themes. The absence of a coda in the otherwise brilliantly formulated first movement is also typical of Mozart. The Adagio “con molta espressione” calls for expressive playing; however, the character of the movement is determined by a painfully opulent sound. The Minuetto is thematically linked to the Adagio, after which the trio, with its insistent semiquavers, offers a shrewd contrast. In the final rondo, harmonic surprises and graceful thematic associations await the listener.
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