Miles Davis – INTEGRAL MILES DAVIS 1951-1956 (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 11:33:06 minutes | 3,30 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Diggers Factory
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a roughly five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz.
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Marina Tomei – Alma Antigua (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:46 minutes | 621 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Stradivarius
Guitarist from Rome, Marina Tomei is among all the most active young Italian guitarists in the world music scene.
She began to study guitar with Bruno Battisti D’Amario, the historical guitarist of Ennio Morricone.
She continued her academic studies in Florence, as a fellow at the Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Cherubini, where she studied with Maestro Francesco Cuoghi. She received her degree in guitar under the guidance of Maestro Arturo Tallini at the Conservatory of Music Santa Cecilia in Rome. She worked in Masterclass with Dusan Bogdanovich, Magnus Andersson and Ricardo Gallen among others. She was selected to attend the Aspen Music Festival and School, under the instrumental direction of Sharon Isbin, and the famous Accademia Chigiana in Siena with Oscar Ghiglia.
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Local Natives – But I’ll Wait For You (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 35:00 minutes | 413 MB | Genre: Indie Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Loma Vista Recordings
Torchbearers of the Southern California band sound, Local Natives first drew attention in 2009 when their debut album, Gorilla manor, grabbed fans with its vibrant mix of kinetic, complex rhythms and soaring harmonies. The album drew praise for its enthusiastic balance of post-punk urgency and evocative lyricism. In 2013, the group expanded upon that sound, exploring a darker, more introspective aesthetic on their follow-up, Hummingbird (produced by Aaron Dessner of The National). Their third album, Sunlit Youth, arrived in the summer of 2016 via Infectious and Loma Vista Recordings. Its globe trotting writing process found the group experimenting with production techniques and expanding their palette of entrustments. The classic studio setting is juxtaposed on Local Natives’ fourth full-length, Violet Street [Loma Vista Recordings] with modern production and visuals to form a timeless album. The band’s signature soaring 3-part harmonies are augmented by loops of tape, physically spliced and transformed by hand, the result of experimenting in the studio with producer Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, Kacey Musgraves, The War On Drugs). The band’s fifth project Time Will Wait For No One [Loma Vista Recordings] serves as a harmonious return to their roots. Their sixth album, But I’ll Wait For You, is a companion piece to the album prior to it. Local Natives are Kelcey Ayer, Nik Ewing, Matthew Frazier, Ryan Hahn, and Taylor Rice.
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Leonor de Lera – Arcadia (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:16 minutes | 1,11 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Pan Classics
Leonor de Lera has chosen the “Arcadia” described in Greek mythology as a transfigured place in idyllic nature as the title for her new CD. The genre of the pastorale, the Arcadian pastoral idyll, enjoyed incredible popularity during the Renaissance and all the great poets of the time wrote poems that were in turn set to madrigals by the great composers. Leonor de Lera plays a selection of such pastorals on her violin – accompanied by lute and guitar. She does this, as was customary for Renaissance and early Baroque instrumentalists, by not playing the melodies true to the notes, but by embellishing them with so-called “diminutions”. There were many schools and styles for these, which are described in treatises of the time, and the virtuoso also demonstrated his skills with his art of diminution. The violinist now applies the different styles to the various pieces she has chosen for this programme, which are by Monteverdi, Caccini, Falconieri, Trombocino, Willaert and many others. The result is a stylistically diverse, highly virtuosic CD that is also a comprehensive compendium of the art of diminution in Italy around 1600.
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Lauren Scott – Sea of Stars (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:16 minutes | 768 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © AVIE Records
Harpist Lauren Scott’s debut album, Beyond the Horizon, was a breakout sensation. Her scintillating follow-up, Sea of Stars, promises to follow in its footsteps.
Lauren explains: “Scintillating … the act of light hitting a many faceted object, sparks flying or the execution of something with panache and brilliance. The harp, with its quicksilver sound and ever-shifting resonances, easily fits these definitions.”
Sea of Stars casts Lauren’s own compositions and arrangements alongside original works by Grace Evangeline Mason, Rudiger Opperman and Monika Stadler. Throughout, Sea of Stars is a brilliant showcase for Lauren’s inimitable style and virtuosity, demonstrating her consummate skill as both a lever and pedal harpist.
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Jacky Terrasson – Moving On (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 53:32 minutes | 1,01 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naive
Introduced in The New York Times in 1994 as “one of the thirty artists poised to shape the trajectory of American culture in the following three decades,” pianist Jacky Terrasson has lived up to this acclaim by becoming the most widely heard French jazz musician on digital platforms.
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Huelgas Ensemble, Jos van Immerseel & Paul Van Nevel – Max Reger: Melancholy (Vocal Works) (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 50:01 minutes | 820 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
This album features the works of German Romantic composer Max Reger by the Woergas Ensemble, which has made numerous rediscoveries in medieval and Renaissance polyphonic music over the past 50 years. Led by choral work specialist Paul van Nervel, the ensemble departs from the usual repertoire of ancient music to explore Reger’s vocal music. Max Reger (1873-1916) is a composer best known for his symphonies and organ works, but his vocal music has been largely ignored. Schoenberg described him as a “genius” and Hindemith called him “the last giant of music. Reger himself wrote that he wanted to be a “breathtaking” composer. Reger was familiar with Bach’s polyphony, and in his own compositions he explored the beauty of construction and masterful imitation of melody. This time the Huelgas Ensemble showcases Reger’s diversity, from emotionally rich arrangements of folk songs such as “The Little Star” and “I Dreamed a Night Dream” to Renaissance-inspired pieces such as “The Time of Man’s Life is Short.” The album also includes pieces such as “With Peace and Joy We Go,” which reflects the spirit of Bach, and harmonically complex pieces such as “O Death, How Thou Art Bitter,” in which Reger explores the limits of sound. Jos van Immerzeel joins as the historically sensitive piano accompanist on the concert grand built by Carl Bechstein in 1870, and as in his performances of Renaissance music, van Nevel, along with the singers, adds a unique touch to the polyphony of this repertoire, beautifully The music is beautifully colored.
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Hozier – Wasteland, Baby! (Special Edition) (2019/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:19:20 minutes | 862 MB | Genre: Blues, Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UMC (Universal Music Catalogue)
Hozier’s great trick is how he hangs suspended between past and present, drawing upon old forms without sounding traditional. This gift is what fueled “Take Me to Church,” a bit of protest neo-gospel that became an unexpected international blockbuster in 2014 — a success so great, the Irish singer/songwriter was in no need to hurry up with a sequel. He certainly took his time to release Wasteland, Baby!, a sophomore set delivered nearly a half-decade after his debut. Given that lengthy gap, it’s appropriate that Wasteland, Baby! feels considered, its every move telegraphing a deliberate decision. That’s as true of Hozier’s lyrics — which use Nina Simone and Duke Ellington as signifiers, tying him to a heritage that’s not quite his own — as it is of the ruminative music, which feels contemplative even when the tempo quickens. Hozier may be moody but he doesn’t dodge happiness, nor does he avoid modern accouterments. These two trends culminate on “Nobody,” a lightly rolling piece of pop-soul that seems nearly ebullient in this context, but even his melancholy moments feel open-hearted. Much of this draws from the same well as “Take Me to Church” — there’s more than a hint of soul and gospel, tempered with arty arena rock that’s drawn equally from U2 and Peter Gabriel — but the overall feeling isn’t anguished, it’s consoling. It’s a subtle but notable shift that lends emotional gravity to a singer/songwriter who already favored weighty topics. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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Greg Foat – Live at Villa Maximus, Mykonos (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 41:02 minutes | 481 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Crystal Records
Greg Foat’s Greek Jazz quartet featuring Sokratis Votskos, Warren Hampshire and Ayo Salawu recorded live in Mykonos. Big fat Synth bass lines with Psychedelic Guitar, Hypnotic Bass Clarinet, Mystical Flute and Killer Drums.
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Ghost-Note – Mustard n’Onions (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:19:31 minutes | 959 MB | Genre: Funk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Artistry Music
Since 2014, drummer/bandleader Robert Sput Searight and percussionist Nate Werth have led an incredible collective of musicians brought together as a groove-based funk, hip-hop and jazz group which has amassed a global audience. With Mustard n’Onions – the follow-up to 2018’s critically acclaimed Swagism – the band brings the funk to new levels with an album of originals featuring bassist MonoNeon (Prince), keyboardist Dominique Xavier Taplin (Toto), saxophonist/arranger Sylvester “Sly5thave” Onyejiaka and more alongside special guest keyboardist and legend Bernard Wright.
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Geoff Stradling and the StradBand – Nimble Digits (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:02:51 minutes | 791 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Origin Records
Los Angeles-based composer/arranger/keyboardist Geoff Stradling has spent most of his decades-long career focused on the success of other’s films, TV shows and albums he’s been associated with. All along, his StradBand acted as a workshop for his concepts and a collective project for many of his colleagues. With Nimble Digits, the band takes center stage, highlighting the wide breadth of the modern jazz orchestra – from the styles originated by Gil Evans, to post-Miles fusion, to Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian influences. He wields his ensemble the way the best bandleaders always have, playing to individual musicians’ strengths while maintaining a strong & personal harmonic, contrapuntal, and textural thematic throughout. L.A.’s musical talent pool is dozens deep at every chair, and many of it’s brightest stars are here, with thirty-one musicians bringing Stradling’s music to life.
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Fred Hersch – Silent, Listening (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 50:42 minutes | 723 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ECM Records
Silent, Listening is a major addition to ECM’s distinguished line of solo piano recordings, featuring one of the outstanding improvising pianists and jazz masters of our time: Fred Hersch. The album features seven original creations and a handful of well-chosen standards, including Billy Strayhorn’s “Star-Crossed Lovers”, Sigmund Romberg’s “Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise”, Alec Wilder’s “Winter Of My Discontent” and Russ Freeman’s “The Wind”, all played with the focus, sensitivity and gracefulness for which Hersch is renowned. Developed with producer Manfred Eicher in the responsive acoustics of the Lugano studio, the album was recorded in May 2023.
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Flowered Up – A Life With Brian (Remastered and Expanded) (1991/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 02:20:57 minutes | 1,75 GB | Genre: Indie Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © London Records (Because Ltd)
Iconic UK indie band Flowered Up, seen as London’s answer to Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses, reissue their debut album ‘A Life With Brian’ (from 1991) via London Records. The reissue follows a BFI documentary on the video of ‘Weekender’ and it’s legendary status in UK club culture of the time. The album remastering was overseen by Flowered Up keyboard player Tim Dorney.
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Duo Voltige – Maiden Flight (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 49:47 minutes | 463 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © u n i t
Kerstin Haberecht (saxophone) and Lukas Roos (guitar) want to release their debut album “Maiden Flight” and are happy to have found a great partner with Unit Records from Switzerland. Such a professional album production has its price and they are proud that they were able to pay for everything out of their own pocket until the finished CD – i.e. recording, mixing, video shooting, photo shooting and mastering. But with the upcoming issues such as Gema fee, CD pressing and artwork, they need your support. On Startnext you can support the duo with donations until 22.03.2024.
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Anne Wilson – REBEL (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 53:45 minutes | 686 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sparrow (SPR)
Anne Wilson will be releasing her sophomore album, REBEL, on April 19, 2024. Featuring 16 songs including her current country radio single, “Rain in the Rearview,” and current Christian radio single, “Strong.” Also featured are duets with country superstars Lainey Wilson and Jordan Davis. Anne made her debut in 2021 with the release of her single, “My Jesus,” which went to #1 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart and was certified platinum, selling over a million songs. Her debut album, My Jesus, was released in April 2022. One of Nashville’s most inspiring trailblazers, Anne Wilson is a true REBEL in modern music.
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