Maypole were one of the great bands to explode on the scene in the late 60's. Originally from the Baltimore area, their 1970 LP "The Real" is revered by many collectors. This is the second album by Maypole, which consists of studio sessions recorded in Miami from 1973-1974 which have never been released before. 53 minutes of hard driving rock tastefully injected with some nice orchestration.

A truly wonderful advanced hard bop date, Wahoo captures pianist Duke Pearson at his most adventurous and creative. With the exception of Donald Byrd's closing "Fly Little Bird Fly," Pearson wrote all of the material on this six-song album, and his compositions are clever, melodic, and unpredictable without being cloying or inaccessible. He has assembled a first-rate sextet to perform the material, enlisting trumpeter Byrd, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, bassist Bob Cranshaw, alto saxophonist/flautist James Spaulding, and drummer Mickey Roker. Even the subdued "Wahoo" and "ESP" search out new territory with their subtle themes and exploratory solo sections. The key to the success of Wahoo is that Duke Pearson is a gifted arranger, creating nimble, challenging arrangements that are accessible, but reveal more details upon each listen…

This album includes recordings from two sessions, one with solo piano, the other with the 1983 Chicago Blues Festival. Throught a beautiful series of instrumental or vocal boogie-woogies and slow blues, Memphis Slim pays homage to some of his models and peers: Roosevelt Sykes, Pinetop Smith (or Perkins!), Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, Sammy Price, Jay McShann, Lloyd Glenn, Willie Mabon, Eddie Boyd, Otis Spann.

The Scottish band Beggars Opera had its heyday in the early 70's, back then issuing a trio of albums that are generally well regarded. Their recording career went into decline after that, however, and after 1980's "Lifeline" they went on a hiatus. A partial reformation by some members resulted in the less than thrilling effort "The Final Curtain" in 1996 as something of a last whimper. Then in 2007 original guitarist Ricky Gardiner and vocalist Virginia Scott returned with the album "Close to My Heart", and in 2009 this was followed by "Touching the Edge". And these days this reformed version of Beggars Opera seems to have reached some sort of creative peak, issuing no less than 3 full albums in 2010. "Lose a Life" is the last item of this trio…

Gäbhard is the purely instrumental side-project by Arcana Obscura member Thomas Gäbhard. Gäbhard's debut album, "Breath Of Fading Moments", was released in 1997. While the booklet has a little information about the music and the musician Thomas Gäbhard, who is also responsible for rhythm programming and sounds addition to the synthesizer, but it contains a number of wonderful photos from around the world. So you can make a musical and visual trip around the world to the most remote places.

Pianist Ketil Bjørnstad's quartet set with cellist David Darling, guitarist Terje Rypdal, and drummer Jon Christensen is almost a stereotype of an ECM release. His ten originals all set an introspective and mostly somber mood, their themes are less important than the atmosphere that they form, and the individual solos of the musicians are less significant than the ensemble sound. The general mood is a bit sleepy and the development from song to song is quite slow, although there are a few fiery and rockish solos from guitarist Rypdal.

15 years into a career that has seen them become one of metal’s most ruthlessly individual and uplifting bands, selling out venues and tours across Europe and the US, Amaranthe are about to make their most definitive and revealing move. Three years on from the widely acclaimed Manifest which hit top 20 charts internationally and has amassed over 130 million streams, Sweden’s masters of thunderous, melodic futurism are about to unveil The Catalyst. 12 songs deep and almost overburdened with lethal hooks and genre-blending ingenuity, The Catalyst is a snapshot of a band hitting a new level of collective power.
From the electronic pulse and irresistible forward momentum of Re-Vision onwards, Amaranthe have given their sound a fearless upgrade…

Fresh from the incredible success of Rick Wakeman’s early concept LPs (he drummed with Wakeman’s band) Barney and his ex-bandmates Warhorse made this sensational lost heavy prog LP as a promo acetate to get an official release. Barney wrote all the songs and sings. Musically complex, it begins with a spoken intro and tells the tale of Koneg Son Of Odin, as he quests to find meaning and death in battle. Keyboards and guitar interweave, with further spoken interludes, and culminating in an epic prog workout featuring fluid soloing electric leads as Koneg dies on the battlefield and is taken by Valkyries to Valhalla.

One of the founders of the Swiss synth-pop band Yello, Boris Blank empties his solo vaults on Electrified, an archival set that came into being with some help from online crowd-funding. The 40 tracks here are mostly instrumental, some of them simple sketches, while others sound complete. Blank's trademarks - gurgling synths, deep bass, Latin rhythms - are all present, and while this quirky, infectious set will likely please all as cheeky audio wallpaper, Yello fans will get the most out of all these peeks behind the curtain.

A seminal session as a leader by the young Art Farmer - recorded for United Artists, and a great set of tight lyrical tunes, played by Farmer in his sparkling style - in a group along with Benny Golson on tenor and Bill Evans on piano. Evans is a special treat here, as the 1958 session was recorded at a time when he was making a fair bit of appearances in various rhythm sections for horn players (like Miles Davis) - and although this role in Evans' career was a short one, it yielded some amazingly beautiful moments, as you'll hear on this album. Art's brother Addison plays bass, and Dave Bailey rounds out the group on drums.

Though it's not obvious from the cover, this 22-track CD compilation is basically a reissue of the New Colony Six's third and fourth LPs (1968's Revelations and 1969's Attacking a Straw Man), presenting the albums one after the other with their original track sequences. This was the era in which the Chicago band, which started off with a rawer garage pop sound, softened its approach considerably and found some modest national commercial success. Those who swear by the group's earlier work (particularly the excellent 1966 debut, Breakthrough) are likely to be disappointed by the far more mainstream harmony pop/rock of these records, though on the other hand, fans of groups like the Association might favor this era more than the previous one…

This popular Spanish band from Cordoba was founded in the late Seventies. In 1979 Medina Azahara released their debut album "Paseando Por La Mezquita" (aka "Medina Azahara"). This album contains the exciting Andalusian rock and earned a double-platinum status.
On their debut album Medina Azahara delivers a very pleasant blend of melodic rock (mid-tempo songs like En La Manana and Se), neo prog in the vein of Marillion (lots of Mark Kelly-like synthesizer flights) and Prog Andaluz (mainly ballads and slow rhythms) with strong hints from Triana like in the exciting titletrack (a flamenco rhythm with heavy guitar riffs, howling guitar and emotional vocals) and En La Manana and Busco (parts with flamenco guitar)…

Sergio Mendes took a deep breath, expanded his sound to include strings lavishly arranged by the young Dave Grusin and Dick Hazard, went further into Brazil, and out came a gorgeous record of Brasil '66 at the peak of its form. Here Mendes released himself from any reliance upon Antonio Carlos Jobim and rounded up a wealth of truly great material from Brazilian fellow travelers: Gilberto Gil's jet-propelled "Roda" and Joao Donato's clever "The Frog," Dori Caymmi's stunningly beautiful "Like a Lover," Harold Lobo's carnival-esque "Tristeza," and Mendes himself (the haunting "So Many Stars" and the title track). Mendes was also hip enough to include "With a Little Help From My Friends" from the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper LP…

Boddy has often used concert appearances to test out new material and indeed some of the tracks on "Aurora" were first aired at his solo performance as part of the DiN series of concerts at the Buddle Arts Centre in his native north-east England.
"Aurora" sees Boddy creating a seamless mix between the 6 tracks, which covers an enormous amount of sonic territory in its 67 minute running time. The music runs the full gamut from purely abstract, impressionistic pieces such as the darkly oppressive textures of "Gravity Well" to the analogue sequencer driven track "Escape Velocity". Boddy has created a work with an almost orchestral sense of dynamics despite the resolutely electronic nature of its voicings…

Legendary German hard rockers Bonfire strikes back with the brand new album "Higher Ground".
Bonfire are one of the most seminal German hard rock bands of the past fifty years. Originally founded as Cacumen in 1972 by guitarist Hans Ziller in Ingolstadt, Germany, the group initially played local venues, steadily building a fan base before releasing their first album under the name Cacumen.
The band’s trademarks continue to be and always have been deeply melodic hard rock songs, driven by captivating guitar
parts, grooving rhythms and haunting vocal melodies. To this day, band founder/guitarist Hans Ziller and his exceptional group regularly awe their fans with new releases and impressive shows.
"Higher Ground" is a new life chapter for Bonfire and the very first release under the wings of Frontiers Records.