The Fiction Issue, a collaboration with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider, is Gabriel Kahane's first album of chamber music, comprising three pieces written between 2011 and 2015. The title work, featuring Shara Worden, was commissioned by Carnegie Hall, and premiered in 2012. It was revised in 2014. Bradbury Studies (2014-2015), for quartet alone, is a deconstruction of the song "Bradbury (304 Broadway)" from The Ambassador, and is dedicated to Brooklyn Rider. Finally, Come On All You Ghosts (2011), on poems by Matthew Zapruder, closes the set.

On March 1st, Weezer are set to release The Black Album. To tide fans over until then, Rivers Cuomo and co. have just unveiled a surprise 10-track covers LP which they’ve dubbed, The Teal Album. The tracklist comprises mainly of 80s-themed covers, kicking off with the band’s chart-topping version of Toto’s “Africa” and also featuring renditions of Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, The Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)”, a-ha’s “Take On Me”, and Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”. Other notable covers include Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr. Blue Sky”, Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”, and TLC’s “No Scrubs”.

Nonesuch Records releases an album of Bach works recorded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, mandolinist Chris Thile, and bassist Edgar Meyer, Bach Trios, on April 7, 2017. The album comprises works by J.S. Bach originally written for keyboard instruments, plus one sonata for viola da gamba. In 2011, Ma, Thile, and Meyer—along with Stuart Duncan—collaborated on The Goat Rodeo Sessions, which won two Grammy Awards.

Obscura is a progressive rock band from Mantova, Italy. Obscura may seem new to us prog fans, but they have actually been around for over ten years. The website suggests a very ethereal, and poetic concept of the band. They seem to take influences from all that is encountered. However, Italo Calvino's work seems to be a primary inspiration. They enjoy a mysterious collective personna, and even wish to remain visually obscure (thus no band photo). Obscura was born in 1996, founding members were Massimo Tabai (keyboards - composer), Matteo Cavallari (guitars - lyrics), Matteo Pinfari (bass), Marcello Ricci (drums), Barbara Mazzola (flute) and Luca Palleschi (vocals). The band played live gigs that year, and in 1997 started recording tracks for the first cd "Le Città Invisibili", inspired from a book by Italo Calvino…

The Death Metal Band Antropomorphia returns with the new album "Merciless savagery". After the sensational "Rites ov perversion" work from 2014, the troupe from Tilburg presents another genre masterpiece.

The second album by Ornette Coleman's legendary quartet featuring Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins, Change of the Century is every bit the equal of the monumental The Shape of Jazz to Come, showcasing a group that was growing ever more confident in its revolutionary approach and the chemistry in the bandmembers' interplay. When Coleman concentrates on melody, his main themes are catchier, and when the pieces emphasize group interaction, the improvisation is freer. Two of Coleman's most memorable classic compositions are here in their original forms - "Ramblin'" has all the swing and swagger of the blues, and "Una Muy Bonita" is oddly disjointed, its theme stopping and starting in totally unexpected places; both secure their themes to stable, pedal-point bass figures…

Reba McEntire announced she will release a new album, Stronger Than the Truth, on April 5. The 12-song offering follows Reba’s 2017 Grammy-winning Christian album, Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope.