With little publicity, radio play, or MTV exposure, Korn took their eponymous 1994 debut to platinum status. Like all unexpected successes, it's easier to understand its popularity in retrospect. Although they disdain the "metal" label, there's no question that Korn are among the vanguard of post-grunge alt-metal outfits. Borrowing from Jane's Addiction, Rage Against the Machine, Pantera, Helmet, Faith No More, Anthrax, Public Enemy, and N.W.A, Korn developed a testosterone-fueled, ultra-aggressive metal-rap hybrid. They're relentless, both in their musical attack and in lead singer Jonathan Davis' bleak, violent lyrics. Tales of abuse and alienation run rampant throughout the record. It's often disturbing and, to some ears, even offensive, but their music can have a cathartic effect that makes up for their vulgarity and questionable lapses in taste…

James Grigsby founded Rotary Totem in 1984 as a production company for his creative projects,including albums with the musical ensembles Motor Totemist Guild, and U Totem. After completing the 2006 album "Songs for Adults", Grigsby took a hiatus from music and concentrated on writing stories and screenplays. This period was capped by the publication of his novella "Vexations", in 2016 - illuminating the events surrounding Erik Satie’s love affair with artist Suzanne Valadon in fin de siècle Paris.
James Grigsby returns to music in 2022 with his first solo album, "Illusions", a set of thirteen compositions inspired by classic magicians and their signature stage illusions and parlor tricks…

Fables of the Reconstruction was intentionally murky, and Lifes Rich Pageant was constructed as its polar opposite. Teaming with producer Don Gehman, who previously worked with John Mellencamp, R.E.M. developed their most forceful record to date. Where previous records kept the rhythm section in the background, Pageant emphasizes the beat, and the band turns in its hardest rockers to date, including the anthemic "Begin the Begin" and the punky "Just a Touch." But the cleaner production also benefits the ballads and the mid-tempo janglers, particularly since it helps reveal Michael Stipe's growing political obsessions, especially on the environmental anthems "Fall on Me" and "Cuyahoga." The group hasn't entirely left myths behind – witness the Civil War ballad "Swan Swan H" – but the band sound more contemporary both musically and lyrically than they did on either Fables or Murmur, which helps give the record an extra kick. And even with excellent songs like "I Believe," "Flowers of Guatemala," "These Days," and "What if We Give It Away," it's ironic that the most memorable moment comes from the garage rock obscurity "Superman," which is sung with glee by Mike Mills.

Regularly engaged in the Blue Note of the rue d'Artois in the 60s, Lou Benett often performed as a trio with guitarists Jimmy Gourley and René Thomas and drummer Kenny Clarke. With the commercial success of Amen, his first recording, Lou joined the trumpet player Donald Byrd, then student in the composition class of Nadia Boulanger, to make an album with ambitious sound architecture. Benefiting from Thomas' highly mobile guitar and Kenny Clarke's rhythmic flexibility, the Paris Jazz All Stars playing Byrd's toning arrangements, Lou Bennett's churchy organ roars powerful chords. The blues, music of the Baptist temples, permeates a carnal music, widely open to dance.

Starcatcher doesn't find Greta Van Fleet returning to their roots – that'd be a premature move, they're only a half-decade into their career – so much as making a bid for street cred: they're stripping away the studio gloss so they can stand on their merits as a rock & roll band. Smartly, the group hired Dave Cobb, the Nashville musician who made his name as one of the sharpest and earthiest producers in Americana. Don't take Cobb's presence as a sign that the pride of Frankenmuth has suddenly discovered downhome roots. Cobb's résumé is littered with such credits as Sammy Hagar, Slash, and Whiskey Myers, so he's on firm footing with Greta Van Fleet.

When Franz Liszt took over the court orchestra in Weimar in 1848, the memory of Goethe, who had previously directed the court theatre, was still venerated. Liszt was therefore Goethe's direct heir at Weimar - albeit as a musician. With his Faust Symphony, which was premiered on the same day as the inauguration of the Goethe and Schiller monument in front of the theatre, psychology made its way into music; Liszt's ambition was the "renewal of music through its more intimate connection with poetry". His Faust Symphony demonstrates the power of sound, of tone painting, to evoke a fantastical, epic and psychological world.

This recording takes us on a fantasy choral journey using the traditional services of Vespers and Benediction as its guide. It weaves hypnotic plainchant around renaissance gems and modern masterpieces. The music of the great Renaissance masters, Palestrina, Guerrero and Anerio sit alongside distinctive voices from the twenty-first century: James MacMIllan, Julian Anderson, John Joubert, Sven-David Sandström and Matthew Martin.

Sound Dreams is an album of great relevance to me because it brings together my closest collaborators. For over 17 years I have shared with Ensemble NOMAD a professional career that includes the recording of two monographic CDs: Bestiario (Bestiary) and Pruebas de vida (Proofs of Life), released by Urtext Digital Classics in 2011 and 2015, respectively. My long lasting collaboration with guitarists Norio Sato and Pablo Garibay as well as with shakuhachi player Reison Kuroda, shamisen player Hidejiro Honjoh and koto player Maya Kimura has been equally enriching both personally and professionally. I am convinced that this recording possesses the cohesion and warmth that can only arise from a group of friends that have been playing/ creating music together for a long time.

When Simple Minds released Black and White in 2005, it was obvious they'd been doing some creative soul searching in light of the success of bands clearly influenced by them, namely, the Killers and Manic Street Preachers. 2009's Graffiti Soul saw the return of drummer Mel Gaynor to the fold. He brought a familiar, tight, propulsive foundation to Charlie Burchill's guitar playing and Andy Gillespie's imaginative synths. Jim Kerr's alternately whispering and soaring vocals were still at the fore, but were showcased inside more economical songwriting, and Jez Coad's production celebrated the band's pop identity. Big Music finds Simple Minds coming full circle - going all the way back to 1979 for inspiration. They've rediscovered the urgent, keyboard-driven post-punk futurism of recordings such as Empires and Dance and Sons and Fascination…

When veteran blueswoman Joanna Connor issued the Joe Bonamassa-produced 4801 South Indiana Avenue in 2021, it introduced her gritty, wildly adventurous guitar pyrotechnics to a new generation of blues lovers. On its follow-up, Best of Me, on Mike Zito's Gulf Coast Records label, Connor had complete control in the studio, and she delivers a multi-dimensional portrait of her work. Cut in Chicago with her road band and a cast of top-shelf guests including the Grooveline Horns and alternating support guitarists Zito, Bonamassa, Josh Smith, and Gary Hoey, the album was co-produced by Connor and her bassist/songwriting partner Shaun Gotti Calloway, and her drummer Jason "J Roc" Edwards.

A famous violinist and an outstanding trumpeter - Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber and Pavel Josef Vejvanovsky. The two already knew each other from their education at the Jesuit College in Troppau, Silesia, and both musicians came to the episcopal court in Kromeríž. While Biber did not return from a business trip without permission after only a short time and made a career as a violinist in Salzburg, Vejvanovsky remained in Kromeríž for the rest of his life and worked there as a Kapellmeister (although as a trumpeter he was never officially given this title). The two seem to have continued to be in contact, for the Kremsier library contains several of Biber's works that were written during his Salzburg period. The fruitful collaboration between the two musicians led to a series of chamber music works in which the trumpet is used on an equal footing with the violin.

The final album in the collection, Rarities (1983-1922) brings together 16 recordings from this era, including rare recordings, live and unreleased tracks.

Released to coincide with the veteran pop metal outfit’s 25th anniversary, Capitol/EMI's two-disc, Double Dose: Ultimate Hits Poison collection features 35 tracks, including classic singles like “Every Rose Has Its Thorn," “Talk Dirty To Me,” "Unskinny Bop,” and "Something to Believe In." To be fair, Poison hardly had enough “hits” to warrant a two-disc “hits” collection, but the group’s amiable blend of lip-glossed glam and stadium balladry was almost always listenable. Wisely, much of the material is culled from the band’s early days, with fan favorites like “I Want Action” and “Look What the Cat Dragged In” leading the charge. The myriad covers songs from 2007’s Poison'd! feel a little tacked on and opportunistic (much like the record itself), but this is the band that wanted “Nothin' But a Good Time," and this walk down memory lane proves that they more than lived up to their end of the bargain.

Improvisations, free improvisations and medieval music from Codex Faenza (ca 1400) and Conrad Paumann (ca 1409-1473), plaid on Clavicymbalum, Clavicytherium and Clavichordium, all medieval keyboard instruments built by David Boinnard in Lille, France.

After receiving four Grammy nominations for his highly successful series of recordings that "latinize" the music of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Horace Silver, Conrad Herwig turns his attention to the legendary Charles Mingus. An imposing figure in jazz, Mingus was known for being complicated, volatile and a touched-by-genius innovator. As an homage to this influential artist, Conrad Herwig provides a fiery excursion into the world of Afro-Caribbean rhythms skillfully applied to Mingus' wildly imaginative compositions. Joining Herwig is special guest trumpeter Randy Brecker together with long-time "Latin Side" band colleagues pianist Bill O'Connell, reedman Craig Handy and the trumpet/flugelhorn of Alex Sipiagin with the rhythm section of Luques Curtis, Robby Ameen and Camilo Molina.