(fr3) Génération Âge Tendre (2014)

Born in Strasbourg in 1945, French crooner Herbert Léonard started his career as guitarist in Les Lionceaux in the mid-'60s before he decided to go it alone following two years of military service. He found fame with French-language versions of Gene Pitney's "Something's Got a Hold of My Heart" ("Quelque Chose Tient Mon Coeur") and Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" ("Pour un Peu d'Amour"), but struggled to sustain his success in the '70s, when he instead devoted his time to writing books on his other main passion, Russian aircraft from World War II.

This first album embraces some of Artenovum's best works recently presented by Freebeat Music Records. It also includes some previously unreleased tracks. Songwriter and producer Frank Doberitz a.k.a. Frank Borell is well known for his unique sound and is part of a new generation of modern chillout music scene and appears on over 300 compilations such as "island of chill" with his top sellers "wellness feeling @St.Tropez", "Mauritius I c u again" and "Isla margarita" which is listed in the iTunes electronic Charts since 7 years. Artenovum, his new project, has found a niche somewhere between Enigma, Mike Oldfield and Schiller and presents a new trip through a fantastic world of space night sound like the earlier TV shows. He is also well played in some of specialized radio shows…

Naked is already Isgaard's fifth studio album. Together with her producer and co-musician Jens Lueck she continues to mix variuos styles and influences. A creation of emotional, interwoven sounds, always focussed on her charismatic voice. Fragile piano-parts face pulsating beats, electronic sounds are combined with warm acoustic instruments and generate a unique mixture. Isgaard's vocals are constantly leading the listeners, telling musical tales, and fly through various timbres from low to high. Her songs are on the one hand about actual topics (critical reflection of the financial world and the consumer-society), on the other hand about very personal and introverted themes. As already in the past Naked will be appreciated by fans of Kate Bush, Lisa Gerrard, Tori Amos, Loreena McKennit or Peter Gabriel, but as well by friends of epic soundtracks.

Adrift, Australis' fourth physical album, brings together twelve brand new and original musical expeditions to the uncharted lands where emotions roam free; gathered in a compilation three years in the making. Composed and produced during a difficult period of his life, many of the tracks in this release have been born from real situations and frames of mind. The album's title, a hint by itself, invites exploration of the susprisingly vast universe nested within the heart.

'Ad Hoc' is the new album by Sting s long time collaborator and guitarist Dominic Miller. A musician that Sting has long called his right and left hand. The album is recorded in Germany and featuring special guest the inspirational Eda Zari, is Dominic Miller s most impressive work to date. Zari's contribution to the anthemic Exiting Purgatory is a perfect compliment to the searing cello solos by Sweden's Lars Daniellson and forms the climax sound to an album whose textures and ambiences are as eclectic as Miller's life itself.

Two different anniversaries are the focus of this 2014 anthology by composer Chip Davis' world-famous new age ensemble Mannheim Steamroller. The 30 in the album's title refers to the three decades since the release of their wildly successful Christmas collection, an album that would eventually go platinum six times over and inspire a bevy of sequels and tours, essentially turning the band into a veritable holiday industry. The 40 refers to Davis' debut album, Fresh Aire, which arrived a full decade before the Christmas album. Blending symphonic sounds with synthesizers and rock instrumentation, the first groundbreaking Fresh Aire album went gold and became the flagship name under which Mannheim Steamroller would operate for the next 40 years. The 30/40 collection takes a look back, offering 15 remastered tracks from both the Christmas and Fresh Aire series of albums as well as a new rendition of "Greensleeves" sung by Davis' daughter Elyse.