B Crispin

"The Austrian conductor Karl Böhm is one of the towering conductors of the 20th Century. As the embodiment of the long Austro-German musical tradition, he helped to write musical history. This 19-CD set assembles all the extant recordings he conducted for EMI (notably its German Electrola label) over the period 1935 to 1949 in Dresden, Berlin, Vienna and London includes a number of rarities and the world premiere release of a version of Mozart’s Serenata notturna recorded in Vienna in 1947. It was during these years that Böhm cemented his reputation as a major conductor of Austro-German repertoire. Collectors will also be pleased to know that this set contains all the recordings that featured in the now-iconic series of Dresden-themed LP boxes released by EMI to mark Böhm’s 85th birthday in 1979. "

Peter Green was regarded by some fans as the greatest white blues guitarist ever, Eric Clapton notwithstanding. Born Peter Greenbaum but calling himself Peter Green by the age of 15, he grew up in London's working-class East End. Green's early musical influences were Hank Marvin of the Shadows, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Freddie King, and traditional Jewish music. He originally played bass before being invited in 1966 by keyboardist Peter Bardens to play lead in the Peter B's, whose drummer was a lanky chap named Mick Fleetwood. The 19-year-old Green was with Bardens just three months before joining John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, whose rapidly shifting personnel included bassist John McVie and drummer Aynsley Dunbar.

Over the course of their now-three full-lengths, Norwegian heavy rockers Spidergawd have established a pervasive sense of duality. Beginning with their self-titled debut (review here) in 2014, the Trondheim four-piece have presented material that’s progressive and thoughtful, and yet tossed off quickly by the band in almost manic fashion as they move forward to the next thing. That debut? Recorded live at the band’s fifth rehearsal, reportedly. The follow-up, Spidergawd II (review here), arrived correspondingly early in 2015 and fleshed out the already-cohesive approach. Highlighted by flourishes of psychedelia while maintaining the core of high-level songcraft the first record established, it seemed even more intentional in its construction. Spidergawd III — or just III, depending on how you want to read it — is no less a step forward and it arrives topped with a similar-style of artwork through the same labels, Stickman Records and Crispin Glover Records, with eight tracks that relentlessly move Spidergawd ahead of where they were sound-wise while also providing a high-quality listening experience.

Trondheim, Norway’s Spidergawd remain one of the best and worst kept secrets in Europe’s heavy underground. “Worst” because they do such a terrible job at it themselves, what with constantly touring and putting out new material. That’s no way to keep a secret. “Best” because no matter what they’ve done up to this point in their time together, they still seem underappreciated. Spidergawd IV is their fourth album in four years.

A sad melancholia that also strangely exudes hopefulness are the juxtaposing emotions expressed by pianist Wayne Horvitz and his Four Plus One Ensemble on this, their second release collectively. The music, composed by Horvitz while spending two months in central Italy, is quite neo-classical and modern chamber in stance and style, but also borrows on film noir, improvised jazz and third stream, electronica and rock musics.