Gamelan Br. Teges Kanginan

These three delightfully lyrical concerti, with themes respectively of love, harmony, and peace, are all distinct. The middle work is similar to the art of the late composer Lou Harrison, and indeed the canonic and the dance variations of Concerto No. 2 employ a gamelan ensemble as many of Harrison's works. However, Kyr is even more a romantic, and his sweet spiritual music soars and envelops the listener.

Drummer/composers are a relatively rare breed in jazz, but Aldo Romano is one of the most gifted on the scene. With a baker's dozen musicians (including himself) and thoughtful arrangements by Lionel Belmondo, Romano creates a powerful sound with reeds, brass, and rhythm section, often emphasizing the ensemble more so than than soloists, starting with the lovely bittersweet "Silenzio," which sounds like it could have been written for a film soundtrack. Trumpeter Stefane Belmondo and pianist Eric Legnini are showcased in the driving bossa nova "Pasolini." The elegant, lyrical waltz "For Michel" and the graceful "Touch of a Woman" (the latter with Belmondo on flügelhorn) are also obvious highlights. Romano plays guitar, sings, and co-composed an Italian lyric with Yves Simon for his upbeat "Jazz Messengers." This is yet another rewarding date by Aldo Romano.

From the twisted world of pop, rock, classical and world music, to acts of revolution and riots in the streets violinist, composer, conceptualist, raconteur and world traveller Eyvind Kang takes us on an exciting new trip to Iceland. An avid fan of underground esoterica and a generous collaborator with the likes of Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, Arto Lindsay, Ikue Mori and many others, Kang is at his best in the studio, creating incredibly complex sound sculptures filled with meticulous detail, power and vision. His most recent CD, three years in the making features a rare appearance of Indian violinist Kala Ramnath, a bizarre cult anthem (10:10) and a beautiful piece scored for gamelan.

Orchestra of Spheres is a wide-ranging collective from Wellington, New Zealand whose music is a hybrid of global sounds and cultures, from disco and electro to kuduro and mbalax, from neo-psych to no wave, from kosmiche to prog, on instruments both formal and homemade.

After putting themselves on the hard rock map with Razamanaz, Nazareth took their new, forceful style even further the next year on Loud & Proud. With Roger Glover once again at the controls, the group added even higher levels of distortion and energy to create one of the hardest rocking items in their catalog: "Go Down Fighting" starts the album with a sonic boom thanks to its blend of furious riffing with a breathless tempo, and the group's cover of "Teenage Nervous Breakdown" transforms this Little Feat into a runaway locomotive of hard rock riffing…