Imaginary Niazura

First and foremost, let's establish one thing. This review has absolutely nothing to do with my friend and fellow Blogcritic Mark Saleski, who is known to anyone who reads this site regularly as a somewhat big Pat Metheny fan. I've actually been listening to Metheny for quite some time myself. Though I admit that up until recently viewing this marvelous concert captured on DVD by the folks at Eagle Rock, that I'd lost track of Metheny for a number of years. But before we get to that, and at the risk of possibly angering Saleski and a few of our other music scribes like Pico, I've got a few words to say about jazz in general these days.

A socially conscious musical citizen of the world, Reza Khan has a history of blazing fresh trails and finding unique ways to redefine what is possible in contemporary jazz. Helping us navigate our way through the darkness and steep challenges of the past year, Khan graces us with an empowering way forward along a fascinating Imaginary Road. Khan writes, “There are moments where I was naturally drawn between Indian and Spanish styles which make the project even more interesting. As I am taking this Imaginary Road, embarking on a journey, life is still quite exploratory and full of experiments.”

One of the most promising and talented composer/arrangers of her generation, Grammy-nominated Miho Hazama releases her inspired new album, Imaginary Visions - her first album to feature the Danish Radio Big Band of which she is chief conductor.

It's true that Pram has shared the same bubbly, French-pop sound of Stereolab and Broadcast. But that's where the similarities end. A few cuts into The Museum of Imaginary Animals, the seven-piece band – which includes the recent addition of ex-Broadcast drummer Steve Perkins, no less – makes a beautiful departure into a surreal journey of sound. Rosie Cuckston's reserved vocals help, but it's Pram's original combination of devices (flute, trumpet, and theremin, to name a few) that occasionally evoke an aquatic atmosphere, not unlike Meddle-era Pink Floyd. Like the imaginary creature on the album's back cover, this fifth full-length from Pram is certainly mythical.

Maybe it was youthful exuberance or perhaps it was the fact that the band itself was not pulling all the strings, Three Imaginary Boys is not only a very strong debut, but a near oddity (it's an admittedly "catchy" record) in the Cure catalog. More poppy and representative of the times than any other album during their long career, Three Imaginary Boys is a semi-detached bit of late-'70s English pop-punk. Angular and lyrically abstract, it's strong points are in its utter simplicity. There are no dirges here, no long suites, just short bursts of energy and a rather strange cover of Hendrix's "Foxy Lady." For some, this is the last good Cure record, many fans of this album being in no way prepared for the sparse emptiness and gloom that would be the cornerstone of future releases…