Mambo On That Jukebox Explosion!!! (2020)

Brothers Brad and Curtis Rempel of High Valley have long shared stories of a family-filled childhood in rural La Crete, Alberta in Canada, so it’s no surprise that they’re proud to say they “Grew Up On That.” Their brand new single, written by the duo’s Brad Rempel, Ben Stennis and Jaron Boyer, cites details of small town living specific to their lives but familiar to any country fan.
“We have spent a lot of time in the past couple of years explaining what we grew up without, having spent our childhoods living in a pretty remote area,” Brad said. “This time around we wanted to let people know more of our story and exactly what we did have – what made us who we are – and what we grew up on.”
“I love the way we recorded these,” added Curtis. “Being able to record this project on our own property was amazing. It encapsulates who we are as a band and brings us back to our roots.”

Carlo Maria Giulini was born in Barletta, Southern Italy in May 1914 with what appears to have been an instinctive love of music. As the town band rehearsed he could be seen peering through the ironwork of the balcony of his parents’ home, immovable and intent. The itinerant fiddlers who roamed the countryside during the lean years of the First World War also caught his ear. In 1919, the family moved to the South Tyrol, where the five-year-old Carlo asked his parents for "one of those things the street musicians play". Signor Giulini acquired a three-quarter size violin, setting in train a process which would take his son from private lessons with a kindly nun to violin studies with Remy Principe at Rome’s Academy of St Cecilia at the age of 16.

Recorded for a small French label soon after Simone relocated to Paris, Fodder On My Wings found the artist in a difficult period in her life. Not only was Simone feeling isolated in a new country, but her mental illness was worsening and her family life was fractured. However, she channelled her despair into writing some of her most powerful material, including ‘I Was Just A Stupid Dog To Them’ and the near-title-track, ‘Fodder In Her Wings’, which Pitchfork included in their roundup of Simone’s most iconic songs.

"I had an occasional flash of understanding, but then got selfishly wrapped up again in my own problems and pleasures," is a quote from Anne Frank's diary, the book on which The Beauty That Still Remains is based. These are thoughts we must all take heed of, confronting injustice that does not strike directly at ourselves. This recording represents a deep musical engagement with such universal values as empathy and faith in the good that is in every person. Asylos deals with the contradictions of inclusion and exclusion, and points up the connection between the pilgrims of the past and the asylum seekers of our time. The Norwegian Girls Choir addresses the theme of the inviolability of human dignity. The music by Marcus Paus and Maja S.K. Ratkje frames, in contrasting ways, the power that humanity and hope carry with them even amid the most intense horror, and through testimonies of the past these works tell us how relevant these topics still are.

Stefano Bollani’s solo album ‘Piano Variations on Jesus Christ Superstar’ will be released on 3rd April 2020, 50 years after Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s original concept album. Bollani wanted his version of “JCS” to be completely different from whatever Broadway or London production: “I’ll choose the piano solo formula, because it’s a love affair between myself and this music.” He only sings one song, “Superstar”; the rest of the album is instrumental. Bollani, grateful for the exceptional permission granted to him to re-interpret the cult opera, has freely but respectfully approached the original songs by following his own playful wit, informed by the musical traditions, genres, styles and encounters that have shaped what is considered his very own idiom. For his version of Jesus Christ Superstar Bollani wanted a warm, mellow, profound, dense and clear piano sound. Hence the piano tuned at 432 Hz, which has allowed him to express the warmth and profundity of Lloyd Webber & Rice’s strong round film characters.