Match! November 17, 2020

"Jon Irabagon releases the latest installment of his I Don't Hear Nothin' but the Blues series, adding rising star Ava Mendoza to his no-frills, brutal ensemble.

Originally released in 1991, the classic Erasure album Chorus was the band’s fifth album and their 3rd UK number one. Remastered with a second CD of B-Sides, Remixes (including 4 new remixes) and Rarities plus a third CD containing live "Chorus" performances from the Phantasmagorical Entertainment tour.
No longer making a big American splash outside of its fanbase and alternative radio - and about to be turned into yesterday's news thanks to the techno/hardcore explosion - Erasure on Chorus concentrated on just sounding like itself. With the notable exception of the hypersassy "Love to Hate You," Bell steers away from campiness in favor of a series of gentler meditations and impassioned pleas…

Diana Krall reunited with Tommy LiPuma, the producer who worked with her for the first decade-and-a-half of her career, for Turn Up The Quiet, a 2017 album that found the pianist returning to the Great American Songbook interpretations that made her name. LiPuma died just before the release of Turn Up the Quiet, prompting Krall to fashion a quasi-tribute to her collaborator from the album's leftovers. The ensuing This Dream of You is hushed and reserved, a leisurely stroll through quite familiar standards augmented by a version of Bob Dylan's "This Dream of You," a deep cut from his 2009 album Together Through Life.

The first two albums are blessed with a wonderfully damp, wooden power trio sound full of great, effortlessly sweet playing and fine material. This, their final album takes a slight dive into harder driving waters. The guitars are a bit sharper, the tempos and pace a bit more propulsive. But the overall sound remains the same, an open sound with loud, prominent bass tones, snaky melodic lines and thick guitar sounds. It's at least as good as their first two albums, better maybe, if only because of the more purposeful, aggressive performances.

At the forefront of the Progressive Rock and Metal scenes for nearly three decades, Pain Of Salvation return with 2020's Panther. Mixed with Daniel Bergstrand (In Flames, Meshuggah, Devin Townsend) and with artwork by André Meister, Panther is a triumph of artistic imagination and an exhilarating new chapter in the life of Pain Of Salvation: intense, ever innovative and highly relevant.

Thievery Corporation played a historic concert in 2017 at The JFK Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The show saw their songs re-imagined with orchestral arrangements from some of today's leading young classical composers. The show is now legendary, and those fortunate to attend heard Thievery Corporation in an entirely new way. To honour this show and inspiration it provided, Hilton and Garza have created Symphonik - recorded with Prague’s FilmHarmonic Orchestra along with Thievery Corporation's live band and engineering and co-production by Gianmaria Conti.

Anthony Braxton’s new recording Duo (Improv) 2017 to be released on his 75th birthday June 4th.

Born on the 9th November 1989, Sofia Portanet entered this world kicking down walls - now kicking new walls and barriers, Sofia has reinvented Neue Deutsche Welle for a new generation. Singing in English, French and German Sofia has been taking their sound international with performance in USA and Europe since singing to Anglo Berlin based label Duchess Box Records (Gurr, Laura Carbone). Since releasing her debut single Freier Geist in 2018 and has become one of the most critically acclaimed newcomer artists in Germany with praises such as "Best newcomer for 2019" from Klaus Fiehe (1 Live) and "Germany's next big popstar" from Lauren Laverne (BBC 6 Music).