Onenation From Old Druids (2012)

Leonard Cohen, has always possessed a droll, self-effacing sense of humor. He expresses it on the opening track of Old Ideas in the third person: "I love to speak with Leonard/He's a sportsman and a shepherd/He's a lazy bastard/Living in a suit…." It's just of the typical Cohen topical standards on offer here: spiritual yearning, struggle, love, loss, lust, and mortality are all in abundance, offered with the poet's insight. He is surrounded by friends on Old Ideas. Patrick Leonard, Dino Soldo, and Anjani Thomas get production and co-writing credits. Sharon Robinson, Dana Glover, Jennifer Warnes, and the Webb Sisters all appear on backing vocals. Cohen mixes up the musical forms more than he has in the past. The loungey electronic keyboards on "Going Home" are balanced by Glover's female backing chorale, an acoustic piano, and Bela Santelli's violin…

Brian Setzer's Rockabilly Riot! Live from the Planet compiles concert recordings Setzer made while on the Rockabilly Riot! tour in 2011 and 2012. Included are performances from such diverse locales as Japan, Sweden, Australia, and, of course, the United States…

Per Nørgård (b. 1932) is regarded by many as Denmark's greatest living composer, with some of his music being hard edged and difficult to approach. This music on this disc will not suit everyone, it is quite difficult to understand where the composer is going at times, and in the case of the "Plutonian Ode", which is for soprano and solo cello, I found little to like, perhaps it is because the first two sections are for recitation, but I found it just grates with me! This is not to say that there isn't anything to like here, on the contrary, the disc opens with his "Two Recitatives Op. 16" which sets texts by the Swedish poet, playwright and novelist, Pär Fabian Lagerkvist.

Psycho Praxis are a near perfect sound mélange of British heavy prog and Italian progressive rock. Hailing from Brescia the band's debut album "Echoes from the Deep" doesn't sound like a new band trying to cash in on retro-prog, rather, it sounds like an authentic lost album from the early 70s with quality thrills and chills. Imagine the slightly creepy and unpredictable edge of Van der Graaf Generator mixed with the whirling, feverish flutes of Osanna, and the keyboard textures of Metamorfosi. The band employ English vocals rather than Italian, but even the hardest core RPI fan will surely forgive them because the music is so good.