Outside From July 2016

The time has come! Vol. 1 of Bag of Trix is out on 30th October on streaming sites and until 11th December, the official physical release date of the complete Bag of Trix collection we will get to hear more ear candies on digital platforms on a regular basis. Vol. 2 on 13th November, Vol. 3 on 27th November, Vol. 4 on 11th December together with the physical release.

Colin Stetson is an American saxophonist and multireedist. He is best known as a regular collaborator of the indie rock acts Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, and Bell Orchestre. In addition to saxophone, he plays clarinet, bass clarinet, French horn, flute, and cornet. Stetson has released a trilogy of solo releases, entitled New History Warfare, a collaborative studio album with violinist Sarah Neufeld, entitled Never Were the Way She Was (2015) and Sorrow, a "reimagining" of Górecki's 3rd symphony (2016).

Andy White's first 12 studio albums presented in a box with magnetic flip top lid. Each CD is housed in a card sleeve that replicates the original album artwork. Also includes a hardback book with notes written in 2016 by Andy White about each album, along with archive photos. From the email announcing its release : "Andy White's twelve-CD box set Studio Albums 1986-2016 is set for release on the 30th anniversary of his first album, Rave On, on October 14th. All the albums have been remastered, and they'll come in a specially designed box with an 80-page book. The twelfth album, Imaginary Lovers, is the follow-up to How Things Are and previously-unreleased.

In general, most of my readers know that I don’t always follow “the latest big thing” when it comes to technology. My theory has always been: why should I be a bug fixer for Microsoft (or you can change it to Apple, HP, etc.)?

I Had A Dream That You Were Mine is an album of songs Hamilton Leithauser and Rostam wrote and recorded together between July 2014 and February 2016. In the spirit of collaborative albums, not unlike those of David Byrne and Brian Eno, each musician s individuality remains in tact, while in fact, on this record, both Hamilton s identity as a singer and Rostam s as a producer seem to reach new heights. This was a record I d been wanting to make for at least a decade - Rostam says - As a fan of Hamilton s voice in the Walkmen Id been wanting to capture it in ways it hadnt been captured before to make songs with him that placed the crooner right beside the howler, the screamer beside the whisperer to try to leave no stone unturned in terms of how we should approach the delivery of a song.

Narrante is the highly attractive ECM debut album of Golfam Khayam and Mona Matbou Riahi, otherwise known as the Naqsh Duo. The guitarist and clarinetist, both born in Teheran, have pursued further musical adventures outside Iran while remaining fascinated and strongly influenced by their homelands rich and diverse traditions. In the process they have arrived at a synthesis of their own, finding points of contact between aspects of Persian tradition and contemporary music. The forms, modes, drones and rhythms of Persian music as well its call for improvisation are redeployed, to new creative ends, in their fresh and vital work.

A sublime solo performance from Mal Waldron – the kind of unbridled, spiritual work he started giving us once he spent a lot of time overseas – sounds that are light years away from his American records of just a few short years before! Waldron is incredible here – and his ability to work in different ways with each hand on the piano almost makes it feel as if the performance is a duet, instead of a solo – as Mal can lay down modal rhythms with one hand, create incredible flights on the keys with the other – all while holding onto a sense of rhythm and melody that's completely wonderful throughout. Unlike some other Waldron records of this nature, which might go a bit outside – this one is free, but never "out" – and instead has Mal opening up beautifully on the titles "The Blues Suite", "Chairo No Hitomi", "The Stone Garden Of Ryoanji", "Summertime", "All Alone", and "Left Alone".