Perfect Olaf

Reaktor 4 from Bottrop-Vonderort, situated in the north-western Ruhr area, mainly played instrumental, sometimes session-like progressive rock music.
There is only one single dub plate of this LP, i. e. one individual copy, which was given as a present to the band's drummer, Reinhold Stania, in 1975. It was unfortunately played too often and is therefore damaged significantly; the master tape was thrown away. Great efforts have now been made to restore and decrackle the LP as far as possible in the Kerpen Railroad Tracks studio, which is probably the best-equipped studio worldwide for this purpose. The result is highly superior to the original, but it is unfortunately still unsatisfactory, especially tracks one and three - more improvement was simply not possible…

Led by original Aera (Humanum Est / Hand Und Fuß) - bandfounder, composer and guitarist Muck Groh and his colleagues from "the early days" , drummer Wolfgang Teske and violinist Christoph Krieger, completed by bass player Jonas Gruber (son of Muck), flautist and sax player Armin Fleissner and guest singer Pia (on 3 titles), now it's time for Neue (New) Aera. Founded in 2008 Neue Aera, first of all, was a "just for fun"- project. But very soon the musicians experienced that the old (and new) magic was (still) there and - like in the early seventies- Muck took over the leading role and composed new stuff without denying his roots of the "old" Aera-period, heavy influenced by a progressive jazz rock and hints of Arabian/ Oriental -sounds…

This is another truly gem from the SWF broadcast vaults recorded in 1972. Minus Two, founded in early 1971 in Mannheim (hometown of Nine Days Wonder) by organ player Günter Kühlwein and drummer Walter Helbig (also played with Nine Days Wonder and Aera) played a powerful progressive music sound sometimes with a certain sense of drama, melted classical influences with blues-rock and slightly jazzy hints. Early "Hardin & York playing" comes to mind, but Minus Two always showed their own imagination of progressive rock. All titles are self-penned and prove the musicians high level abilities playing their instruments and there are only organ and drums. Believe us, you dont miss any other instruments! This is a very complete sound by perfect trained musicians…

Seven-and-a-half thousand kilometres of cold ocean separate West Africa from Haiti. But music can cover that distance in a heartbeat, crossing the Atlantic to reunite the rhythms and religion of people torn from their homes to be sold into slavery on the Caribbean island. And on its self-titled album, the Afro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra honours those ghosts of the past even as it walks steadfastly and hopefully into the future.

David Byrne, like fellow New York transplant David Bowie, has reached a well-deserved apex in his career. After eight post-Talking Heads solo outings, the eccentric composer, songwriter, artist, and world music entrepreneur has transcended the inconsistencies of his previous efforts and created a genuinely moving and wickedly fun record. Like Bowie's Heathen and Reality, Grown Backwards is a mature work by an icon who has come to terms with his past, present, and future, and there's a joy in the simple act of creativity here that gives even the heaviest of subject matter an effervescent charm…