Sammy Braddy Topless Photoshoot in The Bedroom For Ketchup, 2013

Bill In The Tea is a collective of six musicians born in Catania, Sicily. The band grounds his roots in heavily mathematical prog rock from late seventies but eventually evolves into a smoother and plainer musical architecture, strongly influenced by post-rock and neo-psychedelia, with a clear reference to bossa nova, blues and jazz music.

On their second album since their 2005 reunion, synth pop pioneers Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark rekindle the spirit of two new wave classics, the first being their own "slept on" masterpiece from 1983, Dazzle Ships, an album that pushed the boundaries sonically. From the blippy, robotic, and almost musique concrète opener "Please Remain Seated" to the geometric sleeve that credits DZ designer Peter Saville with Executive Art Design, English Electric carries on the pop-meets-avant-garde spirit of that fan favorite album. It gives up a love song like "Night Café" that's so glossed and polished that it could be used in a John Hughes film, and then it offers an edgy swerve like "Decimal," where answering machine messages, countdowns, and other disembodied voices provided some kind of silicon chorus that's equally majestic and precise…

Violinist Joshua Bell and cellist Steven Isserlis are joined by two acclaimed musical forces - pianist Jeremy Denk and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, of which Bell is Music Director – in a landmark joint recording, For the Love of Brahms (Sony Classical). Available September 30, 2016, the new album is a unique project that features works of Brahms and Schumann that Bell calls “music about love and friendship.” Bell, Isserlis and Denk unite here in Brahms’s first published chamber work, the Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8 in its rarely performed original 1854 version. Isserlis also joins Bell – as violin soloist and director – and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in Brahms’s last orchestral work, the celebrated Double Concerto (for Violin and Cello) in A Minor, Op. 102. Bell, Isserlis and members of the Academy also offer the first recording of an unusual coupling: the slow movement of Schumann’s rarely heard Violin Concerto, in a version for string orchestra made by Benjamin Britten, who also added a short coda.

The 6. edition of the popular Magic Moments series by Germany’s jazz label of the year 2010-2012 (ECHO award). In 2013 again under the motto “In the Spirit of Jazz”:
Music far from fixed styles. Sometimes more, sometimes less jazzy. Between the genres, whether classical music, rock or pop. On the pulse of time and beyond. With established ACT stars and promising newcomers. Music for open ears, for the mind and soul. And for everyone who loves good music.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - English Electric (2013) {Sony Music Japan SICP 3810, bonus tracks}
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© 2013 BMG / Sony Music Japan | SICP 3810
Synth Pop / Indie / Alternative Dance

English Electric, is OMD‘s second album since their hiatus, but it’s the first one to truly justify their reformation. Lead singer Andy McCluskey may be in his fifties, but his vocals have been left untarnished by age, with his voice sounding just as wonderfully melodramatic as it did in the ’80s. He hits some big notes on this album, especially on lead single “Metroland”, and even backing vocalist Paul Humphreys gets a showcase of his singing chops on the evocative ballad “Stay with Me”.

With a small jazz scene to recruit from, and no funding in the early years, Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith has turned his country's national jazz orchestra into a world-class outfit. This Duke Ellington-dedicated recording, captured on the road, ostensibly represents the band in a more conservative, classic-repertory guise (they're just as adept at contemporary music or original material). But it's an exhilarating re-enactment of Ellington's gigs, right down to the stage setup, and a spontaneous celebration rather than a routine run-through of famous material. Smith got his players to memorise many of the parts so they could bounce off Ellington's directions without anxious glances at the map. Moreover, Smith decided to select music from Ellington's and Billy Strayhorn's canon from the 1920s to the 50s…

Eddie Harris - E.H. In The U.K. (1973) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series WPCR-27476}
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© 1973, 2013 Atlantic / Warner Japan / Rhino | WPCR-27476 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Groove / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk / Saxophone / Trumpet

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Following the hip strategy of the time, Eddie Harris flew to London to mix it up with some of Britain's most in-demand rockers – including guitarists Jeff Beck and Albert Lee, pianist Stevie Winwood and drummer Alan White – on this LP. Truthfully, though, most of the results aren't too different from what Harris had been recording at home at the time, with only a hint of a rock edge. If anything, the workmanlike Brits are too much on their best behavior – Beck plays with restraint and taste while Lee is jazzier and a bit flashier – making Harris seem like a wild man by comparison.

Charles Lloyd - In The Soviet Union (1967) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit WPCR-27265}
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© 1967, 2013 Warner Japan / Atlantic / Rhino | WPCR-27265 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Hard Bop / Saxophone

Features 24 bit digital remastering. Comes with a description. The Charles Lloyd Quartet was (along with Cannonball Adderley's band) the most popular group in jazz during the latter half of the 1960s. Lloyd somehow managed this feat without watering down his music or adopting a pop repertoire. A measure of the band's popularity is that Lloyd and his sidemen (pianist Keith Jarrett, bassist Ron McClure and drummer Jack DeJohnette) were able to have a very successful tour of the Soviet Union during a period when jazz was still being discouraged by the communists. This well-received festival appearance has four lengthy performances including an 18-minute version of "Sweet Georgia Bright" and Lloyd (who has always had a soft-toned Coltrane influenced tenor style and a more distinctive voice on flute) is in top form.