The Square 2008

Various Artists - Miles From India (2008) {2CD Set Times Square Records TSQ-CD-1808, Miles Davis alumni}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 714 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 292 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 15 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2008 Four Quarters Ent. / Times Square Records | TSQ-CD-1808
Jazz / Fusion / Post Bop / Jazz Funk / Modal Music

Mixing the music of jazz icon Miles Davis with sounds and instruments from India, as producers Bob Belden and Yusuf Gandhi did on Miles from India, was far from an outrageous proposition. Davis set the precedent himself — not only with his use of Indian players like the tabla virtuoso Badal Roy in sessions issued on albums like Big Fun and Get Up with It, but also with his sinuous modal compositions stretching back to 1959's epochal Kind of Blue and continuing through his electric period of the '70s.

Charlie Louvin - Murder Ballads And Disaster Songs (2008) {Tompkins Square TSQ2127}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 235 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 88 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 39 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2008 Tompkins Square | TSQ2127
Country / Folk / Americana / Traditional Country / Country Boogie

Louvin's rough, weathered voice is many years removed from the clean, soaring work of his Louvin Brothers heyday but his joy in the material is audible, and as a re-encapsulation of the country and folk traditions he grew up with and helped shape, the album's a lovely treat. He revisits a number of songs he recorded with brother Ira, including "Katy Dear" and "Mary of the Wild Moor," an enjoyable instance of compare-and-contrast where these versions still work just fine on their own.

Not since Michael Hedges shook the foundations of the acoustic guitar world 23 years ago with the release of Aerial Boundaries has a guitarist created such unique music as 25-year-old UK native James Blackshaw. On The Cloud of Unknowing, his sixth full-length album in less than four years, Blackshaw masterfully paints landscapes of sound with his 12-string guitar and a variety of alternate tunings. The CD begins with Blackshaw chiming rich harmonics from his paired strings, as if sounding a call to morning prayer, beautifully setting pace for the epic title track. In Blackshaw’s hands the guitar becomes otherworldly, and his music truly ascends to new places.

Five years, six discs, and though it is certainly a flawed document, it is still unlikely whether there will ever be a more complete accounting than this. Between 1982 and 1987, Marillion first established – and then confirmed – their place at the vanguard of the U.K. prog scene. Of course they maintained it thereafter, but the loss of frontman Fish saw them lose a certain madness as well; things became safer and calmer once he was gone, and if you need proof of that, then this is for you…

2009 release from the British 12-string guitar virtuoso. James started his music career by playing in UK Punk bands, but soon branched off into more introspective guitar recordings. James is joined on this record by Joolie Wood (Current 93 on violin, clarinet and flute plus John Contreras (Baby Dee and C93) on cello. Lavinia Blackwall (Directing Hand) is a classically trained singer and contributed vocals Beautiful six-panel fold-out digipak with original art by Nicole Boitos.