Sound Check 2 is the definitive audio test disc. Created in association with renowned record producer, engineer and musician Alan Parsons, it is available as a single CD or in a double CD case with built-in microphone and sound level meter, calibrated from -15dB to +12dB.When used in conjunction with its third octave tracks, SOUND CHECK 2 forms an instant system response analyser. It contains 99 tracks of practical material compiled as a result of careful research and investigation into the needs of studio engineers, audio technicians, serious audiophiles, record producers and musicians.The disc has been designed not only toтhelp assess the technical performance of a wide range of sound recording and reproduction equipment, but also to offer the very best available musical, vocal and effects sources for experimentation and demonstration.
This is the Rachmaninov Third to end all Rachmaninov Thirds, a performance of such super-human pianistic aplomb, pace and virtuosity that it makes all comparisons, save with Horowitz himself, a study in irrelevance.
If this scorching live set is anything to go by, the November tour by Germany's NDR Big Band playing Colin Towns' arrangements of Frank Zappa classics will be unmissable. One-time rock keyboardist Towns (who worked for Deep Purple star Ian Gillan) became a film and TV composer, then a jazz bandleader, and the founder and funder of creative indie label Provocateur Records. His writing for big jazz ensembles mixes rock, improv, postbop and a slashing Stravinskyesque melodic wildness - but the result often comes at you with a visceral energy of such heat that it melts the edges.
Ensemble Nimbus is a Swedish quartet (keyboards, clarinet, viola and percussions) that belongs to the tradition of Scandinavia's orchestral-grade progressive-rock with a touch of Univers Zero. A very modern and lively twist on the Zamla/RIO/Zeuhl type sound, but high-tech and very very lively, featuring Hasse Bruniusson (ex-Zamla Mammaz Manna) on drums. Bruniusson is also a member of the better known Roine Stolt's Flower Kings where he is the bands percussionist. Within Ensemble Nimbus he also plays acoustic & electric drums as well as adding the percussion. This band, yet another Swedish band, is described as the "second generation of European… RIO. "Garmonbozia" is their 3rd studio album.
Contains the albums All That Noise (CD 1) plus alternate versions, mixes, instrumentals, demos, bonus unreleased live tracks, and an interview recorded in 1990 (CD 2), Melomania (CD 3), the Mayhem to Meditate EP & (dub) remixes (CD 4), the Lunar Surf EP & the Jukebox at Munsters 45, the previously unreleased lost third album & demos (CD 5).
The Lost Crowes is right – only hardcore fans will know of the music on this two-CD set, and even then, chances are they haven't heard it. And it's not like this is an odds-n-sods collection of outtakes and B-sides, either: The Lost Crowes contains two complete unreleased albums called Tall and Band, recorded in 1993 and 1997, respectively, but in the vaults until now…
Forget Black Friday, Franksgiving is the real event as today ushers in the long-awaited release of Alex Winter’s highly acclaimed documentary, ZAPPA, about the prolific genius composer, free speech activist, cultural ambassador to Czechoslovakia and legendary musician, Frank Zappa, as well as the surprise digital release of the corresponding ZAPPA Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. A perfect complement to the film, the 68-track soundtrack is available to stream and download now via Zappa Records/UMe. ZAPPA is now available in the U.S. on demand from Magnolia Pictures.