Cypress Version 13

Away from the clamor of grand opera and soaring symphonies, Fairest Isle takes us into the quiet, intimate world of English Elizabethan song, and you could hope for no better guide than Barbara Bonney. Her clear, beautifully rounded voice is superbly controlled, making light of a masterful technique; if you want to hear art concealing art, look no further. This is intensely private music, in a program that cleverly sidesteps any risk of listener fatigue by starting with lute accompaniment (infinitely tender playing by Jacob Heringman), moving on to a viol quartet, then finally to the richer sound of the Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood. Leavening the mix are three instrumental interludes. The title piece is a blithe, dancelike song.

No matter where Big Daddy Wilson travels on this big, beautiful, mixed-up planet of ours, he takes the South with him. Listening to the soulful storytelling of the man born Wilson Blount in a small town in the Inner Banks region of North Carolina, it's impossible not to conjure images of dusty back roads, cypress groves, a Saturday night juke joint or Sunday morning revival meeting. It's a nostalgic and – some might say – glorified image of rural America. Yet in an age of ruthless demagogues and divisive politics, Big Daddy Wilson chooses to celebrate the simple things that bond us as human beings – a smile, a shared meal, a helping hand – along with cherished values like faith, perseverance and devotion to family. For more than two decades, he has been carrying his message of hope and unity to each and every show, whether in New York, Paris, Auckland or – in the case of his new live album Songs From The Road – the village of Rubigen in central Switzerland.

Bondage Fruit, led by the genius guitarist Natsuki Kido, one of the leading figures in the Japanese avant-rock scene, boasts their latest album, the best work of their career, 19 years after their last album 'VI'! This energetic work, featuring expressive electric and acoustic guitar work, each member's superhuman technique and versatile expressiveness, is the band's best work ever, by their own admission and that of others!
Zeuhl, and particularly good Zeuhl, isn't an exclusively French phenomenon if we are to judge by this excellent Japanese outfit who have built themselves a strong reputation in the Japanese underground. Their material, which borrows more from the European school (Magma, Mahavishnu Orchestra) than the Japanese new music scene…

Skip James was a Delta blues artist from Mississippi. Known for his career during the Great Depression and subsequent decades, he was “rediscovered” and became much more widely recognized during the 1960’s when he was in very poor health nearing the end of his life. His playing style was primarily in a minor key, featuring complex fingerpicking. After years of being out of print, The Complete 1931 Sessions, taken from James' Paramount recordings, will be remastered and reissued by ORG Music for RSD Black Friday on color vinyl. The compilation is made up of some of the earliest years of the artist’s career and showcases the astounding talent he possessed from the very beginning.