Detail 2018

High-profile games aren’t exactly innovative these days. Because of that, Warhorse Studios’ Kingdom Come: Deliverance comes as a revelation. Originally conceived as a crowd-funded project, Deliverance seeks to reinvent the RPG genre in a number of ways. Its adherence to historical accuracy and overall attention to detail is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Folks looking for something exceptional will find a lot to appreciate here.

“Stealth” is the aptly-titled debut album from Tokyo-based composer/producer Takao. Gliding in under the radar with thirteen slyly sweet and subtle miniatures, these pieces are refreshing light-explosions of gentle harmony and modestly grand melodies. Fans of New Age and tonal minimalism will enjoy this music, but its brevity reveals a pop-influenced aesthetic as well, and the level of care and detail in the arrangements and recording evinces a nuanced, surprisingly mature sensibility. There’s a blossoming brightness and elegant simplicity that even calls to mind gentle ghosts of Satie and Debussy. Available as digital download, CD and vinyl LP.

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine and harpsichordist Jory Vinikour, critically acclaimed artists of interntional renown- and also close friends-record together for the first time on this album of J.S. Bach's complete sonatas for violin and harpsichord. The artists approach these works as Bach intended: as trio sonatas with equally important roles for the violin and the harpsichord's treble and bass lines. In addition to the six Sonatas, the album offers the remarkable and ravishingly poetic Cantabile, BWV 1019a, a free-standing work that Bach originally conceived as a movement of the Sonata, BWV 1019. Cedille's audiophile engineering and the intimate acoustics of Evanston, Illinois' Nichols Hall allow the complex trio textures to blossom with detail. In all, the album sets a new standard for a body of work that Bach's son, CPE, considered among his father's finest compositions. Rachel Barton Pine is a Billboard chart-topping artist.

Theatrics in heavy metal seem to roll in and out with the tide. In the '80s, it was almost an expectation for bands to give listeners an over the top experience that mashes together both their music and their stage show for an over the top experience. As time went on, bands began to pay less attention to the appearance side of things, and show up onstage looking little different than the people in the audience. It’s a good gesture generally, with all people in the room being equal, but many still want a heightened sense of reality that metal can bring. It’s the mission statement of Avatar to do so.

An ECM debut for a unique Japanese-French-German trio, with a lyrical sound of its own. Drummer-leader Shinya Fukumori, also the principal composer for the band, is an imaginative melodist at several levels, and the attention to timbre and detail and space which distinguishes his drumming is also reflected in the colour-fields of his free-floating ballads. The spaciousness of the music leaves room for expression to tenorist Matthieu Bordenave and pianist Walter Lang. Bordenave has a deceptively fragile tenor tone, of considerable emotional impact, and Lang, one of Lee Konitz’s chosen duo partners in recent years, is a subtle player, patiently shoring up the whole context. Together, the members of this Munich-based band have created something new and fresh.