Detail 2018

L.A. musician Eddie Ruscha’s new synth-music project draws on Balearic beat and ambient pop for a concise, easygoing listen.

Toundra is one of the most talented and underrated post-rock bands out there. They don’t get the praise or attention they deserve. However, they are always able to top themselves and push the envelope and they’ve proven they don’t know how to release bad albums…

On their first album in seven years, the New York fusionists tap into a welter of global styles; the result is soft-edged and idyllic, yet hides a subtle political undercurrent.

Miles Davis - Miles Smiles (1967) {2018 Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs UDSACD 2201}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 272 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 102 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 34 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1967, 2018 Columbia / Sony Music / Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs | UDSACD 2201
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Trumpet

The clarity afforded by history proves Miles Davis' second great quintet vying for the unofficial honor of being the finest small jazz combo to ever record to tape. Originally released in 1966, Miles Smiles is largely responsible for the feat, as it commences a series of five groundbreaking albums – chronologically rounded out by Sorcerer, Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky, and Filles de Kilimanjaro – guided not by chordal patterns but open responses to melodies. Music would never again be the same. Neither will experiencing Miles Smiles once you hear this definitive-sounding hybrid SACD reissue.

Malady’s eponymous album was a deserved underground hit, a beautifully realised piece of original Finnish progressive rock which had its roots very strongly in the sound of the early 70s. The second album Toinen toista, out in February 2018, goes deeper. Composed and arranged as a collaborative piece by the band, Toinen toista has enough detail to keep one captivated for repeated listens. The music is glazed with the kind of homegrown sweetness only vintage Scandinavian Prog Rock can offer but its insides are complex, with layer upon layer of things to discover. Comments lyricist Juuso Jylhänlehto, “This album is open to many interpretations and laden with symbolism, but at its core lays the basic questions of being human and the transient nature of things.”