Emilie Marsh à Même la Nuit

A tribute to Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, a veritable mythic and unpredictable Italian pianist,; a perfectionist with a carefully chosen repertory in which Scarlatti's works joined those of Debussy and Ravel, while the great German romantics, from Beethoven to Brahms, were magnified and exalted, showing the soundness of their construction. The number of his recordings is limited, with mostly works by Debussy and Ravel and a few by Beethoven. He used to buy pirate live discs of his concerts as presents for his friends instead of his 'official' recordings! Here is a French anthology collecting legendary renderings of his inimitable touch easy to recognise by its ductile nature and the purity of his style. A revived masterpiece.

Ixion belong to the new breed of doom metal bands that have one foot firmly placed on the prog metal side of things. While they might not be as prog as a band like While Heaven Wept, they do use keyboards as a lead instrument many times. Their sound does harken back to bands like Tiamat, who pushed the limits on what was considered doom.“Enfant de la Nuit” is dark but at the same time has a lot of beauty and melody that isn’t always part of the doom genre. Having an atmospheric, almost ambient touch to many of the songs actually feels perfect with the darker, heavier sound. It’s two halves of the same whole.

First formed under the name Le Point, this trio from Bison changed their name, because there was another group using it. Two members of Travelling had played previously in Introversion, before joining forces in this trio that made one sole album released on the now legendary (and ultra collectible) Futura record label. One can easily detect the Canterbury influence of this KB-led trio reminding you of distant French cousins Moving Gelatine Plates, and some allusions to Soft Machine, most notably to the singer's voice that will remind you of Robert Wyatt and his fuzzed-out Ratledge-like organs. They can also sound like Egg, but the composition are not quite that complex and are listener-friendly.

"What can a flame remember? If it remembers a little less than is necessary, it goes out; if it remembers a little more than necessary, it goes out. If only it could teach us, while it burns, to remember correctly."

—Giorgos Seferis

Antoine Hervé (20 January 1959 in Paris) is a French composer and pianist. Hervé studied composition at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique. Between 1987 and 1989 he was director of the French National Jazz Orchestra. He has played with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Chet Baker, Randy Brecker, Cab Calloway, Louis Sclavis, Martial Solal, Michel Portal, Carla Bley, Didier Lockwood and Daniel Humair.