Fapt Ladder

David Gray‘s fourth studio album failed to chart when first released in 1998, but became an enormous success when re-released on ATO Records in 2000. The album spawned five singles including ‘Babylon’, ‘Please Forgive Me’ and ‘Sail away’ and has now sold over three million copies in the UK alone. The anniversary reissue offers the album remastered, alongside a series of previously unreleased and rare White Ladder-era B-sides and demos (including ‘Over My Head’).

Annelie de Man - Ladder of Escape 10: Contemporary Music for Harpsichord (2008) {Attacca 28120}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 391 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 189 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 51 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2008 Attacca | 28120
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Avant-Garde / Modern Composition / Harpsichord

Let's have a little musical bipolarity. Elegant music by Couperin and Royer followed by this disc of modern works for harpsichord and various instruments. Voormolen's "Suite de Clavecin" is the most accessible work here, and my other favorite is Louis Andriessen's "Dubblespoor" for vibraphone, glockenspiel, celesta, vibraphone and harpsichord, also quite approachable. Then, we have a piece such as JacobTV's "Doggie Steps" for violin, cello, harpsichord and tape - the tape portion includes barking dogs, a few cats (which I like, it recalls the music of P. Bimmstein) and a female voice (I assume the harpsichordist) speaking about "taking doggy steps".

Taco Kooistra - Ladder of Escape 6 (1993) {Attacca Babel 9369-1}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 219 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 142 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 25 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1993 Attacca | BABEL 9369-1 DDD
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Avant-Garde / Modern Composition / Cello

The CD series Ladder of Escape from Attacca shows musicians trying to go beyond the limits of their instrument. But listening to the sixth CD in the series, on which cellist Taco Kooistra plays works by Penderecki, Straesser, Lutoslawski, Kergomard, Lachenmann, Chin and Gehlhaar, you wonder what exactly the limitations of the cello are. After all, the image of dark-brown music in which sadness and consolation go hand in hand comes from the romantic tradition.

Nonesuch Records releases Brad Mehldau’s Jacob’s Ladder. The album features new music that reflects on scripture and the search for God through music inspired by the prog rock Mehldau loved as a young adolescent, which was his gateway to the fusion that eventually led to his discovery of jazz. Featured musicians on the album include Mehldau’s label mates Chris Thile and Cécile McLorin Salvant, as well as Mark Guiliana, Becca Stevens, Joel Frahm, and others. The album’s first single, ‘maybe as his skies are wide’, builds off an interpolation of one portion of Rush’s classic ‘Tom Sawyer’.