Focus 49.2015

100 tracks - Tremendous 1960s compilation of Australian Rock 'n' Roll, Beat, Folk and Pop Music, including many unknowns and surprises! Everything on this 4-CD set was taken from the original mastertapes!
Take a trip back to these classic records of the 60's to listen once again and remember those heady times when long hair and short skirts changed the world.

The members of Naples, Italy-based jazz-rock ensemble Slivovitz (named after a Central and Eastern European plum brandy) can cite the exact date of the group’s formation: September 27, 2001, when, according to a Web interview with saxophonist Pietro Santangelo, Slivovitz came together after a spontaneous street jam. The group mixes jazz and rock with a variety of other styles, notably Balkan and Gypsy influences, which Slivovitz began exploring after a 2003 trip to Hungary. The band’s eponymous debut album was recorded in 2004 and released by an Italian imprint; Slivovitz subsequently signed with the New York-based MoonJune label, which released Hubris (mainly new compositions but also including three remastered tracks from the debut) in 2009…

Positraction is the seventh studio album by electro-jazz group Four80East. Four80East is a Canadian electro jazz ensemble from Toronto with Rob DeBoer (keyboards, bass and guitar) and Tony Grace (percussion); accompanied by various session musicians. Although Four80East began as a studio concept, they have evolved into a live act. Four80East began as a studio project when DeBoer and Grace, who had been writing, arranging and producing for other artists on their Boomtang Records label, put together material of their own and released it as The Album, in 1997. The Album was well-received by critics and the public alike. It was followed by Nocturnal in 2001, and Round 3 in 2002.

It’s fair enough that those with a vested interest in Sibelius’s piano music want to give it more visibility than it has had before. This collection of all the published piano works with opus numbers comes a with a comprehensive booklet note (by Antti Häyrynen); sensibly, this doesn’t make excessive claims regarding what is, with exceptions, a mediocre area of Sibelius’s output.

Omar Sosa - Ilé (2015) {Otá Records WVF 479110}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 372 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 154 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 66 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 Otá Records / Harmonia Mundi / WorldVillage | WVF 479110
Jazz / Latin Jazz / Ethnic Jazz / World Fusion

Since he left Cuba in 1993, Omar Sosa has forged a distinctive musical path, fusing an array of world music, hip-hop and electronic elements with his Afro-Cuban roots. Sosa's newest recording, Ile, marks a homecoming for the pianist and composer to the Latin Jazz influences of his formative years in late '80s and early '90s Havana. Ile means homeland in the Yoruba language of West Africa, and it is to the Latin Jazz roots of his native Cuba that Sosa returns for inspiration on this new studio recording. Ile offers contemporary interpretations of some of the classic Cuban musical styles the world has come to admire. Listeners will enjoy this album's mix of ballads and sophisticated mid and up-tempo arrangements.

Preoccupations is a Canadian post-punk band from Calgary, Alberta, formed in 2012 under the name Viet Cong. The band consists of Matt Flegel (vocals, bass), Scott Munro (guitar, synth), Daniel Christiansen (guitar) and Mike Wallace (drums). The group's musical style has been described as "labyrinthine post-punk".

Mainly an instrumental band, they show imaginative use of keyboards and guitars with a hint of new age in places. Their influences are Camel, IQ, Saga, Focus and The Flower Kings.
Karfagen (means Karthago) - a symbol of glory and wisdom and also it is a never-ending journey into the world of the forgotten past and un-predictable future. The name Karfagen was first heard in 1997 when Antony Kalugin formed the band at school. While he was studying at the architectural university (1998) he began to record the first Karfagen album. And then they were two. Antony Kalugin and his close friend Sergei Kovalev (accordion and harmonica)…