Hyper Focus Chris Bailey

A toolkit of accessible, science-backed strategies that reveal how the path to a less anxious life, and even greater productivity, runs directly through calm.

It's got all the look of "deluxe" written on it, the thick, book-like black cover with an inset photo of frontman Nick Cave doing his flip to wig city dance – Bad Seeds fans don't need much encouragement to rush out and pick up something by St. Nick and his motley crew of bent ministers of melody, and there's good reason. This double-DVD/double-CD package assembled from the Abattoir Blues Tour in 2003 and 2004 is quite a thing.

A practical guide to managing your attention–the most powerful resource you have to get stuff done, become more creative, and live a meaningful life

Imagine playing the same Fender Rhodes that was used on legendary recordings from the 1970's! Artists like Chic, Peter Fampton, Tony Bennett and hundreds more used this vintage keyboard. J Chris Griffin's library of Rhodes samples includes an MK11 and a Stereo Suitcase. Chris went into the world-renowned Avatar Studios (formerly Power Station) for several days and sampled their Rhodes, using similar signal paths to the recordings done over 30 years ago. The speakers were mic'd with Neuman U-87 and U-47 FET microphones, running through Neve 1073 pre's and finally through Apogee converters on the way into Pro Tools®. The room mics were Coles 4038's run through Pultecs and Apogee converters before Pro Tools®. The DI was an Avalon D5. Chris meticulously hyper-sampled this popular vintage keyboard at different velocities and went through the tedious process of setting up instrument patches for the EXS 24, Kontakt. Chris offers separate DI, Amp and Room samples, giving users the ability to blend the samples to their liking.

Described by Chicago Reader as “casually clearing the way for one potential path for jazz to progress into the future”, Chris Morrisey is a musician with an uncanny ability to blend styles and genres. Informed as much by alternative music of the 90s like Elliot Smith and Bjork as contemporary Jazz of that era, it was the presence of Happy Apple, the hyper original punk Jazz group from Minnesota (Dave King, Michael Lewis and Erik Fratzke) that installed his sense of what was possible in music.

The first problem encountered in defining guitarist Chris Biesterfeldt's work is that of categorization and antecedents because, in this guy, that list appears to run to the hundreds, maybe everyone who's ever picked up the six-string axe. Add to that, then, the factor that it often sounds as though he's playing with three hands…no make that four: two for strumming and picking and two more for fretting, and you'll be prepared for what will greet you on the very first cut.

Debut Album Nottingham post-punks Do Nothing blend jerky, spidery rhythms with surreal, half-spoken vocals that recall the Fall 's Mark E. Smith.