Mark Organ

“MARK” is the new solo record from acclaimed drummer and composer Mark Guiliana: an auditory manifestation of one of the world’s most creative and innovative musical minds.

Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler's intricate, introspective finger-picked guitar stylings make a perfect musical complement to the wistful tone of Bill Forsyth's comedy film, Local Hero. This album was billed as a Knopfler solo album rather than an original soundtrack album, with the notation "music … for the film." Knopfler brings along Dire Straits associates Alan Clark (keyboards) and John Illsley (bass), plus session aces like saxophonist Mike Brecker, vibes player Mike Mainieri, and drummers Steve Jordan and Terry Williams. The low-key music picks up traces of Scottish music, but most of it just sounds like Dire Straits doing instrumentals, especially the recurring theme, one of Knopfler's more memorable melodies. Gerry Rafferty (remember him from "Baker Street"?) sings the one vocal selection, "That's the Way It Always Starts."

Though Black Pudding marks the first time that singer Mark Lanegan and multi-instrumentalist Duke Garwood have recorded together, it isn't the first time they've collaborated. The latter toured with the Gutter Twins, Lanegan's project with Greg Dulli. Garwood's name isn't as well-known to the general public as the singer's, but his reputation among musicians certainly is. He's worked with everyone from the Orb to Wire, from Wooden Wand to Sir Richard Bishop, from Josh T. Pearson to Kurt Vile. For those familiar with Lanegan's 2000s solo work, the moody nature of the material here will come as little surprise; let's face it, his voice is coated in darkness. That said, all but two of these songs – the lovely guitar instrumentals by Garwood that bookend the album – are co-writes. They range from spooky blues numbers such as "Pentacostal" and "Death Rides a White Horse," where the guitar is the primary instrument, to fractured, skeletal, nocturnal funk numbers such as "Cold Molly."

Those who liked the moodier, more atmospheric material on the last Mark Lanegan Band offering, 2004's Bubblegum, will find much to enjoy on Blues Funeral – an album that has little to do with blues as a musical form. Lanegan has been a busy man since Bubblegum. In the nearly eight ensuing years, he's issued three records with Isobel Campbell, joined Greg Dulli in the Gutter Twins, guested on albums by the Twilight Singers and UNKLE, and was the lead vocalist on most of the last two Soulsavers offerings. Produced by Eleven guitarist Alain Johannes (who also fulfills that role here as well as playing bass, keyboards, and percussion), Blues Funeral finds Lanegan in a musically ambitious place.

By now, anyone who has heard one of Mark Lanegan's solo albums knows exactly what the others will sound like – Lanegan's weathered, smoky voice intones tales of quiet desperation over echoing electric guitar arpeggios, folky acoustic guitar work, and the occasional piano, organ, or violin embellishment. This approach has resulted in a compelling body of work, often possessed of remarkable depth, but it's also become something of a stylistic straitjacket over the course of several albums. And that's the only major knock against the otherwise brilliant I'll Take Care of You, Lanegan's fourth solo album, which marks the first time it hasn't taken him four years to deliver a follow-up. Perhaps that's because there's no original material here – I'll Take Care of You applies the drifting, elegiac qualities of its predecessors to a selection of well-chosen, mostly underexposed folk, country, and blues covers. It's a testament to Lanegan's interpretive skill that he's able to use his already well-established style so effectively yet again, as most of these versions range from stunning to merely excellent.

Mark Lanegan's first solo album, 1990's The Winding Sheet, was a darker, quieter, and more emotionally troubling affair than what fans were accustomed to from his work as lead singer with the Screaming Trees. The follow-up album, 1994 's Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, used The Winding Sheet's sound and style as a starting point, with Lanegan and producer/instrumentalist Mike Johnson constructing resonant but low-key instrumental backdrops for the singer's tales of heartbreak, alcohol, and dashed hopes. While The Winding Sheet often sounded inspired but tentative, like the solo project from a member of an established band, Whiskey for the Holy Ghost speaks with a quiet but steely confidence of an artist emerging with his own distinct vision. The songs are more literate and better realized than on the debut, the arrangements are subtle and supportive (often eschewing electric guitars for keyboards and acoustic instruments), and Lanegan's voice, bathed in bourbon and nicotine, transforms the deep sorrow of the country blues (a clear inspiration for this music) into something new, compelling, and entirely his own. Whiskey for the Holy Ghost made it clear that Mark Lanegan had truly arrived as a solo artist, and it ranks alongside American Music Club's Everclear as one of the best "dark night of the soul" albums of the 1990s.

“MARK” is the new solo record from acclaimed drummer and composer Mark Guiliana: an auditory manifestation of one of the world’s most creative and innovative musical minds.

Celebrated as one of the finest Tudor composers, Thomas Weelkes served as organist and choirmaster at Winchester College and Chichester Cathedral and although famed for his madrigals, wrote more Anglican services than any other major composer of the time.