Michael Poton

Nowadays it seems that any music with the slightest hint of a synthesizer is labelled ‘electronic’. It is often a misnomer and cause for consternation amongst disciples of ‘full-fat’ electronic music. There is no doubt, however, that the work of Michael Shipway deserves this moniker. Mister Shipway composes bona fide electronic music and is one half of the much-admired duo, ‘VoLt’. Michael's trio of solo albums - ‘Into Battle’, followed by ‘Beneath Folly’ and then ‘Spirit Of Adventure’ - were released in the nineties to critical acclaim. They conjured-up melodies, rhythms and atmospheric sounds that helped define the zeitgeist of late-twentieth-century electronic music. All three thoroughly deserved their plaudits from the cognoscenti. They were going to be a hard act to follow, even a decade and a half on.

This is a recording of a concert at Barrell's Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed, 15th August 2003. Michael Chapman playing acoustic in a atmospheric location in a club in front of a wall of blue note jazz posters. The gig features many of Michael Chapmans best loved songs including 'Shuffleboat River Farewell', 'One Time Thing' and 'Kodak Ghosts'. Michael Chapman is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. Chapman originally began playing guitar with jazz bands, mainly in his home town of Leeds in The West Riding of Yorkshire. He became well known in the folk clubs of the late 1960s, as well as on the 'progressive' music scene, and has recorded over 40 albums to date. In 2016 Chapman celebrated 50 years as a professional musician. He still plays professionally and regularly tours in the UK, Europe and US.

Michael Rother, founding member of krautrock groups Neu! and Harmonia, is releasing another new box set. The new collection, Solo II, is out September 4 (via Groenland). Solo II includes three albums from the 1980s (Lust, Süssherz und Tiefenschärfe, and Traumreisen), 1996’s Esperanza, and 2004’s Remember (The Great Adventure), an album of bonus tracks (mostly recorded in the ’90s), and a brand new 2020 album called Dreaming. Speaking about Dreaming, Rother said in a press release, “I had a goldmine of ideas—about seventy-five sketches, and I knew there were some gems in there. I’m delighted by the way the album has turned out.”

Jazz singer/songwriter Michael Franks is an artist most jazz fans feel strongly about one way or another. His unique, romantic poet-cum-laid-back hipster approach to jazz signing is breezy, light, and languid. It's also uniquely his own, though deeply influenced by Brazilian jazz, bossa, and samba. Time Together, his first recording of new material in five years – and his debut for Shanachie – is unlikely to change anyone's opinion of him, but that doesn't mean this is a rote recording. Time Together is an airy, groove-ridden summer travelog that ranges from St. Tropez and New York to Paris, France, and Egypt; it journeys through the nostalgic past and finds space in the present moment, with cleverly notated, languorous, ironic observations about life. Franks split the production and arranging duties between Charles Blenzig, Gil Goldstein, Chuck Loeb, Scott Petito, and Mark Egan. The rest of the international cast on this polished 11-song set includes old friends and new faces David Spinozza, Mike Mainieri, David Mann, Eric Marienthal, Till Brönner, Alex Spiagin, Jerry Marotta, Billy Kilson, Romero Lubambo, and backing vocalist Veronica Nunn.

In the Spirit: A Christmas Album is everything a Michael McDonald fan could want from a holiday album by one of the greatest blue-eyed soul vocalists of all time. It's firmly within the tradition of latter-day Doobies records and early McDonald solo efforts, resulting in a really pleasing sound, equal parts classic soft rock and classy pop-soul, but there are some differences that give it its own character. First of all, there is a reason why the album is released on MCA Nashville, and there are some hints of contemporary country on songs like "On This Night" and in the arrangement of "Angels We Have Heard on High."

In the press release that accompanies Michael Chapman's 2017 album 50, the iconic British guitarist refers to it as his "American album." While the material does sound less idiosyncratically British than much of Chapman's body of work, 50 could be more accurately described as his indie rock album. He's best known as a master of the acoustic guitar, but on these sessions, the dominant instrument is the electric guitar of Steve Gunn, who also produced the sessions. Gunn assembled a band of like-minded musicians whose passions encompass indie rock, experimental rock, and the more abstract corner of Americana, and while Chapman's impassioned vocals ride over the top and his acoustic guitar is audible in the mix, the band doesn't bow to Chapman so much as encourage him to keep up with them.

Michael Head, former frontman of the Pale Fountains and current co-leader along with his brother John – who is also a Strand – of Brit pop outfit Shack, turns in a stellar chamber pop performance with Magical World of the Strands. Head, who is no stranger to either classy, baroque pop or neo-psychedelia, has composed an album of gorgeously illustrated songs that are lushly orchestrated by a standard rock quartet augmented by a flutist (Leslie Roberts) and a string quartet. The result is an album that, while little known, is a classic, a masterpiece of modern chamber pop.