Snarky Puppy Duo Releases Thrilling Debut Album As Ghost-Note. If someone asked another to identify Ghost-Note within a genre, one would have trouble coming up with a good answer. The brainchild of Robert “Sput” Searight and Nate Werth has been capturing the attention of Snarky Puppy fanatics for a while now, but their debut album, Fortified, is a game changer that deserves recognition from all types of music-lovers. Immediately blasting to the #1 spot on the iTunes jazz chart upon release, Fortified is more than just a percussionist’s wildest dream, it’s a collaboration of world-class players featuring 18 of today’s rising musicians in Shaun Martin, N’Dambi, Mark Lettieri, Caleb McCampbell, Jason “JT” Thomas, RSVP, Nick Werth, Cleon Edwards, Taron Lockett, Marcelo Woloski, Wes Stephenson, Bob Lanzetti, A.J. Brown, Frank Moka, Ben Bohorquez, and Sylvester Onyejiaka.
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul is a 2005 film/documentary directed by Fatih Akın. The film is a journey through the music scene in modern Istanbul, Turkey as well as portraying its cultural life. It was screened out of competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. It features German musician Alexander Hacke (member of Einstürzende Neubauten) as the narrator. Hacke and Akın travelled around Istanbul with a mobile recording studio and a microphone, assembling an inspired portrait of Turkish music — from arabesque to indie rock and rap.
Since 1996, during the height of the Provençal summer, the beautiful, historic city of Arles has hosted the Festival Les Suds - a joyous musical alchemy that combines singing, music and dance and both explores and redefines the cultural heart of southern Europe (and beyond). Over the course of a week, music from around the world resounds like a universal language. This deluxe, greatest hits package from World Village features highlights recorded over the festival's last decade.
Hasretim (“My Longing”) is a multi-media exploration of musical roots, and a musical search for cultural identity. In 2009, Guitarist and composer Marc Sinan embarked on an unusual journey, its route leading from the Black Sea coast, where his grandparents lived, to the Armenian border. En route he located and filmed traditional musicians, players whose craft is dying today, capturing a music that speaks of restlessness and temperament, and bears the footprints of Anatolia’s cultural and ethnic diversity. In Hasretim, Marc Sinan’s musical findings are integrated into his own contemporary music for mixed ensemble (orchestrated and arranged by Andrea Molino) with Turkish and Armenian guests.
The Mission to mark 25th anniversary reunion tour with Silver 3-disc CD/DVD set. Goth-rock figureheads The Mission will document their ongoing 25th anniversary reunion this fall with a limited-edition 3-disc CD/DVD set called Silver that features two full concerts recorded last year and part of a third on either DVD or Blu-ray, plus a bonus CD featuring near-complete audio from one of the gigs as well.
This is Therion's perhaps most essential release other than their brilliant 2004 releases of Lemuria/Sirius B. This live dvd consists of over 4 dvds and the live audio cds of the main live performance which was shot in Mexico City in 2004…
Masters Of American Music The Story Of Jazz may be the most concise informative documentary on jazz to date. Five discs consisting of six and a half hours of material is presented in concise, informative segments. Comparisons to Ken Burns Jazz are inevitable, but unnecessary. This documentary combines extremely rare footage of performances and interviews to analyze the evolution of jazz and highlight four of its icons. Originally a television 'mini-series', the release of this limited edition digitally re-mastered set is good news for the world of jazz.
In 1974, during the heyday of the New York salsa explosion, the Fania All Stars were invited to perform in front of 80,000 people at a stadium in Zaire, Africa. Featuring exquisite performances by Celia Cruz, Héctor Lavoe and the All Stars' many other virtuoso players and vocalists, the concert was captured on film. Unfortunately, this precious footage has been available only in substandard versions, quickly becoming a rare collector's item. Now, Fania is proud to offer a definitive edition of this musical treasure. The brand new edition of Fania All Stars - Live In Africa includes a remastered DVD of the original film, as well as a CD with the audio of the concert.
Pop-rock doesn't necessarily have to rock to be effective. There are some pop-rock artists who would rather float, which is what Italian guitarist/keyboardist Giancarlo Erra's group Nosound usually does on A Sense of Loss. This 2009 release is best described as a mixture of alternative pop-rock, art rock and progressive rock, with a strong ambient electronica influence. Moody, atmospheric items such as "Tender Claim," "Constant Contrast," "Some Warmth Into This Chill" and "My Apology" underscore Nosound's desire to float rather than rock, and that approach yields appealing and very listenable results.