Shadow 2019

The titular pun of Sinematic cuts both ways. Robbie Robertson drew inspiration from his work for the silver screen – in particular, Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, which resulted in the Van Morrison duet "I Hear You Paint Houses," whose title is pulled from the title of the Frank Sheeran memoir that serves as the basis for the Scorsese film – but Sinematic also feels distinctly like a collection of aural short films. Throughout the album, Robertson relies on atmosphere, a vibe he builds with swathes of synthesizers, half-spoken, half-sung vocals, in the pocket rhythms, and plenty of tasty licks. Such studio precision has been a hallmark of Robertson's solo work, but Sinematic largely dispenses with darkness, at least sonically speaking.

Modern classical composer Christopher Tignor releases a new album, A Light Below, via Western Vinyl. You can think of this as a record for prepared violin and percussion. Slow, heartrending lyricism remains on tracks like Known By Heart and What You Must Make Of Me but there is also the angular, high-energy bariolage of Your Slow Moving Shadow, My Inevitable Night and the beat-driven hocketing of I, Autocorrelations where the violin processing creates "mirror selves that ricochet around me in a propulsive, somatic trance."

Exumer was an early German thrash metal band with close ties to Angel Dust (their labelmates on the Desaster imprint) and a raw, vicious, unsophisticated style derived chiefly from influences like Venom, Exodus, and Slayer…

Recorded in the same year as the Brothers and Sisters album, this solo debut release is a beautiful amalgam of R&B, folk, and gospel sounds, with the best singing on any of Gregg Allman's solo releases. He covers his own "Midnight Rider" in a more mournful, dirge-like manner, and Jackson Browne's "These Days" gets its most touching and tragic-sounding rendition as well. Although Chuck Leavell and Jaimoe are here, there's very little that sounds like the Allman Brothers Band – prominent guitars, apart from a few licks by Tommy Talton (Cowboy, ex-We the People), are overlooked in favor of gospel-tinged organ and choruses behind Allman's soulful singing.