'The most acclaimed Japanese composer to have ever worked in film' (Pitchfork), Joe Hisaishi releases 'Songs of Hope: The Essential Joe Hisaishi Vol. 2'. Following the massive success of 'Dream Songs: The Essential Joe Hisaishi (Vol. 1)', this album features even more of Hisaishi's greatest hits from iconic films including Spirited Away and Porco Rosso, orchestral works and solo piano recordings, plus two brand-new recordings: 'Kids Return' and 'HANA-BI.'
Joe Hisaishi, the acclaimed Japanese composer behind some of the world’s best-loved anime films, has announced his new album, Dream Songs: The Essential Joe Hisaishi, will be released on 21 February. On the same day thirty albums from the composer’s extensive catalogue will be released on streaming services worldwide for the first time ever.
12 tracks new to CD. Joe Gibbs’ entire dub album output from the 1970s. Includes some of the most acclaimed dub albums of all time.
Smokin' Joe Kubek is pure Texas blues - he's a forceful guitarist and his band rocks with a loose, greasy vibe. What makes the album so much fun is the combination of solid material and piledriving performances - it may follow a tradition, but it manages to be unpredictable.
Michael Nyman came of age as a classical composer in the radical London of the late '60s. His work embraces multiple vernaculars (jazz, avant garde, conceptual art) and helped cement the foundation of what came to be known as minimalism. Decades into his career, Nyman's score to Jane Campion's film The Piano made him a star. The movie's themes of colonialism and silence (its protagonist, portrayed by Holly Hunter, cannot speak) were perfectly aligned with his longtime interests in world and ambient music. Horn players assist members of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in fleshing out Nyman's stately, hymn-like motifs. On the more heavily orchestrated cues, sentimentality wins out over minimalist restraint; the best tracks feature Nyman on solo piano, playing the rudimentary, faux period repertoire of Hunter's character.