Strange Worlds

One of the towering figures of 20th century's music, Alabama-born pianist and organist Herman "Sun Ra" Blount (1914) became the cosmic musician par excellence. Despite dressing in extraterrestrial costumes (but inspired by the pharaohs of ancient Egypt) and despite living inside a self-crafted sci-fi mythology (he always maintained that he was from Saturn, and no biographer conclusively proved his birth date) and despite littering his music with lyrics inspired to a self-penned spiritual philosophy (he never engaged in sexual relationships apparently because he considered himself an angel), Sun Ra created one of the most original styles of music thanks to a chronic disrespect for both established dogmas and trendy movements.

One of Canada's most underrated new wave bands' debut album, it contains the singles "She Controls Me" and the epic title track – which is about as hypnotic as a song can get it. Wonderfully lushly produced and masterfully written (principally by Drew Arnott and Darryl Kromm), this is a wonderful collection of great new wave music, notched up by those two irresistible singles and songs like the Simple Minds-inspired "Love Games." A promising debut for a band that would be far too short-lived.

"Between Two Worlds" from Jon and Marte Eberson is the sequel to their previous album "Empathy". It is three years since that album's release, one that attracted a lot of positive attention, both critically and from a large audience. The expectations for the new album are high.