The Unsung Heroines of Congolese Rumba

One of the first of the blissed-out rave acts to storm the charts, and also one of the longest lasting, the Future Sound of London deserved a good singles compilation, and fortunately they get one with the Virgin retrospective Teachings from the Electronic Brain. Their highest moments were virtually always their singles, and short-form tracks offer a much easier path to understanding the music of Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain than their occasionally bloated LPs. Teachings from the Electronic Brain neglects nothing of real value, beginning with their first chart hit ("Papua New Guinea") and grabbing the best tracks from their albums Accelerator ("Expander"), Lifeforms (the title track), the live-in-the-studio ISDN ("Far-Out Son of Lung and the Ramblings of a Madman," "Smokin' Japanese Babe"), and Dead Cities ("We Have Explosive"). Best of all, licensing requirements prevented the addition of material from 2002's half-baked The Isness.

For nearly 74 years from the death of J.S. Bach in 1750 to Mendelssohn’s fifteenth birthday in 1824 the Matthäus Passion had all but disappeared. Young Mendelssohn’s prized birthday gift - a bespoke a copy of the Passion - was to change music history when five years later he mounted its first performance in the nineteenth century in Berlin. Today it is inconceivable to imagine music without Bach, but in the 1820s his music had been relegated to no more than the exercise-book for students of counterpoint.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, the fantastic metal quartet formed by members of Feuerschwanz, Amaranthe and Ad Infinitum, love to explore unseen lands and dive into the adventures of worldwide heroic characters. Sharing their stories with a dedicated fanbase, they now announce their debut album, Metamorphosis, out May 12, 2023 via Napalm Records. With this album, the unit around Ad Infinitum vocal queen Melissa Bonny and Feuerschwanz guitar virtuoso Hans Platz dip their soundscapes into mystical worlds, reinterpreting famous soundtrack themes and writing their own songs dedicated to their favorite characters.