Wake as Woman

Luciano Berios Coro has been described as the work that exemplifies all the qualities that made him one of the leading composers of our time. The works full title is Coro for voices and instruments, and the 40 voices and 44 instrumentalists do indeed make up a single choir instrumentalists and singers sit together, with each singer paired with a particular player, and used both as soloists and combined in mass effects. Composed in 1976, Coro is also a strikingly global work: Berios use of texts (mainly translations of folk poetry) attributed to peoples Peruvian, Croatian, Sioux turns the work into a chorus of cultures. The texts are laid out in 31 separate sections of varying length, but the overall effect is cumulative, not episodic. Under its artistic director Grete Pedersen the Norwegian Soloists Choir has made acclaimed recordings of music ranging from Norwegian folk songs and Hildegard of Bingen to Bach, Brahms and Xenakis. Joined by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra it now takes on one of the major choral works of the past 50 years. The disc closes with Berios smaller scale Cries of London, performed by members of the choir.

The studio project of AC/DC producers and Easybeats songwriters Harry Vanda and George Young. Flash and the Pan's fourth album was released in 1984, and was another one that was popular all over Europe. Contemporary Swedish garage-rock outfit the Hives covered the title track in 2010 for a Virgin Mobile commercial, while single Midnight Man was a huge hit on the dance/rave scene. The instrumental version of the title track, which appeared on a Dutch Maxi single in 1985 is included here as a bonus track. Booklet with authoritative and extensive liner notes written by respected Record Collector journalist Michael Heatley. Expertly remastered superb sound - top quality reproduction.

One hundred years ago, an angry mob, intent on justice for their murdered children, hang the woman they believe is the murderer. They brand her a witch, wrap her body in chains and bury it deep in the woods. Flash forward to the present - when Deb and her friends play a childhood game on the witch's wooded grave, they open the door to death. As her friends and family begin to change into something less than human, Deb struggles to stop the witch's curse. But her search for the truth will reveal an evil beyond her imagination.

Nick Mulvey is an English musician, singer and songwriter who studied music in Havana, Cuba. He played the Hang as a founder member of 2008 Mercury Prize nominated band Portico Quartet, until 2011 when he left to pursue his career as an Indie singer-songwriter. Nick Mulvey's sophomore release positions the songwriter at potentially his most comfortable; the lyrical use of metaphor highlights Mulvey’s developed writing ability (“Myela”), while the sprawling nature of the soundscapes encapsulates the strength of the musicians Mulvey surrounded himself with. Mulvey’s lyrical scope takes a look at the world currently turning off its axis; in a time of uncertainty, music can serve as an emotional anchor, an anchor Mulvey aims to deliver. His writing is evocative without preaching. Balancing rhythmic eccentricities with irrepressible groove and electronic production throughout, "Wake Up Now" serves its title well.