Green Day – Dookie (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (1994/023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 03:20:55 minutes | 7,58 GB | Genre: Pop Punk, New Wave
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Reprise
Green Day’s third studio album ‘Dookie’ was released in February 1994, and has since sold over 15 million copies worldwide, including 10 million in the US (RIAA Diamond certified). The album is an iconic punk-rock-pop masterpiece and one of the most influential and defining albums of the 1990’s. It spawned five hit singles that are still hugely popular songs: ‘Longview’, ‘Basket Case’, ‘Welcome to Paradise’, ‘When I Come Around’, and ‘She’. The 4 CDs also feature 17 unreleased demos, 6 studio outtakes (3 unreleased), and a 17-track unreleased club show from Barcelona in 1994. The CD box includes 4 CDs, 48-page book, button set, air-freshener, magnet and two stickers.
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Grateful Dead – Wake of the Flood (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (2023 Remaster) (1973/2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:07:16 minutes | 4,87 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Grateful Dead – Rhino
By 1973, the disparity between the Grateful Dead’s studio work and their eminence as live performers was already well established. Their sixth studio album, Wake of the Flood, served as a transitional document, bridging the gap between the gentle Americana they’d presented three years prior on American Beauty, and the increasingly electrified jamming they were exploring on-stage around then, while also setting the scene for the more complex progressive sounds they’d soon be getting into. After satisfying their nine-title/dozen-disc deal with Warner Bros, the Dead began their own record labels: Grateful Dead Records (for group releases) and Round Records (for solo projects). Wake of the Flood was the first Dead disc issued entirely under the band’s supervision — which also included manufacturing and marketing. Additionally, the personnel had been altered, as Ron “Pigpen” McKernan had passed away. The keyboard responsibilities were now in the capable hands of Keith Godchaux — whose wife Donna Jean Godchaux also provided backing vocals. A majority of the tracks here had been incorporated into their live sets — some for nearly six months — prior to entering the recording studio. This gave the band a unique perspective on the material, much of which remained for the next 20-plus years as staples of their concert performances. Instead of hushed folk and bluegrass-informed songwriting, the Dead tap into the improvisatory, jazz-informed playing they excelled at live throughout Wake of the Flood. “Eyes of the World” contains some brilliant ensemble playing and Bob Weir’s “Weather Report Suite” foreshadows the epic proportions that the song would ultimately reach. The lilting Jerry Garcia ballad “Stella Blue” is another track that works well in this incarnation and remained in the Dead’s rotating set list for the remainder of their touring careers. The disconnect between the group’s powers as a live band and their limitations as a studio band was a sticking point throughout their lengthy run. Wake of the Flood doesn’t quite reach the goal of a middle ground, but it is one of the stronger studio documents the band produced, and captures hints of what they could do on-stage better than most of their studio sets from a time when they were truly unstoppable.
– Lindsay Planer & Fred Thomas
Golden Earring – Cut (Remastered & Expanded) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:06:20 minutes | 4,53 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Red Bullet
After spending much of the late ’70s and the early ’80s as a cult band, Golden Earring returned to an international level of popularity in 1982 with the hit single (and popular MTV attraction) “Twilight Zone.” This song and seven others are featured on Cut, a solid album that found Golden Earring starting to deviate from the pop/rock formula they perfect on No Promises…No Debts and Prisoner of the Night. Like those albums, Cut works its way through a series of guitar-based rock songs built on strong hooks. However, the band allows themselves to instrumentally stretch out a bit on some of the songs this time out. The most notable example is the midsection of “Twilight Zone,” where George Kooymans lays out an exploratory series of guitar solos that build to crescendo over the taut bassline provided by Rinus Gerritsen. The other songs on Cut aren’t as tightly crafted and hook-laden as those on the last few albums, but there are still plenty of strong tracks: “Baby Dynamite” is a power ballad about a fame-seeking girl that is built on a nicely harmonized chorus and “Lost and Found” is a strong mid-tempo rumination on the end of a relationship that boasts an impassioned yet subtle vocal performance from Barry Hay. However, the best non-“Twilight Zone” track on the album is the least typical: “The Devil Made Me Do It” is a witty, fast-paced pop-rocker about love gone bad built on an eccentric but effective combination of mock-gospel call and response vocals and an energetic horn section. Some of the tracks fall short of the mark (“Future” runs a decent riff into the ground by failing to develop it in an interesting way), but the album contains enough strong tracks to make it worth a listen for the Golden Earring fan.
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Fefe Dobson – Emotion Sickness (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 28:44 minutes | 356 MB | Genre: Pop Rock, Female Vocal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 21 Entertainment Group
The career of Fefe Dobson has been an extended rollercoaster ride of chart-crashing highs and momentum-killing lapses during which entire albums have been shelved or scrapped. Work on the follow-up to 2010’s hit-stacked Joy—on which Toronto’s high priestess of pop-punk surrendered fully to the former half of that genre equation—initially commenced in 2013, resulting in a handful of teaser singles, like “Legacy” and “Celebrate,” that betrayed a similarly maximalist aesthetic. But it would take more than a decade for this proper full-length to emerge, and judging from EMOTION SICKNESS’ riotous lead-off track, “HUNGOVER,” her vision changed radically in the interim: Over thundering drums and fuzzy guitars, Dobson spits out a proudly profane account of drunken hook-ups, popping Advils for breakfast, and other hot-mess behaviours. That unapologetic attitude and hot-wired energy are in ample supply here, yielding equally sassy rockers like “SHUT UP AND KISS ME” and “TOO LATE.” But EMOTION SICKNESS has one foot in the mosh pit and the other on the dance floor, with the Robyn-worthy electro delight “FCKN IN LOVE” and the disco-boosted anthem “SOMEONE NEW” foregrounding the pop savvy that once landed Dobson’s songs on Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus albums. Since the release of her self-titled 2003 debut, Fefe Dobson fans have grown accustomed to painfully long waits between albums. But history has shown she always comes back swinging, and with EMOTION SICKNESS, the hits come harder than ever before.
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Fabio Biondi, Europe Galante – Vivaldi: Concerti per violino XI ‘Per Anna Maria’ (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:02:52 minutes | 1,08 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © naïve
Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante expand the Vivaldi edition with the eleventh volume of violin concertos bearing the name of one of the most famous interpreters of the early eighteenth century: Anna Maria. Hailed as a “child prodigy” and outstanding artist of the Ospedale della Pietà, where Vivaldi taught for forty years, Anna Maria was an accomplished violinist, but also mastered the viola d’amore and theorbo, as well as the harpsichord, cello, lute, and mandolin. Her reputation spread throughout Europe, and we know that Vivaldi dedicated at least twenty-four concertos to her.
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Ex Corde Vocal Ensemble, Anna Snow, Paul Gameson – Apocalypse: Choral Works by David Lancaster (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:11:07 minutes | 1,20 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Resonus Classics
Conductor Paul Gameson directs Ex Corde Vocal Ensemble in this album of music by composer David Lancaster. These works draw upon the legacies of artists and craftsmen who lived and worked in England’s medieval York, leaving evidence of their beliefs, stories and ideas which have survived into the present, in carved stone and painted glass.
The compositions on this recording belong together; whilst they can each stand alone, they are linked musically, historically and geographically. The title track, Apocalypse, is based on a Middle English poem entitled ‘Pricke of Conscience’.
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Esther Abrami – Cinéma (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 45:54 minutes | 496 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
With a captivating compilation of re-written, sound-painting arrangements for violin and orchestra of well-known film and series soundtracks and new compositions by Academy Award-winning composers Rachel Portman and Anne Dudley, violinist Esther Abrami demonstrates her versatility, musical sensitivity and sophistication on Cinéma.
“I am so proud of my new album. I wanted to put together a diverse musical journey that reflects my classical background, my French-Jewish heritage, my support for women in music, and my love of movies and anime, combining different genres, cultures, and generations. I hope that listeners will fall in love with Cinéma’s music as much as I have,” explains Esther Abrami.
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Ed Sheeran – Autumn Variations (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 49:13 minutes | 583 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Gingerbread Man Records
Ed Sheeran’s brand-new album Autumn Variations will be released on the 29th September. It will be available on CD and White Vinyl.
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Dope Lemon – Kimosabè (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 44:17 minutes | 499 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BMG Rights Management (Australia) Pty Ltd.
With his solo project Dope Lemon, songwriter Angus Stone is slowly but surely breaking free from the shadow of his successful duo with sister Julia Stone. At the latest since his 2022 album “Rose Pink Cadillac” reached number 1 in the Australian charts and won the AIR Award for “Best Independent Blues And Roots Album”. In Australia, too, Dope Lemon reached number 27, which is the best chart position for him in this country so far.
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Don Cherry – Dollar and Okay’s Tune (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 30:32 minutes | 341 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Charly Digital
Recorded at the iconic ORTF studios (Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française)for the Sound and Vision program in Paris in 1971, this remarkable LP features one of the paramount Jazz figures of all time, Don Cherry, interpreting Turkish rhythms.
This release serves as the sequel to Okay Temiz’s magnum opus, ‘Okay Temiz’s Oriental Wind at Montreux Jazz Festival 1982’ LP, released worldwide by Caz Plak in 2022, and is the second chapter of Caz Plak’s ‘Turkish Jazz Trilogy’.
“Don Cherry Trio – The ORTF Recordings Paris 1971” LP is particularly significant as it predates Don Cherry’s groundbreaking “Organic Music Society” album from 1973, in which Okay Temiz also performed.
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Dominique Fils-Aimé – Our Roots Run Deep (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 36:36 minutes | 646 MB | Genre: R&B
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ensoul Records
There is a cinematic quality to “Our Roots Run Deep”. Dominique Fils-Aimé frames her latest album with a loose, dreamlike narrative structure that tells a story of growth. The first track sets the stage with the phrase: “our roots run deep underground”. Along the way, there are a myriad of human challenges and forms of interference. An underlying life force presses on. The final track closes with the lyric: “let me climb all the way to the sun”.
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Doja Cat – Scarlet (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 57:02 minutes | 654 MB | Genre: Hip-Hop, Rap
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Kemosabe Records – RCA Records
Scarlet is the fourth studio album by American rapper and singer Doja Cat. It was released on September 22, 2023, via Kemosabe and RCA Records. Disillusioned with pop music and dissatisfied with music critics questioning her status as a rapper, Doja Cat felt inspired to create a “masculine” follow-up to her third studio album, Planet Her (2021). Musically, the record marks a departure from the pop-driven sounds of its predecessor, being predominantly centered around the genres of hip hop and R&B.
Scarlet yielded two singles. Its lead single, “Paint the Town Red”, became a massive commercial success, and marked Doja Cat’s first solo number-one on the US Billboard Hot 100, the UK Singles Chart, the Billboard Global 200, and several other national charts worldwide. It was followed by “Agora Hills” in September 2023. Promotional singles for the album include “Attention”,[2] “Demons”[3] and “Balut”, which were released in June, August, and September, respectively. To support the album, Doja Cat will embark on The Scarlet Tour in October 2023, her first arena tour as a headliner.
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Devendra Banhart – Flying Wig (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 48:03 minutes | 929 MB | Genre: Psychedelic Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mexican Summer
After a pair of triumphs in 2019’s breezy, wonderful Ma and 2021’s ambient pandemic record Refuge, Devendra Banhart indulged himself in desolation. With help from producer Cate Le Bon (Wilco, Deerhunter), Flying Wig embodies Banhart’s recent declaration of, “My whole life has been filled with sadness. Everything I do in life is to help cope with that sadness.” Oddly enough Banhart has always been best on happier musical avenues like dream pop, psychedelic folksiness and bossa nova lite . And despite his determination to be downbeat on a record he recorded while wearing “an Issey Miyake dress the color of the spring sky—a gift from Le Bon’s own wardrobe—and his grandmother’s pearls,” his melodic-ness comes out in “Fireflies.” Floating along on his soft vocals and a mesmeric synth bed, Banhart eventually concludes, “When I said I wouldn’t need it/ That’s when I knew that I would need it.” Slow, methodic arrangements dampen the mood overall; the material is not as strong on either stylistically different previous album. “Charger” is almost hymn-like in its sluggish tempo. The title track, which ends with the image of Banhart dancing naked without a head, is also built on his characteristically quiet vocals and Le Bon’s synths. Fortunately, there is some lyrical muscle beneath the gauzy musical accompaniment: “Certainty’s a number/ I’m starting to doubt/ Loving you/ Is all I’m certain about/ And if I have failed to live by promises made/ I give myself till nothing remains.” The hypnotic “Twin” is a much-needed change of pace, with a focused melody and lots more going on instrumentally, highlighted by a jagged, razor-sharp guitar solo. Despite the overall glum tone and Banhart’s inclination towards sadness, glimmers of meaning do break through in the song when he repeats, “And yet this precious thing/ At the heart of everything you’ve wanted.” Flying Wig finds the multi-talented Banhart haunted to distraction in a quest to seek comfort in gloom. – Robert Baird
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Delta Piano Trio – Milking Darkness (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:09:45 minutes | 572 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Challenge Classics
If you mix every colour of paint together, you end up with black. Similarly, the darkness in the music of Lera Auberbach (b. 1973) consists of every imaginable shade of colour, from pitch darkness to dazzling light. The composer thus captures the mercuriality of life and the human psyche. Her music sometimes also depicts a dance with the inescapable: the struggle against Fate, the inexorable passing of time, an unattainable dream – but always with black humour and a dark though starlit sky. ‘Many composers create something “beautiful”, outside human reality,’ according to the Delta Piano Trio, who worked hard with Auberbach in preparing for this album. ‘Instead, Lera’s music is raw as well as human. She never eases up on what she wants to express, which would rob the music of all its fervour.’
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Code Orange – The Above (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 51:42 minutes | 686 MB | Genre: Alternative Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Grape Music Inc.
The Above is the fifth studio album by American hardcore punk band Code Orange, released on September 29, 2023, through Blue Grape Music. It is their first album to be entirely self-produced and their first with the label Blue Grape Music. It was preceded by three singles: “Grooming My Replacement / The Game”, “Take Shape”, and “Mirror”.
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