Isaac Hayes – And Once Again (1980/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 36:08 minutes | 755 MB | Genre: Funk, Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Polydor
And Once Again was the fourth solo studio album released on Polydor Records from Soul singer, songwriter, musician, producer and actor Isaac Hayes. The follow up to the hugely successful Don’t Let Go, And Once Again took a softer approach and focused more on the fantastic ballad talents of Isaac Hayes. Notable tracks on the album include the supplicating serenade, ‘Ikes Rap VII/This Time I’ll Be Sweeter’ which consistently builds and grips throughout its duration and the up-tempo ‘I Ain’t Never’ which contains the trademark driving bassline that captivates the listener
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Isaac Delusion – Rust & Gold (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 46:07 minutes | 506 MB | Genre: Electronic
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © microqlima
Isaac Delusion was a revelation in 2014 after releasing a catchy and fresh album bringing french music elegant synthpop and a new kind of voice. This remains in this new outing as Loic’s voice is distinctive and high pitched.
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Isaac Delusion – Isaac Delusion (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 55:35 minutes | 612 MB | Genre: Indie
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Cracki Records, Parlophone
HILLYDILLY Review:
About two years ago, we came across a fairly obscure song entitled “Transistors“. It was an intriguing blend of folk and electronic at the time it came out, but nothing more, at least, in terms of integration into a greater body of work. Now, two momentous years later, Isaac Delusion has returned to the Hillydilly pages with an outstanding full-length album, and what was once just a creative experiment has fully blossomed into a well-defined, unique sound of its own. After several EP releases, it’s obvious that the French band has finally perfected their craft with their very first, self-titled album, Isaac Delusion.
Isaac Birituro & The Rail Abandon – Kalba (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:22 minutes | 790 MB | Genre: Africa
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Wah Wah 45s
Wah Wah 45s are very proud to announce the release of Kalba, the first album from Ghanaian xylophone master Isaac Birituro and Leeds-based producer and singer-songwriter Sonny Johns AKA The Rail Abandon. The boundary crossing duo were introduced to the world via the first two singles released in early 2019, Yesu Yan Yan and Für Svenja, and the reactions to the project have been overwhelmingly warm. There are many differences between Isaac and Sonny, but a powerful similarity – which gives Kalba its element of relatability – is that desire to hear the usual done unusually and play with the shared influence of the music from afar. Named after the town in North Ghana where Isaac resides, the album is a combination of differences; a magnifying glass over the Venn diagram of our lives, the unfathomable meeting of parallel lines. “It was clear to me that, though he played a traditional instrument in a traditional way, Isaac was influenced by the Western tinged music that filled the streets of Accra – in fact his father, Edmund, introduced him with “He plays the modern way!” Partly dismissive, mostly proud,” said Sonny. “And as this Viking sat before him played the guitar, it sounded too much like the stringed instruments of Mali for it to be just a coincidence.” There are so many stories behind each track on this album, but the common denominators are clearly the importance of community, of preserving and presenting local cultures, the ardent desire to contribute to changing the world around us, and, of course, the love and power of music created from a genuine place.
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Isa Katharina Gericke & Joachim Knoph – Å her møter mangt – Songs by Johan Kvandal (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:08:17 minutes | 2,26 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Lawo Classics
Johan Kvandal’s tonal constancy was the bedrock for everything he wrote. Not even during the mid-1960s avant-gardism was he led off-track.It can therefore be said that there is a common thread in his vocal music, from the very first songs of 1939 up until the Knut Hamsun opera “Mysteries” in 1993, by which time his many years of experience in writing melodies for voice had reached its peak. His encounters with the Norwegian cultural heritage in his childhood and adolescence were quite literally the root notes of his entire song repertoire.
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Iryna Kyshliaruk & Yun-Ho Chen – SON (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 48:55 minutes | 461 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mirare
Why the title ‘SON’? French-speakers might think it means ‘le son’: sound, hence resonance, rhythm and music… or the possessive adjective ‘his, her’, suggesting a close, intimate or friendly relationship, as one might have with a ‘son’ in English.
All these words are in a sense connected with this title but, in fact, ‘Son’ is the transliteration of the Russian word meaning ‘dream’.
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Iryna Gintova – Telemann: 12 Fantasias for Solo Violin, TWV 40:14-25 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:11:02 minutes | 1,39 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Orchid Classics
Ukrainian violinist Iryna Gintova performs Telemann’s 12 Fantasias for solo violin, one of the pinnacles of the Baroque repertoire for the instrument. Telemann’s 12 Fantasias embrace an array of European styles fashionable at the time, including Italianate concerto-style movements inspired by Corelli, contrasted with pieces in the French style. Telemann was an able, self-taught violinist and relished showcasing the instrument’s varied colours and techniques in these works, including multiple stopping, implied counterpoint, improvisatory lines, and tussles between traditional Baroque intricacy with newer, lighter and more forward-looking virtuoso melodies. Iryna Gintova performs these wide-ranging works with the nuance and fluidity for which she is increasingly known in performances that have taken her to major venues, competitions and festivals around the world.
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Irvine Arditti – Caprices (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:04:07 minutes | 1,08 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Aeon
Legendary leader of the Arditti Quartet; Irvine Arditti has worked on many solo projects and is still today one of the foremost interpreters of the music of our time.
Over the past decade he has given the world premieres of a whole host of large-scale works written especially for him.
His approach to the contemporary violin is fascinating. The works by Salvatore Sciarrino, Elliott Carter, Emmanuel Nunes and Pierre Boulez assembled in this album are among the most widely known in the recent repertory for violin.
Irvine Arditti’s performance of them on this disc is masterly and already sets a benchmark.
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Irreversible Entanglements – Who Sent You? (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 43:25 minutes | 817 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © International Anthem
As a member of the jazz ensemble Irreversible Entanglements, the Philadelphia poet and musician Camae Ayewa approach to time has shifted. Within the expanse of the form, she knows she can convey the same urgent information at a much slower pace, allowing the group – horn players Keir Neuringer and Aquiles Navarro, bassist Luke Stewart, drummer Tcheser Holmes – to elevate her into new places. She picks her spots within the music accordingly, punctuating each of the album’s five expansive compositions.
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Ironing Music – Ironing Music (1985/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 50:27 minutes | 608 MB | Genre: New Wave
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Medical Records
Medical Records in collaboration with our friends at Crispy Nuggets blog are happy to reissue a very obscure Australian gem from the 1980s. Ironing Music were a three piece band from Brisbane. They originally formed in 1984 as a result of their collective love for New Order, Human League and eventually Jean Michel Jarre and Cabaret Voltaire. Comprised of bass and electic guitar, Yamaha DX-7, melodica and an 808, they recorded a 12” single as their sole outpt in 1985 in a limited run of 250 copies (obviously excruciatingly rare now!). It was recorded in their bedroom studio with at Teac 4 track. The video clip for the “hit” Shopping Bag Women was played on several national and local television music shows. They also recorded demos in hopes of landing a LP deal which unfortunately didn’t attract any takers at the time. They actually only played 3 gigs and were forced to disband after one of their members fell ill in 1986. The LP presented here included the original 4 track single as well as hand picked demos which nicely congeal to form a well rounded LP documenting the band’s brief existence. They can best be described as lo-fi synth pop with an emphasis on excellent pop songs and interesting synth/instrument arrangements. The first track Shopping Bag Women is infectiously catchy and just screams to be worn out in the club. Fans of early to mid 80s synth pop and new romantic will fall in love. The tracks have been lovingly remastered by Martin Bowes at the Cage, London. Features original reproduction of the front cover painting. Also availabled on 180gram colored vinyl.
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Iron Maiden – X Factor (1995/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:11:06 minutes | 822 MB | Genre: Rock, Heavy Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Parlophone UK
The X Factor is the tenth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 2 October 1995 through EMI. It is the band’s first album to include Blaze Bayley, formerly of Wolfsbane, as vocalist, replacing Bruce Dickinson who left the band following their previous tour to pursue a solo career. It is considered Iron Maiden’s darkest album due to the lyrics being based on personal issues surrounding Steve Harris at the time, who was in the midst of a divorce, and the album cover, which depicts the band’s mascot, Eddie, being graphically mutilated through surgery.
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Iron Maiden – Virtual XI (1998/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 53:13 minutes | 627 MB | Genre: Rock, Heavy Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Parlophone UK
Virtual XI (pronounced: Virtual Eleven) is the eleventh studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 23 March 1998. It was the second and final Iron Maiden album recorded with vocalist Blaze Bayley and last as a five-piece.
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Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast (1982/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:22 minutes | 899 MB | Genre: Rock, Heavy Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Parlophone UK
Routinely ranked among the greatest heavy metal albums of all time, The Number of the Beast is the birth of Iron Maiden as we know it, a relentless metal machine lifted to soaring new heights by the arrival of erstwhile Samson frontman Bruce Dickinson. Dickinson’s operatic performance here made him an instant metal icon, challenging even Rob Halford for bragging rights, and helped launch the band into the stratosphere. The Number of the Beast topped the charts in the U.K., but even more crucially — with Judas Priest having moved into more commercial territory — it also made Iron Maiden the band of choice for purists who wanted their metal uncompromised. Maiden took the basic blueprint Priest had created in the late ’70s — aggressive tempos, twin-guitar interplay, wide-ranging power vocals — and cranked everything up faster and louder. The album’s intensity never lets up, the musical technique is peerless for its time, and there isn’t a truly unmemorable song in the bunch. Blessed with a singer who could drive home a melody in grandiose fashion, Steve Harris’ writing gets more ambitious, largely abandoning the street violence of old in favor of fittingly epic themes drawn from history, science fiction, and horror. The exceptions are “22 Acacia Avenue,” a sequel to “Charlotte the Harlot” that sounds written for Di’Anno’s range, and the street-crime tale “Gangland,” which Harris didn’t write; though the punk influences largely left with Di’Anno, these two definitely recall the Maiden of old. As for the new, two of the band’s (and, for that matter, heavy metal’s) all-time signature songs are here. The anthemic “Run to the Hills” dramatized the conquest of the Native Americans and became the band’s first Top Ten U.K. single. It features Maiden’s trademark galloping rhythm, which in this case serves to underscore the images of warriors on horseback. Meanwhile, the title track’s odd-meter time signature keeps the listener just slightly off balance and unsettled, leading into the most blood-curdling Dickinson scream on record; the lyrics, based on nothing more than Harris’ nightmare after watching a horror movie, naturally provoked hysterical accusations of Satan worship (which, in turn, naturally provoked sales). “Hallowed Be Thy Name” is perhaps the most celebrated of the band’s extended epics; it’s the tale of a prisoner about to be hanged, featuring some of Harris’ most philosophical lyrics. It opens with a superbly doomy atmosphere before giving way to a succession of memorable instrumental lines and an impassioned performance by Dickinson; despite all the tempo changes, the transitions never feel jarring. Elsewhere, “The Prisoner” is a catchy retelling of the hit British TV series, and “Children of the Damned” is a slower, heavier number patterned after the downtempo moments of Dio-era Black Sabbath. CD remasters integrate “Total Eclipse,” first released as the B-side of “Run to the Hills,” into the running order. Though some moments on The Number of the Beast are clearly stronger than others, the album as a whole represented a high-water mark for heavy metal, striking a balance between accessible melodicism and challenging technique and intensity. Everything fell into place for Iron Maiden here at exactly the right time, and the result certainly ranks among the top five most essential heavy metal albums ever recorded. A cornerstone of the genre. –Steve Huey
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Iron Maiden – The Book Of Souls: Live Chapter (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:40:59 minutes | 1,29 GB | Genre: Rock, Heavy Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Parlophone UK
“The Book Of Souls: Live Chapter” is a live double-album comprises 15 songs captured during ‘The Book Of Souls World Tour’, which covered 39 countries across six continents during 2016 and 2017, and was seen by over two million fans. Produced by Tony Newton and Iron Maiden founder member and bass player Steve Harris, the album is based on this year’s set list and is a faithful record of the epic show, including six songs from “The Book Of Souls”, the band’s most recent studio album, along with many other classics and fan favourites.
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Iron Maiden – The Book Of Souls (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:32:14 minutes | 1,11 GB | Genre: Rock, Heavy Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Parlophone UK
The Book Of Souls is the band’s 16th studio album since their eponymous debut in 1980 charted at #4 in the UK, in a career achieving sales of over 90 million albums worldwide. The long awaited Hi-Res release in his proper length.
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