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Merle Travis – Travis Pickin’ (1981/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 30:43 minutes | 625 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CMH Records
Though Merle Travis is known for his brilliant songwriting and fine singing, it is still his guitar playing that remains his most enduring contribution to American music. The syncopated ring of his signature fingerpicking style has gone far beyond the Kentucky coal country where he first heard it as a boy. His earliest recordings were much like the ones included on this album, simple solo acoustic instrumentals later termed, “Travis Pickin’”. It is with an acoustic guitar that the essence of Travis Pickin’ can best be appreciated. Unamplified and unaccompanied in the way Merle first heard the technique played. Every bit of music comes from the hands, the guitar, and the soul of the master, Merle Travis.
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Merle Haggard & The Strangers – Roots Of My Raising (1976/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 30:37 minutes | 656 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capitol Nashville
The Roots of My Raising is the 21st studio album by American country singer Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1976. It was his third release in 1976 and his last on the Capitol label until his return in 2004. It reached number 8 on the Billboard country albums chart.
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Merle Haggard – Merle Haggard’s Christmas Present (1973/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 25:35 minutes | 580 MB | Genre: Christmas
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CMCapNash (N91)
While Hag keeps the mood light with selections such as “Santa Claus and Popcorn” and more traditional fare, he also has some bite with the high and lonesome “Daddy Won’t Be Home for Christmas.” His matter-of-fact tale about layoffs at the factory, “If We Make It Through December,” has become timeless in tough times. – Dennis MacDonald
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Merle Haggard – Live From Austin TX (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 45:38 minutes | 493 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © New West Records
This 1985 performance of Merle Haggard and his swinging Strangers — with a two-piece horn section that sounds like five — were in fine form at Austin City Limits. There are 15 tunes on Live from Austin, TX many of them barn burners. It opens with “The Okie from Muskogee’s Comin’ Home,” a fine choice since it’s not a novelty song. Haggard sticks to his own material most of the time, and he rambles over it, pulling from classics like “Mama Tried” and “Silver Wings,” to newer material from the MCA and Epic periods — which were creatively fertile times for him. An example is in the lovely “What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life),” the fourth tune in the set. But there are more, too, in “Place to Fall Apart” and “I Wish Things Were Simple Again.” There are two Tommy Duncan tunes here, where Haggard pays homage to his first real influence, Bob Wills — “Misery,” “Take Me Back to Tulsa,” and one by Wills, as well as “Ida Red.” Thankfully, a great version of Johnny Durrill’s “Misery and Gin” is here from Back to the Barrooms, as is the wonderful closer, Haggard’s own “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink,” to take the thing out on the right note. It’s true most could have lived without his pseudo-orchestral paean to xenophobic political values, “Amber Waves of Grain,” but it wouldn’t be a complete show without an accurate portrayal of the songwriter and the man. Haggard fans will dig this one just fine.
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Merl Saunders – Merl Saunders (Remastered) (1974/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 33:39 minutes | 1,23 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Craft Recordings
Merl Saunders helped bring the Hammond B-3 organ to prominence throughout the ’70s, playing its warm tones on recordings and live dates with numerous renowned jazz, blues, and rock artists. In addition to his work as both a bandleader and session player, Saunders became well-known for frequent collaborations with Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia. …
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Merje Kägu Ensemble – When Silence Falls (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:02:27 minutes | 1,14 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Losen Records
It is not jazz, it is not classical music, it is not folk music, still it is all of this and more into a great mix of its own. This is Merje Kägu´s debut CD. She is an Estonian guitar player and this is all her own composition of extremely beautiful and soothing music definitely inspired by her Estonian culture. This music is an intimate journey. It is a reflection of experiences and dialogues with myself and others. It is about losing and finding oneself, about growth and awakening, as well as longing and silence. When Silence Falls embraces the understated beauty of being perfectly imperfect. It is an humble portrait of humanness, in which fragility and strength become one. It is about the rise from falling. The movement of honesty.
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Meridian Brothers – Cumbia Siglo XXI (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:06 minutes | 862 MB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Bongo Joe
After the very acoustic “¿Dónde estás María?”. I decided to try a new experiment taking as a reference the legendary group “Cumbia siglo XX” which is a group who explores a futuristic vision of coastal cumbia in the 80s, together with other groups such as “Grupo folclórico”, “2000 voltios” and others, mainly under the label Machuca and Felito records. This new 80s cumbia was a combination of funky basses and a further evolution of the rhythms, blending this style with disco and even rock music and superimposing the traditional versus the urban context and the modernity.
Meridian Brothers took this as a departing point and inspiration, making the same experiment but in XXI century, using the modern media of this time; all kinds of drum machines, guitars and synths, algorithmic software etc, and also taking into account the global exposition of modern cumbia in the 2010s. So all kinds of influences and genres are blended around this cumbia axis. Urban beats, synthy grooves, glitches and all kinds of swear words (and its censoship &$*/&##), and all kinds of slang languaje are included in the songs of the album.
All these elements are filtered and passed through the traditional train of thought of Meridian Brothers, which is the figuration of an abstract picture of sound put it within a concrete context or cultural tendency.
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Merel Vercammen & Dina Ivanova – The Boulanger Legacy (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 57:48 minutes | 957 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © TRPTK
Dutch violinist Merel Vercammen and Russian pianist Dina Ivanova release a new album of works for violin and piano by the Boulanger sisters, Bernstein, Bacewicz, and Piazzolla on 30 April 2021 on the immersive TRPTK label.
The album ‘The Boulanger legacy’ brings to light the versatility of legendary conductor, pianist and composer Nadia Boulanger in her role as a teacher and mentor through the lens of her pupils’ compositions for violin, and with three pieces by her sister Lili Boulanger, whose work Nadia championed throughout her life.
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Merel Quartet – Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 1 in E-Flat Major & Octet in E-Flat Major (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 54:15 minutes | 1008 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Solo Musica
“From the Merel Quartet‘s inception, the music of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy has played an important role in ou repertoire. We find it fascinating how he achieves his own musical language in his string quartet writing, even in his earliest works in that genre. Clearly he is influenced by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, nevertheless, from the very first measures of his quartet Op 12 it is his own voice, his own unique sound which we hear. You simply have to love this music: the freshness, the intelligence, the enthusiasm which is especially infectious in these works; the high virtuosity of the Scherzi – witty, light, mysterious elfin, similar to his music for “A Midsummer Night‘s Dream“; the lyricism – often we have the feeling that even in his chamber music he has written songs without words; and finally the codas – I don‘t know of anything more intoxicating than the end of the octet‘s first movement, or when, in the Finale of Op 12, he returns to material from the first movement, closing the circle and coming to rest – wonderful! The Octet Op 20 is unique in its genre. Mendelssohn, just 16 years old, draws on all the possibilities of the eight instruments with unsurpassed mastery. As an example: his brilliant command of counterpoint especially in the Finale, beginning with an eight-voice fugato and leading to a theme quoted from the Halleluja Choir from Händel‘s “Messiah“: “And He shall reign forever and ever“. We feel extremely fortunate to have met the young English foursome with whom we recorded Mendelssohn’s octet: the Castalian String Quartet. It is very rare indeed to find such a close musical affinity between two ensembles and working with them was extremely rewarding. The idea for this recording was born during our performance of the octet at the chamber music festival “Zwischentöne“ in Engelberg in October 2017.” (Merel Quartet)
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Meredi – Trance (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 40:34 minutes | 402 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Modern Recordings
Trance is Meredi’s second album. The songs are about the longing for the here and now. The longing to lose oneself, to let oneself fall. “I always wanted to create the feeling of release” say’s the Berlin composer, producer and pianist. Sometimes one tone can open worlds. One idea runs through 7 pieces. The piano is accompanied by strings and synthesizers. It is the longing for the here and now. The longing to lose oneself, to let oneself fall and to forget the time. The music is about a felt never ending line moving upwards.
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Meredi – Stardust (Exit Earth) (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:03:05 minutes | 517 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Modern Recordings
Berlin composer/producer Meredi releases her new album, Stardust (Exit Earth). The 27-year-old’s introduction to music didn’t come via the allure of glittery stages or the hedonistic lifestyle of rockstars, but rather out of pure need to express herself. Stardust isn’t Meredi’s debut album. It is all melody.
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Mercury X – Imprisoned (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 45:12 minutes | 543 MB | Genre: Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Frontiers Records s.r.l.
Putting aside the age-old debate about the difference between ‘progressive’ and ‘prog’ for a moment, it’s always exciting to hear someone gleefully nailing a classic sound. Thunderously heavy but technically adept on a level that seems slightly unfair, MERCURY X are undoubtedly going to excite a huge number of DREAM THEATER and SYMPHONY X fans with their new album. “Imprisoned” is a rampaging and exuberant piece of work, and one that serves up every desirable aspect of those aforementioned bands’ trademark sounds. Frontman and guitarist Martin Björklund has a powerful voice, full of Russell Allen-like grit but able to switch seamlessly to misty-eyed pathos, and, as you might expect, his colleagues are all absurdly gifted technicians. From the opening seconds of “Until The Break Of Day” onwards, the band’s third album is impossible to fault on a technical level, nor in terms of its production, which is as beefy and precise as it deserves to be. For all of the above alone, MERCURY X are worthy of your attention. “Imprisoned” sounds massive and ruthlessly contemporary. Meanwhile, these guys can really fucking play.
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Merchandise – A Corpse Wired For Sound (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 43:08 minutes | 907 MB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 4AD
Formed nearly a decade ago, galvanized by Tampa hardcore and inspired by its miscreant noise, “A Corpse Wired For Sound signals” a new chapter for Merchandise. Following 2014’s “After The End” — a full-band effort recorded in a closet — the band stripped back to its core of Carson Cox (vocals, electronics), Dave Vassalotti (guitar, electronics) and Pat Brady (bass). The trio travelled to Rosà, Italy for their first ever sessions in a recording studio, with a local, ICIO. The nine-song, nocturnal A Corpse Wired For Sound was recorded half in the studio and half at home, in Tampa as well as Cox’s newly adopted bases of New York and Berlin – the culmination of a long-distance collaboration between Cox and Vassalotti.
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Kevin Short – Mephistopheles & Other Bad Guys (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 57:11 minutes | 1,03 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
Yes, at the opera, when the tenor and the soprano stubbornly want to make eyes at each other, there is always a baritone or a bass to sow some discord, sometimes in vain—Osmin, Pizzarro, Caspar—, sometimes successfully—the various Mephisto, Nick Shadow Lindorf-Dapertutto-Miracle. The American bass-baritone Kevin Short offers here, accompanied by an Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille in great shape, a compendium of very, very bad characters, roles he has already sung more or less on the whole lyrical scene. Reckon that he has already performed at the MET in New York, at the operas in Chicago, Houston Los Angeles and Washington, at the Opéra Comique in Paris, in Cologne, Stuttgart, Bologna; in the festivals in Santa Fe, Bregenz, Baden-Baden, Aix-en-Provence. Not forgetting, obviously, his intense participation in the concertante field with the orchestras of Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Cleveland, the one from the RAI, from Radio France and so many others of that kind. Purists (who are absolutely right), fear not: Kevin Short perfectly masters the French pronunciation, as well as the German one and the Italian one. As a “bonus”, he offers a tune from his compatriot Gordon Getty, Mephistopheles to Faust. For your information, Getty indeed bears the name of the famous petroleum dynasty, but Gordon much prefers to compose music—some excellent pieces, incidentally.
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