Marc Anthony – OPUS (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 47:09 minutes | 557 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Music Latin
Latin superstar Marc Anthony took to social media on Tuesday, 30 April 2019 to announce the release of his upcoming album Opus, also revealing the album’s cover art.
Read moreMarc Almond – Chaos and a Dancing Star (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:00:24 minutes | 660 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd
The 24th solo studio album from Marc Almond.
13 new original songs, made in collaboration with Ivor Novello-winning and Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter and pianist Chris Braide.
Marathon – Mark Kelly’s Marathon (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 43:51 minutes | 536 MB | Genre: Progressive Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © earMUSIC
Marathon was formed in 2019 by Mark Kelly, the keyboard player with Marillion. Together with Guy Vickers, Oliver M. Smith (vocalist), Pete ‘Woody’ Wood (guitar,) John Cordy (guitar), Henry Rogers (drums) and his nephew Conal Kelly (bass), Mark Kelly turned his vision into reality. Marillion bandmate Steve Rothery also joined the band and contributed the lead guitar to the song ‘Puppets’. The band recorded their debut album in separate locations between March and July 2020 in lockdown during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Read moreRomina Lischka, Sofie Vanden Eynde – Marais, de Visée & Sainte Colombe: En Suite (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:12:25 minutes | 1,26 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Paraty
The viola da gamba and the theorbo are string nobility: an artistic duo embodying the height of grandeur and sophistication. Indeed, the sense of intimacy that can arise between the two in French baroque repertoire provided the impetus for this recording. Though different in appearance and technique —one is bowed, the other plucked — both instruments have more in common than might at first seem.
The viola da gamba’s finest hour, however, both in terms of composition and performance, was undoubtedly the result of the work of one man, Marin Marais (1656-1728). It is of course possible to hear echoes, in Marais’ eccentric style of performance and composition, of his beloved and inspiring teacher Sainte Colombe (c. 1658–1701), about whose life and career we sadly know very little. It was however Sainte Colombe who pioneered the technical innovations needed to make expressive and virtuosic solo performance on the bass viol possible, e.g. by introducing silver-wound strings, which produced a more clearly defined sound. He also added an extra bass string and modified playing technique to allow the left hand to move more freely. Marin Marais’ haunting instrumental lament ‘Tombeau de Ste Colombe’ is a pupil’s enduring testament in honour of his master.
Mara Dobresco – Soleils de Nuit (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:05:45 minutes | 967 MB | Genre: Classical, Piano
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Paraty Productions
That which we sense without knowing, what we cannot perceive in the darkness, in the re ections or the dancing glimmers, that which can only be said in music, or can only appear in a dream… This is what this Album, Soleils de Nuit (Suns of Night), is made of.
These Suns of Night are the constellation in which I move about and where I would like to take all of those who love to dream… even in broad daylight.
Read moreMara & David – Call It Freedom (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 41:31 minutes | 415 MB | Genre: Pop, Singer-songwriter
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Songways
With an organic finesse, German singer-songwriter duo Mara & David melds rock drive with classical technique. After a period of personal struggle including an ongoing coming-to-terms with the duo s visual impairments the two musicians have found a new sense of urgency and joy on Call It Freedom.
Read moreMaps – Colours. Reflect. Time. Loss. (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 48:05 minutes | 568 MB | Genre: Dreampop, Indie Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mute
With the album complete, Maps has titled it after four words that came to him in a dream: ‘Colours. Reflect. Time. Loss’. “I woke up with them in my head,” he says, after excusing the notion for being slightly fanciful. “I don’t know where it came from – probably just some random subconscious memory – but they really informed the feel of the album.” This album sees Maps stepping out of the ‘bedroom’ into the big, wide world. Ambition, commitment and belief are key to this record. It’s an album informed by the richness of life experience, and one that represents a creative reinvention for Maps.
Read moreMappe Of – The Isle of Ailynn (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 43:58 minutes | 825 MB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Paper Bag Records
How do our environments influence who we are? ‘The Isle of Ailynn’ s a record built on fictional landscapes full of strange flora and fauna, mysterious phenomena and mythological beings. Yet, the stories that take place within these landscapes are the connective tissue that link fantasy to reality. A cartographer’s journey discovering new lands, a militant missionary questioning his faith before godlike creatures, a rebellious daughter’s dissent against her royal father in the capital. These stories are a select few of those that make up the mythology beneath ‘The Isle of Ailynn’, the sophomore album by Mappe Of.
Read moreMaple Glider – To Enjoy is the Only Thing (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 35:51 minutes | 408 MB | Genre: Pop, Folk, Indie Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Partisan Records
A tone of voice, words, and a dreamlike sound. When you’re writing an introspective indie pop-folk song, getting these elements right will help you stand out from the crowd. Tori Zietsch, alias Maple Glider, has mastered them all, and so she has made it out in front of the pack. The Australian, who spent time in Brighton before returning home to Melbourne, can hold her own alongside Cat Power, Adrianne Lenker, Angel Olsen, Julia Jacklin and Sharon Van Etten. The subject matter she is working with might be classical and familiar (a strict, religious education, first love, an awakening to the ways of the world, solitude, distance) but To Enjoy Is the Only Thing offers a truly unique kind of intimacy. With a splash of humour here or a graceful confession there, she is always able to sidestep heavy-handedness or lukewarm cliché. But first and foremost, this record is a showcase for a sublime voice. On really stripped-down sequences, as on Be Mean, It’s Kinder Than Crying, where her voice bounces off the same two repeating chords, Maple Glider is awe-inspiring. “To me”, she writes, “To Enjoy Is The Only Thing feels like walking past tinsel-covered trees in mid-September, swimming along the calanques in the south of France, frost on the hood of a car, darkness at 4pm, lightness until 10pm, a muted feeling, the perpetual grey fog that swallows the Silver Coast in Portugal, an ugly green dress, the color red, red wine, red blood, red lips, the red of a cardinal’s robe, Switzerland, my mother’s diaries, a coroner’s report, the sun on my face, the end of love”. One comes away from this album feeling deeply moved, blown away by these 35 timeless, graceful minutes… – Marc Zisman
Read moreFlorence + The Machine – Dance Fever (Complete Edition) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:01:43 minutes | 1,15 GB | Genre: Alternative Rock, Baroque Pop, Indie Rock, Indie Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Polydor Records
Florence + The Machine today releases her highly-anticipated new album, Dance Fever. The album features previously-released tracks ’My Love’, ‘Free’, ‘King’ and ‘Heaven is Here’.
Dance Fever was recorded in London over the course of the pandemic in anticipation of the world’s reopening. It was clubs, dancing at festivals, being in the whirl of movement and ultimately music and togetherness that Florence missed the most during lockdown. It was the hopes and dreams of reunions with loved ones and dancing with strangers that helped keep the momentum of Dance Fever alive. That ecstasy, proximity, euphoria at the possibilities of movement served as a reminder of the loss of performance and dancing in clubs. Afterall, music is the unique art form that has the power to help you lose yourself and feel free of anxieties, even if for a moment.
Read moreFlauguissimo – Roman: To the Northern Star (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:06:40 minutes | 1,15 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Resonus Classics
Flauguissimo duo, Yu-Wei Hu and Johan Löfving are joined by violinist Magdalena Loth-Hill, soprano Emily Atkinson, and viola da gamba player Henrik Persson for this recording of eighteenth-century sonatas, arias and trios by Johan Helmich Roman. Frequently hailed by later historians as the Father of Swedish Music, Roman started his career at the Royal Chapel of the Swedish Court, and also spent time studying and performing in London, where it is thought he received lessons in composition from Handel and Pepusch. This album features three contrasting sonatas, two arias from the composer’s cantatas containing flute obbligato parts, and an arrangement of a trio sonata in E minor, evoking a court salon concert in early eighteenth-century Stockholm.
Read moreFlash Ensemble – Lajtha: Transylvanian Nights – Complete String Trios (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:18:54 minutes | 1,28 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Pavane Records
For their debut recording, the Flash Ensemble presents the largely undiscovered works of Hungarian composer Laszlo Lajtha (1892-1963), including the world premiere recording of String Trio No 2, Op 18, from 1932.
The complete string trios by Bartok’s favourite young Hungarian composer are remarkable for their breadth and depth of feeling, their virtuosic technical demands, and their unique textural landscapes – infused with both the folk elements of his native land and the Parisian atmosphere in which he thrived.
Lajtha’s musical voice was silenced by his political troubles in communist Hungary, but his wealth of original and touching chamber music certainly deserves to be discovered, heard, and celebrated by musicians and listeners alike.
After playing together for many years and in many formations, violinist Sadie Fields, violist Clement Holvoet, and cellist Romain Dhainaut decided to create the Flash Ensemble. Their first major project is delving into the complete string trios by Laszlo Lajtha, performing and recording these three works beginning in the 2022 season.
Read moreFatoumata Diawara – London Ko (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 46:32 minutes | 559 MB | Genre: World, African
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Wagram Music – 3ème Bureau
Grammy-nominated Malian singer, songwriter, guitarist and actress Fatoumata Diawara’s highly anticipated new album London Ko, which sees Diawara combining forces with collaborator Damon Albarn (Gorillaz, Blur) who co-produces a number of tracks on the album and is featured performing on the first track “Nsera”.
Read moreFairport Convention – Live at Rockpalast (Live at Rockpalast 23 March 1976) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 40:17 minutes | 426 MB | Genre: Folk Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Repertoire Records (UK) Limited
2022 sees Fairport Convention celebrate their 55th anniversary. Famous for the many who have joined and left only to re-join, remarkably everyone who was ever involved remains part of the band’s extended family, returning to the fold for an annual reunion festival at Cropredy in Oxfordshire.
Read more