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Lawson Rollins – Elevation (2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:13:32 minutes | 1,57 GB | Genre: Jazz, World
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Infinita Records
ELEVATION marks an expressive high point for acclaimed composer and guitarist Lawson Rollins. Departing from conventional song structure, Rollins crafts 13 emotionally charged soundscapes rich with moments of intensity and spaciousness.
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Lawson Rollins – Airwaves: The Greatest Hits (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:05:52 minutes | 1,40 GB | Genre: Guitar, Instrumental, Latin Jazz, Fusion
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Infinita Records
Airwaves: The Greatest Hits chronicles a decade’s worth of radio hits from Lawson Rollins’ seven solo albums, including the Billboard Top 30 contemporary jazz radio charting songs “Island Time,” “Moonlight Samba,” “Infinita,” “Flight,” and “Daybreak.” Two new bonus tracks were recorded exclusively for this album: the contemporary jazz future hit “World of Wonder” (featuring the Billboard #1 jazz fusion group 3rd Force) and the classically-inspired, world-music composition “Prado” (featuring 2-time Grammy Award winning Danish violinist Mads Tolling).
Airwaves showcases the melodic, tuneful side of Rollins’ music that has set radio airwaves afire since his 2008 debut solo album Infinita. Although Rollins is noted for his fleet-fingered flights of virtuosity, showcased in his viral video hits, such as “The Fire Cadenza,” that have received over 10 million views on YouTube alone, his radio hits find him purely in the service of the melodies and song craft.
Many of the radio edits are markedly different from the album versions and feature performances not heard on the albums and never before made available, such as “In Motion (radio edit)” which showcases an exclusive appearance by Billboard #1 saxophonist Praful. All the tracks have been freshly remastered at world-renowned Sterling Sound in New York.
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Lawson Rollins – 3 Minutes To Midnight (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:14 minutes | 871 MB | Genre: Jazz, World
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Infinita Records
Three minutes to midnight. Time is lapsing. What wouldyou do with the final moments of your day? Award-winning world beat guitarist Lawson Rollins pondered that question as he entered the recording studio to craft his seventh album, “3 Minutes to Midnight,” which will be released on January 20 via the Infinita Records label.Focusing on “the urgency of the moment, the exhilaration of the speed of sound, the poignancy of the remains of the day and the mystical power of the number three,” Rollins wrote a dozen multicultural compositions – all in the three minute range and illuminated by his prodigious fingerstyle guitar play. The recording is stripped down, punchy and concise, a radical departure for the Billboard chart-topping artist known for creating lavishly produced and elaborately-constructed tracks that are at least twice as long.
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Lawrence Zazzo, David Bates, La Nuova Musica – A Royal Trio: Arias by Handel, Bononcini & Ariosti (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:18:02 minutes | 1,42 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
The “royal trio” referred to in the title of this Harmonia Mundi release is a trio of composers associated with London’s Royal Academy of Music, an opera company formed by a group of aristocrats around 1719. The company shrewdly hired the newly arrived George Frideric Handel as its orchestra director; he in turn programed his own music and recruited some impressive singers, including the great Italian castrato Senesino. Given the impossibility of replicating the muscular sound of the castrati in a modern context, singers divide broadly into two groups: those who try to give their voices as much heft as possible, and those who pursue a different, more lyrical sound instead. American countertenor Lawrence Zazzo falls into the latter category. He has little power in his lower register, but he is quite distinctive at the top: of all the countertenors active today, he may be the one most likely to give the impression that it’s a woman singing. He interacts very elegantly with the small forces of the historical-instrument group La Nuova Musica and its director, David Bates. The present album derived from a program with which the forces involved had great success in live performances, and there’s an ease in the ensemble that provides a positive X factor here. Aside from the arias by Handel, most of the music qualifies as rare; the arias from operas by Giovanni Bononcini and even more so Attilio Ariosti mostly had to be rescued from old songbooks. It’s true that they have the effect of showing why Handel made the impact he did, but the overall effect is a deeper grasp on Handel’s world than most listeners will have had. Recommended especially for Handel opera aficionados.
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Lawrence Zazzo, BBC Philharmonic, Timothy Redmond – The Orchestral Music of Jonathan Dove (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:19:22 minutes | 1,39 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Orchid Classics
To mark the 60th birthday of British composer Jonathan Dove, Orchid Classics presents an album devoted to his extraordinary orchestral music, performed by the BBC Philharmonic. Under the direction of Timothy Redmond, the BBC Philharmonic performs works which span nearly two decades, from The Ringing Isle of 1997, to Gaia Theory, premiered at the BBC Proms in 2014. The Ringing Isle was inspired by Handel’s observation about the bells he heard upon arriving in England; Dove uses bell-ringing patterns and allusions to Gaunt’s famous ‘scepter’d isle’ speech from Shakespeare’s Richard II. Other highlights include Run to the Edge, a thrilling, vibrant work bursting with energy and colour; Airport Scenes, extracted from Dove’s comic opera, Flight; and Hojoki, a setting of a Japanese text which, appropriately, reflects on the significance of reaching the age of 60, and is sung here by countertenor Lawrence Zazzo, who gave the work’s premiere.
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Lawrence Rothman – The Book of Law (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 47:22 minutes | 551 MB | Genre: Indie, Alternative, Electronic, Singer-Songwriter
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Downtown JV
Amid collaborations with the likes of Kim Gordon and Angel Olsen, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Lawrence Rothman quickly drew attention for a handful of early singles and live appearances before landing a record deal with Downtown Records/Interscope in 2015. He continued to work with a diverse group of notable musicians for his 2017 full-length debut, among them Olsen, Pino Palladino (the Who, John Mayer Trio), Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses), Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint), Carla Azar (Autolux), and solo artists Marissa Nadler and Kristin Kontrol (aka Dee Dee of Dum Dum Girls). Titled The Book of Law, the album nevertheless presents a distinct voice, in both senses of the phrase. A personal album that reflects the songwriter’s struggles with social alienation, relationships, drug use, and identity (songs are presented as different versions of himself he refers to as “alters”), it’s also distinguished by Rothman’s attention-grabbing deep baritone. His voice may elicit touchstones such as Leonard Cohen at first, but given a frequent setting of light, ’80s-style synth pop here, Rick Astley may be more on point. The record was produced by Justin Raisen (Charli XCX, Santigold) along with Rothman’s brother Yves. The Book of Law opens with the wistful piano ballad “Descend” (“Some things can’t be fixed/That’s all right, we’ll go down together”) before settling into slicker dance-pop productions that retain the yearning, affectionate tone of sparer tracks. That sense of longing is present even on songs like the relatively bright earworm “Your Kiss Tastes Like Dope” and the lusher dance-rock entry “Die Daily.” Ultimately, listeners who can embrace the idiosyncrasies of Rothman’s voice and the throwback production (don’t miss the Kristin Kontrol track, “Jordan,” for that niche Casio-and-saxophone sound) will find an intriguing if hit-and-miss set of underlying songs with strokes of classic Brill Building and sophisti-pop.
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Lawrence Power, Martyn Brabbins, BBC Philharmonic – MacMillan: Symphony No 4 & Viola Concerto (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:12:29 minutes | 1,29 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Hyperion Records
MacMillan’s viola concerto was written for Lawrence Power, who brings a unique authority to this, its first recording. The fourth symphony—a major addition to the repertoire—is a generous and appropriate coupling, both works incorporating and alchemically transforming musical elements from the distant past.
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Lawrence Ku – Clarity (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 57:09 minutes | 675 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Go East Music Entertainment Consulting Limited
Guitarist/composer Lawrence Ku is one of a handful of jazz musicians performing in China (primarily Shanghai and Beijing) who has had direct experience in the United States. In Ku’s case, he was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He currently lives in Shanghai, China where he is among the central figures in the growing jazz scene there.
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Lawrence Foster & Orquestra Gulbenkian – Puccini: Madama Butterfly, SC 74 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:22:46 minutes | 5,03 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PentaTone
Japanese tragedy with symphonic qualities. After having recorded La Fanciulla del West, conductor Lawrence Foster now expands his Puccini discography on Pentatone with Madama Butterfly, together with the Coro & Orquestra Gulbenkian, as well as Elisabeth Kulman (Suzuki), Stefano Secco (Pinkerton), Lester Lynch (Sharpless) and Melody Moore (Cio-Cio-San) in the title role. Despite its disastrous premiere, Madama Butterfly has become one of Puccini’s most successful and popular operas. While the Japanese ambience usually captures the attention, the original dramatic conception and exceptional symphonic qualities of the work are often overlooked. Lawrence Foster’s interpretation brings out the symphonic character of the opera, while Melody Moore’s charismatic interpretation of the title role fully realizes the work’s tragic and dramatic potential.
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Lawrence English – Observation of Breath (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:33 minutes | 347 MB | Genre: Electronic, Ambient, Drone
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Hallow Ground
Lawrence English follows the excellent pipe organ-focused ‘Lassitude’ with another elevated set of syrupy drone poems built around Charlemagne Palestine’s concept of “maximal minimalism”. Glacial stuff, in the best possible way >> think Kali Malone, Ellen Arkbro, Phill Niblock or ‘Eliane Radigue.
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Lawrence English – Lassitude (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 40:45 minutes | 323 MB | Genre: Electronic, Ambient
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Room 40
It may not be apparent on first examination, but the pipe organ has played a significant role in most of the work I have produced over the past decade. On Wilderness Of Mirrors and Cruel Optimism, the organ was central in helping shape many of the pieces. The clearest and most audible example is in Negative Drone (from Cruel Optimism), but there are many other moments when the Pipe Organ has been fundamental in affecting my work. I feel then, it’s about time I give this miraculous instrument some overdue focus.
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Lawrence English – Field Recordings From The Zone (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 38:54 minutes | 352 MB | Genre: Electronic, Ambient, Field Recording
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Room 40
Almost an hour of heart-stopping location recordings made by Lawrence English in Queensland, Australia in the aftermath of a summer of intense bushfires and just as the lockdown started to re-shape lives globally earlier this year. These are technically brilliant and emotionally pregnant recordings from “The Zone”, a place we find ourselves in right now, where we just might still have time to reshape the world around us if we pause to acknowledge and address our own actions.
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Lawrence English – A Mirror Holds the Sky (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 36:46 minutes | 437 MB | Genre: Electronic, Ambient, Field Recording
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Room 40
Vital narrative-led field recording work captured in the Amazon rainforest by Aussie recordist and Room40 boss Lawrence English. Utterly captivating stuff that places us in the center of a misunderstood part of the world and allows us to appreciate its rare, complex beauty.
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Lawrence Cotton – Hoping You’ll Happen This Way… (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:15 minutes | 418 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Pipistrelle Music
On this second album from Canadian jazz singer Lawrence Cotton, he continues to affectionately interpret some of the jazz standards he grew up hearing; the music that would influence and inspire him as a vocalist.
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Phantasm – Lawes: The Royal Consort (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:24:21 minutes | 2,55 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Linn Records
Described as ‘one of the greatest collections of ensemble dance music ever composed’, Lawes’ Royal Consort is full of astounding moments of striking musical invention. Guest musicians Elizabeth Kenny on theorbo, Emily Ashton on tenor viol and organist Daniel Hyde join Phantasm to honour the celebrated English Renaissance composer. This sublime collection boasts a range and depth of expression, which excites both mind and body through Lawes’ startlingly individual pieces.
This recording is the first complete recording of Lawes’ version of the Royal Consorts for four viols and theorbo. Phantasm, under the direction of Laurence Dreyfus, presents a passionate and insightful look into this adventurous music. The result is a rich and warm recording of technical brilliance that takes the listener deep into the harmonically rich world of Lawes.
Phantasm’s previous recording of Lawes, Consorts to the Organ, was both a Gramophone Awards finalist and a BBC Music Magazine Award nominee in 2013.
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