Vikings Invasion from the German-speaking part of Switzerland played quite a rough type of blues-rock with progressive touch. Charles Sterchi on guitar and vocals, Eric Eberhard on bass, and Gerhard Burri on drums had played together in this simplest possible configuration already since 1970 and originally called themselves after a character by Brecht. In 1975, their only LP was released exclusively in England where they lived and had concerts for some time; it carried the optimistic title "Vol. 1".

While he's best known as a composer of music for films and television (the original Mission: Impossible series), Lalo Schifrin is also a jazz pianist, once in the employ of iconic trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie in the late-1950s and early-'60s. Released in 1962, Bossa Nova finds the Argentina-born Schifrin paying tribute to the Brazilian style with lush, elegant strings and his lyrical piano. There are bossa nova standards, three originals, and some songs by American composers given the romantic bossa treatment.

Blank & Jones released the 11th volume in their popular so80s (so eighties) series which offers rare and forgotten 12" extended versions from the 1980s. The 22-track set includes artists like ABC, Yello, The Beloved,Tina Turner, Bryan Ferry or Company B and includes a 36-page booklet which features notes about the selections (in English and German) as well as full page cover images for each of the singles included.

Throughout their new album Stockholm Syndrome, trailblazing, genre-defying ska punks Fishbone make it clear they’re ready to rage against all of the modern machines like never before, with one big orange clown in their crosshairs. If you’re a fan of the band, you’ve very likely heard the album’s first single, “Racists Piece of Shit,” by now, which takes direct aim at Trump. While the language in the song is colorful, the angry sentiment in the track is pure and sincere.

These previously unreleased live recordings from Lucerne present Sir András Schiff with two composers rarely found in his discography or concert programmes: Domenico Scarlatti and György Kurtág. Though separated by centuries, both are masters of musical miniature. Although Schiff had already engaged with Scarlatti during his student years, the Baroque composer gradually disappeared from his repertoire. In Lucerne, he returned to Scarlatti with renewed insight, performing thirteen carefully selected sonatas in a dramaturgically shaped sequence. In response to the live setting, Schiff plays with bold risk-taking, vivid characterisation, and an acute sensitivity to sound. From György Kurtág's Játékok ("Games") - a diary-like collection of piano miniatures - Schiff presents an equally curated selection, incorporating suggestions made by Kurtág himself.

Given that Kill to Get Crimson follows Mark Knopfler's yearlong collaboration with Emmylou Harris – inaugurated by the album All the Roadrunning and followed by a tour, subsequently documented on the live set Real Live Roadrunning – it might be reasonable to presume that it bears a slightly heavier folk influence, as if Emmylou had rubbed off on the guitarist. And that's true to a certain extent: "Heart Full of Holes" has an old-timey carnivalesque lilt to its middle section and "Secondary Waltz" is simple, low-key two-step driven by accordions, while "The Fish and the Bird" is a spare allegory that recalls old folk tunes, as does the stately grace of "Madame Geneva's."

After Saint Etienne's 35-year excursion through pop, International is their final album-length statement. A dreamlike drift with friends and collaborators, International features cameos from the higher echelons of pop — 80s chart heroes, electro, acid house and all points in-between — from Vince Clarke to Nick Heyward, Confidence Man to Erol Alkan, Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Doves and Xenomania, through to the lesser known, but equally exhilarating Augustin Bousfield and Flash Cassette.

Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra pay tribute to Arvo Pärt, who celebrates his 90th birthday in 2025. The Estonian composer has been part of Paavo Järvi's life since childhood: "Arvo was, for me and my sister, my father's hip friend. He wore a baseball cap, jeans and a denim jacket". The history of the Järvi family is intimately linked to Pärt's work, since it was the now legendary concert in which Neeme Järvi — Paavo's father — conducted Pärt's Credo in 1968 that caused the Soviet regime to blacklist the Järvi family and precipitate their departure from Estonia. Credo is also included in this vast programme that covers 45 years of composing. What lies behind this music’s simplicity and depth? One answer possibly lies in a remark that Pärt made in London during a rehearsal with Paavo: "I have the impression that the orchestra doesn't like this chord enough". The transformation that then occurred was incredible; the same notes, when played "with love", sounded completely different.