Three years on from their acclaimed debut album, Ash In Realms of Stone Icons, Atlanta, GA progressive blackened metal band Tómarúm return with Beyond Obsidian Euphoria on April 4 via Prosthetic Records. Following extensive North American touring since 2022, Tómarúm’s sophomore full-length in the next chapter in the group’s ever-evolving search for inner meaning, strength and peace. Where Ash in Realms of Stone Icons served as a prologue in the band’s continuing narrative thread, Beyond Obsidian Euphoria marks the beginning proper of Tómarúm’s story. Thematically a concept album that follows immediately after the events of their first fulllength, Beyond Obsidian Euphoria finds Tómarúm reaching out from the depths of depression and despair for transcendence and triumph on the other side of woe…

Live in Amsterdam is the first live album by Candy Dulfer and contains prior hits such as "Sax-a-go-go," "Lily Was Here" and "Dance 'till You Bop," and new songs such as "Synchrodestiny." The album features David A. Stewart, Hans Dulfer and Angie Stone as special guests. The album peaked at #27 in the Dutch album charts.

Fans of Asia can celebrate with the release of this live album from bassist John Wetton, who recorded it during a tour of Japan. During the course of the seventeen tracks here, he covers a number of Asia tracks (starting with an acoustic version of "Heat of the Moment") along with material from his King Crimson and UK days. On the whole, it's okay, recorded fairly well and played professionally; the vocals are often mixed too far back, and some of the effects on the instruments (particularly acoustic guitars) are a little drastic even for this kind of music, but these are relatively minor things. It isn't a particularly compelling album, however – Wetton goes through the paces, and nobody flubs their part, but nothing stays once the album is done: even the King Crimson material didn't generate much interest (in fact, "Easy Money" is performed in such a way that it's close to annoying).

The Mars Volta are continual contenders for the mantle of most experimental high-profile rock group, along with System of a Down, an artist they've toured with but who usually sell 20 times more records. Mars Volta aren't as popular, not because their riffs are less memorable or innovative but because their cycle of musical buildup and release, although similarly jarring, can last at least 20 minutes instead of System's two. (It's the difference between having a background in acid rock and having one in thrash.) While the early reports on third album Amputechture commented that the duo of Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez had learned a few lessons about silence and forsaken the concept album, don't believe it…

Wardance shows many of the attributes associated to symphonic rock, from a surrealistic record cover and detailed information about what amplifiers and cymbals the band uses, to song titles like "Star Maiden/Mysterioso/Quasar." But even though Colosseum II had much in common with symphonic rock, they were more of a jazz-rock or fusion band. While none of the musicians are anything even close to restrictive in their playing, Moore's solo guitar is what many of the songs are built up around. His distinctive way of playing, while still in development, is clearly heard, as are similarities to his first solo album Grinding Stone, especially in the album's only vocal song, "Castles." This was the second album released by Colosseum II in 1977, and their third in two years.

Altoist Jimmy Woods, whose style fell between hard bop and the avant-garde, only recorded two albums as a leader; this CD reissue brings back his first. The backup musicians include Joe Gordon or Martin Banks on trumpet, Amos Trice or Dick Whittington on piano, Jimmy Bond or Gary Peacock on bass, and drummer Milt Turner, but Woods is by far the most advanced musician. On six of his originals, an obscurity, and "Love for Sale," Jimmy Woods' original sound and passionate, chance-taking style make one wonder why he was never able to really make it; his music has not really dated.

Viktoria Tolstoy’s Act debut album, Shining On You, from 2004, can now be seen as a defining moment, marking the beginning of the continuing success story of popular jazz voices from Scandinavia. The music was written by Esbjörn Svensson, who also formed the core band together with Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström and was soon to become world-famous as ‘e.s.t.’. The album, produced by Nils Landgren, was also a gathering of the Act family of artists - also in its infancy back then - who joined the session as guests.

Kronos is very excited to announce that the Norwegian record label Kirkelig Kulturverksted (KKV), in association with New York-based Valley Entertainment, will release Placeless on March 1, 2019. ” Placeless is the first collaboration between Kronos and Iranian singers Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat. Recorded in Oslo’s Kulturkirken Jakob in November 2018, the album features 14 songs composed by Mahsa Vahdat to classical poems by Hafez and Rumi and the works of contemporary Iranian poets Forough Farrokhzad, Mohammad Ibrahim Jafari and Vahdat’s husband Atabak Elyasi. Composers Sahba Aminikia, Aftab Darvishi, Jacob Garchik and Elyasi arranged the songs for string quartet.

Emma Rawicz’s ACT debut features a prominent quintet with pianist Ivo Neame, bassist Connor Chaplin, guitarist Ant Law and drummer Asaf Sirkis - all of whom are established figures on the UK scene. "Chroma," Greek for "color," shows the full spectrum of an artist who has long outgrown newcomer status. As Jazzwise Magazine stated: "Emma Rawicz is already the real deal!"

If Dream of the Blue Turtles was an unabashedly pretentious affair, it looks positively lighthearted in comparison to Sting's sophomore effort, Nothing Like the Sun, one of the most doggedly serious pop albums ever recorded. This is an album where the only up-tempo track, the only trifle - the cheerfully stiff white-funk "We'll Be Together" - was added at the insistence of the label because they believed there wasn't a cut on the record that could be pulled as a single, one that would break down the doors to mainstream radio. And they were right, since everything else here is too measured, calm, and deliberately subtle to be immediate (including the intentional throwaway, "Rock Steady"). So, why is it a better album than its predecessor? Because Sting doesn't seem to be trying so hard…

The original Gabin - a French actor known for his portrayals of jaded, faded anti-heroes in 1930s and '40s-era films - might have chuckled ironically if he had been told that, a half-century after his heyday, two Italian musicians would name a fledgling lounge music project after him. But if he had listened to the music, he would have understood. It's full of languid grace and melancholy and is undeniably stylish - exactly what you'd expect to hear in a Parisian café or supper club. Just to add to the effect, many of the song titles and lyrics are in French.
Gabin (2002). Milky, silken rhythms lace through this collaboration between Roman DJ Filippo Clary and jazz bassist Max Battini. Their perspectives find accord in the realm of what martini-addled old-timers might label "acid jazz." Electronic timbres are tactile and smooth, guest vocals by Ana Carril Obiols of Mano Negra…