Alco Frisbass (2015). Alco Frisbass from France advances a spectacular combination of elegant melodies and melting riffs revisiting the best Canterbury’s scenes with the support of: Jacob Holm Lupo (White Willow), Paolo "Ske" Botta (Not A Good Sign, Ske, Yugen), Thierry Payssan (Minimum Vital), Archimede De Martini (Stormy Six).
Le Bateleur (2018). Second episode for this French ensemble that has garnered great acclaim with the first work of 2015. Canterbury sound, convincing and effective melodies together with instrumental joints with typically French flavor remain essential ingredients to compose this eclectic mix. The vintage timbres of the keyboards are always the master, now the group shows greater maturity and awareness, a decisive step forward that places Alco Frisbass among the best episodes of the genre of recent years…

Combined with 40 years of hits, Santana performed many of the songs from his double-platinum US Latin-certified and critically-acclaimed album CORAZÓN at a once in a lifetime concert event in December 2013, accompanied by many of his album special guests, all celebrating their Latin music heritage in Guadalajara, Mexico (in his native state of Jalisco). The CORAZÓN project brought Carlos back to his birthplace and celebrates Carlos’ love of his musical heritage, as well as showcases Carlos’ own personal influence on Latin music and on today’s generation of Latin superstars. Superstar guest performers who joined Santana at the concert event captured on this CD include Elan Atias, Chocquibtown, Lila Downs, Gloria Estefan, Juanes, Miguel, Fher Olvera (of Maña),Niña Pastori, Samuel Rosa (of Skank), Cindy Blackman Santana, Salvador Santana, Romeo Santos, Soledad, and Diego Torres.

The Budos Band's VII marks the nonet's return to full-length recording after 2020's Burnt Offering and 2023's fine Frontier’s Edge EP. It's their debut long-player on Diamond West, the label created by Budos guitarist/producer Thomas Brenneck and baritone saxophonist Jared Tankel. VII extends the dark psychedelia approach of 2020's Burnt Offering, but it's more a vibe than an aesthetic. Instead, BB focuses on extending their stylistic reach with sophisticated horn charts - played by Tankel, trumpeters Dave Guy and Andrew Greene, and trombonist Ray Mason - framed by incendiary percussion from ace drummer Brian Profilio and newcomer percussionist Rich Terrana (ex- Frightnrs). It's texturally and ambitiously buoyed by the rhythm section that includes Brenneck, bassist Dan Foder, and organist Mike Deller. BB hadn't been in the studio together for two years when they convened in California to write and record…

Conventional wisdom has it that all the B-52's' subsequent releases are highly inferior to their debut. While Wild Planet is not the rarefied wonder their first platter is, it's still darn good. The songs here are generally faster, tighter, and punchier than previously, though production values are not as wonderfully quirky and detailed; fewer songs here are as over-the-top crazy as the first album's "Rock Lobster" or "52 Girls." These formless selections continue to exhibit a cunning mix of girl group, garage band, surf, and television theme song influences, all propelled along by an itchy dance beat. "Give Me Back My Man" allows Cindy Wilson a unique opportunity to croon a broad, expressive melodic line. Fred Schneider parades his inimitably nervous vocals on chucklesome ditties like "Quiche Lorraine" and "Strobe Light." The best songs here are "Private Idaho," a wonderfully jittery number that employs a variant on the famous melodic snippet from the Twilight Zone theme music, and "Devil in My Car," a delightfully loopy hoot that lays the craziness on very thickly. Performances and sound quality are fine. This album is well worth hearing and recommended.

Why aren't there more recordings like Fly Away Little Bird? Perhaps it's because there aren't more musicians of this stature. The studio reunion of the legendarily experimental Jimmy Giuffre 3 in 1992 was reissued in 2002 on the French Sunnyside label and is a radical departure from anything the trio had done in the past. These studio apparitions of the band are their most seamlessly accessible while being wildly exploratory. In addition to the consummate improvisations and compositions by Giuffre (title track, a redone "Tumbleweed"), the tender meditations by Steve Swallow ("Fits" and "Starts"), and the bottom-register contrapuntal improves by Paul Bley ("Qualude"), this is a trio recording that uses standards such as "Lover Man," a radically and gorgeously reworked "I Can't Get Started," "Sweet and Lovely," and "All the Things You Are" to state hidden textural possibilities inside chromatic harmony. There is never the notion of restraint in the slow, easy, and proactive way these compositions are approached.

There is no denying that the German band Camouflage clearly was inspired by Depeche Mode. Camouflage came out a few years after Depeche Mode was already making albums and like Depeche Mode, it went through many of the same transitions of sound and musical style. In fact, Camouflage and Depeche Mode sound so much alike that they are almost indistinguishable from one another. In a way, Camouflage can be thought of as the little brother of Depeche Mode. But there is no denying that Camouflage has talent and they can come up with some great songs.
And then there's Relocated. Along with their previous album Sensor, Camouflage has proven its greatness in the 21st century. Both Relocated and Sensor are incredible albums with pretty much no weak spots between the two of them. If you like Depeche Mode at all, you must get both of these albums.