CDs + Vinyl:
Eric Alexander – Song Of No Regrets CD (HighNote)
Hearing tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander is one of the great treats in jazz. There are few artists on stage today who combine chops, imagination and technique with a fluidity of ideas as he does. This imposing improviser is reunited here with pianist David Hazeltine and they’re joined by another jazz great, the always daring trumpeter Jon Faddis on a couple of the tracks. Add in the swing engendered by bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farnsworth and you have a formula for excellence.
Amp Fiddler – Amp Dog Nights CD/2xLP (Mahogani Music)
Amp Fiddler is a keyboardist, sound designer, singer, songwriter and record producer from Detroit, Michigan. His musical styles include funk, soul, dance and electronica music. Amp Dog Nights is his fourth LP and features unreleased beats from J. Dilla.
Horace Andy – Good Vibes [Reissue/1997] CD (VP)
Ten tough disco mixes – vocal and dub – with Horace at the peak of his late ‘70s form. [CD edition contains bonus track not featured on original release. Vinyl due November 24.]
Audn – Farvegir Fyrndar CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
“Audn are a prime example of the power and atmosphere of Iceland’s booming black metal scene.”
Axis – Shift CD/LP+MP3 (Good Fight Music)
The Florida metalcore act follow-up their 2015 debut Show Your Greed with sophomore effort Shift. Ushered in by the bruising lead track “The Altruist,” Shift finds Axis retaining their metalcore ambitions but upping the ante on atmosphere to stunning effect. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys – Rot CD/LP (What’s Your Rupture?)
BWBB is the main project of Joe Sukit, guitarist for the much beloved Australian soul-punk band, Royal Headache, and Rot is the band’s sophomore album. Bold, passionate, ear-splitting rock and roll, performed with tremendous heart and determination. Inspired by ’80s and ’90s punk rock, Noisey calls lead cut “Plastic Tears” “a ragged piece of power pop glory.”
Andrew Bird – Echolocations: River CD/LP (Wegawam)
Recorded under the Hyperion bridge in Los Angeles, California’s Atwater Village, Echolocations: River is the second piece in a series of short films and recordings documenting site specific compositions. Performed by Andrew Bird and filmed by Tyler Manson in remote and acoustically interesting natural and urban environments, the first installment, Echolocations: Canyon, was originally released in 2015.
Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band – Body And Shadow CD/LP (Blue Note)
The fifth album from the jazz drummer/composer/session musician is a succinct nine-track meditation on lightness/darkness that arrives like a balm for the soul, ebbing and flowing with grace, subtlety and no shortness of beauty.
Blue Pills – Lady In Gold: Live In Paris CD+Blu-ray/2xLP (Nuclear Blast)
“A band that belongs to the Champions League of the current retro rock peak is Blues Pills, hailing from Sweden. Lady in Gold – Live in Paris captures all the highlights of this exciting rock outfit” — Markus’ Heavy Music Blog
The Tommy Bolin Band – Northern Lights CD/LP (Friday Music)
This recording, captured just months before blues-rock guitar hero Tommy Bolin’s untimely death from a drug overdose at just 25, is taken from WBCN-FM’s master radio broadcast tape of a promotional performance of the Tommy Bolin Band playing live at the Northern Lights Recording Studios on September 22, 1976.
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – Born In Chicago: The Best Of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band CD (Varese Sarabande)
New best-of collection. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was one of the most important American bands of the ‘60s, featuring Paul Butterfield (harmonica/lead vocalist), Mike Bloomfield, and Elvin Bishop. Unlike the British blues revivalists, the Butterfield band was schooled in the tough Chicago bars that housed Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and Howlin’ Wolf.
