The Flaming Lips: The Terror

"The lyrics find cosmic repercussions in a lovers’ breakup; loneliness turns to contemplation of grim human compulsions and the end of the universe. 'However love can help you/We are all standing alone,' Mr. Coyne sings in the title song. The album’s prettiest melody carries 'Try to Explain,' which concludes, 'Try to explain why you’re leaving/I don’t think I understand.' It’s the kind of majestic pop chorale that has been a Flaming Lips staple, but this one is deliberately set amid emptiness: no drumbeat, just watery chords that waver slightly over a foundation of sustained distortion, keeping the song moody and unmoored. Throughout 'The Terror,' the band’s guitars have been all but supplanted by keyboards and synthesizers, often set to loop and drone, with eerie sounds welling up out of nowhere. The album includes just nine songs in 55 minutes, and about halfway through comes 'You Lust,' which marches along for 13 minutes on an unvarying four-note electric piano line. But that song, and the seven-minute 'Butterfly, How Long It Takes to Die,' grow incantatory, with inexorably surging drums in 'You Lust' and a slow-motion spatial barrage of notes and textures in 'Butterfly'" (Jon Pareles, "Albums from the Flaming Lips and Bobby Avey," New York Times, 4/15/13).

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Boney James: The Beat

"MR: You recorded "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" on this project, and you've covered other Stevie Wonder songs as well. He's someone you've admired over the years. BJ: Oh yeah, I'm a huge Stevie Wonder fan. He's been a big influence on me. He was certainly someone who inspired me to do what I do because he was a guy who was always mixing up genres as well. He was known as an R&B singer but really, he incorporates all kinds of jazzy chords and solos and things into his music. He's a great inspiration as well and one of the great songwriters of modern times. This is actually, I think, the third Stevie Wonder song I've recorded over the years, but this one I did specifically because he had sort of beaten me to the idea of mashing up genres because this particular song, even when he recorded it, starts with a big long Spanish intro but it's got all of the percussion on it. He kind of laid the groundwork for me doing that so I thought I would do my version of his version of my concept" (Mike Ragogna, "A Chat with Boney James," Huffington Post, 6/14/13).

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Simon and Garfunkel: Bridge over Troubled Water

"Beneath its crisp surface, the album told two separate, if converging, stories. The first was the tale of one person, Simon, following his newfound world-music muse. ... In terms both personal and veiled, the album also laid out another story, nothing less than the rise and fall of a friendship. The two men's shared mutual love of the Everly Brothers emerged in a version of 'Bye Bye Love.' (In another sign of the way Simon was toying with record-making rules, they turned the ebullient clapping of an audience at one of their 1969 shows into a rhythm track, which was tacked onto a studio-sung cover of the oldie.) 'The Only Living Boy in New York' described Simon's ambivalent feelings about Garfunkel leaving for Mexico to film Catch-22. (Calling Garfunkel 'Tom' was a furtive nod to their Tom and Jerry days, but few made the connection, since the duo excluded any references to those days and records from press releases.) 'So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright' referred to another of Garfunkel's outside-music passions, architecture. In a telling moment, Simon and [co-producer Roy] Halee were heard shouting 'So long, Artie!' during the song's fade-out" (David Browne, Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY, and the Lost Story of 1970).

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Giants of the Big Band Era: Tommy Dorsey

"Thomas Francis 'Tommy' Dorsey, Jr. (November 19, 1905 - November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as 'The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing', because of his smooth-toned trombone playing Although he was not known for being a notable soloist, his technical skill on the trombone gave him renown amongst other musicians. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey. After Dorsey broke with his brother in the mid-1930s, he led an extremely popular and highly successful band from the late 1930s into the 1950s. ... Dorsey's orchestra was known primarily for its renderings of ballads at dance tempos. ... The new band was popular from almost the moment it signed with RCA Victor with 'On Treasure Island', the first of four hits for the new band in 1935. ... By 1939, Dorsey was aware of criticism that his band lacked a jazz feeling. He hired arranger Sy Oliver away from the Jimmie Lunceford band. Sy Oliver's arrangements include 'On The Sunny Side of the Street' and 'T.D.'s Boogie Woogie'; Oliver also composed two of the new band's signature instrumentals, 'Well, Git It' and 'Opus One'" (Wikipedia).

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The Lumineers (self-titled)

"With its folksy guitar and its foot-stamping, tambourine-driven beat 'Ho Hey' arrived as a startling anomaly in the pop Top 10, where it’s surrounded by Auto-Tuned voices and electronic beats. Mumford & Sons, the English band that decisively re-established folk-rock as a commercial force with their 2009 album 'Sigh No More,' didn’t breach the pop Top 20 with that album’s biggest hit, 'The Cave.' But 'Ho Hey,' with its chanted hos and heys and its deceptively upbeat chorus — Mr. Schultz wrote 'I belong with you/You belong with me' in the unhappy aftermath of a breakup — has reclaimed pop radio for the acoustic and the hand played. It’s one more hint of a pendulum swing back toward naturalism in pop. ... The Lumineers’ self-titled debut album was released in April 2012, and over the last nine months the Lumineers — now a five-member band — have been almost continuously on tour as their gigs have grown from club dates to the opening slot at Dave Matthews’s arena show" (Jon Pareles, "Go West, Young Band," New York Times, 2/6/13).

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Hezekiah Walker: Azusa: The Next Generation

"No matter which way Gospel music has swayed in the past 20 years, you can always count on Hezekiah Walker giving you that good ol’ choir sound he is so revered for. ... ESSENCE.com: Tell us about the name Azusa. WALKER: The origin of the name is a street name in California. Back in 1906, a big revival broke out on that street and really that’s where a lot of the church as we know it today came from, especially those of us that have that Pentecostal background. Back in the 80s there was a man by the name of Bishop Carlton Pearson who started this Azusa conference. Back in the day for many preachers and singers, you weren’t really legit until you were on that Azusa platform that Bishop Carlton had set up. Bishop T.D. Jakes to this day gives credit to that Azusa conference because that’s where he got his fame. I felt the need to pick it back up. I went to Bishop Carlton and said I would like to pick up from where he left off by bringing the same amount to collaboration, from artists and preachers that he did" (Yolanda Sangweni, "Hezekiah Walker on 'Azusa,' Staying Relevant in Gospel and His 20-Year Longevity," Essence.com, 6/7/13).

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George Benson: Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole

"You could say George Benson's latest album, Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole, was conceived decades ago. Benson was just a kid when he first mimicked Cole off the radio, singing his own version of 'Mona Lisa' while accompanying himself on the ukulele. He even made a recording. Benson is still singing those songs today — although now it's alongside the same Nelson Riddle arrangements made classic. But to him, making a proper album of Cole songs always felt funny, disrespectful or just plain wrong. 'A comparison to Nat Cole I did not want to do,' Benson says. 'The great difference was that he was a true baritone, and he had this silky voice to go along with it, and great diction and elegance. And that you cannot copy.' Instead, Benson tried to conjure Cole's spirit. ... He says he had to be convinced, but then he got into it. 'I began to feel like I was substituting for Nat,' Benson says. 'There is no such thing, but if he got sick on a certain night and requested me to sit in for him and do the show, could I refuse?' Of course he couldn't" (Walter Ray Watson, "George Benson Follows the Path of His 'Unforgettable' Idol," Listen Now [NPR], 7/6/13).

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John Vanderslice: Dagger Beach

"'In the deep dark woods / Alone with my fears / Under the jackpine / the sky was galvanized,' avant-indie rock veteran John Vanderslice sings on "Raw Wood," off his new record, Dagger Beach. Vanderslice's dissection of his fears renders his latest outing mesmeric. 'I work better when there's a lot at risk and when there's no map,' Vanderslice says energetically from Tiny Telephone, the San Francisco analog recording studio he has owned and operated for 15 years. 'There was zero map for me on this record, and I knew it was an opportunity for me to make an abstract and weirder record.' In lesser hands, 'abstract' and 'weirder' could be harbingers of sonic doom, the kind of side project your barista foists on you no matter how much you insist you just want to eat your apple fritter in peace. But Dagger Beach, as its title suggests, is cutting and elemental, tugging on listeners until they stop texting and Instagramming and listen. Songs like 'Raw Wood' and 'Sleep It Off' eschew traditional hooks but are fully composed. They create a realm both familiar and out of reach, like what you see when you close your eyes" (Litsa Dremousis, "Heartbreak Takes John Vanderslice to 'Dagger Beach,'" The Record [NPR], 6/14/13).

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Rautavaara: Missa a cappella

"The mystical choral world of Einojuhani Rautavaara has been entrancing audiences for more than 50 years, so a new work is always an event. Here we hear the first recording of his Missa a cappella, completed two years ago but with roots in the early 1970s, when he wrote the lengthy Credo. From the first bar of the Kyrie we are in his typically warm, homophonic world, soloists floating ethereally over pulsating patterns of thickly textured part writing. The arrow-straight voices of the wondrous Latvian Radio Choir suit this music perfectly, perhaps nowhere better than in the beautifully contemplative Agnus Dei. The mass is complemented by a selection of other delicious works, the Canticum Mariae Virginis being the most toothsome" (Stephen Pritchard, "Review," Guardian, 6/30/13).

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The National: Trouble Will Find Me

"'I stay down with my demons,' drones Matt Berninger in his brooding baritone (echoes of Joy Division's Ian Curtis) that, after 2010's High Violet, once again leads these indie rockers to melancholy heaven" ("Quick Cuts," People, 6/3/13, p. 50).

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Bombino: Nomad

"Bombino, a member of the nomadic Tuareg people, has spent many of his 33 years roaming Africa’s northwestern hump, depending on which way the wars were blowing. ... In music, his phrases are tight, polished, full of energy. The lyrics to his songs may soar in the original Tamashek — the language of the Tuareg — but in translation they sound vaguely Maoist: 'Wake up, my people / Confront the difficulties of your current situation. / A long road awaits you.' He was born Omara Moctar into a people of goat herders and camel drivers, who plied the trade routes from Central Africa to the Mediterranean and live in a territory that crosses into Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Libya, and Algeria. Unloved by governments for their resistance to borders and central authority, the Tuareg have fought a series of rebellions. Crackdowns followed, forcing the Moctar family to migrate to Tamanrasset, Algeria, in the early nineties. It was there that he became addicted to music: 'Whenever my cousins went out, I’d steal their guitar and try to play a bit,' he recalls. His teachers were a couple of VHS cassettes of Jimi Hendrix and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits" (Justin Davidson, "Touching Down in Brooklyn: On the Transporting Power of the Nomadic Guitarist Bombino," New York, 6/17/13).

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Gerald Clayton: Life Forum

"[G]uest vocalists and horn soloists ... helped make Gerald Clayton's new album, 'Life Forum,' a critical favorite" ("Night Life," New Yorker, 4/22/13).

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Eric Clapton: Old Sock

"Eric Clapton came on stage Friday night with nary a ‘hello.’ Instead, the three time rock and roll hall of famer decided to let his fingers do the talking. His fast action plucking through a solo on 'Gotta Get Over' drew whoops and cheers from the sold out crowd at Mohegan Sun. The riffage on the track, a new one off his latest album titled 'Old Sock,' grabbed the audience’s attention and drew a mid-song standing ovation. It was just an early on sign that Slow Hand hasn’t lost his mojo. The rocker’s voice was still in fine shape, as the 68 and one-week old Clapton brought the set downtempo for his well known ballads like 'Tears In Heaven' and 'Wonderful Tonight.' Still, Clapton was at his best living at the bottom of his Stratocaster’s neck for the upbeat blues jams like 'Stones In My Passway,' or 'Crossroads.' The rest of the band was as tight and professional as could be imagined, locked in by Steve Jordan’s on point percussion. Clapton stepped away to give an equal amount of technical floating by guitarist Doyle Bramhall II and ivory dancing from keyboardist Chris Stainton" (Nick Caito, "Eric Clapton Rocks at a Sold Out Mohegan Sun Arena," Sound Check, 4/6/13).

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Nick Apollo Forte: Old Wooster Street

"At the blink of an eye, you could pass right on by,
A touch of old Italy,
Pisano's and friends, with ties to the end,
A street you've just got to see.
It sits in the city, which is really quite pretty,
Has always been talk of the town,
With pizza and ronies, and even spumoni,
You'll find it so hard to turn down ..."
("Old Wooster Street," words and music by Nick Apollo Forte).

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Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck: The White House Sessions Live, 1962

"This is a long-lost piece of jazz mythology, wrongly labelled in the vaults and only unearthed by Columbia last winter. It was recorded live at a White House concert by Brubeck and Bennett in August 1962, when the mainstream impact of Take Five was still fresh, and Bennett had just released his famous signature song I Left My Heart in San Francisco. Bennett jams with Brubeck on four unrehearsed songs, while five others feature the singer with his own trio, and the first half-hour showcases the Brubeck quartet, notably on a thrillingly fast Take Five. ... Brubeck's chord-blasting drive has an infectious relish on a flying There Will Never Be Another You, and Bennett and the Brubeck rhythm section elegantly shuffle together on That Old Black Magic. The four Brubeck Quartet tracks are the real treasures, though, with the leader's rippling Chopin diversions on Thank You (Dziekuje) and the Latin-inflected 5/4-time Castilian Blues showing just why this group took the jazz world by storm" (John Fordham, "Review," Guardian, 5/30/13).

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A Richer Tradition: Country Blues and String Band Music 1923-1942

"The 'race' records market shrank in the early 1930s. ... In the context of limited record reeases, later generations of blues fans must be grateful that such minor masterpieces as Lottie Kimbrough's Goin' Away Blues and Charlie Kyle's Leadbelly-esque No Baby, blending idiomatic 12-string guitar phrasing with a melody line that suggests white country repertoire, were issued. Add the declamatory power of William Harris's Early Mornin' Blues, the propulsive hill country rhythms of Tom Dickson's Labor Blues and the spare chording of Texan Willie Reed's Dreaming Blues ..." (notes to disc D).

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Opera Overtures & Incidental Music

"Typically, the overture (sometimes called the prelude) sets the stage for what we are about to witness. By the time it is finished, the overture will, ideally, have drawn us (the audience) into the mood and feeling of the opening scene. But the function of the overture is actually far more complicated than that. While setting us in the right direction at the start of the piece, the overture, because it is frequently comprised of quotations from arias sung throughout the work, essentially presents us with a synopsis of the entire piece, foreshadowing both the rapture and the doom that are to follow. We don't get the general train of events -- for that, we need something like Milton Cross or Kim Thompson's film All the Great Operas (in ten minutes) -- but we do get the emotional contours of the work" (CD notes by Jackson Braider).

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Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette: Somewhere

"It would be hard to find three musicians more dedicated to keeping their music fresh and inventive than these, so it's startling to realise that they have now been playing together, off and on, for the past 30 years. They are informally known as Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio, because the vast bulk of their material consists of classic American songs, which they find endlessly stimulating. This set, recorded live in Lucerne in 2009, shows no sign of flagging inspiration. If anything, the interplay between Jarrett, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette is freer and more beguiling than ever" (Dave Gelly, "Review," Guardian, 6/8/13).

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Son Volt: Honky Tonk

"MR: Your new Son Volt album, Honky Tonk, is the band's musical follow up to American Central Dust, right? JF: Yes, absolutely. It's a continuation of a lot of the sound and instrumentation of American Central Dust, but also it's a continuum going back to the first song off the very first record--'Windfall,' off Trace. Basically, it's getting back to a fiddle and steel guitar aesthetic that was very prominent on that first song on the first record. MR: These last couple albums feel like they have a little more of a mission. I know you're not mimicking him and you don't 'sound' like him, but Gram Parsons comes to mind when I hear your music lately. JF: There's definitely an element of wanting to acknowledge and pay homage to country music from the '50s and early '60s. That's the type of music that I was finding inspirational. I've been learning to play the pedal steel guitar, and I've been playing it out in St. Louis in a local band. So I really became immersed in that kind of music, and I've really followed the pedal steel guitar playing of Ralph Mooney in particular. I just really got caught up in it and sort of found myself in that mindset when it came time to write songs for this record" (Mike Ragogna, "Honky Tonk: Chatting with Son Volt's Jay Farrar," Huffington Post, 4/5/13).

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Bunk Johnson -- 1944

"Bunk was the greatest musician I have ever heard. Why? Aside from the wonderful tone and terrific swing and rhythm, I heard him play more different kinds of things on his horn than I ever heard anyone else even attempt. I just don't believe that there was anybody down in New Orleans who ever had the experiences and ability that Bunk had in playing all the different things that he played -- not only dances and honky tonks, but parades and brass bands, circus bands, traveling for years with vaudeville and minstrel shows, theatre pit bands, and God knows, all kinds of bands. Also he played several different instruments at times ..." (Bill Colburn, quoted in CD notes by "W.R.").

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Kenny Chesney: Life on a Rock

"Kenneth Arnold 'Kenny' Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country music singer/songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which climbed to the top of the charts. Chesney has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Over the life of his career, Chesney has been honored with numerous awards from the Academy of Country Music (ACM), Country Music Association (CMA), American Music Awards (AMA), Country Music Television (CMT), Billboard Music Awards (BMA), People's Choice Awards (PCA), and the French Country Music Awards (FCMA). ... Chesney has received six Academy of Country Music awards (including four consecutive Entertainer of the Year awards from 2005 to 2008), as well as six Country Music Association awards. He is one of the most popular touring acts in country music, regularly selling out the venues in which he performs. His 2007 Flip-Flop Summer Tour was the highest-grossing country road trip of the year. The Country Music Association honored Chesney with the Entertainer of the Year award in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008" (Wikipedia).

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Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell: Old Yellow Moon

"'People expect me to be the ultimate cowgirl,' says Emmylou Harris, 'but I never even learned to ride.' The singer is talking about the various misconceptions that go with being a country-music icon. 'And I can't sing nearly as high as folks think I can,' she adds. 'But even when I had those higher notes, I never had what I considered to be a classic, country voice. I'm more of a harmony singer.' That may seem a strange admission from someone who has notched up 26 solo albums and received just under half that number of Grammy awards. But a significant part of her output consists of collaborations. She has duetted with everyone from bluegrass inventor Bill Monroe to Bob Dylan and Mumford & Sons. Then there are the million-selling albums she made with her close friends Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton. And now she has reunited with one of her oldest musical partners, Rodney Crowell, for an album of classic country duets entitled Old Yellow Moon" (Alfred Hickling, "Emmylou Harris," Guardian, 3/4/13).

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