The band was put together following Richard's departure from Sonic Syndicate because of their musical direction. He wanted to continue making the music he had planned for Sonic Syndicate in the first place, therefore he and also former singer Roland Johansson together with Roger Sjunnesson, current Sonic Syndicate guitarist, formed The Unguided. Where Sonic Syndicate failed, The Unguided will succeed and continue on the legacy that Sonic Syndicate had initiated before the time of Nathan J. Biggs.

Saints of Sulphur, the sophomore album from the Finnish Power Metal group Force Majeure has been published by Scandal Music Company on October 19th.

Alain Bancquart - Le Livre du Labyrinthe (2003)
Classical | EAC: FLAC+Cue+Log | 2 Cd, Covers | 536 Mb
Label: mode - Date: 2003

Bancquart's gigantic six-part opus resonates with alien textures and aching lines. Suffused with intricately hewn microtonal music, each movement, scored differently, can stand alone as a unique work. This recording captures the integral premiere. Taken sequentially, each tableau seems the most remote outpost, the next unveiling something stranger still. Occasional passages throb with B-movie queasiness, yet the peculiar scales and tones make perfect sense. Bancquart isn't some kid discovering how funky it is to play between the keys: He's a master, effortlessly devising unbelievable sonorities…

Although known almost exclusively for his instrumental concertos and the spurious Adagio attributed to him, Tomaso Albinoni was mainly a man of the theater; he composed 81 operas and, late in life, made his living as a singing coach. However, the best efforts of posterity to catch up with Albinoni's operatic creations are significantly stymied by the fact that only three of his stage works are fully extant, the rest preserved only in occasional and fugitive fragments in the form of single arias and other bits and pieces. "Il Nascimento dell'Aurora" is a serenata – or more specifically, a "festa pastorale" – a kind of courtly entertainment not really meant to be specifically dramatic or compelling and, in this case, dealing with the birth of Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora ….

If you want Cha Cha music with a beat that is easy to feel, then this CD should work just fine. I bought this CD because my spouse was having trouble finding the Cha Cha beat while we danced together. Dancing the music from this collection has made it easier and more enjoyable for us. All of the tracks are well-suited for Cha Cha and fun to dance to.

This reissue CD finds Mongo Santamaria entering the boogaloo era with a variety of funky pieces that show the influence of R&B and soul-jazz without losing the group's roots in Cuban music. The infectious live set teams the conguero with trumpeter Marty Sheller, the reeds of Pat Patrick and Bobby Capers, pianist Rodgers Grant, bassist Victor Venegas, drummer Frank Hernandez, and the percussion of Chihuahua Martinez and Julian Cabrera. Such tunes as "Fatback," "Mongo's Groove," and "Creole" have happy, soulful, and simple melodies. This is one of Marty Sheller's best dates on trumpet, while Santamaira takes "My Sound" as a colorful unaccompanied solo. A remake of "Para Ti" is a welcome bonus track on this enjoyable CD.

John Martyn's On the Cobbles is the warmest of folky blues, consistently impressive despite being recorded in eight different studios across England, Ireland and the USA. Occasionally, as with the sparse and haunted Ghosts, he even reaches the atmospheric peaks of his classic Solid Air. As is the fashion, there are several auspicious guests–Mavis Staples, Paul Weller and the Verve's Nick McCabe–but, really, none of them add much to a set that's alternately tortured, spacey and hugely romantic. Martyn is unarguably the star of this show, excelling both as the gruff blues moaner and soft balladeer, but also testing different ground with the Pink Floyd ambience of "Go Down Easy", the spiritual jazz of "My Creator" and the dark, rootsy "Cobbles", the latter's mournful backing vocals recalling those of Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds.