The first-ever full length album from vibist Max Beesley – and a much-needed expression of some of the deeper ideas that he's always had in his music! Max was an artist who first started making waves during the earliest years of acid jazz on the UK scene – but like the best of his contemporaries, he's really grown a heck of a lot since then – to a point where he's able to deliver a cinematic funky jazz masterpiece like this – a record that's got plenty of his own great work on vibes, amidst heavy drums, funky basslines, and sweet keyboards – all set up in larger arrangements that have a sense of majesty we never would have expected in Beesley's music! Titles include "Saturn's Dust", "We'll Always Have Yesterday", "Fire", "Sergio's Bag", "Ice", "Snake Oil", and "Zeus". CD

Not just a live album from the great soul singer Myles Sanko, but one that showcases his talents with a full orchestral setting – as you might guess from the image on the cover! The setting unlocks this new sort of majesty in Myles' music – this soaring sensibility that's a real reward to all of us who've been following his music for years – and which is an equal treasure to those just discovering Sanko for the first time! The orchestrations never overwhelm his vocals – and instead they have this way of pushing out the sound even more – a richness in sound that Myles can't help but respond to – on titles that include "Come On Home", "This Ain't Living", "Forget Me Not", "My Inspiration", "Just Being Me", "Forever Dreaming", "High On You", and "Light In My Hand". CD

The complete recorded works of the legendary Jane Birkin – the English actress who teamed up with Serge Gainsbourg at the end of the 60s, and set a whole new tone that would forever revolutionize the world of French music! Birkin's maybe best known for her collaborations with Serge – who wrote a fair bit of her songs during the 70s – but she continued to be one of the key figures in French music for decades after Gainsbourg passed away – and has an amazing legacy of albums that's presented here in a beautiful book-styled set! The package features 15 full albums, plus 41 bonus tracks – a massive 292 titles in all, with a big booklet of notes and photos inside the cover. The set features the full albums Jane Birkin Serge Gainsbourg, Di Doo Dah, Lolita Go Home, Ex Fan Des Sixties, Baby Lone In Babylon, Lost Song, Amours Des Feintes, Versions Jane, A La Legere, Arabesque, Rendez Vous, Fictions, Enfants D'Hiver, Birkin Gainsbourg Le Symphonique, and Oh Pardon Tu Dormais – plus a bonus CD of Duos & Rarities, and a DVD of television material from France. CD

Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer gave us an excellent previous record on the International Anthem label – one that mixed field recordings with sounds of their own – an approach that's continued here as the pair are joined by Ariel Kalma, whose instrumentation really adds a wonderful new layer to the process! There's a mix of live instrumentation, sounds from sources, and processing going on here that takes us back to some of the best fourth world experiments from the EG/Eno years – almost like Jon Hassell, but with a lighter, airier vibe – and maybe more understated brilliance – an ego-less recording that has the musicians swirling together in beautifully sensitive territory. The set's never too quiet to be ambient, but has some of the appeal of that mode too – and titles include "Ten Hour Wave", "Dizzy Ditty", "Une Ombre Legere", "New Air", "Ecoute Au Loin", and "Stack Attack". CD