Another wonderful CD from Chicago's premier purveyors of creative improvised music. Ken Vandermark and crew cover a lot of ground here, from his angular compositions, to more pastoral pieces and full frontal aural assault. Kent Kessler's muscular bass playing and Tim Daisy's elastic rhythms provide the perfect platform for Vandermark, Jeb Bishop and Dave Rempis to trade lines over. 9 pieces in all: "Cruz Campo", "Staircase", "Plus 5", "Money Down", "Both Sides", "Initials", "Other Cuts", "Long Term Fool" and "Confluence". CD

A great vinyl release of beautiful live material from one of the greatest new soul stars of the past decade – plus rare and previously unreleased tracks! Sides A & B of this double vinyl set features rare tracks and remixes of album tracks by some of the most influential hip hop figures of the last couple of decades. Tracks include "Brown Sugar" (Buckwild rmx feat Kool G Rap", "Cold War" (remix featuring GZA & Inspectah Deck), "You're My Lady" (Premier remix featuring AZ), "Ghetto Heaven" (rmx) with Common and more! The live portion of the album on sides C & D is essentially the Japanese release Live At The Jazz Cafe – a stellar D'Angelo set from legendary London groove room! The crowd is extremely enthusiastic, and the whole thing falls together beautifully – with a hard raw soul vibe that's similar to, but edgier than, D'Angelo's studio albums. Lots of great electric piano, soulful vocals, and great backing by a tight band. Titles include "Sh*t, Damn, Motherf*cker", "Me & Those Dreamin Eyes Of Mine" (featuring Angie Stone", "Brown Sugar", and "Cruisin". Also includes great covers of 70s soul classics "Can't Hide Love" and "Heaven Must Be Like This". LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool collection of car-themed tunes – not 60s hot rod numbers, but mostly 50s tracks from those years when the automobile was really beginning to dominate American culture – and served as the inspiration for car-based cuts in a variety of different styles! A good number of the cuts here are 50s rockers, including some wild novelty-oriented numbers – but there's also country tracks, vocal tunes, and plenty more too – served up in a really well-done assortment of 33 songs that goes way past the familiar material you might find on a collection like this! As always, Bear Family have done a really great job – with presentation, notes, track selection, and more – on titles that include "Freeway USA" by The Bonnevilles, "Stop Jivin Start Drivin" by Bert Keyes, "Cruisin Central" by Faron Warmer, "Keep A Driving" by Chuck Willis, "Flat Tire" by The Del Vikings, "Wow Man" by Bobby Jackson, "The Drive In" by The Aquatones, "Get Out Of The Car" by The Lancers, "Cruisin" by Bucky & The Premieres, "Hey Little Car Hop" by George Weston, and "Big Green Car" by Jimmy Carroll. CD

This is a five-part piece for 2 amplified pianos and percussion. It is performed by the same people who premiered the work in 1974, a year previous to this recording. LP, Vinyl record album