artist
title
style
 
Arke' String Project
Acquario
improvised classical
  Bic Runga Birds

New Zealand singer/songwriter who grew up in Christchurch.
Wonderful spacious music, recorded live in the studio. Sonically one of the best recordings I have heard.
A very sensitive group of musicians are backing her, amongst them Neil Finn on piano.
  Jukka Perko Kaanaanmaa   Finnish Hymns, orchestrated for full symphony orchestra with Jukka Perko on saxophone. When I saw Jukka perform with his trio in Melbourne he told me that on this album 75% of his playing is improvised. It was recorded live with the orchestra. Improvised classical music.
  Paul Kelly & The Stormwater Boys Foggy Highway  

One of Australia's greatest singer songwriters with a deep connection to the land and the people that are here and have been living on this land in the past. This music has a country feel, but the stories and people that populate his songs are drawn from this country, not the USA.
Paul manages to infuse emotion and observation in his songs in a matter of fact way. "They thought I was asleep" is one of those songs. I learned to sing it, as it is such a wonderful observation of a universal emotion: when you discover as a child, that your parents can be as vulnerable as you are - that they are human beings with their own emotions and frailties.
  Alquin Blue Planet   After almost 30 years, a new release from this Dutch band, they play progressive rock as it was called in the seventies. One of the first bands that I was into as a 16 year old and as with some of the music that you absorb at that age, my love for this band has never gone away.
This CD is a wonderful recording, Michel van Dijk has one of the best voices in rock. Rich instrumentation of brass, hammond organ and guitar playing. Ferdinand Bakker's style of playing is an example of how a guitarist can strike a balance between textural playing and solos. He's good at supporting the music as a whole.
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