“ALU's inception as descendants of the psychedelic group Sand, founded by Ludwig Papenberg and Johannes Vester, comes in 1980. Their first single "Bitte Warten Sie!" appears on their own label Der Letzte Schrei! in 1981. Even on these early recordings, the project's sonic orientation is discernible: sequencer-driven, simplistic rhythmic structures layered over fragments of free text, a common thread tracing ALU's musical contours through various successive metamorphoses. Although the band emerged from...

“In 2018, the longtime partnership between the St-Petersburg based duo Sádon (familiar to us from their collaboration with Treha Sektori) & France's Romain Barbot alias Saåad (who has curated & managed the BLWBCK label and released Sádon's early material) finally turned into a musical collaboration as Saáadon. Entitled мреть (наутро ночь) (which can be translated as « Die (in the morning night ») is centered around the melancholic and introspective poetry of Donat Mavleev, evoking a secular dream, the...

Keyboardist/composer Jordi Sabates played on a lot of good Spanish albums during the 1970's. He composed and played keyboards (piano, Fender Rhodes, organ and Moog synths) on this album, that he is joined Toti Soler-flamenco guitar, Ricardo Sabates-ele...

"Longevity is a word rarely associated with jazz ensembles these days. The difficulty in retaining a long lasting musical relationship with any one collaborator is hard enough, let alone trying to keep a quartet together.

An ensemble that has..

Jacob Sacks piano
Ellery Eskelin tenor saxophone
Tony Malaby tenor & soprano saxophones
Michael Formanek bass
Dan Weiss drums

“It makes so much sense for a Portuguese record label to release a new opus of the New York pianist and composer Jacob Sacks, considering his many connections with the jazz scene of this country and musicians like João Lencastre, Sara Serpa, André Matos, Gonçalo Marques and Demian Cabaud. Sacks is widely recognized as one of the most creative...

"To composer/bassist Daphna Sadeh, Jewish Music is the cross-cultural patchwork quilt of the diaspora experience. Born in Israel, she has studied in New York and since 2002 has been based mostly in London where she leads her own ensemble and performs...

Five Munich musicians playing a fairly sophisticated progressive rock with jazzy overtones, using sax/guitar/vocals, keyboards, guitar, bass/flute and drums. Their only album, recorded in 1975, was never actually released, but here it is 30 years later...

"Jamie Saft and his dynamic trio (Saft-piano and Hammond organ, Greg Cohen-double bass and Ben Perowsky-drums) presents a sparkling interpretation of the work of Bob Dylan. A lifelong Dylan enthusiast, Saft is the perfect man to take on this challengin...

"After two stunning jazz piano trio recordings featuring the music of Dylan and Zorn, dubmeister Jamie Saft returns to his roots with a masterpiece of Jewish heavy metal. Slashing and burning his way through nine tracks of unbridled madness, this is...

Jamie's second CD for Tzadik is a cinematic exploration of dub, pop and club music filtered through his own very personal Jewish lens. Spacy DJ mixes, deep grooves, fucked-up dubs and soulful vocals on subjects ranging from tashlikh toprayer to fratric...

"One of the most prolific artists in the RareNoise roster, Jamie Saft has appeared on recordings by such groups as Metallic Taste of Blood, Slobber Pup, Plymouth, Red Hill, The Spanish Donkey and Berserk! As well as on collaborations with Steve Swallow and Bobby Previte (New Standard / Loneliness Road, which also featured Iggy Pop, Bill Brovold (Serenity Knolls), Roswell Rudd (Strength & Power) and his own New Zion album (Sunshine Seas). And yet, over all those sessions he has never recorded a solo piano...

“You Don't Know the Life takes the undefinable, exploratory trio into stunning new directions with a blend of evocative original compositions, inventive free improvisations, and unexpected standards
Over the last three decades, visionary keyboardist, producer and composer Jamie Saft has made a career out of reinvention. His genre-obliterating range is evidenced by the stunningly diverse innovators with whom he's collaborated - a list that includes John Zorn, Beastie Boys, Bad Brains, John Adams...

In the living room of a small house in Dalarna, the Swedish countryside, Sagor & Swing has recorded this timeless music evoking the surrounding landscape -- the forests, mountains and lakes. Moody and simple melodies with echoes of old Swedish folk tun...

"In 1994, The Laser's Edge had a short lived sister label called The Labyrinth. Sailor Free was part of the roster and released a beautiful psychedelic hard rock album called The Fifth Door. After that the band went silent. 19 years later, vocalist...

"Following 2016's compilation of archival recordings by Suso Saiz titled Odisea, Music From Memory mark their 20th release with an album of new works by the Spanish electronic music pioneer. Recorded in Madrid between January and February 2016, this is Suso Saiz's first release of new music in nearly ten years. Titled Rainworks, this release was originally part of a commission from a Canary Islands water company. The first ideas for the compositions developed from a documentary that Suso had seen....

"Sajjanu is a ripping new unit from Tokyo that performs incredibly complex through-composed compositions with few if any repetition. Performed with an intensity and power that is absolutely staggering, this trio of two guitars and drums sounds like a...

“The first ever international release of Ryuichi Sakamoto's landmark 1984 album Ongaku Zukan, originally issued in Japan on his own School label in 1984. Remastered by Saidera Mastering in Tokyo. The early '80s were a turning point for Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. As a solo artist, the smash hit soundtrack he had composed for 1983's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, had put him on the verge of becoming a global superstar. Meanwhile he had called a halt to his work with Yellow Magic Orchestra; the...

"Friendly Pants is the first American release by legendary Japanese saxophonist Akira Sakata in more than 20 years. It pairs the 65-year-old traveler alongside Chikamorachi, the bombast rhythm section of drummer Chris Corsano (Paul Flaherty Duo, Bjork...

Tony Malaby tenor & soprano saxophone
Samo Salamon guitar
Roberto Dani drums

"A former student of John Scofield, Samo Salamon was named by the magazine Guitar Player as one of 10 most interesting guitarists of the moment, with All About Jazz stating that this Slovenian is «one of the most talented and interesting to emerge on today’s jazz scene», putting him at the same level of Kurt Rosenwinkel and Ben Monder.
The Penguin Jazz Guide choose his debut record “Ornethology”, from 2003.

This is simultaneously the coolest thing I heard this week and the most insane thing I heard this week. Salsa Celtica are a Scottish group that plays salsa. Not only do they play salsa REALLY well but they do it with anywhere from small hints to huge patches of Celtic sounds peeking through the Cuban rhythms. This is really totally great and one of the most brilliantly UNconventional mash-ups ever. Recommended.

“When a band is said to be fusing Afro-Cuban salsa and Celtic music, someone who...

Dino Saluzzi bandoneon
Anja Lechner violoncello
Felix ´Cuchara´ Saluzzi tenor saxophone
The Metropole Orchestra,Jules Buckley conductor

"Dino Saluzzi’s new music for orchestra and soloists characteristically glides through the...

Influenced by Astor Piazolla (what Argentinian accordion player would not be?) but with his own strong sensibility. A great group with a sound that mixes neuvo tango with ECM.

Dino Saluzzi bandoneon, percussion, voice
Celso Saluzzi bandoneon

“Salva, formed in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2003 by vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Per Malmberg, guitarist Stefan Gavik and keyboardist Johan Lindqvist, was born out of the urge of main man Malmberg to create music that combined the best of all musical avenues but with a firm foundation in progressive and hard rock. The mission was to make adventurous music with an emphasis on strong melodies and hooks.
There would be no set rules and if a song needed a ‘catchy chorus’ or elements from genres that are...

''Caldra is the copper pot boiling on the fire side, where the flavors mix together. Caldra is the result of over twenty years of work that Mario Salvi has carried on his melodeon, the container where creativity marries the musical traditions and rhyth...