New Releases
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August 28, 2020On The Call Within, pianist/composer Tigran Hamasyan performs ten original compositions, with Evan Marien on electric bass and Arthur Hnatek on drums. Produced by Hamasyan, the album is a journey into his dreamlike inner world, taking inspiration from his interest in maps from different eras, poetry, Armenian folk stories, astrology, geometry, ancient Armenian design, rock carvings, and cinematography. Pre-order to download the album track “Levitation 21” now and get an exclusive, limited-edition print.
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On his Nonesuch Records debut album, Over That Road I’m Bound, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joachim Cooder uses the plain-spoken songs of country-music progenitor and banjo player Uncle Dave Macon as a jumping off point, tinkering with the lyrics and reworking melodies for his chosen instrument: an electric mbira. Cooder culled songs from Macon’s vast catalog and recorded them with his band and special guests: Ry Cooder, Rayna Gellert, Juliette Commagere, Sam Gendel, Glenn Patscha, Amir Yaghmai, Dan Gellert, and Vieux Farka Touré. Pre-order to download the album track "Come Along Buddy" now.
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On The Call Within, pianist/composer Tigran Hamasyan performs ten original compositions, with Evan Marien on electric bass and Arthur Hnatek on drums. Produced by Hamasyan, the album is a journey into his dreamlike inner world, taking inspiration from his interest in maps from different eras, poetry, Armenian folk stories, astrology, geometry, ancient Armenian design, rock carvings, and cinematography. Pre-order to download the album track “Levitation 21” now and get an exclusive, limited-edition print.
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Devendra Banhart's four-song EP Vast Ovoid follows his 2019 studio album, Ma, about which Q says: "Banhart’s singular world remains as intoxicating as ever, as if all human life is here.” The EP, available in a limited-edition 12” white vinyl 45, includes "Let's See" and the Helado Negro remix of the Ma song "Love Song" both available digitally now, as well as "It's Not Always Funny" and "Vast Ovoid." "This EP was born during the Ma recording sessions, songs that didn’t quite fit in with Ma’s theme of maternity," Banhart says. "Ultimately all the songs are about the difference between disappointment and disillusion … Bigger difference than I realized ..."
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Lianne La Havas's self-titled, third album spans the arc of a relationship. "What plays a big role in the album is the idea of the life cycle of plants and nature—equating this journey with a seasonal thing that blooms, thrives, goes away, and comes back even stronger," she says. Its musical references are as varied as Milton Nascimento, Joni Mitchell, Jaco Pastorious, Al Green, and Destiny’s Child. In keeping with the album's intimate feel, everyone who contributed is a trusted collaborator, including longtime songwriting ally Matt Hales, co-producer Beni Giles, and guest co-producer Mura Masa. Pre-order to download four tracks now.
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The members of the original Joshua Redman Quartet—Redman (saxophone), Brad Mehldau (piano), Christian McBride (bass), and Brian Blade (drums)—reunite with RoundAgain, the group’s first recording since 1994’s MoodSwing. The album features seven newly composed songs: three from Redman, two from Mehldau, and one each from McBride and Blade. Pre-order to download the track "Right Back Round Again" now.
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Natalie Merchant's Butterfly, first released as part of the 2017 ten-disc box set The Natalie Merchant Collection and here available digitally for the first time, is a new studio set featuring four new songs and six reinterpreted selections from her catalog, all arranged for string quartet.
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Natalie Merchant's Rarities, first released as part of the 2017 ten-disc box set The Natalie Merchant Collection and here available digitally for the first time, is a collection of fifteen rare and previously unreleased tracks recorded between 1998 and 2017, which offers a unique view of Merchant's creative experimentation through home studio demos, album outtakes, live tracks, and collaborations with diverse artists like Billy Bragg, David Byrne, The Chieftains, Cowboy Junkies, and Amy Helm.
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While sheltering at home with his family in during the COVID-19 pandemic, Brad Mehldau wrote twelve new songs about what he was experiencing; he was able to record them safely in a studio, together with tunes by Neil Young, Billy Joel, and Jerome Kern that mean a great deal to him, for this album, Suite: April 2020. A 180-gram deluxe vinyl edition, available exclusively for $100 from here in the Nonesuch Store, Bandcamp, and Discogs, is limited to 1,000 numbered units, signed by Mehldau; a minimum of $90 from each sale will be donated to the Jazz Foundation of America's COVID-19 Musician's Emergency Fund (after distribution fees). A portion of the proceeds from the digital and standard albums also goes to the fund. Includes download of sheet music PDF for the piece “remembering before all this.”