Best of 2022

Composed by Ennio Morricone alongside friend and frequent collaborator Bruno Nicolai, "Controfase" is one of the most overlooked and lesser known chapters in the maestro's extensive catalog. Various experimental elements perfectly intertwine in these skilful compositions, VCS3 blend with hair-raising violin notes on a pattern of ominous percussions by Egisto Macchi. With the precious help of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza as well as Edda Dell'Orso angelic voice, the two masterminds h…

Employing a vast array of advanced vocal and instrumental techniques, Broken Gargoyles is arguably Diamanda Galás' most intellectually, sonically and viscerally formidable work to date. The album finds the visionary artist deftly probing the weaving, warping transformation on the nervous systems of her post-traumatic soldiers and dying diseased. The album's first part, "Mutilatus," contains the Georg Heym poems "Das Fieberspital" and "Die Dämonen der Stadt," and concerns the suffering of the sol…

Tip! It seemed trumpeter/composer Milton Ward had all he needed for a breakthrough in the world of contemporary jazz in the late 1970s. Blessed with a beautiful trumpet tone and an impressive work ethic, Ward found a home in Boston’s exploding soul and jazz scenes of the early 1970s. His star never joined the constellation of jazz luminaries, but Ward did leave one fantastic album of spiritual jazz that has become a collectors’ favorite: Milt Ward and Virgo Spectrum. Frederiksberg Records is pro…

Keyboard Studies presents pivotal works by Terry Riley as interpreted by John Tilbury. The performances offer a rare depth of touch and imagination, embracing the cyclical, improvisatory frameworks that define Riley’s minimalism and bringing to the fore Tilbury’s keen sensibility for architectural listening, color, and meticulous pacing.

Venturing into untapped realms of creative exploration, the Genoa born, Bologna based, guitarist and electroacoustic composer, Stefano Pilia, returns to Die Schachtel with “Spiralis Aurea”, a double LP of material that intertwines traces of sacred geometry, collective experience and elusive connections between nature and human kind.