New Music CDs

Fresh off their second consecutive win for "Jazz Group of the Year" in the DownBeat Readers Poll, Artemis returns with their third Blue Note album. Featuring a quintet line-up helmed by pianist and musical director Renee Rosnes, the band has been deemed "a femme fatale supergroup" by NPR Music with a stellar line-up of pre-eminent jazz musicians: trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist Noriko Ueda, and drummer Allison Miller. This album is a vibrant eight-song set that presents original compositions by each of the band members as well as arrangements of pieces by Wayne Shorter, Burt Bacharach, and Donald Brown.

Banjo. Drums. Harp. Huh? To be sure, the new all-star trio of Béla Fleck, harpist Edmar Castañeda and drummer Antonio Sánchez features instrumentation that might safely be called uncommon. Unless, of course, you're already familiar with nineteen-time Grammy-winner Fleck, the genre-blurring virtuoso who has done more to expand the possibilities of the banjo than any other player in the instrument's history. From his bluegrass beginnings through his otherworldly Flecktones, his duo with Chick Corea and his reimagining of Rhapsody in Blue.

Yuno's full-length debut on Sub Pop finds the enigmatic indie-pop visionary transforming the emo-tinged suburban malaise of his 2018 Moodie EP into more expansive, widescreen pop drama, suited for big moves and bigger stages. The kaleidoscopic sound he devised as a millennial hermit in his childhood bedroom in Florida has since broadened his horizons, taking him on tour with Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Superorganism, and soundtracking various series for Netflix and HBO. Imbued with elements of dream-pop, rock, trap, and psychedelia, his eclectic songs serve as bids for love and connection, which especially in the fractured era of social media, have resonated with many listeners who find solace in his vulnerability.

Betty Boop is a worldwide icon that has delighted audiences and sustained success for nearly a century, crossed through culture twentieth century IP goes, this lead promo track from the musical has been appearing on socials building anticipation ahead of its on Broadway premiere. Betty Boop's IP is internationally known and this is the first David Foster penned bopper and taste from the show which features the exciting new voice of Betty Boop from the show's lead, Jasmine Amy Rogers! The priority focus track "Something To Shout About" goes live on March 4th ahead of the opening.

The 23-year-old Tennesse native Castleman continues to captivate audiences with her introspective songwriting and mesmerizing performances. Her debut release showcases her timeless sound inspired by musical greats such as the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, and Bonnie Raitt.

With this delightful program of lullabies and a few gentle serenades, Emmanuelle Bertrand and Pascal Amoyel explore the deepest sources of musical emotion: melodies that touch, console, comfort and soothe. These little pieces, brimful of tenderness and love, are at once a marvelous entry point to listening to music for the very young, and a treat for experienced music lovers.

Country songstress Hailey Whitters has long been recognized as a master craftswoman, but her highly anticipated fourth album solidifies her status as a genuine star, one with the wisdom, and the guts, to trust her instincts as she blazes her own singular trail through the industry. Recorded once again in Nashville with longtime collaborator (and now-husband) Jake Gear, the collection is a rousing reflection on Whitters' midwestern roots and the joys and struggles of small-town living. The writing is whip smart, full of clever wordplay and evocative storytelling, and the performances are utterly intoxicating, walking the line between classic and contemporary country with a healthy dose of bluegrass energy thrown in for good measure.

The new self-titled album from Grammy-nominated, New York-based composer and percussionist Eli Keszler. Having collaborated in recent years with Oneohtrix Point Never, Skrillex, Rashad Becker, and Laurel Halo, Keszler has also scored for films like Olmo Schnabel's Pet Shop Days (2023), Lotfy Nathan's Harka (2022), and Dasha Nekrasova's The Scary of Sixty First (2021) and made contributions to Daniel Lopatin's score for Uncut Gems (2019). His latest is a freewheeling, Lynchian song cycle in which Keszler's virtuosic performances traverse a living landscape of abstract electronic sound. The album breathes, creaks, and sighs through its 12 tracks: noirish jazz torch songs give way to skittering drums and cinematic, dubbed-out textures, the lyrics whispered and cried by near-inaudible voices, as if from a distant room.

When Ella Hanshaw (1934-2020) first picked up the guitar as a twelve-year-old girl in Procious, West Virginia, she dreamed of being a country star. But over the next 74 years, as she wrote hundreds of songs, her artistic goals slowly ascended to a higher realm. Ella Hanshaw's Black Book, lovingly compiled by her granddaughter from home and church recordings, features a selection of Ella's original gospel songs (Side A: Big Black Book), performed solo and with her Hallelujah Hill Quartet, and her broken-hearted country songs (Side B: Little Black Book) recorded in a back bedroom during quiet moments at home. Despite differences in style and intent, common themes remain the same across the sacred and secular sides of the record: love and longing for what we cannot quite touch-not yet, anyway-and the physical pages of possibility that we can hold in the meantime.

After a decade making the most of improvised recording spaces set in warehouses, trailers and lofts, Japanese Breakfast's fourth album marks the band's first proper studio release. Produced by Grammy Award winner Blake Mills, the record sees frontwoman and songwriter Michelle Zauner pull back from the bright extroversion that defined its predecessor Jubilee to examine the darker waves that roil within, the moody, fecund field of melancholy, long held to be the psychic state of poets on the verge of inspiration. The result is an artistic statement of purpose: a mature, intricate, contemplative work that conjures the romantic thrill of a gothic novel.

Volbeat is back! With "By a Monster's Hand," the Danish rock giants present the first single from their album. The song combines modern influences with Volbeat's unmistakable signature sound, backed by over 5.3 billion streams worldwide! In 2025, they're hitting the road for a massive tour across North America, Europe and the UK. "By a Monster's Hand" is the perfect introduction to an album full of power and electrifying rock anthems!

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's latest album unites Holst's beloved Planets suite with the world premiere recording of Deborah Cheetham Fraillon's Earth. More than a century after its premiere, Gustav Holst's The Planets remains one of the rare orchestral works whose title alone can fill a concert hall. From the ferocious intensity of Mars to the otherworldly mystery of Neptune, the suite guides listeners on a cosmic journey, exploring the emotions and character each planet evokes. Throughout a long and distinguished career as a soprano and composer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO has championed the voice and visibility of classically trained Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island musicians, and in 2021 she began a five-year appointment as MSO First Nations Creative Chair. Written in response to the accompanying work on this album, Earth represents her seventh composition created for the musicians of the MSO and brilliantly highlights her exceptional talents as both a composer and singer.

Hailed as 'one of the most remarkable voices of their generation' (The Independent), Scotland's Jacob Alon redefines contemporary folk with their debut album. Featuring the acclaimed singles Fairy in a Bottle; Confession; and Liquid Gold 25, the Dan Carey-produced record weaves poetic storytelling with ghostly vocals and intricate guitar work. Alon's deeply personal songwriting has earned praise from Clash, Billboard, and The Times, plus an appearance on Later...with Jools Holland and support from BBC 6 Music. A haunting yet hopeful debut, it cements Alon as a singular new voice in British folk.

Born out of Hudson Valley's ever-evolving scene in 2018, Age of Apocalypse has proven themselves to be the next evolutionary step in bringing metallic hardcore with sung vocals to a modern era. The band is set to release their second full- length album through Closed Casket Activities. The record takes everything that caught the world's attention on 2022's Grim Wisdom and triples down on it all, showing their penchant for writing genuinely huge metallic hardcore epics.

This newly expanded 2-CD edition is released to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Peanuts, and features the original album plus 16 session outtakes, 11 previously unreleased. It is remastered from the original tapes by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer Paul Blakemore and included are new liner notes by Derrick Bang and essays from producer Lee Mendelson and music journalist Ralph J. Gleason.

Meshell Ndegeocello follows her Grammy-winning Blue Note debut The Omnichord Real Book with No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin, another visionary album that pays homage to the eminent writer and activist James Baldwin and will be released on his centennial. Meshell's transformative music and collaborative spirit ignites this genre-bending work that is at once a musical experience, a church service, a celebration, a testimonial, and a call to action, creating a shared space for reflection, conversation, and social change.

Having spent the past fourteen years touring and releasing music as part of global phenomenon 5 Seconds of Summer, Calum Hood strikes out alone for the first time with his debut LP. The ten-track collection looks inward and moves forward through pain. Calum sees wonder in everything: love, grief, longing, trauma, a sunset, the complex and unpredictable machinery of life. The record is heady, raw, tender indie that is unflinchingly sincere, buoyed by hints of a coiled intensity within.

Pieces of Home by Dan + Claudia Zanes is a fresh collection of songs for people of all ages: joyful songs to restore the spirit and uplift the soul. These are old and new tunes, performed by old and new friends, rooted in those crucial American and Haitian folk traditions that call family and neighbors to sing together, dance together, and play together. This album is a front-row ticket to a front porch concert - an invitation to sit and stay for a while. With voices raised in beautiful harmony, Dan and Claudia remind us that with the people we love by our side, we can find home wherever we are.

Two decades ago, Apocalyptica's career-defining album was released, selling over 1.5 million copies to date. In celebration of the twentieth anniversary, the band is honoring the release with the current live version. The album features four cellos, a drum set, and Metallica covers only. The CDs present the band's slightly heavier rock flavor, displayed at one of the band's three sold-out shows at the iconic Tavastia Club in Helsinki in September.

Apocalyptica is a Finnish cello metal band known for their unique style of music, blending heavy metal with classical cello arrangements.

The Iranian conductor and composer Alexander Rahbari grew up with and trained in traditional Persian music with its most influential maestros. His eight symphonic poems, of which this is the first and second volumes, are full of melodies, rhythms, and improvisations in these traditional styles, brought to life with the colors of modern orchestration.

The Iranian conductor and composer Alexander Rahbari grew up with and trained in traditional Persian music with its most influential maestros. His eight symphonic poems, of which this is the first and second volumes, are full of melodies, rhythms, and improvisations in these traditional styles, brought to life with the colors of modern orchestration.

Remembrance, serves as a moving final document of the profound creative and personal rapport that banjoist Béla Fleck and pianist Chick Corea first showcased at album length with 2007's Latin Grammy-winning The Enchantment. It's also a crucial addendum to Corea's legacy, featuring three previously unreleased Corea compositions as well as five short free improvisations, or impromptus, that Fleck has infused with written music.

Sixteen years and five albums after the Pennsylvania band's formation, progressive death metal progenitors Rivers of Nihil are upping the ante with their 2025 self-titled album. Traditionally, a self-titled record can signal a return to basics and/or a fresh beginning, and in ten powerful songs, it's clear that both those factors are in play. Founding bassist Adam Biggs became the band's new lead vocalist/bassist in 2023; the same year marked the appearance of additional guitarist Andy Thomas (ex-Black Crown Initiate), whose vocals also play prominently on this album. Producers Carson Slovak and Grant McFarland at Atrium Audio captured the new dynamics across more than 50 minutes of music.

The follow up to Dance Mode! Features sixteen brand new recordings from series one, two and three. It is an album of adventure, a playful journey through the imaginations of Bluey and Bingo. The album takes inspiration from the episode Rug Island, a place where children play and adults embrace their inner kid.

Following the success of his Beethoven and Schubert recordings, Jordi Savall releases his first album devoted to the composers Robert Schumann and Anton Bruckner. As you have come to expect from Alia Vox, he casts an entirely new light on a repertoire that has been unfairly forgotten, starting with Robert Schumann's Zwickauer Symphony, of which he reveals all the colors and ardour. The Symphony No.2 Annuliert (Canceled) by Bruckner on the manuscript, also fascinated Jordi Savall with it's spiritual dimension, which he restores with his customary attention to detail.

Sheku's 2018 chart-topping debut album, Inspiration, centered around Shostakovich's 1st Cello Concerto. Now, he's recorded the 2nd Cello Concerto, during a critically acclaimed tour with John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London. The work features alongside the Shostakovich Cello Sonata and Britten Cello Sonata, recorded with his sister and frequent duo partner, Isata Kanneh-Mason. Shostakovich wrote the concerto for renowned cellist, Rostropovich, with whom he also shared a mutual friendship with Britten. The sonatas on this album were recorded in Snape Makings, Aldeburgh, the same place that Rostropovich and Britten recorded the Britten Cello Sonata for Decca in 1968, the recording which made Sheku fall in love with the work.

Multi-talented Vicki Lawrence is an actress, comedian, and singer known for the many characters she originated on CBS's The Carol Burnett Show, where she appeared from 1967 to 1978, for the entire series run. One such character, Thelma Harper/Mama, was the central character of ever popular television situation comedy series Mama's Family. Lawrence has multiple Emmy Award nominations, winning one in 1976. She is a multiple Golden Globe nominee, all for The Carol Burnett Show. In 1973, Lawrence recorded the hit song "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia." It reached Number One on both the United States and Canada top charts. Vicki tours the country regularly performing her music and as her iconic characters from The Carol Burnett Show and Mama's Family.

Ghost's sixth psalm is its most unflinchingly introspective work to date. Where previous albums dealt largely with chronicling and/or observing outward facing subject matter, such as Impera's meditations on the rise and fall of empires and its predecessor Prequelle's evocations of the ravages of era-defining plagues, Skeletá's lyrics render the distinct individual emotional vistas of each of its ten songs in one-on-one fashion, at times as if in a dialogue with oneself in a mirror. The end result is a singular collection of timeless, universal sentiments, all filtered through a prism of a uniquely personal point of view.

Zamrock pioneers Witch formed in '70s Zambia, their name an acronym for We Intend To Cause Havoc. Led by Emmanuel "Jagari" Chanda and Patrick Mwondela, the album (the title which translates to "future, or front') is their second 21st century release, following-up 2021's Zango. Recorded in Berlin mid-tour, it blends garage rock, Afrobeat, funky, well-tooled, tight rock n roll, and (of course) Zamrock, featuring global collaborators. Jagari sees it as a new lease on life: "The legacy continues."