JOHN ZORN

JOHN ZORN
CHIMERAS, REVISED EDITION (2010)
320 KBPS

Newly revised, this is the definitive version of a Zorn masterpiece! Loosely inspired by the remarkable worlds of Henry Darger, Lewis Carroll and Unica Zürn which throw childlike innocence against a backdrop of violence and perversion, Chimeras is one of Zorn's greatest works in the classical tradition. A work of fantasy and imagination scored for a Pierrot Lunaire ensemble plus percussion, the work has been resequenced, remastered and a brief, fleeting newly recorded postlude has been added. Dramatic and colorful, Chimeras is a work filled with femininity, innocence, beauty and violence.

1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four
5. Five
6. Six
7. Seven
8. Eight
9. Nine
10. Ten
11. Interlude
12. Eleven
13. Twelve
14. Postlude

[RE-UP] JOHN ZORN

JOHN ZORN
ANGELUS NOVUS (1998)
320 KBPS

John Zorn has shown us many sides of his eclectic musical vision (some may think too many), but here is a side of Zorn's work that has pretty much remained hidden - his compositions for classical chamber ensembles. This CD marks the first in a series documenting these pieces, commissioned by some of the world's leading ensembles and appearing on CD for the first time.
The works here span over twenty years, and include Christabel, a student piece written in 1972 inspired by the romantic mystic poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the wind octet Angelus Novus composed for the world-renown Netherland's Wind Ensemble and dedicated to the Jewish cultural theorist Walter Benjamin, the dynamic chamber symphony For Your Eyes Only and Carny, a virtuosic solo piece that receives an impassioned and breathtaking performance by pianist Stephen Drury.
The Callithumpian Consort of the New England Conservatory (conducted by Stephen Drury) perform this challenging music with startling clarity and intensity on this CD that will surprise and delight Zorn fans and detractors alike.

1. For Your Eyes Only
2. Christabel Part 1
3. Christabel Part 2
4. Carny
Angelus Novus
5. Peshat
6. Tzomet
7. Aliya
8. Herut
9. Pardes

JOHN ZORN

JOHN ZORN
IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS (2010)
320 KBPS

Inspired by esoteric spiritual practices, white magic, ritual, traditional myths and ancient legends, Zorn brings together a life long interest in mysticism with powerful lyricism to fashion this dynamic and evocative series of Odes for the New Millennium. Featuring the landmark extended composition The Magus, one of Zorn's most exciting new works, the music takes on a scintillating new edge-dramatic, hypnotic and mysterious. Performed by the remarkable Alhambra Trio enhanced by special guests Kenny Wollesen on vibraphone, Carol Emanuel on harp and Shanir Blumenkranz on Fender bass, In Search of the Miraculous is a deeply moving listening experience-ecstatic music for young and old that touches on the sublime.

1. Prelude : From A Great Temple
2. Sacred Dance (Invocation)
3. The Book Of Shadows
4. Affirmation
5. The Magus
6. Hymn For A New Millenium
7. Journey Of The Magicians
8. Mythic Etude
9. Postlude : Prayers And Enchantment

JOHN ZORN

JOHN ZORN
MYCALE: BOOK OF ANGELS VOLUME 13 (2010)
320 KBPS

Get ready for a whole new approach to Masada music! Expressive and passionate, Basya Schecter, Ayelet Rose Gottlieb, Malika Zarra and Sofia Rei Koutsovitis are four of the most creative vocalists around. Each the leader of a dynamic band of their own, they come together here in an intimate a cappella setting to interpret eleven songs from Zorn's remarkable Book of Angels. With lyrics in Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, French and Arabic drawn from Rumi, Fernando Pessoa, The Hebrew Bible and more, the Masada vocal project is perhaps the most hauntingly beautiful installments in the entire Angels series. Dynamic and evocative New Jewish Music from four powerful women vocalists!

1. Uzziel
2. Ahaha
3. El El
4. Tehom
5. Moloch
6. Balam
7. Melech
8. Tarshish
9. Asaph
10. Rumiel
11. Natiel

PISSUK RACHAV

PISSUK RACHAV
ERETZ HAKODESH (2009)
256 KBPS

Channeling Serge Gainsbourg through the lens of Hassidic porn and the loving erection of the soul, Pissuk Rachav is the bastard child of Holy Land poetic visions and Brahmachari Circus Music. Marimba, ney, theremin, drums and voice weave a remarkably original and hilariously serious musical universe that seems so perfect one wonders why it has never happened before. French Israeli Jeremy Fogel is an instant superstar, styled in the mold of his hero Serge Gainsbourg. In their own words "perambulations through the existential crisis experienced by post-menopause and suddenly somewhat melancholic Bruria heroine. We would advise all listeners to work out their own salvation with diligence and would like to dedicate all we say, write, sing, play or do to the eternal landlord of the soul." Who knew? This is their debut CD, and it is a must hear for all interested in the outer realms of sanity, Jewish or otherwise! Also features avant superstars Marc Ribot and John Zorn as special guests.

1. Jesus Christ The Nazarene Runs In The Streets Of Tel Aviv Shouting Allah Hu Akbar; Invocation
2. Allenby Vagina Street
3. Holy Bond
4. A Feeling Divine
5. Taqism
6. Song Of Love
7. End Of Thought
8. The Great Shofar
9. Jerusalem
10. Blessing
11. Sweet Death Of Roses
12. The Holy Land

FRANK LONDON & LORIN SKAMBERG

FRANK LONDON & LORIN SKAMBERG
TSUKER-ZIS (2009)
256 KBPS

When you mention Jewish music to most people they will most likely think of Fiddler On The Roof, groups of Kibbutzim dancing Israeli folk songs, or maybe even Klezmer. However most people don't associate Judaism with religious music, and for the longest time music was forbidden to Jews by Rabbinical edict as a symbol of their mourning the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. Yet, by the middle ages those strictures were relaxed and instruments were once again being used to help celebrate religious feasts and secular events.
Of course with such a huge break in their own musical tradition, and the fact that most Jews were now living in Eastern Europe instead of Jerusalem, their music was heavily influenced by the folk music of their gentile neighbours. Like Yiddish, the language spoken by the Jews of Eastern Europe for day to day usage, you can hear traces of everything from German, Polish, Czech, to the Romani (gypsies) in Klezmer and Jewish religious music. While Klezmer music has obtained a level of popularity recently and there are any number of recordings available, the same can't be said for the religious music. However two musicians who were instrumental in creating the interest in Klezmer music through helping found the band The Klezmatics have now begun making recordings of Jewish religious music as well.
Frank London and Lorin Sklamberg have just released Tsuker-zis on the Tzadik label, a collection of fourteen songs celebrating various holidays and aspects of Jewish religious life. The title is Yiddish for sugar sweet, and according to notes accompanying the release Jewish imagery often uses sugar metaphorically to describe the divine sweetness of our lives. That doesn't mean the songs on the album are sickeningly sweet, rather they are expressions of the joy the various holidays bring to people. For even a holiday as intimating sounding as Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement, can be considered joyous as its a part of the overall sweetness of the divine in a Jewish person's life
However, you'd be forgiven for wondering what kind of disc of Jewish religious music features an Armenian oud player, Ara Dinkjian; a tabla player from North India, Deep Singh; and an electric guitar player, Knox Chandler, whose credits include Cyndi Lauper, the Psychedelic Furs, and Siouxie & The Banshees. Well, when you consider that trumpeter and keyboard player London has worked with everyone from Itzhak Perlman to LL Cool J and vocalist and accordion player Sklamberg has taught Yiddish singing from Maui to Kiev, the fact that they have elected to work with three musicians from such diverse backgrounds makes a little more sense. Anyway, remember the Jewish musical tradition that has inspired this recording drew upon a wide variety of musical influences to begin with. It only follows that modern day adaptations of these songs should follow in their footsteps by drawing upon the world around them as well.

1. A Sukkah Of Branches
2. Blessings Without End
3. Our Life Is Sugarsweet
4. Our Parent, Our Sovereign
5. Increase Our Joy
6. The Days Between #1
7. The Lord Sent His Servant
8. The Days Between #2
9. Heed Not The Accuser!
10. Elijah The Prophet Bought A Red Cow
11. Greeks Gathered Against Me (Intro)
12. Greeks Gathered Against Me
13. Mighty, Blessed, Great, Prominent, Glorious, Ancient, Meritorious, Righteous, Pure, Unique, Powerful, Learned, King, Enlightened, Exalted, Brave, Redeemer, Just, Holy, Merciful, Almighty, Omnipotent Is Our God

DAVID SIMONS

DAVID SIMONS
FUNG SHA NOON (2009)
320 KBPS

David Simons is an enigmatic figure in the Moondog/Partch mold who has been doing things his own peculiar way for decades. An instrument builder and virtuoso thereminist, David has written music for theater, dance, film, sound installations and classical concert ensembles. The pieces for his second Tzadik CD are some of his most ambitious to date, and feature compositions for large ensemble, string quartet, gamelan, theremin, garbage cans and empty bottles. Complex music at the nexus of classical and world music by this remarkably unique musical thinker!

1. Odentity
2. Uncle Venus
3. Music for Theremin and Gamelan II
4. Music for Theremin and Gamelan II
5. Chain Of Incident

AHLEUCHATISTAS

AHLEUCHATISTAS
OF THE BODY PRONE (2009)
320 KBPS

It’s like a full moon madness when one of your favourite bands has a new release on your favourite label. Asheville, NC power trio Ahleuchatistas‘ (pronounciation tip : the name comes from the Charlie Parker song “Ah-leu-cha”) fifth full length called Of the Body Prone is hands down the best mathcore/improv album this year to grace your speakers, and it might be the most balanced of their full buffet. Ahleuchatistas takes math rock’s erratic features to extreme levels while retaining melody and musicality, only to destroy it a few bars later and found something new. For the untrained ear it might be hard to follow, because of the hectic pace, but repeat listens put forth the complexity and compositional power. There’s a whole bunch of intellectualism on reviews, name dropping Gödel, Deleuze and Adorno, you might head to their myspace if you want to delve further into theory, but these two lines are enough talk about the music, say I.

1. 2/3 Consensus On The Un-Finite Possibilities
2. Owls
3. Those With Guns
4. Why Can't We Be In Jamaica?
5. Racing Towards The Hard Kernel
6. Eastside Uptight
7. Dancing With The Stars
8. Total Nightmare In A Deep Dive
9. Making The Most Of The Apocalypse
10. Map's Tattered Edges

DAVID GOULD

DAVID GOULD
FEAST OF THE PASSOVER (2009)
320 KBPS

The Reggae master from Adonai in Dub returns to Tzadik with another fascinating program of Jewish music-Reggae style. Feast of the Passover is a collection of songs commonly sung during the Passover seder. Beautifully recorded in Boston, Ithaca, and Jamaica it features a fabulous band of David's longtime associates as well as the critically acclaimed Romanian saxophonist Yuri Yunakov and the legendary Leonard "Sparrow" Dillon (of the Ethiopians) and the Silvertones on vocals. Incredibly varied and spiritually inspired music connecting the Rasta and Jewish traditions through the miracle of music, this is the perfect background to anyone's 21st century seder.

1. Divine Order
2. Bread Of Affliction
3. Four Questions
4. Ten Plagues
5. Hallelujah
6. Jah Is Mighty
7. Who Knows One?
8. Goats Milk
9. May The Prophet Arise
10. Once We Were Slaves
11. Peace
12. Next Year In Jerusalem

JOHN ZORN/CRACOW KLEZMER BAND

JOHN ZORN
THE CRACOW KELZMER BAND
SANATORIUM UNDER THE SIGN OF THE HOURGLASS (2005)
320 KBPS

John Zorn's Masada songbooks have surrendered themselves to many modern genres and styles—free jazz with the original Masada Quartet, contemporary improvised music with the Masada String Trio and the duo of Mark Feldman and Sylvie Courvoisier, 1970s electric fusion meets today's electronica with Electric Masada, power rock with Rashanim, and a dozen others in the various tributes to the first Masada songbook (Masada Guitars; Voices in the Wilderness; and The Unknown Masada, all Tzadik, 2003). But only now, with the release of the Polish Cracow Klezmer Band's fourth disc on Tzadik, are they interpreted in the Old World Eastern European klezmer form. Many Masada interpretations have referenced, abstracted, or suggested new readings of this genre which is so identified with Jewish music.
The four members of the Cracow Klezmer Band—leader, arranger, and bayan (accordion) player Jaroslaw Bester; violinist Jaroslaw Tyrala; bayan player, clarinetist, and percussionist Oleg Dyyak; and violinist Jaroslaw Tyrala—are augmented by singer Grazyna Auguscik, who has collaborated with them before, not only to tackle John Zorn's Masada Songbooks One and Two, but also to use these tunes to paint a heartfelt tribute to the Polish-Jewish writer and artist Bruno Schultz (1892-1942), whose character still inspires contemporary writers like the Israeli author David Grossman (See Under: Love) and Americans Cynthia Ozick (The Messiah of Stockholm) and Phillip Roth (The Prague Orgy). This release is named after Schultz's second collection of short stories, published in 1936, and its official title is The Cracow Klezmer Band plays the music of John Zorn—Sanatorium Under Sign of the Hourglass: A Tribute to Bruno Schultz.
The Cracow Klezmer Band's beautiful arrangements are faithful to the original versions. In the opening track, "Meshakh," and on "Regalim," these four musicians even manage to capture the same dynamic telepathic coordination that is so identified with the original Masada quartet. But soon as Tyrala begins his magnificent solo on "Galgalim," you realize that their music is more faithful to the klezmer tradition than any other Masada incarnations or interpretations: klezmer music as a high art concert music that must be performed with subtlety, finesse, and great passion.
"Tirzah," with Auguscik's dreamy wordless vocals, and "Hamadah" both succeed in capturing the sensual atmosphere of Schulz's fantastical stories. Tyrala introduces "Adithaim" with a virtuosic, lyrical violin solo, slowly turning the piece into a gentle dance tune. "Pagiel" is the only tune from Zorn's second Masada songbook, Book of Angels, and is performed as a passionate Astor Piazzolla tune. "Meholalot" is interpreted slightly differently than the version the Cracow Klezmer Band did on Voices in the Wilderness, this time stressing its driving rhythms, as its Hebrew title suggests, and highlighting the captivating vocals of Grazyna Auguscik.
A brilliant release that blends Old World with New World, an almost vanished culture with a vital resurrecting one, by one of the world's most extraordinary new klezmer outfits.

1. Meshakh
2. Galgalim
3. Tirzah
4. Yesod
5. Pagiel
6. Adithaim
7. Hamadah
8. Regalim
9. Demai
10. Meholalot

JOHN ZORN

JOHN ZORN
JAMIE SAFT TRIO
ASTAROTH: BOOK OF ANGELS VOLUME 1 (2005)
320 KBPS

In the final months of 2004, John Zorn wrote over 300 new tunes for his popular Masada project, and he now initiates a new series of recordings featuring the best players out of the burgeoning Masada family in dynamic units performing compositions from Masada Book Two—The Book of Angels. This first volume features Jamie Saft in an acoustic piano trio reminiscent of the best in the genre. Bill Evans, Paul Bley, Herbie Hancock, Vince Guaraldi and even the Bagels and Bongos of Catskills pianist Irving Fields become touchstones for this remarkably interactive group that includes Greg Cohen (Masada, Ornette Coleman) on bass and Ben Perowsky (Uri Caine, John Scofield) on drums. Playing with the fire and passion one has come to expect from the Masada family, this soulful and imaginative trio sets new standards for versatility and excellence in the piano trio format. This group is pure magic and they have created one of the most exciting and enjoyable CDs in the Tzadik catalog. Absolutely breathtaking.

1. Shalmiel
2. Ygal
3. Astaroth
4. Ezeqeel
5. Ariel
6. Sturiel
7. Baal-Peor
8. Pursan
9. Lela’hel
10. Beleth

MIKE PATTON

MIKE PATTON
PRANZO OLTRANZISTA (1997)
320 KBPS

This is a soundtrack of dreams, which seems more surrealist than futurist to me, as surrealism aimed to incorporate subconscious desires into waking life. Pattonheads beware, this sounds more like a John Zorn album than Mr. Bungle, let alone FNM! The musicians are top-notch -- Zorn on sax, Marc Ribot on guitar, Erik Friedlander on cello, William Winant on percussion, and Patton on "voice, sound effects." There is not much vocalizing, let alone singing. Patton is the composer, and contributes musique concrete effects, plus some vocals on a few tracks. The resulting music is uncategorizable -- "I Rumori Nutrienti" features slow, mellow sax over the low rumble of an airplane engine, which is surprisingly relaxing, and "Latte Alla Luce Verde," with vocalizing, sounds like lovemaking.
If you like the paintings of Salvador Dali or Max Ernst, if you like John Zorn, especially his THE BIG GUNDOWN, the album of Morricone film score remakes, if you are open to the possibility of sounds that do not fit in marketing boxes, then you just might like PRANZO OLTRANZISTA!
.

1. Elettricita Atmospheriche Candite
2. Carne Cruda Squarciata Dal Suono Di Sassofono
3. Vivanda In Scodella
4. Guerra In Letto
5. Contorno Talttile (per Russolo)
6. I Rumori Nutrienti
7. Garofani Allo Spiedo
8. Aerovivanda
9. Scoppioningola
10. Latte Alla Luce Verde
11. Bombe A Mano

JOHN ZORN

JOHN ZORN
FEMINA (2009)
320 KBPS

If one is interested in dipping their toes into the pool of John Zorn's more avant music, this would be a good place to start. At times boisterous and rowdy and at other times soothingly beautiful, Feminia encompasses all that's great about John Zorn the Composer. There is a good mix of the style of his more accessible Film Works series paired with the unpredictability of his "game pieces" (i.e, Cobra, Xu Feng). I'd also perhaps throw in a bit from his classical works as well for reference.
For this recording Zorn enlisted a small ensemble of talented women who should be familiar names to devoted followers of the Tzadik label. If you think you've got what to expect from this CD all figured out because of the title and the cast involved then you're going to be pleasantly surprised. I've heard some of these performer's solo works and I was still highly intrigued how their talents interacted with one another.
Feminia is only 35 minutes, but is filled with many more inspired passages than most CDs double it's length. A must hear even if you're not a Zornhead.

1. Femina-part one
2. Femina-part two
3. Femina-part three
4. Femina-end titles

EYAL MAOZ'S EDOM

EYAL MAOZ'S EDOM
HOPE AND DESTRUCTION (2009)
320 KBPS

Raise your fist. Now extend your index finger and pinky. This album rocks. The second album by Eyal Maoz’s Edom, just out on Tzadik, is a nonchalantly dark blend of pounding instrumental metal and surf music with brooding Middle Eastern flourishes. The obvious comparison is Texas cult instrumentalists Intodown, with a slightly more ornate, noisy sensibility. In this power quartet, multi-faceted guitarist/composer Maoz is backed by keyboardist Brian Marsella (of Cyro Baptista’s band and the fascinating melodic jazz ensemble the Flail) along with a plodding rhythm section. From the first few bars of the first song, it becomes clear that these guys really don’t have a clue about surf music. But that’s cool. That’s what gives them an original sound. The Yardbirds didn’t have a clue about blues either, and nobody can say that they didn’t rock.
As you would expect from a bunch of guys with a jazz background, they vary the tempos and dynamics. Maoz sets down eerie, often anguished layers of noise and feedback over simple, catchy chromatic vamps. Marsella utilizes several keyboard patches: quavery Vox organ, smooth Hammond and seemingly every bleep and bloop stored within the memory of whatever he’s playing (a Nord Electro seems a good guess). Most of the craziest noise passages are his, although, predictably, the most beautifully lyrical moments – particularly the Vox solo on the fifth track – are his as well.
The best song on the cd is Shell, a terse, catchy, macabre number that sounds like the Coffin Daggers gone to the Golan Heights, especially menacing as the organ doubles Maoz’ sinister guitar line. The best single solo is by bassist and producer Shanir Ezra Blumankranz, on the same song – it’s long and bluesy and deliciously terse and you don’t want it to end. Beyond the chromatic metal vibe of most of the other tracks, there’s also one that nicks a familiar hook by the Cure before going all hypnotic with a two-chord vamp, a bizarre attempt at a bubblegum surf song and a big, cinematic track simply titled Two with a noise breakdown evocatively colored with Maoz’ hammerlike attack. It’s nothing if not original and probably sounds terrific live. Shesh shesh shesh (that’s 666 in Hebrew).

1. Somewhere
2. Tsi
3. Rocks
4. Messenger
5. Slight Sun
6. Shuki
7. Eagle
8. Shell
9. King
10. Skies
11. Two
12. Down

JOHN ZORN

JOHN ZORN
MUSIC ROMANCE VOL. 1:
MUSIC FOR CHILDREN (1998)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Originally released in 1998, John Zorn's Music Romance Vol. 1: Music for Children has now been remastered and revised, and it still sounds as strange as it did back then. Zorn, whose musical base has always been jazz, has spent his career finding affinities between jazz's improvisational spirit and the sound of Japanese noise rock or La Monte Young-esque drone music, with detours into spaghetti western soundtracks and film noir music for fun. On Music for Children, Zorn combines, among other things, soul-jazz, noise rock, African lullabies, and Lou Reed's guitar feedback.
The album's first track, Fils Des Etoiles, features Anthony Coleman on celeste and Brazilian musician Cyro Baptista singing and playing percussion, and it's a gorgeous, fragile piece whose calm is shattered by the next track, This Way Out, a collaboration with the Boston band Prolapse that alternates between screaming thrash rock, bebop interludes, and bursts of Hammond B-3 organ. Thankfully, the track is only a minute and ten seconds, because this schizophrenic genre mash-up wears out its welcome early. Next is the fourteen-minute-long Music For Children, which sounds like the soundtrack to an old horror movie, all ominous violin and restless percussion, punctuated by the sound of someone cracking a whip--clearly the song's title is meant to be ironic. Both Bikini Atoll and Bone Crusher sound like This Way Out, and thankfully they're equally as short.
Cycles Du Nord, at twenty-one minutes, is the longest track on the album, and it's been updated for the reissue, with Lou Reed adding guitar and guitar feedback and Zorn peppering bass drum hits throughout. With its main instrument a wind machine that sounds more like a vacuum cleaner, the track has the potential to bore more conventional listeners. But if you've bought a John Zorn album, chances are you've got an open mind and are willing to listen for hidden tones beneath the "noise." With six minutes left in the track, a distorted guitar appears that brings forth the subtle melody obscured by all the unconventional sounds. The album's final track, Sooki's Lullaby, is Anthony Coleman playing a delicate lullaby on a celeste music box, and it's the closest thing to children's music you'll find on the album.
Often beautiful but just as often jarring, Music for Children is a very strange album to classify. For those looking for an odd but ultimately pleasant listening experience, go ahead and play the album straight through.

1. Fils Des Etoiles
2. This Way Out
3. Music For Children
4. Bikini Atoll
5. Bone Crusher
6. Dreamer Of Dreams
7. Cycles Du Nord
8. Sooki's Lullaby

JOHN ZORN [REPOST]

JOHN ZORN
FILMWORKS XX: SHOLEM ALEICHEM (2008)
320 KBPS

This twentieth volume of John Zorn's exciting FilmWorks series features the fabulous accordionist Rob Burger and harpist Carol Emanuel accompanied by the world acclaimed Masada String Trio performing music for a documentary on the 19th century Jewish writer Sholem Aleichem. Known primarily for the Tevye stories that inspired Fiddler on the Roof, Aleichem wrote tales in Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish that have a dark subtext reminiscent of Kafka and Poe. Avoiding overt klezmer references, Zorn's score both breaks with and draws upon tradition, dramatizing the writer's life and work with lyricism, orchestral color and a keen sense of irony and black humor.

1. Shalom, Sholem!
2. Luminous Visions
3. Mamme Loshen
4. Beyond The Pale
5. Mekubolim
6. Portable Homeland
7. Wandering Star
8. Jewish Revolutionaries
9. Shtetls
10. Lucky Me, I'm An Orphan!
11. Nicht Gefahrlich
12. Talking Through Oblivion

JOHN ZORN [REPOST]

JOHN ZORN
ANGELUS NOVUS (1998)
320 KBPS

John Zorn has shown us many sides of his eclectic musical vision (some may think too many), but here is a side of Zorn's work that has pretty much remained hidden - his compositions for classical chamber ensembles. This CD marks the first in a series documenting these pieces, commissioned by some of the world's leading ensembles and appearing on CD for the first time.
The works here span over twenty years, and include Christabel, a student piece written in 1972 inspired by the romantic mystic poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the wind octet Angelus Novus composed for the world-renown Netherland's Wind Ensemble and dedicated to the Jewish cultural theorist Walter Benjamin, the dynamic chamber symphony For Your Eyes Only and Carny, a virtuosic solo piece that receives an impassioned and breathtaking performance by pianist Stephen Drury.
The Callithumpian Consort of the New England Conservatory (conducted by Stephen Drury) perform this challenging music with startling clarity and intensity on this CD that will surprise and delight Zorn fans and detractors alike.

1. For Your Eyes Only
2. Christabel Part 1
3. Christabel Part 2
4. Carny
Angelus Novus
5. Peshat
6. Tzomet
7. Aliya
8. Herut
9. Pardes

RASHANIM

RASHANIM
THE GATHERING (2009)
320 KBPS

Rashanim is one of the most exciting young bands exploring New Jewish Music. Combining the intensity of rock with the spontaneity of improvisation, deep Middle Eastern grooves, and mystical Jewish melodies, their first three CDs on Tzadik are some of the most popular on the label. For their fourth release they go unplugged, delivering a powerful acoustic recording that is perhaps their best to date. Lyrical and beautiful, Rashanim joyfully celebrates the Jewish experience with passion, lyricism and a profound sensitivity.

1. Judges
2. Kings
3. Ezekiel
4. David
5. Elijah's Cup
6. Deborah
7. Elijah's Chair
8. Amos
9. Micah
10. Elijah's Chariot
11. Jeremiah
12. Joshua

KOBY ISRAELITE

KOBY ISRAELITE
IS HE LISTENING? (2009)
320 KBPS

The fourth Tzadik release by this ever-creative Israeli musician features more powerful originals of mixup and mayhem. A student of jazz, classical, punk, heavy metal, gypsy, Balkan, reggae and more, Koby effortlessly blends it all into a unique and vibrant new music. Filled with wit, passion and a surreal sense of humour, Is He Listening? is Koby's sly take on easy listening. A master of no less than eight instruments, he records in his own London studio and here calls in several special guest musicians, including the fabulous Roumanian accordionist from the gypsy dynasty Taraf de Haidouks.

1. Joy
2. Papa Don't Trill
3. Easy Listening
4. Out To Lounge
5. Shmekeria
6. Adon Haselichot
7. Almost There But Not Quite
8. Under The Apricot Tree
9. Self Hating Blues
10. Two Stone Down
11. Paulina In The Skype
12. Just Like Everybody Else

CYRO BAPTISTA

CYRO BAPTISTA'S
BANQUET OF THE SPIRITS
INFINITO (2009)
320 KBPS

Richly creative work from Cyro Baptista -- a cool blend of Brazilian roots, jazzy inflections, and other inventive experimentation -- a set we like even better than Baptista's last album with the Banquet Of Spirits group! The music reminds a lot of some of the best sounds to come from the Hermeto Pasqual camp over the years -- done with a style that's definitely got the complexity and improvisational energy of jazz, yet which is distinctly Brazilian in character -- partly due to the range of percussion employed by Baptista, but also because of the life, energy, and joy in the music! Other players include Romero Lumbambo on guitar, Brian Marsella on keyboards, and Ikue Mori on electronics -- and although the set's got a bit of vocals from Pamela Driggs, Cadu Costa, and others, the main focus is instrumental.

1. Infinito (coming)
2. Batida De Coco
3. In Vitrous
4. Kwanza
5. Noia
6. Adeus As Filhas
7. Coronation Of A Slave Queen
8. Cantor Cuidadoso
9. Pro Flavio
10. Blindman
11. Infinito (going)