Stockholm’s Oscar Simonsson and Magnus Zingmark embarked on their esoteric musical quest in 1997, initially sampling jazz’s rich and diverse catalogue into their own collage-style melting pot, topped with an array of guest singers from home and abroad which became their trademark. Over the three albums they recorded over the following 10 years, the pair refined and broadened their sound, replacing the borrowed music with their developing songwriting skills.
This 11-track set presents highlights from Koop’s three albums.

The debut from Youngstown, Ohio rockers Poobah introduced listeners to the power trio's hard and heavy approach to rock & roll along with a certain degree of silliness employed that helped distinguish Poobah from the many no-nonsense American heavy rock bands of the time…

Columbine marks the full-length album debut by Aura Dione, a Danish singer/songwriter with a pop style and English-language lyrics. Originally released in Denmark in 2008, the album was repackaged for German release in 2009. Highlights include the hit singles "Something from Nothing," "Song for Sophie," and "I Will Love You Monday." The German edition features a remix of the latter song retitled "I Will Love You Monday (365)."

The members of this band have a great pedigree in music. They bring their assorted talents to the group known as A Helmet of Gnats. As that name suggests music high in energy but balanced in virtuosity. A blend of Jazz with a dash of classical elements underlined by some very good in your face rock.
In 1980 guitarist Chris Fox and keyboardist Mathew Bocchino decided to form a band while in high school. This band was to play the music of such progressive giants as UK, Frank Zappa and Kansas. They called themselves Left Testicle and only played three concerts (small wonder with that name). By 1982 this band had morphed into more of a fusion cover band called "By-Product" doing covers by Return to Forever, Bruford and The Dixie Dregs. Their live shows left everyone wanting more…

"Rambler's Blues," the shuffling hip-shaker that opens Charlie Musselwhite's The Well, is the most autobiographical statement he's ever made – until you listen to the rest of the record. Despite his large catalogue, this is his first record of all original material. Musselwhite's back with Alligator after a sojourn of 14 years, during which he recorded some stellar material for various labels, including the stellar Delta Hardware for Real World in 2006. Musselwhite is accompanied here by a stellar band: guitarist Dave Gonzales, bassist John Bazz, and drummer Stephen Hodges. His own harmonica playing and vocals are everywhere and top-notch. The most compelling thing about The Well is its lack of pretension; Musselwhite has risen to the task of recording a completely autobiographical album that refuses easy cliches, or resting on laurels; its energy is infectious.

The Fifth volume in a very compelling series covering the huge flowering of composing talent that originated in Bohemia in the period preceding and contemporaneous to Haydn and Mozart. These composers laid the groundwork for the masterpieces that ensued and each one has a unique creative voice.

Working in collaboration with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles and the Palazzetto Bru Zane (Centre de Musique Romantique Française), Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel carry on with their journey of rediscovering forgotten operatic works, this time pitting themselves against music from the close of the Age of Enlightenment, in Andromaque (1778), the single tragédie lyrique written by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (1741- 1813). Known above all for his light opéras- comiques, at the end of his career the composer turned towards an increasingly heroic style in the vein of Méhul and Cherubini.

Laid-back London groove maestro Simon Green (alias Bonobo) returns after a considerable absence (on the recording front, at least) with this fourth full-length helping of his masterfully mellow monkey magic. While it's not terribly divergent from the future-jazz cut-ups that made his earlier efforts such an instinctively natural fit with the turn-of-the-century Ninja Tune stable, Black Sands evidences a clear evolution into a more distinctive, sophisticated, and complex style, resulting in his most musically adventurous work to date, and certainly his most modern-sounding. Green's clearly been keeping his ear to the ground for a bit of rhythmic reinvigoration: the immediately striking "Kiara" reworks the hauntingly elegant string refrain that opens the album with submerged vocal splices and a halting, head-nodding left-field hip-hop beat á la relative Ninja Tune newcomer Flying Lotus…

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are one of the earliest, most commercially successful, and enduring synth pop groups. Inspired most by the advancements of Kraftwerk and striving at one point "to be ABBA and Stockhausen," they've continually drawn from early electronic music as they've alternately disregarded, mutated, or embraced the conventions of the three-minute pop song. Outside their native England, OMD are known primarily for "Maid of Orleans" and the Pretty in Pink soundtrack smash "If You Leave," yet they scored 18 additional charting U.K. singles in the '80s alone. These hits supported inventive albums such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1980), Architecture & Morality (1981), and commercial suicide-turned-cult classic Dazzle Ships (1983)…

This live recording is something of a surprise – make that a shock, in the most positive way – appearing 45 years into Al Stewart's professional career. From the opening notes of a medley of "Last Days of the Century" and "Constantinople," Stewart – in partnership with guitarist/singer Dave Nachmanoff (who also produced this record) – launches into a set with the kind of energy and enthusiasm one would more easily expect from a twenty-something neophyte than a sixty-something veteran…

Bare Bones is a 2010 acoustic live album by Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams. It was recorded live at various locations on his "Bare Bones Tour" earlier in the year. It was certified gold in India a year later. Bare Bones is an inspired collection of minimally arranged hits culled from Adams’ impressive body of work spanning three decades. Recorded in spring of 2010 during his "Bare Bones Tour," the disc captures a raw Adams, featuring only his distinctive voice and guitar, accompanied on select songs by keyboardist Gary Breit, lending a newfound appreciation and perspective to what many consider some of the most beloved songs in pop/rock music.

In Search of the Miraculous is an album by composer John Zorn released as a part of Tzadik's Archival series in 2010. Allmusic awarded the album 4 stars. Writing for All About Jazz, Warren Allen stated "Some may find it difficult to embrace the mystical/minimalist aesthetic captured here, but there is so much art present. For Zorn as a composer, the writing is an important step in the development of his file card music. For the musicians, the songs contain deeply passionate performances that sound effortless, even where they are certainly not. And for the listener, there are pleasures to be found either just in listening or in trying to unwind some of the layers within this suite of music. This is simply an album to lose oneself within".