We got this a month ago, but I am somehow just getting around to listening to it now and, oh my god, the new Sigh record is throwing me into all kinds of ridiculous, excited spasms.
I mean, good god, where the hell do I even start with this thing? By saying it just knocked Beach [...]

A deeply weird and haunting clusterfuck of an avant-garde record came into eMusic on Friday. It is filed under Jazz, but the only distant relation it bears to Jazz is the fact that it is completely improvised. Otherwise, it lays about thirty miles safely outside of any genre borders. It is called The Songs, [...]

My friend Ben’s obsession with the perfect-spring-music pop album that Phoenix is about to release (I am late on the Phoenix train by at least three years, but hoo boy I’m on board now) led him to Google the term “Lisztomania,” the title of the first track off of the upcoming Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. [...]

Hello!!
So. My name is Jayson Greene, and I’m the “new Todd,” in eMusic office parlance. If you Google my name, (…..not like I’ve done that — ever) you will find that there is a lead singer of a “screamo” (scare quotes firmly in place) band called The Panthers with my name, even with my unnecessarily [...]

I don’t ask for much. All I wanted last night was for Goldie to win Maestro and for British Sea Power or Burial to win the Mercury. But the Mercury judges clearly don’t care for my views and gave the prize to Elbow for The Seldom Seen Kid. Curses. But my Mercury choices never [...]

In my early 20s I shared a large mouldering Victorian house in Crouch End, north London. The four of us were all broke and underemployed: there was a half-finished art installation in the hallway and there were mice in the kitchen. We spent a lot of time drinking cheap wine and playing music. Jack, studying [...]

There’s a cover version I’ve been loving recently, but from none of the usual sources. BBC4 have been running a series of documentaries, cookery programmes, dramas etc all of which attempt to “get inside the Medieval mind.” Most of them have been excellent, but it’s the idents created to advertise it that I’ve been loving. [...]

Photo: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Whether you agree with it or not, the New York Philharmonic will be undertaking one of the most important cultural exchanges between the United States and North Korea in more than 50 years tomorrow when they take the stage at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre. Among others, eMusic writer [...]

I’ve been in love with minimalistic classical music since I can remember. Droning, hypnotic, repetitive, ambient? Sign me up. We got one of the genre’s key titles today, Gavin Bryars‘ “The Sinking of the Titanic,” but with a twist.

A quick note to point out the start of our Year-End user poll — 30 – 21 in the US is here, and that same batch in the UK is here. And I’d love to see the “should win/will win” picks on this one.
As for interviews: today we have one with Simone Dinnerstein, whose recording [...]

The Everly Brothers, Nellie McKay, John Fahey and others pace an incredibly strong selection of Thursday new arrivals.

So much to talk about. Let’s do this:

Yancey and I talked this morning about all the great new records on the site today and I even mentioned to him not to overlook the new Picastro. So what does he go and do in his massive, epic, awesome new arrivals post? He forgets the new Picastro.

With the sorrowful departure of Luciano Pavarotti, it’s unfortunate that for many people, the ever lasting image of the legendary tenor will be of a bloated singer waving the white hankie whilst singing a duet with Josh Groban. This video will help: an excerpt (Ingemisco) from a 1967 recording of Verdi’s Requiem. Pavarotti is [...]

A blog called Soho the Dog has an excellent post on the state of classical music that is today’s mustest read. Head on over here to check it out. (And thanks to the Morning News for linking to it.)

The blog has been way too new arrivals heavy as of late, so here’s a longer view of what I’ve been loving. Five today, five tomorrow.

A handful of decent records for your perusal.

The other day I was talking with a classical music fan and I asked if he downloaded music. No, classical music, with its vast dynamic range, didn’t go well with walking down noisy city streets or riding the subway. He preferred to listen to music at home, and didn’t have an MP3 player hooked up [...]

A light Tuesday, but a big release for classical fans in the form of Joan Tower’s Made in America.

Seems like it’s been a while since we’ve had a new arrival worth raving about, but a new album from Colleen and a stellar rockabilly collection from Eddie Bond have put us back on track.