New Music CDs for Adults
Hundreds of CDs are added to the Library's collection each month. Here are the most recent Music CDs for adults.
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Woptober II
Fifteen years after his debut, Gucci Mane adds onto an already prolific string of releases with his fifteenth studio album. The first single, Richer Than Errybody, features YoungBoy Never Broke Again and DaBaby. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD - 2019
Holds: 11 on 3 copies
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Quella fiamma: Arie antiche
A selection of pieces from Arie antiche, a nineteenth Century collection of songs edited by Alessandro Parisotti to be a vocal primer. Though now more famous as the editor of Arie antiche, Parisotti was also a composer, and he managed to slip one of his own works into the book by attributing to Giovanni Pergolesi his song Se tu m'ami. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD - 2017 Italian
Holds: 7 on 2 copies
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In cauda venenum
In interviews before the release of In Cauda Venenum, Mikael Åkerfeldt, Opeth's vocalist, guitarist, and chief songwriter, stated that "heaviness" was an aesthetic rather than a sound, to explain why he had abandoned death metal. Beginning with 2011's Heritage, Opeth made a conscious shift toward progressive rock that has, as evidenced here, become pervasive. This set is their first to be issued in English and Swedish editions. Sonically and musically, the album contains musical and production traits already evident on Heritage and Sorceress -- and to a lesser degree, on Pale Communion -- as organs, synths, Mellotron, acoustic guitars, syncopated rhythms, strings, choirs, and key changes are crafted into the band's two-guitar-bass-drum attack. But where the previous three studio albums were rife with experimentation, In Cauda Venenum is focused on a cohesively pre-arranged whole. It may be the fourth entry in their progressive evolution, but it's their first to deliver the full realization of the band's potential. These ten songs are laden with lush textures, painstakingly crafted melodies, unapologetic gothic overtones, startling dynamics, and visceral presence. Opeth may deliberately borrow inspiration from many sources, but they aren’t trying to re-create them. The band recorded at Park Studios in Stockholm with all-analog gear and a goal: "to be as epic as possible." While set-opener "The Garden of Earthly Delights" is a three-and-a-half-minute Gothic intro; the first tune proper, "Dignity," is heavy as hell, with multi-tracked wordless choral choruses, swirling organs and Mellotron, sampled spoken voices, sound effects, popping drums, and spiky lead guitars. Its intense opening section gives way to fingerpicked acoustic, gently sung lyrics, and textural atmospherics before roaring back into riff-laden hard rock. "Heart on Hand," the other advance track, commences with a guitar-and-bass riff right out of "Immigrant Song," framing the cleanest, most emotionally resonant vocals in Åkerfeldt's career before swirling into instrumental chaos and transforming itself into a lilting ballad in the final third. There are brutal moments here, too, in angular jams like "Charlatan," with its overdriven, filthy bassline. "Universal Truth" alternates between folk-inflected prog and spidery hard rock. The moody classical guitar and piano intro to "The Garroter" gives way to spooky, swinging dark jazz. While the sprightly keyboard and strummed guitar vamp on "Continuum" are a sinister musical perversity, they circle toward spiraling prog metal with the vocal and rhythmic section syncopations of Yes, then unwind into moody pastoral, poly-harmonic, folk-inflected Gothic rock. Though it emerges slowly, there is a biting crackle in the sweeping majesty of closer "All Things Pass." Åkerfeldt's and Fredrik Åkesson's guitars spiral and slash in a loss-saturated vibe colored by swirling organ, Mellotron, and crashing tom-toms, as Opeth buoy the singer whose lyric is drenched in loss and grief. On In Cauda Venenum, Opeth have thoroughly revisioned prog rock for the 21st century. While there are referents to the past, they have merely been folded into a brand of heavy music that reflects not progressive rock's history, but Opeth's enduring, evolving image. ~ Thom Jurek (syndetics)
Format: Music CD - 2019 Swedish
Holds: 17 on 3 copies
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Big Band of Brothers: A Jazz Celebration of the Allman Brothers Band
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Allman Brothers' debut album, Big Band of Brothers releases a true collection of big band jazz interpretations of Allman Brothers classics. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD - 2019
Holds: 11 on 3 copies
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The Frankie Newton Collection 1929-46
This great-value 69 track 3 CD set comprises recordings from across his active career, and features recordings with a startling variety of top names, ranging from Bessie Smith in the 1920's, through the likes of Mezz Mezzrow, Teddy Wilson Willie 'The Lion' Smith, Maxine Sullivan and Billie Holiday in the 30's, to Art Tatum, Mary Lou Williams, and Big Joe Turner in the 40's, as well as his own bands such as the Uptown Serenaders and Café Society Orchestra. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD - 2019
Holds: 10 on 2 copies
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Case Study 01
Grammy and Juno Award-winning R&B star Daniel Caesar is back with his second album. Included are appearances form Pharrell Williams, John Mayer, Sean Leon, and Jacob Collier. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD - 2019
Holds: 2 on 4 copies
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Happy days
When he came on the scene in the 1970s in his native Netherlands, conductor/violinist André Rieu tried to become a modern-day "Waltz King," bringing Viennese music to a modern-day crossover environment. What made his music so popular is that he built intelligently on this foundation, incorporating popular styles of various kinds into the mix in a way that seemed natural. Happy Days, which marks Rieu's 70th birthday (the title simply refers in general to Rieu's career), surveys a range of these styles rather than focusing on a single theme. As such, it offers a mix of something like what might be heard in a Rieu concert, and it makes as good a place as any to start with this phenomenally popular artist for those who haven't encountered him before. Waltz, polka, and operetta are present, but they flow seamlessly into the likes of Happy Days Are Here Again. The mark American music has left on Rieu's presentations is apparent in instrumentally conceived pieces as well as songs; Leroy Anderson's Buglers Holiday allows Rieu to indulge his favorite device of turning his fine brass loose. Pieces come in various lightly sketched ethnic flavors. The album won't offer much that's new for confirmed Rieu fans, but even they may find that Rieu's Johann Strauss Orchestra has been honed over the years; among light music groups by now it's rivaled only by Mantovani's famous band. Whatever one thinks of Rieu, it's hard to argue that he's lost even a step. ~ James Manheim (syndetics)
Format: Music CD - 2019 No linguistic content
Holds: 0 on 2 copies
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Peaky Blinders: The Official Soundtrack
A dark and dramatic soundtrack serves as a window into the mind of a tortured ex-solider. Artists such as Nick Cave, Laura Marling, Johnny Cash, and the White Stripes are featured in this two-disc collection. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD - 2020
Holds: 11 on 5 copies
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Surfacing
After amassing over 100 million global streams with the release of his latest EP Afterimage, R.LUM.R releases his much-anticipated major label debut album via Island Records, including hit single How It Feels. (syndetics) (1/19/2020 10:16:17 AM)
Format: Music CD - 2019
Holds: 4 on 3 copies
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