The tenth full-length effort from the dynamic post-hardcore unit Dance Gavin Dance, Jackpot Juicer is the final studio album to feature vocalist Tilian Pearson, who recently left the group, and bassist Tim Feerick, who died just months before the record's release. The band's longest-running LP to date, the 18-song set was produced by Kris Crummett and includes the fiery Rob Damiani (Don Broco)-assisted lead single "Synergy."© Tivo Staff /TiVo

Born in Shanghai in 1955, Xiaogang Ye is regarded as one of China’s leading contemporary composers. He has written music in a variety of genres, including symphonic and chamber works as well as scores for the stage. Ye has also composed music for films and the two works recorded here are both examples of this. Sichuan Image consists of 29 brief and atmospheric pieces composed to accompany a filmed travelogue of the scenic province in Western China. In preparation for the work, the composer visited mountains, river, villages and ancient historical sites in Sichuan. Lending further colour to the large symphony orchestra, four Chinese musicians perform on traditional instruments. The present programme closes with Concerto of Life, a suite in five movements for piano and orchestra with Noriko Ogawa taking on the solo part. The work is based on the score for a feature film of the same name telling the story of a piano teacher and his students. Ogawa has also appeared on a previous recordinbg of Ye’s music alongside the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and conductor José Serebrier – a recording named "Editor's Choice" in "Gramophone", whose reviewer described the performances as "superb" and Ye's scores as possessing "lyrical elegance, searching drama and depth of colour". © BIS Records

Fifty years ago, Chicago percussionist, composer and bandleader Kahil El'Zabar drew on his affiliation with the free jazz collective the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) to found the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Built, El'Zabar has explained, "to combine concepts of African American music with its earlier roots in traditional African music, to produce new motifs and sounds true to their origins yet firmly pointed in a new artistic direction of enlightenment and deep listening," the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble came together after El'Zabar graduated from nearby Lake Forest College and started playing in the Chicago free jazz scene.That world was rich with talent: Phil Cohran, Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, Anthony Braxton and Henry Threadgill all earned early attention through the AACM. A half-century later, that music still resonates in contemporary Chicago, which is in the midst of another jazz renaissance. Work based on ideas cultivated by El'Zabar, Braxton, Threadgill and others has helped fuel the scene. El'Zabar's new Heritage Ensemble record, Open Me – A Higher Consciousness of Spirit and Sound, presents a dozen percussion-heavy songs old and new, connecting ancient and modern, blues and chants, protest and celebration. A testament to the percussionist's influence and drive, and the enduring nature of his creative quest, Open Me captures a 70-year-old creator whose muse has remained as determined as the bells he foot-taps in time on album opener "All Blues." A constant presence, those bells set an unhurried, conga-heavy groove to support the cool 1959 Miles Davis classic. This is patient jazz, the kind not so much driven by testosterone as its after effects.Savoring the Black spiritual "The Whole World," El'Zabar sings about a devoted God who "has the whole world in his hands" as Alex Harding's baritone sax, James Sanders' violin and Corey Wilkes' trumpet offer a tight hold behind him. Sanders' violin is a recent Ethnic Heritage Ensemble addition, and it complements and contrasts with Wilkes' trumpet across the album. Throughout, El'Zabar works various hand drums as if wired to a metronome, while his voice hums, chants and, on the cover of the classic protest song "Compared to What," sings of a time when the "Slaughterhouse is killing hogs/ Twisted children are killing frogs/ Poor dumb rednecks rolling logs/ Tired old lady kissing dogs." "Can You Find a Place," a funeral dirge that doubles as a blues, ponders the eternal. "Can you find a place where there's peace and happiness?," wonders El'Zabar as Wilkes pushes air through a muted trumpet, Sanders guides his bow across a pair of mournful strings and someone or something blows wisps of breath through a faint woodwind. When Wilkes and Sanders tangle horn and violin on "Barundi," El'Zabar eases back on his percussion to allow them space to work. Working drums and bells, he does this throughout the album—a master craftsman who's built a whole world with his hands. © Randall Roberts/Qobuz

Spirit's debut unveiled a band that seemed determine to out-eclecticize everybody else on the California psychedelic scene, with its melange of rock, jazz, blues, folk-rock, and even a bit of classical and Indian music. Teenaged Randy California immediately established a signature sound with his humming, sustain-heavy tone; middle-aged drummer Ed Cassidy gave the group unusual versatility; and the songs tackled unusual lyrical themes, like "Fresh Garbage" and "Mechanical World." As is often the case in such hybrids, the sum fell somewhat short of the parts; they could play more styles than almost any other group, but couldn't play (or, more crucially, write) as well as the top acts in any given one of those styles. There's some interesting stuff here, nonetheless; "Uncle Jack" shows some solid psych-pop instincts, and it sounds like Led Zeppelin lifted the opening guitar lines of "Taurus" for their own much more famous "Stairway to Heaven."© Richie Unterberger /TiVo

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A work filled with ambition, Circlesong is a musical portrayal of the human life cycle as captured in the indigenous poetry of North America. Based on poetry from the Chinook, Comanche, Dakota, Eskimo, Iroquois, Kwakiutl, Navajo, Ojibwa, Pueblo, Seminole, Sioux, and Yaqui traditions, the thirteen movements, in seven parts, mark the different stages of life, from birth and childhood to adulthood, middle age and death. With energetic percussion accompaniment, climactic moments for tutti choir, tender unaccompanied passages and solo song, Circlesong is a work of impressive drama, variety, and depth, performed here by the excellent Houston Chamber Choir under Robert Simpson. © Signum Classics

Keys Of Life collects soothing, inspiring new age pieces from composers/performers like Florian Fricke and Terry Riley. Hans Otte's "Booke Of Sounds," Herbert Henck's "Hymns From A Great Temple" and Peter Michael Hamel's "Transpersonal" are among the album's uplifting highlights.© Heather Phares /TiVo