I feel like the luckiest person alive when I get possession of recordings like this. Simply one of the absolute best releases of 2018, and that is keeping company with a dozen or more premium monumental albums sent to me this year. From Rome, Italy, a sprawling double disc set that lays down a large fluffy blanket in a sunny meadow towards the end of summer (estate in Italian), and spends the next months into winter (inverno in Italian), making music inspired by the long visit. A pure bliss of 76 minutes (including the download only bonus track ‘Blackducks on Parade’).

With unlimited skill and patience, David Minnick, the man who created this imaginary a capella vocal group The 180 Gs (the name came from a composition from the band Negativland, called ‘A Big 10-8 Place – Part 2’) tackles the double disc music of Cardiacs ‘Sing To God’ (a 1995 stunner that many fans feel is their ultimate offering). The result is a feat nearly impossible to conceive, using anywhere from one hundred or more overdubs on each track, to generate this massive undertaking.

An outerlimits excursion by astro travelers and gifted musicians from several prized members (or former members) of Univers Zero, Pablo’s Eye, The Wrong Object, Morton Fork Gang, and much more. You know this will be special. In short, it is elsewhere and otherwise, in a set of nine improvised compositions that spy on the other side of your brain, cheat the usual adjectives, and defy any musical boundaries.

From France, this highly inventive quintet has already spent three years in collaboration before releasing their debut recording. Winning prizes since 2015 (as best emerging band, best band in some events, etc), the group is as slick and classy as top shelf diner jazz, but with plenty of bumps and grinds, bravery and brilliance, and a little bit of everything. This French progressive jazz rock outfit gives off flavors of Gentle Giant, Sloche, Bill Bruford’s Earthworks

A gorgeous sophomore album by masters of expression Volker Kunke (who directed this project) and Jens Lueck (who did sound engineering and production). Both have worked together on many previous recordings other than Syrinx Call, but this and their debut ‘Wind In The Woods’ (which put a high mark on the progressive celtic/classical/art rock world), rank extremely prominent on my most loved music list of this genre.

An ambitious ascendancy by a superior revolving free jazz, avant jazz, quirky jazz rock, classical jazz fusion, whatever you call it, jazz infused progressive music praiseworthy group. Fifty years ago, the birth of this far-reaching band shook up the music world with a debut under the name The Soft Machine (taken from a William S. Burroughs novel ‘The Soft Machine’, part of The Nova Trilogy, thereafter, they shortened it to Soft Machine).

From the initial moments, there is euphoric beauty with flute, piano, and floating percussion, followed by nimble eastern integration with a collision of Weather Report, Il Baricentro, Arti+Mestieri, and ECM polish. So tight, so perfectly performed, it makes you jealous.

A Bartok/Crimson/Cross smorgasbord performance that must have made grown men cry, and now everyone can cry, with joy. A powerful live concert that was actually recorded in 2017 to promote Dialeto’s ‘Bartok in Rock’ album (also distributed by MoonJune in USA).

Austrian born Bernadette Zeilinger creates pure magic with her techniques. This is the definitin of being inventive, in its highest form and on a most elevated plateau. This is a true to the word solo, with  Ms Zeilinger producing every ounce of sound and syllable. She has taken wind instruments and voice to a new place. She can play many instruments but on this release she stays with a small collection of Contrabass Recorder, Voice Flute, and Pinkullo (a wooden flute mostly found in the Andes)

A monster eccentric propagative art pop opus!!. Actually set up as a sequel to his 2007 ‘April & I’ release, which was his last offering to the world as a solo artist named Paul Steel, the official title became ‘Carousel Kites’ with a subtitle of such (formerly to be named ‘April & II’). It took Paul ten years to find the time and place to produce this newest gem, due to becoming a husband, father, and provider with a substantial job. After years spent in producing other artists music, and working in the commercial pop world, just to make a living, Paul has arrived once again with music he actually wants to do and has dreamed of doing since a teen. His first full length was ‘Moon Rock’ (2007) and big names such as Andy Partridge (XTC) paid attention to Paul’s talent.