New Music Friday Releases: Here are ten excellent-sounding albums you need to hear this weekend, from pop to hip hop!
Want to get your audiophile music fix? Check out the new albums we picked out for you this week! (Albums are arranged according to more traditional audiophile categories like jazz and blues at the top and the non-traditional audiophile genres at the bottom.) Listen to the TIDAL and Qobuz streams below!
The Album Of The Week is Frank Zappa’s “Waka/Wazoo”. This project celebrates the half-century mark of Frank Zappa’s groundbreaking early 1970s Electric Orchestra and its two resulting albums, “Waka/Jawaka” and “The Grand Wazoo.”
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Zappa and his crew began rehearsals for the album recording sessions sometime in late March or early April of 1972, and once the material was honed to his satisfaction, they decamped to Paramount Studios to begin recording on April 10, 1972.
By the end of the month, Zappa, who handled production, guitar, and conducting duties, had recorded the majority of two albums, Waka/Jawaka, a jazz-influenced album containing six to nine musicians, and The Grand Wazoo, an epic and ambitious jazz-fusion album containing eight to 20 musicians.
The five-disc multi-format box set (and four-volume streaming release) is dropping today, December 16, just days before what would have been Zappa’s 82nd birthday. Waka/Wazoo contains alternate takes of almost every recording made during the album sessions, outtakes from the separate Vault mix session, and rarities.
Waka/Wazoo also includes the full final show of Zappa’s 10-piece tour to support the music, recorded at the famous Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on December 15, 1972.
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New Music Friday Releases: Frank Zappa – “Waka/Wazoo”
1. Nadje Noordhuis-“Full Circle” (Qobuz)
2. Dario Lessing -“DNA II” (Qobuz)
3. Pony Bradshaw -“North Georgia Rounder, Ch 1-4” (Qobuz)
4. The Smile -“The Smile (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival)” (Qobuz)
5. Frank Zappa – “Waka/Wazoo” (Qobuz)
6. Circa Survive – “Two Dreams” (Qobuz)
7. Little Simz – “NO THANK YOU” (Qobuz)
8. Ab-Soul – “HERBERT” (Qobuz)
9. The Alchemist – “The Alchemist Sandwich” (Qobuz)
10. Young Dolph – “Paper Route Frank” (Qobuz)
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