SUN RA AND HIS INTERGALACTIC SOLAR ARKESTRA - SPACE IS THE PLACE - MUSIC FROM THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

• Sun Ra And His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra: Space Is The Place - Music From The Original Soundtrack
      (2023, 2cd+dvd+blu-ray)

Having the "Soundtrack To Space Is The Place" album that got released on the Evidence record label in 1993 as well as the "Space Is The Place" movie on DVD, the 2023 "Space Is The Place" box set was always pushed backwards on my priority list.

Our recent visit to Hamburg was going to solve this inconvenience. The "Space Is The Place" box set was moved from the bottom to the top of my priority list, together with some other recent Sun Ra albums.
Unfortunately, as things turned out, I wasn't able to find a copy. Out of the four Sun Ra releases on my list, I only found one. Too bad. 

I had no choice but to resort to trying to find and to placing an order online. That wasn't easy either. It seems like this box set is close to becoming sold out.

After a bit of a search, earlier this week, the "Space Is The Place - Music From The Original Soundtrack" box set finally arrived.
Two CDs in one digipack: “Space Is The Place” (modern harmonic mhcd-267), plus another digipack with the "Space Is The Place" DVD and blu-ray, and a booklet. All in one nice little box.

I've only listened to the CDs and the sound is great. I'm very happy with the second disc, presenting unreleased material that got recorded at the same sessions.

The box was also released with three LPs replacing the two CDs.
But this CD/DVD/blu-ray box set is great as well.

Recommended. Especially if you don't have the previously released soundtrack or the movie.

"It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet?"

THE ALMOST THREE - THREE

• The Almost Three: Three
      (2017, cd, Germany, pottpeople)

With "Vol. 5" released earlier this year, it looked like a fine opportunity to revisit "Three", released almost ten years ago on the POTTpeople record label.

Hailing from Mülheim an der Ruhr, the band—led by guitarist/vocalist Martin Ettrich alongside bassist Max Schmitz and drummer Benny Korn—showcases their love for blues, heavy funk, and avant-garde rock. For those who are into high-energy, genre-bending power trios, this album is a masterclass in heavy groove.

I love the songs. Especially the gritty vocals, the guitar tone, and the fine choice of cover versions (Joseph Bowie's 'Funk #2015', David Bowie's 'Let's Dance', The Allman Brothers' 'Whippin' Post',...) next to the excellent original material. 

DOMI & JD BECK - WHO ASKED ?

• DOMi & JD Beck: Who Asked?
      (2026, cd, --, blue note / apeshit)
      (2026, 2lp, --, blue note / apeshit)

The hyper-kinetic wunderkinds are back, and they are willfully testing the limits of what a "jazz duo" is supposed to sound like. Following their Grammy-nominated 2022 debut "NOT TiGHT," keyboardist Domi Louna and drummer JD Beck return with their sophomore effort, "Who Asked ?".
This time around, the duo has locked themselves in their Dallas home studio to emerge with an ambitious, highly structured, and downright dizzying slice of avant-garde chamber pop and maximalist jazz-prog.

Unlike the loose, improvisational grease of traditional fusion, "Who Asked ?" was completely meticulously mapped out on notation software before a single instrument was touched. The result is an album that feels entirely intentional—and completely unhinged. The duo handles vocals on nearly every track, creating an intricate web of "indietronica" sliced with Zappa-esque rhythmic sharp-turns and Carl Stalling-level cartoon logic.

Tracks like the fanfare opener 'Epiphanie' and 'Concertino (for Piano, Drums & Orchestra)' weave in a small sinfonietta of seasoned classical players, transforming their signature 1,000-notes-per-second velocity into full-blown orchestral madness. Meanwhile, tracks like 'Small Eyes' slow things down just a hair, blending a blue-mood jazz atmosphere with J Dilla-inspired drum deconstructions.

Beautiful, chaotic, and relentlessly demanding of your attention.

WIDESPREAD PANIC PERFORMED FRANK ZAPPA'S 'MUFFIN MAN' IN CONCERT

Widespread Panic has performed Frank Zappa's "Muffin Man" in concert twice in their history:

* September 19, 2010: The band debuted the song during their second set at the Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore, Maryland. This performance celebrated Baltimore's official "Frank Zappa Day" and the unveiling of a Zappa statue.

* July 25, 2026: Following a 743-show gap, they brought the song back during their first set at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California. This was played during their special five-piece tour run (as Jimmy Herring was absent from this entire West Coast tour as he continued his recovery following his tonsil cancer diagnosis and treatment earlier in the year).

Both concerts have been made available for download / streaming and even on CD from Nugs net.

The album cover for the "Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles, CA – 7/25/2026" album :

• Widespread Panic: Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles, CA – 7/25/2026
      (2026, download / streaming, USA, nugs net)
      (2026, 3cd, USA, nugs net) - incl. ‘Muffin Man’ (F. Zappa)
  
  

NEW PIECE BY EIDON

'景色 (Keshiki)'
by Eidon

NEW ALBUM BY THE ENSEMBLE MODERN

• Ensemble Modern, Peter Eötvös, Bob Rutman – Heiner Goebbels: Walden
     (2026, cd, --, ecm records)

 "Walden consists of a series of musical sketches inspired by the 1854 novel of the same name by Henry David Thoreau”, thus reads the short description of this project by Heiner Goebbels. But those familiar with the oeuvre of the German trans-media conceptualist and composer know that with Goebbels it’s never quite that simple. In his 1998 creation Walden, composed for expanded orchestra with speaker, Goebbels incorporates a wide-flung stream of inspirations and approaches, spanning excerpts from Thoreau’s “Walden”, soundscape-design in the spirit of audio plays, arsenals of outlandish instruments and sonic layouts as much at home in the avantgarde as they borrow from popular music, all brought to life with Peter Eötvös conducting and Bob Rutman a main figure in this project – in the role of the narrator.

-- info: Jan van Kemenade