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Brooklyn Rider

The Brooklyn Rider Almanac

Mercury Classics
Release Date: September 30, 2014

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Brooklyn Rider: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert / May 12, 2010
Brooklyn Rider Plays Debussy's String Quartet Live on WNYC - Soundcheck
Brooklyn Rider Plays
Bela Fleck & Brooklyn Rider @ Telluride Bluegrass Festival 6/22/14
Live at Fraser
1 Necessary Henry! - Rubin Kodheli
2 Maintenance Music - Dana Lyn
3 Simpson's Gap - Padma Newsome
4 The Haring Escape - Daniel Cords
5 Show Me - Aoife O'Donovan
6 Dig The Say - Vijay Iyer
7 Quartet, Parts One & Two - Greg Saunier
8 Morris Dance - Ethan Iverson
9 Exit - Colin Jacobsen
10 One Five-Legged Cat - Gonzalo Grau
11 Tralala - Christina Courtin
12 Ping Pong Fumble Thaw - Glenn Kotche
13 John Steinbeck - Bill Frisell
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Brooklyn Rider-"the future of chamber music," according to Strings magazine-celebrates its 10th anniversary this fall with a major multi-disciplinary project called the Brooklyn Rider Almanac, beginning with a new Mercury Classics album of specially commissioned work from a diverse group of composers, set for worldwide release on September 30. In the cross-disciplinary spirit of Der Blaue Reiter ("The Blue Rider"), the legendary European artistic collective that is the group's namesake, each work-by musicians including Bill Frisell, Padma Newsome, Vijay Iyer, Aoife O'Donovan, Glenn Kotche from the Grammy Award-winning rock band Wilco, and Greg Saunier from the rock band Deerhoof-is inspired by a creative muse of the composer's choice from the past half-century, ranging from groundbreaking composer Igor Stravinsky to king of funk James Brown to Mississippi novelist William Faulkner to iconic choreographer Mark Morris.

To complement the new album, the group has also initiated collaborations with artists from a wide spectrum of genres to create an ambitious body of directly related work. This will include videos, animation, choreography, photo essays, articles, interviews and remixes that will be released periodically throughout the 2014-15 season via YouTube, social media and the group's website. Featured artists include animation artist Becky James; choreographers Brian Brooks, John Heginbotham, and Damian Woetzel; dancer Lil Buck; fashion designer Bradon McDonald; photographers Erin Baiano and Ingrid Hertfelder; visual artist Kevork Mourad; and English professor Heidi Kim.

Inspiration has been the very lifeblood of our tradition since the days of Mozart's six 'Haydn' quartets, lovingly dedicated to the progenitor of our medium. Across the musical ages, it has just as often been the case that composers look outside of the sphere of music for creative inspiration. Over a century ago, the cross-disciplinary relationship between the German composer Arnold Schoenberg and Russian-born artist Wassily Kandinsky greatly affected each of their creative psyches. The string quartet played a supporting role in their first encounter, and we look to their symbiotic friendship as a springboard for the Brooklyn Rider Almanac. … The unquenchable drive for artistic exploration and open embrace of the collective spirit displayed by Der Blaue Reiter are similarly hallmarks of today's artistic zeitgeist, and the Brooklyn Rider Almanac attempts to honor the present.

  • Chamber and world music collide in Brooklyn Rider's free-spirited collaboration - Starlighter / THE IRISH TIMES
    Posted At: September 1, 2023 12:00 AM
    Hailed as "the future of chamber music" (Strings), the game-changing string quartet Brooklyn Rider offers eclectic repertoire in gripping performances that continue to attract legions of fans and draw rave reviews from classical, world, and rock critics alike. NPR credits Brooklyn Rider with "recreating the 300-year-old form of string quartet as a vital and creative 21st-century ensemble"; the Los Angeles T...
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  • Johnny Gandelsman: This Is America A wide-angle lens on a country in disarray / THE IRISH TIMES
    Posted At: June 24, 2022 12:00 AM
    An epic journey into the darkest heart of the US that soothes and provokes but rarely disappointsTHE IRISH TIMES - Siobhán Long writes….Violinist and composer Johnny Gandelsman is a founder of Brooklyn Rider and a regular member and Grammy-winning producer of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. This Is America is his response to the tumultuous events of the past few years, from the pandemic to the climate crisis...
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  • Johnny Gandelsman's 'This Is America' set for San Francisco's St. Marks Lutheran Church / San Francisco Chronicle
    Posted At: February 6, 2022 12:00 AM
    Grammy award winning violinist and producer Johnny Gandelsman's musical voice reflects the artistic collaborations he has been a part of since moving to the United States in 1995. Richard Brody of The New Yorker has called Johnny Gandelsman “revelatory” in concert, placing him in the company of “radically transformative” performers like Maurizio Pollini, Peter Serkin and Christian Zacharias. ...
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  • Watch Brooklyn Rider in gripping performance from GBH: Fraser Performance Studio
    Posted At: November 26, 2020 12:00 AM

    The 63rd Grammy Awards nominations confirmed what we at Front Row Boston already knew: that despite an industry shuttering global pandemic, it was a stellar year in music. We had the pleasure of capturing some of the nominated musicians as they coursed their way through the Boston area. From intimate in-studio sessions to full concert recordings at House of Blues Boston. Brooklyn Rider presented a gr...
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  • Even Beethoven sounded contemporary in Brooklyn Rider's 'Frankly Music series' date / URBAN MILWAUKEE
    Posted At: April 9, 2019 12:00 AM

    You can usually spot a contemporary music ensemble by its provocative name: Alarm Will Sound, eighth blackbird, red fish blue fish, Roomful of Teeth, etc. Last night at St. Paul's Episcopal Church I heard Brooklyn Rider, a string quartet bold enough to not include the word "quartet" in its name. The group has recorded all of Philip Glass's quartets and has played a vital role in New York's new-music scen...
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  • Johnny Gandelsman takes on Bach's complex sonatas and partitas / NPR: Fresh Air
    Posted At: May 29, 2018 12:00 AM

    Violinist Johnny Gandelsman has been celebrated for playing a wide variety of music, from purely classical to the most inventive contemporary pieces. He takes on Bach's complex sonatas and partitas on his new album. Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin are as big a test for a violinist as his cello suites are for a solo cellist. FRESH AIR Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says the...
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  • Kayhan Kalhor jojns Brooklyn Rider for OSU Presents at LaSells Stewart Center / Corvallis Gazette Times
    Posted At: May 22, 2018 12:00 AM

    Brooklyn Rider, a New York City-based string quartet, will team up with Kayhan Kalhor, a master of Iranian and Kurdish music, for a Thursday night 5/24 concert at Oregon State University. The concert, part of the OSU School of Arts and Communications Presents series, at the LaSells Stewart Center. Brooklyn Rider. founded in 2008, draws on influences beyond the traditional classical realm. The group h...
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  • Orlando Phil celebrates 25 years - with Colin Jacobsen and Yo-Yo Ma / Orlando Weekly
    Posted At: May 7, 2018 12:00 AM

    Founded in 1993, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates its quarter-century mark this week with an anniversary concert. The Phil has a reputation for programming that utilizes special guests, and this concert is no different. In addition to conductor Eric Jacobsen's violinist brother and former collaborator in vaunted string quartet Brooklyn Rider, Colin, the Phil brings in the world's most famous...
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  • Getting ready for Johnny Gandelsman and Bach by way of Daniel Barenboim / Violinist.com
    Posted At: March 14, 2018 12:00 AM

    I'm not sure why Daniel Barenboim's brief talk on how to listen to music popped up on YouTube as a selection I might enjoy. But I'm grateful that it did. Next week I have the wonderful opportunity to hear Johnny Gandelsman perform Bach's Sonatas & Partitas (March 24, 8:00PM, St. John's Cathedral) at the innovative Big Ears music festival in Knoxville, TN. (I've also been asked to write about the ...
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  • Brooklyn Rider balances program for HowardCC / The Baltimore Sun
    Posted At: February 16, 2018 12:00 AM

    Candlelight Concert Society's next program has a something old/something new quality. That's because the classical music ensemble known as Brooklyn Rider (Nicholas Cords, Colin Jacobsen, Michael Nicolas ,and Johnny Gandelsman) balances two works from the standard repertory with two contemporary works for its concert on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. in Howard Community College's Smith Theatre. As its na...
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  • Bela Fleck and Brooklyn Rider bring their collective range to Edmond OK's Armstrong Auditorium / City-sentinel
    Posted At: January 15, 2018 12:00 AM

    Legendary banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck and the popular string quartet Brooklyn Rider will bring their stylistic range to the Armstrong Auditorium in Edmond on Tuesday, January 16, at 7:30 p.m. Fleck and the quartet will combine their many talents for one night only to showcase the program Night Flight Over Water. The evening will include works from Brooklyn Rider's versatile repertoire, sol...
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  • Brooklyn Rider set to open Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival / The Daily Progress
    Posted At: September 6, 2017 12:00 AM

    This year's Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival will begin its 18th season this weekend with three performances by innovative string quartet Brooklyn Rider. Brooklyn Rider features violinist Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords and cellist Michael Nicolas. The quartet's program for Friday's season opener at the Paramount Theater will include Gabriel Faure's "Trio in D mino...
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  • Colin Jacobsen and The Knights collaborate with - Jacob's Pillow for 'The Principles of Uncertainty' / MassLive
    Posted At: August 20, 2017 12:00 AM

    p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} The Principles of Uncertainty (Aug. 23 - 27) will be performed in the Doris Duke Theatre.  Jacob's Pillow Dance Award-winner John Heginbotham and acclaimed illustrator Maira Kalman join forces for the world premiere of The Principles of Uncertainty. This 'Set design meets dance theatre' piece was co-commissioned by the P...
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  • Brooklyn Rider plays Rockport's Shalin Liu Performance Center / Boston Globe review
    Posted At: January 27, 2017 12:00 AM

    Walking through Rockport on a winter night, golden lights shine outside quaint shops, none of which are open. Wood smoke's pungent sweetness floods the senses. On Main Street by the water, the roar and crash of the sea can be heard, the rare whoosh of a passing car melding indiscernibly with the natural sound. It seems a scene removed from time. In the Shalin Liu Performance Center, against a backdrop of...
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  • Brooklyn Rider plays SC's Chamber Music on Main at the Columbia Museum of Art / Free Times review
    Posted At: December 13, 2016 12:00 AM

    Brooklyn Rider played Chamber Music on Main at the Columbia Museum of Art on Friday - Dec. 9, 2016. There were no changes of costumes, bizarre items on stage, dancing or any other non-conventional items. There was just Brooklyn Rider playing in varying modes of dress - only one with a tie, one with a vest, one in blue jeans, all delightful and comfortable. It's an argument worth having why classical perf...
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  • Johnny Gandelsman talks Beethoven with Michigan State Radio
    Posted At: December 5, 2016 12:00 AM

    "Four classical musicians performing with the energy of young rock stars." That's what one Pittsburgh Post-Gazette music writer said of the New York-based acclaimed string quartet Brooklyn Rider.  Violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords and cellist Michael Nicholas make up the ensemble.  Johnny's dad Yuri Gandelsman is professor of viola at MSU. Brook...
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  • Michigan State University's college of music hosts Brooklyn Rider
    Posted At: November 22, 2016 12:00 AM

    String Quartet - Brooklyn Rider (Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violins; Nicholas Cords, viola; and Michael Nicolas, cello), recently enjoyed their 10th anniversary as an ensemble. Over the years the quartet has performed in such varied settings as Joe's Pub in New York City, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Todai-ji Temple in Japan, the Library of Congress and the South By Southwest Festival. In ...
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  • Brooklyn Rider welcomes Cellist - Michael Nicolas / Deutsche Welle
    Posted At: June 24, 2016 12:00 AM

    Deutsche Welle Sarah spends the day with bagels and Brooklyn Rider, one of New York´s finest and most experimental string quartets. In this episode they play a concert at National Sawdust as part of the New York Philharmonic Biennial. The concert is a bittersweet occasion, saying goodbye to founding member, cellist Eric Jacobsen, but welcoming new member Michael Nicolas. One-fourth of the...
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  • Eric Jacobsen faces a double challenge in Orlando / Salon.com
    Posted At: June 6, 2016 12:00 AM

    As a young, classical music conductor in a town known more for Mickey Mouse than Mahler, Eric Jacobsen faces a double challenge: Live up to the promise of his youth and innovative background, and somehow discover the magic formula to lure young audiences to the concert hall. "Some people feel that since I'm young, I'm going to somehow have the answers for bringing in a younger audience," Jacobsen...
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  • Orlando Phil MD Eric Jacobsen performs with Brooklyn Rider for the last time / Orlando Weekly
    Posted At: April 27, 2016 12:00 AM

    Funk may be the wrong musical style to evoke in an item about string quartet Brooklyn Rider, but we can't stop hearing Sly and the Family Stone as we think about this show. "It's a family affair," all right; brothers Colin and Eric Jacobsen (violinist and cellist, respectively) have formed the backbone of the ensemble since its formation 10 years ago. (Violinist Johnny Gandelsman and violist Nich...
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  • Brooklyn Rider featured this week on - WNYC: New Sounds
    Posted At: February 11, 2016 12:00 AM

    For this WNYC - New Sounds titled, More Music for Pictures at an Exhibition listen to music inspired by some of the great painters of the 20thCentury: Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró, Egon Schiele, and Paul Klee. There's music by Joan LaBarbara and Brooklyn Rider, along with music by the chamber rock/post-rock group Rachel's and musical miniatures by drummer/composer Bobby Previte. ...
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  • Brooklyn Rider gets new Cellist
    Posted At: January 22, 2016 12:00 AM

    The torch - or at least the cello bow - is being passed to Michael Nicolas at indie-classical ensemble Brooklyn Rider, as founding member Eric Jacobsen decamps to pursue his conducting career. "It's going to be an adventure," Nicolas explains, noting that he has never been a member of a string quartet before. After graduating from Juilliard in 2004, Nicolas played cello in the Montreal Symphony Orche...
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  • Think you know string quartets? / The New Orleans Advocate
    Posted At: January 7, 2016 12:00 AM

    When you hear the words "string quartet," what images comes to mind? Stone-faced, tuxedo-clad, clean-shaven musicians, methodically performing the music of long-dead composers, perhaps? The members of this classically trained quartet of 30-somethings are anything but stereotypical, both in appearance and repertoire. They're on a mission to demystify the chamber music genre, making it appealing to wid...
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  • Brooklyn Rider closes Stillwater Music Festival in style / Minneapolis Star Tribune
    Posted At: August 29, 2015 12:00 AM

    Parting is, they say, such sweet sorrow, and there was certainly sadness in the air at the closing evening of the Stillwater Music Festival. Ten years ago when Brooklyn Rider launched the annual event, it was one among dozens of young, wannabe string quartets looking for an angle in an overcrowded chamber music market. Now it has the angle and its crowded professional schedule means goodbye to Stillwater...
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  • Eric Jacobsen named new music director of Orlando Philharmonic / Orlando Sentinel
    Posted At: May 5, 2015 12:00 AM

    Eric Jacobsen, known around the globe for his work with cutting-edge string quartet Brooklyn Rider and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, is the new music director of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. "It's a great honor that a musician of his caliber is joining us," said David Schillhammer, the Phil's executive director. "His qualities of leadership, inspiration, passion and compassion will lift our organizati...
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  • Brooklyn Rider Blurs Classical Boundaries On 'Almanac' / NPR: Fresh Air
    Posted At: April 30, 2015 12:00 AM

    Some 30 years ago, the Kronos Quartet created a sensation by releasing an album of chamber music that included an arrangement of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze." Now Brooklyn Rider, another gifted string quartet, is again blurring the boundaries between classical and more popular kinds of chamber music.  Called - "the future of chamber music," by Strings magazine, Brooklyn Rider celebrated...
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  • Brooklyn Rider comes to Louisville / Louisville.com
    Posted At: April 16, 2015 12:00 AM

    What can you say about Brooklyn Rider?  They are a string quartet featuring Johnny Gandelsman (violin), Colin Jacobsen (violin), Nichoals Cords (viola), and Eric Jacobsen (cello) – and they have blossomed from highly competitive music scene that explodes from the concrete jungle of New York City.  While the general structure of their quartet is a centuries old template in the world of cha...
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  • Brooklyn Rider plays Schwab Auditorium / The Daily Collegian
    Posted At: April 15, 2015 12:00 AM

    Brooklyn Rider performed last night at Penn State's Schwab Auditorium for many. The stage was set for the performers as it was lit in light purple with a background that compared to an opera stage. The quartet ( Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, Nicholas Cords playing the viola and Eric Jacobsen ) walked on the stage and did not waste any playing time. The music they were playing could be de...
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  • Brooklyn Rider play Celebrity Series: Stave Sessions / The Boston Musical Intelligencer
    Posted At: March 25, 2015 12:00 AM

    The Boston debut of the string quartet Brooklyn Rider came Friday as one of five "Stave Sessions" which have extended the regular fare of Celebrity Series programs. From what I saw and heard, the concept should be adjudged a huge success. The venue, the Calder-esque Berklee School of Music's cafetorium, complete with full bar and café tables, was not your traditional concert space, and the crowd s...
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  • Brooklyn Rider plays Washington Performing Arts / Washington Post
    Posted At: March 24, 2015 12:00 AM

    Brooklyn Rider, the string quartet from Brooklyn everybody talks about, played a concert at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue on Saturday night March 21 under the auspices of Washington Performing Arts. The only common denominator of its program, 12 new works created between 2012 and 2014, was that everything was written for string quartet. Played with complete commitment, sympathy and fierce virtuosi...
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  • Brooklyn Rider plays UCSB Arts and Lectures / Santa Barbara Independent review
    Posted At: January 28, 2015 12:00 AM

    Brooklyn Rider played UCSB Arts and Lectures last Thursday night January 22, and the concert was part of a 10th anniversary celebration for the genre-defying string quartet. The group, which includes Johnny Gandeslman, violin; Colin Jacobsen, violin; Nicholas Cords, viola; and Eric Jacobsen, cello, burst on the scene a decade ago as one of the sparks thrown by Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project, and they ...
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  • Johnny Gandelsman plays Bach@MIT's Killian Hall / Boston Globe review
    Posted At: January 6, 2015 12:00 AM

    Of the many works for solo violin, Bach's unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas seem to live on their own island: a student's crucible, a serious listener's gift, an artist's Rorschach to which he or she returns over the many seasons of a life in music, finding new shapes and new meanings on every visit. Just take a moment to consider the fact that this cycle was completed around 1720, but any complete ...
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  • Brooklyn Rider's Crossover Energy / New York Times feature
    Posted At: December 1, 2014 12:00 AM

    The string quartet scene, too, buzzes with crossover energy. On Monday at Zankel Hall, Brooklyn Rider performs selections from its new album, "Almanac" (Mercury Classics), featuring pieces commissioned by a rainbow of musicians from the worlds of folk, indie rock and jazz. Last month, the Danish String Quartet presented arrangements of Scandinavian folk tunes taken from its new CD, "Wood Works" (Dacapo),...
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  • The Brooklyn Rider Almanac is WFMT: New Release Of the Week
    Posted At: November 9, 2014 12:00 AM

    Brooklyn Rider celebrates its 10th anniversary this fall with a multi-disciplinary project called the Brooklyn Rider Almanac, beginning with a new album of specially commissioned works from a diverse group of composers. In the cross-disciplinary spirit of the "The Blue Rider," the European artistic collective that is the group's namesake, each work is inspired by a creative muse of the composer's choice ...
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  • Brooklyn Rider interview on Syndicated - New Classical Tracks
    Posted At: November 5, 2014 12:00 AM

    LISTEN TO JULIE AMACHER'S INTERVIEW. Transcript below. New Classical Tracks is Syndicated on PRI's Classical 24 & throughout the state of Minnesota on Minnesota Public Radio For the past couple of years, the genre-bending ensemble Brooklyn Rider has been digging into a project that violist Nicholas Cords believes speaks to why it's a string quartet in the first place. "We try...
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  • Brooklyn Rider Interview with WCRB Radio - Boston
    Posted At: November 3, 2014 12:00 AM

    At the beginning of the 20th century, the Munich-based artistic collaborative Der Blaue Reiter ("The Blue Rider") sourced inspiration from multiple creative disciplines and genres, from paintings to essays to puppetry. Drawing from their name and creative process, the globally celebrated string quartet Brooklyn Rider celebrates its 10th anniversary with a visionary new album, "The Brooklyn Rider Almanac"...
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