Ustad Ali Akbar Khan Live in Eugene, OR (1983)

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I was reminded of this recording the other day while listening to “Stir” from the fantastic One Eleven Heavy album, Desire Path. One of the songs references listening to Ali Akbar, and it prompted me to pull out this gem and give is a reconsideration. If you’re not familiar with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, The Wikipedias tell us that Ali Akbar Khan:

“was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he also composed several classical ragas and film scores. He established a music school in Calcutta in 1956, and the Ali Akbar College of Music in 1967, which moved with him to the United States and is now based in San Rafael, California, with a branch in Basel, Switzerland.”

This is a live recording that I’e had for several years, and according to the wonderful Flat, Black and Classical blog (where you can also download the show):

“Here we have another in the series of cassettes which AMMP Music Productions (i.e., the AACM) released in the mid 1980s documenting the Ustad's collection of concert recordings. The story I have heard, not independently verified by any of the principals, is that Mary Johnson Khan began discovering boxes of reels of recordings of live concerts by her husband placed in odd locations in their home. Places like under a couch or in closets. She apparently decided to start to archive these recordings with the goal of eventually making them available to the public.”

Tabla by Swapan Chaudhuri.

Side A of the cassette begins with Khan explaining what he'll play that evening, followed by “Raga Hem Behag:”

Side B of the cassette features “Raga Bihag:”

Hiss Golden Messenger: "Happy Birthday, Baby" Live at Adult Swim

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Hiss Golden Messenger’s MC Taylor has been making the rounds lately in support of the phenomenal album “Terms of Surrender.” Taylor recently stopped by the Adult Swim studios to perform “Happy Birthday, Baby.” Plus, Phil Cook.

If songs like this don’t push you to reconsider all your stupid notions about “Dad Rock,” then I don’t know what to tell you. I love that Taylor is a family man and weaves that throughout his music.

  • Visit Hiss Golden Messenger’s official website.

  • Follow Hiss Golden Messenger at Facebook.

  • Follow Hiss Golden Messenger at Twitter.

  • Support Hiss Golden Messenger at Bandcamp.

  • Purchase Hiss Golden Messenger’s music at Amazon.

Sandy Bull

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Believe it or not, I was recently looking for video of “American Primitive” guitarists on YouTube and there was one glaring absence. Though maybe not as well known as John Fahey, Leo Kottke or even Robbie Basho, Sandy Bull was no less accomplished or influential.

Bull passed away in 2001 but, for whatever reason, had largely gone unnoticed in the public eye. There’s just not a lot out there. That’s part of what makes this new video so exciting. Thanks to Photo of the 21st century for posting this gem: “Acoustic music and interviews taped live in front of an audience in Marina del Rey (Los Angeles) 10/23/89.”

  • Visit Sandy Bull’s page at Drag City.

  • Purchase Sandy Bull’s music at Amazon.

One Eleven Heavy Hot Potato Soup

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Thanks for Curtis Lee Voight for capturing, editing, and sharing this recent footage of One Eleven Heavy live and in the wild. As I posted earlier, I dig One Eleven Heavy. The new album, “Desire Path” has helped solidify the band’s sound while allowing the group to open up and explore more space.

One Eleven Heavy. Live in Plymouth, WI on 9.6.19.

  • Visit the band’s official website.

  • Support One Eleven Heavy at Bandcamp.

  • Follow the group at Facebook.

  • Follow the band at Twitter.

  • Visit One Eleven Heavy’s page at Riot Act Media.

  • Purchase the group’s music at Amazon.

  • View all my posts about One Eleven Heavy.

75 Dollar Bill Y'All

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You know how I keep trying to describe some of my favorite undescribable bands? Well, here’s another one. 75 Dollar Bill is the musical duo of guitarist Che Chen and percussionist Rick Brown. who plays a custom plywood crate. This core is often orbited by other musicians but Chen and Brown are the constants.

The band’s Bandcamp page begins to introduce them by saying:

“Rick Brown was born in San Francisco, CA and is a clerical worker at a law school in NYC. Che Chen was born in New Haven, CT and works for a cancer diagnostics company in Stonybrook, NY. They met via myspace and started playing together as 75 Dollar Bill approximately eight years later. Brown plays percussion and homemade horns and Chen plays electric guitar.”

But this doesn’t begin to do the group’s unique perspective any justice. One of their records comes with a sticker describing them as “Trance-inducing desert blues.” Pitchfork describes them as “blurring genres and record-store categories” and, while that’s correct, it still doesn’t help pinpoint the sound. The Guardian says the music is: “placeless, gripping grooves” and that’s also true but unhelpful. Many will point to Chen’s time in Mauritania as being pivotal for the band, but as Johny Lamb writes for Quietus:

I have noticed that there’s stuff online concerning the influence of Moorish modal music with 75 Dollar Bill, but as far as I can tell, Chen spent only a short time in Mauritania and he acknowledges the impact as inevitably “superficial”. Besides, I think I hear as much John Cale here as I do North West Africa.

Sometimes it is the artists who confound description that best capture the human element of what makes us connect so deeply with music in the first place. It is guttural. Moving. Enticing. Entrancing. It makes us meditate and move and groove. All at once. Swirling guitar meditations float above urgent and insistent percussion. This is what it means to be alive.

Best just to listen for yourselves.

Here’s "WZN#3" live at WFMU in 2016:

Here’s a half-hour live set featuring Steve Maing on guitar and Sue Garner on bass and percussion. This set was wad live at Reverb in Baltimore, 09.04.16.

Joshua Abrams And Natural Information Society Live in Italy

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I often find myself drawn to music that defies easy categorization. I’m not sure how I would describe them to someone who had never heard them. “Long-form, minimalist global drone jazz?” Wikipedia gives it a go by quoting them being called “ecstatic minimalism”.[1]

Like the Necks (previously featured here), the group specializes in long-form, minimalist pieces with unfolding and unraveling melodies that trace themselves insight out. The more I think about it, the more I like the descriptor ““ecstatic minimalism”. There is not not only a sense of introspection to these pieces, but there is also certainly ecstasy to be found for those with ears to hear.

The band’s website says:

“Joshua Abrams formed Natural Information Society (NIS) in 2010. With Abrams' orchestration of traditional & contemporary instrumentation, NIS creates long-form psychedelic environments informed by jazz, minimalism & traditional musics.”

The band’s most recent release, the sprawling 81-minute (with none of them wasted) Mandatory Reality is one of the best releases of 2019 and well worth your time. Pitchfork says the album is a “a minimalist mountain of an album, one whose slow pace and gradual changes prove unusually mesmerizing, even sublime.”

Here is the band performing an amazing set earlier this year Dobialab in Italy. Enjoy.

This lineup features:

  • Joshua Abrams - guimbri, contrabbasso

  • Lisa Alvarado - harmonium, gong

  • Jason Stein - clarinetto basso

  • Mikel Avery - batteria

Tom Waits: Austin City Limits 1978

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Thanks to my good friend Kyle, I had the chance to see Tom Waits at the Palace Theatre in Louisville, KY in 2006. Hands down one of the best live shows I have ever seen and something I will never forget. But forgive me, I’m just bragging.

In 1978, Waits appeared on Austin City Limits. Video of the show sometimes appears on PBS affiliates but to my knowledge, it has never been released in any sort of official capacity (lthough you can watch “Silent Night/Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis” at the Austin City Limits’ page for the show). But that doesn’t mean the concert hasn’t been widely distributed. Along with the 1973 Bob Marley set I posted the other day, this one was a show found on just about every tape trader’s list. At least any tape traders I would trade tapes with.

The night includes a classic setlist:

Summertime/Burma Shave
Annie's Back in Town/I Wish I Was in New Orleans
A Sweet Little Bullet From a Pretty Blue Gun
On the Nickel
Romeo is Bleeding
Silent Night/Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis
Small Change

  • Visit Tom Waits’ official website.

  • Purchase Tom Waits music on Amazon.

Bob Marley Live in Boston 1973

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This is another live recording I’ve held on to for a long time. Just about everyone I know who collects live recordings has it. It’s not a secret recording. It’s not rare. But there are some distortions at as the volume increases and I can see why they did not want it released commercially (at least the recording I have).

But, man, this band is on fire. Don’t let anyone tell you that Reggae is just hippy-dippy beach-bro Sublime with some other singer type-vibes. This band means business and this is one of my favorite recordings. I love the hiss. I love the crackle. I love the distortion. This is protest music, so let’s feel it.

Tracklisting:

  1. Lively Up Yourself

  2. 400 Years

  3. Stir It Up

  4. Slave Driver

  5. Stop That Train

  6. Kinky Reggae

  7. Concrete Jungle

  8. Get Up, Stand Up

  • Visit Bob Marley’s official website.

  • Purchase Bob Marley music at Amazon.

Patiokings: Live at Iron Horse Music Hall 2004

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I don’t remember anything about this band, but I dig this 2004 set at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA and apparently, I helped upload it to the Live Music Archive in 2004. Sorry, but apparently in 2004, I didn’t know how to title the files. But we do have the show information.

I don’t think this band is still around, but I’d like to be proven wrong. Funky soul with groove galore. The perfect soundtrack to your late Summer cookout jam.

Tracklisting and Notes:

First Set
(first tune of the night was Living Like a King but did not get recorded)
Freeman (beginning cut off)
Untitled new tune
Left For the Last Time
Better Than Yesterday
One More Once
Two Steps Away
Cover tune medley
Kings of Kingsford (end cut off)

Second Set
Trouble
Rhythm & Sunshine
Nine to Five
One Way
Keep On
As it Was
Step Down (end cut off)

(Encore was “Living For the City,” Stevie Wonder cover, but did not get recorded)

Notes

Unfortunalety there is some distortion in parts. It was recorded off the board into a four track but the gain was just a little too high.

  • Purchase 2000’s “My Friends and I” at CDBaby.

  • Purchase 2004’s “Brand New Bag” at CDBaby.

  • Purchase Patiokings music at Amazon.

Hoooo-Weeee! One Eleven Heavy! Detroit and NYC!

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If you don’t know the music of One Eleven Heavy, then what kind of friend have I been to you? I’m sorry. Allow me to remedy that. Aquarium Drunkard says:

A transatlantic affair, the group features songwriters James Toth (Wooden Wand) and Nick Mitchell Maiato (Desmadrados Soldados De Ventura), along with bassist Dan Brown (Royal Trux), drummer Ryan Jewell (Solar Motel Band), and pianist Hans Chew (Steve Gunn, Hiss Golden Messenger).

NPR says:

There's a dancing bear slapped on the back of a station wagon cranking out a copy of Europe '72 — it's no deep dive from one of Dick's Picks, but it's a solid collection of live sets, with Grateful Dead at the top of its game. You exchange eyes with the driver, acknowledge the good-times jams, and counter with a '77 date. Soon enough, you're holding up traffic, but the songs keep on truckin'.

This wasn't quite the Cosmic Americana meet-cute for James Toth (Wooden Wand) and Nick Mitchell Maiato (of Manchester psych-rockers Desmadrados Soldados De Ventura), but it's not too far off. When Toth was on a U.K. tour 10 years ago, the two bonded over Crazy Horse, the Dead and Little Feat — rock bands that thrived on wild-eyed improvisation, but still knew how to write an easygoing melody.

The band’s debut Everything’s Better is a terrific slice of Cosmic Americana and the band’s second album Desire Path is due out September 20 and is available for preorder now.

The fabulous NYC Taper recently recorded and posted the One Eleven Heavy 09/01/19 show at Union Pool in NYC. Stream here and head over to the show’s page at NYC Taper to download for yourself. And, please, thank and support tapers and the bands they tape.

And, as if that fabulous recording is not enough, the fantastic Detroit Lightning blog recorded and posted the band’s 09/05/19 show at Outer Limits Lounge, Hamtramck, MI. You can stream the show here but head over to the show’s page at Detroit Lightning to download the show for yourself. And, please, thank and support tapers and the bands they tape.

Hear “Mardi Gras” from the upcoming album Desire Path.

  • Visit the band’s official website.

  • Support One Eleven Heavy at Bandcamp.

  • Follow the group at Facebook.

  • Follow the band at Twitter.

  • Visit One Eleven Heavy’s page at Riot Act Media.

  • Purchase the group’s music at Amazon.

Papa Mali Live at The Catacomb on 2001-07-08

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This is another great live show that I’ve been holding on to for years. Why not share it?! I just realized that this show also has a page at the Live Music Archive and it says that I was involved in uploading it, which I only vaguely remember. In keeping with looking back on the incredible Fog City Records lineup, here is Papa Mali Live at The Catacomb in San Francisco on 2001-07-08.

This is not a complete show and was recorded from a stream that was presented by Fog City’s Dan Prothero.

Tracklisting:

01. Talking
02. Sugarland
03. Sweet Potato Vine
04. Talking
05. Walk on Guilded Splinters
06. People Get Ready *
07. Feel Like Going Home

Notes

* w/ Chuck Prophet

This is not a complete show. I don’t know of any recordings of the full show. This was originally posted to the Web by Dan Prothero as a streaming REAL media file. It was captured from this streaming file and as such, may have a couple of very minor dropouts. While this is not a complete show, it is terrific! Great sound quality and absolutely solid playing. This is a solo performance by Papa Mali (with the exception of Chuck Prophet sitting in on one track), which seem hard to come by in the download world.

  • Visit the show’s page at the Live Music Archive to download the show for yourself.

  • Follow Papa Mali on Facebook.

  • Follow Papa Mali on Twitter.

  • Purchase Papa Mali’s music on Amazon.

JJ Grey and Mofro: BOOM BOOM!

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Here is another live show that I acquired somewhere along the way when I used to do a lot of trading.

You can visit the show’s Live Music Archive page to download the show for yourself, or you can stream it below, download it here as one big file.

I think this was still when they were just going by Mofro and were associated with the Fog City Records label. There was a period when I would buy any album on Fog City. Papa Mali, Galactic, Mofro, Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, Stanton Moore, Garage a Trois, come on, son. Fog City ruled.

Anyway, enjoy JJ Grey and Mofro live at the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco, courtesy of Fog City’s Dan Prothero.

  • Visit JJ Grey and Mofro’s official website.

  • Follow the group on Facebook.

  • Follow JJ Grey and Mofro at Twitter.

Lyle Lovett: Live at the Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis, MN (01.27.92)

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Here’s a nice live set from January, 1992 by Lyle Lovett. I don’t remember where I got this recording but it’s a clear and clean soundboard recording and includes a nice selection of early-ish material including one of my personal favorite songs “If I Had A Boat,” from the 1987 album Pontiac. This show also features a terrific version of “LA County” from the same 1987 release.

I couldn’t find out anything about this show but it would have been between 1989’s Lyle Lovett and His Large Band album and Joshua Judges Ruth, which came out March 1992, about a month after this concert. He previews several songs from the album and references it being released.

This show features Lovett on acoustic guitar, accompanied by bass, cello, and percussion. The song audio quality is clear and audible but the talky parts (and there are several) are very quiet. This show came to me as-is as one complete file. It did not include any source information. You know what I do. I have not done anything to it other than hoard it for many years and now pass it along for you.

“You Can’t Resist it” and “North Dakota", both from Joshua Judges Ruth are standouts for me, but this show includes a performances a performance of one of my favorite songs: “If I Had A Boat” and closes out the night with the Dead’s “Friend of the Devil.”

Definitely worth a listen.

The Necks in Three Performances

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The Necks are a piano jazz trio from Australia. Though it’s probably a bit misleading to let you think that they are filling smoking bars with jazz standards. “Avant-Jazz” might be a bit more appropriate. The Necks specialize in long-form improvisational pieces that blur the lines between jazz and minimalism.

As you might expect, they develop a theme and then deconstruct and recreate that theme. Their typical track is about an hour long. The Free Music Archive has made available three different radio appearances, which you can stream or download below.

The Necks Live at WFMU 2/10/2009 

  • Visit the Necks official website.

  • Visit the group at Facebook.

  • Purchase The Necks’ music at Bandcamp.

  • Purchase The Necks’ music at Amazon.





Naan Violence

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Sitar and electronics your thing? Want some flute too? Cosmic jams for the Global Elite. Not to be confused with Vindaloo Against Violence, Naan Violence plays sitar-based cosmic jams that are right up my alley.

Arjun Kulharya of Atlanta, GA heads Naan Violence, which Aquarium Drunkard describes as:

“Cosmically and spiritually in line with forebears such as Sun Ra and Ravi / Ananda Shankar, Kulharya’s work also finds itself of a piece with fellow chromatic travelers and contemporaries such as Bitchin Bajas.”

Kulharya told Memphis Magazine: “With this band, I wasn't interested in playing traditional music," Kulharya says. "I really dig Sun Ra and I think that probably has something to do with our sound."

Yes, please. The fine folks over at Southern Shelter have made two live tracks available, which are certainly worth sharing. These were recorded and made available by Southern Shelter, so if you can donate, please send a little support their way.

Naan Violence @ Caledonia Lounge 2013-11-21.

“Brown Summer”

“Eight Trips From The Moon”

  • Purchase Naan Violence music from Zap Cassettes.

  • Listen to the track “Breakfast with the Sirens of Infinity" on Episode 14 of the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Ryley Walker's "Psych-Jam" Set At Union Pool

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I haven’t been feeling well lately, so I missed out on seeing Ryley Walker at Valley Bar, one of my favorite Phoenix venues. But don’t worry, I’m sure that staying home sick as a parent to 8 kids was just as fun as seeing a great artist in an intimate venue.

Though I have been tempted to drown my sorrows in Hot Toddys (or is the plural “Hot Toddies”?), instead I am listening to Walker’s “Psych Jam” set at NYC’s Union Pool from NYC Taper.

The show’s page provides context:

“Ryley Walker’s March residency at Union Pool covered all the bases of Walker’s sound, from relatively “straight-ahead” song-based performances to instrumental blowouts with friends and colleagues like Ryan Jewell and Steve Gunn. Count this final night’s performance firmly in the latter camp, as Walker and residency mainstay Jewell were joined by David Grubbs (Gastr del Sol, others) and C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core) for a full set of avant-garde experimentation that found Walker stepping away from the mic but fully present as guitarist and spiritual force.”

Enough talking. Let’s jam.

Elkhorn: Acid Folk Guitar For The Discerning Ear

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Elkhorn often includes a rotating cast of musicians but is centered on the dynamic guitar duo of Jesse Sheppard and Drew Gardner. The group’s Bandcamp bio says:

“Folk/psych-rock guitar duo featuring Jesse Sheppard on twelve-string acoustic and Drew Gardner on electric, interweaving the extended folk tradition with psychedelic improvisation, moving freely from pre-rock to post-rock, from the 1860s to the 1960s and beyond.”

The group recently released two albums of fantastic guitar explorations: Sun Cycle and Elk Jam on Feeding Tube Records, both of which are highly recommended. The terrific sweetblahg recently posted a terrific recording of Elkhorn with drummer Charles Rumback at Elastic Arts in Chicago, saying:

“Most appropriate for this first-time meeting of the minds, only one of these jams has been released - Song of the Son on the aforementioned Sun Cycle. The opening Raga > Distances, while technically two songs, plays as one flowing multi-section suite that I hope gets studio treatment sooner than later. The closing number, Train, is one that they try to play whenever they encounter a capable drummer, and Rumback really shines on it.”

Here’s the deets including setlist:

Elkhorn + Charles Rumback
4.14.2019 @ Elastic Arts
Chicago, IL

Raga > Distances
Song of the Son
Train

Watch the official video for “To See Darkness” from the album Sun Cycle on Feeding Tube Records.

Dire Wolves Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band In Milwaukee

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Thanks to the wonderful Milwaukee Taper site, here are two performances from Dire Wolves Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band (We’ve already highlighted the band here). Both shows were April 13, 2019 with an afternoon show at Acme Records and Music Emporium and the evening show at the Milwaukee Psych Festival.

Here is the afternoon show at Acme Records and Music Emporium in Milwaukee on April 13, 2019. Download the show from the Milwaukee Taper site.

Here is the evening show Milwaukee Psych Festival on April 13, 2019. Download the show from the Milwaukee Taper site.

  • Visit the band’s official site

  • Visit the show’s page at the NYCTaper site

  • Download the show from its Live Music Archive Page

  • Support the band at Bandcamp

  • Follow the band on Facebook

  • Read a terrific interview with the band at It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine.

The Myrrors: “Sonoran Trance Music” from Tucson via Fuzz Club Eindhoven 2019

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“Sonoran Trance Music” from Tucson via Fuzz Club Eindhoven 2019.

Check out this live set from 23.8.19 at Fuzz Club Festival, Eindhoven.




“Big thanks to Groovy Al Wyatt for filming.”

Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records.

Sunwatchers: February 22, 2019 The Glove by NYC Taper

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Sunwatchers: February 22, 2019 The Glove by NYC Taper

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Sunwatchers’ Facebook page describes the band as “Punk Jazz Drone” and really wants you to know what they’re all about in all caps:

SUNWATCHERS STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE DISPOSSESSED, IMPOVERISHED AND EMBATTLED PEOPLE OF THE WORLD.

That’s a sentiment we will stand with. Especially when the music is as vibrant as this. Who knew instrumental music could be political? We all did, son. NYC Taper, to whom we are all indebted for this show says:

Sunwatchers make no secret of their politics — heck, they’re written right on the cover of their previous album, II. They’re far from the only “rock” band (if you can even call them that) to use a saxophone, of course, but in Jeff Tobias’ hands, the instrument itself becomes political, recalling elements of spiritual and free jazz. Peter Kerlin, Jason Robira and Jim McHugh make a hell of an avant-rock trio, but it’s the defiant tone of that sax, the holy cry, that seals the band’s sound.

The band’s most recent album Illegal Moves is one of my favorite albums of 2019. I’ve been jammin this 2019 February set at The Glove and I think you will too.

  • Visit the Sunwatchers Facebook page.

  • Follow Sunwatchers at Twitter.

  • Visit the show’s page at the NYC Taper site.

  • Download the show from its page on the Live Music Archive.

  • Purchase the group’s music at Bandcamp.

  • Purchase the group’s music at Amazon.

Sunwatchers2019-02-22The GloveBrooklyn, NY USARecorded and produced by acidjackSchoeps MK4V (FOB, ROC, PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices MixPre 6>24/48 WAV>Adobe Audition CC>Izotope Ozone 5>Audacity 2.2.2>FLAC ( level 8 )