Try simple MB search in case artist is an alias

beetsplug/_utils/musicbrainz.py

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 import operator
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from functools import cached_property, singledispatchmethod, wraps
-from itertools import groupby
+from itertools import chain, groupby
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Literal, ParamSpec, TypedDict, TypeVar
 
 from requests_ratelimiter import LimiterMixin
@@ -185,6 +185,8 @@ class MusicBrainzAPI(RequestHandler):
         self,
         entity: Entity,
         filters: dict[str, str],
+        advanced: bool = True,
+        *args: str,
         **kwargs: Unpack[SearchKwargs],
     ) -> list[JSONDict]:
         """Search for MusicBrainz entities matching the given filters.
@@ -195,11 +197,23 @@ class MusicBrainzAPI(RequestHandler):
           - 'value' is empty, in which case the filter is ignored
         * Values are lowercased and stripped of whitespace.
         """
-        query = " AND ".join(
-            ":".join(filter(None, (k, f'"{_v}"')))
-            for k, v in filters.items()
-            if (_v := v.lower().strip())
-        )
+        if advanced:
+            query = " AND ".join(
+                f'{k}:"{_v}"'
+                for k, v in filters.items()
+                if (_v := v.lower().strip())
+            )
+        else:
+            params = chain(
+                (str(arg) for arg in args),
+                (
+                    f'{k}:"{_v}"'
+                    for k, v in filters.items()
+                    if (_v := v.lower().strip())
+                ),
+            )
+            query = " ".join(params)
+
         log.debug("Searching for MusicBrainz {}s with: {!r}", entity, query)
         kwargs["query"] = query
         return self._get_resource(entity, **kwargs)[f"{entity}s"]

beetsplug/musicbrainz.py

@@ -821,15 +821,20 @@ class MusicBrainzPlugin(MusicBrainzAPIMixin, MetadataSourcePlugin):
         self,
         query_type: Literal["recording", "release"],
         filters: dict[str, str],
+        advanced: bool = True,
+        *args: str,
     ) -> list[JSONDict]:
         """Perform MusicBrainz API search and return results.
 
         Execute a search against the MusicBrainz API for recordings or releases
-        using the provided criteria. Handles API errors by converting them into
-        MusicBrainzAPIError exceptions with contextual information.
+        using the provided criteria.
         """
         return self.mb_api.search(
-            query_type, filters, limit=self.config["search_limit"].get()
+            query_type,
+            filters,
+            advanced,
+            *args,
+            limit=self.config["search_limit"].get(),
         )
 
     def candidates(
@@ -840,7 +845,15 @@ class MusicBrainzPlugin(MusicBrainzAPIMixin, MetadataSourcePlugin):
         va_likely: bool,
     ) -> Iterable[AlbumInfo]:
         criteria = self.get_album_criteria(items, artist, album, va_likely)
-        release_ids = (r["id"] for r in self._search_api("release", criteria))
+        release_ids = [r["id"] for r in self._search_api("release", criteria)]
+
+        if len(release_ids) == 0 and "artist" in criteria:
+            # try a less advanced search if va_likely is False
+            del criteria["artist"]
+            release_ids = [
+                r["id"]
+                for r in self._search_api("release", criteria, False, artist)
+            ]
 
         for id_ in release_ids:
             with suppress(HTTPNotFoundError):