Bill's Prog Blog

Stratovarius promo card giveaway winners

2011-01-24T20:40:00.001-05:00

The winners of the Stratovarius Elysium promo download cards are as follows:

Partha M.

Carlos Gómez

something_wicked

I still have 2 available promo download cards available...if interested, drop a reply to this post and I'll take the first two replies!

Thanks for taking part...I hope to have more giveaways in the future!

(More than) 10 Questions with...John and Dave of Shadow Circus

2011-01-21T20:03:00.000-05:00

I’m not sure how to introduce this interview.

And for me, that’s saying something. Because I am rarely at a loss for words.

Shadow Circus is a band out of NJ. I got their self-released debut album Welcome to the Freakshow a few years back, and thought it enjoyable, but it kinda fell out of my rotation not long after picking it up. There was promise there, but…it didn’t seem quite all gelled for me.

How times have changed.

Whispers and Screams, the band’s second album, blows that debut out of the water so much that not even dental records will help identify it. From the 30-plus minute ‘Project Blue’ suite, based off Stephen King’s mammoth novel The Stand, through individual tracks like ‘Willoughby’ or ‘…Then in July, the Thunder Came,’ the new Shadow Circus release was proof positive that this was a band that had grown a massive amount in an incredibly short period of time. Hell, even I was blown away by how far the band had grown from their first release…it was like listening to two different bands entirely.

John Fontana and David Bobick were amazingly kind enough to answer a few questions for me (and by proxy, you). Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, please turn your attention to the centre ring…Dave Bobick and John Fontana!

1 When did you first discover an interest in/a love of music?

Dave Bobick: Well, my Mom says that I used to be able to just walk up to a piano and just start plucking out melodies to songs and that was when I was 5 years old or so but to be honest, what really fueled it was simply one date and one record…1977: KISS: Alive II. That was pretty much it for me. That band and that album has influenced pretty much every facet of my life. To playing guitar. To singing and even eventually Musical theater. What a major deal that was for a 12 year old kid.

John Fontana: I think that I started taking music seriously when I was about 10 years old, and decided that my favorite album was The Steve Miller Band's Book of Dreams. Which, come to think of it, had many of the elements that drew me to prog - the harmony vocals, Moogs and Hammonds - I guess those were the first sounds that really grabbed me. I remember that Led Zeppelin's "The Rain Song" sounded very profound to me at an early age. I was listening to classical for my studies in school, so I was quick to pick up on classical influences in rock. And it must have been Heart's "Magic Man" where I first had my face melted by that incredible Moog solo, so that was an important moment.

2 What bands or artists were your biggest early influences?

John: Early on it was Zeppelin, Yes, ELP, Rush, Pink Floyd.

Dave: KISS…hands down. To this very day.

3 How did Shadow Circus come together?

John: After I had taken a hiatus from music for a few years, I got back into it, and I really wanted to play prog. So, I created some demos of songs to use on the audition circuit. When I played the songs for Dave and our original drummer, Corey, they expressed an interest in recording the material as a band. So, instead of auditioning, I finished writing the first album's worth of music, and Shadow Circus was formed.

Dave: With blood, sweat and many, many, MANY tears!!! LOL…LOL…Ok, kidding aside…for me it was one thing…”Find Your Way.” To use a quote from the great Dennis DeYoung of Styx…”This was the song that got this whole train a rollin’.” I heard John play the main theme from Find Your Way and I was just absolutely blown away. First by the fact that I couldn’t get over that he actually had this in him, second by just how haunting and beautiful the theme was. I couldn’t let that get away or into the hands of another band.

4 What is the Shadow Circus creative process like?
John: I usually start by taking some time to revisit the piano and guitar on somewhat of an academic level, sitting down to learn pieces of music, exercises, and listen to different genres to challenge myself. As I wrote this last album I listened to a lot of Celtic music, and let that influence shine through on things like Horsemen Ride, and more subliminally in other places. I'll improvise until I find some melodies and changes that interest me, and keep going until I feel like the components of a bigger piece are in place. Then I'll demo a whole song, usually fairly complete, and Dave comes in to get vocal ideas, and it takes further shape with the band at that point in the studio. From the first album to the second, it became a much more collaborative process, where many things changed dramatically as the whole band had input, and I think it will keep going in that direction.

5 Your first album, Welcome to the Freak Room, featured tracks influenced by Ray Bradbury and Stephen King. How did you decide to use their works as the basis for songs?

John: The Ray Bradbury reference comes from Something Wicked This Way Comes, of which Dave and I are both big fans. The carnival that comes to a small midwestern town to wreak havoc seemed like such a cool kind of identity for the band, so that inspired our name, and consequently the song "Shadow Circus" itself. Then, for "Journey of Everyman", Dave was able to connect the musical peaks and valleys of what I had already written to the storyline of The Talisman, and so that inspired the lyrics.

Dave: Well, I am a huge Stephen King fan. John is a huge Ray Bradbury fan and it just seems to be that everything they write is perfect fodder for lyrics for a band like ours. I always love the dark and macabre. Again…huge KISS fan…Huge Alice Cooper fan. It’s Shadow Circus. On our newest CD, Whispers and Screams, an entire “side” of the album is dedicated to Stephen King’s The Stand. Referring to the Epic "Project Blue". We also draw inspiration from The Twilight Zone on the song "Willoughby". And we have some other interesting literary references planned for the future!

6 Whispers and Screams is the band's second album, and it had a pretty long gestation. How would you say it differs from your first release?

Dave: I would say this one is a bit more diverse. Eclectic if you will. It also leans towards being a bit heavier as well which I happen to like. The heavier aspects of the music is something I would like to see more of on the next CD…while still keeping the melodic side of things in the forefront.

John: Welcome to the Freakroom was written very much before the entire band was in place, so the band formed around the music that was already there. A lot of what you hear on that album are actual tracks from the demos. It was recorded relatively quickly. Whispers and Screams was produced over a challenging time in our lives. Dave was going through his kidney transplant - which was wonderfully successful, by the way - but I think that scenario gave us a sense of importance to making the effort worthwhile. It was much more collaborative, and everyone involved really challenged themselves creatively, technically, and emotionally. We allowed more time for the production to take shape, which let us absorb the effects of repeated listens. This led to some of the most important developments, as it can take a while to disassociate yourself from something you created enough to hear it objectively.

The question as to whether what we were doing would be accepted by a prog audience was raised many times - we took some risks by bringing in elements of blues and gospel. We knew that not everyone would embrace it as readily as they might otherwise, but we connected with the music on such an emotional level that we ultimately decided it was more important to make an honest album that reflected us, rather than attempt to guess what people would like. And now we're very happy we did that, as the response to it has been very positive.

7 How hard was it to 'adapt' Stephen King's novel The Stand for the epic 'Project Blue'?

John: Well, it started with some musical themes that I had been developing for some time. When Dave heard the melodies that are now in "The Big Fire", he said, "Oh! That's a song for Trashcan Man!". I told him that the melody was part of a much longer piece, and together we listened to it and connected the various moods with the characters and events of the story. It probably took almost a year to get everything in "Project Blue" to its final state.

Dave: To be honest, it was a very weird time for me. I was gearing up for a major Kidney transplant the week after Labor Day 2008. September 11th 2008 to be exact and we had wanted to finish vocals before the surgery because it might have had to be months before I could use stomach muscles to sing again. BUT…that did not work out for various reasons. So we didn’t even have lyrics to any of Project Blue at the time of my surgery. So like a week and a half into my recovery, I started writing down ideas which grew into Captain Trips. I had Deep Purple running through my head and all of a sudden, 10 minutes later I was at John’s office with the lyrics and melody pretty much done for Captain Trips. I then…veeeeery gently mind you….sang him the idea and he flipped!! After that, everything just flowed like water and it was all but done. I knew the story so well, that putting all the pieces in the correct order was easy. Deciding which songs would go with which lyrics was a bit tough but John adapted pretty quickly and within a couple of days the whole thing was done.

8 What is it about King's fiction that you find such a fruitful field to harvest for inspiration?

John: We have these elements in our music, such as the dark, atmospheric things, then there are the heavier parts and a certain whimsical ingredient that is a fun part of Shadow Circus. And Stephen King seems to work with a similar array of moods. There's also that certain "funny but dark" vibe that connects so well with our sound. Also note that the two pieces we have been inspired by - namely The Talisman and The Stand, are more like fantasy epics for King compared to his other works, so I think those particular pieces work well for an American Prog band, as with those stories, he was approaching it like an American version of Tolkien. Symphonic prog has so many parallels to fantasy fiction.

Dave: Well, like I said before, his stories are such fantastic fodder for lyrics for a band like ours. His stories are so descriptive and colorful with such great characters.

9 How would you say the band has changed or evolved since forming?

John: It started as just a studio project. We never imagined it would ever be music that would be performed on stage. We always had the desire to grow into a live band, but not the means. That quickly changed in recent months, with the band becoming very active. I think the natural evolution now will be to have the advantage of playing songs live before recording, which, I think, will help tremendously.

Dave: I’d have to say it’s evolved in many ways. It’s certainly evolved personnel-wise. After 4 years of running with this, we have finally hit upon the magic combination with Gino, Felipe and Andy. It’s also evolved musically too. I’d say John has explored and gone down many new roads musically…more melodic roads…heavier roads…with so many unexplored roads ahead. I’d say it’s very exciting!!!

10 How much opportunity does Shadow Circus have to perform in concert? (NB: this interview was done prior to their tour in October 2010...sadly, real life issues kept me from posting it in a timely manner...forgive, forgive...)

Dave: LOL…LOL…if you would have asked me that a year ago, I’d have said none. Today with this band and this CD, the opportunities are endless in my opinion. We’ve already done one festival and we have our own show we are doing at The Triad Theater in NYC on October 16th. Then after that we have 3 shows lined up opening for The Watch in Philly, Boston and Baltimore followed by some very exciting possibilities for the Winter and early spring which I won’t go into detail with until they are finalized. But again, I’d say the possibilities are now endless!!!

John: As of recently, quite a lot! It was really a matter of getting the right lineup that could be available to play live, and now that we have that, the biggest challenge is finding ways to travel to everywhere we want to play.

11 Do you find your material easy to translate to stage, or are there challenges?

John: I am very guilty of using a lot of overdubs on the albums, so of course you have to pick and choose what layers to cut and what to keep. For the most part, I think very little is missed in the translation - especially thanks to our keyboard player, Felipe, who has a laptop rig that can handle almost anything. And whatever might be missing from the layers of overdubs is made up for by the intensity of the performance. It's also a big plus that both Felipe, and our drummer, Gino, are great singers, and can handle the background vocals, which were all done by Dave on the recordings.

Dave: Vocally, it’s not hard to translate into a live atmosphere. They are very colorful and emotional lyrics and I can express those colors and emotions very well on stage. Musically, I’d say it’s very challenging which is why it took us a while to be able to play out. You need the right caliber of musician to be able to pull this stuff off live and I really think we may have found it in Felipe, Gino and Andy. Felipe especially. He has the arduous task of recreating the myriad of keyboard parts and sound live. Hence the reason he is the right dude for the job. We dig Felipe a lot!!! He’s extremely talented and he rocks!!!

12 What was it like for you to play Progday, the longest running US progressive music festival?

Dave: Well I tell ya. We did a dress rehearsal the Wednesday before and I was a bit nervous but once we got up on stage in NC, It was a piece of cake. Loved every minute of it. I think we pulled it off with flying colors. That was THEE first gig this band has played!!!

John: It was fantastic! It was our first live experience with this lineup, so I was a bit nervous, but we really couldn't have expected it to have turned out better than it did. What a great crowd, we felt such a warm welcome. I think now we may be spoiled, and will probably now wish that every gig we play would be like Progday.

13 Would you say that performance was a high point for the band? Are there any other moments that stand out for you?

Dave: I would definitely say that ProgDay was a highlight for me. It was a good show. In terms of other quality, stand out moments in Shadow Circus history, I would say when we went into the studio to record the Bass and Drums for Whispers & Screams. I love the studio environment. It’s just a LOT of fun. That really stands out for me.

John: It certainly is a high-point. The first high-point had to be when Dave reacted to hearing the music I was writing for the first time - he is a sharp critic of music - and his positive response erased any doubt I might have had about pursuing this. As a band that is only beginning to surface in the live scene, our other high points are low-key compared to Progday - creating each album was certainly a wonderful experience. But the biggest moments for me are always when our music has a positive effect - whether on a crowd or an individual - the feeling I get when someone gets really excited by the music is priceless.

14 What's next for the band? Shows, new album, et cetera?

Dave: Well, again, we have some shows coming up in October. One at The Triad in NYC and then we are opening for a band called The Watch out of Italy. We are playing 3 dates with them and needless to say, we are very excited about that. Those are in Baltimore, Philly and Boston ON Halloween. I think that show will be the stand out for us. Beyond that, we are starting to gear up for the next Shadow Circus CD and some possible shows in the winter that are not yet finalized.

15 How has the shift to a more connected, digital world changed how you look at the art of creating an album?

John: I think that I will always want to create an album as I would have in the absence of the internet, but the real difference is in the marketing and distribution. The most important thing now that any artist can do is have a one-on-one relationship with their audience. We have an extremely active Facebook group, which is a blast! Our fans there rock, it's become a really cool community!

16 How much as downloading impacted the band, either positively or negatively?

John: The internet giveth, and the internet taketh away! Without it, there's no way a band like us would ever stand a chance with major labels being the gatekeepers of what people will listen to. It's only because of the internet that a genre like prog can find a community. The challenge is, of course, how to monetize what we do, and the only way to do that is to keep doing more, and work hard at doing it even better. If it's good enough, people will pick up on it and spread the word. The mistake that most bands make now is, they think that because they publish an album, people should just buy it. But anyone can put out an album today and have worldwide distribution in a few mouse clicks. The trick isn't making a CD, it's getting noticed. You have to look at putting out an album now the way you looked at a first gig twenty years ago. You didn't expect any pay, you struggled to get noticed, because there were a thousand other people doing the same thing. So, it's easier to get out there, harder to get noticed, but at least everyone has a fair chance. But, you have to look at a CD more like a promo item than your main source of income.

Dave: Aaaaah, well…for a band like us at the stage that we are at, getting the music into the hands of the fans is the most important thing. If no one knows about you, you will never be able to sell CD’s or play out live. SO…for Shadow Circus, if 5000 people download our CD for free, then that means that 5000 people know we exist. I think people make too much over downloading. People are going to do it. You cannot stop it anymore so if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. You have to find a way to use downloading as a friend not as a foe. A publicity tool if you will. I want to sell CD’s but I really, really want people to know we exist. You can’t have one without the other. Try to find a way to use it to your advantage.

17 Are there any bands you listen to today that excite you the same way the music you grew up with did?

John: Spock's Beard, Transatlantic, and surprisingly enough, Green Day. Those guys make me feel like I'm experiencing The Who for the first time!

Dave: GREEN DAY!!!! Green Day just rules. They are a band for the people. They are audience interactive. They put on a phenomenal show and bring the house down every time they play. There are some other solid bands out there like Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold…they have great stage presence and there music is good but nothing like that of Queen, Kiss, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Styx, etc…

18 As we wrap things up, are there any final words you'd like to share with our readers today?

Dave: Yeah, keep an eye out for Shadow Circus…we will be on your radar soon!!!!

John: With so much music out there coming from so many artists, it seems many people breeze through listening to a hundred CDs every year. The abundance of music may be cheapening the experience a bit. Try to take the time to listen to music, spend some time with it, savor it, let it become a part of your routine for a little while. Especially with a genre like prog, there's a lot of great stuff out there, but if you overdose on too many things, you never get to enjoy the finer points of any of them. And for the artists, especially in regards to the resentment towards downloading - you have to accept it and move on. Creating music and making a living on it is no harder than it ever was. It still means you have to bust your ass, be dedicated, and do more than simply publish music. There are a thousand new ways of interacting with your fans. Be imaginative, there is more at a musician's disposal now to become known than there ever has been.

Find out more at:

http://www.shadowcircusmusic.com/

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Shadow-Circus/6591882939

CD REVIEW: Robin Taylor - Two-Pack Part 1 (2010 Marvel of Beauty Records)

2011-01-19T19:28:00.001-05:00

I’ve covered Danish multi-instrumentalist Robin Taylor quite a few times here on BPB…mostly because he’s so bloody prolific! Every time I turn around he has a new album or project under way…it can get pretty exhausting keeping up with him.

Robin’s newest release is a 2-disc set titled Two-Pack, interestingly enough. More interesting is the fact that each disc features very different line ups and styles, is packaged individually in little sleeves, and is smaller than your average CD…they’re both mini-CDs, EPs really, with about 22 minutes of music on each.

Today we’ll be listening to and looking at the first disc in the set.

Disc 1 features Robin Taylor teamed up with Jacob Mygind or Carsten Sindvald on sax. Taylor handles all the guitars and basses, while monster drummer Klaus Thrane keeps the beat. Louise Nipper adds voice on one track, continuing a collaboration that stretches back years.

Things open up with the appropriately titled ‘Heavy Friends.’ A wall of individual almost skronking instruments sets things off on a very wild and improvisational footing, sounding as much like the conclusion of a piece as an opener. The song grooves heavily, with sax bleating over a pounding, insistent rhythm. Taylor’s bass and guitar mesh very well together, and it’s a bit difficult to take the very structured style in the context of a TFU release, since I associate that moniker with Taylor’s more improvisational side. This is a heck of an opening track, however, heavy as the title implies and with a lot of meat on its bones. It feels far grander than its relatively short length would imply.

‘The Ghost of Goran’ carries things on, and at nearly 10 minutes is one of Taylor’s longest tracks on any of his releases (that I currently own, anyway). It’s much more laid back, with Sindvald’s sax the major vocal point. His soprano sax playing is lyrical and beautiful, while his tenor playing offers up similar fluidness. The opening 4+ minutes are subtle and ballad-like, but the song quickly builds in intensity after Sindvald switches to tenor. Suddenly we’re listening to a piece every bit as intense and heavy as opener ‘Heavy Friends,’ and while I’d like to come up with comparisons for you, there just aren’t any. The music is individual, sounding really like no other band, and it’s all the stronger for it.

This first disc closes up with another shorter piece, the 7-minute ‘Stoned Mushroom.’ Slightly jazzier, Taylor’s keyboards lay down some nice foundations for his guitar and bass playing, with Mygind’s tenor sax sounding boozy and sleazy over top. This is the kind of song I could hear being played in a rock and jazz club, smoke leaving a haze as the band hits the groove and takes it as far as they can go. While definitely a rock song, there’s enough jazz in here to add flavour and spice to the mix. A breakdown at 4:30 leads to a sort of coda of the main theme…the false stop is a nice touch, lending a faux bonus track feel to the coda.

While you can’t buy this CD on its own, it serves as a nice taste of this particular line up, and meshes well with the second half of Two-Pack, which we’ll be taking a look at very soon!

Track Listing:

Heavy Friends 5:13
The Ghost of Goran 9:56
Stoned Mushroom 7:19

Musicians:
Robin Taylor – electric guitar, keyboards, basses, percussion
Jacob Mygind – tenor sax (1, 3)
Carsten Sindvald – soprano and tenor sax (2)
Klaus Thrane – drums
Louise Nipper – voice (2)

Bill's Prog Blog 2011 Stratovarius Giveaway!!!!

2011-01-17T10:50:00.001-05:00

Finnish melodic metal troupe STRATOVARIUS are set to unleash their thirteenth studio album, Elysium. Recorded at 5-By-5 Studios in Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki, Finland, the nine-track full-length will be released in the US and Canada January 18, 2011 via Armoury Records and features stunning cover art by Gyula Havancsák.

STRATOVARIUS 2010:
Timo Kotipelto - Vocals
Matias Kupiainen - Guitars
Lauri Porra - Bass
Jörg Michael - Drums
Jens Johansson - Keyboards

http://www.stratovarius.com
http://www.myspace.com/officialstratovarius

NOW!

Bill's Prog Blog has 5 free download cards (this is a business card sized card, looks like a gift card,with an individual and unique code on the back) that will allow you to download a track from this album absolutely free. I am giving them away to you, my readers.

It's easy...here's all you have to do!

1) Reply to this post!

2) Provide me some way to contact you via e-mail...you can obscure your address with spaces if necessary to keep crawlers from getting it.

3) Tell me what Elysium is.

I'll pick 5 winners from all correct answers and mail out the cards to you. Winners will be announced on Saturday this week!

Get to it!!!!

CD GUEST REVIEW: Half Past Four - Rabbit in the Vestibule

2011-01-15T11:40:00.001-05:00

(Today's CD review is written by good friend Jeff Gutenberg...expect more reviews from him soon!)

This quirky quintet hails from the wilds of Canada, home of such prog-rock legends as Rush and Saga, but sounds nothing like either of those bands. Instead, vocalist Kyree Vibrant, guitarist Constantin Necresov, keyboardist Igor Kurtzman, bassist Dmitry Lesov and drummer Ann Brody mine the perhaps somewhat more obscure but no less rewarding territory plumbed by the likes of Frank Zappa, Echolyn and Finneus Gauge.

The aptly named Ms. Vibrant’s vocal range seems practically limitless, and she brings a variety of emotional colors to these songs, always finding just the right tone and attitude for each lyric, whether cool and jazzy, as on “Johnny” or urgent and heartbreaking, as on the eight-minute epic “Biel,” and all points in between. She’s playful and fun on “The Ballad of Dwayne’s Plane,” with its Zappa-like humor, sultry and languorous on “Southern Boogie” (which is not a boogie tune at all!), dreamy and ethereal on “Underwater,” feisty and energetic on “Bamboo,” another Zappa-esque bit of off-kilter whimsy. She’s a real find, and one of the great pleasures to be found in listening to this band.

Of course, this is a prog band, and that means the other people in the band can’t exactly be chopped liver either. Indeed, Mr. Necresov and Mr. Kurtzman solo with controlled abandon all over the album; the former is not a fret-burning speed demon, more of a tasty, melodic player, and his style fits in very well with Kurtzman’s more frenetic approach. Kurtzman, however, is not just a fine soloist on the synthesizer, but he’s also very adept at using electric and acoustic pianos for tones and shading. As for the rhythm section, Mr. Lesov is a supple, supportive bassist who slips his lines in and around everything else that’s going on, while Ms. Brody’s drumming is never less than superb, navigating through tricky time and tempo changes with ease, while propelling the music ever forward.

The standout tracks on an album full of standouts include the aforementioned epic “Biel,” which pulls out all the stops with chanted vocals, acoustic guitars, and fantastic guitar and synth solos, ending dramatically with a lone snare drum plaintively echoing into space; the moody, evocative instrumental “Lullaby,” which features lots of dynamic light and shade, and another terrific synth solo; the album’s other epic, “Poisoned Tune,” vies with “Biel” for the honor of being the album’s best overall track, with yet another great vocal performance (and a dark, haunting lyric that makes reference to ‘the poisoned tune within’), scintillating guitar/keyboard interplay, and an almost Gentle Giant-ish kind of feel. And the disc’s other instrumental, “Salome,” is a marvelous piece of Middle Eastern jazz, complete with a wonderful saxophone solo, really dexterous drumming, and perhaps the best guitar solo on the album.

Rabbit in the Vestibule is a very rewarding listen on all levels, offering something a little different – a little humor, a lot of energy, and a great deal of thoughtful composition and arrangement. If you’re looking for prog that doesn’t revolve in the endless Yes/Genesis orbit, and you enjoy the sound of a female voice out front, you really can’t do much better than Half Past Four. Four stars - highly recommended.

Track Listing:

Missing Sevenths 2:38
Johnny 2:55
Poisoned Tune 7:53
Southern Boogie 4:15
Twelve Little Words 5:18
Underwater 4:58
Lullaby 4:21
Strangest Dream 6:30
Biel 8:15
The Ballad of Dwayne’s Plane 4:53
Salome 2:46
Bamboo 2:41
Rabbit 6:09

Line-Up:

Kyree Vibrant – vocals
Constantin Necresov – guitars
Igor Kurtzman – keyboards
Dmitry Lesov – bass
Ann Brody – drums & percussion

www.halfpastfour.com
www.myspace.com/halfpast4

(More than) 10 Questions with...Effloresce

2011-01-12T08:53:00.000-05:00

I sometimes find musicians and bands in the weirdest ways.

Much like my finding Relocator via the Mike Portnoy forum, Effloresce came to my attention via band member Dave Mola’s user pic on that forum. I recognised it as an album cover, thought it looked pretty cool, and filed the info away for future searching. When I found out he was in the band, well…you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Dave quickly made sure to set me up with a copy of the band’s debut EP, which I reviewed here quite some time ago. We also agreed that an interview with the band would be a very cool thing. Unfortunately, some personal issues have delayed me in getting this interview up. No longer, I say! The band’s voices must be heard, and heard they shall be!

Curious what an audience thinks of a female vocalist who does extreme metal vocals? Intrigued by a band that writes some serious and heavy progressive metal but whose members are the furthest thing from stodgy and stuck in the mud? Well then, you came to the right place! Sit down, read on, and pop in the EP that I just KNOW you bought right after reading my review…right?

1. Starting things off...when did you first discover how much music meant to you?

Tim: I think making music is something that can set you apart from the rest of your age group when you’re a young person. So the first reason to pick up a guitar and play was to do something different, starting from there, the main goal was to set oneself apart from the rest of the other young people my age who had also started to discover that music made them more interesting by trying to play better than the rest – and that without taking lessons, for my parents didn’t want to pay for yet another expensive hobby. From there, I realized that music was not just something for me to identify with but I started writing my own stuff, which opened up the dimension of musical self-expression for me. Still, there’s so much to discover and I think the point when I found out that MAKING music means anything to me has been only recently when I looked back on my ‘career’ and found that I could have quit, having made so many disappointing and disillusioning experiences in various bands but still kept going and finally, I’ve found a bunch of people who really seem to have the same musical and personal attitude.

Nicki: I was about seven or eight years old when my dad and I watched MTV every Saturday and I saw this guy with his funny moustache. It was Freddie Mercury from Queen of course and I loved his voice right away. The music was cool also and I especially liked the video clip to "I Want to Break Free". That‘s why I started to sing with a hairbrush in my hand in front of a mirror and never wanted to do anything else henceforth.

Dave: Hmmm, I remember lying on my bed and listening to Hendrix for hours and hours as a teenager. I think that was the time when I realized that music is able to carry you through "difficult" times and to make you feel in certain ways. I think that opened my eyes, ears and heart.

Rene: When I was 6 years old I visited a music school, in which we could play around with every instrument and also played theatre. Since then music was always around in my life. But it wasn’t until 2002 when I found dedication and discipline for learning bass, chords, music theory and all that stuff. I would say that was the start of a life long journey of a lot of self-teaching, drinking beer, discovering friendship and living rock 'n' roll and thus creating something special out of it.

2. Who were your first influences as a musician?

Tobi: Probably my two drum teachers. I had jazz guy teaching me, who looked like Gavin Harrison and showed me a lot of Steve Gadd stuff. After two years I got a long haired rock 'n roll dude as a teacher, who introduced me to Dream Theater and Portnoy. That's when the whole progressive thing started for me. That mixture of that jazz influence and prog drumming was always very interesting for me, although I don't listen to any jazz stuff at home.

Nicki: As mentioned Queen and especially Freddie Mercury were the very first influences I remember.

Dave: My dad got me into a lot of great music quite early. I remember listening to Pink Floyd, Queen, Dire Straits and Eric Clapton at the age of maybe six or seven. When I was ten, Metallica’s Black Album was released, which introduced me to the world of metal. Henceforward I wanted to learn to play guitar.

Tim: I would have to say John Petrucci is a major influence. His sound, his technique and his versatility are amazing. Plus, I think he’s probably a nice guy. Still, there are so many good musicians in all styles out there that it’s hard to name any. I admire blues musicians like Clapton or Jeff Healey, I admire classic rock guys like Rhoads and Van Halen, I dig guys like Loomis, Chris Broderick or Michael Romeo who have a more classical or neo-classical edge to them…I admire anyone who has the ability to sound unique and the versatility to adapt to different styles.

3. How did Effloresce first come together?

Dave: In late 2005 I joined a band called Falling Nature, in which Tobi was already playing drums for a while. After some shows in 2006 Falling Nature fell apart, but both of us wanted to continue making music together - that was the moment Effloresce actually was born. We started jammin’ with different people and writing some fragments that later even have been recorded for a (not so serious) all instrumental Online-Demo called "Chinese Demo: crazy!". This is how everything started. However, we really became a band when Nicki joined us in March 2008. We used, improved and messed around with some ideas that have already been floating around for a while, and started adding vocals to what slowly became “songs”. Still looking for musicians we kept on writing material throughout 2008 and the first months of 2009 before we finally met René and Tim, who joined us in summer/fall of 2009. By that time the EP was already recorded and eventually released on December 18th. That was a quick tour through Effloresce-History.

Tobi: Some guy from the States apparently got wind of that demo title and named an album after it, only that it’s written a bit differently. He didn’t buy our EP though.

4. Effloresce has been around for a very short time, yet has already released a 30-minute EP. How easy was it to come up with the songs you chose for the release?

Tobi: The songs on the EP had already existed for a while; we just didn't have a proper opportunity to record them until we hit the studio in August 2009. So, while the current line-up is not very old, the ideas for these songs date back to when the idea of Effloresce was born in late 2006. In fact, "Sear" is the first song we ever wrote when we started, which also was recorded for this instrumental demo Dave was talking about in the previous question.

And coming up with these songs wasn't easy for us at all, since none of us had ever actually written a song. It was a long process bringing these songs to life with trial & error being two perpetual band members. We're actually still in the learning process.

5. What is the band's creative process like?

Dave: That‘s not easy to answer, honestly. I think we‘re still searching for that "magic formula". Until now we start with a small idea like a riff or a chord progression and connect it with other small ideas that already float around or just cross our minds. And it builds from there and gets bigger and bigger until we‘re happy with it. A lot of trial and error and quite time-consuming, but it works.

Nicki: Once the basic structure of a song is somewhat fixed I start working on vocal melodies, growl-spots and finally the lyrics.

6. Are there any tracks on the release that you'd say were more difficult to bring to fruition than others?

Tobi: Definitely "Birds of Prey". It consists of parts we wrote in the beginning of the band’s history; and it was dismantled, rearranged and puzzled back together so often that we lost count at some point. "Sear" was only challenging because it was our first song ever, while "Sunset..." went pretty smooth. But Birds was really like giving birth to an elephant.

Dave: Yeah, that was really a tough one. I remember that we dumped half finished versions of the song several times and started over again, but finally we're very very happy with the outcome and it was worth the trouble after all.

7. How would you say the general reaction to your debut EP has been?

Nicki: There have been various reactions so far. The majority of reviewers are respectful, take their time and get a picture of what we sound like, what we are like. This usually results in positive reviews fortunately. However, there have been strange reviews from people who apparently didn‘t even read our band info before writing confusing stuff about constantly repeating choruses, guys growling and stuff like that. Ridiculous sometimes... but the vast majority is very positive so far and motivates us to keep on walking the path that we‘re on already.

8. What would you say you bring to the band that differs from your band mates?

Tim: I’m the least skilled, so there you go.

Additionally, René and I are the only ones with short hair.

Dave: I probably can handle more vodka than my band mates, but we have to work that out once. Just to be sure.

Nicki: Most of the time I’m the one wearing the dresses. And boobs.

Tobi: I’m the only one who plays drums in the band.

René: While learning an instrument you listen to many different styles and genres. You'll develop your own style and sound. Starting off as a metal fan I found my love for rock n roll in my first cover band, and I always try to look for new influences. But in the end I would say I'm more the sub-bass pulse and try to give the guys the groove they can rely on. Some things just don’t necessarily stand out from the songs, but once you take it away the songs aren’t the same. Like the bass.

9. How do people react the first time Nicki unleashes her growl?

Nicki: Haha, funny question. Yeah, those reactions are quite similar every time. Most people in the audience look around searching for the "cookie monster". As soon as they realize that it‘s me growling jaws hit the ground and eyes pop out here and there. Quite funny to watch, really.

10. If you had the opportunity to cover any song in the band, either for a release or in concert, what would you want to cover and why?

Tobi: At our very first concert we actually did a live cover version of Porcupine Tree's "Blackest Eyes". The simple reason was that we only had four complete songs, which we thought might be not enough (although we almost filled three-quarters of an hour with that). We chose that song simply because it's a classic, it's fun to play and we all love Porcupine Tree. So I guess it was our tribute to them. But I doubt we will ever record a cover, it was just a less-than-ideal solution.

Dave: We also played Opeth’s “Windowpane” just for fun some time ago. That was basically our tune to check out potential co-musicians. Just to have something to play together, you know? Personally I’d love to do a Metal-version of some Camel songs once in the future. But dunno if that will ever happen. And I’d never say never concerning recording cover tunes, but our focus clearly lies on writing and recording our own material, that’s the priority.

11. How much opportunity does the band have to play out live?

Nicki: Well, with the kind of music we make it‘s really difficult getting live-shows. Long complex songs with female vocals are too exotic and unpopular around here. But we already played some shows, and most of the people enjoyed our performance. So, we‘re optimistic for the future.

Dave: Yeah, plus: The Prog-scene here in Germany is really small. The local clubs book kiddie-punk-bands instead and don‘t really care for musicality. If you try to arrange a (prog-)concert yourself you have to deal with chaotic and counterproductive club-owners, small crowds, bands from afar (who at least want to be reimbursed for gas) and so on. Not easy...

12. How much would you say downloading has affected the band's sales?

Dave: I’m not into that torrent-stuff and downloading at all, but I’ve looked for some illegal Effloresce-Files and came up with nothing actually. So I think downloading isn’t much of a problem for us now. That may change of course when more people get into our music and realize how cool we are.

13. What's next for Effloresce?

Tim: Effloresce is currently writing stuff to gather enough material for a full-length album. We have already completed writing three more songs other than the ones on the SoF-EP and a fourth one is in the making. We don’t know when we’ll have the opportunity to enter a studio to record our complete material, but we’ll see. So if anyone knows a studio, contact us! :-)

14. Will there continue to be flute and mellotron on your future releases?

Nicki: Definitely, yeah. There will be mellow parts with flute in some of our new songs, too. Actually I‘m writing melodies for one at the moment.

Dave: As for the mellotrons (and organs): We‘ll also keep those in our sound mixture, because I think they can really spice up some parts and add beautiful layers and atmosphere when used properly.

15. Reading the band's website, it seems humour is an important aspect of what the band is. Having said that, do you think the vuvuzela has any place in melodic death metal?

Tobi: Definitely. After the World Cup this year we all know that this instrument is one of the most favoured around, and we hope that more bands will incorporate it into their sound. Especially Death- and Black Metal bands. We are actually thinking of releasing a special edition of the Shades of Fate EP, with a Vuvuzela drowning out all the other instruments for the entire 30 minutes. That would be quite an improvement to our current sound.

16. Are there any bands or performers you are currently enjoying listening to when you're relaxing?

Nicki: Tarja Turunen‘s new album is my favorite at the moment. Both Blackfield records are classics of relaxing music as well.

Dave: I’ve been listening to Tommy Emmanuel and piano works by Frederic Chopin lately. Very nice music to chill to.

Rene: At the moment that's defenitively Alter Bridge, Slash, Grand Funk
Railroad, Tower of Power, a lot of John Mayer and everything that goes straight into your ear.

Tobi: I’m a huge Anathema fan. Additionally, stuff like Blackfield, Loreena McKennit or Karl Sanders’ solo project.

Tim: I personally prefer the Damnation record by Opeth or very old Pink Floyd (the Meddle album). Or an Australian band called Vanishing Point, because they have a very pleasing sound. Antimatter is another band that would probably rather get me depressed than relaxed, but whatever….

17. As we wrap things up, are there any final thoughts you'd like to share with our readers?

Effloresce: Yes. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t play with scissors. Don’t try this at home.

Keep on supporting Bill and his Prog BLOG, people! And don't forget to buy our CD! Thanks a lot for the interesting questions!

Find Out More at:

http://www.myspace.com/effloresceonline

http://effloresceonline.com/

Edensong and Kinetic Element live tomorrow night in Baltimore

2010-12-10T13:05:00.002-05:00

Saturday, December 11th at 8 PM
Orion Studios at 2903 Whittington Ave, Baltimore, MD
Tickets are $15 at the door, All Ages Welcome

On Saturday, December 11th, New York based orchestral rockers Edensong will take the stage at Orion Sound Studios in Baltimore, MD as part of the studio's Progressive Rock Showcase series. The show begins at 8pm with the symphonic progressive rock of Virginia's Kinetic Element. Tickets are $15 and available at the venue on the day of the show. Seating is limited, so arrive early!

Edensong (www.edensongtheband.com): Referred to as “A band to watch over the coming years... It almost frightens me where they’re going from here” (Bill's Prog Blog, September 2010), Edensong recently released their half live, half studio album "Echoes of Edensong: From the Studio and Stage" to rave reviews and early ‘Best of 2010’ lists. This, following their unprecedented presence at many major progressive rock festivals of the past year (Three Rivers Progressive Rock Festival in Pittsburgh, PA, Progday in Chapel Hill, NC, and Convention Terra Incognita in Quebec City, QC) helped to gain Edensong a loyal following among progressive rock enthusiasts. For their show at Orion, they will play tracks from the new CD along with songs from their critically acclaimed debut album "The Fruit Fallen" (2008) and even some brand new, unreleased material. For more information on Edensong, please visit the band's official website (www.edensongtheband.com), myspace page (www.myspace.com/edensong), or facebook fan page (www.facebook.com/edensongtheband). You can stream their entire catalog for free at the Edensong webstore: www.edensong.bandcamp.com.

Kinetic Element (www.kineticelement.com): US outfit KINETIC ELEMENT was formed in 2006 and is the creative vehicle of composer and keyboardist Mike Visaggio. Since then, they have been performing a number of live shows and slowly but surely have gotten around to recording their songs as well. So far, Kinetic Element have issued a demo EP named The Powered By Light Suite in 2008 and their full length debut album Powered By Light in 2009."

Edensong live tonight in NYC (video premiere!)

2010-12-09T10:24:00.002-05:00

The World Premier of Edensong’s “Beneath the Tide” music video
With performances from
Break of Reality
Edensong
and New Beard

Thursday, December 9th at 7 PM
Public Assembly at 70 N 6th St, Brooklyn, NY
Tickets $10 (adv from www.ticketweb.com), $13 (door), 21+

On Thursday, December 9th, Enjoy a multimedia evening of three genre bending New York bands. Break of Reality (www.breakofreality.com) headlines the show with their mind-blowing cello infused progressive rock, with supporting performances from orchestral rockers Edensong (www.edensongtheband.com), and the eclectic indie/prog/pop madness of New Beard (www.newbeardcity.com). Edensong’s “Beneath the Tide” music video, directed by Nick Fiore (www.vimeo.com/nickfiore), will be screened between musical sets. This is not a show to miss!

Break of Reality (www.breakofreality.com) is a cello quartet gone mad. The band’s sound is cinematic, subdued and heavy all at once. Their live audiences are equally diverse; fans of Led Zeppelin, Radiohead and Yo-Yo Ma are finally getting acquainted. In 2006, Break of Reality released an independent album, The Sound Between, which has sold over 24,000 copies in the United States and around the world, much to the band's amazement. The band has been touring in support of their recent album, Spectrum of the Sky, released in the summer of 2009. The members of Break of Reality have been applauded for their "thunderous tone" and their "take no prisoner approach to cello playing" (Sacramento Bee Newspaper, June 2007). Their sound has been described as having "excitement, originality, and an undeniable intensity that louder, heavier bands only dream of. Break of Reality is going to win a Grammy someday. Bank on it.” (Rochester City News, April 2007).

Edensong (www.edensongtheband.com): Referred to as “a band to watch over the coming years... It almost frightens me where they’re going from here” (Bill‘s Prog Blog, September 2010), Edensong recently released their half live, half studio album "Echoes of Edensong: From the Studio and Stage" to rave reviews and early ‘Best of 2010’ lists. This, following the success of their debut album “The Fruit Fallen” (2008) and their unprecedented presence at many major progressive rock festivals of the past year: Three Rivers Progressive Rock Festival in Pittsburgh, PA (www.3rprogfest.com), Progday in Chapel Hill, NC (www.progday.net), and Convention Terra Incognita in Quebec City, QC helped to gain Edensong a loyal following among progressive rock enthusiasts. This show will mark the premier of their new music video for “Beneath the Tide.” For more information on Edensong, please visit the band's official website (www.edensongtheband.com), myspace page (www.myspace.com/edensong), or facebook fan page (www.facebook.com/edensongtheband). You can stream their entire catalog for free at the Edensong webstore: www.edensong.bandcamp.com.

New Beard (www.newbeardcity.com) is a new dynamic and innovative rock act based in New York and is the brother band of Edensong. After the formation of the group by Ben Wigler and Andrew Dunn (both formerly of the indie rock band Arizona), Tony Waldman and "Tuba Joe" Exley soon joined and the boys started work on their first album while playing a series of shows that included an opening performance for Dead Confederate at the illustrious Music Hall of Williamsburg. New Beard looks forward to sharing the stage with Break of Reality and Edensong and putting the final touches on their debut album.”

The State of the Blog 9 October 2010

2010-10-09T10:47:00.001-04:00

Hello and welcome back to another installment of the State of the Blog.

This week’s is going to be brief, but it’s also somewhat important if for no other reason than to ensure those of you reading at home that everything is actually quite OK. However, next week BPB will be ever so briefly on holidays. Yr. Obd’t blogger needs to catch up on some writing and other things, and while I do not feel burned out at all, I am a bit worn down, and taking the week will let me catch up on the things that need catching up, and allow me to ensure that I don’t reach that critical burn out stage.

I am not going away!

This is not one of those 3 or 4 or 5 month long hiatuses where the blog goes fallow.

This is a chance for me to decouple for a week, clear out the cache and spoolers, and do a much needed reboot on the 386 I call my brain.

I am very lucky to have some incredibly loyal readers and it’s because I know that that I wanted to pass along this info rather than just take off. I’ll put it this way…I have a half dozen CD reviews written in my head that I haven’t typed yet because they’re all jumbled up. I’m a bit blocked, and that’s no good for me or for you.

The new poll will still be going up this evening.

I do not have a Magma Monday post queued for this week, but I’ll see if I can’t scare up something special for you all. Of everything, the regular Magma Monday posts are the ones I feel strongest about ensuring get out there. And if all goes well, there may be a few other surprises coming your way that are less from me specifically but done just for this blog.

The current plan is to resume regular operation on 18 October.

If you have any questions, I’m easy to get in contact with…either through comments here, my e-mail address (which can be found on this blog somewhere), or for the majority of you on Facebook, there as well.

Now, if you’ll allow…there’s a fruity tropical drink with an umbrella in it with my name on it somewhere…see everyone in a week!

Mick Karn benefit release information

2010-10-08T16:31:00.001-04:00

...a show of love, respect & grace - a tribute to Mick Karn, to be released digitally via the council on September 28, features sixteen captivating tracks from an array of renowned artists all determined to repay the artistic debt they feel is owed to Mick.

"Mick Karn has been a huge influence on my entire body of work, both in Japan and as a solo artist," explains Italian composer, musician, and sonic architect Eraldo Bernocchi, who helped to rally contributors for ...a show of love, respect & grace - a tribute to Mick Karn. "Helping him in a moment like this is a way to thank him for all he did for music. It's a small gesture, but it comes from inside my heart. When you hear the call, you must act - and fast, too..." Indeed, the speed with which the ambitious collection was assembled is astounding. "When I started making calls and sending emails to see about getting contributions for the album," recalls Howard Wulkan, founder of the council, "the response was overwhelming. Over an hour and a half of music; some of it exclusive to the collection, came together almost instantly. As a digital-only release, the collection is able to bypass the more cumbersome physical distribution channels and will begin raising much-needed money for Karn very quickly."

"When asked to contribute a track," explains Colin Edwin, bassist of the acclaimed progressive rock group Porcupine Tree, "I had no hesitation in doing so, having been a fan of Mick's unique work for many years. I choose the track 'Plural' since it seemed appropriate to have something with both prominent fretless bass and also an odd-time signature; both elements that are associated with Mick's own highly-distinctive music. As a bassist, I count him as an influence, although he is by far, too exceptionally original to copy."

...a show of love, respect & grace - a tribute to Mick Karn will be available at digital outlets beginning September 28, 2010, with all net proceeds going directly to Karn. Full tracklist is as follows:

Brainkiller - "Michaelsketch"
Climax Golden Twins - "Crint"
Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree) - "Plural"
David Torn - "Renaissance Mensch (dt for mk)"
Edward Ka Spel - "Hauptbahnhof"
Elijah B Torn - "what"
Eraldo Bernocchi - "Dreamt Of Dreaming"
Eraldo Bernocchi - "The Ship"
Eraldo Bernocchi - "No Turning Back"
Kllu - "Unthink"
Martin Schulte - "Angels"
Meditronica - "Ki Eshmera Shabbat (Gaudi Remix)"
Peter Gannon (Calla) - "For MK"
The Mantra Above The Spotless Melt Moon - "Blanca"
The Mantra Above The Spotless Melt Moon - "The Ship"
Witchman (featuring Rosanne) - "No More"

It will be available online at iTunes, Rhapsody, Zune, Amazon and all other digital retailers

As a footnote from us - we'd like to thank everyone who was involved in this release, as we would everyone who has raised or donated money for the Appeal. Thank you so very much - it's incredibly heartwarming.

Also!

Jakko M Jakszyk has made his long-deleted EP Kingdom Of Dust (featuring Jansen, Barbieri and Karn) available as a download.

He's kindly donating all the profits from the release (which includes a recently completed piece with Richard Barbieri) to the Mick Karn Appeal.

It's available from Burning Shed and you can find a page with their three Mick Karn Appeal related items here:

http://www.burningshed.com/store/mickkarn/collection/364/

CD REVIEW: simakDialog - Demi-Masa (2009, Moonjune Records)

2010-10-08T13:36:00.000-04:00

There are times I think these self aware CD review openings are a little anti-climactic.

After all, by the time I get to the review, you already know what I’m going to be writing about (the title at the top is always a dead giveaway), and it’s not as if this extra text is all that necessary. Of course, I do rather enjoy setting the stage for the review, and as such for the time being they’ll be staying around.

In any event…

One of the more exciting things about NEARfest,other than the bands, and discovering new bands I’d never heard of, and the hanging out with friends I get to see once a year, and all of that, is finding out who’ll be playing the festival the next year. Usually we’ll get at least one announcement, and sometimes two, which will whet the appetite and help to start building excitement for the next year’s festival. This year was no exception, with the organisers announcing Gösta Berlings Saga and simakDialog for NEARfest 2011.

Gösta Berlings Saga is a band I am semi-familiar with, if for no other reason than members of GBS are also involved in the Makajodama project, which I absolutely loved last year. SimakDialog, on the other hand, was a completely unknown quantity for me. I knew they were Indonesian, but that was quite frankly the extent of any knowledge I had of them. It was fortunate, then, that I was given an opportunity to check out some of their material courtesy of Leonardo at Moonjune Records, the band’s label.

We’re going to start off with a look at Demi-Masa, the band’s 2009 studio album.

On Demi-Masa, simakDialog is a 5 piece augmented by 3 guest musicians. Much of the material sees piano and guitar as the focal points, and the respective musicians (Riza Arshad on piano, Tohpati Ario on guitar) are incredibly expressive players. Their style is intensely jazzy, with just a touch of Soft Machine-esque fusion to temper things. Tohpati is particularly engaging, with his playing shifting from subtle to intense in the blink of an eye. I really think he’s a player to watch out for…before hearing Demi-Masa I’d not been familiar with him at all, and I already consider him a special and unique musicalvoice that rates up there wil some of my favourite Canterbury/fusion players. They are backed by Adhitya Pratama, whose bass playing is incredibly subtle, but perfect for this kind of ensemble playing, and Endang Ramdan and Erlan Suwardana on sundanese kendang (a two-headed drum often used in gamelan as one of the primary instruments in those ensembles). The quieter percussion (no kit drumming here!) lends a softer feel to everything, which may seem to lessen the impact of some of the more intense playing, but actually does the opposite.

On Demi-Masa, this quintet is joined by Emy Tata (sundanese kendang, claps, vocals track 2), Mian Tiara (vocals traack 7) and Dave Lumenta (soundscapes track 8).

Musically…wow. I’m not sure where to begin. And frankly, as I have inferred, I wasn’t at all sure what I’d be hearing when I popped the CD in the first time. Part of me expected…well, intense musicianship for one. Heavy accents on percussion for two. But I suppose I did expect something that would be closer to Gamelan or a similar style, and with my exposure to Gamelan influences being mostly as a result of some of the things King Crimson was doing in the 1980’s, I suppose I expected something a bit rockier and in my face. Instead I got a heavy dose of subtlety, shifting tracks that flow from quiet calm to intense wailing, yet always in a somewhat restrained, measured fashion. This is definitely fusiony stuff…at least on Demi-Masa, and I think people who like the more free-form sounds of later Soft Machine, with emphasis on impressive guitar playing, will love this.

I am particularly enamoured of the cool percussive and vocal elements of ‘Salilana Kedua,’ layered with excellent drumming, polyrhythms stacked atop more polyrhythms, everything melting together in a wonderfully fluid melange that never feels jumbled or difficult to manage. Tohpati even shines on acoustic guitar…and while I am faling inextricably in love with his electric playing, his acousitc work merits note as well. The subtle opening of ‘Tak Jauh Pertama’ leads into far more intense instrumental interplay, with some of the most intense electric guitar soloing on the album, while ‘Tak Jauh Kedua’ showcases some incredibly lyrical piano and Rhodes playing from Arshad.

A trio of shorter pieces follows, all with the prefix ‘Trah Lor’ (Northern People). The first of these, ‘Trah Lor – Laras’ is dramatic, with very cool piano playing and subtle percussive accents behind. ‘Trah Lor – Rupa’ builds from this, with almost Zappa-esque synth sounds and arrangements that are very much unlike other pieces on the album. The final part of the trilogy is Trah Lor – Tapak,’ which wraps up the multi-part suite with a dose of soundscapes and ethereal, other worldly vocals from Mian Tiara. The result is striking…while so much of simakDialog’s material seems so earthy and centered, this piece takes the elements we’ve heard thus far and launches them into the cosmos. It is a wildly different composition, as each of the three in this suite have been.

‘Disapih’ wraps the album up as the final track. A 13-minute extended piece, it’s a final chance for the band to shine, and they do so throughout. Tohpati’s guitar playing is wonderful, with a slightly fuzzed tone that almost mimics (but doesn’t quite) an electric sitar, with some wonderful guitar/drum unisons that seem almost telepathic. Arshad’s Rhoses chops are on fine display, and Adhitya Pratama’s bass lines are so graceful and fluid, mixed perfectly and adding warmth and a pulse that brings the piece to life. It’s light, it’s uplifting, it’s Canterbury meets fusion in Southeast Asia with just the right amount of each.

While I still have another simakDialog album to review for you, Constant Reader, it’s best to start with their newest work. And Demi-Masa is a brilliant album that offers up its treasures slowly but surely to the devoted listener. I think this is music that will go over very well in a live setting, and I think they may well be one of the surprises of NEARfest 2011. Demi-Masa’s well worth searching out.

Track Listing:
1. Salilana Pertama (Forever, Part 1) 14:01
2. Salilana Kedua (Forever, Part 2) 6:46
3. Tak Jauh Pertama (Not So Far, Part 1) 7:42
4. Tak Jauh Kedua (Not So Far, Part 2) 9:11
5. Trah Lor - Laras (Northern People - Voices) 2:28
6. Trah Lor - Rupa (Northern People - Faces) 3:41
7. Trah Lor - Tapak (Northern People - Prints) 3:46
8. Karuhun (To Elders) 9:06
9. Disapih (Separate Away) 13:16

Musicians:
Riza Arshad - rhodes piano, acoustic piano, soundscapes
Tohpati Ario - electric/acoustic guitars
Adhitya Pratama - electric bass
Endang Ramdan - sundanese kendang (prime)
Erlan Suwardana - sundanese kendang (2nd)

Find out more:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=214645531118&v=wall&ref=ts
http://myspace.com/simakdialog

(More than) 10 questions with...Pinnacle (part the second)

2010-10-08T10:04:00.001-04:00

I’ve known the guys in Pinnacle for a while…differing amounts for most of them but still, we go a ways back. If you’ve been lucky enough to spend time at NEARfest or the NJ Proghouse shows, you know them too, even if you’ve not spoken with them personally. Drummer Greg Jones is the master of coffee (a beverage that sadly I have to refrain from these days…damn you, heart!), a wonderfully warm and funny guy, and a fantastic timekeeper to boot. Karl Eisenhart is always quick with a quip, but has always found time to discuss some minutiae with me whenever necessary. And bassist/keyboardist Bill Fox, DJ for several Lehigh Valley radio programs, has always struck me as the normal one of the bunch.

Apparently I was wrong.

But more about that soon.

Greg was kind and generous enough several years back to front me a copy of the band’s debut release, A Man’s Reach. I enjoyed it…limited in a lot of ways, but there was a spark there that I knew could be nurtured into something more impressive given time. Their sophomore album, Meld, saw that spark turn into a steady flame. With much improved production values and an amazing cover, it showed me a band growing by leaps and bounds faster than I even imagined. And with the news that they added a fourth member in keyboardist/vocalist Matt Francisco, the thought that these two albums are just the beginning of something even greater still brings a smile to my face.

Yes, these guys are friends (well, 3 of them are…I’ve not met Matt yet), but I also happen to think that they are fine musicians working very hard at crafting some interesting and very enjoyable melodic progressive rock. It’s a pleasure for me to return the favour they’d granted me in sharing their music with me by spending the next two days (cos this is a hella long interview!) offering you some insight into the workings of a band that more of you should be checking out!

I usually spend this final paragraph thanking the band for their time, and it goes doubly…or trebly here. Not only have all of the band members taken time out of their busy lives to answer these questions, but they’ve shared their music with me long before this blog/site was a gleam in my eye. I hope this comes across in the questions and answers that follow. So, major thanks and bouquets of Martian Fireflowers to the members of Pinnacle!

And…we’re off!

10. What would you say has been Pinnacle’s, well…pinnacle moment so far?

BF: There have been a few so it's hard to pick just one. Supporting Nick D'Virgilio on three songs in concert was probably the first highlight, chronologically. Opening for Spock's Beard was definitely a blast and an honor. Playing at ProgDay and contributing tracks to Tuonen Tytar II and The Haiti Project are definitely up there. Opening for Riverside was amazing.

GJ: Bill listed most of the big ones - so I'll add meeting famed prog producer Jeff Glixman, sitting in his studio while he listened to our music and made suggestions and seeing him really digging it.

KE: I was thinking about this, and there have been a few great ones. One that really sticks with me was a show we played at a little, awful place called Brenda and Jerry’s a few years ago. The gig had EVERYTHING working against it. It had all the potential to be one of the biggest nightmares of my musical career, and in some ways it was…you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. BUT, when it came time to play, I looked out and a relatively large number of people had driven a fair distance just to hear us. Some I knew, some I didn’t. I was blown away. It was my first real proof that anyone gave a rat’s butt about what we were doing. I’m pretty sure we played every song we knew and at least one we kind of didn’t know in an effort to make sure everyone left happy.

MF: I can’t speak for all. Speaking for me, our appearance at Dave Phillips back in November. Playing with the band in front of a wonderfully appreciative audience for the first time, and then meeting long time friends and fans of the band afterward. Very rewarding and encouraging.

11. Sort of countering that…have you had any moments where all you could do is laugh at how difficult things were, because the only other option was to pack it all in? Sort of a Spinal Tap-type moment?

BF: We played a local venue called Brenda and Jerry's which is basically a little music school. During our break, Brenda and Jerry hopped up on stage to regale our prog audience with schmaltzy show tunes. I have no problem with show tunes, having played in a number of pit orchestras. But Brenda and Jerry chose the wrong crowd to inflict their music and all we could do was grit our teeth and cut short our break.

GJ: Well there was this Earth Day benefit we got asked to play, and my bandmates got me to promise I'd behave myself and not poke too much fun at the more extreme "earth biscuits" in the room. Well we walked in the door and there was a woman my age wearing a diaper, made up as one of those new squiggly light bulbs, with duct tape around her butt to be the threads. I turned to look at Karl and Bill and said "Forget it - all bets are off!" It was my extreme pleasure that day to be able to tell the audience from the stage that "my two band mates really care about the earth; I, however, am just pretending to care about earth - to make Saturn jealous."

KE: Again…there have been SO many. Probably the big standout would be the little festival we played in upstate NY. The guy who organized ProgOctoberfest had obviously worked his ass off in so many ways. Promotion was EVERYWHERE: radio, newspapers, magazines, posters…there might have even been a billboard. I sincerely believe he went way above and beyond the call of duty. Sadly it was all for naught. After driving four hours to get up there, we set up and played first. I believe we had the biggest audience of any of the bands because my uncle and a couple of his friends came, and all of the other bands had more members than we did. That was it. That was the audience: My uncle, his friends, and the members of the other bands. The other bands were awesome, but I don’t think there was a single other paid admission. The club was HUGE, which made the emptiness that much worse. The whole thing was a benefit for school music programs, too. Very sad indeed.

MF: None that I’ve experienced yet. I’m sure there will be moments, but the group always seems to be able to back off when necessary, talk openly, then have a laugh. That’s really the best way to keep a relationship of any sort going.

12. When you’re not playing or rehearsing, what do you do to relax?

BF: I go on an annual hiking vacation and try to get some local hikes in as time permits. I host three shows on FM stations that stream on-line so listening to music isn't always the relaxing past time it used to be. But it's certainly not a stress except when previewing submissions that are not appropriate genre-wise or are of, shall I say, lesser quality. I've started cooking a little more than I used to which is kind of relaxing in a way. I'm addicted to TV, which is probably the most relaxing thing I do since my participation level doesn't need to be very high.

GJ: Laugh. (wait...is this interview going to run in Alaska? I don't want to give Eskimo women the wrong idea...) (Editors Note: Yes Greg. Yes it is.) I love to laugh at comedies, both stupid ones and dark ones. The Best of Triumph The Insult Comic Dog is a favorite DVD of mine. And there's always drinking coffee.

KE: Relax? What’s that? I have another band—an acoustic adventure called RED—which plays out quite a bit and is working on its first album. We’re hoping to have that done in the next couple weeks. It looks like Brett Kull from Echolyn is going to mix and master it for us. Other than that, I like to do juvenile and dangerous things on bicycles. I’m also currently finishing my Elementary Teaching Certification, so hopefully I’ll have a “real” job at some point in the not-too-distant future. When the need arises, I do guitar repairs and some small recording projects.

MF: Time spent with my wife and my kids is the best relaxation therapy EVER. A highball glass full of Gentleman Jack is a close second.

13. I’ve got a couple (potentially irreverent) questions now that are just for one of you (Matt got his earlier). Greg…what’s the secret to a perfect cup of coffee?

GJ: To quote Sean Connery from his Oscar winning role in The Untouchables, "What are you prepared to do?" It takes total commitment to do everything that you learn will make it better. I'll give you an example. Everyone who's reading this, what's the best cup of coffee you've ever had? Do you go to that place every morning? No? Why not? The answers to these questions will show you why the world remains doomed to serve bad coffee and why you're all accessories to the crime. If you're going somewhere because it's convenient rather than go support the place you had amazing coffee, shame on you.

BF: My secret is to have Greg brew it! He brings an airpot of amazing coffee to every rehearsal. Pinnacle is the most caffeinated band on the planet!

14. Karl…do you (or did you) ever get sick of people mangling the intro to Stairway to Heaven, or flubbing the Smoke on the Water riff?

KE: You know what? I worked at two different music stores for a total of 8 years. I’m not sure I EVER heard anyone play Stairway or Smoke on the Water. Compared to what they were playing, that would have been a nice break. Now people can’t play Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” and that God awful Blink 182 song…”This is growing up?” Maybe? I don’t know what the hell it’s called. I heard those songs absolutely brutalized over and over again. And “Crazy Train.” Ozzy would throw up his bat.

However, I have to mention that I did notice a swing in the last few years. All of a sudden there were kids who could play…like REALLY play. It’s starting to become less of a liability to be a good musician. Obviously, it was fun in the early 2000’s when people thought I was the guitar god of the music store because I never bought into the whole grunge/punk ethic and could still play guitar solos, but I’m gleefully happy that “real” playing is starting to make a comeback. I can’t believe I have to thank that stupid Jack Black movie and a video game for it, but, hey, whatever works.

15. Bill…do you ever look at your band mates and thank whomever that you’re the sane one?

BF: You obviously don't know me very well! ;-) I'm the most insane one of the group! I retired at 46 to take a midlife crisis break from the rat race. Unfortunately, I have to rejoin it soon. But I knew that this day would come. I just couldn't predict that the economy and job market would be in the toilet.

GJ: Bill? He's the craziEST one. He's our endless enigma, if you will...and a great friend.

KE: Bill is not the sane one. He’s the least-obviously crazy. Ironically, I’d have to say that the lead singer/keyboard player guy is the sane one. Weird.

16. Interests change over a lifetime. Are there any newer bands or artists you find inspiring or enjoyable today?

BF: I am, have been, and always shall be a Beatles fanatic. Klaatu was my discovery of the '70s. Toy Matinee was my discovery in 1990 and Spock's Beard in 1999. In the '00s, it was the Vinyl Kings. This excludes my interest in electronic music where I must cite Robert Rich, Ian Boddy, RMI, Red Shift. I'd better stop there or I could go on for too long.

GJ: Besides my favorites Spock's Beard and The Dixie Dregs, I am inspired by and/or in awe of IZZ, 3RDegree, Echolyn, Those Men, Mars Hollow, District 97, It Bites, Singularity, Advent, etc. I love Mike Visaggio of Kinetic Element's organ work and the incredible drummer John Camaratta who just joined Healing Agony. There's so many great bands now, a veritable embarrassment of riches if you will. For me, what sets all of those artists apart is the quality of the songwriting.

KE: I wish I had more time to check more of them out. As far as Prog goes, I’ve really been liking Frost*, Mars Hollow, IZZ and Magic Pie. Outside of the Prog realm, I have been digging Jack’s Mannequin and, while they’re not a “new” band, the newest It Bites album, The Tall Ships, is one of the best things I’ve heard in eons.

MF: Yes, but way too many to mention, and my taste in music is all OVER the map. I will mention that I’ve really gotten into Shadow Gallery. They’ve got tunes out there I wish I had written.

17. Taking the new album out of the equation…what’s next for Pinnacle?

BF: We would like to play at festivals and will be sending out the new CD to try and make that happen. There certainly isn't a local prog scene for us to play in the Lehigh Valley. The only prog event here is NEARfest and that comes only once per year. The rest of the time, the Valley is a musical wasteland... unless you think that three chord Blues in 4/4 time is the pinnacle of musical achievement.

GJ: Hard to see beyond the excitement of new material but I hope we get some more gigs. We always love playing for Jim Robinson and the New Jersey Proghouse series, and we'd love to bring Matt's great voice to a stage anywhere we can.

KE: Money, women…You know….the usual.

I’d like to play more, certainly, but we have to find the “right” opportunities. There’s nothing worse than playing music you’ve slaved over and poured your heart into for an audience that really wants you to play the same songs they heard on the radio on the way to the club. I’d like to get into some of the festivals. We played ProgDay a couple years ago, which was a complete riot, but it didn’t turn out to be the starting point we were hoping it would be.

MF: Isn’t the new album enough for now?? Actually, I don’t think you can take the new album out of the equation, it’s going to be an unveiling of the “new” Pinnacle. And I think that we should start concentrating on the ‘new, new’ album right after that. (No doubt Karl just read this and smacked himself on the head). We have enough material for it already (well, I do, but I haven’t shown any of it to the boyz yet.)

18. In closing, do any of you have any final words to share with our readers?

BF: SQUIRREL!

GJ: Just a huge thank you to everyone who bought a CD, came to a show or read this interview. And thank you, Bill, for your interest.

KE: If you liked everything we’ve ever done before, the next album will be exactly the same, but WAY better. If you hated everything we’ve done up to this point, the next album will be TOTALLY DIFFERENT AND WONDERFUL!

MF: Hope to meet all of you soon!

Find out more:
http://pinnacleband.com/
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pinnacleband?ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=55330772996&ref=ts
http://www.myspace.com/pinnaclegroup

4th BPB Poll results

2010-10-07T13:09:00.000-04:00

The fourth BPB poll was one I was looking forward to running for a long time...reader's favourite King Crimson album. KC is a band that means so very much to me, as anyone who knows me closely can attest. Even though I (grumble grumble stupidbloodycarin2003grrhate) never got to see the band live in concert, I've probably listened to more King Crimson than any other band (if you add in all the concert recordings I've been lucky enough to acquire over the years).

Usually with polls I have some preconceived notions how they'll go. Much the same is true here...I had a feeling the top albums would be Red and In the Court, and I was not at all mistaken. Until the final day, the two were tied for total votes...and they nearly ended up tied too.

There were some surprises though.

I expected Discipline to end up polling higher. 4th isn't a disappointment, but I figured for sure it'd have come in above Larks. The other huge surprise for me was how low The Power to Believe came in. I know a lot of people who find that album to be a modern KC classic, so to finish with only 3 votes out of over 200 cast was a complete shock to me.

In any event...213 votes total, which I believe is tops for a poll on this site to date.

And a new poll to follow this weekend...be ready!

Red 50 (23%)
In the Court of the Crimson King 49 (23%)
Larks Tongues in Aspic 29 (13%)
Discipline 24 (11%)
Lizard 17 (7%)
Islands 12 (5%)
Starless and Bible Black 12 (5%)
Three of a Perfect Pair 5 (2%)
THRaK 5 (2%)
In the Wake of Poseidon 3 (1%)
The Power to Believe 3 (1%)
The ConstruKCtion of Light 2 (0%)
Beat 2 (0%)

Votes : 213
Closed 2 October 2010 11:59 PM
Poll Length: 14 days

CD REVIEW: Dean Watson - Unsettled

2010-10-07T09:52:00.000-04:00

Dean Watson contacted me a short bit ago following my review of Relocator’s debut CD, asking if I might be interested in checking out his album Unsettled. I’d heard some very good things about the release, so it sounded like something that’d be of interest to me, and I encouraged him to send along a copy at his convenience. I’ve been listening to this one for a while now, and today we’re going to take a closer look at it.

Dean Watson comes from Ontario, and Unsettled is a solo album in just about every way. He’s written all the music and played everything. Every guitar, every keyboard, every bass, every programmed drum note…it’s all Dean. That’s a benefit and a detriment…while the music is incredibly locked in, incredibly tight (yet with admirable space), the lack of a live drummer (even if he were playing an electronic kit with triggered samples from, say, the Drumkit from Hell) is for me a shortcoming. Drum hits, especially on faster sections, remind of machine gun fire, and the limitation of the sample set being used really creates an entirely too precise, clinical drum sound. That ultimately includes the programming…either that, or Dean Watson is the world’s most precise electronic drummer ever, in which case I’ll have to apologise for that comment but still wish that there was a more diverse sample set being used.

I don’t have the same complaints about his bass/guitar/keyboard playing. His bass work is fluid and effortless, with a nice round tone. His guitar playing ranges from thick and crunchy to clean and shimmering, while he picks some great keyboard patches, including a really warm, real sounding Hammond tone that I still am not certain isn’t the real thing. Since he plays everything there might be a concern about things getting too tight, and while there’s plenty of tight playing, there’s some nice space in these compositions that makes things work well.

The first three tracks on Unsettled do a great job of showcasing the breadth and scope of this release.

We start off with ‘The Encounter.’ When I played the album for the first time, and heard the marinba tone being used, my first thought was ‘Ooh, Zappa!’ We don’t remain in fields of Zappaesque sound for long, but it was a cool little nod, intentional or otherwise. The drumming underneath is incredibly complex, and I think it’d be ever so much more impressive with a live kit. Add in some heavy guitar and shifting keyboard patches…swirly synth here, organ there…and you have all the ingredients for an impressive album opener. It’s nice to come out of the gates with a barnstormer of a track, and ‘The Encounter’ definitely is that. Heavy, dexterous, with some nice shifts in tempo and time, and we’re definitely off on the right foot.

‘The Push’ takes us in a different direction entirely. For me, if ‘The Encounter’ was a showcase for Watson’s guitar playing (and it really was), then ‘The Push’ gives us a taste of Watson’s killer keyboard chops. Loads, veritable oodles of Hammond organ lace this track almost from the opening beat, with some Yamaha GX-1 like synth adding more colour and texture. True story…I was listening to this one in the store I work at a week or so ago, and a customer came in and nearly dropped the receiver he was carrying in shock as he exclaimed to his wife ‘Oh my god, it’s a new ELP song!’ I suppose it was the organ playing, when I think about it, but I can see it too in some ways. This is definitely a bit more bop-jazz like than the stuff I usually hear Emerson copping from, but I’d take it as a compliment if it were me.

Our third side of Watson’s playing comes out on ‘Out of the Mist,’ which offers up some lovely and lyrical bass playing. I really like the laid back vibe of this track as it opens, with gentle synth textures colouring and adding shape to the really gorgeous bass playing. At 8:27, this is the longest piece on the album, and honestly as gorgeous as it is, it’d probably overstay its welcome if there weren’t some kind of, oh, let’s say shocking development in the song. And at 4:09, when the first chord comes crushing and crashing down over the acoustic guitar and synth orchestration, that development drops in with a sudden shock. The synth playing reminds of Mahavishnu in colour, the electric guitar chords (or chord, really) are almost bludgeoning in contrast with the rest of the musical backing, and the tension is palpable. The closing two minutes almost seem like another song entirely, far more metallic and heavier than anything we’ve had thus far, presenting one final contrast in a composition that seems based entirely around them.

‘Sequence of Events’ takes the heaviness that closed out ‘Out of the Mist’ and wraps in it a skittery, almost contrapuntal beat. And oh, there’s contrasts a plenty in this one too, as out heavy bar fusion band drops out at 2:20 in favour of a small club trio, brushes on virtual cymbals, cool jazz organ and a pulsing little beat on bass. I’d love to have seen this explored a bit more…it’d have fit nicely in or around a track like ‘The Push,’ and while you might think it out of place, it fits on this album perfectly. We get another cool little beat on ‘DIP,’ very syncopated, with piano and a warm, saturated guitar tone alternating melodic figures before some staccato organ chords enter the fray. I’d almost call this one jaunty if that word weren’t so overused that it’s lost meaning. This time I have to say the shift to much heavier territories seems a little less smooth, but I won’t complain too much, because the song as a whole is strong enough that I go with the flow anyway.

‘The Departure’ reminds me of Jeff Beck for some strange reason. At least the opening moments do, up to about 3:00 in. The mix of organ and warm guitar just scream Beck a la Blow by Blow or Wired. Warm, sorrowful, lyrical, it’s a lovely instrumental that shifts at that previously mentioned 3 minute mark to heavier territories. Marimba pops its head in again for a quick hello on the closing fade, and as good as that closing minute plus is, I miss that 70’s fusiony rock goodness that opened things up.

Unsettled closes out with our ‘title track,’ the 2:17 ‘Still (Unsettled).’ Gentle percussion and acoustic guitar are the colours for this track, and after an album of heavy rock, intense fusion, and hot jazzy workouts, it seems a bit odd to conclude the album on such a restrained, quiet track. But I think it’s a daring little number, and the dearth of intensity actually works well in its favour, by offering up a different kind of intensity, built by tension and restraint.

Unsettled’s not a perfect album…I’m not at all keen on the programmed drumming, and I think at times there are some stylistic shifts in mid song that weaken a track or two. Having said this, Unsettled is still a hell of a strong album, one that will not only satisfy the heavy metal/fusion heads out there, but also fans of 70’s prog and fusion looking for a new fix to satisfy their itch. I have a feeling this is one that I’ll be spinning for a while, as it continues to satisfy even after dozens of listens.

Track Listing:
The Encounter
The Push
Out of the Mist
Sequence of Events
DIP
The Departure
Gray Matter
Orb
11th Heaven Blues
Still (Unsettled)

Musicians:
For Unsettled all music written and performed entirely by Dean Watson.

Find out more:
www.myspace.com/deanwatson2

Random Touch announce 14th album details

2010-10-06T17:14:00.000-04:00

Reverberating Apparatus, Random Touch's fourteenth release, is dominated by a revisit to the fusion of their teenage years, heard through the lens of four decades of musical exploration.

String Theory suggests a universe comprised of music, of vibration itself. And serendipity seems a natural outcome of quantum mechanics. If there are eleven dimensions as M Theory proposes, then four or more of them play a role in the uncompromising and naked improvisation of this remarkable and serendipitous group.

“To know the mechanics of the wave is to know the entire secret of nature.” - Walter Russell

"Layers of sound become music. Our structures evolve and the listener also evolves. Each piece will conform to a meaning that is highly individualized. Every sound or noise is an important moment. The music can be extremely intense, or just so simple that it induces a dream-like state. When performing it feels like an unknown cosmic wave has entered our space. It allows the three of us a freedom of expression that is completely indescribable." - James Day, keyboardist

“Despite our state of the art equipment, the most revolutionary event in the studio was the purchase of -29 db isolation headphones. Before this the acoustic sound of my drums could be heard, with the result that I had to hold back on my volume. With this album that is no longer the case.” - Christopher Brown, drummer/vocalist

During the band members' teenage years their musical heritage expanded to include electric Miles Davis, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Frank Zappa, Roxy Music, Weather Report, Charles Ives, Bela Bartok, Harry Partch and a whole raft of iconoclasts and trail blazers that are too numerous to mention. Scott Hamill (guitar), James Day (keyboards) and Christopher Brown (drums/vocals) attended the same high school and even now live in close proximity. Rock bands, a high school rock opera, and numerous multi-media events preceded the formation of Random Touch. The downturn in the arts and music in the late 1970s set the stage for a nineteen year period of experimentation and play away from the public eye, which in turn set the stage for the fourteen volumes that bring us to the year 2010. Each of these volumes and their individual tracks differ dynamically from one another, a reflection of the invitational and open approach that is the hallmark of this group's oeuvre.

Reverberating Apparatus will be available at CDBaby.com and randomtouch.com beginning October 15, 2010. More info at www.randomtouch.com

Mars Hollow: in the studio with Billy Sherwood for album #2

2010-10-06T12:55:00.000-04:00

10T Records is excited to announce that Mars Hollow will soon be entering the studio to begin work on the follow-up to their best-selling self-titled debut CD with veteran producer and musician Billy Sherwood (YOSO, Circa;, YES, World Trade and solo artist fame) at the helm. Sherwood will be serving as producer, engineer and mixer on the project.

“To say we’re stoked would be the understatement of the century,” says Mars Hollow bassist Kerry Chicoine. “We’re all die-hard fans of Billy’s incredible musical career and his cutting-edge production techniques, and to think we’ll be recording under his watchful ears...well, I’m still pinching myself -- hard!”

“Great guys... great musicians what more can you ask for in a band?” says Sherwood of working with Mars Hollow. "It's going to be rockin'!"

Sessions are scheduled to begin in early November 2010, sandwiched between Sherwood’s upcoming sessions with progressive rock legend John Wetton. The official release of Mars Hollow’s highly anticipated, as yet untitled, sophomore effort is planned for spring of 2011.

CD REVIEW: District 97 - Hybrid Child (2010, Laser's Edge)

2010-10-06T09:54:00.000-04:00

There is a word, perhaps the worst word that can ever be uttered with respect to a prog band.

It is worse than being called a clone. Far worse than being labeled derivative. And compared to being called twee? It’s in another league entirely.

That word, Constant Readers, is hype.

It’s OK. I’ll wait till the tremors die down.

(waits)

All good now?

Hype is something most prog music fans seem to greet more with disdain or outright fear than with open, welcoming arms. Hype happens at all levels of progdom, from a new release from a classic era band being called ‘their best since (insert epoch-defining album title here)’ to a new band’s debut release being elevated pre-release to the pantheon of greats. I’ve learned to tune hype out, usually ignoring it entirely. At my worst, however, I see a hyped band or album and actively stay away from it, because there’s no way the band can live up to the hype. Not ever.

This has been a very long lead-in for a review of an album that has been getting hype for months now, District 97’s debut release Hybrid Child. It’s out now on Laser’s Edge Records, home to a load of bands I have loved.

Now, for some of you, hearing me talk about hype may seem disingenuous. After all, I run a blog, I post news articles about new and forthcoming releases all the time (like the posts I’ve done with D97 videos). I do interviews (like the one I did with D97 drummer Jonathan Schang). In some ways, I am a cog in the hype machine. I understand this. It doesn’t mean that I like it all the time, and I do try to balance things out so things aren’t that overly hype based and more grounded on what is really going on, rather than grandiose claims that will never be fulfilled.

The question that now arises, of course, and I can hear you asking this, is this…does Hybrid Child live up to the hype?

Let’s take a closer look and see.

Here are the basic facts: District 97 is a 6-piece band, musically a mix of progressive metal, fusion and some serious pop sensibilities. Their music can range from thrashy metal to lush symphonic progressive rock, often in the course of the same song. Hooks and melodies abound…these aren’t just intricate bits of music with all flash and no substance…of course, having said this, there’s lots of sections showcasing some serious musical chops. Add in a cellist who plays for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and a singer who appeared on American Idol, and…it’s a pretty interesting and heady mixture.

Of course, those last two elements are the ones getting most of the attention. Everyone I know who is familiar with the band starts off with the fact that vocalist Leslie Hunt was on American Idol, and that cellist Katrinka Kleijn plays with the CSO, like these are carefully chosen things to try and build more attention and, well, hype. If neither of them could pull their weight, I’d give credence to this viewpoint. The fact is, both of them pull their own weight and then some. It is very interesting to hear cello used so prominently in this kind of music, and more interesting still that it’s not played the way one might expect. There aren’t a lot of long, sorrowful, mournful lines being offered up…a lot of time it almost seems Kleijn plays her cello like an oversized violin, with plenty of fleet fingered, skipping lines and solos that sound so much not at all like what we expect a cello to sound like.

Then there’s Leslie Hunt. Let’s face it, her voice is again not what we expect in progressive rock. She brings a lot of pop sensibility and delivery to her vocals, and it’s something that’s unfamiliar. Thankfully her vocalisation is not filled with faux soul or loads of melisma and forced inflection. Her voice shows range and flexibility as well…at times crystal clear and innocent, other times a touch harsher and more world wise. It’s a fine voice, and one that should continue to grow with time and development.

This is not to say the rest of the band is not worth mentioning. Jonathan Schang is a hell of a drummer, chops to spare and the ability to unleash when necessary, or hold back when it suits the song. Jim Tashjian is a beast of a guitarist, and I can’t praise his playing enough. Nor can I say enough good things about Rob Clearfield’s keybaord chops. At times his playing has a nice Jobson-in-UK-esque feel to it, and that plays into some of his patch choices as well. He also plays a mean baritone guitar too. Finally, when I can hear him, Patrick Mulchay’s bass playing is lyrical, warm and spot on. His solos are great, and when he is mixed up, his playing is revelatory, and such a huge part of the songs. At times I think there’s a bit of difficulty for me to differentiate some of the lower cello work from his bass playing, as they sometimes sit in similar register, but when separated…both benefit from the other.

Hybrid Child to me feels almost like two separate EP’s welded together in the middle. The first half of the album consists of 4 mid-length songs (6 to 9 minutes in length), mostly vocally oriented. The second half of the release is a single 27-minute, 10-part suite with an overarching title of ‘Mindscan.’ Interestingly enough, both halves work well together; there’s no weakness resulting from the disparity of these two very different sections. The first half opens up with the propulsive and energetic ‘Don’t Wanna Wait Another Day,’ filled to the brim with some amazing cello riffs and lines and powerful vocals. Immediately one is struck by the vocal delivery, which, with its reliance on mannerisms more at home in contemporary pop and rock music, seems to be unlike anything heard in prog to date. There’s no worry about confusing Leslie Hunt with female prog singers from the past, and it almost seems like a statement of intent in a lot of ways. I like the shift to the spacier, quieter section part way through, which allows for a short breather before picking back up full speed again. It’s a powerful opening track, showing a lot of modern sensibilities and influences.

Up next is a track most people here should be familiar with, as it was the lead single released several months back. ‘Can’t Take You With Me’ verges on overplayed for me, which sounds weird, but considering how much I’ve heard of it over the past few months waiting for the album to show up, you’d understand why. The album version adds two more minutes of instrumental workout to this tightly composed, poppy tune, with a load of UK-like influences winding their way through things. Yes, I do consider this their UK piece, and I can’t help it. Still, it’s an enjoyable number…it was catchy enough that the video that looped at NEARfest 2010 interested me in finding out more. I’d like to hear this one played live, to see if the band stretches it out any more…but as enjoyable a song as it is, I probably need a break from it. At least short term.

‘The Man Who Knows Your Name’ is another song that relies on disparity in styles and shifts in tone. The opening riff is pretty relentless, with powerful drum/bass interlocked sections and a nice, but not quite heavy enough guitar riff over top. Had they pumped up things just a bit, I’d be headbanging away. But then keyboards kick in, we hit more fusiony realms, and the heaviness feels boosted just a bit by the solo atop it. Vocal sections again enter dreamier realms, and the shifts are organic and smooth. Kleijn offers up a few tasty cello solos, Schang’s drumming is tight and punchy, and Tashjian’s guitar work is fluid…heavy where required, lyrical as needed. The longest of the tracks on the first half of the album at 8:49, it allows for a decent bit of stretching out instrumentally. It also sets up the very heavy, very thrashy, and surprising ‘Termites,’ which closes out what I’d think of as ‘Side A’ of this debut record. If you told me that Leslie Hunt co-wrote the song, I’d have given you a weird look, but she did. A series of surreal scenes set to some blistering thrash metal, it’s a surprising track that sounds like nothing else on the album. Of course, the fact that there’s very little keyboard playing here helps that…Clearfield instead picks up a baritone guitar and happily flails away with the rest of the band. It’s not quite tech/thrash, but I’ll be damned if it’s not something I keep repeating because it’s really flipping cool.

Hybrid Child closes out in a grandiose manner, with the 10-part, 27-minute epic ‘Mindscan.’ Now, while I was bad and listened to ‘Can’t Take You With Me’ about 5 zillion times leading up to the release of this album, I did not listen to any of ‘Mindscan’ before getting the CD, even though the entire epic is up on Youtube in live concert versions. Thus, I had no idea what it was I was getting into. Knowing what I know from the interview I did with D97 drummer Jonathan Schang a few months back, I knew that the band started out as an instrumental group a la Liquid Tension Experiement, and I had images of a track similar to LTE’s ‘Three Minute Warning’…a.k.a., a massive instrumental filled chock a block with loads of unison lines, intense instrumental workouts, and not necessarily tight songwriting or hooks.

I shouldn’t have feared.

This 10-part epic has plenty of vocal sections scattered amongst the instrumental movements, and there’s plenty of variety to be had. Some of the lushest, most symphonic moments on this album are held on this track, as well as some of the more intense instrumental bits as well. Yes, it’s a bit of everything plus the kitchen sink…oh, and some closets and a table as well…kind of song, but it works very well. Is it perhaps a bit overlong at 27:36? Maybe. Don’t ask me what to edit out though, because I couldn’t tell you. I can say that I love the space-like, almost Floydian opening movement ‘Arrival,’ the lovely use of piano and cello on ‘Entrance,’ and the heavier take on things in ‘Realisation.’ ‘Welcome,’ the first vocal section, is almost Dream Theater like, reminding me somehow of some of the sections of ‘Octavarium,’ while ‘Examination’ is strange, with ambient sounds, weird glitch like parts, and copious quantities of WTF abounding. The lyrics to ‘Hybrid Child’ remind me of Genesis’ Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, while the use of piano and gentle, gradual builds is well executed. ‘Exploration’ and ‘What Do They Want’ are really two of a kind, based around the same riffs and instrumental parts, with the first being instrumental, the second adding in some very nice vocal parts setting off the heavier instrumental backing. There’s a lot of vocal doubling and harmony on display here, really adding a nice extra bit of colour to things. ‘When I Awake’ gives us out last vocal performance of the album, set against some heavier symphonic rock. I’d love to hear some extended works from the band in this style…it’s a different feel entirely, and one they seem to excel at. Finally, ‘Returning Home’ closes out the epic and the album with a shifting instrumental…fast and powerful to start, ambient and spacey to close out. The shift is smooth and effortless, and the final fade, with a pulsing synth and cello unison, is lovely and so very, very prog.

We’re reaching the end of the review, and this is the point where I try to wrap things up in a few pithy, piquant lines that (hopefully) either inspire you to go out and buy the album, or warn you to stay away like it has the plague (really though, that doesn’t happen all that often). This time, I think we also need to answer the question of whether Hybrid Child lives up to the hype.

Does it?

I think, for the most part, that it does. It’s contemporary yet has an eye looking to the past just enough to allow the material to resonate with listeners who really enjoy the older symphonic style. It is as heavy as it is lush, and the frequent presence of cello is a nice touch indeed. I think people used to a more classical vocal delivery may find Leslie Hunt’s vocals an unusual taste at first, but it’s one that can be acquired very easily. And hell, you have to give her credit…she was on American Idol, and could have tried for a pop career, and said ‘I want to sing this! I need to be in this band!’ This isn’t a ploy to try and sell records, not some cheap trick. This is the real deal, and it shows on every song.

I think District 97 is a band that can have a long future ahead of them. And I think this is an album that merits a purchase and repeated listens, whether you dig the heavier side of prog or not. Hopefully they’ll be around for a while…I’d like to hear what they come up with next.

Track Listing
Don’t Wanna Wait Another Day
Can’t Take You With Me
The Man Who Knows Your Name
Termites

Mindscan:
I. Arrival
II. Entrance
III. Realization
IV. Welcome
V. Examination
VI. Hybrid Child
VII. Exploration
VIII. What Do They Want
IX. When I Awake
X. Returning Home

Musicians:
Leslie Hunt: vocals
Katinka Kleijn: cello
Rob Clearfield: keyboards, baritone guitar
Jim Tashjian: guitars
Patrick Mulchay: bass guitar
Jonathan Schang: drums, percussion

Find out more:
http://www.district97.net
http://www.myspace.com/district97
http://www.district97.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/District-97/250928325595?ref=ts

Keith Emerson: health updates

2010-10-05T20:17:00.002-04:00

Via his Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=440055436751&id=121269690960

I would like to thank all those well-wishers that wrote to me during my recent hospitalisation. I would also like to thank the doctors, surgeons and nurses of The London Clinic as well as those individuals who donate blood.

At this time I would say a prayer for all those less fortunate than myself in sickness.

To recap, this all started during a routine medical that incorporated an endoscopy, MRI, blood tests all of which turned out OK. Finally my doctor looked up my past medical records. " I see it's been over five years since your last colonoscopy. To be safe it is time for another."

That test caused concern with the reveal of a dangerous polyp situated in my large colon. It was decided that I should have it removed for analysis immediately. This involved laparoscopic surgery and a two-inch incision in my stomach to remove about two inches of the colon it was attached to.

However, surgery showed up more than anyone had bargained for. A large section of my lower colon was afflicted with a diverticular disease with significant number of diverticula and it all had to come out - nearly a foot and a half of it!

When I came round from the anesthetic I discovered that I had been cut from the lower end of my rib cage to the pubic region, and what they had taken out was now in the laboratory for analysis. It would be a week before I knew the results. Meanwhile, as I lay hoping I might be recovering, I was bleeding heavily, internally. The initial response was to wait and see if the two parts of the healthy colon had bonded successfully and the bleeding would stop. It didn't. Two blood transfusions later at 11PM, I was told I had no option other than to be immediately rushed back to the operating theater. I really thought that was it.

I had no time to tell friends or family. The rest is a bit of a blur except I do remember a surgeon saying to me sometime the next day that he had successfully clipped the two parts of the colon together and halted the spurting blood vessel. Of course I remained doubtful and almost in a panic if I felt I was about to sneeze, as I still am. A few days later the results from the lab had come in. Thankfully, the polyp was not malignant. This experience made me realise the importance of having a colon screening, and of donating blood. After two weeks in the hospital, I am now recuperating in Sussex having been told by doctors and surgeons that it will be some time before I fully get my strength back.

I am most thankful to Mari for her love and attention, my family and to Greg Lake for his compassion and support.

Stay well.

Keith Emerson

5 October 2010

Lunatic Soul II details revealed

2010-10-05T16:54:00.000-04:00

October 25th, 2010 has been set as the release date of the second album of Lunatic Soul, a project conceived by Riverside's singer and bass player Mariusz Duda. The white album, a continuation of 2008's black album, constitutes the second and last part of the diptych about the journey through the underworld.

Mariusz Duda: It will again be a story about a journey through a place that exists somewhere in-between, enriched with new motifs and retrospections. A sort of a road movie about a lost soul. Musically speaking perhaps more intense and unsetting than the first part but with the predominance of certain space and lightness that can be--I hope so--associated with the colour white. Hence, the album is a sort of a continuation but certainly not a repetition.

The majority of the instrumental parts are played by Mariusz Duda himself. However, the guest musicians appear this time as well, for instance already known from the previous album Maciej Szelenbaum (keyboards, flutes, quzheng) or Wawrzyniec Dramowicz from Indukti (drums). The new album will be released in Poland by Mystic Production, and in the rest of the world by (known for their work with such bands as Porcupine Tree or Anathema) the British label Kscope. Soon, the first single "Wanderings" will be released.

1. The In-Between Kingdom
2. Otherwhere
3. Suspended In Whiteness
4. Asoulum
5. Limbo
6. Escape from ParadIce
7. Transition
8. Gravestone Hill
9. Wanderings

James LaBrie tour dates announced

2010-10-05T13:41:00.000-04:00

Nov. 26 - Charlotte, NC - Tremont Music Hall
Nov. 27 - Raleigh, NC - Volume 11
Nov. 29 – New York, NY - Gramercy Theater
Nov. 30 - Philadelphia, PA - The Trocadero
Dec. 02 - Montreal, QUE - Club Soda
Dec. 03 - Toronto, ONT - Opera House
Dec. 04 - Detroit, MI - Blondies
Dec. 06 - Cleveland, OH - Peabody's
Dec. 07 - Chicago, IL - Reggie Rock Club
Dec. 08 - Minneapolis, MN - Station 4
Dec. 10 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon
Dec. 11 - Portland, OR - Berbati's Pen
Dec. 14 - Los Angeles, CA - Key Club
Dec. 15 - Ventura, CA - Ventura Theater
Dec. 16 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theater
Dec. 18 - San Antonio, TX - Backstage Live
Dec. 19 - Dallas, TX - Trees
Dec. 20 - Houston, TX - Scout Bar

Tickets for the trek are currently on sale exclusively via EnterTheVault.com where fans can purchase both regular and VIP tickets for the trek. VIP packages include entrance to the venue one hour early, a meet-and-greet with James LaBrie and a signed tour poster.

(More than) 10 questions with...Pinnacle (part the first)

2010-10-05T10:14:00.000-04:00

I’ve known the guys in Pinnacle for a while…differing amounts for most of them but still, we go a ways back. If you’ve been lucky enough to spend time at NEARfest or the NJ Proghouse shows, you know them too, even if you’ve not spoken with them personally. Drummer Greg Jones is the master of coffee (a beverage that sadly I have to refrain from these days…damn you, heart!), a wonderfully warm and funny guy, and a fantastic timekeeper to boot. Karl Eisenhart is always quick with a quip, but has always found time to discuss some minutiae with me whenever necessary. And bassist/keyboardist Bill Fox, DJ for several Lehigh Valley radio programs, has always struck me as the normal one of the bunch.

Apparently I was wrong.

But more about that soon.

Greg was kind and generous enough several years back to front me a copy of the band’s debut release, A Man’s Reach. I enjoyed it…it was limited in a lot of ways, but there was a spark there that I knew could be nurtured into something more impressive given time. Their sophomore album, Meld, saw that spark turn into a steady flame. With much improved production values and an amazing cover, it showed me a band growing by leaps and bounds faster than I even imagined. And with the news that they added a fourth member in keyboardist/vocalist Matt Francisco, the thought that these two albums are just the beginning of something even greater still brings a smile to my face.

Yes, these guys are friends (well, 3 of them are…I’ve not met Matt yet), but I also happen to think that they are fine musicians working very hard at crafting some interesting and very enjoyable melodic progressive rock. It’s a pleasure for me to return the favour they’d granted me in sharing their music with me by spending the next two days (cos this is a hella long interview!) offering you some insight into the workings of a band that more of you should be checking out!

I usually spend this final paragraph thanking the band for their time, and it goes doubly…or trebly here. Not only have all of the band members taken time out of their busy lives to answer these questions, but they’ve shared their music with me long before this blog/site was a gleam in my eye. I hope this comes across in the questions and answers that follow. So, major thanks and bouquets of Martian Fireflowers to the members of Pinnacle!

And…we’re off!

1. Let’s start at the very beginning…how did you first discover a love of music?

Bill Fox: As a preschooler, my mother would play records over the intercom system we had in the house. I would hum along. One of my mother's favorite Bill stories to tell was that, not only would I hum the melodies, but the harmonies and counterpoints, too. My love of music was innate and always there, as far as I can tell. By the first grade, I was asking for a piano. Sadly, that wish was never fulfilled. It wasn't until the fourth grade (I was nine years old) that my father bought a guitar. I started teaching myself from his books and with his help. The following summer, I took ten private lessons in folk guitar. The fourth grade was also when I was old enough to be in choirs in school and at temple. So I joined. I started saxophone in the sixth grade.

Greg Jones: At a very young age it just had a tremendous emotional and physical effect on me. I read Steve Hackett describing being so overwhelmed emotionally that he felt naked and didn't want people to see his face when he was hearing something that powerful and I thought "I know what he means".

Karl Eisenhart: I come from a very musical family. My mom is an amazing flute player. My uncle has been a full time musician as long as I can remember. My Grandmother was a MONSTER pianist, who used to play background music in movie theaters during silent films.

Matt Francisco: I wish I had an interesting answer for that question, I can only say music has always been part of my life.

2. What were your earliest influences?

BF: My earliest influences were the records my parents owned; Roger Williams, Alan Sherman, Gershwin, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and some classical music. Radio and TV of the late '50s and early '60s also had an impact. Then the Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show.

GJ: Let me just say that everything changed with the arrival of The Beatles. And as rock turned more and more experimental and less formulaic and simplistic, I was along for the ride with Hendrix, Cream, The Jeff Beck Group, The Who, Mott The Hoople, Free, Mountain, The James Gang, Deep Purple, ELP, Jethro Tull, Yes, Joni Mitchell, CSN & Y, PFM and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Then I heard the Starless And Bible Black album by King Crimson and my head exploded.

KE: Well, certainly my uncle, John Eisenhart. He got me started down the dark path of guitardom when I was really young. He also got me started on the dark path of progdom by making me listen to YesSongs. Soon after came Styx, Rush and Steve Morse in very rapid succession.

MF: Elton John-I just always liked his songs, and because of their fairly predictable chord progressions, they were easy to pick out on piano. The Who-there was a time when I could sing every lyric to every movement from “Tommy”. Peter Gabriel-for sheer determination. He doesn’t have the best voice ever but he owns every note he can hit. “Moribund the Bergermeister” remains one of my all-time favorite tunes just because I find the melody so interesting. Emerson Lake and Palmer-I love the incorporation of the orchestral sound. Alan Parsons-for the same reason as ELP. Also on my “List of Influences” for various reasons...Meatloaf, Yes, Freddie Mercury and Jim Steinman. My list is much longer but I’d feel the need to explain each one and no one has time for that.

3. How did Pinnacle first come together?

BF: I was contacted by Greg and Karl because they were looking for a bass player. They knew that I was into Classic Rock having some decidedly progressive tendencies, having seen me in my old cover band, ShadowPlay at Musikfest. We played Tull, Yes, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, Renaissance, ELP, and other, less progressive songs. (See http://soundscapes.us/ShadowPlay for archive information.) Greg came over to my house and we had a nice, long conversation. Since I had plenty of time on my hands and the project sounded like it would appeal to my musical interests, I decided to give it a go. This was about the same time that I started hosting two radio shows where I play prog.

GJ: Met Karl at a coffee shop he was playing at with his duo, loved their selection of material - deep album cuts - and guitar synth, violin, mandolin, etc. (Red was electric then) - and he saw my Steve Morse shirt so we talked after the show for a long time and decided to get together and play. After working with a few different bassists, we thought of Bill and the three of us clicked at the first rehearsal.

KE: Greg and I had been playing together for a bit, but hadn’t found a bass player with the same enthusiasm for what we wanted to do. I knew Bill as a customer at the music store I was working at back then. We got together with the idea of being a sort of prog-leaning classic rock cover band, but soon shifted into doing originals. There is a Sonar file somewhere of what was to be our demo: “The Grand Illusion,” “Teacher,” “You Can’t Get What You Want,” (Joe Jackson) and…something else. That might be an interesting thing to release someday…or not.

4. How does the band go about writing their music?

BF: Many songs are "complete" before being shared with the band. Other bits are snippets looking for a home. All of these are fodder for Pinnacle songs. Everything then gets "Pinnacle-ized" which may include additional composing as well as the expected arranging and orchestration. There is a lot of give and take and songs often change over time. An advantage of not working to a record label's release schedule is that songs have the opportunity to be analyzed for how well they fit our concept of good song writing. We have time to kick the tires on our home stereos, in the car, and even in concert.

GJ: How does the band go about writing their music? We make mistakes and always have a recorder running. Nah, most of the songs come from Karl and he lets Bill and I tear them apart and reassemble them without mercy. Occasionally one of mine makes it in, or one of Bill's. Plus, now we have Matt writing. Thankfully everyone's really good about letting their "babies" be vivisected in the interest of stronger writing.

KE: SLOWLY. One of us…most often me, I guess…comes to rehearsal with the outline of a song. We then tear it apart as a band and start adding and subtracting ideas. Our influences are widely varied, so we all have different ideas for where things should go.

MF: I’m just getting my first taste of the song writing process with the rest of the band. I can’t say there’s a set formula that we use to create a new piece, each one kind of comes into the world in it’s own way. It’s an ongoing process, meaning the songs that appear on albums aren’t ‘done’. They’re never ‘done’, and never will be. What you hear on the album is just a snapshot of how it sounded at the time of production. They will continue to grow and change as the band continues to play them.

5. Pinnacle recently added a fourth musician…Matt Francisco. How did you hook up with the band?

MF: Through Karl. Karl and I went to school together in New York State, both ended up living in Pennsylvania for different reasons. We were in a band 15 (15?? Really??) years ago or so, a mostly cover band called Twist of Fate. Since then, Karl has asked me to join him in different musical endeavors but it was only this time around that my personal life allowed me to get into something this involved.

I’m glad to be a part of Pinnacle and I hope I can keep up.

BF: Matt and Karl grew up together in upstate New York and have played in bands together before Pinnacle. Greg, Karl, and I often discussed what Pinnacle should be and what directions to take. We have good communication habits. Often, the desire for additional singers and players would pop up. We took the power trio about as far as we could by using synthesizers and pedals. Karl would play synths from his guitar and with pedals. I would play synth by hand and with pedals. Not being a big Rush fan like Karl, I had no idea that I was following in the footsteps of Geddy Lee. His shoes are far too big for the likes of me to fill anyway. I even brought in pads for Greg to trigger samples on the laptop. So we took the trio thing about as far as we could. We still wanted additional vocals most of all and perhaps a real keyboard player. Matt fills the bill by being a fantastic singer and piano player. His transition into a synth player has been amazing. As it turns out, he writes music like a demon, too! What an unexpected plus.

KE: Matt is one of my oldest friends (meaning that I’ve known him for a long time. Not meaning that he’s old.) We grew up and both moved far away from home. By sheer coincidence, we only live a couple miles father apart now than we did when we were kids. From the beginning of this band, I always thought he’d be the perfect fourth member, but his plate was always way too full. When we first approached him about joining, all we were hoping was that he would sing on the recordings and live gigs. I didn’t anticipate that he’d have time or desire for more of a commitment than that, but it just naturally evolved into having him play keys on the new stuff, then playing keys on the old stuff, then writing great song after great song. Now he’s learning guitar. Plus, as Greg would say, he’s the good-looking one…not that we’ve set the bar too high. Pretty soon it’s going to be HIS band.

6. Also for Matt…can you tell us what it’s like being the new guy?

MF: Not really, because I didn’t feel like the new guy for long. I think Greg and Bill gave me a shot mainly because Karl said I could do it. That was the first rehearsal. Second rehearsal, I was getting positive feedback and helpful suggestions and constructive criticism and it felt like everyone was comfortable with the change.

7. This one is for each of you. What do you think you bring to the table for Pinnacle that differs from what the others contribute?

BF: While I tend not to write complete songs, I do have a compositional style that is different from the others. When I bring something in that makes Greg and Karl look at each other and smile like fools, I know that I've triggered their "we don't write like that" button. They like it when a piece of music surprises them, as opposed to being predictable. Something good that is different from what they would write floats their boat. I wasn't happy with the keyboard sounds we had in our live show. As a result, I brought in my laptop with a load of software synthesizers. Even with the addition of Matt, it's still the only source of keyboard sounds in Pinnacle's live show,. My experience with saxophone and Classical music is unique in the band. It doesn't usually resonate with the other band members but that doesn't matter since it always spurs discussion and stimulates the creative process. While Karl is the virtuoso guitarist, I started my instrumental life as a guitarist. Having my own set of influences, my style of playing is quite different from Karl's which gives Pinnacle a little more depth than if we only had one guitarist. Now Matt is teaching himself how to play guitar and we're all having wicked thoughts on how to capitalize on having three guitars playing at once. Although we let Karl do the heavy lifting in the recording department, that's partially due to the fact that we're in his basement using his studio. I've recorded albums in my own studio so I could just as well "push the red button." Instead, I add in ideas and direction when I feel the need. Having more than one technical person makes for a stronger, deeper final result.

GJ: I think I'm the one who believes that the bass and drums should not always phrase together. I want to hear 3 and 4 instruments playing 3 and 4 different parts independent of each other and then, when they DO come together, it will be more powerful. I also seem to be the one pushing for the combination of themes, i.e., strong intro lick played again later against chorus chords, vocal melody restated in bassline, etc. Doesn't always work but when it does.... Lastly, more so than Karl and Bill (don't know how Matt feels about this yet), I feel obligated, driven and compelled to play something, either in my own part or as a band, that I haven't heard before. Not easy to do. And I may be kidding myself - but if I can hear on a recording of ours some half-minute or less of music that I CAN'T find anything like anywhere else in my collection, I feel a tremendous pleasure and sense of satisfaction from that. "Love In Our Hands" from MELD has one short section like that and its my favorite moment on the whole record.

KE: Ruthless promptness and boundless bitterness. I know it drives Greg and Bill crazy, but they’re tolerant of it. Matt has been dealing with it forever, so I doubt he even notices anymore. Actually, he was in a cover band with me at the dawn of my bitterness, so he probably understands my negativity toward the music industry as well as anyone.

MF: Vocals and keys. I think I have a style that adds a dimension to the overall sound of the band.

8. How is work proceeding on the new album?

BF: Slowly. We only get the opportunity to get together about once per week. All too often, progress made in one session needs to be rehashed in succeeding sessions in order to make things stick. But we record at least a little of most sessions, which helps. We're finally about to press the record button for real. Most of the writing is done. We even have more material than we need which is a nice place to be.

GJ: We were, for all intensive purposes, done writing and arranging - and then we got Matt. Thank God we hadn't made this record yet! Now, between working on a few new songs that came from him and rearranging things to include him in the existing material, we plan to finally hit the record button early this fall.

KE: It’s going really well right now. We were originally planning to do a slightly shorter album this time, but then Matt came along and started sending us song after song. We’ve got a little arranging to do on one of his, then I think we’re going to actually start recording. Does that give us a timeline? Not hardly. I think the recording process will go much faster than it did with MELD because we’ve learned a lot about how to do it, but we’re also going into the process expecting to have to backtrack here and there if new ideas arise.

MF: I think we’re just about ready to hit the record button for real. We’ve certainly got enough material, in fact too much, but that’s good news for the next, next album.

9. How does the new music you are working on differ from the material on Meld or A Man’s Reach…?

BF: I think that with Matt's material and my additions to "The Epic," you'll hear a greater variety but still in the same Pinnacle mold. We try to concentrate on writing songs that happen to be progressive. The implementation must serve the song rather than being progressive just for the sake of being progressive. As a result, you'll still hear time changes and instrumental flights of fancy just as we've always done. But they support the basic, underlying songs. We love hooks unapologetically.

GJ: Some of it sounds like the natural progression from that and I'm happy to say that some of it sounds nothing like that. There's a huge epic that began with this great piece Bill wrote that sounds nothing like us and got welded into something Karl wrote with me playing the most screwed up version of 4/4 I've ever come up with. And this one song of Matt's we're doing called "Music Man' gives me chills. Since MELD I've taken a bunch of drum lessons, Karl's learned a few new tricks about note choices, Bill's stretching himself in a zillion directions and Matt's pulling new stuff out of all of us.

KE: The new stuff is more “keyboard-laden” for sure. It forces me to re-examine how I approach the guitar parts because I no longer have to take up such a huge chunk of sonic space. Also, because of the amount of time we’ve taken, many of the new songs have been played live a few times already. It gives us an opportunity to see what’s working and what’s not and also to let the various parts evolve a little more naturally.

MF: Let me say that the guys had a terrific quiver full of new tunes all ready to go before I started hanging around. The new album will be different for two obvious reasons, my vocals and more keyboard influence. Overall I believe the group has grown musically and you’re going to hear a more mature, refined sound, both in technique and production.

Join us on Friday as we continue/complete this epic interview!

New Djam Karet!!!!

2010-10-04T15:58:00.000-04:00

Djam Karet - The Heavy Soul Sessions

1. Hungry Ghost 8:32
2. The Red Threaded Sexy Beast 12:42
3. The Packing House 12:56
4. Consider Figure Three 9:48
5. Dedicated To KC 9:48
6. The Gypsy And The Hegemon 10:55
TOTAL TIME: 64:52

Ukab Maerd - The Waiting Room

1. The Cave 23:35
2. White Light, No Heat 11:28
3. God's Elastic Acre 18:16
4. Sati & The Trainman 11:14
Total Time: 64:42

http://www.djamkaret.com/present.php for more details, including credits and so forth…

G. Calvin Weston's Treasures of the Spirit - Mahavishnu shows in November

2010-10-04T13:20:00.002-04:00

Friday, November 5th, 2010
G. Calvin Weston's Treasures of the Spirit - 10:00 PM
Tritone
1508 South Street
Philadelphia Pennsylvania 19146
215-545-0475
Price: TBC
G. Calvin Weston's Treasures of the Spirit will be performing music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Friday, November 12th, 2010
G. Calvin Weston's Treasures of the Spirit - 9:00 PM
Puppets Jazz Bar
294 5th Avenue
Brooklyn New York 11215
Price: TBC
G. Calvin Weston's Treasures of the Spirit will be performing music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

GRANT CALVIN WESTON- DRUMS AND PERCUSSION
ELLIOT GARLAND- BASS
BENJAMIN KERP- GUITAR
CYNDEE LEE RULE- VIOLIN
DAVID DZUBINSKI- KEYBOARDS

Magma Monday 13

2010-10-04T10:08:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Just Another Magma Monday. Once a week, your obd’t narrator and occasional blogger will trawl the expanses of his Magma collection to discuss something of Zeuhl-ish importance. Whether it’s the studio albums, the best of the AKT archive releases, one of the sundry live DVDs, or a choice artifact from his ‘unofficial’ collection, one thing is for sure…for this writer, Magma iss de hundin!

This week, sit back and relax as we take a look at BBC 1974 Londres, part of the Akt series of archival live albums (and catalogue number Akt XIII, an appropriate choice for Magma Monday 13!)…

The Akt series of releases have gone a long way toward filling in holes in Magma’s catalogue, offering us snapshots of the band at varying points of their evolution. At the very least they’ve been interesting looks at the band as it has grown and changed; at their best, they offer stunning insight into how their music has developed, grown and become even more keenly honed. While it’s hard to pick any one Akt release over another in terms of saying ‘if you could only buy one, this is the one to buy,’ in the end for me perhaps the choice is simple…BBC 1974 Londres.

There are a number of reasons for this.

Firstly, this was a session recorded for BBC radio. As a result, sound quality is absolutely stellar. If you’ve ever had a chance, for example, to hear the BBC session from other prog bands of similar vintage, you know how incredibly well they were recorded. This Magma release is no different. It sounds if it were recorded yesterday, almost...crisp highs, labyrinthine lows, huge presence. It is one of the best sounding Magma live albums in their catalogue.

Secondly, this recording shows a transitional band. Stripped back into a sextet, there are no female vocals, with only Christian Vander and Klaus Blasquiz handling the vocal reins. As a result, there tends to be far more focus on the music versus the vocals. That’s not to say that this is Magma in instrumental format; however, if you’re not necessarily a fan of the Kobaian vocals and chanting delivery, this may be a good place to look, as there’s significantly less of it. Jannick Top also takes part in these sessions, meaning that the bass work here is at its deepest and darkest best. Top is an absolute beast on bass guitar, bringing a classical flair to the material, and while other bassists have more than adequately filled his shoes over the years, I think when most people think Magma bassist, they think Jannick Top. Add in a pair of keyboardists (Michel Graillier and Gérard Bikialo, both contributing Rhodes electric piano) and a guitarist (Claude Olmos), and you’ve got a tight band that was ready to blow the doors off the BBC recording studio.

We open up with a fantastic rendition of Theusz Hamtaahk, the opening movement of the band’s first trilogy. Keep in mind that this is a composition that has never seen a studio rendition…all versions we have at our disposal are live. While others may be longer, none are quite like the version on BBC 1974 Londres. Slower, less sprightly, this is a version that wrings as much primordial darkness out of the piece as possible, entirely fitting for a song whose title translates from Kobaian as ‘Time of Hatred.’ Quiet almost whispered vocals and gentle Rhodes set the plate for an almost impossibly slow bass part from Top, while Olmos adds glistening guitar chords over top. Vocals are less chanted than they are intoned…one gets the feeling of an almost religious, sacred telling here. After listening to so many different versions over the years, I find myself coming back to this, the (chronologically) first recording of this composition, as my favourite. There are more moments in this recording that get me pointing to my speakers and smiling than in some band’s entire catalogue of releases…and did I mention that this song hasn’t ever been released in a studio recorded version?

The album closes with a 27-minute working of Köhntarkösz. Not yet released when this session was recorded, this is an intense rendition of the piece that would form the core of Magma’s 1974 studio album. Tight enough to bounce a coin off of, it’s an amazing showcase for Vander’s drumming, along with some wonderful and all too brief guitar contributions from Claude Olmos. Top is of course all over this song, providing a heartbeat like pulse, or adding in long swelling slid notes that rise from the primordial murk before descending again. All the framework for this song is in place, but individual instrumental parts differ from the final studio recordings. There’s an awesome organ solo about 18 minutes in that sounds so much like 1971 Pink Floyd that it’s frightening. It amazes, when one thinks about it…between 1973 ad 1974, Christian Vander and crew would write or release Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh, Theusz Hamtaahk, Kohntarkosz, Wurdah Itah, and much of the material that would make up Kohntarkosz Anteria. I can’t imagine any band doing that today…though I suppose it would be possible. It just seems like such a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

60 minutes, 2 songs. It amazes me to this day that bands like Magma got the chance to record hour long session s for the BBC…can you even imagine the same thing happening today? There actually was a time when major media outlets were willing to take a chance on something outside and artistic because it was outside and artistic. Thankfully the tapes survived, because this is one of the most amazing sounding examples of a band at their early peak, playing as if their lives depended on getting every note out there as powerfully as possible.

If you can purchase only one release from the Akt series of archival Magma performances…oh, you know the rest. This is the one to get. It really is.

Track Listing:
1 – Theusz Hamtaahk
2 – Kohntarkosz

Musicians:
Klaus Blasquiz: vocals, percussions
Claude Olmos: guitar
Michel Graillier: Fender piano, keyboards
Gérard Bikialo: Fender piano
Jannick Top: bass
Christian Vander: drums, vocals

Orion Progressive Showcase: Uz Jsme Doma and Inzinzac on 9 October

2010-10-02T15:00:00.000-04:00

8:00pm Saturday Night, October 9th
The Baltimore Progressive Rock Showcases at Orion Studios
http://www.orionsound.com/schedule2.htm
2903 Whittington Ave, Baltimore, MD 21230
present:

Uz Jsme Doma
(from the Czech Republic)
with guests:

Inzinzac
(from the Republic of Philadelphia)

Please join us as we welcome Czech legends Uz Jsme Doma back to the Orion Studios stage on Saturday night, October 9th! Below is a link to complete information regarding this show - which also contains a complete Orion Studios Fall 2010 Showcase Schedule with links to each band's website or MySpace page. Because the PE forum software has trouble with large postings I'm breaking this one into several posts. Hope you can make it - this is going to be one hell of a show!

Uz Jsme Doma

http://www.myspace.com/uzjsmedoma

Be here as we welcome back Czech rockers Uz Jsme Doma to the Orion Studios stage! Uz Jsme Doma is a living, fire-breathing alt-rock rock legend: one of "the two great Bastions of the Czech alternative scene," said the Prague Post, which ranked them in importance beside the Plastic People of the Universe. In 1989, when the Velvet Revolution ended Czechoslovakia's communist rule, Už Jsme Doma burst like a fireball from unlocked doors and began taking siege of every public stage worldwide. Since then, the band has blazed across multiple continents to perform literally thousands of concerts (they will celebrate playing their 2000th concert in March 2011), and played 50 to 60 shows annually for fans back home. To these audiences, Už Jsme Doma's music - rooted in punk's DIY ethic and driven by progressive and avant-garde musics' post-modern scavenger aesthetic - was the symbol of artistic freedom: the freedom to create without boundaries or restrictions.

For 25 years, the band's music has ignored genre walls, absorbing varied influences from punk rock (the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned), from avant-garde and avant-progressive bands (the Residents, Pere Ubu, Chrome, Fred Frith, Henry Cow and the Rock in Opposition movement), and even from folk music of its native land. It has also transcended artistic media. The band's leader Miroslav Wanek, who is also its composer, lyricist, and lead vocalist, maintains that Už Jsme Doma's music is "three parts: music, pictures and lyrics," and that artist Martin Velisek, who designs all band artwork, is a full band member whose "instruments" are brushes and paints. This multi-media emphasis allies the Czech band with the Residents and Sleepytime Guerilla Museum, two bands whose members have collaborated with Už Jsme Doma in the past. For its newest project, Caves / Jeskyne¡, Už Jsme Doma collaborated for the first time with the American label Cuneiform to release its 7th album in North America and Western Europe. The CD is accompanied by a 12-page booklet featuring Velisek's artwork and English translations of Wanek's lyrics. The album's 11 songs create a potent and improbable mix of avant-punk's power, aggression, and urgency, and progressive rock's compositional complexity and thematic integrity. In Caves, Už Jsme Doma mines a motherload of rock music, extracts fragments of gems from both East and West, and forges the fertile ore into its own unique sound. Forged in Prague amidst that capital city's 21st C. renassiance, from choice elements mined locally and in the West, Už Jsme Doma's dynamic and confident new music heralds the dawn of New Europe as it emerges from the shadows to its west.

INZINZAC

http://www.myspace.com/inzinzac

Inzinzac (named after a small town in France) are a alt-jazz/rock trio from Philadelphia formed by French guitarist/accordionist Alban Baily. Joined by saxophonist Dan Scofield (Shot x Shot) and Normal Love drummer Eli Litwin, the band plays a rough-edged cerebral music that shares common elements with Balkan, jazz, free improvisation and rock. Their music includes traces of Soft Machine, Ivo Papasov, and even a bit of '70s Miles Davis. Imagine "...Albert Ayler and Dave Lombardo stumblin onto a gypsy caravan and jamming with the locals under the influence of a full moon." (Shaun Brady - Philadelphia City Paper)

The Enid announce new DVD- The Enid At Town Hall Birmingham

2010-10-02T12:25:00.000-04:00

After a huge amount of work donated by Enidi members Anthony Meadley and Algie Gray, we are all proud to announce that this fascinating DVD HD Video will be completed on November 1st.

Before the official, international release by EMI next year, the band is pressing up a special limited run of just 1000 discs for the fans.

The DVD is shot in 1080p high definition video and contains extra features including interviews with the band at Enid HQ in Northampton as well as the world premiere of the new album, Journey's End.

There are two soundtrack options; a standard stereo mix and a true 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound mix, both engineered by Max Read at The Lodge Recording Studio.

TRACK LISTING:

Terra Firma
Terra Nova
Space Surfing
Malacandra
Shiva
Judgement (2009 Revision)
In The Region of the Summer Stars (2009 Revision)
Childe Roland
Ondine (featuring Francis Lickerish on lute)
The Lovers (piano solo)
Fand (2009 Revision)
Featuring guests Francis Lickerish, Grant Jamieson and John Beedle plus the brass section of the Chandos Symphony Orchestra
Dark Hydraulic

£18.00 PLUS P&P

Order Online from www.theenid.co.uk

The State of the Blog 2 October 2010

2010-10-02T09:58:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to our first October State of the Blog report, fuelled today by Gatorade and Rum. Don’t knock it till you try it.

September ended up by far the busiest month in the blog’s history, and frighteningly had almost as many posts in it as the entire year of 2009. Yes, 2009 was a crap year for posting, but there you have it. Heck of a month, September 2010…102 posts, the release of Opeth’s career-spanning live DVD/CD boxed set, and a drummer leaving a major prog metal band. For the entire month of September, we had (looks at numbers) over 7000 visits (7166 to be exact) and over 10000 page views. To say I am absolutely gobsmacked by these numbers is an understanding of epic proportions. Looking at stuff like that, it makes me more motivated to keep things going (not that I needed it, mind). Thank you so much for enjoying the effort I have put into making this blog as successful as it has been.

There’s more coming in October, of course…I will not tip my hand, but so much more heading your way. I’m working on a few major interviews (fingers crossed!), there’s a ton of great CD reviews coming, and all the stuff you’ve come to expect here. I have a ton of Magma stuff for Magma Monday (finally dug the rest of my discs out of boxes, so a good bit of the Akt Records discog is in hand now again!), some great symph and metal and avant CDs sitting in my pile to be reviewed, and so on. A half dozen interviews completed and ready to share. Concert reviews…so much proggy goodness. At times I want to post it all right away, but then I’d have no backlog ;-)

Last week I shared a top 10 list of overall pages viewed…this week our top 10 is the top 10 accessed CD reviews to date…

1 Steve Morse/Sarah Spencer – Angelfire
2 Frogg Café – Bateless Edge
3 Hawkwind – Blood of the Earth
4 Opeth – Live in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall
5 Jose Carballido – Requiem
6 Edensong – Echoes of Edensong
7 American Hollow – Whisper Campaign
8 Trey Gunn – Modulator
9 Renaissance – The Mystic and the Muse
10 Eloy – Visionary

And as has become tradition of late, my listening list…

Shadow Gallery – Whispers and Screams
Canvas Solaris – Irradiance
Delain – Lucidity
Soft Machine – Drop
Electric Sorcery – II
Enslaved – Axioma Ethica Odini
Enslaved – Vertebrae
Enslaved – Ruun
White Willow – Ignis Fatuus
Half Past Four – Rabbit in the Vestibule
19 A.D.D. – Dead River
Magma – Les Voix

Vacuum Tube Head - Thirteen!

Going to be away most of the weekend, I wager…but a regular week ahead without worry.

Take care, have fun, prog out! See you on Magma Monday!

CD REVIEW: Goldbug - The Seven Dreams (2010, 1K Recordings)

2010-10-01T17:01:00.001-04:00

The avant and improv music scene has a lot of great music coming out from it these days. It is as vital and alive as ever.

One of my favourite new releases to come out of this style of music is The Seven Dreams, a new almost-EP length album by Goldbug, a collaborative project of Tim Motzer, chief cook and bottle washer for 1k records and a fairly prolific musician in his own right. Goldbug is not a solo project, and Tim is not the lone musician heard here…he’s put together a pretty formidable group with which to realise these edgy, angular, cut up compositions. While Motzer handles guitar, piano, keys and does some cool programming bits on laptop, Barry Meehan helps to hold down the bottom end with some occasionally funky and always fat bass licks. He’s joined in the rhythm section by percussive wunderkind Eric Slick, whose resume barely needs mentioning…but of course you know this means I’ll be doing it anyway. Slick’s worked with Adrian Belew, Project/Object, Paper Cat, Doctor Dog, and so on. His chops are beyond compare…his use of restraint when needed almost more so.

Finally, this quartet is rounded out by the world’s busiest rock and roll horn player, Theo Travis. I don’t know when he sleeps, or if he even sleeps. Between Gong, Soft Machine Legacy, Robert Fripp, the Tangent, his solo recordings, albums like this, sessions with Porcupine Tree, and so on, I think he’s decided to take a run at Tony Levin for most active progressive musician…and he’s doing a good job of it.

The Seven Dreams opens with a 1-minute long ambient piece called “Shadow Memory.” It does a fine job of setting the scene, but it is really not a stand alone piece at all…usually I consider it a sort of prologue or prelude for the piece that follows. Echoed cymbals and piano, weird guitar sounds, and so on lead in to “The Departure,’ a funky bass driven 3:44 rocker that focuses as much on Slick’s drumming and Meehan’s deep bass groves as it does on Motzer’s spacy guitar workouts. Notes rise and fade, chords fly in at weird angles, and everything it tighter than…well…tighter than one of Eric Slick’s drumheads. Fuzzed, sustained guitar notes remind of Robert Fripp, but this is no Crimson rehash whatsoever.

Things move along with “Unravelling,” a slightly less substantial piece in terms of length. Just over 2 minutes long, this composition is far more keyboard driven, eerie and dark with warped bits of guitar adding a more surreal feel to things. There’s structure here, but the piece feels heavily improvised. Where “The Departure” had the feel of a rock song, this is space and improv territory fully. It crossfades into “Scratching the Third Eye,” our first fully substantial and extended piece. Clocking in at over 11 minutes in length, this is out first opportunity to feel and hear the band stretching out fully. It starts slow, with loopy bass parts and slide guitar over a skittering, chopped up rhythm. The piece gradually builds to more structured parts, with Barrett-esque glissando style guitar and bluesy slide over a skittering drum beat and thick bass. One gets the feel of 1970 Pink Floyd in concert, exploring the sound field while thousands in the audience looked and listened on. Impressive stuff, really.

We shift back to shorter forms for “Elevation,” a 4-minute long piece that carries on from “Third Eye.” We hear some of the same bass grooves, scratching guitar singing a shattered, broken, wordless tune over top. Travis’s sax is a lone voice of sanity in the midst of this musical maelstrom, barely heard, crying out from masses of synth and noise and processed sound. It’s a cool juxtaposition, and it really helps to make the song. The album moves on to the second extended composition, the 11 and a half minute “The Past is Still Present.” This is, to my ears, a little better balanced a piece when compared to the other 11-minute track contained on this disc, but the differences are slight. We get more sax, more space, more openness…yet all the common elements we’ve heard on this release thus far. Meehan’s bass playing is as tight as ever, Slick’s percussive accents add more world flavour to things than straight kit playing would provide, and Motzer’s guitar and keyboard parts add the right amount of otherworldly zest to the track. For something that most people would say is structureless and without melody, I hear plenty of both, and find this to be a fantastically compelling, yet chill, bit of music to listen to.

Goldbug’s debut release closes out with a shorter composition, the 5:16 “Persistence of a Memory.” More ambient and soundscape-like, at least in the opening moments, Meehan’s bass adds warmth to the textures that Motzer creates. Slick’s drumming is primarily on lower tuned instruments, mixed back, adding a slight pulse to things at first. The track builds and grows slowly, drums rising in the mix organically, adding more structure and shape to the waves of guitar loop and synth swirl carrying the melodies. The uplifting bit at the 4 minute mark, with flute and brighter synth tones, closes out the album on a fairly positive note, considering the darker, more angular material that preceded it.

This is a short album by anyone’s reckoning…its 7 tracks clock in at under 40 minutes. But there’s a lot of music happening in those 40 minutes, and things are never staid and static for long. This is challenging material that rewards an attentive listener with some very interesting musical gifts. Is this for everyone? Far from it! Hell, it’s not something that’s for me every day. But if you enjoy a good dose of darker, edgier, improv-esque music…or really miss what Crimson was doing with live improv from 1995-1996 or so (and believe me, I do!)…I think you’ll find The Seven Dreams to be right up your alley.

Track Listing:
Shadow Memory 0:58
The Departure 3:44
Unraveling 2:22
Scratching the Third Eye 11:18
Elevation 4:00
The Past is Still Present 11:28
Persistence of a Memory 5:16

Musicians:
Tim Motzer: guitar, keys, piano, laptop
Barry Meehan: bass, piano, voice
Eric Slick: drums, percussion, voice
Theo Travis: tenor saxophone, flute

Find out more:
http://www.1krecordings.com/

ROSFEST announces Poland's Osada Vida for 2011

2010-10-01T12:44:00.000-04:00

RoSfest is pleased to announce Poland's Osada Vida. The band is Adam Podzimski - drums & percussion, Lukasz Lisiak - bass, vocal, Rafal Paluszek - keyboards and Bartek Bereska -Guitars. To date the band has recorded 5 albums.

Critical Moment (2000)

Osada Vida (2004)

Three Seats Behind A Triangle (2006)

The Body Parts Party (2008)

Uninvited Dreams (2009)

In 2007 the band signed to Poland's Metal Mind Productions. For MMP Osada Vida recorded the next two full - length albums: The Body Parts Party (2008) and very highly acclaimed Uninvited Dreams (2009).

The music has been warmly received throughout Europe, The USA and Latin America, and is currently garnering excellent reviews for their critically acclaimed Uninvited Dreams album.

The band has extensively toured with the likes of Fish, Riverside, Believe, The Black Noodle Project and many others.

As time passed, Osada Vida started to play heavier, on one side, but on the other side, they incorporated more jazzy and ambient elements with a little bit of electronics. They are still developing their music, so no one knows where music will lead them… but we know that RoSfest will have them for a day on May 21st 2011 as our first band for the Saturday lineup.

Osada Vida official website - www.osadavida.art.pl
Osada Vida Myspace site www.myspace.com/osadavida
Osada Vida Youtube site - www.youtube.com/osadavida

(More than) 10 Questions with...Jacob Holm-Lupo

2010-10-01T09:55:00.001-04:00

One of my biggest regrets in life was missing NEARfest 2001.

Of course, one look at the lineup for that year…Porcupine Tree, Banco, Deus Ex Machina…and you’d be saying ‘Of course you regret it!’ While I may never get a chance to see DeM again, I’ve seen Porcupine Tree several times, and got to see Banco when they returned in 2008.

No, one of my biggest regrets is missing White Willow in concert.

I fell in love with them from their very first album, Ignus Fatuus, which came out in 1995 but which I didn’t discover till years later. There was something about that album…so baroque, maybe a tinge disjointed from time to time, but ultimately about as pure and innocent a release as one could possibly ever hear…that connected with me to the point that it remains one of the assured constants in my car for driving listening. From the lengthy, dark epics, to the countertenor vocals on a track or two (a voice range I have more than a passing personal familiarity with!), to the folk and medieval influences, I was hooked in a manner that precluded any chance of getting unhooked.

And I was fine with that.

I’ve followed the band closely thereafter…loving Ex Tenebris and Sacrament, finding Storm Season very enjoyable but moving away from where I was at the time it came out (note: I’ve grown to appreciate it far more today) and really not getting Signal to Noise at all when it came out (much to my chagrin and the shock of my friends, who thought I’d love it to death). Then, silence. The band went on a bit of hiatus, founder Jacob Holm-Lupo became involved in other projects, and a covering of frost sealed off the band.

Until now.

White Willow, in a newly organised format, is in the studio recording a new album with Tim Bowness at the console. A new band website has been launched with a bunch of teaser live downloads (and a major download as well, about which more later) and news of all these new activities, including the forthcoming double vinyl re-release of the band’s 1995 debut with an added 15-minute bonus track. Times have certainly seemed to come back around for this Norwegian band, and it was more than time enough to sit down with Jacob Holm-Lupo and get some information on where the band is heading as we enter a new decade.

Read on!

1. I like starting these off with a bit of history, so we’ll start with the cliché questions. When did you first get an inkling for how important music would end up being for you?

Jacob Holm-Lupo: I've always liked music and been interested in it. I loved listening to my mother's Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel records as a kid. But the first time music went from an interest to an obsession was when I was given a tape of Genesis' Duke for my 12th birthday. That record floored me - I never knew music could be so powerful and moving. So of course I followed the typical path, went back to Gabriel era Genesis, found King Crimson, Yes, and the damage was done. When I was 17 I decided to learn how to play guitar, so I could write songs and realize ideas.

2. Who were among your earliest influences?

JH-L: Obviously Genesis was my first influence. When we started White Willow I was also deeply into folk rock, so other important influences during the "formative years" were Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell and prog bands like PFM, King Crimson, Camel, Magma. And some hard rock, especially Blue Öyster Cult and Deep Purple.

3. How did White Willow first come together?

JH-L: It sort of grew out of the ashes of a folkier band I had called The Orchid Garden. Me and Jan Tariq (WW's original keyboard player) decided to venture into more symphonic territory, and after a summer of writing and arranging songs in Jan's basement (where he had Popol Ace's old mellotron and a mini-moog) we felt like we had a sound - and that was the White Willow sound...

4. What would you say has been the highlight moment in White Willow’s career?

JH-L: I'm very much a studio-lover and an AOP (Album Oriented Person), so for me the highlights are typically recording an album I am happy with, and then getting good feedback from listeners and reviewers. Other members of the band would probably mention festival gigs like NEARfest and Progfest. Those are highlights for sure, but for me the magic happens when we make the music, rather than when we are recreating it on stage. Recording Signal to Noise was a milestone for me because for the first time I got to work with a name producer and really got the sound I was dreaming of. Recording Sacrament was also a very happy experience. But probably the best stuff so far has been recording this new album - working with Mattias Olsson again, and a great new bass player, and being completely in control - since we are using our own studios and our own studio equipment.

5. White Willow’s music has followed a fairly evolutionary path. Is this something that was conscious, or did it happen organically?

JH-L: It's happened organically, but it has also always been my intention to explore as many facets and aspects of our sound as possible. I find it a fun challenge to stretch the boundaries of a band identity. How far can we go before we stop sounding like White Willow? Signal to Noise alienated some fans for that reason - we went quite far. But I always take pride in maintaining a certain WW signature on each album, even if we juggle genres and styles and types of instrumentation. I am a very restless and impatient person, so the one thing I feel that I can't do is backtrack, musically. I have to feel, even if it often is a sort of self-deceit, that I am moving forward.

6. Could I ask you to offer up a few thoughts on each of WW’s albums?

JH-L: Ignis Fatuus
I've been revisiting this now for the first time in more than a decade, because I have remastered it for vinyl release. It's a very, very naive and innocent album. We were clueless in the studio, and we didn't really have the songcraft down either. But we had vision and enthusiasm, and somehow for that album that was enough. In spite of a million flaws the album works for me, and is still a fun listen. It was our romantic prog-folk period.

Ex Tenebris
Another naive and slightly awkward album, but very important for me for several reasons. By that time White Willow had gone from being a somewhat democratic band project to being mostly my own baby. I wrote all the material, picked the musicians and "produced" - if you can call it that - the album. I also felt that I was finding my identity more as a songwriter. I brought in influences that were central to me but that hadn't fit into the retro-prog ethos of the 1st album: More gothic dark atmospheres informed by bands from 4AD and World Serpent. So it was a sort of neo-folk/goth meets prog kind of thing. The recording was impossibly primitive, and it sounds that way too. It is what it is - my first step towards independence and identity. Lyrically it was very personal and dealt with Gnosticism.

Sacrament
A much more mature and accomplished album. I had a real band, we had practiced, honed and fine-tuned the material before we went into the studio, and you can tell, I think. Some of the arrangements still impress me, and the playing is miles above anything we had done before. The production is a little anemic, but the performances have fire. This was more of a foray into classically inspired prog.

Storm Season
This is a favorite for many, and it sort of is for me too. I don't have fond memories of the recording, it was full of technical mishaps and strong tensions within the band. It felt like a real trial by fire, making that album. The drums were a pain in the ass to record, and we never did manage to make them sound great. But it was worthwhile, and you can sort of hear the strife and turbulence in the music, and the album is stronger for it. Sort of a concept album, and sort of our hard rock album. It was the first album we made with Lars Fredrik, and having him was a true joy. Without him I might have given up trying to make the album. We also upped the guitar ante on Storm Season, which was fun.

Signal to Noise
From an audio and production perspective this is my favorite album. It sounds great (in my opinion), and recording it was awesome. Working with producer Tommy Hansen was both fun and educational, and he really brought out the best in all the musicians. Trude's vocals on Signal to Noise are a highlight. I also thought the tunes were quite strong, even if it was too poppy for some. People's reactions to the album were sort of funny. Lots of people liked it, and reviews were very favourable. But some old-school fans thought it was waaay too glossy and sounded almost like AOR or neo-prog. The thing is - the retro sound was never my thing. I love vintage instruments, and always include tons of authentic analogue stuff. But production-wise I'm not a fan of that early 70's cardboard sound. I like the vocals to have some gloss and sparkle, the drums to have some size and dimension and the bottom-end to have some... bottom. So for me this is what every WW album should have sounded like...

7. You just offered up a set of demos for Signal to Noise on the band’s website. What inspired you to offer them for download?

JH-L: My Mac was in for repair, so I had to use an older computer for a while, where I found all the demos. I figured some fans might be crazy enough to be interested in them, as they give some insight into how songs take shape in White Willow. Also, since some reacted to the studio gloss of that album, they might like to hear something lo-fi and warts-and-all...

8. Is there any teaser information you’d be willing to share regarding Terminal Twilight, the band’s in the works album?

JH-L: Well, most of what there is to say has already been disclosed. Tim Bowness will sing on a track and has a co-writing credit. Some folks from Gösta Berlings Saga have dropped by the studio. Mattias Olsson is back as drummer for the first time since Ex Tenebris. And Sylvia is back as our lead vocalist. Musically I guess I can divulge that the new material is a good deal proggier than anything we have done for a while, with quite long and complex tracks, and a fair bit of audio craziness. I think this album will have a LOT more appeal to those fans who like our earlier stuff than the last record did. Not that we're doing the dreaded backtracking, but I think after the slight excursion of Signal to Noise I am much more comfortable doing pure prog again. And Mattias also felt a lot of joy and enthusiasm working with prog again, so it sort of leaks into the music. Prog enthusiasm!

9. Will the band be touring in order to support the new release?

JH-L: It's too early to tell. We have been approached by some festivals, but it's a question of logistics.

10. Have you considered any kind of live release for the band?

JH-L: We don't really have any multi-track recordings of live performances with White Willow. It's one of my great regrets, because White Willow live is a completely different beast from our studio identity, and too few people have had a chance to hear that. Live we can be quite heavy and reckless, and interesting things tend to happen. So I hope that one day we will be able to do that. For now, all I have are audience recordings, which are fun but not ideal for release. There are some tasters on our website.

11. You are also involved in the band Opium Cartel. What were your goals with that band that differentiate it from what you do with White Willow?

JH-L: The Opium Cartel is a kind of breathing space for me. Making prog is hard work, sort of. With TOC I don't spend weeks pondering an arrangement. I write a song, record it, and that's that. So it's my fun project. When I recorded the TOC debut album I also had a need to get away from prog for a while, so it was therapeutic for me. I explored some of my other loves - folk, electronica, indie. I don't have any goals beyond my own gratification with TOC.

12. You are one of the founders of Termo Records, along with Lars Fredrik Frøislie. What led you to decide to start your own label?

JH-L: Disillusionment with the industry, basically. We were fed up with waiting for things to happen, for money to get paid and promises to get fulfilled. So we decided that if you want something done, you have to do it yourself...

13. Could you share a little bit about the other performers/bands on Termo Records, for people who might perhaps be less familiar with them?

JH-L: Our flagship is Wobbler, Lars' other band, who are pure retro prog. Their 3rd album is almost finished now. Then we have In Lingua Mortua, Lars' extreme metal project, who just released their 2nd album, which mixes jazz, symphonic rock and black metal. We have Rhys Marsh, a British and incredibly talented singer/songwriter who writes music somewhere between King Crimson and David Sylvian. And then there's the above mentioned The Opium Cartel. All our artists can be found at termorecords.com.

14. So much has changed in the world of progressive music since White Willow released their first album in 1995? Where do you think things are headed?

JH-L: I have no idea. The music business is a very confusing place these days and no-one knows what's going to happen. Will people stop buying records altogether, will no-one get paid for making music anymore? As for prog, I haven't really paid enough attention to what has been going on for ages. There's a lot of the music that gets written up in places like Classic Rock presents Prog that just means nothing to me - it's like retreads of rehashes of recycled stuff - bands inspired by bands that were inspired by Marillion who were inspired by Genesis... that's sort of senseless to me. Every band seems to either be playing some kind of neo-neo-prog or they are ripping off Porcupine Tree. To me the whole point of progressive is that it is a melting pot of influences. The hallmark of a progressive musician - in my understanding of the term - is that he or she listens to anything and everything and brings whatever he finds of value into his own music, without prejudice and without too much reverence. I am not hearing a lot of that in today's prog. But there are exceptions. Sweden's Gösta Berlings Saga for instance, are an amazing band who bring together a sort of neo-bop jazz aesthetic with post-rock, Swedish folk influences and 70's prog influences. That's a fresh combination that I enjoy a lot.

15. What do you personally feel music has to provide in order to ‘matter’ in this age?

JH-L: It's a little hard to say. The rules have changed. Innovation used to be something valuable in music, but it seems to have little relevance these days... I notice it in myself too - I have a feeling that everything has been done, and that I have to delve into myself and find some kind of "personal" music to bring forth rather than try to come up with new and impressive ideas. So I guess what I value today is music that has that personal quality - so that even if it is a rehash of things that have gone before, it comes from an internal space that is unique to the songwriter. To be unique without having to be a trailblazer, that's the most we can expect from musicians and songwriters today, I think. Everything is so much of a commodity these days, including "alternative" music like prog and indie, there's a template for everything. I like to see folks sidestepping those templates, and showing some courage in the face of extreme cultural streamlining. God, I sound like a grumpy old man, don't I?

16. Is there something that continues to drive you to create?

JH-L: Surprisingly, yes. I wake up every day expecting that drive to be gone. I have kids, responsibilities, mortgage, a station wagon - and I am happy with those things and I wouldn't hold it against the universe if it told me "You've had your creative time, now rest in suburban dreaming"... But it hasn't happened. Everytime I sit down by a piano or with a guitar music comes, and ideas for lyrics, things I want to express, keep interrupting my suburban coma. So I guess I should be thankful!

17. Do you feel the rapid shift to a more digital lifestyle has impacted people’s ability to internalise or connect with music?

JH-L: Yes - absolutely. The attention span afforded to music listening has dwindled to a fraction of what it used to be. It goes for me as well. It's rare that I am able to sit down and listen through an entire album, or even a song, without doing anything else. Most of my listening is on an iPod on a train or bus, or in the car on my way to somewhere. It's sad. I had the house to myself the other day, and dusted off my old record player and pulled out some LPs. The experience was magical. Even though I have all my music ripped and stored on harddrives and loaded into laptops and iPods, sitting down and listening to those crackly old records was a WHOLE different experience. There was such a sensory explosion, colors, sounds, it was all-encompassing. I was engaged. After that I have felt sort of terminally depressed by my iPod and my Spotify library. We are all missing out on something essential - engaging with the music, and letting it take us places.

18. How much has downloading affected the bands you have worked with, either as musician or in your role with Termo Records?

JH-L: A little, but not as much as some. Prog fans are pretty loyal and conservative, they like to own an object and they care about sound quality. I really appreciate that, and I am thankful for that audience. I noticed with The Opium Cartel, which appealed to a younger and more mainstream demographic, that sales were more affected by downloads. But yes, it is an ongoing concern both as a musician and as a label. The only thing you can do is try to offer products that are desireable - albums with great sound and tasteful packaging. But it's a losing battle in the end.

19. Are there any bands you’re currently enjoying when you find time to listen?

JH-L: I've always been very up-to-date and obsessed with discovering new music, but lately - the last couple of years - I have to admit I have lost sight of the new stuff. Every new record I hear has that hyper-compressed, zero dynamics sound that I have grown so very tired of - I simply can't listen to most new releases anymore. The new stuff I listen to these days is mostly by friends or people I work with. Gösta Berlings Saga is one. SynKoke, our bass player's band is another - great, quirky, energetic jazz-prog-rock. I kind of liked the latest Midlake album, and I'll still listen to some M83 and Air, but mostly I've gone back to the old masters. Mostly records that sound great. Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, mid-era Genesis (again...), Pat Metheny Group, Weather Report. Dynamic stuff.

20. As we wrap things up, do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share?

JH-L: Just thanks for the interview and for keeping the good music alive!

Find out more:
http://www.whitewillow.info/
www.myspace.com/whitewillowband
www.facebook.com/pages/White-Willow/47941758117?ref=ts
www.myspace.com/opiumcartel
http://www.termorecords.com/

GAZPACHO: announce Missa Atropos Tour dates for 2011...

2010-09-30T17:39:00.000-04:00

GAZPACHO: announce Missa Atropos Tour dates for 2011...

    Missa Atropos Tour

    22.01.11 GER - Berlin - Maschinenhaus Aschaffenburg - Colos Saal
    23.01.11 GER - Stuttgart - Röhre
    24.01.11 CH - Pratteln - Z 7 (tba)
    26.01.11 GER - Aschaffenburg - Colossaal
    27.01.11 NL - Hengelo - Metropool
    28.01.11 UK - Birmingham - The Assembly (tba)
    29.01.11 UK - London/Kingston - The Peel (tba)
    01.02.11 GER - Köln - Live Music Hall
    02.02.11 GER - Hamburg - Fabrik
    04.02.11 B - Verviers - Spirit of 66
    05.02.11 NL - Zoetermeer - De Boerderij
    06.02.11 NL - Den Bosch - W2 (Matinee Show at 15.00 o'clock)

All shows marked with (tba) have still to be confirmed. Tickets for all confirmed shows will go on sale within the next few days...

For more information visit the Gazpacho website: http://www.gazpachoworld.com/

Bang Tower: new Percy Jones band/project

2010-09-30T13:31:00.001-04:00

Bang Tower is a progressive musical alliance featuring legendary bassist Percy Jones, who is best known for his work with Brand X, a band that also featured Genesis legend Phil Collins. Along with Jones, the power-prog trio also includes Grammy winning guitarist/engineer/producer Neil Citron. Walter Garces, who also performs with '60s psychedelic marvels The Electric Prunes, rounds off the trio with his skillful drumming. Work on their maiden voyage Casting Shadows, produced by Neil Citron (who also engineered, mixed and mastered) and Jon Pomplin (Declassified Records), was recently completed and the album is slated for release by Declassified Records on September 28, 2010. With Percy's unmistakable fretless bass sound percolating next to Walter's harmonic cannons and implements of percussive wonder, an edgy yet incredibly dreamy, otherworldly texture becomes prominent throughout the mix. Neil's unique guitar work takes full advantage of this partnership by blending gorgeous chordal interludes, amazing melodic passages interlaced with scathingly insane soloing.

The key element in this "trio of masters" music can be best described with one word; rapport. Though Jones, Garces and Citron are all virtuosos in their own right, it's quite evident that these players are enthusiastically enjoying the crafting of this music whether together in a top studio like Entourage in LA, or remotely via their own studios, Casting Shadows promises to be a most auspicious first-outing for a band simply known as... "Bang Tower". "The basic idea was to play music we wanted to play, and have a good time doing it," says Walter Garces. "It's a group effort musically," adds Percy Jones. "I probably had a bit more input on the initial tracks and Neil had a bit more on the real time recordings, but it averages out to be about the same really. Walter was involved since the beginning."

Bang Tower is:

PERCY JONES – FRETLESS BASS
Fretless electric bassist Percy Jones has carved out his place in progressive rock and jazz fusion during his longstanding affiliation with the bands Brand X and Tunnels and is considered to be one of the greatest bass players in the world by Bass Player magazine. A native of Wales, Mr. Jones began his career as a notable bass player with the Liverpool Scene, and the Scaffold in the U.K. He is also a founding member of BRAND X, a pioneer jazz-rock fusion outfit, working alongside John Goodsall, Robin Lumley and Phil Collins of Genesis. He has several compact discs out of his own projects, including the band Tunnels, and 2 solo releases. Percy has also collaborated with numerous other musicians in performances and sessions; Brian Eno, Suzanne Vega, Bill Frisell, Roy Harper, Richard Barbieri, Nova, Project Lo, Sarah Pillow and Bobby Previte, just to name a few. He has toured extensively in the United States, Europe and Japan as a solo artist as well as a bass player in various bands. Percy proudly endorses Ibanez Bass Guitars, Euphonic Audio Amplifiers, Eventide Effects and DR Strings.

NEIL CITRON – GUITARS
If you've seen the films "That Thing You Do" or "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," listened to rock-guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, heard recent recordings by the legendary Yardbirds, or appreciated the talents of internationally renowned drummers Greg Bissonette, Virgil Donati or Mike Mangini, then you may already be familiar with the wealth of musical projects Neil Citron has worked on. In 2002, he received a Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category for engineering "No Substitutions: Live in Osaka" by Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather. Also in 2002, Citron released a solo album of guitar instrumentals, Absolute, (Favored Nations) and is currently finishing a second album for the label. Citron has written more than 50 songs for Chrysalis publishing, and Citron continues his prolific composing career. As a guitar player, Citron has worked on many recordings of artists from all over the world. On these projects, Citron performed on acoustic and electric guitars, as well as providing background vocals when needed. Dedicated to anything he pursues, Citron holds a sixth-degree black belt in several Korean martial arts -- tae kwon-do, hapkido and sib pal gi (Korean kung fu) -- as well as a third-degree black belt in tang soo do, in which he trained with actor Chuck Norris.

WALTER GARCES - PERCUSSION
Native New York Drummer, Walter moved to Los Angeles in the mid 80’s, where after only a few months he met guitarist Neil Citron. This meeting would lead to a friendship of many years but also a bonding through music, and Martial arts. They would collaborate on many projects over the years including 2 of Neil’s solo records, film projects “That Thing You Do” with Tom Hanks, and also many bands, and sessions for other artists. Walter also appeared as drummer and percussionist on the recent Electric Prunes release Feedback. Walter continues to perform live and tour with the Prunes. He has also worked with many other great bands and artists, The Blues Image, Pete Taylor (Quatermass/The Pirates), Ronnie Drayton (Patti Labelle) Neil Turbin (Anthrax) Paul Shortino (Quiet Riot), John Goodsall (Brand X), and Tony Franklin (The Firm/Blue Murder) among others. Walter also maintains a full schedule of drum students. His own comprehensive course of study includes Latin, jazz, rock, 4-way coordination, left-hand development exercises and rigorous hand development, as well as independence on the drum set, mechanics, computers and electronics. In addition to his accomplishments as a musician, Walter has honed his discipline and control by obtaining a black belt in Go-Ju-Ryu and running marathons. Walter proudly endorses Premier Drums, Regal-Tip Drumsticks and Paiste cymbals.

“I'm pleased with it," Percy Jones reflects on the new CD. "It wasn't an easy record to get finished, but listening to it now that it's in the can I think it's an interesting mix of styles, it covers a lot of ground musically." And how does Bang Tower differ from other groups he has worked with? "It's really hard to say how it differs from other prog/fusion records. To me projects have a mind of their own to some degree and I just go with the flow and sort of let it naturally follow its own course. I think it's a distinctive sound, but ultimately it's up to the Punters to decide. I'm still too close to it."

Walter Garces is also very enthusiastic about the outcome of Bang Tower's debut CD. Along with plans to support Casting Shadows with live performances, Garces is also busy recording with the Electric Prunes. "I joined with the Prunes after I was contacted by their guitarist Jay Dean (an old friend) in 2006 to do some sessions for their record 'Feedback'," Walter recalls. "I liked the music and the people, I also respected their history. They asked me afterwards to perform live, and have continued working with them. We have recently recorded some tracks for a new album, featuring Billy Corgan on one song."

Neil Citron is also very pleased and excited about this CD. "It's instrumental, but not all rock like my solo CDs and not fusion like you'd expect with Percy playing in the band. I've never been in a fusion band, but I have played with Lana Lane a Prog act. I've done 14 CDs with her and that was really a great experience." Neil is currently endorsed by a number of high profile music companies. This past June, WAVES, one of the best known and widely accepted professional DAW plug-in manufacturer, hosted a new "Webinar" featuring Neil. The Grammy winning guitarist and engineer covered the WAVES GTR3 product, which he extensively consulted on. GTR3 was used by Neil and Jon in various phases of the upcoming Bang Tower release from pre-production onward. "The latest endorsement I'm involved with is SLS Speaker Company. They make (in my opinion) the best monitor I've ever used. I've also just been to Montana to help Larry DiMarzio with his new Acoustic guitar Pickup System. Both these products are excellent and I believe in the things I use. I would use them with or without the companies' help."

An enthusiastic Jon Pomplin, President of Declassified Records, had this to say about Bang Tower: "It’s been a true honor to produce this record with Percy, Neil and Walter. Their work is so dynamic and unique it defies description. Crafting such an album with these outstanding musicians is really a blessing and honestly is the most fun I’ve ever had in music. Casting Shadows is the kind of instrumental music that is unique, yet timeless, with such depth and subtlety the experience evolves and grows with each successive listening. There were a number of obstacles we had to overcome during the course of this project, and it wasn’t always easy. But, nothing truly worth while and lasting ever is”.

Find out More:
http://www.bangtower.com/

CD REVIEW: Effloresce - Shades of Fate (2010, private release)

2010-09-30T10:10:00.000-04:00

By this point, it should be no surprise that I enjoy the heavier end of the progressive music spectrum. My extreme/prog metal day should have been proof positive of that for you, Constant Reader. So it surprises me when I get messages from bands or labels telling me about their newest effort, but then saying things like ‘I don’t know if this fits for you’ or ‘this might be outside your field of interest.’ We’ve already gone over several times, I think, my premise that progressive music is “interesting music that does something different,” and I continue to stick to that.

Effloresce fits into this category. They’re a fairly new progressive metal band out of Germany taking their musical cues, for my ears, as much from classic 80’s thrash (Metallica) as they do the Gothenburg school of melodic death metal (Opeth). In other words, expect lots of changing riffs and tempo changes, sections slamming into each other with raw abandon, and healthy doses of keyboard over the jackhammer riffs.

Oh, and a female vocalist.

Who does death/black metal vocals.

But more about that soon.

Effloresce is a 5 piece founded less than a year ago. Amazingly, they’ve already put out one self-released EP, the 30-minute long Shades of Fate, with a full-length in the works. I think for most people, the vocals will be the first thing noticed. Nicki (no last names listed in the liner notes, the band website, Facebook or Myspace) has a gorgeous high alto/low soprano voice, and when her voice is layered for harmonies, it’s even more impressive. However, as mentioned above, Nicki tosses off a few deathy growls and screams as well throughout 2 of the album’s three tracks. I will admit that, while I know there are some female vocalists in the extreme metal genre, it still comes as a bit of a surprise when I hear her unleash a demonic growled vocal. Obviously because she’s female the vocals tend to run closer to a throaty black metal rasp than a deep guttural growl, but there’s a bit of force behind them. Some people may be turned off; I find it very enjoyable. Nicki also contributes some nice flute bits throughout, adding a bit of pastoral fantasy to the mix.

Nicki’s joined by a powerful rhythm section; Tobi (drums) and Rene (bass) really keep things pounding forward; Tobi’s got some great double kick chops, and his fills are interesting and never over-busy, while Renee really locks in tight with the drums. I wish he was mixed higher, to be honest…I can feel him, but I wish I could hear him more. Filling out things is Tim (guitar) and Dave (guitar, mellotron). Both of them are enjoyable guitarists…I’m not sure how solos and rhythm sections are split up, but the heavier rhythm work is always crunchy, the acoustic bits bright and jangling, and solos tasteful and spot on. Additionally, the mellotron (and organ) contributions help to push this material to slightly more symphonic, classic prog territory.

Things kick off on a heavy, and almost bluesy note, with ‘Birds of Prey.’ Oddly, the opening riff starts out with a slide motif that almost drags things kicking and screaming to the delta before a more pounding, traditional metal riff with tron backing that really sets things in gear. The heavy kick drum driving the third separate riff in about 1 minute is impressive, and the rapidly shifting riffs seem so Metallica influenced that it’s hard to think otherwise. Lest you think this is a criticism…I’m probably one of the few people out there for whom Metallica isn’t a bad word these days. Always loved them, still do. Throughout this release I get the impression that the guys in the band decided that …And Justice for All wasn’t just a cool album, but a great idea for how to structure songs (and I bloody love that album, so I am all for that). Great heavy playing, wonderful vocals, some awesome shifts in tone (there’s a fantastic lighter section in here that I love, with shades of Camel really making it shine)…this is a more than impressive opening track, and one that grabbed me by the (redacted so as to not offend) and refused to let go. My only criticism is the use of pinch harmonics at the end of some of the lead lines…it’s become such a cliché, and it’s one I really wish would go away.

‘Sear’ follows next on this EP, and at 10 minutes isn’t even the longest track there (that honour is reserved for the preceding track, clocking in at 11:17). I adore the growling, almost demonic organ note that leads this track off, with sustained and distorted to the brink of breaking up guitar notes that finally resolve into one amazingly tight riff. There’s some fantasticly tight rhythm playing here, bonecrushing riffs and rhythms that alternate with quieter vocal sections, each seeming so much more so as a result of the ir close proximity to each other. This track offers us our first taste of Nicki’s death/black metal vocals, and her quick switches between the rasped, screamed vocals and her clean voice is pretty awe inspiring. I’m used to hearing Mikael Akerfeldt do it, and Nicki’s got impressive enough vocal chops to pull it off with some authority as well. Frankly, I think I’d like to hear more of her extreme vocals…here’s hoping for the next release!

Our final track is the 8-minute long ‘Sunset in the Snowdome.’ I’ll admit that I did something I try never to do…I was so anxious waiting for this CD to arrive that I hit the band’s Facebook and played the streaming version of this track before the EP arrived. So I was familiar with it before getting the final release. The gorgeous flute and acoustic guitar opening, loads of stately organ, some fleetly played rhythm guitar (not ponderous and crushing…but still heavy!)…a lot of this track reminds of Damnation era Opeth, but with a much heavier touch throughout. There’s more growled vocals here, and they add such a great touch to things.

I should point out my aesthetic enjoyment of the package, too. The front cover art is excellent, and in fact the entire package pulls together very nicely, with a unified design, limited use of colour and font, and an eye toward evoking a darker mood without going for cliché graphic elements. The package looks brilliant, and the band should really be congratulated for putting effort in assembling a really professional looking, finished product that I’d put up against any major label album…and pick it over the major release.

Effloresce’s debut EP really shows a band that has a lot of promise. There’s great playing, very good song writing, and a hell of a vocalist with some impressive chops. I look forward to their full length album to come (even though I hear rumours the flute is going away!) and cant wait to see how additional time together has gelled this young band.

Track Listing:
Birds of Prey 11:17
Sear 9:57
Sunset in the Snowdome 8:26

Musicians:
Nicki: vocals, flute
Rene: bass
Tobi: drums
Tim: guitar
Dave: guitar, mellotron

Find out more:
http://www.effloresceonline.com/
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Effloresce/338339790561?ref=ts
http://www.myspace.com/effloresceonline

The Mahavishnu Project live at NJ Proghouse 2 October

2010-09-29T17:44:00.000-04:00

SATURDAY OCTOBER 2 ,2010: THE MAHAVISHNU PROJECT

DATE:Saturday October 2 , 2010
TIME: 7:30p

LOCATION: Rockn Joe
3570 Rte 27
Kendall Park, NJ 08824
directions: http://tinyurl.com/rocknjoe

COST:$20

ARTIST WEBSITE:
http://www.mahavishnuproject.com

Gregg Bendian drums
Glenn Alexander guitar
Neil Alexander keyboards
Peter Brendler bass

MAHAVISHNU PROJECT PLAYS THE MUSIC OF JEFF BECK
from Wired, Blow by Blow, There & Back and more.

Mastermind (BBC quiz show) prog questions

2010-09-29T14:26:00.000-04:00

As you may or may not have heard, the BBC TV game show Mastermind had UK Prog Rock as a speciality subject recently. The following are the questions that were asked…how many can you get right WITHOUT using Google or Wikipedia as a resource (i.e., no searching the ‘net, Constant Readers!)?

1. Which Canterbury band was named after a motorway road sign?
2. Who was the co-founder and lead vocalist of VdGG?
3. Which keyboard instrument pioneered by Henry Chamberlain which used prerecorded tapes was used by many prog bands?
4. Which Welsh band lead by Micky Jones and Deke Leonard had 4 top 40 albums in the '70's including Back Into the Future'?
5. What is the real first name of BJH keyboardist Woolly Wolestenholm?
6. In 1972 which Jethro Tull album reached the top of the US charts and number 5 in the UK?
7. What is the name of the central character on the Genesis album 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'?
8. Which band was formed in 1972 when Peter Bardens teamed up with 3 members of Phillip Goodhand Tates backing band?
9. Who replaced Darryl Way in Curved Air in 1973 before leaving the same year to join Roxy Music?
10. Which band was formed at Cambridge Uni in 1968 by Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson?
11. What was the title of the first ELP album to be released on their own label Manticore?
12. Which subsidiary label of Decca hosted music by Egg, Caravan and others?
13. What is the surname of Derek, Ray and Phil who formed Gentle Giant after Simon Dupee and the Big Sound folded?
14. The two main founders of Atomic Rooster Vincent Crane and Carl Palmer had originally been in which band?
15. In which venue was Rick Wakemans 'The Myths and legends of King Arthur premiered on ice in 1975?
16. Who was King Crimson's lyricist until 1972?

Jose Carballido: 'Te extrañare' video released

2010-09-29T12:05:00.000-04:00

I just got this e-mail from Daniel Añón Fernández, who played on Jose Carballido’s wonderful album Requiem (review here: http://billsprogblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/cd-review-jose-carballido-requiem-2010.html):

“Hi Bill. I'm Daniel, the guitarist from Carballido's Requiem…I send you this mail to show you the clip from "Te extrañare". We recorded a month ago in a theater and Jose himself plays the part of the man who lost his wife. The video was conceived like a short, showing images of the happy couple before the death and later, the man and his wife's ghost, and images of the group with the choir in a theater.

The clip was filmed by an amateur director from Galicia and all the characters were played by Galician actors as you could see in the credits.”

CD REVIEW: Edensong - Echoes of Edensong (2010, private release)

2010-09-29T09:56:00.000-04:00

Do you remember your first time?

Of course you do.

You know just what I’m talking about, too…you’ve waited so long for it…and it’s finally there, right in front of you. You’ve made sure the moment is right…perhaps a nice glass of scotch or wine to set the mood. You’ve made sure there’ll be no interruptions…you’ve even taken the phone off the hook, or turned the ringer off. You’ve got the lights down low, and it’s time for you and that brand spanking new album from a new to you band you’ve been waiting for.

The first time never seems to live up to expectations. Oh, but when it does…when it does, it’s like heaven and earth have just stopped, and it’s just you, and the music, and it’s magic.

I can probably count in the fingers of both hands the number of times that the first time has worked out that well. The last time it happened had to be 199(mutters the rest), when I got a packet in the mail from Royal Oaks Michigan with my copy of discipline’s Unfolded Like Staircase. I still remember the chills that album brought me. But my point is, it doesn’t happen all that often, and when it does, I cherish it, because I know just how rare it is.

All this is build up for me saying (wait for it) that the same thing just happened for me. What makes it all the more amazing is that it’s not a single album that did it, but a pair of releases from the same band. The fact that both caused the same kind of reaction in me is something rare indeed…the fact that these two albums are their entire output thus far is gobsmackingly astonishing.

The band is Edensong.

And today I’ll be talking about Echoes of Edensong: From the Studio and Stage.

Now Edensong is a newer band, founded by James Byron Schoen (who contributes vocals, electric and acoustic guitars). I’m assuming the band line-up that I’ve posted below is accurate for this release; hopefully James won’t kill me if I’m wrong. Echoes is the band’s second release, following on from the equally amazing The Fruit Fallen (about which more in an article to come), and it acts as a sort of…well, I hate to use the term odds and sods release, but it is a half live, half studio effort that presents us a pair of new(ish) songs, a remastered track from the TFF sessions, and three live performances from 3RP, Progday and Terra Incognita festivals. It’s a nice way to get a taste for the band in a live setting as well as to hear some material that is fresh and perhaps less familiar.

Echoes of Edensong opens with ‘Beneath the Tide.’ In the studio, this track is just a shade over 10 minutes long (it stretches in the live take included later to over 13), but it’s an odd thing, those 10 minutes. I feel that they last far longer, and yet not that long at all. This was the very first Edensong song I heard, and what a way to start off my listening. I am a person who gets very involved in my music…I feel it keenly, and sometimes I can see it, smell it, almost taste it. And from the very first quiet acoustic bits, through the final crescendo that drops to waves crashing on the beach, I am completely and wholly held in this song’s thrall. I have goosebumps almost from the offing, and Schoen’s lyrics are, quite frankly, amazing. His delivery is powerful, and while I’ll admit that my first listens found me somewhat less than enamoured with his voice, I’ve come to not only accept it but enjoy it. He’s passionate in how he sings…his voice can be plaintive, fragile, or vitriolic and angry in equal measure, and it’s a huge part of why this song is so successful. The arrangements are intense, with great changes between light and dark, heavy and soft. There’s not a single out of place note. The ending solos…harmony guitar at first, then a solo guitar, then violin, flute, keyboard, all in turn…build so powerfully. I’m not playing the CD, but as I write this, the goosebumps are already coming back.

Yeah, it’s that good.

And better.

And I’ll put it bluntly…for me, this is THE song of 2010. Full stop.

It’d almost be impossible to match the intensity of ‘Beneath the Tide,’ and Edensong wisely goes a different direction with ‘Lorelai.’ No, this is not a cover of the old Styx tune; it is, in fact, a piece the band contributed to the Haiti Projekt benefit CD release following the tragic Haitian earthquakes. Gentle, pastoral, filled with carefully constructed layers of acoustic guitar and keyboards, this piece has a mystical feel that is unlike its predecessor on the album. Again Schoen’s lyrics shine, and the tale the song tells is engrossing and involving. I greatly enjoy this one…it may not offer the sheer intensity of ‘Beneath the Tide,’ but it makes up for that in mood and pure emotion.

The studio ‘side’ of this release is closed out with a remastered version of ‘To See but Not Believe,’ a track ‘hidden’ on the band’s 2008 debut album, cunningly added to that album’s closing track ‘The Reunion’ (so no, that song is not nearly 22 minutes long, much to my initial chagrin). I haven’t A/B tested these versions to each other, but this release’s take on the track seems a bit punchier, a bit more open and breathy in some areas, and in general just a bit clearer and more precise. It’s nice to have it as an individual track finally!

‘Side 2’ of this album opens with ‘The Reunion,’ of all tracks (so yes, we’ve got those two inverted here). This performance was taken from the band’s concert at Progday in 2009. This is a nicely handled rendition of this track from The Fruit Fallen, cello and harmony vocals mixing nicely with the acoustic guitars. I feel it perhaps lacks a tiny bit of the intensity of the studio version, but in exchange we get a bit more rawness, a bit more organic passion. ‘The Reunion,’ like much of Edensong’s material, reminds me so much of classic 1970’s progressive music, retuned for a new age. It’s got all the hallmarks sound wise, but with plenty of modern influences that set this apart from being just another symphonic prog retread. It’s a toss up between this and the studio take for me, honestly…I like both for totally different reasons.

We take a quick jaunt up the road (and back in time by about a month) to the 3 Rivers Prog Festival for a live take on ‘Beneath the Tide,’ our album’s opening track. Where the studio take is a case study in balancing the contrasting elements of light and dark, this one is acid and vitriol almost from the start. Intensity ramped up past 11, Shoen spitting lyrics out like a man possessed, flute and acoustic guitar not even coming close to muting the crunching guitar and organ. If this were the first time I had heard this song (and had I been in the audience), I’m sure I’d have been struck dumb by it. I can listen to it with a bit more detachment having the studio version to compare it to, but still…it’s pretty damned impressive that a band this young can craft something like this so early in their career.

We close out with a so-called bonus track, a final live song taken from Edensong’s performance at the Terra Incognita festival in Quebec from May of 2010. Now, I have to come right out and say that ‘The Sixth Day’ is one of the most goosebump inducing songs on Edensong’s The Fruit Fallen album, for reasons I’ll hopefully be discussing with you very soon. This live rendition does their studio effort proud, showcasing the wide dynamics and contrasts in tone and sound that seem to be hallmarks of this band’s music. I think Schoen is a far more impressive vocalist live than his studio efforts have typically shown, and if he could tap into the energy and power that he shows on this song…wow. Great performance of an already great song.

Do I sound like a fan boy?

Perhaps.

But bear this in mind…I’ve been listening to these albums a good bit now. And despite the fact that I have 30 other albums to review, I am not yet ready to have these leave my CD player, be it at home or at work. I’m hooked, well and truly.

Edensong is a band to watch over the coming years. I think truly that they have what it takes to move on to even bigger things with each successive release, and Echoes of Edensong, as great as it is (and I think…no, I know…that this one will be on my year end top ten list), is still the voice of a young band discovering themselves. It almost frightens me to think where they’re going from here.

Get this one. Yesterday.

Track Listing:
1. Beneath The Tide 10:19
2. Lorelai 04:11
3. To See But Not Believe 08:42
4. The Reunion (Live in NC) 10:02
5. Beneath The Tide (Live in PA) 13:12
6. BONUS: The Sixth Day (Live in QC) 09:57

Band Mambers (current line-up):
James Byron Schoen - Guitars and voice
Stefan Paolini - Keyboards and voice
Tony Waldman - Drums and percussion
Matt Bauer - Drums and percussion
TD Towers - Bass
Michael Lunapiena - Cello
Barry Seroff – Flute

Find out more:
http://www.edensongtheband.com/
http://www.myspace.com/edensong
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/edensongtheband?ref=ts

CD REVIEW: Wilton Said - The View (2007, private release)

2010-09-28T19:09:00.000-04:00

(NB: this review was initially published 8 February 2007)

Wilton Said (the band) AND Wilton Said (the musician) hail from Toronto Ontario. Said’s quirky mix of art rock influences (Queen, Bowie, Kate Bush battle with Sarah Slean and A Perfect Circle for prominence) is on full display on The View, his newest release.

Said holds a degree in Musical Composition from York University, and his contributions on vocals/piano/keyboards are joined by those of Andrew Buntain (bass), Richard Rizzo (drums) and Chris Reid (guitars). Sonically the band has forged a sound that focuses heavily on rock, with buzzing guitars, a punchy rhythm section, and Said’s dramatic, inflected vocals flitting in and out of the mix. The tracks on The View are pretty immediately accessible, but with enough quirk and twisted arrangement to move the band out of the mainstream. Art rock is quite possibly the best categorisation for their music, as it seems in many ways the logical extension of the direction bands such as Roxy Music or the Spiders From Mars took in the 1970’s.

“Carnival?” opens the album with found sound; children laughing in a sonic collage with calliope music and loops of undiscernable whispers and a strange vocal line. This shifts into “Heavy Motion,” which starts with a thick, rolling bass line and processed vocals. Wilton Said’s vocals are extremely flexible here, bending notes in a way that sounds extremely close to falling off the melodic line, before snapping back. The song itself goes through a number of changes, with heavy strummed guitar at 2:00 moving into a syncopated and brief bridge before a warped synth solo takes center stage.

“A Family Affair” opens like a restrained track, with dream like slide guitar and precious, fragile vocals, before said vocals are run through what sounds like ring modulation, moving the dream into nightmare territory. The song is an exercise in contrast, with alternating heavy sections adding tension to what is otherwise a pretty straightforward song.

Prog fans will likely go gaga over “The Empty Sky,” a 3-part mini-epic which closes out the album. The opening movement, “The View,” is a keyboard lover’s dream come true, with layers of organ, synth and piano battling over a pounding rhythm and thick rhythm guitar before the track shifts gears, bringing the speed down a notch while keeping the sonic richness as high as possible. An organ fanfare leads to clean, chorused, picked guitar reminiscent of 1980’s Alex Lifeson. “Goodbye,” the second movement, features laser beam sustained guitar lines, starting clean before adding fuzz and overdrive in ever drenching layers, over an orchestral synth foundation and militaristic drumming. The final section of this suite, “Fallen,” starts by picking up the pace with quick drumming and a propulsive organ line, before downshifting to a somber semi-dirge, with emotionally saturated guitar line and rich, mellotron-like synth textures. Said’s lyrics are sullen and somewhat distressing; a number of potential interpretations likely exist, all of which reek with finality. His vocal delivery on the three tracks that comprise this epic is the most dramatic and emotional on the album.

The View is an album packed with a variety of musical twists and turns. All the more amazing is that this is done in just over 34 minutes. In a modern musical environment where quantity is held as having far more importance than quality, it is a joy to listen to an album that hits hard and fast, with no throwaway tracks. The View is just that sort of album, and positions Wilton Said (the band) AND Wilton Said (the musician) as voices to keep an eye (and ear) open to.

Track List:
Carnival?
Heavy Motion
Merry-Go-Round
Pretty
Gender Bender
A Family Affair
The Empty Sky:
      i. The View
      ii. Goodbye
      iii. Fallen

Band Members:
Wilton Said: vocals/piano/keyboards
Andrew Buntain: bass
Richard Rizzo: drums
Chris Reid: guitars

Prog Fury: An Evening of Progressive Rock in Cali 6 November

2010-09-28T16:14:00.000-04:00

BG Productions presents "Prog Fury: An Evening of Progressive Rock" featuring three of Los Angeles' best prog-rock bands: K2, Mars Hollow and Phideaux.

"We're stoked to be able to organize an event such as this; Southern California seems to have a distinct lack of prog-rock shows and we aim to change that with what will hopefully become a series of 'Prog Fury' events", says Mars Hollow bassist Kerry Chicoine; "We're hoping this line-up can prove, once and for all, that live prog-rock can thrive in SoCal."

K2 will be celebrating the release of their new album on Magna Carta Records, Black Garden; special guests Phideaux are currently on the prog-rock festival circuit, playing England's Summer's End festival as well as ROSFest 2011. Mars Hollow will be debuting material from their forthcoming album (with former YES man Billy Sherwood producing).

"Prog Fury" will take place on November 6, 2010; see poster above (click it!) for details.

NewEARS and BostonProg present Edensong at the Magic Room

2010-09-28T12:37:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, October 16th, New York based orchestral rockers Edensong will take the stage at the Magic Room in Brighton, MA. The show, sponsored by NewEARS will be Edensong's first time performing in Massachusetts. The show begins at 8pm with a performance by the acoustic guitar duo Kangaralien (www.kangaralien.com). Tickets are $20 in advance and available directly from the NewEARS website (www.newears.org). Seating is limited, so order your tickets early!

Edensong (www.edensongtheband.com) recently released their half live, half studio album Echoes of Edensong: From the Studio and Stage. For their show at MARPROG 2010 and the Magic Room, they will play tracks from the new CD along with songs from their critically acclaimed debut album The Fruit Fallen (2008) and even some brand new, unreleased material. Over the past year and a half, the band has had the opportunity to play both nationally and internationally, as well as in their hometown of New York. Their festival appearances at Three Rivers Progressive Rock Festival in Pittsburgh, PA (www.3rprogfest.com), Progday in Chapel Hill, NC (www.progday.net), and Convention Terra Incognita in Quebec City, QC helped to gain Edensong a loyal following among progressive rock enthusiasts. Edensong is thrilled to bring their energetic live show to MARPROG and the Magic Room in October. For more information on Edensong, please visit the band's official website (www.edensongtheband.com), myspace page (www.myspace.com/edensong), or facebook fan page (www.facebook.com/edensongtheband).

You can stream their entire catalog for free at the Edensong webstore: www.edensong.bandcamp.com."

(Photo from Edensong's Facebook)

(More than) 10 Questions with...Wilton Said

2010-09-28T10:02:00.000-04:00

I first came across the music of Wilton Said in 2007, if memory serves. Actually, I don’t have to rely on memory, as I still have a copy of my review of his then most recent album, The View, and it’s dated 8 February 2007. His take on progressive rock to me seems to veer more toward the art rock side of things…less Yes and Genesis, more Bowie and Roxy Music. This shouldn’t necessarily imply loads of glitz, glam and make-up, but rather a penchant for the tastefully and artfully composed bit of quirky pop-infused rock with influences a little different than English pastorals and church music.

From my standpoint (actually sitting point…I am a prog fan with osteoarthritis after all), things seemed overly quiet from Wilton Said HQ for far too long. Apparently there was good reason for this, as the man himself has been busy with some fairly big projects that are in varying states of completion.

Wilton actually contacted me, hoping I’d be willing to review The View for Bill’s Prog Blog. I’ll be offering that review up a little later today, but in the meantime, let’s sit down with Wilton to get a feel for his life, his music, and what lies in wait for the dedicated WS fan out there…

1. Let’s get things started at the very beginning. How did you get your start as a musician?

Wilton Said: My mother has told me that I always loved music. When I was a toddler, she says I would stand in front of the stereo and move to the music. When Mary Poppins came out, my favourite song was Feed the Birds, not exactly the song most young children would understand. When I was 8 (1978) or so, I took piano lessons which I enjoyed. However, that died off in a couple of months when I opted to spend my leisure time playing baseball instead of practicing. A few years later I enrolled in the string program in my school and learned the viola, which I continued to play for about 8 years mainly through the school system. During that time, I went to a summer camp and learned basic guitar chords and then continued on my own afterwards. By the time I was 13 years old, I was writing my own songs on guitar and performing them off the third floor balcony of my apartment building for all the world to hear. Some years later I started taking private guitar lessons and learned some basic theory, jazz and classical styles.

Throughout high school I tried to form my own band playing guitar but found it hard to find people who were dedicated, (or maybe they thought I sucked), so I continued practicing on my own. I did however jam with a bass player friend of mine (Chris Reid) who was a huge Rush fan and got me into Rush. However, he wasn't able to commit to anything serious at the time.

At the end of my High school year in 1989 I finally joined a real band. They were called The Dust Rhinos and were a 50' 60's rock n roll cover band playing Stones, Beatles, and rocked up RnB. It was great and I learned a lot from the band guys who were almost 10 years older then me. The drummer was really into prog rock and leant me a few albums, which I loved. However, the band broke up and I started my search again. In my first year of a Compositional Music Degree at University, I joined a heavy metal band playing covers by Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath. However, I didn't stick around long enough to play a gig as it turned out most that of the band were pot heads, something I wasn't into.

In 1990 I met a drummer and we started jamming my original material. We found a bass player and a singer and my first original band called Crisis Ten was formed. We did a few cassette demos and gigged around for a couple of years but it seemed that the other guys were becoming less interested. I left the band and the band basically broke up. In 1994 I contacted Chris Reid and we decided to form a band with me on guitar and him on bass. For about 4 years we had three different bands, one after the other with the singer and drummer revolving around us two. The first band was Shopping Asia which featured a female singer with a softer voice with me playing crunchy guitar along with a crazy proggy drummer and bass player Chris inspired by Geddy Lee. I thought the four of us were great and really think that if we stayed together we could've become possibly more then independent. However, two members turned out to be not that serious and left the band. Over the next two years we had another band called "Wish Machine" which was heavily influenced by Rush, and then a band called "Edge of Sense" which had more alternative influences with some prog mentality. Again in all cases, members turned out not to be that serious and in the end I left.

Around the time of Edge of Sense, I started to get bored with guitar playing. We had just done a cassette in which I had given everything I had to the guitar parts and I felt there was nothing left that interested me in guitar playing. In 1996 after leaving the band, I took up singing lessons and then formed my own project "Wilton Said..." singing lead and playing keyboards. I figured that naming the project after my name would enable me to work in a variety of musical situations regardless of other band members.

2. What were your earliest musical influences?

WS: As a child, there was always music in my house. It was just my mom and me and she often played piano, sang me lullabies, and played classical, blues, rock, and opera records. At the after school program, I got my first exposure to pop via Bay City Rollers, Elvis Presley and The Beatles. At first I didn't realize who any of the artists were, I just liked the songs. One day I went home and asked my Mom if she had any Bay City Rollers. She said no but pulled out some of her vintage 1960's Beatles albums instead. The first song "It Won't be Long" hit me like a brick and I loved it. When it got to "All my Loving", I recognized the song as one of the ones played at the after school program. From there, I ended up getting my mom to buy more of their recordings, which I loved. However, the love affair diminished when I was bought The White Album on cassette. My 9-year-old brain could only get into the first side and thought much of the rest was too weird.

Around 1981 I really got into the Star Wars movies and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not only did I love the movies, I loved the music. Along with my orchestral education with the Viola, I started to learn and enjoy orchestral music, especially from the Romantic era and the 20th Century era.

Around 1983, I began watching music videos and started to learn about and enjoy the new wave music of the time, namely Duran Duran. A few years later and I can't remember why, I started to listen to the Beatles again and gave that old White Album cassette another try. This time my older more musically mature 15-year-old brain could understand it and I loved it. I also dug out my Abbey Road, Sgt Peppers, and Magical Mystery Tour recordings and really got into them. I loved the eclectic-ness of them, I loved the big sound of them, I loved the musicianship of them, I loved The Beatles and to this day I still think they are the best thing to happen to humankind since the invention of the wheel.

However, I still developed interests and influences in other styles of Rock and Pop. I developed a love for Heavy Metal, most notably Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath. That later developed into a love for Progressive Rock with artists such as Marillion, Queen, Genesis, Rush, Kate Bush and the album Jesus Christ Superstar. A few later bands that I enjoyed were Soundgarden and A Perfect Circle.

I guess the main thing which can be said about my listening habits and influences is that I like my music BIG, texturally thick, dark and minor keyed, and preferably with some arty elements to it.

3. Tell me a little bit about how the band formed, if you would?

WS: As stated above, I got bored of guitar and was looking for another musical outlet. One evening in 1996 I rented a video of Kate Bush, which had clips of her live performances. I went out and purchased Live at Hammersmith and was blown away. I loved it and instantly and was inspired to take singing lessons with the hopes of forming my own band. After about a year, I felt somewhat confident in my new found singing ability and did an acoustic gig with Chris Reid helping out on guitar and bass. It went over pretty good. I also recorded a demo cassette that I was proud of at the time, but like many artists, I'm now embarrassed listening back to it.

From about 1998 through to 2001 I had a rotating roster of musicians that I played with and recorded with. While that worked for getting my music out and about with live gigs and recording, I started to feel that a more stable line up would tighten up the material. Around 2002 I was able to work with a more stable line up of musicians with Chris Reid taking on Guitar duties, Richard Rizzo on Drums and Andrew Buntain on Bass. This became the core group. We were able to record two CD's, The Butterfly Plague and The View. After the CD release of The View, Andrew left to pursue other musical interests and was replaced by Frank Heisler who had ironically been in the band previously to Andrew. It's a bit of a musical chairs situation that in the end has turned out to work great.

4. You’ve released three albums with your band. How would you say your sound has evolved since your debut record?

WS: Actually I've recorded 5 releases and writing wise, each one has been not so much an evolution, but a change depending on my influences. Production and performance wise there has been an evolution, for the better to my ears.

The 1st release was a cassette release, which had me singing, doing all guitar and keyboards. It's a very raw recording and my vocals were still in a very early learning stage. I cringe when I hear them.

The 2nd release called World up my Ass also had me singing, doing guitars/keyboards, and even some bass on a few songs. Many of the songs on this release were written years before the release and so I consider this more of a compilation of old songs and ideas. As a result, it's a very eclectic release. I feel the performances were OK but the vocals and production are a little rough.

The 3rd release titled Broken had pretty much all newly written songs and was greatly influenced by a more alternative vibe. At the same time, I was being introduced to some jazz via my singing lessons, which is apparent on a few tracks also. This release also had me playing all guitars, keys, and bass. For me, Broken is the start of when I feel my songs, singing and recording production got better. I have a soft spot for this album as so much of it was me.

The 4th release is a concept album called The Butterfly Plague. It was actually written 8 years earlier but I didn't feel confident enough to record it at the time, so it sat on the back burner for a while. Musically and texturally, it was influenced by Jesus Christ Superstar and is pretty much in the style of progressive rock. This was also the first release to be recorded by a stable line up of band members. As a result, some of my musical ideas were interpreted differently then I had imagined, but in the end it turned out nicely.

The last release titled The View had a range of influences going on. 'Heavy Motion' was influenced with A Perfect Circle vibe while 'The Empty Sky' had a Kansas influence. The finished products probably don't sound like those influences, but that's what was going through my mind at the time of writing them. Two of the other songs were written by me just jotting down some chord progressions on a sheet of paper. I thought it would be a great way to come up with some interesting ideas without fully knowing what they would sound like. This is also the release that has the best production to my ears.

Over all, my writing style changes with what ever I've been influenced by. I try not to write the same song over again but in some cases, it's inevitable. Vocally, and production wise I feel I've gotten better with each release.

5. What would you say sets your band apart from other current prog/art rock bands?

WS: I think the main thing is that most of the musical texture is guitar based. While I do play keyboards and there are some songs that do feature keys, guitar is still at the heart of the texture of my music. I'd also say that the material is stylistically eclectic, similar to how Queen was. We have some rock songs, some prog songs, some bluesy influenced numbers, some jazzy influenced songs and some more humorous songs. So ya, I think the music is more eclectic then other prog/art rock bands.

6. I understand you’ve begun work on some new material for two different releases. First, what can you tell us about the music you’ve been working on for the next Wilton Said release?

WS: It's been tough writing for this next release. I had writers block for a couple of months and just wasn't happy with what was coming out of me. I'd write something, come back to it a couple of days later and it just wouldn't feel right. It was as if I was forcing the material, and that didn't seem good to me. I think I was trying to be too clever, too progressive, too arty for my own good. It wasn't until I relaxed and allowed the music to emerge almost on its own that things started to work. I think the result will be that these songs will be a little less complicated then what was on The View, but by no means less arty.

We're also working on a song written by guitarist Chris Reid. He played me a demo of it years ago and I always liked it. It's a little more straight ahead then what I usually write, but it does have a few interesting twists to keep it interesting. Another first will be the addition of an orchestral piece done rock. Mussorgsky's Bydlo from Pictures at an Exhibition has always been one of my favorite pieces. This album seemed to be the right time to record it.

The final difference is the way we're learning the material. Previously, I would make a demo of everything and send it to the band to learn. This time around I thought it would be better to jam the ideas out. Working this way enabled me to hear textures and arrangements that I wouldn't have come up with myself. In a few cases, this caused me to change the arrangement and direction of a song to fit in with what the band had come up with. So for me, this next release from a writing standpoint is very different.

7. Your website also mentions a rock opera that you’ve been working on. Is there anything you feel you can share about this project yet?

WS: Ever since hearing Jesus Christ Superstar, I've wanted to do a rock opera. My fist attempt turned into the concept album The Butterfly Plague, which is not a rock opera. I realized the harder part would be writing the lyrics or dialogue, something I wasn't comfortable with, so I put an ad out looking for a lyricist. I got a few responses and ended up working with a guy named Barry Brown. We met up and discussed some ideas. He had a bunch of ideas written down on a piece of paper and one of them said Rabbit Proof Fence. The title struck me as a little quirky and he mentioned it was a movie about aboriginals in Australia. Their children had been forcibly removed from their parents and shipped off to schools to learn how to be come "better citizens". We agreed that this would be a great topic to do and we discussed the structure. Subsequently, we found out that this type of thing went on in many different countries. In Canada they shipped off the aboriginal children to Residential Schools. There was a movie based on a true story about children and youths in Ireland who were shipped off to special schools if they were deemed to be needing some straightening out. In many of these cases, the church and government ran the schools and abuse of the children was rampant.

The musical writing was different and simpler then on other Wilton Said… recordings. For starters, I wrote music to the lyrics that Barry gave me. The lyrics came first. Usually when writing, I'll get an idea and try to really expand it and make it artier, cleverer. For the Rock Opera, I used ideas that I thought were fine as is and therefore didn't tinker too much with the original ideas. Also, Barry's lyrics didn't always lend themselves to odd time signatures. As a result, the music for this project is more rock as opposed to the more proggy arty stuff of my Wilton Said… material.

For recording, I recorded demos to a click track, which had a basic drum machine, some basic guitar and guide vocals. Barry, who is also a drummer, then recorded his drums to the click and I re-recorded guitars and keyboards. The keyboards took me the longest to record as I don't consider myself a keyboardist. I was challenged in that I had to learn how to play in a more rhythmic style then I was used to. The keyboard solos also took me a long time to record. The guitar parts were pretty easy as I've been playing for about 27 years. But the keyboards had me banging my head against the wall. Never the less, the whole thing is written, and the drums, guitars and keyboards have been recorded. Wilton Said… bassist Frank Heisler should be in to record his parts during the fall. After that it's finding vocalists to sing the parts.

8. People may not know that you were the driving force behind the NUANCE festival. What was your goal for the festival, and do you think it succeeded at that?

WS: I found that there were live prog festivals and live prog outlets in other parts of the world, but nothing in the Toronto area. I knew there were bands and I thought there would be an audience. So I held the first one in the spring of 2007 featuring 5 indie bands from the Toronto area including my own band of course. The turn out wasn't too bad and everyone really enjoyed themselves. The next one 6 months later had a smaller attendance and the last one in the fall of 2008 didn't have many people there. As a result I gave up the festival idea. People suggested getting a semi well known act to headline. I had a few musical acquaintances offer their help in setting this up, but in the end it fell through.

After that, I organized and held smaller events called NUANCE Sundays Showcases, which featured 3 proggy bands on a Sunday evening. The great thing about these events was that the whole thing wrapped up around 11pm, early by club standards. With most of the musicians and fans of this style of music being dare I say, "older", and therefore having day jobs, the early finish was much appreciated by all. The event attendances were up and down but nevertheless, a great time was always had by all who performed and attended.

Overall, I wanted to be able to hold the festivals and/or the showcases on a more regular basis, but alas, it didn't seem that there was a big enough audience for these events. Perhaps things will have changed in the new year.

9. Will there be any future NUANCE festivals or performances moving forward?

WS: As stated earlier, I'm working on the new release so live performances and NUANCE events have been put on hold until the completion of the album.

10. One topic that has been discussed to death has been the role of downloads, official and otherwise, and how they affect musicians. I know that you have several free downloads available on your website; have they been popular, and do you find that they have aided in promoting your work?

WS: The free downloads seem to be popular on the day and day after that I post information on them. I have been able to get a few sales due to the freebies, which is the whole idea.

Speaking of downloads; I'm still toying with the idea of making the new release a 320kbps download only release. I would sell card stock with the album cover printed on it at the gigs and on the back would be a code. This code would enable the buyer to download the album directly from the wiltonsaid.com website. I would also include a PDF file with lyrics, credits, photos etc etc so people would have something to read and look at. I know a lot of people like to have a physical item to play, but I'm finding more and more people are uploading their CD collection to their computers and iPods anyways, so a download release would cut out that middle step.

11. Connected to that, of course, is this; how much has illegal downloading hurt Wilton Said’s sales?

WS: I have not come across any illegal downloads of my material, which is a good thing in one sense. In the other, I guess my material isn't quite popular enough to warrant any. Personally, if I found any illegal downloads of my material, I would hope that it would only be the freebies that I have available through my site anyways. I wouldn't have a problem with that.

12. What would you say the future holds for the independent progressive/art rock musician?

WS: Very difficult if any of us are expecting to make any real money. I wouldn't be surprised if more artists started going the download only route, as it's a lot cheaper then paying for 500 CD's.

The technology has been a blessing and a curse to the entertainment industry as a whole. It's made it extremely inexpensive to produce and publish ones own work. As a result however, everyone and their grandmother’s cat is producing and publishing their own work. So now there's so much to wade through to find something that's appealing. And even if you do find something that's appealing, there's usually at least ten or more similar works to be found. So the consumer's dollar is stretched thinner over each artists work.

13. Influences and musical interests change over the years. Are there any newer bands or performers that you are inspired by these days?

WS: Not too much, most of my listening habits revolve around artists I grew up with. However, I really loved A Perfect Circle when they were around. To me they combined the atmospheric darkness of The Cure with the artiness of a prog metal band. I like OK Computer by Radiohead, and Chris Cornell's first post Soundgarden release Euphoric Morning. But I believe all these releases are at least 5 years old. In the independent market, I really enjoy Toronto prog band Half Past Four, which I've had the pleasure of playing with a few times, and US prog artist Phideaux.

14. When not working on music related things, what do you do to relax or recharge?

WS: I love wine, especially red wine. I love the fact that there's always something different and unexpected to discover. Just when I think I've categorized a certain type of wine in my mind, along comes another to blow my perception and expectation out of the water. It's a great challenge to my mild OCD.

I also like to take bike rides and enjoy long walks on the beach. (Sounds like a dating profile).

15. Do you have any parting words for our readers as we wrap things up?

WS: Buy my CD's! Promote independent musicians, and keep on dancing in 7/8 time.

Thanks so much Bill for the interview. It's great to know there are people out there helping to promote music of a more artistic nature. It's much appreciated by the musicians, bands and fans.

Find out more:
http://www.wiltonsaid.com/
http://www.myspace.com/wiltonsaid

Curved Air retrospective details

2010-09-27T17:14:00.001-04:00

(I'm not quite sure how new this is, but I just found out about it, and it looks to be a very good introduction to a very British band, with an essay from Sonja Kristina, so...I'm posting it :-) )

Specially compiled by Sonja Kristina, Retrospective is the most comprehensive and authoritative Curved Air compilation ever issued.

A re-mastered double CD set with an illustrated full-colour booklet (written by respected journalist Chris Welch and containing an in-depth interview with Sonja), the collection features a superb cross-section of material spanning the entirety of Curved Air's illustrious career.

An ideal introduction to a groundbreaking band.

---------

Curved Air were an instant success when they formed in 1970.

Founder members Darryl Way (electric violin and vocals), Sonja Kristina (vocals), Francis Monkman (keyboards), Pilkington-Miksa (drums) and Ian Erye (bass) were signed to Warner Brothers and their astonishing debut Air Conditioning (1970) was promoted as the first ever picture disc album.

In 1971 they scored a Top 5 hit single with the gritty 'Back Street Luv' and the accessible, yet experimental, Second Album (1971) ably showcased the band's innovative fusion of electronic rock and classical music.

The group underwent several personnel changes during the 1970s.

Later members included legendary violinist/keyboard player Eddie Jobson (Roxy Music, UK, Frank Zappa) and soon to be superstar drummer, Stewart Copeland (The Police).

Disc 1:
1. It Happened Today
2. Screw
3. Blind Man
4. Hide and Seek
5. Rob One
6. Young Mother
7. Back Street Luv
8. Jumbo
9. Puppets
10. Piece Of Mind
11. Whose Shoulder Are You Looking Over Anyway?
12. Melinda (More or Less)
13. Over and Above

Disc 2:
1. Purple Speed Queen
2. Elfin Boy
3. Metamorphosis
4. Easy
5. Dancer
6. Dance Of Love
7. Love Child
8. Woman On A One Night Stand
9. Desiree
10. Broken Lady
11. Marie Antoinette
12. Vivaldi

Bonus tracks:
13. Lambent Spire - Sonja Kristina's MASK
14. Space In Between - Sonja Kristina's MASK
15. Beloved - Sonja Kristina's MASK

Find out more:

http://www.curvedair.com/

http://www.burningshed.com/store/marvinayres/product/35/2314/

Allan Holdsworth European tour dates

2010-09-27T12:57:00.000-04:00

ALLAN HOLDSWORTH EUROPEAN TOUR
with
ERNEST TIBBS bass
CHAD WACKERMAN drums

October 20 - Foggia, Italy
venue: Moody Jazz Café
www.moodyjazzcafe.it

October 21 - Roccaforzata, Italy
venue: Go West Saloon
www.myspace.com/gowestsaloon

October 22 - Civitanova Marche, Italy
venue: Magga
www.magga.it

October 23 - Roma, Italy
venue: Jailbreak
www.jailbreakrock.it

October 24 - Aversa, Italy
venue: Teatro Cimarosa
www.assmav.com

October 25 - Pisa, Italy
venue: Borderline
www.myspace.com/borderlineclub

October 26 - Milano, Italy
venue: Blue Note
www.bluenotemilano.com

October 27 - Milano, Italy
venue: Blue Note
www.bluenotemilano.com

October 28 - Torino, Italy
venue: Lapsus
www.lapsustorino.it

October 29 - Forlì, Italy
venue: Naima Club
www.naimaclub.it

October 30 - Zagreb, Croatia
venue: Vatroslav Lisinski Mala Dvorana
www.lisinski.hr

November 2 - Brastislava, Slovakia
venue: Randall Club
www.randalclub.eu

November 3 - Prague, Czech Republik
venue: Exit Chmelnice
www.exitchmelnice.cz

November 4 - Dresden, Germany
venue: Club Tante JU
www.liveclub-dresden.de/Tante_Ju

November 5 - Ingolstadt, Germany
venue: Jazz Party One / Trivasaaal at JazzTage
www.ingolstadt.de/jazztage

November 6 - Aalen, Germany
venue: TBA at JazzFest
www.aalener-jazzfest.de

November 8 - Hannover, Germany
venue: Jazz Club
www.jazz-club.de

November 9 - Leverkusen, Germany
venue: Forum at JazzTage
www.leverkusener-jazztage.com

November 10 - Tilburg, Netherlands
venue: Paradox
www.paradoxtilburg.nl

November 11 - Zoetermeer, Netherlands
venue: Boerderij
www.boerderij.nl

November 12 - Verviers, Belgium
venue: Spirit of 66
www.spiritof66.be

November 15 - Tel Aviv, Israel
venue: Reading 3, The New Port of Tel Aviv
www.reading3.co.il

Magma Monday 12

2010-09-27T10:28:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Just Another Magma Monday. Once a week, your obd’t narrator and occasional blogger will trawl the expanses of his Magma collection to discuss something of Zeuhl-ish importance. Whether it’s the studio albums, the best of the AKT archive releases, one of the sundry live DVDs, or a choice artifact from his ‘unofficial’ collection, one thing is for sure…for this writer, Magma iss de hundin!

This week, sit back and relax as we take a look at Les Voix, a radically different interpretation of some of the classic Magma repertoire, recorded in 1992 in concert at the Jazz in the Bay Festival in Douarnenez, Brittany, France and released as the first volume in the band’s Akt series of archival releases…

“The music of Magma interpreted in acoustic performance by the band members of Offering - this was the idea behind Les Voix De Magma (The Voices of Magma), presented on the 2nd August 1992 at the Jazz in the Bay Festival at Douarnenez. Subtly re-arranged for 9 voices, double bass and keyboards, the themes underlying the Kobaian Universe here take on a new dimension. Full of power, captivating and lyrical, the absence of electricity takes nothing away from a repertoire which retains all its splendour. A fantastic success, but which at bottom is nothing amazing to those who understand that singing has always been the point of departure for Magma’s music.”

~~~~~From the Seventh Records page for this release

There are several things Magma fans know about Christian Vander…

1)       He loves jazz
2)       He loves acoustic music…keep in mind the heavy use of piano/Rhodes in Magma’s CV. (and yes, I know the Fender Rhodes is an electric instrument)
3)       He’s merged these two elements in the bands Offering and Welcome.

In 1992, Vander, ex-wife Stella, daughter Julie, a group of additional vocalists (including future Magma vocalist Isabelle Feuillebois) and Vander’s band Offering, came together for a show in Douarnenez under the name Les Voix De Magma (The Voices of Magma). Recorded for this release, the material here recasts several Magma pieces in a far different light.

Gone is the heavy bass. Gone are the interlocking Rhodes lines. Present as always are the rich Magma vocals, augmented and built up in a nonet format. Between this, the acoustic pianos, and much lighter drumming and percussion courtesy of Vander himself, the resultant recording feels like nothing less than a choral recital…something I am very familiar with considering my background in organised singing and classical choral work. It’s actually a stunning reworking in a lot of ways…where Magma’s music can be bleak, oppressive, dark beyond belief, these vocal arrangements really take their cues from the translation of the word Zeuhl…’celestial.’ There is still heaviness here; that is something that I doubt can ever really change. However, there is lightness, brightness…there are times that it sounds like choruses of angels singing from on high, and I mean that as the dearest compliment I can come up with.

We open up with an extract from Ëmëhntëht-Rê, at this point still pretty much incomplete, even though multiple sections of this piece had been released across several albums between the release of Üdü Wüdü, Attahk, and Live/Hhaï. This short excerpt is essentially the opening few minutes of the suite, piano and acoustic bass setting a melodic motif under the mostly female vocals. It builds slowly, as many of the best Magma compositions do, but this extract, bereft of the music that follows it in the suite, feels somewhat anticlimactic. The piece that follows, ‘C'est Pour Nous,’ reminds me somewhat of both ‘Rinde’ (from Attahk) and portions of Kohntarkosz Anteria. There are some wonderful piano parts on this piece, and Christian Vander offers up some fantastic male vocals that help to balance the more heavily female oriented chorus. I’d be curious to see if the band/Vander might work up something more from this piece, or perhaps even simply come up with more of a band arrangement for it. While I know that it seems Magma is far more busy with larger scale compositions these days, this is a piece that might well benefit from a fuller band arrangement as well.

Speaking of larger scale compositions…

Les Voix closes out with a pair of just that style piece. The first is ‘Zëss,’ a piece initially released on the Akt album Bobino 1981. At that time, it was an otherwise unreleased 30+ minute track in classic Magma style…slow, ominous building, subtle but unsettling conclusion. While this acoustic/vocal arrangement is a good 13 minutes shorter (or more), it loses none of its ominous power. In fact, the opening notes, long, deep bass tones sounding like the clarion call of something dark and oppressive heading toward the listener, are for me some of the heaviest, darkest moments in the entire Magma catalogue. When vocals come in, about 1:30 into the piece, the resulting combination is incredibly impressive, reminding me of the opening of Ëmëhntëht-Rê or Köhntarkösz. I’ll admit to not listening to the Bobino version very much (we’ll be discussing that album in the near future), but this is one I rate among Magma’s finest hours (OK, 17 to 30 minutes, is that better?). While I know I would prefer to see the band craft something completely new for a future studio album, one kind of hopes that a proper full band studio recording of this composition can come to be before the end.

The final piece on Les Voix is an extract from Wurdah Ïtah. Roughly 16 minutes of that 1972 album’s 39 minutes are performed here. A simple but disarming piano line opens things up, vocals starting out light and very quiet, before huge piano chords break everything apart in the tensest way one might imagine. There’s a wonderful balance between male and female vocals here, and when one considers the original album was recorded by a basic quartet (Christian Vander, Stella Vander, Klaus Blasquiz and Jannick Top), there was not much that necessarily needed to be done to translate this to this kind of format. I like this version quite a bit, while fully admitting my preference for the original. They are two different viewpoints on the same material, and while this was a successful translation, it simply does not touch me as deeply as the original (or other live, full band renditions) does.

The Les Voix style of performing Magma material is not limited to this one release; there have been other similar concerts in the past few years, and there is a live album from Japan (an official one) that pairs a 2005 live band performance of Kohntarkosz Anteria with a revamped Les Voix line up (Christian and Stella Vander, Isabelle Feuillebois, Antoine and Himiko Paganotti on vocals and Emmanuel Borghi on piano) for renditions of Theusz Hamtaahk, Wurdah Itah and M.D.K. But this is the first, the original, and while perhaps not to everyone’s taste (and perhaps not even to the taste of some Magma fans), it provides an enlightening and interesting look at this material that is every bit as risky as the originals were. I may not reach for this one every time I want some Magma, but it’s a more than worthy addition to my collection, one I’d certainly miss if it were not there.

Track Listing:
1 - Ëmëhntëht-Rê (announcement) 3:39
2 - C'est Pour Nous 7:55
3 - Zëss 17:18
4 - Wurdah Ïtah (extrait) 15:46
Total time: 44:38

Musicians:
Stella Vander: vocals
Addie Deat: vocals
Julie Vander: vocals
Bénédicte Ragu: vocals
Isabelle Feuillebois: vocals
Jean-Christophe Gamet: vocals
Alex Ferrand: vocals
Jean-François Deat: vocals
Pierre-Michel Sivadier: keyboards
Simon Goubert: piano, keyboards
Philippe Dardelle: bass
Christian Vander: vocals, piano, drums

Find out more:
http://www.seventhrecords.com/MAGMA/AKT1/cdlesvoixuk.html
http://www.seventhrecords.com/indexuk.html

CD RETRO REVIEW: Neal Morse - Sola Scriptura (2007, Metal Blade/Radiant Records)

2010-09-26T21:27:00.000-04:00

(NB: this review was originally posted on 14 March 2007)

There are so many ways one can go about reviewing Neal Morse’s latest effort (Sola Scriptura, released on Metal Blade/Radiant Records), that it’s difficult to pick just one.

Conceptually, Sola Scriptura deals with the schism between Protestantism and the Catholic Church in the 15th Century, specifically looking at the efforts of German reformer Martin Luther to shift the church’s focus from political power, corruption and the gathering of monies through such things as indulgences (fees paid to be absolved from sin or to get into Heaven) back toward a more spiritual, Scripture-based arena (NB: Sola Scriptura, translated from the Latin, means “by Scripture alone”). It is an interesting concept, both historically and spiritually/liturgically, with a wide range of themes and ideas that could be worked into a conceptual album. Unfortunately, it is also a concept that perhaps demands more than the 76 minutes Neal has dedicated to this release (ironic, when one considers some of what will be following in this review).

Structurally speaking, Sola Scriptura is built around 3 extended epics, the shortest of which is a mere 16:34, and a shorter ballad. It is perhaps the heaviest of Neal’s post-Spocks Beard releases, with excellent contributions from a few of Neal’s most frequent guests. Mike Portnoy’s drumming is as solid as ever, showing restraint when necessary while rocking out as hard as ever when needed. Randy George, of Ajalon, shines once again on bass guitar, with a rich, beefy bass tone that cuts through the mix without bludgeoning the rest of the band. A new addition to the guest roster is “guitar god” Paul Gilbert, who adds solos on sections of the first two tracks, as well as flamenco guitar on “Two Down, One To Go” from “The Conflict.” The album is incredibly well produced, with lots of space for individual musical and vocal voices, which is impressive considering how densely orchestrated the material here is.

Sola Scriptura may well be Neal’s most controversial solo release. Placing one’s self in the shoes of an actual historical figure and trying to assign motivation and direction is a dangerous thing, and it is easy to slip from one narrative voice into a much more personal one. At times I feel just that has occurred, as lyrics seem to shift from a more historical background to allow more of Neal’s personal voice and message to shine through. Historically, much of the negativity that surrounded Martin Luther’s being has been excised from the tale told here; as well as being one of the strongest proponents of Reformation and Protestantism, Luther was well-known for some strong anti-Semitic views and beliefs. None of this is present in this album. Perhaps it is unnecessary to further the story presented by Morse (and Morse has stated that these anti-Semitic views were enough to have him reconsider releasing the album), but it is an important enough part of Luther’s historical personage to merit note.

Musically the performances contained on Sola Scriptura are among the gathered musicians’ best. Neal has likely never sounded this good vocally, and there are many sections of layered vocal harmonies that bring to mind Queen in terms of grandeur and richness. However, from a songwriting standpoint...while this is Neal’s heaviest album to date, it simply feels like more of the same. The music is familiar; one need only take a few seconds’ listen to the opening track to realise that this is a Neal Morse album. Traditional keyboard sounds and textures, multi-part track arrangements, shifts in tone from heavy rock to Latin vibe...all of these and more have been in evidence dating all the way back to The Light in 1995. Long-time fans will embrace this, it is most likely; listening to Sola Scriptura is the aural equivalent of slipping into a comfortable, well-worn pair of shoes. For this listener, there simply isn’t enough risky or new beyond the heavier sound controversially historic subject matter to show that Morse is pushing his internal or external boundaries.

Several hundred words ago I mentioned that Morse’s selection of subject matter deserved more than the 76 minutes dedicated to it on this release, and inferred that saying such was ironic considering what was to follow. Here’s the irony; having stated that the subject matter deserves more time to develop, the epic songs themselves need more judicious use of an editor’s knife. We all know Neal can write 25 minute epics the same way an ace pitcher can rack up strikeouts. On Sola Scriptura, it is easy to see where sections have been pasted together to keep a song growing in length. “The Door,” for example, features extensive quoting of previous musical passages in a manner that does not create tension through repetition. The end result is padding that could have been carefully excised, leaving a leaner but perhaps more powerful track.

Sola Scriptura is in many ways an album that defies review. Long time Neal Morse fans will buy it, digest it, and proclaim it to be his best, heaviest album yet. Others may listen to it, compare it to Spocks Beard’s latest album, and wonder why Neal can’t just go back and write with his old band. This reviewer listens to it and wonders if maybe Spocks is being far more progressive in changing their style so radically while Neal’s material, while perhaps more traditionally symphonic, has become locked in one stylistic mode.

Track Listing:
1. "The Door" - 29:14
        1. Introduction
        2. In The Name Of God
        3. All I Ask For
        4. Mercy for Sale
        5. Keep Silent
        6. Upon the Door
2. "The Conflict" - 25:00
        1. Do You Know My Name?
        2. Party to the Lie
        3. Underground
        4. Two Down, One to Go
        5. The Vineyard
        6. Already Home
3. "Heaven in My Heart" - 5:11
4. "The Conclusion" - 16:34
        1. Randy's Jam
        2. Long Night's Journey
        3. Re-Introduction
        4. Come Out of Her
        5. Clothed With the Sun
        6. In Closing...

Band:
Neal Morse: vocals, keyboards, guitar
Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater): drums/percussion
Randy George (Ajalon): bass guitar
Paul Gilbert (Racer X and Mr. Big): guitar (1, 2)

CD/DVD RETRO REVIEW: Erik Norlander - Live in St. Petersburg (2006, Think Tank Media)

2010-09-26T08:52:00.000-04:00

(NB: this review was originally published 9 October 2006)

Erik Norlander has a reputation as a killer keyboard player. Live in St. Petersburg, his newest release (and first ever DVD release) offers a plethora of evidence to support this reputation.

On this live release, Norlander is joined by a number of his regular musical collaborators, including wife Lana Lane (vocals), Kelly Keeling (bass guitar, vocals), Peer Verschuren (guitar) and Ernst Van Le (drums). The show documented here was the final date of his 2004 tour, and was performed before a rapt audience at Manezh in St. Petersburg, Russia on 16 October 2004.

Among the highlights on this package is the opening track, “Fanfare for Absent Friends Part 1.” A stately instrumental, the piece was written as a tribute to the victims of the September 11, 2001 tragedy. It serves as a touching and appropriate opener for what was a solid performance. Other performances of note include the Norlander original “Mariner,” which benefits from Kelly Keeling’s emotive vocals. A respectful cover of the Procol Harum classic “A Salty Dog” follows this piece. Keeling acquits himself well on this cover; while he is certainly no Gary Brooker, his intonation comes pretty damned close...enough so that your humble reviewer got some serious goosebumps listening.

Instrumentally speaking, Verschuen and Van Le both get solo spotlights to showcase their skills. Norlander does not give in to taking his own extended solo, instead shining throughout the performance, especially on “Sky Full Of Stars,” where his synth playing is smooth, effortless, and memorable.

Lana Lane, a well respected solo performer as well as long term Norlander collaborator (and wife), finally takes the stage on “Alexandria,” a track written by Lane and originally on her solo album Secrets of Astrology. She is also showcased as lead vocalist on a cover of King Crimson’s “In The Court Of The Crimson King,” recorded live at CalProg in 2004 and contained on the documentary “The Road To Russia,” which serves as a bonus on the DVD. The documentary includes some additional live performances from throughout the 2004 tour, as well as interviews with the musicians involved on the tour.

The accompanying audio CD offers up much of the same material as on the DVD; some cuts were made, mostly to excise material already on previous live releases. Filling out the disc are two new studio recordings; the first is a rendition of “Fanfare for Absent Friends Part 2,” while the second is a cover of the James Bond movie theme “From Russia With Love.” Appropriate in title, this cover is a showcase for Lana Lane’s theatrical vocals, and suits her well. A video for this track is also included on the DVD.

The audio tracks on both DVD and CD are well mixed. Thus it is a shame to complain about the video quality. While the video is presented in a letterboxed 4:3 format, the performance is intercut with special effects footage, nature footage, and artificially desaturated black and white or sepia tone, often fading into and out of colour, or with other effects overlays on top. This detracts from the recorded performance, removes the viewer from feeling like they are there watching and listening, and detracts from the overall package.

Despite my complains about the video production, Erik Norlander’s Live in St. Petersburg is a worthy addition to his lengthy curriculum vitae, and an excellent addition to any prog fan’s DVD library.

Musicians:
Erik Norlander - keyboards
Kelly Keeling - vocals, bass
Lana Lane - vocals
Peer Verschuren - guitar
Ernst Van EE - drums
and Don Schiff - bass and NS/Stick on the two studio tracks

Track List (DVD):
1. Fanfare for Absent Friends Part One
2. Neurosaur
3. Dreamcurrents
4. Mariner
5. A Salty Dog
6. Sky Full of Stars
7. Alexandria
8. Guardian Angel
9. Oblivion Days
10. Peer's Guitar Solo
11. Beware the Vampires
12. Secrets of Astrology
13. Fallen
14. One of the Machines
15. Fanfare for Absent Friends Part Two

"The Road to Russia" documentary contains performances of the songs:
1. In the Court of the Crimson King - Cal Prog 2004 festival
2. Sky Full of Stars - 2004 European Tour
3. Mariner - 2004 European Tour
4. From Russia With Love - new studio recording with video montage

Track List (Bonus Audio CD):
1. Fanfare for Absent Friends Part One [2:19]
2. Neurosaur [5:51]
3. Dreamcurrents [5:59]
4. Mariner [7:12]
5. A Salty Dog [4:42]
6. Sky Full of Stars [11:32]
7. Alexandria [7:01]
8. Guardian Angel [6:56]
9. Peer's Guitar Solo [2:04]
10. Beware the Vampires [5:37]
11. Fallen [5:35]
12. One of the Machines [5:42]
13. Fanfare for Absent Friends Part Two [3:59] new studio track
14. From Russia With Love [4:51] new studio track

Find out more:
http://www.thetank.com/