1) Doomsday Afternoon by Phideaux. This album was raved about by several of my friends last year. Sadly, I tend to give the opposite reaction to hype from what is expected – I run screaming. I have been burned by hype so many times that I just know that I’ll be burned again. Well, I was…but this time it was me burning myself. I finally legally downloaded a copy of this release and checked it out…and now I can’t get the damned thing out of my play list. This album is proof that there is still hope for chamber/symphonic prog to toss some curveballs and sliders into a mostly stale mix. The singing is interesting, the arrangements clever, the playing just right for the songs. Strings, layered vocals, harmonies…what’s not to like? I wish I had taken the dive earlier…but now at least I know I have a catalogue to discover and explore. Must acquire Seven now…and the rest of the back catalogue. My highlight – “Micro Softdeathstar,” a brilliant mini-epic.
2) 4th by DFA. Yeah, I know…it’s another 2008 album. I’ve dug this release ever since it came out, and a year later it’s still allowing me to discover little gems. It’s so enjoyable…a better mix of symphonic Italian prog and fusion I’ve not heard in a very long time. I am particularly enamoured by the album closer “La Ballata De S’isposa ‘E Mannorri,” with lyrics derived from the Sardinian oral tradition and with glorious female vocals courtesy of “Andhira,” three evocative singers telling a tale of romance and blood feuds in the late 1700’s. The band’s playing is as wonderful as ever, with a diverse selection of sounds and arrangements that make each song a different listening experience from the one before or the one after. This is probably one of my favourite Italian albums in my collection, and certainly one of the strongest modern Italian releases in general.
3) Imparis by Deus ex Machina. I decided last year I wanted to buy this when I saw the trailer for the DVD on the big screen at NEARfest. Sadly it wasn’t out at the festival, and I forgot about ordering it until I saw it on a vendor table this year. I still haven’t dug into the DVD much yet, but as for the album proper…wow. This is an impressive slab of edgy, angular Italian prog. Alberto Piras is the closest thing we have to a Demitrio Stratos today…while his range is certainly not as wide as Stratos’ was (let’s fave it…human voices do not come as flexible and amazingly unhuman as his was), he carries on the tradition of voice as instrument wonderfully well. The band is in fine form as well, navigating the complex and sometimes labrythnine arrangements with ease. It’s still a little early for me to select a highlight track on this release…there’s so much music here, and it’s all pretty dense…but that just means I have a lot of very enjoyable exploration to get going on!
Check these places for more info:
http://www.bloodfish.com/
http://www.dutyfreearea.it/
http://www.derepublica.com/
http://www.moonjune.com/
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/
Showing posts with label dfa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dfa. Show all posts
04 July 2009
24 June 2009
NEARfest day one: a review in brief...
(A pre-side note: the setlists provided as directly from festival co-founded Chad Hutchinson, who got them from the stage setlists the bands wrote up. as corrections come, I will make them here.)
NEARfest day one started with a bit of a rough wake up…Friday night had been a touch fraught, and I know we had some slight issues dragging ourselves out of bed. A shower helped…but not long after getting to Lehigh on Saturday morning, I started feeling decidedly unwell. I dehydrated very, very quickly (air con over night and a lot of humidity contributing to a heat index higher than the actual temp may have contributed), and I had to get some water and stuff pumped into me. I joked that they had bottles of water and were jamming the tops into my mouth and squeezing the water down my throat. In any event, I was feeling well enough at that point to hit the theatre for…
CABEZAS DE CERA (Heads of Wax) from Mexico. What an interesting set of music from these guys. Unique custom made instruments, heavy folk and electronic influences, their sound would range from the precious and acoustic to wild waves of sound. I can’t describe them all that well…they are labeled as avant and RiO, and some people called them space rock for some reason, but for me, they were just CdC…and I dug them enough to pick up a pair of discs to relive the experience. Good stuff.
Indomable
Peregrino
Laberinto
Pretexto
Mutacion
Nocturno Incandescente
Cazador de Ballenas
Parkour
Encore:
Gocxilla
Mil Noches
I think at this point I had one or two bottles of OJ, and headed back to the vending room to sell an ever depleting pile of shirts and programs and pint glasses. Wanted a tan shirt? Sorry, you’re out of luck, we’re out. 3X shirt? Sold out yesterday, so sorry. We had our full crew behind the table, and at our best, we were a well-oiled machine working around each other quite well.
Vendor rooms close, and we head up for OBLIVION SUN from here in the US. 2 Happy the Man members (Happy the Men?), a member of Present, Adrian Belew’s drummer, and a second keyboardsist, playing fun, fusiony symphonic music that included some classic HtM tracks, some excellent new stuff with quirky as ever titles (“Dead Sea Squirrels,” or ‘nature’s road bumps’ as claimed by Stanley Whitaker), and enough chops for a clinic. Stan looked and played great…we (Stan and I) had a chance to chat a bit before the set and it was wonderful to share some stuff that we had in common. That rocked, and was probably my emotional highlight of the festival.
Fanfare
Chapter 7.1
Noodlepoint
Catwalk
No Surprises
Lake of Shadows (new Bill Plummer piece)
The Ride
Golden Feast
Re:Bootsy
Dead Sea Squirrels (new Stan piece)
Tales of Young Whales
The High Places (new Frank Wyatt piece)
Encore:
Service with a Smile
March of the Mushroommen (new Stan piece)
It was lunch time, and we hit the catering room for sandwiches and drinks. They hit the spot. Not much more to say there, really. We got all re-energised for the next act, which was…
DFA from Italy. I was looking forward to these guys, and they did not disappoint. Great instrumental symphonic rock from Italy with just a touch of fusion goodness. I finally splurged and got the other two albums I needed to complete my collection, so I can identify the tracks I didn’t already know, but they were stellar live. Really got into them, and was glad to see them finally (NB: I am listening to Kaleidoscope, their 2 CD reissue of the first two albums, as I post this here...it is every bit as good as the show was, and then some).
Vietato Generalizzare
Flying Trip
Trip on Metro
Mosoq Runa
Caleidoscopio
Mirror
Pantera
Escher
Encore:
Baltasaurus
Dinner was a bit of a debacle, as meal tickets weren’t available, and the on site vendors closed down due to the weather. So we foraged for stuff to get us through the next band. I’d been doing everything possible to downplay them, trying to not build up expectation or anticipation, but soon the denouement would have to be had…the lights dimmed, and onto the stage came GONG.
I’ll say it here, as clear as possible. I loved their set. They played superbly. It was tight, and spacy, and trippy, and I really loved it. Daevid was in fine form despite being sick. Steve Hillage played fantastically. Miquette was fun on keys…playing, dancing, swaying, jumping. Theo Travis was wicked on the sax. The set was killer…I can’t ask for anything better. The new stuff (from the forthcoming 2032 album, the next part of the Planet Gong story) was good. It was just wild all the way around. Made it to the encore and we headed down stairs to catch up with a few people before we headed off into the night to search out french toast before hitting the hay for day two…
Escape, Control
You can't Kill Me
Tic Toc
Dynamite
Digital Girl
Yoni
Dance with Pixies
Wacky Backy
Never Glid
Flute Salad
Oily Way
Outer Temple
Inner Temple
Goddess
Om Liff
Cycle Gliss
You and I
Encore:
Tropical Fish
NEARfest day one started with a bit of a rough wake up…Friday night had been a touch fraught, and I know we had some slight issues dragging ourselves out of bed. A shower helped…but not long after getting to Lehigh on Saturday morning, I started feeling decidedly unwell. I dehydrated very, very quickly (air con over night and a lot of humidity contributing to a heat index higher than the actual temp may have contributed), and I had to get some water and stuff pumped into me. I joked that they had bottles of water and were jamming the tops into my mouth and squeezing the water down my throat. In any event, I was feeling well enough at that point to hit the theatre for…
CABEZAS DE CERA (Heads of Wax) from Mexico. What an interesting set of music from these guys. Unique custom made instruments, heavy folk and electronic influences, their sound would range from the precious and acoustic to wild waves of sound. I can’t describe them all that well…they are labeled as avant and RiO, and some people called them space rock for some reason, but for me, they were just CdC…and I dug them enough to pick up a pair of discs to relive the experience. Good stuff.
Indomable
Peregrino
Laberinto
Pretexto
Mutacion
Nocturno Incandescente
Cazador de Ballenas
Parkour
Encore:
Gocxilla
Mil Noches
I think at this point I had one or two bottles of OJ, and headed back to the vending room to sell an ever depleting pile of shirts and programs and pint glasses. Wanted a tan shirt? Sorry, you’re out of luck, we’re out. 3X shirt? Sold out yesterday, so sorry. We had our full crew behind the table, and at our best, we were a well-oiled machine working around each other quite well.
Vendor rooms close, and we head up for OBLIVION SUN from here in the US. 2 Happy the Man members (Happy the Men?), a member of Present, Adrian Belew’s drummer, and a second keyboardsist, playing fun, fusiony symphonic music that included some classic HtM tracks, some excellent new stuff with quirky as ever titles (“Dead Sea Squirrels,” or ‘nature’s road bumps’ as claimed by Stanley Whitaker), and enough chops for a clinic. Stan looked and played great…we (Stan and I) had a chance to chat a bit before the set and it was wonderful to share some stuff that we had in common. That rocked, and was probably my emotional highlight of the festival.
Fanfare
Chapter 7.1
Noodlepoint
Catwalk
No Surprises
Lake of Shadows (new Bill Plummer piece)
The Ride
Golden Feast
Re:Bootsy
Dead Sea Squirrels (new Stan piece)
Tales of Young Whales
The High Places (new Frank Wyatt piece)
Encore:
Service with a Smile
March of the Mushroommen (new Stan piece)
It was lunch time, and we hit the catering room for sandwiches and drinks. They hit the spot. Not much more to say there, really. We got all re-energised for the next act, which was…
DFA from Italy. I was looking forward to these guys, and they did not disappoint. Great instrumental symphonic rock from Italy with just a touch of fusion goodness. I finally splurged and got the other two albums I needed to complete my collection, so I can identify the tracks I didn’t already know, but they were stellar live. Really got into them, and was glad to see them finally (NB: I am listening to Kaleidoscope, their 2 CD reissue of the first two albums, as I post this here...it is every bit as good as the show was, and then some).
Vietato Generalizzare
Flying Trip
Trip on Metro
Mosoq Runa
Caleidoscopio
Mirror
Pantera
Escher
Encore:
Baltasaurus
Dinner was a bit of a debacle, as meal tickets weren’t available, and the on site vendors closed down due to the weather. So we foraged for stuff to get us through the next band. I’d been doing everything possible to downplay them, trying to not build up expectation or anticipation, but soon the denouement would have to be had…the lights dimmed, and onto the stage came GONG.
I’ll say it here, as clear as possible. I loved their set. They played superbly. It was tight, and spacy, and trippy, and I really loved it. Daevid was in fine form despite being sick. Steve Hillage played fantastically. Miquette was fun on keys…playing, dancing, swaying, jumping. Theo Travis was wicked on the sax. The set was killer…I can’t ask for anything better. The new stuff (from the forthcoming 2032 album, the next part of the Planet Gong story) was good. It was just wild all the way around. Made it to the encore and we headed down stairs to catch up with a few people before we headed off into the night to search out french toast before hitting the hay for day two…
Escape, Control
You can't Kill Me
Tic Toc
Dynamite
Digital Girl
Yoni
Dance with Pixies
Wacky Backy
Never Glid
Flute Salad
Oily Way
Outer Temple
Inner Temple
Goddess
Om Liff
Cycle Gliss
You and I
Encore:
Tropical Fish
17 October 2008
DFA Announced for FMPM 2009
The best things in life come to those who wait, a saying well known to fans of Italian four-piece DFA. Before 2008's #4, their last studio album was 1999's Duty Free Area. Simply put, they are one of the best groups in the world in the style of symphonic fusion, combining incredible technical virtuosity with a gift for memorable, dynamic melodies. With the #1 album on the Gagliarchives for eleven straight weeks following its release, DFA is "one of the best of the new breed" (All About Jazz), and #4 is "a worthy successor to The Rotter's Club" (Billboard.com) and "an unmitigated success" (Aymeric Leroy). And while fans of Canterbury music might see DFA as the reincarnation of National Health, they are undeniably an Italian prog group and reminiscent of some of the great jazz rock groups from that country such as Arti e Mestieri and middle-period PFM.
DFA's first two releases, Lavori in Corsa and Duty Free Area, make quite a splash when they were first released, and are now available on the 2-CD compilation Kaleidoscope. Their live performance at NEARFest 2000 brought down the house and is still talked about today. Over the years people increasingly wondered whether DFA were still together, whether they would ever release a new album, and if so whether it could possibly live up to the standards set by their early work. The answer to all these questions is an emphatic "YES", and at FMPM 2009 we expect DFA will once again bring people to their feet in their first ever Canadian appearance.
The fourth edition of the FMPM will be taking place once again at the Salle Pierre Mercure (Pierre Peladeau Center), September 12th and 13th, 2009. We will be updating the web-site over the next few days. DFA is the first band announced for next year's event. We are hoping to have two more announcements out this month.
http://www.fmpm.net/
http://www.dutyfreearea.it/
http://www.myspace.com/dutyfreearea
DFA's first two releases, Lavori in Corsa and Duty Free Area, make quite a splash when they were first released, and are now available on the 2-CD compilation Kaleidoscope. Their live performance at NEARFest 2000 brought down the house and is still talked about today. Over the years people increasingly wondered whether DFA were still together, whether they would ever release a new album, and if so whether it could possibly live up to the standards set by their early work. The answer to all these questions is an emphatic "YES", and at FMPM 2009 we expect DFA will once again bring people to their feet in their first ever Canadian appearance.
The fourth edition of the FMPM will be taking place once again at the Salle Pierre Mercure (Pierre Peladeau Center), September 12th and 13th, 2009. We will be updating the web-site over the next few days. DFA is the first band announced for next year's event. We are hoping to have two more announcements out this month.
http://www.fmpm.net/
http://www.dutyfreearea.it/
http://www.myspace.com/dutyfreearea
27 June 2008
Looking back at my NEARfest acquisitions
Here's a quick look, one week later, at how I am faring with the new music acquired at NEARfest 2008:
Le Orme - Live in Pennsylvania 2-CD/1-DVD set. Sound quality is excellent. Video is also very very good...of course, I had a 20 minute tease of this on the NEARfest 2005 DVD. UNFORTUNATELY, this is not their full set, as it excises the material from Collage as well as their rendition of Rondo. Still, a wonderful reminder of seeing this great Italian progressive band.
The Red Masque - Fossileyes. Very good stuff. A bit shocking, actually...their last release had several expansive tracks. The material here is shorter, punchier, more metallic...and every bit as edgy and avant as their past efforts. This is a long awaited album indeed...
Pure Reason Revolution - Live at NEARfest. Post production helped boost what was an energetic set marred by level issues. Harmonies sound richer, thanks to the ability to bring Chloe's voice up in the mix. Are they prog? Who cares! They were energetic, trippy, and very cool.
Strawbs - Live at the Calderone on Witchwood Records. With yesterday's surprising yet not overly so announcement that John Hawken was leaving the Strawbs again, buying this live release (which does not feature him) seems almost...prophetic. Sound quality is a bit rough, as I think this was sourced from a multiple generation off air recording...but this is Strawbs at their rocking best. Well nigh essential.
DFA - Work in Progress Live and 4th. Haven't gotten in as many listens to these, but I like what I am hearing so far. Mostly instrumental Italian prog with a bit of a jazzier bent.
Progday 2001 2-CD set. Only one listen in, and there's a lot to swallow here. Only really familiar with the Muffins and Ars Nova, so there's some work to do here.
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Di Terra and Canto di Primavera. Two totally different sides to Banco. Di Terra is all instrumental and an unmitigated classic of the genre, while Canto di Primavera is shorter, song based vocal music, almost verging on pop. But both are excellent, and easily reward multiuple listens.
Kingfisher Sky - s/t. Haven't listened to yet :-)
Gerard - Sighs of the Water. Again, no listens yet. But I liked them when they played live at NEARfest 2002.
Le Orme - Live in Pennsylvania 2-CD/1-DVD set. Sound quality is excellent. Video is also very very good...of course, I had a 20 minute tease of this on the NEARfest 2005 DVD. UNFORTUNATELY, this is not their full set, as it excises the material from Collage as well as their rendition of Rondo. Still, a wonderful reminder of seeing this great Italian progressive band.
The Red Masque - Fossileyes. Very good stuff. A bit shocking, actually...their last release had several expansive tracks. The material here is shorter, punchier, more metallic...and every bit as edgy and avant as their past efforts. This is a long awaited album indeed...
Pure Reason Revolution - Live at NEARfest. Post production helped boost what was an energetic set marred by level issues. Harmonies sound richer, thanks to the ability to bring Chloe's voice up in the mix. Are they prog? Who cares! They were energetic, trippy, and very cool.
Strawbs - Live at the Calderone on Witchwood Records. With yesterday's surprising yet not overly so announcement that John Hawken was leaving the Strawbs again, buying this live release (which does not feature him) seems almost...prophetic. Sound quality is a bit rough, as I think this was sourced from a multiple generation off air recording...but this is Strawbs at their rocking best. Well nigh essential.
DFA - Work in Progress Live and 4th. Haven't gotten in as many listens to these, but I like what I am hearing so far. Mostly instrumental Italian prog with a bit of a jazzier bent.
Progday 2001 2-CD set. Only one listen in, and there's a lot to swallow here. Only really familiar with the Muffins and Ars Nova, so there's some work to do here.
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Di Terra and Canto di Primavera. Two totally different sides to Banco. Di Terra is all instrumental and an unmitigated classic of the genre, while Canto di Primavera is shorter, song based vocal music, almost verging on pop. But both are excellent, and easily reward multiuple listens.
Kingfisher Sky - s/t. Haven't listened to yet :-)
Gerard - Sighs of the Water. Again, no listens yet. But I liked them when they played live at NEARfest 2002.
23 June 2008
NEARfest 2008 post-fest wrapup part 1
Yeah, I blew all the posting last week. A lot happened. I'm on a more even keel today though, so things should pick back up. In the first part of my festival wrap-up, I'm going to post my list of swag I brought back.
It's a significantly longer than I thought it would be...
MY MUST BUYS
I had a short list of titles I had to buy. If I got these the rest didn't matter. I got all three of my must buys:
Le Orme - Live in Pennsylvania 2-CD/1-DVD set. Sadly not the whole show...it misses Collage and Rondo. But still nice to have about 100 minutes of the 2 hour set.
The Red Masque - Fossileyes. Got it early enough to score the promo DVD along with it.
Nice.
Pure Reason Revolution - Live at NEARfest. Does what it says on the label.
'IMPULSE BUYS'
This is kinda everything else :-)
Strawbs - Live at the Calderone on Witchwood Records
DFA - Work in Progress Live
DFA - 4th (both of these I got at Moonjune on the 2 for $25 deal)
Progday 2001 2-CD set (for 5 bucks I complete the collection)
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Di Terra (my friend Mark Guenther kindly picked this up for me)
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Canto di Primavera
Kingfisher Sky (the preview on the screen and PA sold this one)
Gerard - can't remember the title (my friend Kevin Cosentino was kind enough to pick this one up)
Fireballet t-shirt (free! and not in my size!)
Fireballet CD sampler (free! and IN my size!)
NEARfest 2008 T-shirt (in progfan size! dark grey with the dual twisted dragon logo)
NEARfest 2008 programme (for which a story exists for later)
It's a significantly longer than I thought it would be...
MY MUST BUYS
I had a short list of titles I had to buy. If I got these the rest didn't matter. I got all three of my must buys:
Le Orme - Live in Pennsylvania 2-CD/1-DVD set. Sadly not the whole show...it misses Collage and Rondo. But still nice to have about 100 minutes of the 2 hour set.
The Red Masque - Fossileyes. Got it early enough to score the promo DVD along with it.
Nice.
Pure Reason Revolution - Live at NEARfest. Does what it says on the label.
'IMPULSE BUYS'
This is kinda everything else :-)
Strawbs - Live at the Calderone on Witchwood Records
DFA - Work in Progress Live
DFA - 4th (both of these I got at Moonjune on the 2 for $25 deal)
Progday 2001 2-CD set (for 5 bucks I complete the collection)
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Di Terra (my friend Mark Guenther kindly picked this up for me)
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Canto di Primavera
Kingfisher Sky (the preview on the screen and PA sold this one)
Gerard - can't remember the title (my friend Kevin Cosentino was kind enough to pick this one up)
Fireballet t-shirt (free! and not in my size!)
Fireballet CD sampler (free! and IN my size!)
NEARfest 2008 T-shirt (in progfan size! dark grey with the dual twisted dragon logo)
NEARfest 2008 programme (for which a story exists for later)
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