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.

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)

New Laser's Edge signing

Ken Golden, Director of Operations for The Laser's Edge, announces the addition of Dutch Progressive Rock band Kingfisher Sky to the label.

Laser's Edge Records will release the band's debut Hallway of Dreams throughout North America on March 25, 2008.

“As a fan of Within Temptation, I've been following the activities of former members," says Golden. “When I discovered Ivar DeGraaf had created a new project I was anxious to hear it. When I heard Kingfisher Sky's unique and innovative sound, I was anxious to sign them!"

Drummer Ivar DeGraaf formed Kingfisher Sky after leaving Within Temptation. With diverse influences such as Clannad, Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and Porcupine Tree, the writing resulted in a style that isn't easy to categorize. In one moment the music is dreamy and atmospheric, then heavy and brutal the next.

Featuring classically trained vocalist Judith Rijnveld, the band also includes ex-Orphanage bassist Eric Hoogenboorn, guitarists Daan Janzine and Edo van Der Kolk and keyboardist George Van Offen.

(Thanks to reader Mark C. for bringing this to my attention.)