I have my Ph.D. thesis committee meeting today (though in smaller format, as two members can't attend and so I've met one in person and I'll meet the second one in person as well soon). So I was looking for songs to go along with that but could find nothing. As I was searching for songs with the words Committee, Ph.D. or Meeting, I found several but none that matched in mood, lyrics or spirit, so then I came across David Bowie's song, Cygnet Committee from the album Space Oddity and figured it comes close enough and it's a good song so here it is.
Have a good week!
Kauan from Russia started out as a doom/folk metal outfit and now veered into more folk-post-rock-ish territories with their stunning 2009 album, Aava Tuulen Maa, sung in Finnish. Here's the closing song from that album, Neulana Hetkessä.
Finnish space-rockers, Hidria Spacefolk, the self-proclaimed astrobeat orchestra, are a favourite band of mine with their highly energetic instrumental space/psych-rock tinged with cool effects.
Mikko Happo - guitar Teemu Kilponen - Drums Kimmo Dammert - Bass Janne Lounatvuori - Synths, electric piano Veikko Sutinen - Keyboards, Synths Sami Wirkkala - guitar
They've released 3 studio albums, 2 line albums 1 EP and 1 compilation of remixes. They are currently working on their next release.
More about the band here.
My review of the album, Balansia, is after the Jump.
Get your night started with Infected Mushroom. Here are two excellent songs from their 2007 album, Vicious Delicious, Becoming Insane and Change The Formality.
Originating from Eindhoven in Holland, Space-rockers, 35007 (or Loose in reverse and upside down), started out with a vocalist in the lineup on their first album in 1994 but have since then proceeded as an instrumental lineup playing psych/space/stoner rock. This is my favourite release of theirs, Liquid, from 2002.
Review after the Jump.
Emmanuel & the Fear from Brooklyn have released this year their first full-length, Listen, an orchestral rock album filled with goodies, rich sounding catchy tunes. Here's a great song from it called Jimme's Song.
It's been a (more than usual) busy week and this trend will continue in the next two weeks. I've had the first part of my committee meeting and in the coming Monday I have the second and main part.
Finally after many agonizing a time, a project I came up with and work on seems to fall into place and more data and good results are coming in. I'll just say it has to do with revealing the role of a certain protein in neurons, using mouse genetics and molecular biology methods (I'm sure most of you didn't make it to the end of that sentence).
Also, this Thanksgiving weekend, I need to work to generate some important data, perhaps some that I can use for the meeting. Also, I've just been given word that a big experiment I've been working on has been completed and now comes the time of data analysis. So I'll start on this as well this weekend.
So naturally all this will cause my productivity level here to decline in the coming days and delay the reviews I'm working on. But they will come. So I apologize to those fine musicians and labels who sent me promo cd's and are waiting for the reviews to come on.
Also, feel free to let me know in comments or at avestin AT gmail DOT com what kind of posts do you want to read here, what kind of music covered, what albums and bands are you into or have discovered lately and anything else that comes to your mind.
Nil is a French band that has released 3 previous albums and their preceding album was a remarkable achievement. A concept album made up of two acts over 40 minutes and without interruptions. Here Nil changes to an album made up of 6 tracks, two of which are instrumentals.
Out Of Focus, a German psych-rock/fusion band from Munich, Germany released three studio albums in the 70s.
After the jump is their 1971 album, Out Of Focus, as can be found on youtube videos:
Chris (Syzygy) at Prog Archives, said it in the opening of his review – the Japanese Magma; I agree. Koenjihyakkei is a Japanese Zeuhl band has the characteristics of the genre – the operatic-style and theatrical vocals, the drum insanity, and the apparent chaotic like song structure (which is only an appearance that diminishes after several listens).
In the next 2 weeks, I'll be pretty busy (my committee meeting is coming up, in 2 parts, no less, as well some other work-related stuff), so I'll not be updating the blog as much as I would, though I'm sure no one would notice (despite the nice numbers of visitors that come here; higher than I expected). I'll try to post whenever I have time. I do have promo's waiting to be reviewed:
Serpentina Satelite - Mecanica Celeste
Djam Karet - The Heavy Soul Sessions
Yugen - Iridule
Framepictures - Remember It
And a few others which I forget at the moment.
So here's a song to start the weekend with. The opening and title song from Hammers Of Misfotune's splendid album, The Locust Years:
There are songs I listen to, which aside from being enchanted by their melody, make me listen to the lyrics and think; songs in which there is harmony and synergism between lyrics and melody.
Nemo is a French prog rock band active since 1999. They have released 6 studio albums thus far, all recommended and with each one getting tighter, better and more ambitious in their scope.
Here's the opening song from their third album, Prélude À La Ruine, from 2004.
Here's the second song from that album, an instrumental piece
Black Math Horseman are an LA based post/psych/stoner rock/metal band. They have released their first full-length, Wyllt, in 2009 through the great psych/stoner rock focused label Tee Pee. After the jump you can read my review of this album.
The Devil's Blood, a hard/psych rock band from the Netherlands have released their debut, The Time of No Time Evermore, in 2009. Their music seems to connect two planes; that of the sublime and otherworldly, through the vocals and that of raw power, through their heavy sound.
Read a good review of the album here.
Enjoy three songs by the band below. Two songs from their album and one from their EP, Come, Reap.
Gösta Berlings Saga are a Swedish instrumental prog rock band creating captivating textures and atmospheres without neglecting the catchy and melodic side. They have released two albums, and the third one is in the making.
My "review/impressions" of their 2009 album is after the Jump.
A Helmet Of Gnats, the Connecticut based fusion/prog band has released this year a stunning album in High Street with a 30 minute suite bearing the title name.
You can read more about them here.
You can find their albums at CD Baby among other dealers (Wayside, Amazon, Ambient Records etc).
The following tune, Misfit Toys, is taken from their second album.
Originating in 2003 as a cover and tribute rock band, Magentic have gradually began drifting into the prog realm, with covers of progressive rock acts and eventually began composing their own original material.
In August 2010 they present their debut album, In The Dream, featured below in their Bandcamp.
Moonsorrow, one of my favourite bands (which my wife likes as well), have have released epic "viking" metal songs. I love all their releases, with my top favourite being Voimasta Ja Kuniasta (Of Strength and Honour), where they stunning songs, with Sankarihauta (Warrior's Grave; the video below) and Sankaritarina (Warrior's Tale) (note - I did not copy-paste any of the Finnish names thus far; I'm learning Finnish thanks to this band).
Honestly, just disregard the video and listen to the song itself...
Moonsorrow was founded in 1995 in Helsinki Finland by the Sorvali cousins, Henri (guitar and keyboards; he is also a member of Finntroll) and Ville (vocals and bass). They proceeded to record four demos until 1998; two of them disappeared and the two others are "Metsä" from 1997 and "Tämä ikuinen talvi" from 1998. The music on these was more of black metal compared with what was to be made by the band on their albums. This latter demo made it possible for them to gain a recording contract with Plasmatica Records. At this point Marko Tarvonen joined the band to take hold of the drumming and percussions position. This lineup recorded in 2000 their first full length Suden uni (A Wolf's Dream). Their demo Tämä ikuinen talvi was also re-released alongside the album in 2001. This first album got a re-issue in 2003 with a bonus track, alternate cover art and a DVD. In 2000 two musicians were invited as session members and were then invited to join the band: Mitja Harvilahti (guitars) and Markus Eurén (keyboards). This lineup proceeded to perform live and also to record and release in 2001 the album Voimasta ja kunniasta (Of Strength and Honour) through a new label, Spikefarm Records.
It was the followup to that album, Kivenkantaja (Stonebearer) released in 2003, that got them the wide attention in Finland and beyond; it reached the 16th place on Finnish album charts. A short break followed this period with their first abroad show in 2004 and then in 2005 the release of Verisäkeet (Blood Verses). This album reached the 18th position in the Finnish charts. In 2006 the band did a European tour alongside Primordial from Ireland. In 2007 came Viides luku - Hävitetty (Chapter five - Ravaged) which shows another progression in their style, having on it only two songs, each one half an hour long. This was followed by touring in Finland and around the world.
Moonsorrow's origins are in Black Metal but have progressed from it, preserving its roots but expanding on it, giving it an epic feel in the majestic and grandiose sound of it, and the length of the songs and also a folk characteristic Finnish paganism. It was termed Viking Metal (along bands like Thyrfing, Einherjer, Ensiferum, Turisas, Falkenbach and others) which are black metal in basis, but add much melodiness to their sound, an epic feel and anthemic choruses and a specific lyrical content. They have progressed with each release, to form anthemic songs, usually long. With each release there were additional progressive elements added to their music, those being in the complexities of the songs, the structures of compositions, the instrumentation, sound and approach.
With Kivenkantaja came the breakthrough to bigger crowds (this album contains epic songs that will appeal to prog metal fans) and with Verisäkeet came another shift that showed that the band is getting more complex in their approach to writing their songs. This approach was fully applied in Viides luku - Hävitetty which as was mentioned, is made up of two half hour songs, each based on several melodic ideas developed very well.
Moonsorrow have started with black metal (in their demos and a bit in Suden Uni), progressed to epic viking metal (starting with Suden Uni and then in the following releases until Kivenkantaja) to their progerssive sound (Verisakeet, Havitetty).
Moonsorrow has shown and keeps on proving that progressive metal lies not only with the commonly known bands of prog-metal, but that progressive metal can come from less expected bands from genres not usually associated with it. They have shown throughout their releases the aspiration to create something complex and appealing at the same time, and have shown progression with each release.
Moonsorrow is a highly recommended bands for fans of extreme metal as well as music listeners who want to have a taste of a different form of progressive metal.
If you've looking for music released this year, if you want something different than what you've heard so far, or just if you'd like some more suggestions for the albums you've gotten this year, here are some of my top faovurite albums released this year:
A composer and multi-instrumentalist with a a classical music background, Lorenzo Monni creates eclectic progressive rock pieces with high emphasis on gorgeous melodies and intricate arrangements and structure.
From here:
"The duo's latest album is called 11:11, and on it they pay tribute to 11 musicians who have inspired them. On 11/11/10, they played a concert at a small pub in Dublin. NPR Music's Alt.Latino webcast the concert live on our blog. Watch a replay of the entire set for a limited time."
So I recently upgraded my recording setup by purchasing a new set of monitors. I thought it would be fun to go back and remix some things to get a feel for the new sound…fast forward three days and I had remixed and remastered ]]][[[.
Just to be extra confusing, I’ve also given it track titles, a new cover, and a new name.
Behold:
A New Heavenly Body
1. What It Is Impossible Not to Know and What It Is No Longer Permissible To Believe in the United States 06:06
2. A Hymn to the Projectile 04:14
3. One Enemy Among Twenty-Five Million Friends 05:33
I'm going to be lazy and quote Afforested's Myspace bio:
" Afforested are a progressive folk rock band from the English county of Kent. Inspired by ancient woodlands and stories of heroes past, their songs weave tales of medieval outlaws, forest creatures and life in the greenwood. After many years of playing and composing in different genres, in the summer of 2007 brothers Alex and Jonathan Betts decided to form Afforested. Now in 2009 they bring you their debut release in the form of the free to download E.P entitled 'Wolf's Heads And Woodlanders'. The E.P was self produced and recorded at Hyrstgeard studios. Afforested are currently about to embark on the first writing sessions for a full length album which they plan to record in 2010."
You can stream or download for free their EP; see below.
Ha'Arnav Halavan (The White Rabbit) is a talented Israeli prog-rock band that have released their debut album, Kore Li Lachzor (Calls me to come back), in 2009 after several years of performing and recording. This is an emotional, rich sounding, keyboards-heavy progressive rock album with catchy songs.
The band was formed by the brothers Yuval Or and Yaron Gilad in the mid-nineties under the name The Golden Stamp (Chotemet Hazahav). The lineup changed in the next years and is now stable since 2006 with drummer Gil Idan and bassist Yoav Meirom.
Here's the single from the album called Chaluda (Rust):
I like to wander around in Bandcamp looking for new bands, new sounds.
One interesting band I found today is Anta from Bristol who play an interesting mix of instrumental heavy psych/space/post/stoner rock. There is a high use of organ in the music which makes me happy.
"Formed in the south west of England over many shifting, sporadic and frequently dormant line-ups, over several years, ANTA finally established themselves as a cohesive and active band in early 2010. With two sound engineers and two illustrators completing the line-up of drums, bass, synths and guitar, and featuring members of Rose Kemp and Geisha, ANTA began work on their debut self-produced instrumental monster-prog-rock album “The Tree That Bears The Equine Fruit” after a string of successful live shows."
Lineup: Ganiel Seruu - guitar Alex Bertram-Powell - organ, synth Joe Garcia - bass James King - drums
Listen to their EP, The Tree That Bears The Equine Fruit, released in September this year in their Bandcamp:
I've mentioned Aranis before. Here's one of my favourite tunes of theirs, called The Looking Glass performed at the RIO festival in Carmaux France in 2009.
Escherbach is a trio from Indiana, and play mostly instrumental energetic progressive rock. Its sound is crispy and clear, fresh and vibrant. Neil Carmichael (guitar), Minkis (bass) and Sean Norris (drums) were in a band called Eargazm, with singer Mike Levee. However, when Levee left town in 2007, the remaining three musicians decided to go on as a trio, play and write new material and renamed themselves Escherbach, after artist M.C. Escher and composer Johannes Sebastian Bach. They then recorded a demo with their friend, Nicholas Schmidt, a musician as well as the engineer and producer of this album. When returning to it after a year they decided to release it as Cycles in 2008.
Spanish space/psychedelic rock band from Madrid, Luger is a five-piece band has released their s/t album in April this year and is available for free download or purchase as a physical copy in their Bandcamp (see below). It's a short album with a special quirky atmosphere; listening to it late at night, "medicated" might lead you to believe you've traveled to another dimension. Actually, even in sound mind, this can take you places.
Read reviews here.
Here's a short blurb about the band:
" Madrid-based quintet responsible of this gorgeous debut album, Lüger are heavily influenced by classic acts such as Hawkwind, Faust, and Neu!. So the music is provided with surpassing Krautrock elements, however they sound less vintage, rather modern, comparable with the likes of Turzi or Wooden Shjips in a wider sense. This is a limited 500 copies vinyl pressing in 180g vinyl, sure to become a sought-after collector's item in the near future -- so get it now! -Forced Exposure "
"Concentric began as a therapeutic vacation from musical boundaries, and a year later is still expanding on that theme. Jim Becker and Jerry Hauppa were growing weary of the clichés that plague the extreme metal genre when they discovered that both of them had acoustic side projects that were keeping their sanity. Though their styles were very different, what they had in common was an ear for the more progressive side of music and its ability to challenge the listener. By combining their efforts the two released a demo in 2004 and later one epic 16 minute track in the Mosaic EP, which depicted a vast array of emotions and themes using only layered acoustic guitars. After finding a drummer in Brad O'Malley, Concentric fully fleshed out their sound and furthered the progressive themes hinted at in previous recordings. In late 2009, the three piece released their first full length record entitled Immeasurable which is comprised of thirteen tracks of very densely woven countermelody throughout its sixty minute running time. Although the acoustic guitar-centered approach of previous works remains the core of the songwriting, Immeasurable is further developed by a range of sounds including cello, accordion, hammer dulcimer and others. The end result is guaranteed to be one of the most densely melodic records you will hear. The group is determined to perform instrumental acoustic music in a way that hasn't been heard before, and judging by the response received at shows played both at home and abroad, Concentric is definitely achieving that goal.
Immeasurable, the debut full length from Milwaukee-based instrumental acoustic band Concentric, is a dynamic step into the recesses of human emotion through a complex tapestry of sound and mood. Driven by acoustic guitars and intricate percussion adorned with cello and other instruments, Immeasurable reaches highly expressive depths where any lyrical approach would fall short. Throughout its sixty minute duration, Concentric presents one of the most densely melodic records you will ever hear."
Ninth Moon Black is a five piece from Oregon playing post-rock/metal with haunting ambiances. They've released a s/t album in 2008 (re-released in 2009) and this year an EP, Kalyug, featured below. The EP is available as a pay-what-you-want download.
I don't know anything about Steve Navarre, except that he plays in the band Pindral and that he has his electronic/ambient project Navanoise, which I'm featuring here.
Here's what he writes in his Myspace:
"This project is an ongoing trial and error effort combining my love for sound. I love dabbling with synthesizers, field recording, real instruments and computer programming. The songs or perhaps better put, sound sketches, are a result. Music has been a passion for most of my life. When I'm not dabbling with my own sonic experiments I play bass in the Denver-based progressive rock band Pindral. I also have fondness for photography. The above sound sketches are unreleased demos. My usual technique is trying to combine elements that aren't intitally intended on going together, then by trial and error happy accidents occur and hopefully a comprehesive sound sketch is the result.
The first two "Are You Popular" and "Epiphany" are samples of newer work. They are a combination of synthesizer swatches I developed then added various other elements to them, such as, recordings from old stock movies and ham radio recrdings, programmed drums, etc. These will hopefully will be part of an upcoming official release I'm working on tentatively entitled "Enigmatic Oddysses".
The other samples are from a 2003 demo. "M2 Dreams" is an experiment with an old Hammond M2 organ I acquired for $35 at a local thrift store. All the organ parts/sounds are from this 50+ year old treasure in which I recorded a ten minute organ part holding down various chords and then utilized the draw bars to give the amazing textures. I then added programmed beats, field recordings and a former bandmate, Wayne Martein added the guitar part.
"Shortwave Iraq" is an edit of an over 18 minute piece I did during the first week of the war on Iraq. I recorded Bush's speech and various shortwave radio snippits from around the globe a couple nights right after the war was launched and added electric bass, programmed rhythms, field recordings and real percussion instruments to make this, perhaps reactionary piece of music. Hope you enjoy. They are rough in nature production-wise. Thanks if you do listen."
You can listen to the album in his Bandcamp; see below.
I've mentioned Orbs before and their 2010 album Asleep Next To Science.
Here's a song from that album I can't get out of my mind.
Put it on full volume, open the windows and torment your neighbours. The eviction notice will be on the way...
The Autumn Project is a trio from Des Moines, Iowa, playing post-rock. The name used to serve Mike Gustafson (drums, keyboards, textures) for his solo output, and now serves the trio, consisting of brothers Jess (guitar) and John Huffman (baritone guitar, bass). While starting in 2000, their first release, Fable, was in 2003 and reissued in 2005. In 2004 they released La Luna de Negra and in 2006 A Burning Light. Here I review their 2009 release, This We Take With Us.
This is the closing song on the 2010 album, Rekreatur by German viking metal band, Equilibrium. Much like the closing song Mana on their 2008 album Sagas, this is a long instrumental song with various sections and very catchy riffs.
Bell Orchestre is an instrumental group from Montreal. The band has ties to other bands: Arcade Fire, Torngat, The Luyas, Islands and Snailhouse. Their music is a sort of an orchestral ambient and post-rock nature with a variety of instruments used. The music is very dynamic, flowing from highly energetic, upbeat and positive-sounding sections to mellow and somewhat melancholic passages.
The studio lineup consists of: Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) - upright bass/keyboard/percussion Sarah Neufeld (Arcade Fire)– violin Stefan Schneider (The Luyas)- drums/percussion Pietro Amato (Torngat, The Luyas)- French horn/electronics Kaveh Nabatian - trumpet/melodica Mike Feuerstack (Snailhouse)- lap steel guitar
Claudio Milano is the man behind Nichelodeon, a theater-eqsue act making diverse and rich-sounding music, focused on creation of ambiances and particular atmospheres, ranging from the eerie to the highly emotional. Their first output has been the 2007 release appropriately named Cinemanemico, as the music has a cinematic characteristic to it (I reviewed it as well). 2010 sees the release of a studio album and a DVD of a live show at the Bloom club in Mezzago, Italy. The DVD performance consists of some of the band’s material re-interpreted as well as a soundtrack of the last episode of Twin Peaks to celebrate its 20 years anniversary (to be reviewed separately).
Svartbag is a Danish trio making some very interesting and "trippy" music. A.REX and Niels Ladefoged started out as a duo in 2002 with a professed interest in minimalism, krautrock, shoegaze and noise. They were later joined by Peter Kyed. Occasionally they appear as a four-piece with drummer Andreas Hauer-Jensen. In May 2008 they released their debut album reviewed here.
The lineup consists of: Niels Ladefoged: Guitar, sampler and electronics. A.REX: Guitar, sampler and electronics. Peter Kyed: Electronics and real-sounds.
