This release captures the live show of Picchio Dal Pozzo along with Yugen at the 2008 Altr0ck festival. The concert features 5 songs form their first album, the single, Uccellin Del Bosco, from the Abbiamo period, one from Camere and one from Pic_Nic. The closing track is a re-discovered lost track from the Abbiamo album that a fan had on cassette and passed it to the band.
"Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end?"
But they did.
Or did they?
Well, according to the British band Diagonal, those days may have passed but that's no reason not to try to revive them, or in fact re-live them. And they do it so well, that their version of past days seems better than the original.
Released on Rise Above Records, which aside from metal bands, has also several bands in their lineup that recreate the magic of past days of glory, such as Circulus, Litmus, Blood Ceremony, Astra and Diagonal.
Diagonal, from Brighton that sits on the shores of southern England on the channel, are a 7 members band, bent on recreating sounds long gone and even in the booklet of their self-titled album they look like 70s' rock musicians, giving the impression that they are either a long lost band only recently discovered or rather time travelers or in fact just die hard enthusiasts of another age.
There are band who release albums that are quite different in style and. White Willow from Norway are one such band with their 5 releases to date and there's a new one in the making, called Terminal Twilight.
I am partial to three of their albums, the first one, the folk-rock Ignis Faatus, which has recently been re-issued in vinyl; their third one, Sacrament, which is my favourite and shows the band expand their folk roots to include symphonic prog traits; and finally the heavier (some say metal-ish) Storm Season.
I wanted to post a youtube video of a song from Sacrament, however the only one available is Paper Moon and I wanted either Anamnesis or The Reach. So I looked what else was available and so I found another great tune from their first album, which you can listen to below.
Here you can see a clip Jacob did about the making of the new album
No, William Gray is not a person, but a band from Argentina who released their first and so far only album in 2006. Living Fossils is an eclectic progressive rock album drawing influences from old "symphonic prog" but adding a harsher and heavier flavour along with other elements, including Hispanic ones. The album's variety is not only in its styles and influences but also in the ambiances it conjures and the moods it conveys. It's a long album, with a common theme running through it, fitting as it is a concept album about a person roaming the streets of Buenos Aires on the fringe of sanity and the music and its eclectic nature convey that very well.
A very well done album and I really hope they release more music.
This French band was founded by Francis Lemonnier (sax and vocals) and Serge Catalano (drums and percussions) in May 1970 after they left Red Noise due to musical and political disagreements. The name chosen gives you a clear indication as to their political views. The band released one album called "Le Bal Du Rat Mort" in 1971 and one single "Fou, roi, pantin" and were active until 1975. The musicians that joined them were Michel Musac (guitar), Olivier Zdrzalik (bass, vocals, organ and piano) and Pascal Chassin (guitar). At first they were less focused on composing only music but more on mixing it along with satiric theater - a sort of "cabaret satirique", in order to express their extreme left views. They used their music to enhance their message, and they did it in a manner that mixed several styles of music that would fit their show and the message to be passed on to the crowd/listeners. They were related to extreme left movements such as the "Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire" and they toured in the summer of 1970 in, among other places, universities and factories that were in strike.
Senni Eskelinen Stringpuree Band are a Finnish trio combining folk into their delicate brand of intricate melodic rock. Here's a beautiful song from their 2008 debut album.
Improvised live in the studio by the quartet of Hugh Hopper (bass), Elton Dean (sax), Yoshida Tatsuya (drums) and Hoppy Kamiyama (keyboards). Although, only released in 2007 (and in some places in 2006), this was recorded in 2003, during Dean's and Hopper's tour in Japan with Soft Works. By contacting Hoppy ahead of time, they agreed to get into a studio and just play... They start nicely and calmly with some "regular" sounding jazz, and slowly and progressively advance towards the more experimental and daring parts of this free style playing, of which a major part if free-form. The drums, while at times a bit too much in the back, are just a wild ride, relentless and with non-stop energetics, as if on steroids. It's made up of only two tracks - Soft Mountain Suite parts 1 & 2, and each is around half an hour. It might get too much at times, but when in the proper mood or state of mind, this is very rewarding. In any case, a fine release, very enjoyable, dynamic with mostly non-stop action.
Soft Mountain
Track 1: Soft Mountain Suite Pt. 1 (30.40)
Track 2: Soft Mountain Suite Pt. 2 (27.55)
Total running time: 58.40
Recorded 10th August 2003 in Tokyo, Japan
Elton Dean sax
Hugh Hopper bass
Hoppy Kamiyama keyboards
Yoshida Tatsuya drums
Music composed by E. Dean, H. Hopper, H. Kamiyama & Y. Tatsuya
Formed in 2005, Ephrat is Omer Ephrat's creation, making heavy, emotional, melancholic and epic progressive rock. The band consists of Lior Seker (vocals), Tomer Z (drums) Gili Rosenberg (bass) and Omer Ephrat (guitars, keyboards, flute).
Their 2008 debut, No One's Words released by InsideOut, was mixed by Steven Wilson and has Daniel Gildenlow and Petronella Nettermalm (of Paatos) guesting on vocals on two songs.
Listen to some Youtube samples after the jump
The Builders & The Butchers are a Portland, Oregon based band playing lovely folk/Americana rock. I came across their website earlier this year and ordered their 2009 album, Salvation Is A Deep Dark Well, which is a superb collection of catchy melodic folk-rock.
Aside from this album, they have a s/t album from 2007, a split with Loch Lomond from the same year, a live album, Where The Roots All Grow, released this year. In 2011 they'll release their new album, Dead Reckoning.
Here's a great song from their second album called Short Way Home. Listen to the entire song, don't quit in the middle.
Austrian band Amity In Fame play acoustic-rock and have released an album in 2008 called Dinner For One and are now working on a second album. You can read more about them here.
Here's a review I wrote some years ago about the first Random Touch album I heard, A True Conductor Wears A Man.
Moving between the Random and the Planned The name of this group might give a hint at what is going on here. But then again, I don't think anything is random here, maybe not well planned ahead, but if this is random, then the outcome is one hell of an organized mess for such a thing, though improvisation seems to have been part of the process.
In Iridule, Yugen continue their musical journey began in Labirinto d’Acqua in 2006. While they retain their sound from their first album, here Yugen are incorporating additional styles, including the addition of (female) vocals, courtesy of Elaine Di Falco (Thinking Plauge, Caveman Shoestore). Yugen offer several shorter, vocals-lead songs, which are focused on creating eerie and odd textures and atmospheres, rather than presenting a tune.
Despite having a musical style that on paper should appeal to my tastes, being a widely critically acclaimed group and having an extensive discography spread out over 3 decades, I’ve only checked out so far two releases from California-based instrumental progressive rock act, Djam Karet: 1991’s Burning the Hard City and 2003’s A Night for Baku. While I find the music on these albums to be good and very well played and produced, it didn’t grab me and made me have repeated listening, though I know that these albums have their fans, so I’m not writing them off.
In 2010 comes their newest studio offering, the 15th in number called The Heavy Soul Sessions, 5 years after the well-received and acclaimed Recollection Harvest which I have yet to hear, but definitely intend to after listening to this album.
The Heavy Soul Sessions was born as a result of live shows in which they played tracks spanning their 26 years of existence. They proceeded to record these tracks live-in-the-studio with no overdubbing. They have also included a cover song, Dedicated To K.C. by Richard Pinhas from his 1982 album, L’Ethique. Indeed this album sounds great, fresh and crisp both sound-wise and music-wise. In fact it has inspired me to go back and re-listen to the two albums I have of theirs and get some others I don’t have. So what you get here is a taste of the variety of flavours of the band’s output. You get a taste of space-rock, ambient and electronic music as well as a balanced portion of aggressive rock, warm analog synths and mellotron, spacey guitar solos and dreamy-eerie slow and pensive sections.
I've had a post about Gösta Berlings Saga before, reviewing their latest album, Detta Har Hänt. Here are two videos of the second track from that album, Sorterargatan 3.
While the second video has better sound quality and shows a tighter performance, both are worth watching/listening. This song has a great buildup and then a propulsive rhythm and simple yet charming tune.
Pay attention to the drumming work and how well it mixes with and supports the music.
Club Groddar & Gräsrötter at Landet, Stockholm, Sweden 2009-10-22.
Frölunda Kulturhus 2009.09.25; Göteborg (Gothenburg)
First I'd like to congratulate my good friends Emma and Johnny on the birth of their son Alex (born 29-11-10).
Second, my committee meeting went rather well, and so now I need to work hard for the next one.
Last, I'd like to thank you people who read these nonsensical blurbs and verbal outpourings of mine. The blog has had much more visitors than I had anticipated, with over 900 visitors this months and almost 200 returning visitors. Thank you!
Please let me know in the comments what do you think, what would like to see more of and what would you like changed. Can't promise I'll do it, but I will read and consider.
With regards to music, there have been great albums released this year, some of which I've mentioned here and I will do a 2010 favourite albums summary in January 2011 (similar to the one I did for 2009).
So I'd like to sum this post up with a stunning song to thank you all, La Mente Vola (the mind flies) by Italian prog-rock band Alphataurus.
Dreamy yet fierce, the music of Hour Of The Shipwreck bridges between opposite emotional banks. In their songs they travel from delicate and calm currents to gushing and agitated torrents as they present their beautiful melodies fronted by soft male vocals. Their music is dramatic and intense.
Based in LA, this band has released one album in 2008, The Hour Is Upon Us but since then I've not seen any news from the band and so am not sure as to their current status.
This is a review I wrote some time ago for the 2007 album by British prog-rock band Big Big Train.
In light of their new offering, an EP entitles Far Skies Deep Time, I thought of posting this review now.
Also, you can download the title track (23 minutes) of their last full-length, The Underfall Yard, here. They have more free downloads in their website.
