Recommendation: Satanique Samba Trio

Here's the bio I wrote for this group at Prog Archives:

Recommendation: Furyu - Ciò Che L'Anima Non Dice

Italian band Furyu plays an eclectic prog metal with touches of fusion. Quite a cool album, which is available for free download here and directly here.

Lineup:
Michele Zappoli - Bass
Giulio Capitelli - Guitars
Riccardo Grechi - Drums
Damiano Storelli - Effects
Federico Melandri - Guitars

Links:
Official website
Reverbnation
Myspace
Facebook
Youtube

Review: Pictorial Wand - Face of Our Fathers (2009, Unicorn Digital)

One man, Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Mattis Sørum, is behind this project started in 2003, bringing to his aid (much like Ayreon) musicians and vocalists (four on this album) to play and sing on his albums. Mattis plays the synths, organ and guitars on the albums.

Check out Pyrrhon's new album, An Excellent Servant But a Terrible Master

It's streaming on their Bandcamp and you can pay-what-you-want-for-download.
Crude technical death metal from NYC.
Myspace

Recommendation/Review: Infected Mushroom - Vicious Delicious (2007)

Whenever I want an album to make me jump around, to give me high energy, pump me up, Vicious Delicious is a natural choice. 

This album by the Israeli psytrance group Infected Mushroom (although not really psytrance anymore) is a step up from what they released before and much more eclectic in nature. In here you have elements of trance, techno, psychedelic music, rap, hip-hop, rock, ethnic touches and what-not. 

The new Explosions In The Sky album is available for pre-order (and the packaging is gorgeous)

Not bad, right?
The design is by Esteban Rey.

It comes in either CD or vinyl (with download).
If you go here or here, you can download a tune form the album called Trembling Hands.
You can order here and here.

And there's a show:
" We also have a few new shows to announce: April 30th in LA at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and May 1st in Oakland at the Fox Theater. There will be a presale for the Oakland show and you can get tickets here. 

password: bakesale "

Streaming Albums: Long Distance Calling, Jolly, The Human Abstract, Jag Pazner...

Go to AOL Music and stream the new albums by the bands mentioned in the title of this post and others.

Rasputina's New Album Announced

From Rasputina's newsletter:

Hello everyone!

We are pleased to announce that Rasputina’s eighth album Great American Gingerbread: Rasputina Rarities and Neglected Items will be available on April 5.

Great American Gingerbread features fourteen jewels of audio arcana discovered in Melora’s musical treasure chest. These gems were recorded mostly in the early 21st century and are comprised of film scores, demos, compilation tracks and tribute pieces. Many are essentially solo works, Melora’s initial compositions and impulses.

Great American Gingerbread also includes a bonus DVD that includes a live performance as well as Q&A session recorded in 2002 at the Knitting Factory, in New York. This concert was beautifully filmed and features a fairly obscure Rasputina line-up, with 3 cellos and Jonathon TeBeest on drums.

Great American Gingerbread will hit stores on April 5, 2011, but pre-order it now directly from us and you will have it delivered right to your mail box on April 5th.

And here is a little preview - please enjoy a free download of The Ballad of Lizzie Borden. Melora wrote this song at the age of 7 after having seen the television movie starring Elizabeth Montgomery of Bewitched fame. It left such a deep impression on her, that there was a place in the song where she would chop at the piano with the side of her hand! (The chopping is not included in this recording.)

Great American Gingerbread

Features:
•"Coraline" from the Neil Gaiman tribute album Where's Neil When You Need Him?
•"Skeleton Bang" appeared the charity album Colours Are Brighter in 2006 (on Rough Trade)
•Score for "On My Knees", a film Melora starred in/ directed by Kim Wood
•Unreleased soundtrack material
•Unused demos

CD Track Listing:
1. Pudding Crypt
2. I go to Sleep
3. Do What I Do
4. Black Hole Hunter
5. Black Hole.2
6. Loom
7. Death at Disneyland
8. Skylark
9. Children's Reform Center
10. Coraline
11. Ballad of Lizzie Borden
12. Mysterious Man-Monkey
13. Skeleton Bang
14. On my Knees

Preorder Great American Ginger Bread Now!

---

http://rasputina.greedbag.com/

Review: Dol Ammad - Star Tales (2004, Black Lotus)

This looks like the cover of a trance album, right?
Well it's not exactly the case, but it's not far off either. Read on and find out...

The Decemberists - Additional shows and limited edition EP

From the Decemberists Newsletter:

Tour | Shop | Fans | Twitter | Facebook | Ping

The Decemberists | News 3.7.11 Adored Mailing List Recipients, We've added yet another short run of dates to the Popes of Pendarvia World Tour in May and June.  The two previously announced festival performances will bookend a series of headline shows in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Raleigh, and Columbia, MD.  We'll be joined on these dates by Best Coast.  We'll also play a show in Bend, OR on May 29th with Rodrigo y Gabriela.  A limited fan presale for all dates is currently underway here.  Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Friday at 10am ET.  See below for a full list of dates and links to purchase tickets.  Our UK/Europe tour continues tonight with a show in Birmingham, UK.  We're joined by Blind Pilot on these dates.  Very few tickets remain for the shows. On April 16, we'll release Live At Bull Moose, a limited edition EP in conjunction with Record Store Day. The seven-track CD—which will be available at all participating independent record stores—was recorded live at our January in-store performance at Bull Moose in Scarborough, Maine, and includes songs from the new album, as well as The Louvin Brothers' “If I Could Only Win Your Love.” You've heard us mention the 2500+ Polaroids that Autumn de Wilde shot during the making ofThe King Is Dead.  Now you can see all of them in the Decemberists Create-Your-Own Polaroid Slideshow. Pick your favorites, sort into a custom slideshow, add one of four album tracks as a background song, then share your slideshow on Facebook and Twitter.  We’re featuring some of our favorites on the Facebook page.  Have a look here. There are new items abound in the Decemberists Shop!  Visit the Shop and browse the latest collection of tees, hoodies, and limited edition silkscreen show posters. The King Is Dead Deluxe Box Edition is still available too.  Visit the Shop HERE. March 7, Birmingham Institute, Birmingham, UK %  TICKETS March 8, Bristol Academy, Bristol, UK %  SOLD OUT March 10, Manchester Academy, Manchester, UK%  TICKETS March 11, Leeds Academy, Leeds, UK %  TICKETS March 12, De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, UK %   SOLD OUT March 13, Trix, Antwerp, Belgium % TICKETS March 14, Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands % SOLD OUT March 16, Hammersmith Apollo, London, UK % TICKETS ### April 16, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO^ TICKETS April 17, Holland Performing Arts Center, Omaha, NE^  TICKETS April 18, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA^  TICKETS April 19, Overture Hall, Madison, WI^  TICKETS April 21, Benedum Center, Pittsburgh, PA^  TICKETS April, 22 Royal Oak Music Theater, Detroit, MI^  SOLD OUT April 23, Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, Columbus, OH^  TICKETS April 25, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI^  TICKETS April 26, Iroquois Amphitheater, Louisville, KY^  TICKETS April 27, The Pageant, St. Louis, MO^  TICKETS April 29, House of Blues, Dallas, TX  SOLD OUT April 30, Stubb's, Austin, TX  SOLD OUT May 1, Jazzfest, New Orleans, LA  TICKETS May 2, Cobb Energy Center, Atlanta, GA^  TICKETS May 29, Les Schwab Amphitheater, Bend, OR # PRESALE May 30, Sasquatch! Music Festival, Quincy, WA  TICKETS June 9-12, Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN  TICKETS June 11, Raleigh Amphitheatre, Raleigh, NC * PRESALE June 13, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD*  PRESALE June 14, Celebrate Brooklyn - Prospect Park Bandshell, Brooklyn, NY*  PRESALE June 15, Academy of Music, Philadelphia, PA*  PRESALE June 16-19, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Telluride, CO  TICKETS % with Blind Pilot ^ with Justin Townes Earle *with Best Coast #with Rodrigo y Gabriela   Yours,   The Decemberists decemberists.com twitter.com/thedecemberists

Nathan Mahl - Exodus (2008, Unicorn Digital)

This is a review I wrote in 2009 for Nathan Mahl's concept album about the Exodus of Bnei-Israel from Egypt, led by Moses.

Not having heard a single note from this band, despite knowing of them and reading about them and reviews of their previous albums, I come to this 2008 release of theirs without the burden or bliss of expectation or knowing what to expect of this release.

Zoe Keating and Todd Reynolds at Le Poisson Rouge, NYC, March 6th 2011

My wife and I were at the Zoe Keating show yesterday at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC.

We both enjoyed the show very much. Forgive me for not having any pictures, we forgot our camera at home.

Despite standing in the rain outside the venue until we were let in (and then we met the rain again as we left the show), it did not dampen our spirits. The music was beautiful, Zoe was delightful and amicable, and the venue was fine. 

Recommendation: Clara Engel (Canada)

There is music that you put on to simply enjoy the groove, the rhythm, the melody. There's music you put on to have something in the background. There's music you listen to in order to relax and chill-out. There is music you put on to be exhilarated by the emotions it creates in you.

There is also a sort of music that conjures up images of strange places, melodies that bring to life sceneries you've not encountered previously.

Such type of music, I hear in the songs by Canadian artist Clara Engel.

A New 'Æthenor' Release – En Form for Blå (VHF)

A fellow on Progressive Ears just posted about the new album by Æthenor, which I was totally unaware of its existence. It's out again on VHF.
You can read more about it and listen to the pieces here.

"Stephen O'Malley (Sunn0))), KTL), Daniel O'Sullivan (Ulver, Mothlite, Guapo), Kristoffer Rygg (Ulver), Steve Noble (N.E.W., Company, etc). 

En Form For Blå documents the continued evolution of this unlikely collective, a collision of players from various avant, improv, metal, and "other" threads who together make a unique and arresting sound. 

Documenting three gigs in Oslo recorded in 2010, the music is deep and weird, with liquid sounds juddering around the occasionally identifiable percussion or Rhodes motif. Moving from an occasional/studio group to a frequently working live act, Æthenor has somehow kept their sound intact, taking the musique concrète-style transitions and "what's that sound" ethos of their three previous efforts directly to the stage. 

Noble, having spent a couple of decades playing drums with Derek Bailey and other well-known UK improvisers, moves the music along subtly, keeping much of the focus on the burbling sound mass. O'Malley's guitar, an instrument of extreme viscera in Sunn0))), is used with restraint, providing occasional low menace but mostly mixing it up with O'Sullivan's thematic lines and Rygg's sound treatments. 

The overall effect is atmospheric rather than sedate - something like a modern, small group version of Miles Davis' classic "He Loved Him Madly" or Nurse with Wound's "Spiral Insana." Other than Supersilent, it's hard to think of anyone really working this sonic vocabulary - this is a bold engagement from players who are well-known for completely different reasons from the strangeness heard here. Deluxe double LP is on white vinyl with printed inner sleeves. CD is in a card folio. Designed by Stephen O'Malley."

In Anticipation of Zoe Keating...

Tomorrow my wife and I will attend Zoe Keating's show at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. This is part of her Into The Trees tour which I posted about previously here.
Here are some tunes in anticipation of the show tomorrow.
Notice how well done is her solo performance with her recording a loop and then adding another one and then playing on top of it.







I hope to post some impressions of the show here on Monday.

Who are the Blogs I'm linking to?

I know that some readers have clicked the links to other blogs (on the right side), but allow me to give a brief overview of some of these blogs and sites I link to.
Though I won't mention all of them, I urge you to check all the links.


Here it goes:

The Weekend Ahead...

In the lab tomorrow between doing genotyping and immunohistochemistry, I'll go on with writing the reviews I started for the Black Widow releases I received (which I mentioned previously in one of the posts), as well as post some more recommendations here (some very interesting stuff, stay tuned).

For now I leave you in the capable hands of Anekdoten and their mesmerizing song Wheel, the closing piece from their first album, Vemod.

Ulver Signs to Kscope and Releases New Album in April

From the Kscope newsletter:

Ulver sign to Kscope
new album in April plus European tour

Kscope are very proud to announce that Ulver are the latest band to join the roster. Early pioneers of Norwegian black metal, the band have continually evolved throughout their career and now stand as living legends of the dark music industry, blending rock, electronica, symphonic and chamber traditions along with noise and experimental music to create ground-breaking material.

The last two years have also seen Ulver manifest into a live band. Following their first live performance in May 2009, at the Norwegian Festival of Literature, the band toured Europe in 2010 selling out prestigious venues such as the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Volksbühne in Berlin and Casa da Música in Porto, to great acclaim:

‘Ulver's presentation is surreal and stark. A psychedelic excursion, an immersive experience, fuelled by haunting, progressive art. After such a night, you don't want to see another band for a few days. Because anything else would pale when put alongside Ulver.’ Classic Rock Magazine

The band will be going back out on tour in March ahead of the release of their new album Wars Of The Roses which will be released on Kscope on April 24th.

Full tour dates are at www.kscopemusic.com/ulver where you can also sign up to the mailing list for updates on the album.

A New Forthcoming Royal Offspring from 'The Future Kings Of England'

Simon, the drummer for the Future Kings Of England has posted this on Progressive Ears.

"Hello. If anyone is interested we are currently working on our new album and here's a preview of one of the tracks - it's a rough mix and hasn't got a title yet - it's that fresh! Enjoy... It'll be part of a 50 minute song cycle based on the M.R. James short ghost story 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'. The album is to be called 'Who is This Who is Coming'... 

http://snd.sc/gQE5G6 "


Woo-Hoo, a new album on the way!!!

Recommendation: Acollective (prog-rock, Israel)

 

I've mentioned this fine young band before when they had one track streaming on their bandcamp.