From.uz

ProgSphere recently got a chance to talk with seminal Uzbekistani band From.Uz about a whole lot of stuff. They have a new album in the works and due to be released soon, so read on for info about it and plenty more!

Dan: Hello Fromuz, thanks very much for agreeing to this interview. Would you guys mind introducing yourselves?

From.uz: At present From.uz is Vitaly Popeloff (guitars), Albert Khalmurzaev (bass), Ali Izmailov (drums) and Igor Elizov (keyboards), All participants of group live and work in Tashkent (Uzbekistan).

Dan: We would like to ask you a series of questions about the creation process of each album, starting with 2007’s Audio Diplomacy. Could you tell us how this album formed, how the music was written, specific influences for it, etc? I would probably say this is the jazziest of the three albums that have been released so far.

From.uz: Fromuz gave a number of concerts in 2005 and material recorded at these performances became the basis for the first album. The material was created, arranged and rehearsed from August 2004 – April 2005. “Audio Diplomacy” should be considered as the first album of Fromuz as compositions were not recorded in studio before the concerts. This album set the tone, mood and style of the group which critics named prog-fusion. For sure it was affected with the musical predilections of participants to the outstanding representatives of genres – King Crimson, Miles Davis, Frank Zappa.

After recording the concerts the work proceeded in the studio – editing, mixing and mastering the video. This original material was sold regionally under the title “Playing the Imitation”, but after signing our contract with 10T Records, it was renamed and began to be referred to as “Audio Diplomacy”.

Dan: I’m just curious, but why was the decision made to take nearly eleven minutes of material out of the studio version that had originally been recorded in the live album? Also, would you guys mind explaining what Playing the Imitation is for those who aren’t sure?

From.uz: “Audio Diplomacy” is the double edition – CD+DVD. The material is identical except for two pieces of the concert which are on DVD but are not present on the CD. Is the question on these 11 minutes? Time did not allow them to be included on the CD. These two items are concert like absolutely, solo, intended as show, in our opinion. That is solo of Badirov on drums and percussion and solo of Popeloff on MIDI guitar.

All tracks of this album are recorded at concerts and a studio recording doesn’t exist.

And about confidence, the ancient said – challenge and call in question! That is the engine of knowledge. If you have already stopped and feel assured – probably you move backward.

Dan: Overlook came next in 2008. Overlook is probably more experimental musically, with much longer songs in general than on Audio Diplomacy. Could you tell us about the writing process for this one, and perhaps why the average song lengths increased?

From.uz: “Overlook” was planned as a conceptual album; work on the album took a lot of time and was fruitful and interesting. Work proceeded from April 2007 till January 2008. Vladimir Badirov recorded the rhythm section in studio “IOSIS” in summer 2007. Vitaly Popeloff recorded the parts of guitars in his home studio. In the studio of the Youth Theater, bass was recorded by Andrew Mara-Novik and keyboards by Alber Khalmurzaev. All tracks were sent to America to 10T Records studio to the sound producer Jeff Hodges who worked on mixing. Mastering was done by Brad Blackwood. Finally the disc was released in October 2008 and was announced as the best album of 2008 in category the best independent album. There was no any special idea to increase the duration of the compositions. Probably it was a desire to get a deeper understanding of those musical themes which occurred to be the concept of the album. But the idea to create something full-scale exists. Thick as a Brick, we like it a lot.

Dan: Seventh Story is definitely the most varied album by this already incredibly eclectic band, with sections that resemble prog metal (Taken), sections that resemble jazz fusion (Influence of Time) and even sections that resemble Rush(Parallels). Not only the music, but the song lengths reflect this eclecticism. This album contains both the longest songs Fromuz has ever done as well as the shortest. Same question for this album, why was this album made the way it was. Also, the album included vocals for the first time. Why was this done? (Not that I’m complaining!)

From.uz: “Seveth Story” was conceived as a conceptual album, made in a very creative atmosphere. Each second of the musical composition of the album contains part of the musician’s soul. If the music is interesting to the audience that just lights up the fire and our creativity heats up. The more interest we get, the more we want to create. That’s how the interaction between musician and audience builds up. That is the way show business exists. “Seventh Story” we dedicated to Frank Zappa, honoring the great composer and musician, whose heritage is invaluable.

On coincidence of circumstances before the beginning of work on the “Seventh Story” album the structure of participants Fromuz changed. Badirov and Mara-Novik were replaced by Ali Izmailov and Surat Kasimov. Keyboard player Igor Elizov also joined the group. As well as the previous album, “Seventh Story” was born as a conceptual project. The idea was that this material should be played and performed live sound only, and only after that the studio variant work should start. That’s the way it all happened. The dramatized premier of the “Seventh Story” took place on a stage of Youth Theater involving the participation of actors of theater in September 2008. For two days all the music material was recorded in tracks and on video for the subsequent edition and installation afterwards. This project will be published in DVD format in autumn 2010, named “Inside Seventh Story”.

We started the studio version work process after that. Technology was the same – recording of the rhythm section, then guitars, bass, keyboards and vocals.

We worked in 3 studios – IOSIS, G. Bronov’s studios and studio of Youth Theater. Right after recording the tracks were brought to Panterra studio, where they were mixed by Validjon Sadikov and Shukhrat Tursunov. As for the vocal part – for the deep understanding of our music idea we planned to direct the audience in the right way. The music is an illusory thing and picks up different associations. And we would like to immerse the audience in the feelings and spaces which we thought of while creating the “Seventh Story” music. Texts were written by Vitaly’s son, Evgeniy Popeloff, a well known musician, Termin Vox project leader.

Dan: Your website had been saying since 2008 that Seventh Story would probably be released in 2009, yet it was delayed for quite a while. Why was this? I would imagine it might have had something to do with the economic downturn.

From.uz: The album was released in 2010, instead of 2009 for technical reasons. It was necessary to finish all – from the material up to the design and calligraphy. It is pleasant to us, when all is done well thought-out.

Dan: One of our contributors noticed that the song Other Side of the Water from Overlook has a section that resembles a section of Dogs by Pink Floyd. Was this intentional?

From.uz: We have a special attitude toward Pink Floyd, and we are not the only one, for sure! There is no reason to direct imitation, but it is very difficult to avoid analogies, especially willing to create a musical picture of melancholy and Utopia. Probably Pink Floyd drained to bottom the issue, plus it was a sort of our tribute to these MONSTERS. If one shall have a look to Ken Westphal’s illustration to this composition – it all becomes clear!

Dan: It wouldn’t be unusual for Fromuz to do this, however, as you guys also did stuff like this with YYZ in Parallels, and I hear Dream Theater pretty clearly in Taken. Not to mention that section of In-A-Gadda-De-Vida that’s included in one of the tracks of Audio Diplomacy that I can’t recall the name of at the moment. Can you think of some more moments where musical homages have been included in Fromuz’s tracks?

From.uz: As to Rush, DT or somebody other – these are simple hits only. The same school, style, patterns, so to speak. There is a Flemish school of painting, for instance, it is possible to distinguish easily those who professed. YYZ we had to listen to captiously already after the stated comparisons (unfortunately, possibly).

Dan: Can you tell us something about the album art on each album? They all seem to have a common theme of jumbled images, which in my eyes represent the eclectic music Fromuz creates. Am I close? Or do you guys just get someone to paint cool pictures and then use those?

From.uz: Fortunately we have got acquainted with a very talented artist and designer Ken Westphal. The “Audio Diplomacy” promo has got to Ken and Ken has stated the desire to work together with us. All the albums up to now are illustrated by Ken. We send the working material and Ken makes it all up. We analyzed sketches which we receive and after long, laborious and very interesting work we come to result which is interesting to all of us. As a matter of fact Ken is a member of From.uz. We like very much the worlds Ken creates. You may examine the illustration Ken created and find something new over and over again. We are very glad to cooperate with Ken.

Dan: This eclectic music must have a wide range of influences and inspiration. Would you guys mind enlightening us as to some of the influences you haven’t mentioned already?

From.uz: Each of FromUz musicians has his own world and understanding of. Someone likes to read, someone likes to watch movies, other one sweats his guts out rehearsing, we come on rehearsal overflown by emotions, opinions, supervision, and it moves us forward. It is interesting for us to work together, which is most important, to our opinion.

Dan: We’ve read in previous interviews you guys have done that members of Fromuz have made music in the past. Feel free to tell us about some of that stuff, but what we’d really like to hear about is music the band members are currently creating outside of Fromuz in the present, or plan to in the future. Do any Fromuz band members have side projects or side bands?

From.uz: Each of the From.uz members has his own work. Vitaly – a session guitarist, works with leading musicians of Asia. Albert – an actor of theater and cinema, writes music for stage performances and films. Igor – a composer and arranger, works with stars of the Uzbek stage. Ali Izmailov is a senior lecturer of the conservatory, a teacher of the percussion curriculum. Tens its students – winners and students of the international competitions.

Three days a week From.uz members play in a Tashkent club.Cover versions of blues, rock and pop music hits of the last century are played. That is Creedence (Clearwater Revival) up to Yes, George Benson up to Led Zeppelin. And all the remaining time we spend working on From.uz projects.

Dan: We’ve also read that Fromuz plans to release another studio album this year called Quartus Artifactus. I might have been mislead, however. Would you care to enlighten us and explain something about this upcoming “artifact”?

From.uz: “Quartus Artifactus” is planned to be an acoustic album where our compositions will be presented in acoustic form. The threefold edition 2CD+DVD is planned. This project has been played and recorded on 23.06.2009 at the Tashkent theater Ilkhom. Then we edited and mixed the material. The video version of the concert work comes to an end now. Music has begun to sound absolutely different! The stylistics withdrawal has dictated thorough changes in compositions. We think it will be a very interesting album! There are plans to release the album in the beginning of 2011.

Dan: We also hear there’s a live album and/or DVD in the works. Would you guys mind explaining about this one?

From.uz: From.uz gave a big two-hour concert (January, 2010) in new structure (newest lineup) – Albert Khalmurzaev played bass guitar. There was a video record and track record the further edition, but alas, the audio-material has been lost owing to disrepair of the wehicle. So now we shall release the official DVD (record or live version) limited edition, probably for our region only.

Dan: You guys seem to enjoy making slight changes to the band’s name. Why is this exactly? I believe it has gone from “The Fromuz” to “Fromuz” to what it is now, “From.uz”.

From.uz: All changes in the name is a consequence of structure changes. No re-branding is expected. That will do!

Dan: When I play Fromuz for friends who don’t usually listen to this type of music, I usually describe it as “weird Uzbekistani jazz metal” so I can laugh at the horrified look that appears on their faces. What do you guys think I should describe Fromuz as? The real question here is, what do you guys consider the music of Fromuz to be?

From.uz: In our opinion that is absolutely useless idea to hang out labels.

Unequivocally – our music roots are in art and prog rock. We grew and were brought up on this music. Certainly it is necessary to tell about influence of classical music and jazz on From.uz musicians. Probably from here the mix of genres comes, the fusion manner. But we are not going to rank ourselves to this or that direction anyway. This is a matter for musical critics! We are planning to do music which will be interesting to us. And the audience shall judge on the quality of it.

Dan: Do you guys seeing Uzbekistan and other nearby countries in Central Asia hosting a vibrant prog rock/jazz scene in the near future? Naturally there aren’t many bands like Fromuz at the moment, but with your popularity, do you think you could pave the way for more bands and artists in this sub-genre?

From.uz: It would be very much desirable to hope, that we can draw the world rock music attention to our region. We have many interesting rock groups. There are festivals where Uzbek musicians take part. Also, there are some international positioned festivals. Among the Uzbek musicians are invited as well. And we shall try to do our best the interest to Central Asia region rock has been proved and inextinguishable!

Dan: I saw on your Facebook page that Fromuz is thinking of getting into some prog festivals around the world. In fact, I even posted about American jazz/prog festivals around NYC. Anyway, I think we’d like to know how this is going. Also, how’s touring in general for Fromuz?

From.uz: Unfortunately the world economic crisis has broken our festival plans – we had some offers from the western festivals, which could not transport us due to financial reasons (the way from Asia to America is too expensive). For a break in the economic crisis in the near future we hope! It is time to go and acquaint public with our music! It would be desirable to plan festivals and tours, but there is no manager yet who would run tour business.

Dan: Thank you again for agreeing to do this interview. I think I’m out of questions, so feel free to add anything you like.

From.uz: We’d like to add – God save all the good people! Let the Muse bless you! Listen to good music! Good luck!

Dan: Just one more completely nonserious question – does Fromuz like dogs?

From.uz: Dogs – that is excellent, as idea! They have a tail and a wet nose! And they are more frank than people. Alas…

Prog Sphere would like to thank to Mr. Ken Westphal for making this interview possible.

Resistor – Rise

A colorful and passionate album!

Resistor is an American band, a side project of brilliant multi-instrumentalist Steve Unruh, who is now together with Rob Winslow, Barry Farrands and Fran Turner. They released a debut album in 2008, and now in this 2010 “Rise” saw the light.

When I said colorful, is because within this album you will find a lot of things, different sounds, diverse feelings, a journey to several places, and of course most important, songs full of quality. Rise is composed by “two sides” as the band put on purpose. The first one is composed by 5 compositions, including a 16-minute track; while the second one can be considered a 39-minute epic, divided in 10 passages (songs). The album’s length is around 78 minutes.

Do not expect that gentle sound that predominates in Unruh’s solo albums, here you will listen to different things, and that can be noticed since the very first song entitled “The Secret of the Open Sky”, where a heavy sound appears and the rock element is always present. The vocals are excellent, the drums always constant and the soft violin adds an extra flavor. What a great song to start this album.

“Beyond this Masquerade” has not that heavy sound. Here the song is softer and calmer, which does not mean it is less interesting, though contrasts a little bit with that powerful opener track. There is a nice guitar solo after minute three and then a little stop, only to give pass to the final notes.

“Spaceghetti” is an extraordinary track. Here the violin is the leader; however the other instruments play a very important role because they help creating an intense atmosphere. After minute 3 there is a nice guitar solo and then a raw bass sound which suddenly stops to open the gates to that fast and intrepid violin sound. This is an instrumental song I like a lot, and another example of that colorful music I mentioned above. Now you have listened to three different songs.

With “Ether” you will appreciate to another face of Resistor, the guitars in the beginning are repetitive but addictive. The structure is the same until 2:30, when it changes to a more aggressive sound, reminding me to both Porcupine Tree’s Hatesong and Pink Floyd’s Astronomy Domine in some few moments, though I am sure that was not the intention. Then the song ends as it began.

“Mimosa” marks the end of the first side, but also shows the first long composition, lasting 16 minutes. The first moments shares tranquility, soft musical passages and a nice voice,

the guitar is pretty nice, this time I would say they mark the rhythm of the track. Later a beautiful flute sound appears and that sensation of tranquility is even higher. When Mimosa reaches its fifth minute, the music and the mood change dramatically, becoming heavier and powerful. Both, the moments with voice and without it are great, because the first adds that extra sensibility to the song, while the second takes you to a new trip every single minute. Just before minute 8, the guitar returns to its first form, and then a delicate and beautifully played violin appears, suggesting a moment of reflection where you can close your eyes and put images on your mind. The second part of this song is pretty alike to the first moments, but now the guitar solos excel more with its clean and jazzy sound. There is a last change before minute 13, where a melancholic sound enters, first producing a soft sound, but little by little it is progressing and creating an exciting atmosphere. What a great song!

Now the second side begins. As I explained in my second paragraph, this could be considered as one long epic divided in 10 songs. I’ll be honest to you, if I want to write song by song this review would never end and you may fall asleep, so I’ll try to be brief, without letting anything I consider important out.

This part has a concept inside that tells a story, it is like the chronicle of some guys who used to live in the land of no groove where music is not the best, and later found the lost land of art. During all the song you will listen to that story, sometimes Unruh’s vocals don’t sing but only speak, though its tone varies according to the words he’s pronouncing. So it is a complete journey, where you can join with those travelers.

All the parts here represent an important moment of the journey, and each title is well reflected in the music. Since the first second of this song the song will not stop until the last one, so you may not notice where a song finishes and a new passage begins, though if you are listen carefully, of course you will be aware of it. The music makes several direction changes, but the goal is always the same.

The work that all the four members of Resistor do here is awesome, each and everyone of them are connected to each other, so the music flows perfectly, which will attract the complete attention of the listener (it was in my case), because once the music caught you, it won’t let you go until the complete journey ends.

The music in general is great: guitars (soft and heavy), nice bass notes, intense drums, delicate and moody violin, and of course a deep vocal work. All together compiles this excellent 40-minute trip.

Resistor’s Rise has reached its goal with me, they have given me a great time, and when I listen to it again, I enjoy it more. It is a complete and consistent album that should be discovered by more prog lovers, I am sure they will be happy with it.

Enjoy it!

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Chris Letchford, Scale the Summit

I just had a chance to talk with Chris Letchford, the man behind Scale the Summit. Chris told us all about the band’s songwriting process, his take on genre semantics, and what it was like touring with Dream Theater: AND THAT’S ALL! Just kidding, there’s a lot more stuff in the interview.

Dan: Hi there Chris, thanks for agreeing to this interview. Would you mind introducing yourself and the rest of the band?

Chris Letchford: I’m Chris, I play guitar and handle most of the songwriting for the band. Travis Levrier is the other guitar player, Pat Skeffington on drums, and Jordan Eberhardt on bass.

Dan: How did you guys go about forming Scale the Summit?

Chris Letchford: Me and Travis actually grew up in the same neighborhood, but for some reason never jammed together. It took until 18 years old for us to finally get together and play. We started a metal band in Houston and played a few shows. We had trouble finding a solid drummer and bass player for that band for about a year. I was currently set up to start at Musicians Institute in the fall about a year after we started the band. Travis decided to go with me out there. We wanted to attend music school to get better, but our main goals were to find those 2 guys we needed to complete our band. After being out there only a few months we found them. I still think to this day that it was just meant to be, as moving out to Los Angeles didn’t guarantee anything. I think we all just crossed paths at the perfect time. Our sound also took a drastic turn. We were playing just normal technical metal music in Houston with a singer. When me and Travis made it to LA, we started writing again, but the material we were writing sounded complete as is, so we decided to stay instrumental and that was that. Wanted Scale The Summit to be about the music, and only that.

Dan: There isn’t really a radical difference in the music (from what I can hear) on the two albums you guys have made so far, so I’ll just ask what it was like recording both of them. What is the process like: do you guys just jam, do you perform based on a rigid structure?

Chris Letchford: I think there is definitely a difference in the two. Granted we are an instrumental band so it seems as those people like to jump the gun and say its all the same, just because of the lack of words, which is pretty ignorant. “Monument” was self funded by us 4. So we definitely didn’t get the quality recording that wanted, but it was our first full length, which is usually how it works. Songs are a lot more up tempo and in my opinion a lot less organized, due to lack of writing experience. “Carving Desert Canyons” came out a lot more organized than “Monument” on the song writing end, plus with now being signed to Prosthetic Records, we had lost of help with funding so the production on that album came out great as well.

Song writing is handled mostly by me. I write all of the music and then give it to the guys to learn, where they will then go in and write their own parts, which I usually help with as well. I personally like this approach as it doesn’t waste time and songs come together a lot more organized… instead of just compiling riff after riff. It allows me to write actual songs that progress.

Dan: Carving Desert Canyons has gotten some pretty great (and well-deserved) reviews. Why do YOU guys think that is?

Chris Letchford: Well we are very proud of Carving, so I’m really excited that people have been really loving this album. I can’t say really, its always a hard question to answer because you can’t say “well… because we’re badass”, haha. We just write music that we all love to listen to and play every night and hope that people enjoy it, so it looks like we are off to a great start haha.

Dan: Who does the album art? It’s very beautiful. You guys are a fan of sweeping landscapes, which always drives into my mind the fact that you’re from the American West.

Chris Letchford: We actually had a local photographer from Houston supply us with photos. I told him the name of the album, and he send me a bunch of pictures, and not digital ones, actually photographs. The “Carving Desert Canyons” cover was the very first photo when I opened the box, I said “thats the one”. Loved it that very second. We then had to get a high density scan of the negative as it was a real photograph so that we could edit and add fonts to the image for the cover. Our web guy, David Hopper handles all of our digital artwork needs. I basically send him the image and tell him what I was thinking for the fonts, text layout and poster ideas and he does it. I randomly found that guy but we share the exact same vision for final products so we work well together, he does great work. He made all of our websites as well, including the band page, myspace layouts and my personal website www.chrisletchford.com

Dan: Your song titles, in general, seem to be as sweeping and adventurous as your music and album art. I think it works well to set the mood. Is this intentional, or do you guys just throw random names on, based on what sounds cool (sort of the Liquid Tension method, hehe).

Chris Letchford: Its intentional for sure. We write the songs first, then we sit back and talk about what we see in our head when we listen to it or what types of moods we get out of it. We spend a lot of time on it actually to pick the perfect names for each song. Just a minute ago we were all discussing names for some of our newest songs, for our next full length.

Dan: I really think this fits really well with your music, listening to it feels like an adventurous thrill ride through “purple mountain majesties” and stuff like that. Would you guys say this is the intention?

Chris Letchford: Yes, definitely. All of the music we are writing is went to have the adventurous/epic/emotional feel to it. Thats why we call it “Adventure Metal”.

Dan: A lot of people like to throw genre labels around when describing Scale the Summit’s music, but what do you guys see it as? Personally, a simple “progressive metal” or “metal fusion” works for me.

Chris Letchford: Those two definitely work, but sadly they are over used now so when you hear it, to many people will take it different ways. We like to use the term “Progressive” for the actually definitely of “forever changing”, which is how our music is. Its so over used now that people say they are a progressive band, when its not at all what they are. We started “Adventure Metal” for our sound and we have “Their Strings Are Voices” as our trademark as well.

Dan: What sort of music are you guys into, what influences you all? Don’t spare us any details!

Chris Letchford: Bands and artists that I’m really liking right now are, Guthrie Govan, Bireli Lagrene, Dream Theater, Liquid Tension, Necrophagist, Sights & Sounds, Passion Pit (which may seem to be an odd ball here, haha), Monte Montgomery, Opeth, and Eric Johnson.

Dan: How did Mike Portnoy contact you guys to invite you to ProgNation?

Chris Letchford: He had his manager call our label. I got that call from our label randomly on a Friday watching tv at home, being bummed that we weren’t touring that summer. I

couldn’t believe, I didn’t even know he had a copy of our album. It was the best news I have ever got. They asked “do you guys want to do it?”. I was sitting there going “hell yeah”, hang up on me and call them back. Haha!

Dan: I must admit I was hugely disappointed that Beardfish and Pain of Salvation had to drop out of the tour, because they are two of my favorite bands, but after I bought Scale the Summit’s two albums I started to feel a lot better, because I knew that THIS was what was replacing them! Eventually I was just sad that you guys only had about a half hour to play, but I suppose there were some big time constraints, with four bands playing. Anyway, what was it like for YOU GUYS to play on the same stage with Dream Theater?

Chris Letchford: Not only to play with them every night, but getting to know all of those guys and the guys in the Zappa band was awesome. All very nice and super talented people. It was the best tour to date for us and will probably be for a very long time. Not only were the shows awesome, but having Prog Nation catered everyday was a highlight for sure. We show up at the venue, someone else unloads our gear while we go inside and eat off rows and rows of food haha. As for the set times, yes, very strict 30 minute sets for both of the first two bands. We just went out to the DT/Iron Maiden show in Houston to see them. It was awesome seeing them again and hanging with them like friends, instead of just fans. Having them asking us how we are doing and what we’re up to made us all feel important haha. It was interesting seeing them play in the daylight, opening for a bigger band, as they have been headlining for 20 years and that was the spot we were in just last year.

Dan: What were some personal highlights of the tour? Also, what was your favorite venue, so far? I was at the Asbury Park show, by the way.

Chris Letchford: Haha, Ashbury Park was probably the worst show on the tour, not that we played bad but that place is not a venue, so the sound was just terrible. My favorite show on that tour was at Bell Centre Arena in Montreal. Not only did I think I played my best that day but that place was huge and the crowd was insane. First time in Montreal for us and wow they made us feel welcome. Pretty much all of the cities made us feel amazing though, we received standing ovations at 99% of all of the venues. It felt great, not at all what I expected when the tour started.

Dan: It seems like ProgNation was a pretty big door-opener for Scale the Summit, as you guys recently finished a tour with Cynic, Devin Townsend, and Between the Buried and Me. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a ride to see you guys this time. How was that tour? I would definitely have loved to see Scale the Summit and Cynic!

Chris Letchford: That tour was awesome as well. 20 of the 25 shows were sold out in advance. The crowds on those shows were just as awesome and made us feel great. Plus, we were sharing a tour bus on that tour with BTBAM, so not having to drive was awesome as we just slept all night while on the way to the next venue. Very spoiling.

Dan: Does Scale the Summit have a new album planned for the future? I’m sure a lot of people are hoping for new material (me included!)

Chris Letchford: You bet we do! Im almost finished with all of the writing, think I only have one more solo to write. We are planning to enter the studio this October with an early 2011 release date. Thats about all I can say on that.

Dan: What does the future look like in general for the band? Any more big tours with big names?

Chris Letchford: Nothing right now, we are just home writing. We have a short tour starting while I write this as we make our way out to Make Music Pasadena festival in southern Cali. Other than that we are just concentrating on the new album, but there will be lots of touring starting early next year and possibly this winter.

Dan: What sort of equipment do you guys use to play live and in the studio?

Chris Letchford: We use the same equipment that we play with live, in the studio, for the most part. I play my Sherman 7 and 8 string guitars, Travis uses the Pertrucci signature 7 strings, Jordan plays a Peavey Cirrus 6 string, and Pat will be using his new custom Tama kit, Vic Firth sticks, and TRX cymbals. Me and Travis are both using Mesa Boogie Mark V’s and Mesa cabs… and in about a week we’ll be starting to work on our Fractal Axe EFX Ultra’s.

Dan: I think I’m about done with my questions: is there anything you guys would like to add?

Chris Letchford: To make sure and check us out on the road and stay tuned for our next album, due out early 2011!

Dan: To conclude, I must ask: is Scale the Summit a fan of dogs?

Chris Letchford: We are. I’m actually raising a brindle Great Dane right now, he is about 4 months old and weighs 37 freaking pounds, he is going to be a monster!

Dan: Thanks again for agreeing to do the interview!

Chris Letchford: Thanks for having me!

Fornost Arnor – Escaping the Abyss

I’ve been following this band for a while and have to say that I was absolutely amazed when first listened to the samples of this album they have on their Myspace. I like to think these guys might open for Enslaved or Opeth one day, as they are very close to those bands musically, and I think it would be a great show.

Fornost Arnor successfully blends Black/Death Metal with acoustic elements, as Opeth does as well, so you can assume that the vocals are done in scream/growl manner with clean vocals mixed in. It should be noted, however, that this band is not a rip-off of Opeth/Enslaved bands, as they sound very new, fresh and interesting. Although this album has been released officially in 2009, I got my hands on this release recently and I was very happy.

I will not waste our time on historical facts about the band, as there are links below where you can find all that information about them. So let’s focus on the music.

Escaping the Abyss contains eight tracks with a total duration of over 50 minutes. Complex in structure, with many rhythm changes, vocal lines that flow from growls and screams to cleans, which could be done better, in my opinion, but I’m sure the guys will improve that aspect, as it’s obvious they posess great potential and there is for sure enough space for further progress. The music on Escaping the Abyss IS progressive, just in case those terms like Black/Death Metal, screams and growls scared you. The fact is that this album’s nucleus is in the Black Metal, but that doesn’t have to mean a thing until you don’t hear the music.

I Am Misery. The experienced listeners of Black Metal would say that the title of this song fits well with BM standards (don’t ask me why). And it starts like that, hits right ahead from the beginning. I would make a parallel with some of the works of recent Norwegian BM bands, but there’s not time for that, Fornost Arnor steps further and shows their talent for melody, in the shape of perfectly done guitar solo and for the first time clean vocals. Acoustic guitars are one of the best performed instruments in this track and that remains the same for the rest of the record.

A Trance of Madness. Is a trance of madness, a song that’s distinguished mostly with mid-tempo structure, I like the acoustics very much in this one, but I’m sure headbangers will find it interesting too, as there is a riffing work which goes well with that.

If The Trees Could Only Speak… First time I’ve heard this song, I thought it was pretty much done in a Satyricon style, especially the latter’s newer releases. At least the song’s beginning made me think that way, but then all comes to the right place, scream-clean vocals blending, as well as acoustic-electric guitars exchanges. This song is one of the pillars of the album

Her Face in the Water. It’s a ballad, hell yes. This band shows that they are not just a bunch of guys willing to nail you down with aggressive riffs and blast-beats, but to show that they know music. This song is adorned with very nice acoustic passages, and the clean vocals are done really well here.

Gravity Defied. If the previous song was in general calm piece that ends with nice acoustic (decomposing), this one starts to hit you right in the head from its beginning. The

vocals are “where growls become screams”, strong riffing guitar work and interesting guitar harmonies above, discontinuous drum beats that go all over slow doomy parts to blastbeats, these are some of the highlights.

Strength of the Heart. Starts as a truly Black Metal track with all needed elements such, fast riff changes and scream vocals, a real homage to the best of this genre. The guitar solo that flows on this one is characteristic for a Death metal bands and as an another indicator of progressiveness, the ending part of this song brings another acoustic passage with an electric guitar solo over it and clean vocals. A good example how to make a song that contains Black, Death and Progressive elements in it.

Falling into the Arms of Sorrow. This is a short instrumental, an ambient and calm piece which opens the door for the final and longest track on the album. I will make a comparison with Opeth once again, just because I see this piece as what “Patterns in the Ivy” is for Opeth’s “Blackwater Park”, and everything fits well to that. Almost the same song lengths as well, but still different and very good.

The Tragedy of Delusion. Then, this is Fornost Arnor’s Blackwater Park (song). As I said above this is the longest track on the album and my favorite. Not because of its length (to avoid that kind of cliché), but because of its quality. Now you can guess that this song contains the best of all previous tracks, and you guess right. If you ask me how to describe The Tragedy of Delusion, I’ll simply say: well, it’s the very best of Escaping the Abyss. The only change, if I may say like that, on this song is the use of female vocals, which fit great with everything presented in this track.

The good thing about this album is that with every listening of it, you can find out some new element which will make you say WOW! Now, if I succeeded in making you interested in Fornost Arnor and their album, and if you like to experiment with variety of genres, you should really try this album. The best would be if you don’t have any expectations for this album and as a result of it, you will be amazed like me and say your first WOW to this band, and this great album.

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Gerben Klazinga, A Knight in the Sphere

Prog Sphere’s collaborator Nemanja had a short chitchat with Knight Area mainman, Gerben Klazinga. Check out this FAQ interview.

RPWL – The Gentle Art of Music

A delightful 2-CD compilation album!!

Nowadays is not that easy to reach 10 successful years making good music, it is also more difficult within the progressive rock realm; this German band RPWL have achieved that goal this year, as some of you may know they started as a Pink Floyd cover band but later they managed to produce their own sound, Neo Prog oriented but with some symphonic and psychedelic influences in their music. And as a result of their tenth anniversary they decided to release this excellent album entitled “The Gentle Art of Music”, and wisely decided to make it a two-CD album, now I’ll tell you why I said wisely.

The first CD can be named “The Compilation CD” because it gathers songs from all their previous albums, those songs are some of their best and most recognized ones and that would be an excellent starting point for anyone who is new to RPWL’s music. A thing that I would like to mention, because I liked a lot, is that they decided to put the songs in chronological order, so as the tracks are passing, you will appreciate the band in their different eras, like a great retrospective. This can be noticed when you see that tracks 1 and 2 belong to their debut “God Has Failed” album, tracks 3 and 4 out of their “Trying to Kiss the Sun”, tracks 5 and 6 from “Stock”, tracks 7 and 8 belong to “World Through My Eyes”, track 9 comes from their limited edition album called “9″, so I believe they chose in purpose that track number, and the last two tracks of this first CD are from “The RPWL Experience”. So what more can you ask here, it is a (maybe brief) but excellent taste of all their albums. Highlights from this first disc are “Home Again”, “Roses”, “3 Lights” and “Silenced”

And the second CD, which is called “The Revisited Album”, is not that classic compilation album; I mean it is not a “The Best of”, but a curious and very interesting selection of classic RPWL tracks with new arrangements and guest musicians, these are different versions, to be clearer. Some examples are “Sleep” where you can listen to a kind of eastern or Indian touch; “Moonflower” as a delicious Brazilian ballad, an outstanding version of “World Through My Eyes”, with again some Indian instruments that add a very special flavor to the sound; or “Bound to Reach the End”, with some violins over there creating a nice mood.

This second disc also features two new RPWL tracks, “Watching the World”, which is just a nice and catchy song that follows the same verse-chorus-verse structure, with some nice guitar over there but without being an innovative piece of music. The other track is “Cake” which has a kind of alternative rock flavor, it is also a catchy song but much more enjoyable than the previously analyzed, it has a great keyboard sound and a happy feeling.

So “The Gentle Art of Music” is an excellent 10 anniversary album from RPWL, an album that I have really enjoyed since the very first listen, a very good album from those who already know (and like) the band, and also good for those who barely know their music.

Enjoy it!

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Torstein Lofthus, a blackjazzer

I’m not really sure what a “blackjazzer” is, but it seemed like a cool thing to call a member of Shining, who just released their album Blackjazz, which blends death metal, jazz, and prog. Anyway, we talked to Torstein Lofthus, the band’s drummer, about his work with the band, his other projects (such as Elephant9) as well as his influences and some other stuff.

Nick: Hey Torstein. How are you doing? I’m gonna “canvas the area” of your musical background, so better prepare yourself for this “examination”, hehe. So, “Blackjazz” is being released for some time now and I have to say that this album has gathered up pretty high ratings. Are you satisfied how this turned out? Please tell us more about creating, as well as recording process of “Blackjazz”.

Torstein: We are all very satisfied with the way it turned out. We started the process maybe 1,5 years before the record was released, by rehearsing new songs and playing them live. This way we were well prepared when we got into the studio, and could keep the “live-feel” on the tracks. The process was also propelled by a collaboration with the Norwegian Metal band Enslaved with whom we did a commissioned work for Molde international Jazz festival 2008. It was called the armageddon concerto. Some of the tunes on our record is from that work. As for the studio process we tracked in 3 different studios: one in Spydeberg in Norway, one in out in the woods in Sweden, and also at Jørgens home studio. It was Mixed in USA by Sean Beavan and Mastered there as well. That by the way has been of utmost importance for the records sound and success.

Nick: I have an opinion that “Blackjazz” is heavier than anything you’ve put out to date. Much more experimentation, this album brings out probably the most extreme sound you could pull out yourselves. Do you agree?

Torstein: Yes, until our next record…

Nick: The title of the album itself is nice choice, in my opinion and the fact is that it reflects to the album’s atmosphere. Who came up with this title? It sounds pretty much like a genre label, so would we be wrong if consider Shining playing “blackjazz”?

Torstein: It was something we discussed when we were out in the woods in Sweden. The idea was to set a name on the music we played, and make it the name of our record. Just like the Ornette Coleman record Free Jazz, or Venom´s “Black Metal”. Up until then everyone asked what music we played, and we could not answer, but now we can: We play Black Jazz.

Nick: Basically, the music you play is described simple as avant-garde, as you mix jazz, metal and progressive rock. This looks very “multicolored” and I’m interested to know about your influences, as influences of other members of the band.

Torstein: We are a unit of many different influences which make up the sound of the band. All of the members have very broad musical tastes, and have also studied music and learned to appreciate may different kinds of music. I will mention a list of in some way or another important influences for different members off the band:

Pantera
Slayer
Dillinger Escape Plan
Sun O)))
Miles Davis
John Coltrane
Michael Brecker
Steps Ahead
Led Zeppelin
Deep Purple
Black Sabbath
Ligeti
Messiaen
Atomic
Paul Simon
Frank Zappa
Albert Ayler
Ornette Coleman
Meshuggah
Marilyn Manson
Nine Inch Nails
Fredrik Thordendal
Emperror

Nick: “Fisheye” is a song which has been chosen to be single from “Blackjazz” and it’s interesting because of many rhythm changes, as well as of Jørgen’s vocals, which vary from whispers to screams. Seems like you’ve been influenced by so called “math metal”, the bands such are Genghis Tron / The Dillinger Escape Plan?

Torstein: That’s true. We have all listened quite a bit to Dillinger Escape Plan. We like their rhythmic complex music mixed with the extreme energy that they put out. We are also heavily influenced by the Swedish band Meshuggah.

Nick: “Blackjazz Deathrance” – a simply question would be: do I hear Meshuggah in this one? Or Ministry? Not that I’m trying to make you feel guilty or something, by mentioning all these bands, all I want is to emphasize that your music varies from Ennio Morricone, over Frank Zappa to the most extreme of already mentioned Meshuggah.

Torstein: Thanks! We have a lot of quotes in our music too. A part of “Exit sun” is a quote of a Meshugah tune, and the crazy rhythm part in the middle of Healter Skelter has quotes from Messiaen etc etc… Black jazz Death trance was derived out of a composition Jørgen wrote for the armageddon concerto with Enslaved, and it just went crazier and crazier as time went on…

Nick: Since the beginnings you’ve been influenced by King Crimson, if I’m not wrong, thus it was just a matter of time when you’ll put “21st Century Schizoid Man” cover on your album and I’m glad because of that, just because you’re the band which performance of this song shouldn’t be questioning. What’s your opinion on covering songs? In thise one you’ve added your cognizable stamp and Grutle Kjellson of Enslaved did great work on vocals.

Torstein: We don’t usually do covers, but we started doing this one when the Norwegian radio broadcast had a series of programs in which Norwegian bands and artists did their own version of songs that had meant much to them. We had, believe it or not, not heard much Crimson before, but our guitar player at the time, Even Hermansen, suggested that we should play this song. It worked out great, and it has stayed on our live repertoire ever since. This time we decided also to put it on reels…
We have always been seen as a heavily King crimson influenced band, but the truth is that we started listening to them after everyone talked about how influenced we were. Obviously the comparison is not wrong, and it has to do with our mix of jazz, rock and prog, and the instrumentation in our band. That said: We all love Crimson now.

Nick: Let’s talk a bit of the song titles, which are interesting, as there’s a song containing Morse codes in its title, then “gibberish phrase” of Asa Nisi Masa, etc. It would be nice if you’d give us a short info of some of the song titles. Who comes up with these titles? Also what would it mean “Goretex Weather Report”? I guess you were probably alluding to fusion jazz band Weather Report? Speaking of them, do you like them? Favorite album?

Torstein: The Morse code is BACH, as in Johann Sebastian Bach. The tune is influenced by him. Asa Nisi Masa is a kind of magic spell from a film. It is a quote from the Fellini’s movie “8 1/2″. Goretex, I’m not sure about. Jørgen comes up with the titles, as he writes the tunes. I like Weather Report. My favourite record is their double live album: 8:30´s… Just got it on vinyl!

Nick: Please tell us something more about Armageddon Concerto. You have been touring Europe together with Enslaved in 2007, Moldejazz threw their eyes on that and…

Torstein: …and asked us to come up with a commissioned work for the festival in 2008. It was a great experience, and it took a lot of work and organizing to pull off. But we made it! We also did the same concerto at the Roadburn festival this year. Enslaved are great guys, and fun to hang around as well as make music with. Their thing is simple long structures consisting of simple themes and parts which build slowly to a climax with adding more and more elements, or instruments doubling the various themes. Our music is the opposite with lots of quick changes between different complex parts in each tune, and more craziness. It was a perfect match for that concert. Two opposite meets and make something new.  Both bands are very different, but share the same fascination for progressive music.

Nick: Can we expect such Shining / Enslaved joint-venture in some time soon? I don’t know many such joints dwelling out there, besides Karmakanic / Agents of Mercy collaboration, if you know them. Which two or more bands would you like to perform on same stage in the same time?

Torstein: We haven’t thought about that yet. Shining and Enslaved have no concrete plans for collaboration in the future, but who knows? Other bands? Mastodon maybe? Or something completely different… The Norwegian Radio-broadcast orchestra? Time will show. Right now we are concentrating on ourselves.

Nick: You are in Shining since it’s forming and it’s been more than 10 years now. How would you describe the band’s course for all this time? You passed all the way from being an acoustic jazz quintet to an extreme avant-garde act.

Torstein: We started in 1999. Jørgen had booked a jazz gig in his hometown, and needed some musicians to perform with. He went trough the corridors of the state academy and picked a piano player, a bass player and yours truly on drums. We had never played together before, but it was instantly a good musical chemistry, so it worked out great from the start. I hadn’t played much jazz before then, but I had been listening a lot to the Miles-quintet of the late sixties, and really liked the music there. I thought that Shining was a great band to play this kind of music with. We recorded two albums as a jazz group: “Where the ragged people go”, and “Sweet shanghai devil”, both recorded at the state academy with only two mics in the room, Very dogmatic… Our first record had clear Coltrane references, but on the second we managed to turn it into our own thing in some way. Then we toured a lot and started using electronicl instruments like Rhodes and electric bass both for practical and musical reasons. When it was time to record a new album we went away from the dogmatic Coltrane sound with two mics in the room, and created just the opposite: A typical studio production with lots of other instruments and utilizing of all the possibilities modern technology has to offer. We took the consequence of all the members actually having a pop/rock background. A producer was also central in our development into an “art-rock” band: Kaare Christoffer Vestrheim. He produced our two next records: “In the kingdom of kitch you will be a monster” and “Grindstone”. Our latest release “Black jazz” is produced by Jørgen in collaboration with Sean Beavan. During our career our own thing has crystallized more and more, and the culmination of this development you will find at “Black jazz”. Different members of the band has come and gone as the music has changed, but the lineup we have today is the best one ever!

Nick: What were the reasons for changing label? You’re now under Indie Recordings, an eminent label when it comes to metal (especially black metal oriented) bands. Are you content with them?

Torstein: We were at Rune Gramofon before. That is a great label, but it is a little bit small for our ambitions. We wanted a label with bigger ambitions and a clearer metal profile who would work their ass of to promote us. We found that label in Indie, and we are very satisfied.

Nick: It’s time for asking questions of the other projects you’ve been or you are involved. As far as I know you’ve contributed with many musicians, such Marit Larsen, Maria Mena, Torun Eriksen, Kurt Nilsen, Maria Solheim to mention some. Would you mind telling us a bit more? (I’m intentionally leaving out Elephant9, as I love to leave “delicacies” for the end )

Torstein: I’ve always been a pop/beat oriented drummer at heart, but with a broad musical taste. Although I’ve always listened to jazz, I didn’t really play any of it before I started at the Norwegian state academy of music. There we formed Shining, and that was kind of the start of my playing jazz.  I was freelancing a lot during the years at school with different pop-acts and had a good time with that. Still do actually, both as a jazz- and pop musician. I enjoy the diversity of my musical life, and wouldn’t be without it for any reason. The only difficult thing with it is logistics… I have to mention another band in which Jørgen and me plays: Chrome Hill. This band consists of Asbjørn Lerheim who composes the tunes, the great bass player Roger Arntzen, Jørgen on sax and me on drums. We have released one record: “Earthlings” (2008). It’s a great record, and if you like Shining and Elephant9 I think you will like this band. It’s kind of cowboyish jazz with a rock attitude, or maybe rock with a cowboy-jazz attitude etc… Here’s two links: http://www.chromehill.no/livedates.html,  http://www.myspace.com/chromehill,

Nick: And now, Elephant9! I have to say that you guys are one of my bigger revelations in last time, I remember I couldn’t revive myself after first time of listening to “DodoVoodoo”, and “Walk the Nile” just cemented you being my new favorite. Tell me everything about Elephant9? How did it start? Influences? From A to Z, please!

Torstein: Thanks! I started Elephant9 when I took my masters degree in jazz at the Norwegian State Academy of Music. Musically Ihave always loved anything that came out of the late sixties and the early seventies. Both in the jazz/fusion field (Miles, Mahavishnu, Return to Forever, Weather Report etc…) and the rock field (Deep Purple, Hendrix, Zeppelin etc..) At the time I was heavily into the early seventies live recordings of the bitches brew material from Miles Davis. Albums like “Black Beauty” and “Live at Fillmore” was heavily rotated at home. I wanted a band that built its music up the same way, with long collective improvisations based on riffs and ques with short composed phrases. I also always wanted to play with Nikolai (bass player in Elephant9) as he also is rooted in this area of music. The perfect keyboard player for a unit like this would of course be Ståle Storløkken with his improvisational expertise and sonic universe. I called them, and we had two rehearsals and played a concert. Mostly old Miles/Zawinul material at the time. It worked out so well that we decided to continue as a band. We did some gigs now and then, and then we recorded our first record. We went into the studio, took about three takes of each tune without listening to them afterwards. Tried to capture the raw live energy on tape. If you listen too much back on it in the recording-process you start picking on things that really is not that important in the big picture, and you can end up doing take after take and loose all the energy. We didn’t want that to happen, so therefore we did it this way. On our second album we produced it a little bit more, but we still had focus on keeping the live energy in there. On both albums we recorded everything directly to tape in an analogue studio in Oslo. Our engineer Christian Engfeldt was central in realizing our sonic vision, and creating the pre-digital raw sound of these two records.

Nick: I have to say that this Hammond driven music you present with Elephant9 fits very well with me. I will try to get Ståle for an interview, as I kinda can hear influences of Bo Hansson in his playing. At the other side you’ve done some pretty nice drumwork on these two albums. Which drummers are your influences? Besides, which artists/bands have influenced you so far?

Torstein: Drummers who have influenced me are John Bonham, Ian Paice, Mitch Mitchell, Tony Williams, Ronnie Tutt, Elvin Jones, Jack DeJohnette, Buddy Rich, Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave Weckl, Jeff Porcaro, Abe Laboriel Jr, Per Lindvall, Steve Jordan, Ringo Starr, Bernhard Purdie and last but certainly not least my biggest hero of them all: Steve Gadd.
Bands which have influenced me are Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Weather Report, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Beatles, Meshuggah, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and so on..

Nick: I just got an idea, as I am listening to Elephant9 and I already mentioned Bo Hansson. You and Ståle could make some project like Hansson & Karlsson have used to work on. That would be interesting. What are you saying?

Torstein: MAYBE? I must admit that I’m not too familiar with the work of Hansson and Karlsson, but checked them out on MySpace, and they had a nice sound! Let’s see what time brings

Nick: What are your all-time favorite albums? And also, how would look the perfect line-up, in your opinion? Classic line-up, consisted of vocals/guitars/keys/drums/bass, but you may add any “non-standard” instrument if you like?

Torstein: All-time favourites? Difficult, but just to pick some records out of the pile:

Physical Graffiti – Led Zeppelin

Black Beauty – Miles Davis

Unmasked – Kiss

Songs in the Key of Life – Stevie Wonder

A Love Supreme – John Coltrane

When it comes to line-ups it depends so much on chemistry that a theoretical “super- group” usually doesn’t work. That said, MilesDavis was a master in creating dream-constellations of not-yet known musicians. The late sixties quartet with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, or the later bands with Chick Corea, Jack deJohnette, Keith Jarret etc… If these bands would have been formed today when they are all stars that maybe would have been the ultimate super-groups.

My dream constellations already exist on records:

Plant, Page, Jones and Bonham.

McCartney, Lennon, Harrison, Starr.

Davis, Williams, Carter, Hancock and Shorter.

The list goes on and on… These are bands in which each member’s signature is equally important to make up the bands identity. Take out one member and it wouldn’t be magic. Beatles would not be the great band that it was if we replaced Ringo with another drummer, even if it was a better one. It’s all about chemistry, taste and sound.

Nick: I’m out off my questions. Is there anything what would you like to say?

Torstein: Check out my other project Chrome Hill! Otherwise, 19 questions should cover the most important things.

Nick: Thanks for the interview, Torstein. Hope you enjoyed answering some questions Keep up good work!

Torstein: Thanks! You too!

Finnegans Wake – The Bird and the Sky Above

Open your mind and let this music take you into their realm!

Is what I would suggest if you happen to listen to this album, because its sounds and colors lead you to another place, it speaks for itself.

Finnegans Wake are a Belgian band which started back in 1993, and so far they have released six albums, being the one I am reviewing their newest effort. During those years, they suffered a sensible lost when Jean-Louis Aucremanne left the band. However despite some changes they continued composing and releasing albums, they have really succeeded.

This album called “The Bird and the Sky Above” has been just released this 2010, though it was recorded in 2009 in Brazil, where Henry Krutzen (who can be named as the ban’s leader) lives; and part of it recorded in Switzerland, because there is a new member of the band, new here but a veteran within the progressive realm, Markus Stauss, who adds his bass sax to this new Finnegans Wake album.

So the album is divided in 6 great compositions, all of them make one song (The Bird and the Sky Above) but each part has its own name. The album lasts 44 minutes, so relax, make yourself comfortable and enjoy the music.

Part 1: Still Dreaming A flute appears over there and it is continually sounding, but every now and then there are some other noises that help the song creating a very “nature” sound, I mean you little by little are attracted and swallowed by the music, which leads you to another world. In this first composition, you can also appreciate some piano, a sax, percussion and a trumpet, the instruments are having a chat, it all of a sudden turns into a heavier conversation, but then it slows down and finishes very tranquil.

Part 2: First Flight You may think you are still on part one when a drum appears and turns to the second part. The sound is practically the same but now you can imagine things, you can take the songs titles and create a vision of a bird which was first dreaming but now it is awake and about to fly, you can see that it is trying to fly but maybe there is something that it wants to do before spreading its wings, I don’t know, every person can create its own story. The music is beautiful, the instruments used here are practically the same, but there are moments where you listen to them and every single note transmits you something.

Part 3: Walking on the Ground Then like a split second, the music stops and drums make the pass to the third part. This is the shortest song and it is basically led by percussions, there are some strange noises but drums are what really move this track. A very nice short piece.

Part 4: Stealing on the Picnic Table Since the very beginning of this part you will notice a different atmosphere, some sax and trumpet that will bring the RIO term to your mind

immediately. Here you can remember your previous story of the bird and continue with your thoughts; the title of the part is the key because based on that, you can manage to reproduce that imaginative story that is being told in your mind. I love how the music can share several colors and textures, and also bring to your mind different feelings, it happens because of its constant changes, it sounds soft, calm and relaxing, but all of a sudden a dramatic mood change appears, the instruments are played faster and louder, but then again they calm down, however this piece ends with a dark atmosphere.

Part 5: Dark Clouds Fly bird, fly as fast as you can! It is what I imagine here due to the tremendous start of this song, it is like a thunder passing when you don’t expect it. This fifth part is the longest one with more than 13 minutes of exquisite, weird and challenging music. This same song can also be divided in parts and I would say it would perfectly fit in a short film; the role of the bird and its actions has transformed the musicians, so they are part of the story and what they play is just a resemblance of what they are seeing. You can notice that when a nervous piano starts playing, or when the saxophone produce some thoughtful or reflective sounds, or even when a gentle flute is blowing in the wind, amazing. Then, around 10:40 the music stops and seconds later soft piano notes along with that gentle flute appears, seems that the storm (if it was one) finished and the bird is preparing to something new.

Part 6: Infinite Background The last part of the album and its story, again, let your imagination run and create your own world, and invent the life of that bird who wants to fly and live easy, exploring the world and even exploring itself. In this song there is a strong percussion base, which is also accompanied by piano notes that appear here and there, but also you can appreciate a saxophone sound in different phases, I mean it sounds a bit heavier or stronger, even darker, but then it is the other way around, soft, tranquil and colorful. The last seconds are like an ellipsis, the story may continue.

As you noticed, this album is magical and I feel lucky to have it and appreciate it, though I don’t really think it could be considered a progressive rock masterpiece, what it created on me is something special that not any album shares,  I really recommend it.

Enjoy it!

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Viola Falb from Pulp Fiction

Here comes one of my latest musical revelations, an Austrian acoustic jazz band named Falb Fiction, led by young saxophonist Viola Falb. I became interested in this band after I was introduced to this year’s program of the Nishville Jazz Festival. Read on and find out what Viola says about the band, its connection with cult movie Pulp Fiction, her influences and so on.

Nick: Hi, Viola. Thank you for having time to answer some questions.

Viola: It´s my pleasure!

Nick: First of all, introduce us the band Falb Fiction. “Falb” is your last name, thus it comes that you’ve gathered musicians around you to express yourself through music, if I’m right? Would you mind telling us about your musical background, as well as education?

Viola: You´re right. Falb is my last name… We were searching for a band name and then a friend of us had this great idea. I still like the name because it of course shows that most of the music is composed by myself and that it’s open for all influences. I met my bandkolleges in Vienna – we were all studying here… We played some gigs together and I really enjoy the way those guys are interpreting my music and my ideas. Of course those are my compositions but we discuss the arrangement together and try different things and then we all together decide which version is the best for us…

Nick: Falb Fiction is name that completely leaves an image of the band, and I have to admit that I was wondering why you didn’t name your band as Viola Falb Band or Viola Falb Quintet, something alike. Did you want to create a “bandish” atmosphere around you, leaving yourself out of the focus? Also, does name of the band has anything to do with cult movie Pulp Fiction, as I can’t sweep off an impression to compare these two?

Viola: Yes it’s right – I wanted to create a bandish atmosphere, because every musician characterizes the band. If I play with somebodyelse it would sound different… And for meband names like Viola Falb Quartet are not very creative and don’t give you any imagination of the music. With Falb Fiction most of the people start to think – like you – does it have anything to do with the movie? What does it mean? And I really like graphic visuals (like the letter F looks good for me – V wouldn’t be that good) and I like alliteration (F – alb F – iction – double F). The comparison with the movie happened because the name is nearly the same (some people still call my band pulp fiction) and I like the movie… So we found the name, realized that everybody will say – Oh that’s pulp fiction – and then I said: that works for me, because the movie somehow tells the same story as our music does… We have many different styles (jazz, free, groove, …), we put them all together and create a concert where everything is possible…

Nick: How much other members of the band are involved in creating process? How did you get in touch when it came to forming Falb Fiction? Please tell us something more about them.

Viola: Long time ago I got some Jazz Standards Background gigs… Well paid. I was at the beginning of my jazz studies and not very confident on the kind of music (started to study classical saxophone) but for those gigs I decided to get some good musicians, nearly at my age… I only knew Christian Wendt by name and Herbert Pirker told me – ask him, he’s a good bass player… So I did and it harmonized really well from the beginning. The same happened with Philipp…We all had been in the same scene in Vienna. Then we recorded a demo – CD for my studies in Berlin and there we recorded two of my tunes and the rehearsing, playing and recording was so great that I decided to form an ensemble… That was a great decision… How much I involve them to the creating process is very different – sometimes I know exactly how the tune should sound – so everything is clear… But at the moment (we are rehearsing for our new album recording in September) I have some fragments of the song, we play that, everybody tells what he is thinking about it, we’re trying new ideas, until we all found our way to interpret that tune… I like that!

Nick: You’ve released two albums so far named “Waiting For” and “Lost Control”, emphasizing diverse and multi-layered compositions with a lot of improvisation over variety of different styles. Hope I didn’t fail with this description. At least, would you help me to describe your music?

Viola: Good description… Describing is always hard… For me the composition is very important, I usually don’t write a theme and then there are the solos over the changes and then again theme… So nearly every song has a story or a feeling I want to tell… For example Hitzekoller is dedicated to Hans Koller a great Austrian saxophonist (died 2003) and there I tried to write kind of lines as he did, also the arrangement of the song… Devil’s Dance was a time when I was listening a lot to Balkan music… Tried to get the feeling and mix it with my own imagination… I usually try to mix the styles and having a lot of improvisation, because we love to play it and I’m feeling like that “variousity” describes my music, my band and also myself…

Nick: “Lost Control” is an album with very interesting title if we compare it with the musicpresented on the album itself. Not that I’m trying to say that you’ve lost control literally, but loosing the control inside an artistically apprehension of that music. Do you have any comment on this?

Viola: One journalist wrote once: “lost control – an album where bandleader Viola Falb has everything in her hands…” the name can say a lot I think: especially for me it doesn’t mean that you’re out of control and crazy and stuff like that… It means more that it’s not totally controlled, I let it fly and see what happens… There are some songs with free parts and there I really let it happen. That’s not always easy for me, because usually I want to have a special feeling or build up of the song – not here, everything can happen here, out of my control (parts of the music)… And I liked the words and the meaning (my visual and graphic mind liked it too…)

Nick: An impression I had by listening to “Lost Control” is that you’re a band which tries to connect elementary jazz with contemporary form of it. Is that something what you want to express?

Viola: For me composing is always a way of searching and trying… And of course I tried to find a way to connect these two parts in some songs… But still I search for new forms and combinations… It’s so exciting what comes next.

Nick: I have to admit that I became interested in Falb Fiction after I was introduced to this year’s program of Nishville Jazz Festival, as the organizers has popped out with your name. I don’t know how the situation with your concernment is, but I truly hope that you will be playing on this festival. If so, what can we expect from your appearance?

Viola: YEAH, we’re playing!!! And we can’t wait to play there!!! On Sunday 15^th of august… You will hear some new songs, songs I composed when I was staying in New York this year, there I had a lot of time to try new things and we already rehearsed some parts of it and we love it – hopefully you do too. And of course the hits from our last 2 albums…

Nick: As far as I am concerned you involved in some other musical projects/bands, besides playing with Falb Fiction. Would you tell us something about it?

Viola: You’re right – there are some… I’m also playing in a saxophone quartet which is called PHOEN – there we’re playing original compositions of all bandmembers and we released our first CD in May 2010… it’s a great music, because as a saxophone quartet you’re always in between – you’re not belonging to jazz, and not to classical chamber music… that’s hard at first, because you have to situate yourself, but at the moment we enjoy having our style… www.phoen.at

Another important formation is KITSCH & GLORY,  with Maria Augustin – a duo, where I play bassclarinet and accordion… That was abig challenge for me at the beginning, because I’ve never played the accordion, but we’re having a lot of fun there, because we’ve met on our first day at the university and got best friends… Maria sings and plays flute and working with loops and sounds… www.myspace.com/kitschandglory

Nick: What’s your opinion on fusion jazz? Do you have favorite bands coming from this genre, perhaps? Weather Report or Return to Forever? As you are a saxophonist, it’s indispensable to ask if you have favorite saxophonist which work you appreciate very much.

Viola: I didn’t listen a lot to fusion jazz… I don’t know why, but it didn’t fascinate me as acoustic jazz did, but of course I like that kind of fusion like Weather Report and Return to Forever… Especially I love Wayne Shorter – in all different kind of contexts – with Miles, his quintet, Weather Report, with Joni Mitchell, and the music he is doing now… There are some other saxophonists I like… John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Eric Dolphy, David Liebman, Chris Potter,… There are a lot!

Nick: You may skip over this question if you already partially answered it, but I have to ask which artists/musicians have been influenced on your musical shaping?

Viola: I listened a lot to Dave Douglas, because he is for me a sound creator – he has so many different formations and everything sounds like Dave Douglas but they are playing different styles of music and instrumentation… I like his composing. It’s the same with Django Bates – I like his humorous art to compose… Music is not always earnest and grave, it can be sarcastic, funny,… Everytime he is showing that again to me and reminds me of not taking everything too serious… Then I love Ligeti, Strawinsky, Mahler, Bartok, Shostakovich,… and lots more!

Nick: What have you been listening to recently? Also, would you tell us what your all-time favorite albums are?

Viola: Recently I was listening to music of young people – like my age… To find out where the music is going, finding what I like, what I don’t like… Bands like for example Die Pilze, Transit Room, Andromeda Mega Express, Clemens Salesny,… My all time favourite albums: Wayne Shorter – Juju, Eric Dolphy – Out to Lunch, John Coltrane – My Favorite Things… Then Alasnoaxis – Habyor, Dejan Terzić – Underground, Django Bates – Winter Truce, Joni Mitchell – Travelogue, Dave Douglas – Mountain Passages,… There would be lots more…

Nick: Thank you, Viola. Hope to see you on already mentioned Nishville Jazz Festival this summer.

Viola: Thank you – hope to see you there in August…

Novus Rex – Plowshares into Swords

The literal translation of “Novus Rex” is “New King”. I think this name is pretty fitting.

I’m always on the lookout for new prog bands releasing new albums, so I was quite pleased when Mr. J.R. Fernandez of Novus Rex asked me to do a review of their recently released debut album Plowshares into Swords. I was even happier when I started listening and found out that I loved the album. This opus is not without its flaws, however. I’ll go more into detail on the music itself in a little bit, but first, some history.

Novus Rex is a band/project formed by the father/son duo J.R. and A.I. Fernandez. J.R. handles most of the keyboards, A.I. handles most of the guitars, bases and drums. Vocal duties seem to be split between them. J.R, the main composer, lists a wide variety of influences, from Pink Floyd to Chick Corea, to Genesis, to Mahavishnu Orchestra, to Gentle Giant. I would argue the symphonic prog connection is the strongest on this work, but there are smatterings of other styles as well.

In places the keyboards sound similar to the playing of Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon, in the way he plays very low-tuned Hammond organ. I get a distinct “metal keyboard” feel from this throughout the album, though this is certainly not a metal album. There are also some jazzy moments, where the Corea and Jan Hammer influences become apparent, but I feel like I’ve only started to notice those after listening to the album about ten times.

In short, the keyboards are the most important thing here, which is absolutely wonderful in my opinion. I absolutely adore keyboard-driven prog rock. It helps that J.R. happens to be an excellent keyboardist. There’s a lot of keyboards here, from the low-tuned hammonds (as described before), to regular-sounding hammonds, to spacy synths, to blistering  synths, to piano, etc. The rest of the instruments are excellent as well, I just feel like the keyboards deserve special mention because of how well they’re done. Also, I’m a bit biased because I have a special fondness for Hammond organs.

I mentioned flaws before, so I’ll detail them a bit here. Let me start by saying that these flaws are not very damaging to the album, it is quite excellent despite them. I should also point out that this sort of thing is by no means universal, and I’m sure most people will disagree with me completely. The flaw is this: the vocals. The vocals are done by both J.R. and A.I. from what I understand, as well as a guest who is apparently a friend of the band, who seems to have sadly passed away recently. With time I’ve gotten used to them, but it’s not like my relationship with Peter Hammill’s voice. That voice I grew to love, this voice I’ve grown to tolerate. I recommend any listeners who feel the same way I do about the vocals to do their best to not let them get in the way of the excellent music. I also hope most people do, in fact, enjoy the vocals, so that they only add to the excellent music!

Now for a quick rundown of each of the six tracks:

(Track lengths are listed on the bottom)

Look! It’s Coming – This track starts off slow but builds up a bit in time. This is the spaciest track on the album, and in my opinion, the most boring. Still pretty good, but it’s made worse (for me) because it contains some pretty annoyingly repetitive vocal work.

Old World News – Much better. This track is energetic, with plenty of excellent keyboard work. This song seems to be the “typical” style of the band, in my opinion, if only because the next song as well as the title track are similar to it. I mentioned it is a song, not an instrumental. Yes, there are vocals, but I don’t find them bad like in the first song. Perhaps a little dull, but not annoying and repetitive. The lyrics are pretty good, and I’ll discuss that a bit more later.

Truth Seeker – As I said, this track is similar to the last, which is a good thing. Excellent music, good lyrics, dull vocals. I suppose you can’t have everything, but “most” is pretty damn good.

Belteshazzar’s Dream – I’m not sure who Belteshazzar is, but this sounds like a pretty cool dream to have. This is by far my favorite track on the album. Why? It’s an instrumental! This doesn’t really have to do with the vocals on this particular album, I just happen to love music more than lyrics in general, it gives J.R. and A.I. more room to show us what they can do, and they seem to be happy to do so.

Plowshares Into Swords – Ah, the title track. I always insist upon a good title track, it looks good to have one lead the album aesthetically. I’m not really sure what that means, I guess I’m turning into one of those annoying art critics everyone hate so much. Anyway, this is my second favorite track on the album. Stylistically it’s similar t Old World News and Truth Seeker, but the playing seems to be a bit more intense and powerful. It’s difficult to describe, but I enjoy it quite a bit.

Locust Swarm – Thankfully it doesn’t SOUND like a swarm of locusts. Or, to keep up with current events, vuvuzelas. Less memorable than Belteshazzar’s Dream, but still quite good. I suppose since it’s also half the length that makes sense. Nonetheless, it’s an excellent closer to an excellent album.

One last mention, this time about the lyrics again. The album is a loose concept, which is not difficult to figure out if you read the lyrics – which are written in the band’s press packet, easy to find on their website. Or you can just find the spot on the site where J.R. describes what it’s about. In fact, that might be in the press packet too, I forget.

Basically, buy this record immediately if you like keyboard-driven symphonic-ish prog rock. Most people seem to, what with all the Yes and Genesis circle-jerking one sees on ProgArchives. You can buy it from the band’s website for eight USD. For eight bucks you’re getting 50 minutes of great music, and you’re supporting an up-and-coming prog band that I’m sure will release something even better in the future.

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