D’AccorD – Helike

Helike is the second album by Norway’s D’AccorD, formed, as they say themselves “…to capture the true essence of the early 70’s Progressive rock”, so they fall into that often divisive category of regressive rock.

Helike is a sunken city off the Greek coast and often tagged the “real” Atlantis, and this two track album is its story writ large.

Of the two songs (Part I and Part II), the second is the better as it contains many more interesting instrumental passages, and the instrumentation is fuller than the first part. The overall production sounds a bit thin, particularly the keyboards, and dominating proceedings is the voice of Daniel Måge, who tends towards a Hammill theatricality, but lends enough of his own phrasing to make his voice fairly unique. On Part I he sounds a bit strained in places, but comes across far better in Part II. The cover informs us that the songs and lyrics were written by Daniel, and that he mixed, recorded and co-produced the album! No wonder his voice is so forward in the mix, which sometimes is a shame as the music, especially on Part II bodes well for the future of the band should they decide to branch out a bit more from recreating 70s sounds.

The construction of the album with two songs of around twenty minutes each fits well into the 70s scheme of things, as does the music itself. With plenty of easily identifiable classic prog references this will appeal to fans of Wobbler and their ilk. However the band show enough of their own skill to indicate that they should have the confidence to create their own niche in the future.

Tracklist:
Helike Part I (20:44)
Helike Part II (23:30)

Line up:
Daniel Måge – Vocals, Flute, Keys
Stig Are Sund – Guitars
Martin Sjøen – Bass
Årstein Tislevoll – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Fredrik Horn – Piano and Keyboards
Bjarte Rossehaug – Drums

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Interview with Jan Erik Liljeström of Anekdoten

Roger: Thanks to Jan Erik Liljeström of Anekdoten for giving us his time to do this short interview, no doubt taking time off from rehearsing for the upcoming European tour. (Go here for full gig listing) Speaking of which how are the rehearsals going, as I assume it is some time since you played together?

Jan Erik: Normally we meet regularly, typically once a week, but the focus for quite some time has been on trying to come up with stuff for the new album. We had a long summer vacation and the last thing we did on stage was a support gig to Meshuggah on Easter Sunday. We only played 6 songs then, so we had quite a lot of catching up to do. We have rehearsed 18 songs from our back catalogue and some of it haven’t been played for more than 3 years. This was evident in the first rehearsals, but now we are back on track and ready to rock!

Roger: Will there be any of the new material in the set? When do you think the new album will be ready?

Jan Erik: We discussed how we should go regarding this, but we came to the conclusion that it would be better for the overall quality of the shows if we concentrated on getting our old songs to sound really good, instead of dabbling with the final arrangements of new songs. The situation today with things surfacing on Youtube also made us reluctant to present our most innocent little babies to the world in an uncontrolled way.
There won’t be a new album in 2011, but we will hopefully start recording by the end of this year.

Roger: I suppose you can’t really answer this beyond Yes or No, but will the encores contain any surprise cover versions? Your version of Easy Money was great!

Jan Erik: No. It would have been great to do a surprise cover or two, but our own material will be prioritised.

Roger: Nicklas has been busy with the fab My Brother The Wind project, and his El Ultimo soundtrack, but what have the others been up to musically since the band last played together, day jobs allowing of course!

Jan Erik: Well, I’ve had 2 kids since “A Time Of Day”, so that’s what has kept me busy!

Roger: I’ll bet!

Roger: I’ve followed the band since Nucleus, which of course led me back to Vemod, and in that time you’ve released some mighty music, and played all over mainland Europe and Japan and the USA, but you’ve never, as far as I know, played in the UK before. I hope you’re all looking forward to visiting London’s Camden Underworld on 6th October (Go here for tickets – quick, before they sell out!).

Jan Erik: England is actually the white spot that we are most eager to finally explore. We’ve played in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Paris etc, but it’s been nagging us that we’ve never come over to England. We will most likely lose money playing in London, but when the opportunity came we felt that we had to do it this time around.

Roger: In my humble opinion the double Official Bootleg, Live In Japan CD is one of the best live albums I’ve heard, the sound is simply immense! Any plans to record the shows of the upcoming tour? A lot of bands now make live recordings of gigs available as downloads, it would be great to think you would do the same.

Jan Erik: No, we won’t do it on this tour. What has been discussed is a dvd at some point, but that project will also have to wait a while longer.

Roger: Have you got any plans for future vinyl releases? I really liked the Vemod LP reissue, it was a high quality piece of work.

Jan Erik: This year we’ve put out Vemod and Nicklas’ soundtrack album on LP and they’ve both been very successful so there will definitely be more vinyl releases on our label in the future. Regarding re-releases Nucleus feels like the logical next step.

Roger: Is the songwriting a group effort, or do individual members bring their own songs to the band? I think it’s always interesting to read how a band construct their songs.

Jan Erik: Nicklas comes up with all of the basic ideas for songs, but all members contribute with some riffs and melodies.

Roger: What music are you into at the moment?

Jan Erik: Not that much prog actually, but I like Fleet Foxes “Helplessness Blues” a lot.

Roger: Yes, they are rather good – a sort of 21st Century CS&N!

Roger: I seem to recall reading a while back that another group had “borrowed” your Mellotron and forgot to return it! Did you ever get it back?

Jan Erik: No, we got it back

Roger: Glad to hear that…:)

Roger: I always like to end on a food related question, so what culinary delights will you be looking forward to sampling in multi-cultural Camden when you come over?

Jan Erik: I’d love to go to a really good Indian restaurant if possible. London marks the end of this small tour, so hopefully we’ll have time for a few pints as well.

Roger: I’ve a good mate in London, I’ll ask him if he can recommend anywhere, hopefully we can meet up. In the meantime good luck with the tour and we all look forward to seeing you and the band in Camden on 6th October!

Bruno Pitch

Bruno Pitch is a Chapman Stick player, originally guitarist coming out from France. We talked about his musical background, as well as his work on the Crystal Garden album, the instrument and future plans.

Nick: Hello, Bruno! Would you mind telling us more about your musical background, your early beginnings in music?

Bruno: Hello, talking about my beginnings in music is an interesting thing as I’m not considering myself as a conventional musician. I started to play guitar at the age of 14, at this time I had no idea of what was a metronome or the fact a guitar must be tuned! Instead of caring about these things I just started to compose my own tunes, and the first thing I played was a creation. As you can imagine listen today to this music can be horrible, but the most important thing was the creation process, not the technique.

Nick: For many people you are known as a Chapman Stick player, but originally you are a guitarist. What is it that pulled you off to start playing and composing on the Chapman Stick? What this instrument in particular provides you comparing to the „classic“ guitar?

Bruno: Well, I’ve never been a cover specialist, so I always preferred to compose on guitar than practicing famous tunes, and the big frustration in this process was that I had to record guitars chords, then bass lines, and finally the melody. The first time (in 1993) I heard some Stick music was from an album of Jim Lampi (one of the best players in the world), and I thought… incredible! A string instrument with you can play bass and guitar simultaneously!  And the sound was so unique… At this time I was considering playing this kind of instrument was for me an impossible thing, so I didn’t think about looking for one. Finally in 2004 I decided to buy one, and it radically changed my way in playing music. Now it was possible to play simultaneously chords on left hand and melodies with the other hand. Another fact with this instrument is the natural sound you get, just straight to the amp with or without effects it sounds great. Since this time I don’t play guitar anymore, I’m filling at home with the Stick.

Nick: As you might’ve mentioned above, during late 80’s and in early 90’s you was involved in a hard rock band called Wisdom? Are there any recordings from that period? What were your main inspirations at the time?

Bruno: Unfortunately we didn’t go to the necessary level for recording an album, but it was for me a great period, we were composing in a heavy metal atmosphere, our influences were Metallica, Rush, Loudness, Van Halen… We loved to insert some prog parts in our songs but at this period I didn’t know the ‘progressive’ naming.

Nick: Later, you expanded your musical sights and, let’s say, you progressed coming to the jazz subgenre which is today a significant part of your music. Where does it come from?

Bruno: Well, in 1993 I went to a French music school (the actual M.A.I. in Nancy) to improve my ‘metal’ guitar technique, and there I met many musicians coming from various genres like metal, jazz, song, funk and so more. At this time I started to practice some jazz standards and continue now on the Stick, of course I’m not a real jazz player, but with a single jazz song you can work on all of the aspects of an instrument: chords, accompaniment, melody, rhythm, soloing… So in my music I think a natural jazz color can appear in the way I play, but it comes naturally not intentionally.

Nick: Would you tell something more about the tapping technique used on the Chapman Stick?

Bruno: There are so many things to tell about tapping. First when I started 7 years ago, I thought it was limited in the variety ofsounds you can produce, now I can say that every week I discover new way to play ,it’s infinite, one life is not enough to learn to play this instrument! Then the Stick is not the only tapping instrument, these last years many tap-guitars were produced by other great luthiers, but the Stick is something special, an unique sound. Tapping players’ community is like a family, we are not so many, so it’s very easy to meet a famous player, I often go tapping seminars, where I can learn, play and talk with great players, each one has developed his own technique, each one is unique, that’s impressive. There are people coming from bass world: they can play crazy bass licks on the Stick, people who play keyboards : they are easy with the independence aspect…

Nick: Magic Street, an instrumental funk project originated in 2007 and it came up as a collaboration between you, the drummer Guix Hure and the bassist Boris Nicolik. Was that sort of a tendency to do something new and try new musical subgenre in an ever-evolving process or you strictly knew what do you want to produce?

Bruno: Magic Street was first created by Boris with Guix, they were looking for a guitarist, I called them and said: “I’m a guitarist but now, I play only on a Stick “, so they said “Ok why not , but what’s a Stick?”. The goal of this band was to produce funk music, but it quickly turned into a prog band, it was a very intense period, we were composing together mixing various influences from funk, psychedelic, metal, rock genres. The funny aspect for me is I was playing with a bassist, so I didn’t have to use the bass side of the Stick and try to use it as a guitar.

Nick: Crystal Garden was released in 2010, signed by yourself and as it’s stated in your biography it’s an album dedicated to the Chapman Stick. How was to work on the album? What inspired you?

Bruno: In first I only wanted to record some ideas coming on the Stick at home, so I thought to use some drum loops libraries to make recordings on my computer. Then after the Magic Street experience I contacted Guix saying him I wanted to try my compositions with a real drummer, and after some rehearsals I discovered the tunes were sounding really better than I could suppose. So I decided to record with him, and the project became more serious at the point I chose to record in a real studio. We attached great importance in the drums recording process, Didier Lamaze (the sound engineer) did a great work. The inspiration is an easy thing for me, I always compose, it’s natural. But the more difficult aspect is when you have to choose what to keep or what to throw out, that’s where the presence of another musician is important, he can bring a new fresh ear on your sounds and suggest you to develop things that would not do alone.

Nick: There is an omnipresent feeling that on the Crystal Garden you are flirting with different elements, but the core of the album is rooted in progressive rock. Where does it come from?

Bruno: I guess the rock aspect come from my metal past years and the playing of Guix. For the progressive thing, I think it’s something personal, I’ve got a fanciful attitude inside me. I think we should not keep away our childhood in the past, to have a little crazy attitude is a secret of balance for our lives, Franck Zappa knew that, he was a master.

Nick: I can’t avoid a question about the song Karachi, which is personally my favorite track off the album, adorned by Mid-Eastern influence weighed excellently on the Chapman and Tabla. What do you think about employing such Mid-Eastern motifs in the genres such progressive rock / fusion jazz? I find it as absolutely something that could be described as the crown in the making of music.

Bruno: Well this song was originally played with my friend Breme Coumarin who is born in South of India where he learned the tabla playing. I listen to many different genres of music and like to mix these influences coming from other cultures, sometimes when people see the Stick for the first time, they ask me: “Is this an traditional indian instrument ?” probably due to his aspect remaining the sitar or something like that… Personally I can’t conceive music in only one restrictive genre, for me it needs to mix influences, cultures and genres, it’s like cooking, in France we have a famous cooking,  but this traditional cooking include many influences from other continents most of them were brought by the past conquerors.

Nick: What are the latest news coming from the Bruno Pitch camp? Are you working on any new projects? Can we expect a new album some time soon?

Bruno: We are now recording demos for the next album, it will be more produced. There will be strings arrangements by Célia Picciocchi a french violinist and keyboards, parts by Steve Gresswell an english musician. So it will not be a Stick focused album, but it will sound more like a band. We tried to find a singer for this project but didn’t find the right person, so it will be another instrumental album, I’m not disappointed for that, I like the instrumental aspect too.

Nick: Is there anything you would love to add to this interview that I didn’t cover in my questions?

Bruno: Yes just a message to everyone: be creative, be yourself!

French TV

French TV is a great band from Louisville, Kentucky, USA, who have been dispensing their twisted brand of avant-jazz-prog since as far back as 1983, and I e-flurried (©Robert Fripp) with founder and leader Mike Sary to come up with this doggerel….

Roger: Hi Mike, and thanks for giving us your time for this chat. For those unfamiliar with French TV tell us a bit about the history of the band.

Mike: We came, we saw, we forgot to conquer. Sorry to be so flippant, but we’re talking 20+ years here!

Roger: OK folks, just go buy the CDs here - http://www.frenchtvonline.com/orderingdistributors.htm – if you only buy one, get the 2CD version of FTV 10 – it really is good!

Roger In those 20+ years French TV has released ten albums of massively complicated and at the same time hugely enjoyable music. Would I be right to assume a Zappa influence with a large helping of the more convoluted end of Canterbury prog, and possibly a soupcon of Gentle Giant with some European RIO thrown into the blender?

Mike: Yeah, that about covers it, but I have to say I’m equally influenced by the more “traditional” prog bands like Yes, ELP, Crimson, etc, to say nothing of a lot of the 70s fusion bands, particularly Weather Report and Brand X, even if it’s not so obvious in the writing.

Roger: You’ve just reissued last year’s album I Forgive You All My Unhappiness with the great bonus disc Live At ProgDay 2009. Was this down to fans requesting more live recordings?

Mike: Nah, I can’t say we get much in the way of fan requests to begin with. It was more a matter of Mike Potter, the mastermind behind Baltimore’s ORION STUDIOS, offering to record us [as well as the other bands playing ProgDay that year] using his mobile recording truck. I’d working with Mike before, and knew this would be recorded well, so I expected it would be good enough to put it out eventually. MALS RECORDS wanted to re-issue FTV10 and suggested bonus tracks to make it different, and I countered with including a live cd.

Roger: Judging by the accompanying pictures, ProgDay 2009 looks like an idyllic setting. Where did this happening take place and was there a good party?

Mike: In Chapel Hill, North Carolina. As for the party, it was okay, except for the part where I was trapped between two 70s rock trivia experts who spent the evening correcting each other. My head was about to explode, much to FTV drummer Jeff Gard’s delight.

Roger: Your music, to the non-musician at least, sounds like it is rather complicated. How do you manage to reproduce it live, as I would imagine trying to remember all the twists and turns is no easy task. Is any of it scored or is it all in the head? And, I wonder if the band could play a 12 bar blues “straight” without veering off into another far more interesting universe?!

Mike: Drummer Jeff Gard and I devise the basic structures for the tunes, and I generally allow the other contributors a lot of leeway in coming up with parts that compliment whatever’s going on in the tunes, although my preference is to be sitting with them coming up with parts. But for the last few years, I’ve had to work with long-distance collaborators, so I have to allow them some autonomy. I rarely, if ever, need notes or scores when I record my parts or perform live, but the others guys generally have to have some sort of notation.

Roger: Do you hope to play outside of the USA any time soon? The UK beckons so yours truly (and my mate!) can finally get to see French TV.

Mike: Nothing concrete yet, but it feels pretty inevitable. It helps to be invited to a larger-scale festival somewhere, then we can organize 5-10 dates surrounding that. I’m DYING to return to Europe!

Roger: I’ve got this far without mentioning song titles, so what is your favourite make of bass guitar  (heheh)?

Mike: Generally models I can’t afford! My two main “problem-solvers” are a 5-string fretless Steinberger “Spirit”, and a 5 string fretted Ernie Ball Music Man. Would dearly love to find a nice inexpensive Warwick P-Nut or Streamer, or a 4001 Rickenbacker [had one back in the day, but foolishly traded it away]! Or a Lakland…or a vintage Wal…or Alembic…or…

Roger: OK then, let’s get it out of the way – You have mentioned to me before that the bane of reviews of French TV’s CDs are those that are so nonplussed by the music they spend most of the time musing on the origin of song titles like With Grim Determination, Terrell Dons The Bow Tie. Your song titles seem to this Brit to have a strong Zappa/Anglo influence. My favourite is 801’s “Mummy Was An Asteroid, Daddy Was A Small Non-Stick Kitchen Utensil”. Any that make you smile?

Mike: Captain Beefheart titles: “Ashtray Heart”, “My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains”. Lots of Zappa: “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing” [if only for the sentiment], “Bamboozled By Love”, “I’m a Beautiful Guy”. But the undisputed king of song titles has to be the fellow from FOREVER EINSTEIN, with classics such as “It’s A Good Thing I Don’t Have Super Brain Powers Or You’d Be In A Thousand Little Pieces Right Now”, “I Wish I Had Me Some Of Them Miracle Smart Pills”, “With a Car Like That You Must Be Knee-Deep in Whores”, “The Iron Boot of Stupidity Will March Across Your Face”, and my all-time fav, “Hercules Pushes Giant Goats Over The Cliff And Watches As They Fall Into The Canyon Below”.

Roger: Haha! That guy should write a book! A sense of humour is an important part of life and obviously important to you, but why do you think most prog bands come over as po-faced and oh-so-serious, particularly it seems to me in the prog-metal fraternity?

Mike: I wish I knew! But I blame Roger Waters and Pink Floyd.

Roger: So do I! Is there anyone in the current prog scene that you are into? Another great and underrated American band that I love is NYC’s Frogg Café whose music has a similar feel to yours in places. Have you ever crossed paths?

Mike: Guitarist Frank Camiola and I DO have a mutual admiration society. I remember in the “National Health Complete” booklet notes, Dave Stewart mentions that he, Mont Campbell, Alan Gowan, and Phil Miller were constantly trying to “out-complex” each other on the compositions, and if I were in a band with Frank, I suspect it would be a similar situation. Also met violinist Bill Ayasse at a festival once. Oh, and FTV10 keyboardist Steve Katsikas guests on the next Frogg Café cd!

As for other bands, there are TONS of them I love and many of whom I’m friends with (in fact, I have a section of our website devoted to recommendations): PANZERPAPPA, ACCORDO DEI CONTRARI, CAMEMBERT, FINNEGAN’S WAKE, NEOM, OCTOBER EQUUS, FLAT122, PHLOX, TEE, GARGANTUA, ARGOS, RITUAL, SANHEDRIN, AMOEBA SPLIT, LOST WORLD, OUTRE MEASURE, SENOGUL, EVIL GIRAFFES ON MARS, TIME TRAVELLER, AGENT MOOSEHEAD, LILLIPUT ORCHESTRA, anythingMICHEL DELVILLE does, DJAMRA, FORGAS BAND, GUAPO, KLOTET, PLANETA IMAGINARIO, UNDERGROUND RAILROAD…plus “old-timers” like UNIVERS ZERO/PRESENT, MAGMA, HAMMILL/VDGG….it’s amazing that as shitty and unprofitable as the music biz is these days, there’s an INCREDIBLE amount of quality music/bands plugging away.

Roger: In my review of IFAMU/Live At ProgDay 2009 I made the observation that French TV seem so obscure that even a Chilean mountain rescue team may have difficulty locating them. Maybe an exaggeration I know, and a tad cheeky to boot, but as you have been going nearly 30 years, presumably this is a situation you’ve come to accept?

Mike: I’m not sure whether it’s acceptance or not, but I guess I regard it as living with some sort of disability-some combination of resignation and bitterness, and it’s probably never going away. All you can do is hold onto the expectation for that moment when something magical pops out of your fingers in combination with other musicians having similar moments.

Roger: What’s coming up for French TV gig-wise or recording-wise?

Mike: Well, we’ve got a new keyboardist from Greece, and we’re having quite a bit of fun improvising together as a trio. We have skeletons & frameworks of tunes for the next album, but trying to get the 3 of us together at the same time has been a pain. We DID play our first gig together about a month ago, with promising results-we’ll see what happens!

Roger: Finally a bit of levity – I hope you are a Monty Python fan (if you’re not then this question is pointless, and I pity you!), so which Python sketch would you have liked to appear in?

Mike: UPPER-CLASS TWIT OF THE YEAR!!! Also once dressed for an FTV Halloween gig as one of the Gumbys. Of course, the other members wimped out of dressing up for this particular gig, despite being thrilled at the prospect during rehearsal.

Roger: Finally, finally a bit more levity – Do you know what Cricket is?

Mike: YES. Do I understand it? NO. Do I WANT to understand it? NO.

Roger: I have a similar view of American “Football” and Baseball! We can’t go without mentioning food, so, a curry or a pasta dish? Washed down with a good beer or wine, or possibly a cup of tea?

Mike:  CURRY (Thai)! A nice Gang Keow Wan (eggplant + beef), with a bottle or two of WOODCHUCK DRAFT AMBER CIDER!

Roger: Good choice of grub there. Thanks again for your time Mike, and if you ever plan on coming to Europe, be sure to let me know.

Yumi Hara Cawkwell – Statement Heels

Yumi Hara CAWKWELL plays the piano like a “bohemian cat” travelling all around the world.

Yumi Hara CAWKWELL, born in Tokyo, is a versatile musician living in London. Upon graduation from School of Medicine in The University of Tsukuba, she’d worked as a psychiatrist for a while. However she immigrated into London suddenly in 1993 for her dream of mastering music and graduated School of Arts (Music) in City University London. Via learning composition, piano, or ethnic music, she started playing in improvised, flexible and eclectic style, with lots of renowned artists (e.g. David Cross, Hugh Hopper, Geoff Leigh, Akira Sakata, Yoshihide Otomo, Tatsuya Yoshida, Hoppy Kamiyama, Kazutoki Umezu, etc.etc.). Already known as a founder of Humi (a short-lived project with Hugh), Geoff Leigh & Yumi Hara, or Mammal Machine.

This album (it’s surprising this is Yumi’s official solo debut album) can be said as a compilation of her splendid works for New Age and Classic music scene. Furthermore, with the collaboration of a renowned Japanese drummer Tatsuya YOSHIDA, she’s seasoned her previous creations with matured rock essence and structure easy to grasp for rock music freaks. No more expression needed I think but she’s played with lots of brilliant musicians in Canterbury Scene or avantgarde jazz rock world like Hugh Hopper or Geoff Leigh enough to let us enjoy over the sea eccentrically waved … that means that we cannot foresee what will happen upon her play namely.

Tatsuya YOSHIDA’s drumming is superb, and amazingly, he completely supports Yumi from behind, without standing in front of her. And of course, Yumi’s keyboard play reminds me something like a cool creek streaming quietly and naturally (like “The Milky Way” with a flood of stardust and brilliant star-gems), and sometimes like a hot spring gushing out from between rocks (the fourth track “Cosmos Massive No. 901”, in which she plays the piano as percussion, is short but very impressive!), and it’s so mysterious all of her play can satisfy us “naturally”. Her voices (especially in the third track “Walk On The Middle Of The Road”, maybe associated with some Japanese fairy tales) are so unique and weird, like an incantation by a magician, that we can be immersed into her inner mind (exactly step by step).

Let me say,she can show herself at her best in the last three tracks that push their avantgarde weirdness in the facade with her magic voices and psychedelic electric piano sounds (on the contrary, her easy-listening tunes sound a bit strange for me sorry). As previously mentioned, we can hear in the tenth track “Archaeopteryx” something of Bernard Vitet, a French avant-jazz pioneer around 1970, with her intentional Zeuhl-ish paranoid voices and Tatsuya’s Zeuhl-ish drumming. Guess her eclectic talent can be found when we finish listening to this album thoroughly. Recommended for both avantgarde progressive fans and jazz / new age ones.

Tracklist:

1. Statement Heels (3:54)
2. The Shape Du Jour (3:02)
3. Walk On The Middle Of The Road (3:09)
4. Cosmos Massive No. 901 (2:16)
5. Baby Doll (3:46)
6. The Milky Way (2:59)
7. Fortitude (4:09)
8. Farouche (5:22)
9. Sense Of Homogeneity (4:41)
10. Archaeopteryx (6:17)
11. Mikuratana (7:45)
12. The Ebb Tide (3:32)

Total Time 50:52

Line-up:

* Yumi Hara Cawkwell – all instruments
* Tatsuya Yoshida – drums

Links:

http://yumiharacawkwell.co.uk/

Kwoon – The Guillotine Show

Kwoon, a rather fine French combo, first came to my attention thanks to my good mate Phill and I was especially intrigued by their quirky video for the splendid left-field pop song I Lived On The Moon. Now, with two well received albums behind them, comes this EP, released on 6th October, six tracks clocking in at just under half an hour.

The sound they make has a distinctive European feel, and the first song and title track The Guillotine Show opens with the tolling of a bell, the song making a spooky entrance in a waltz time, unfocused atmospheric vocals adding just the right amount of mystique to a Gothic tune.

Wark continues the Gothic feel, slow building keyboards backing mysterious vocals, the mystery added to by Sandy’s accent making the English vocals sometimes hard to decipher, but this only adds to the atmosphere. Us Anglo types are suckers for a Gallic tinged vocal after all! The song eventually builds to a wonderful classic post-rock layered guitar assault.

Following song The Last Trip Of A Drunken Man (great title!) is an almost straight acoustic number, and you can just about make out the group through swirls of imagined languid cigarette smoke. The band show an increased maturity on the EP, and the songs exude a burgeoning confidence, a swagger exemplified by the intro to the anthemic Emily Was A Queen which one can imagine going down a storm in a live setting. A thunderous bass guitar underpins the latter half of Bird, which begins in a style not far removed from Deserter’s Songs period Mercury Rev, and the EP ends with an acoustic version of the marvellous I Lived On The Moon, all introspective chords, delicate harmonies and haunting cello.

A strong collection of songs by a band going from strength to strength, and a great introduction if you’ve not come across them before.

The band are on tour from the  October 10th, playing all over Europe. If there’s any tickets left, they are playing at the Barfly in London on November 1st, a date I’m sad to miss, having a full gig diary around that time. Oh well, definitely next time!

Kwoon – Emily Was A Queen by crocodilesandy

Kwoon – Bird by crocodilesandy

Tracklist:

1. The Guillotine Show
2. Wark
3. The Last Trip Of A Drunken Man
4. Emily Was A Queen
5. Bird
6. I Lived On The Moon (acoustic remix remastered version)

Total Time: 27 minutes approx

Line up:

Lyrics & music by Sandy Lavallart

Sandy Lavallart : Guitars / Vocals
Guillaume Pintout : Guitars
Yoann Lamouroux : Bass
Pierre Michel : Drums / Rhodes/B3

Links:
http://www.kwoon-music.com/Kwoonshop-mainpage.php

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Mastodon – The Hunter

Expectations are a funny thing. When a new album comes out, quite often much of one’s first experience with it is determined before they even slip the record into the player. Whether it is their favourite band and they have been waiting ages for it, or it is an album that is ridiculed and they have been alerted of how bad it apparently is; all of these factors come together to form our expectation of an album, which- obviously based on the quality of the music itself- will greatly sway our response, even after the album is done. Enter Mastodon, a band I have always generally respected, but did not find much to justify the hype with them, even on their progressive opus ‘Crack The Skye’. With that in mind, I may not have had the greatest hopes for the new record, let alone the fact that everything I had heard about this in press releases tended to suggest that this was a simplified and even ‘dumbed down’ version of the band that had shown a lot of promise with their progressive direction. With that in mind, it may be merely my preconception that it was going to be a mediocre-at-best album, but I have found myself incredibly impressed by the reality of Mastodon’s new album; ‘The Hunter’. While I can definitely see where some of the descriptors were coming from concerning the new direction Mastodon has taken, the angle from which Mastodon sets off here sets the record straight for me. Not only has my feeling that this was going to be a mediocre album been more or less dispelled, but I would not hesitate in calling this the best album Mastodon have done to date.

Before the album was released, there was plenty of news that this was a simplified, ‘accessible’ version of Mastodon, and that they were turning their backs on the prog rock trends that the last two records had been rooted in, and going for a more straightforward rock sound. This label passes me very much the same way that the way similar-sounding The Mars Volta’s album ‘Octahedron’ was described as their ‘acoustic’ record. It is certainly not a literal description, and there is much more going on here than what the artists might lead on. Without a doubt, ‘The Hunter’ is the most eclectic Mastodon album to date; with songs here ranging from vivid psychedelia, to spacey metal, sombre prog rock and a handful of stoner rock. The only thing on ‘The Hunter’ that has truly lived up to my expectation are the song lengths, which are kept within a comfortable limit. There are no more bombastic epics here like here were on ‘Crack The Skye’, but the album manages to stay consistently exciting and interesting, thanks in large part to the diversity of the tracks.

Even from the first listen, each of these songs has a different identity from one another; some songs may follow similar paths, but each has a set of ideas that are entirely their own. Mastodon seems to have made an effort here also not to put any like-sounding songs on one after the other. Take the differences between the second track ‘Curl Of The Burl’, and its successor ‘Blasteroid’. The former is a bluesy piece of mid-tempo riff rock that relies on catchy melodies and straightforward structure, whereas ‘Blasteroid’ takes the listener on a trippy and exciting journey with all the psychedelic twitters entailed. ‘Stargasm’ continues this string of awesome song names with a much more melancholic sound, a very spacey piece that could have been plucked straight from ‘Crack The Skye’. As far as an overlying change of style and pace goes, I would say that Mastodon have more of a psychedelic influence in their sound than ever, although the metal sound has been largely preserved. I find the psychedelic, and more atmosphere-fueled sections of ‘The Hunter’ to be among the most interesting, although the heavier parts here are a little more hit and miss.

Mastodon’s sludgy riff work and distinctive tone are both here, but it works at its best when they are able to find the fine balance between hooks and heaviness. ‘Curl Of The Burl’ is an example of a song that tends to stray a little too far into hook territory, and probably best exemplifies why I feared ‘The Hunter’ would sound like. It may be memorable as a track, but there is no depth to it; and even before the first listen is done, I had the impression that there was now a big void in Mastodon’s sound. The only two songs that really realize this ‘accessible’ rock sound are ‘Curl’, and ‘Dry Bone Valley’. Neither gave me much of a rush, and they do feel like what’s keeping me from calling ‘The Hunter’ a masterpiece, because some of the other material on the album makes me want to make that leap. Mastodon have virtually perfected their spacey sound here, best represented by the album’s highlight ‘Stargasm’, and ‘The Sparrow’, a sombre track that closes the album in classic prog rock tradition; a trippy hymn that builds and lets the listener off on a perfect note. It is a perfect track for this album, because it gives me great motivation to experience the album all over again. I understand full well that many who are first listening to this album are already Mastodon fans, so taking for the fact that I- someone who never cared for them much in the past- am truly digging this album is a great sign for ‘The Hunter’. It is not a full step above ‘Crack The Skye’ in every way, but as the overall musical experience goes, it looks like Mastodon has a new record to outdo with anything they may release in the future.

Tracklist:

1. Black Tongue (3:26)
2. Curl of the Burl (3:40)
3. Blasteroid (2:35)
4. Stargasm (4:40)
5. Octopus Has No Friends (3:49)
6. All the Heavy Lifting (4:31)
7. The Hunter (5:18)
8. Dry Bone Valley (4:00)
9. Thickening (4:31)
10. Creature Lives (4:41)
11. Spectrelight (3:10)
12. Bedazzled Fingernails (3:08)
13. The Sparrow (5:32)

Line-up:

* Troy Sanders – lead vocals, bass guitar
* Brent Hinds – lead vocals, guitar
* Brann Dailor – drums, percussion, vocals
* Bill Kelliher – guitar, backing vocals

with
- Mike Elizondo – production, mixing

Guest musicians:
- Scott Kelly – vocals (11)

Links:

http://www.mastodonrocks.com/

Buy album from:

Fourteen Twentysix – acoustic LiveStream show & Lighttown Closure giveaway

The dutch alternative / dark rock / ambient outfit Fourteen Twentysix and Prog Sphere Promotions bring some very interesting news and an offer for you. Namely, the band has decided to do an acoustic LiveStream show which will exclusively be streamed from the Prog Sphere website. The whole event is scheduled for October 20th, from 8PM to 11PM (CET). The show will be recorded, so in case you miss it, you will be able to see the whole thing all over again and again.

So, if you are willing to experience something like this, tune in and watch it LIVE, chat with other people and when the show is over the band members will join you and answer possible questions you guys and gals might have. We will keep you posted about this event through the Prog Sphere website, Prog Sphere and 1426 Facebook & Twitter profiles, forums, et al.

But this is not everything. The band and Prog Sphere Promotions organize a „giveaway action“ of the band’s first full-length album called Lighttown Closure, meaning that there are 25 signed CDs waiting for you. What we need in return is you write a short (or long) review of the album which can be streamed on the band’s Bandcamp profile in its entirety and send it to info@prog-sphere.com. Be sure to write your contact info, to where the album should be shipped and we will get back to you. This action lasts… well, while supplies last. Don’t hesitate and DON’T MISS THIS OUT! Who knows, maybe we are making the history here.

Besides, you can make a donation and help the band during the recording process of their upcoming album which will be released at the beginning of 2012. In that case, you get the signed copy of Lighttown Closure with a personal written message from the band and all the goodies that come along with making a donation.

Seven That Spells to release new album on October 10th

The Croatian psych-o-kraut tour de force Seven That Spells is about to release their ninth studio work on October 10th, through Beta-lactam Ring Records. The album called The Death and Resurrection of Krautrock: AUM is comprised of 5 tracks and is available as a digital pre-order on the band’s Bandcamp profile. This is the first part of the trilogy and according by the founder and guitarist of the band, Niko Potočnjak, AUM is the record which (re)-introduces krautrock to the 21st century. Four days after the album’s released, the trio will join forces with Rotor and Neume for the Brainbangers’ Ball Tour, kicking off in Jena, Germany. Click here for the official website of the tour (news, tour dates, videos, photos…).

Commenting on the new album, the mainman Niko Potočnjak says:

The death and resurrection of krautrock trilogy is our attempt to bring psych and kraut rock into 21st century with respect to the past but also with a necessary detachment from it. Polymetrics and other complex instrument interactions abound on the first part of the trilogy – AUM – but we also tried hard not to loose the groove and to be in line with the old Teutonic deprivation vibe ha ha! The record sounds huge – it was recorded in a small theatre and we meticulously mixed it the old school way – NO BRICKWALL LIMITING – just a nice and dynamic mix and mastering. Hope you enjoy it! Let’s rock!!!

Man on Fire – Chrysalis

Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, where they were founded by multi-instrumentalists Eric Sands and Jeff Hodges, Man On Fire first appeared on the music scene in 1998 with the release of their eponymous debut album. It was followed by The Undefined Design (2003), which featured Kansas’ David Ragsdale on violin, and Habitat (2006), with Adrian Belew guesting on guitar (as well as  Ragsdale’s return). Chrysalis, their long-awaited fourth album, sees the band expanded to a six-piece, with lyrics provided once again by 10T Records president Steve Carroll.

Though I was familiar with the band’s name, my only contact with Man On Fire prior to Chrysalis occurred when I had the opportunity to listen to Undercover, a compilation of cover versions of famous progressive rock songs released by 10T Records in 2009. Man On Fire’s contribution to the album, Japan’s “Visions of China”, obviously attracted my attention, as the song is a great favourite of mine; however, in the intervening months I was so overwhelmed with music to review that I all but forgot about it. The comments I had heard about the band were all largely positive, but most of them pointed out that Man On Fire were not “really” prog – meaning they did not sound like Yes or Genesis, and had at least some “mainstream” potential, which made them somewhat suspect in the eyes of purists.

When, a couple of weeks ago, I received a promo copy of Chrysalis in the mail, I did expect a measure of accessibility from the band. What took me completely by surprise, however, was the sheer brilliance of the music that came out of my speakers once I put the CD into my player. Fresh and exhilarating, brimming with memorable melodies and stunning vocal performances, it took me back to that time – the early to mid-1980s – when I spent most of my days glued to the radio, soaking in all the newest releases. In spite of that period’s grim reputation of being a wasteland for progressive rock, the ‘80s were rife with incredible talent, both as regards quality pop and more experimental fare (not to mention the wealth of classic heavy metal albums). The essence of that musical bounty – so undeservedly reviled by the snobs of this world – came back in full force when I first heard Chrysalis. The album was that rare beast – a perfect marriage between the cream of the ‘80s’ musical crop and a genuinely progressive attitude, made of technical brilliance and unabashed eclecticism.

Indeed, to borrow a metaphor from the world of cooking, Chrysalis is definitely not “your mom’s prog” Though the very mention of  the ‘80s and prog in the same breath may conjure memories of extremely divisive albums such as Yes’90125 or the whole of Genesis’ output in that decade, Chrysalis possesses a warm, organic sound that avoids some of the excesses of that decade (such as the over-reliance on electronic drums), all the while keeping that inimitable blend of accessibility and subtle complexity. Unlike so many “real” prog releases, which seem to adopt a “more is more” approach often resulting in bloated, pretentious affairs, this is an album that makes listening a pleasure rather than a chore. Chrysalis is a lean, mean machine offering 58 minutes of perfectly balanced music – with the majority of the tracks between 4 and 5 minutes, a 4-part epic that, in spite of its very restrained running time (10 minutes), manages to hold the attention much better than its twice-as-long counterparts, and a stunner of a closing track that sums up the album and lays the groundwork for the future developments of the band’s career.

Right from the opening strains of “Repeat It” it becomes obvious that Chrysalisis not your average symphonic prog album with a Seventies fetish. Its funky swagger, with Eric Sands’s meaty bass lines enhanced by synth bursts, provides a perfect foil for Jeff Hodges’ occasionally gruff, immensely expressive vocals. Organ flurries and airy keyboards, accented by guitar (courtesy of From.uz mainman Vitaly Popeloff), add layers of texture to the catchy yet intriguing fabric of the song. The haunting folksy beauty of Jenny Hugh’s violin refrain joins the mix of pneumatic bass and weird electronics – so reminiscent of Japan’s best moments – to make “In a Sense” one of the highlights of the album, driven to an exhilarating pace by the soulful vocal interplay between Hodges and Elise Testone, and tempered by more atmospheric moments. The Japan influence is unmistakable on most of the album, though Hodges’ voice is definitely not as languid as David Sylvian’s, often coming across as more Motown than standard prog. The skewed ballad of “A (Post-Apocalyptic) Bedtime Story”, bolstered by the flawless work of the rhythm section and peppered with trumpet bursts underscoring the intensity of the vocals, reminded me of another exquisitely boundary-crossing outfit – New Jersey’s own 3RDegree, who share Man On Fire’s appreciation of eclectic acts such as Rush. The Canadian trio’s influence crops up in the most accessible track on the album, the upbeat “Higher Than Mountains”, whose mainstream appeal is subtly spiked by a slightly chaotic ending.

The title-track offers a nice twist on the old warhorse of the multi-part epic, with short sections strung together by a main theme, and made especially memorable by the wistful voice of Cameron Harder Handel’s trumpet. Eric Sands is again joined by Vitaly Popeloff on guitar, providing both clean, melodic lines with an almost Gilmourian touch and  harsh riffs, while the mood runs the gamut from hauntingly melancholy (as in Pt 3, “The Muse Returns”) to dynamic and muscular (as in Pt 4, “Free to Fall”), with distinct echoes of bands such as Tears for Fears or Talk Talk as well as Rush or Pink Floyd. With “The Projectionist” the band dive headlong into pure ‘80s territory with an irresistibly funky, slightly angular number propelled by Quentin Ravenel’s drums, spiced up by bits of dissonance and softened by lovely vocal harmonies and entrancing keyboard washes,  hinting at some of Duran Duran’s best output. “Tear Gas” goes even further, regaling the listener with a prime example of “progressive dance” that  evokes both Madonna and the “red/blue/yellow” period of King Crimson’s career – throwing in weird electronic effects, razor-sharp riffing, slinky bass lines, soulful trumpet and haunting female backing vocals. Then, when you thought things could not get more interesting, “Gravity (also included in an instrumental-only version) kicks in, wrapping up the album with 10 minutes of absolute bliss, and the splendid voice of Elise Testone (bringing back memories of Alison Moyet or Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Holly Johnson) as the icing on the cake. The song is so funky and exhilarating that it makes you want to dance, the synergy between the instruments nothing short of astonishing, while the trumpet solo at the end, followed by sparse, wistful piano and recorded voices, is alone worth the price of admission.

As many of the references I have used in the previous paragraphs make abundantly clear, those who believe that the 1980s were a dismal time for interesting music would do very well to steer clear of Chrysalis. While, from a compositional point of view, the album has enough complexity to sustain any comparisons with  more “traditional” prog releases,  the music featured onChrysalis is quite unlikely to appeal to purists or staunch ‘70s worshippers. On the other hand, anyone into art rock/crossover (labels that are often used condescendingly to define something that cannot fully aspire to the hallowed “prog” tag), and, obviously, devotees of ‘80s music will not fail to appreciate the brilliance of Man On Fire’s latest effort. With striking artwork and photography and Steve Carroll’s literate, thought-provoking lyrics rounding off a thoroughly modern package, Chrysalis is another strong contender for my personal Top 10 of 2011. Hopefully the band will not keep us waiting for another six years before their next release.

Tracklist:

1. Repeat It (4:33)
2. In A Sense (5:24)
3. A (Post-Apocalyptic) Bedtime Story (5:07)
4. Chrysalis:
Part 1: In Between The Lines (2:53)
Part 2:  The Pundits (3:00)
Part 3: The Muse Returns (1:41)
Part 4: Free to Fall (3:15)
5. The Projectionist (4:40)
6. Tear Gas (4:46)
7. Higher Than Mountains (4:19)
8. Gravity (10:12)
9. Gravity (instrumental – bonus track) (10:02)

Line-up:

* Eric Sands – fretted and fretless bass, electric guitars
* Jeff Hodges – vocals, piano, organ, synth, samples, percussion
* Elise Testone – vocals
* Quentin Ravenel – drums
* Cameron Harder Handel – trumpet
* Jenny Hugh – violin
* Steve Carroll – lyrics, imagery

With:

* Keith Bruce – electric guitar (1, 5)
* Oliver Caminos – guitar (2, 3)
* Alexandra Hodges – backing vocals (5)
* Tim Hodson – acoustic guitar (2, 8 )
* Vitaly Popeloff – guitar (1, 4/1, 4/2)
* Dan Wright – guitar (4/4, 6)

Links:

http://www.myspace.com/manonfireband

http://10trecords.com/

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