Funin – Unsound

Bergen indie outfit Funin released this, their debut waxing back in November 2010 in their home territory Norway but it did not get a world release until a year later, and it seems to have gone under my radar until now, more’s the pity. Undoubtedly influenced by heavyweights such as Arcade Fire, Björk, Radiohead, Portishead, they have created an interesting listen with their seven piece line up, expanded from their beginnings as a duo, and now featuring a string section and sundry electronica.

The electronic beats and sundry strangeness on Inch Of Me combined with Marit Elisabeth’s elfin tones come direct from the Björk work manual but there are other things going down here, like Øyvind’s lounge-jazz ivory tinkling with languid flute that lend the song its own sound.

Away from the sphere of Iceland’s premier chanteuse, we have the gorgeous electro-soundscape ballad Everything initially sung by co-vocalist Gaute in the style of an angst-free Thom Yorke before swapping verses with Marit, and very nice it is too as the string section take the lead. Here it is…

Rocking Chair lurches along like a Tom Waits jazz from the dark side moment, but instead of Tom’s nicotine stained growl we get more of Marit’s dulcet tones, a combination that works well as handclaps and what sounds like a picked banjo bring the song to a close. Machine is not so much mechanical as menacing, eerie electronica on the beat backing Marit again, and this one has the Bristol sound of Portishead and Tricky going on, with Eastern sounding strings on top, ending with some distant piano. Strange and toe-tapping at the same time this song sums up the confidence of a band not afraid to tackle something a wee bit out there. We end withSkywalkers which starts off threatening to be an Arcade Fire style pop song but then abruptly goes deliberately awry.

All in all a confident and complex debut from a band that should go far, and indicative of the amazingly varied music scene that comes out of Norway.

Tracklist:

1. Unsound
2. Everything
3. Wonderland
4. Tornado
5. Last Day
6. Inch Of Me
7. Indestructible
8. Rocking Chair
9. Machine
10. Skywalkers

Line-up:

* Marit Elisabeth Svendsbøe – vocals and flute
* Øyvind Vie Berg – piano and rhodes
* Gaute Stedje – vocals and guitar
* Aleksander Tveit – guitar
* Sissel Ørstavik – violin
* Audun Berg Selfjord – cello
* Edvard Mjanger – bass
* Hans Christian Dalgaard – drums

Buy this here from those fine folk at Karisma Records, a label that gets more esoteric by the day!

Leonardo Pavković

Leonardo Pavković is an ordinary man who, most of you would agree, is doing an extraordinary “job”. Keeping the progressive rock and jazz (fusion) alive via his own MoonJune Records deserves to be accompanied with a medal. If in all this mess of everyday life there would be a discipline such aforementioned keeping the genres alive, Leonardo’s MoonJune Records would definitely be the defending Olympic champion on several occasions.

Having named his second house after the Soft Machine’s epic “Moon in June”, MoonJune Records since its establishing in 2001 revokes a spirit of the golden era of the prog-fusion rule. Being a producer, promoter and tour manager put this nice man – who was born in Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Yugoslavia – to work with some of the most influential, creative and inspiring people throughout the present time.

Nick: Hey Leonardo, glad to have you answering some questions for Prog Sphere. How is the wintertime going for you?

Leonardo: This is probably the mildest Winter since I arrived in New York City in 1990. Maybe it’s age, maybe my love for tropical countries, but I hate winter and cold.

Nick: Most people know you as the man in charge of MoonJune Records. Would you tell us about how it was back then when you were at the beginning of forming a label? What was your main goal? What did you want to reach?

Leonardo: I started by accident, no real plan, really. While running a graphic design and publicity marketing company with a friend of mine, we were involved in a jazz label here in NYC with Jim Eigo, a well known jazz publicist and friend of ours. At Jazz Magnet Records we had big plans and were looking for investors, but somehow after only 8 releases and about 50-60 releases included in our “business plan”, our potential investors changed their ideas and each of us went doing other things. Then I started my own label, but in first 4-5 years I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, since I had plans to relocate from NYC to South-East Asia, but once I decided to remain in NYC, I gave another life to MoonJune Records and have started releasing records more intensively since 2006. My label was strictly built with the music of my personal friends, people I have known for many years, and the first band that came out of that circuit of friends was Mahogany Frog, which with Slivovitz is actually the only band that I have never met in person.

Nick: By looking at the MoonJune Records roster one could tell that you have a pretty colourful group of bands and musicians on your label. I have been wondering for a while in which way you get a band signed? What is the criteria that has to be satisfactory for you as an editor-in-chief?

Leonardo: First of all, musicians have to be my friends, secondly, I have to like the music, and thirdly, we have to fight the beast together. Even with bands like Mahogany Frog and Slivovitz that I have never met in person, we have some sort of virtual friendship. Once I was interested in a band from Italy, a killer progressive jazz-rock band, and had great correspondence with their keyboardist, and was ready, willing and able to support them, but once the bass player came into the picture and started being unfriendly and exercising his own attitude, I decided to cut out. I do not like attitude, I am a friendly geezer, and MoonJune is about friendship and progressively open minded and talented musicianship. I do not have criteria about what to sign and whom to sign, except, I only release things that I really like, and mostly the music of my friends. Now, I will be focusing more on edgy eclectic jazz and progressive jazz with ethnic elements, I would like to release more cds of Indonesian bands, and potentially discover some totally new and unknown bands who need exposure. My modus operandi is unusual and I am an unusual label, and that will never change.

Nick: In the world we know nowadays, how hard is it to cope with standing out from the mainstream and therefore write off any commercial success? On the other hand, do you think that collective musical consciousness as we have it today should be changed and in what way could it could be done? Education? So many young people out there do not recognize real quality and what ”progressive“ music is about, where does this blindness come from in your opinion?

Leonardo: I am glad that I am not part of the mainstream, I do not belong to the mainstream and the mainstream doesn’t interest me at all. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to have a band that sells a lot of records and plays a lot of gigs. My neighbor and guitar virtuoso Warren Haynes sells a lot of records, he plays tons of gigs either with The Allman Brothers Band or with his own band Gov’t Mule, but he is not part of the mainstream either. Keith Jarrett sells a lot of jazz records and he charges $100,000 for solo piano performance, he is not the mainstream either. Also, I am not part of any circuit of progressive rock, fusion, free-jazz or any other self-restrictive ghetto. I am simply releasing some music that I genuinely believe is very good and often excellent, I know all difficulties of today’s market, but I do not run the label to make money, I am just releasing the music and building the MoonJune concept. I wish I could sell much more records, but the music I promote, it’s not the music that sells a lot of records. Today, in order to be successful, an artist must have a very rich patron who would put tons of dollars behind the artist and place the artist in the commercial market and see what would happen. That’s entertainment, that’s business. The other way is for a young band to perform all the time. If they are good and persistent, they might succeed. It needs a lot of sacrifice, which people who are in mid thirties or forties, with decent jobs and family and kids, do not have. Take a look at Marbin. They are young and brave, the whole band is under 24 (when playing live they of course do not use Paul Wertico and Steve Rodby, who appear on the album “Breaking The Cycle”, occasionally they do some local gigs and well paid festivals with the Paul on drums), and in 18 months of their existence, they have performed over 250 gigs. Sometimes for 2 people, sometimes for 10, sometimes for 20, and sometimes for 100-150 people. That’s the way, play, play and play, without complaining. That’s why Marbin is the most admirable “new/young” band I have on my label. They were the opening act for 1/2 of thr recent Scott Henderson tour, which I booked in the USA and in March/April this year (2012), they are doing the whole USA tour opening for Allan Holdsworth, who I manage. Marbin will go very far, Dani Rabin and Danny Markovich are among the most talented musicians I’ve met in the past 20 years, and they are great and smart guys, good people and good friends. They are of course interested in achieving some sort of success, and we both are confident it might happen, it’s a hard work, but doable. And they believe too that playing unconventional non-commercial music they can go very far. Me too. We are not competing with Justin Biebers and Lady Gagas, we know there is so much blindness in today’s world, but that’s not what we do. The world is still big and generous and there is still a place and space for everything and everybody, we have to conquer our own space, and I do not expect Marbin to become the most famous band in the world, that would never happen and it is not our goal. I am more interested in the world of Gov’t Mule, Pat Metheny, Esperanza Spaulding, Mars Volta, Sigur Ros and similar, they all do well, they are all successful, without being mainstream, and they make their fans happy. Unfortunately mass media doesn’t help our cause, but with the advent of the internet and then YouTube and finally Facebook and all other social media, there are many more opportunities for progressive acts then let’s say just 10 years ago. The question is how to reach the audience? My formula is very simple. I am creating a brand name of new and unknown artists associated to my label and they all will be part of this brand. Without MoonJune, bands like Moraine or simakDialog would never have the exposure if they were a self-released artist in Seattle, USA, or Indonesia. My goal is to increase my brand exposure even more. Musicians should be playing and playing, and I should be branding, branding and branding. Easy to say?

Nick: What record from the MoonJune family you are most proud of? At the other side, which band or artist you would love to have signed by MJR?

Leonardo: Difficult to say. I am very proud of my first cd ever released by my dear and much missed friend and British jazz legend, the late Elton Dean (with Mark Hewing) called “Bar Torque”, because it’s a beautiful inspiring record and it was the MJR001, the first one.  I am proud of “Patahan” by simakDialog, for other reasons, because it is the first album of an Indonesian artist on my label, a country I very much love and which I have visited 11 times, and a country where I have so many friends. Riza Arshad is a dear friend and possibly one of the most talented musicians on my label. I am also proud of Marbin’s “Breaking The Cycle”. I was visiting Chicago in 2010, and a friend of mine took me to a loft in Northern Chicago to see a young sax/guitar duo, a private gig for friends and family members, and after just 5 minutes I felt in love with two young Israeli musicians, Dani Rabin and Danny Markovich, and after the gig, I told them, they are on MoonJune, period. I am not sure I am interested in known artists anymore, except my friend Allan Holdsworth. It would be great to sign Pat Metheny or Mars Volta, that’s utopia, but I would sign for instance some totally unknown Indonesian artists, such as Agam Hamzah and his band Ligro, and a young band called I Know You Well Miss Clara. I would like to be able to  release 20-25 albums yearly and to have some artists that are playing live and a lot, that helps. I will go with the flow, whatever comes, comes.

Nick: Besides running a label you also work as a booking agent, and so far you’ve worked with many legendary 70’s progressive rock and jazz fusion musicians, such as Allan Holdsworth, Soft Machine (Legacy), Hugh Hopper, Jan Akkerman, and PFM to name few. You must be feeling privileged to work with these names. What was it like it working with them?

Leonardo: I was and I am booking bands exclusively and non exclusively all around the world, and most of them are or were my friends (R.I.P. Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper and Pip Pyle). It was always fun, and with some I had a lot of fun. I have done over 40 tours of Japan alone and have visited Japan 29 times, I have done gigs all over Asia and Latin America, all direct bookings, and have handled tours all around Europe but using various agencies, and in the USA I only book Allan Holdsworth, I do not have time to book other acts, even though I have started working lately with my friend Scott Henderson.  I am developing a company in Brazil, which is almost my second home (my wife is Brazilian) and I am building an agency and concert promotion company to cover the whole of South America with a main focus on Brazil. My best touring memories were always with Allan Holdsworth, because he is not from this Planet, he is a musical and guitar genius, and my funniest times were with Jan Akkerman, who is an extraordinarily funny man and one of the greatest guitarists I am aware of. He loves sljivovica and lozovaca, how couldn’t you be in love that kind of guy! I have worked with a few rock and prog legends whose attitudes I didn’t appreciate, nothing to do with me, I have never had problems with anyone, but I only like to work with good people.

Nick: What’s your perception of jazz?

Leonardo: I do not frequent fancy schmancy jazz clubs and I do not agree with Nicholas Payton and I do not own any albums by Wynton Marsalis or Kenny G.  Generally speaking, jazz has more progressive and inventive elements on its own than rock.

Nick: As I am familiar with the fact that you love to travel, I guess whenever you visit a country, you are willing to explore its musical legacy in the domains of progressive rock or jazz. That’s how it went with Indonesia, am I right?

Leonardo: I have travelled to over 70 countries worldwide. The most important aspect of those travels is visiting the places, meeting new people and eating the local food. Food comes before the music. Countries like Indonesia and Brazil are musically very rich. My legacy with Brazil is profound, I’ve spoken Portuguese for almost 30 years, and it is a country that I will explore more and more in terms of music. For some unknown reasons, I do not have any artist on my label from Brazil, but no worries, there will be several Brazilian artists on MoonJune Records starting later this year and especially in 2013. Indonesia is a “new country” in terms of progressive music, there is so much talent there that it is so impressive. I am expecting another 10 Indonesian albums between this and the next year.

Nick: How long has it been since you were last in what we used to call Yugoslavia? Have you had any opportunities to listen to something from the Balkans that really captured your imagination? Maybe some bands from Serbia that you would gladly have on MoonJune?

Leonardo: I left the Balkans in 1983, and the last time I visited the former Yugoslavia was in 1989. I wish I can soon visit my native Bosnia and also visit Belgrade (Serbia) and Dubrovnik (Croatia), two cities where I have lived for a number of years. So far I wasn’t very lucky to know about artists from any of countries that were in the former Yugoslavia from the past 30 years, I am sure there are great musicians, but I didn’t have chance to find them. My memory was stocked with Indexi, Korni, Time, Leb I Sol, Yu Grupa, and many more from ol’ good days. The most interesting new musician I know of is Damir Imamovic from Bosnia, the grandson of the legendary sevdah master Zaim Imamovic, he blends sevdah with jazz and blues.  I also like Dusan Jevtovic, a great Serbian jazz-rock guitarist who lives in Barcelona, Vasil Hadzimanov, Bojan Zulfikarpasic, Marko Djordjevic, The Tavitjan Brothers and lately I have discovered Matija Dedic, a fantastic jazz pianist from Zagreb, Croatia, whose parents are Arsen Dedic and Gabi Novak, very famous Yugoslavian/Croatian singer/songwriters. It would be nice got have an electric jazz band from Serbia or Bosnia or Macedonia, something in the vein of simakDialog, that have a very strong ethnic element in their music.

Nick: What is the most important factor in establishing and preserving a jazz scene or progressive rock scene? Of course I am talking about the countries in progress, the way most of the Eastern-European countries are.

Leonardo: Young musicians should play and play without any fear, engage with other people, create a “scene”. People like you are very important, so young and so knowledgeable, and perhaps, you should run a version of ProgSphere also in Serbian. I’m not sure everybody speaks English in Serbia.

Nick: What are your plans for 2012?

Leonardo: Upcoming releases on MoonJune Records:

ALLAN HOLDSWORTH – “None Too Soon” (MJR043, re-mastered)

ALLAN HOLDSWORTH – “Hard Hat Area” (MJR044, re0-mastered)

TOHPATI BERTIGA – “Riot” (MJR045, Indonesia)

AGAM HAMZAH LIGRO – “Dictionary 2″ (MJR046, Indonesia)

SHTGN – “Camera Obscura” (MJR047, Belgium)

plus

COPERNICUS “Victim Of The Sky” (USA, first time on CD)

COPERNICUS “Deeper” (USA, first time on CD)

and later in 2012, new albums of MAHOGANY FROG (Canada), I KNOW YOU WELL MISS CLARA (Indonesia), simakDIALOG (Indonesia), DOUBT (UK/Belgium), THE WRONG OBJECT (Belgium), MARBIN (Israel/USA), S.A.D.O. (Italy), SOFT MACHINE LEGACY (UK), TOHPATI ETHNOMISSION (Indonesia) and more ALLAN HOLDSWORTH archival re-issues, and much more…

Nick: As a man who has heard thousands of records, I can’t avoid asking, what are your favorite albums of all time?

Leonardo: I have several hundreds of favorite albums, it depends on the mood and day. I have listened to a lot of albums, but still there are thousands and thousands of albums that I have to listen to, albums from previous decades, recent albums and future albums. I would always choose “classic” albums, whatever that term means:

Robert Wyatt – Rock Bottom; Soft Machine – Vol. Two & Third; Hatfield & The North – Hatfield & The North & Rotter’s Club; Terje Rypdal – Odyssey & Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away; Pink Floyd – Ummagumma & The Dark Side Of The Moon; Miles Davis & Gil Evans – Sketches of Spain; Miles Davis – Bitches Brew & Kind Of Blue; Cream – Disraeli Gears; John Mayall – Bare Wires & Bluesbreakars (w/Clapton); Colosseum – Valentyne Suite; The Doors – The Doors; Jan Garbarek/Bobo Stenson Quartet – Witchi-Tai-To; King Crimson – Island, Lizard & Red; Van Der Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts; Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath; Allan Holdsworth – Wardenclyffe Tower; Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced, Band Of Gypsies & Electric Ladyland; Chick Corea – Return To Forever; Traffic – Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys; Il Balletto Di Bronzo – YS; Gentle Giant – Octopus; Pat Metheny – Travels & The Way Up; John Coltrane – Love Supreme & My Favorite Things; Frank Zappa – Hot Rats, Waka Jawaka & Grand Wazoo, YES – Close To The Edge; Genesis – Selling England By The Pound; Albert King – Born Under a Bad Sign and many many more….blues, rock, prog, jazz….Oh man, difficult question, where are artists like Astor Piazzolla, Milton Nascimento, Gong, National Health, Mahavishnu Orchestra, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Keith Jarrett, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, E.L.P., Jefferson Airplaine, Spirit, The Allman Brothers Band, Eberhard Weber, Ralph Towner, Focus, P.F.M., Banco, and more and more and more…. I like many new bands and albums, but I would always go for the classic stuff….

Nick: Is there anything you would love to add at the end of this interview?

Leonardo: Srdacni pozdravi i nadam se da cemo se upoznati jednog dana, pa na pice, klopu i dobru muziku…

Nick: Thank you very much for having some time to answer questions for Prog Sphere. Keep up great work!

Leonardo: Thanks for the opportunity and I wish You and ProgSphere all the best and a lot of success…

MoonJune Records on the web:

http://www.moonjune.com/
http://www.facebook.com/MOONJUNERECORDSNYC

Jeff Higgins – Profit Prophet

It’s simple unavoidable not to quote Jeff Higgins who said that Jeff Higgins is the founder of Groove Sandwich. Jeff Higgins, the musician, is the founder of Jeff Higgins, the blogger, who is the founder of Jeff Higgins, the musician.

Profit Prophet is Jeff Higgins’ (the musical one) first album and it is an electroacoustic piece in seven movements that is built off of the notion that global economics is more of a cult than a science. We both celebrate and fear the diety known as The Economy. Some of us experience its blessings while other feel its wrath. Could you have better description of Profit Prophet than it? I doubt.

There are no any odd rhythmic changes and progressive rock improvisational wankery, but to hell with it, it’s Jeff Higgins who is the friend of Nikola Savić, the founder of Prog Sphere and an occasional musician. (Though more a founder, than a musician).  Anyway, to learn more about what is Profit Prophet all about, check the embedded player below and some tags at down.

Best of 2011: Tobi & Dave (Effloresce)

Tobi’s favorites:

Opeth – Heritage

I have to admit that this was the first Opeth record that made me raise an eyebrow when the first details about the different direction were revealed. But luckily, I was so relieved when I first listened to it. If you’re not just after the metal in their music and appreciate that they are passionate artists in everything they do, you won’t be disappointed.

And it’s not even that weird as I thought it would be. After a couple of spins I began to witness the beauty of this, and the first thing I realized was that profundity and silence play vital roles here .

The band somehow manages to keep the songs interesting enough to always make you wonder what the next part might be – even when you listen to a few seconds of almost entire tranquillity. Of course you also got more straightforward songs, but they never stray too much from the overall atmosphere, which partially even reminds of „Damnation“.

In combination with the falling leaves outside and the sometimes melancholic atmosphere of the album, it was just the perfect record to listen to last autumn.  Leave it up to Opeth to create a true modern masterpiece.

Dark Suns – Orange

I got my hands on this just by coincidence, and understood that this band now danders on a similar path as Opeth with „Heritage“ (even though Dark Suns’ realignment is probably not that unexpected). By now their defined goal is „vintage“, and carrying that flag the band released an album which every fan of 70’s Prog and rather obscure stuff can fall in love with.

As far as I know,  the only overdubs were the vocals and some brass instruments. Everything else was recorded live, which shows the band’s convincing skills as dedicated musicians. They serve a mix of Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, King Crimson as well as some Faith No More and their own spice, garnished with sugar-piano and goose-bumps. And the latter is really injected into you like a drug: Just listen to the epic closing track and let yourself carry away to another world by the massive layers of guitar, piano melodies and melancholic vocals. A hippie’s drug trip is nothing compared to this.

Of course the other tracks also offer so much to discover and to really feel the fun and dedication the guys apparently had while recording these tunes.

I’m convinced that the opinion about a record is greatly influenced by the time in which it is released. So, if this had been released in the 70’s, it would be one of those „legendary“ records that everybody would refer to when talking about the good ol’ days. Personal tip!

Bronze goes to: Obscura’s “Omnivium”! Not quite my album of the year, but pretty bad-ass as well!

Dave says:

Well, I’d probably have to praise “Heritage” here also, since it’s probably my favorite 2011-record, but Tobi already did, so I can talk about a couple of other records that come pretty close to this masterpiece by our Swedish friends from Opeth.

Steven Wilson – Grace for Drowning

Well, Porcupine Tree is one of my favorite bands for many many years now, and when I first heard of Steven Wilson making a solo record, my expectations were pretty high. But he fully delivered and stunned me with “Insurgentes” in 2009. And his latest solo record “Grace for Drowning” does even more for me! Steven kept this mystique and bizarre mood from Insurgentes – again perfectly visualized by the fabulous Lasse Hoile by the way – and combined it with some lighter “almost Pop”-tunes on this record. That’s the instant impression at least… but listening to it over and over again, digging deeper and consciously enjoying this record reveals tons of details which simply make it an enormously rich experience overall. The tension built by unorthodox chord progressions or multiple vocal-layers like in “Raider Prelude” just twists ones mind and touches you emotionally at the same time. This unique combination created by the collage of many different sounds and instruments, written by a man whose musical knowledge and abilities seem to be boundless, makes “Grace for Drowning” a true piece of art and a record that mentally takes you on a ride. I love stuff like that!

Haken – Visions

Why is this one of my favorite albums of 2011? Well, I’ve been lucky to be able to meet the guys during their journey to Germany in September, when we played together at the Generation Prog Festival (along with some other badass bands, but that’s a different story…). And the Haken-dudes are just so nice, so humble and damn funny. Very cool people to hang out with… and hell did they put on a show that evening! Lots of energy, pure joy and excitement… plus: Prior to the actual release they sold some copies of their new record “Visions”! I loved their previous album “Aquarius”, because it’s so fresh, full of skill, epicness and melody… so I’ve been wondering how they would develop this unique style and what they would come up with on a new record. Fact is: Visions is the album that I have been listening to the most since September 2011. They really put out another masterpiece here and I basically love everything from the very first second to the last note of this record. With the closing epic tune “Visions” being my favorite, I guess… that one just has everything that Haken stands for: Melodic and sophisticated guitar work, funky and weird keys (Hey, Diego is a weird guy, so that fits, right?), lots of cool vocals, groovy drums and (what impressed me the most!) some terrific bass-work! Tom really did some huge steps basswise from the Aquarius-record to Visions, kudos for that! Well, altogether “Visions” is a delicious piece of modern Progressive Rock music, one of my favorites from 2011, that’s for sure! And everyone of you cats out there should give that one a few spins!

Pain of Salvation – Road Salt Two

Just like their previous record (the first of two “Road Salt”-CDs), that one again twisted some heads and caused some controversial discussions among die-hard fans. The consciously chosen “70s”-sound, comparatively short and – at least superficially – simple songs as well as their withdrawal from the “Prog-Camp” towards more straightforward Hard-Rock-music turned many many people off. Well… as much as I can understand all of those points, I refuse to judge a band on scales like that. I support bands who have the courage to evolve and walk on fresh, differents paths. And as long as the result is as interesting and profound, multi-layered and intense as “Road Salt two” I totally dig it! Daniel Gildenlöw’s godlike voice leads through a number of interesting and well structured pieces here and basically through the whole bandwidth of human emotion. Like always! “Healing now”, “To the Shoreline” and “1979” are just out of this world in my opinion. Such a flow, amazing melodies and intimate moments combined with beautiful and ambiguous lyrics, carefully arranged and combined with simply mature and deep music. Sounds suspiciously like a Pain of Salvation-album, huh? And yeah, that’s what it is after all! No matter what they changed at first sight, it still is clearly a PoS-record and carries all the qualities they are known for. I think this kinda retro style suits them well and I eagerly await their next move!

There have been a few more records from 2011 which I dig a lot, so very close behind those that I’ve been talking about, a few more “honorable mentions”:

Symphony X – Iconoclast
Pagan’s Mind – Heavenly Ecstasy
Mr. Big – What if…
Andromeda – Manifest Tyranny
Dream Theater – A Dramatic Turn of Events

SCALE THE SUMMIT’s The Collective To Receive Limited Vinyl Release

By popular demand, Prosthetic Records will soon release The Collective, the critically acclaimed 2011 album by Houston progressive instrumentalists SCALE THE SUMMIT, on vinyl. The LP — limited to 500 copies on high-quality 180-gram wax, and available now for pre-order at the Prosthetic Store – will feature enhanced cover art, pictured above. Additionally, it will contain the bonus track “Redwoods,” a song recorded during The Collective sessions that to date has only been available on the Japanese version of the album.

The Collective, called “terrifyingly good” and “essential prog” by Guitar World, was recorded in late 2010 at Paint It Black Studios in Orlando, Florida with producer Mark Lewis (Devildriver, All That Remains, The Black Dahlia Murder). It was supported by five North American tours in 2011 alongside the likes of Periphery, Protest The Hero, The Human Abstract, Fair To Midland, Cynic and 3.

SCALE THE SUMMIT will embark on its first-ever headlining tour this week. The Their Strings Are Voices tour kicks off in the band’s hometown of Houston on Friday, and will wrap its way through the U.S. before concluding on February 20 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Support will be provided by Elitist at most shows.

SCALE THE SUMMIT Their Strings Are Voices Tour Dates:

1/27/2012 Fitzgeralds – Houston, TX *
1/28/2012 The Door – Dallas, TX – The Door w/ Winter Jamboree
1/29/2012 Hooligans – Albuquerque, NM *
1/30/2012 Underground – Mesa, AZ *
1/31/2012 The Whisky – Los Angeles, CA *
2/02/2012 Branx – Portland, OR
2/03/2012 Studio Seven – Seattle, WA
2/05/2012 Kilby Court – Salt Lake City, UT
2/06/2012 Marquis Theater – Denver, CO
2/07/2012 Riot Room – Kansas City, MO
2/08/2012 Fubar – St Louis, MO
2/09/2012 Reggie’s Chicago, IL
2/10/2012 Mac’s – Lansing, MI
2/11/2012 Wreck Room – Toronto, ON
2/12/2012 Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY
2/13/2012 TT’s The Bear – Cambridge, MA
2/14/2012 Architekt Music – Butler, NJ
2/15/2012 Barbary – Philadelphia, PA
2/16/2012 Empire (formerly Jaxx) – West Springfield, VA
2/17/2012 The Drunken Unicorn – Atlanta, GA
2/18/2012 Will’s Pub – Orlando, FL
2/19/2012 Handlebar – Pensacola, FL
2/20/2012 Tiki Bar – Shreveport, LA
* – No Elitist

SCALE THE SUMMIT formed in 2005 while attending the Musicians’ Institute in Los Angeles. The band relocated to Texas in 2006, where they recorded their self-released debut album. After signing with Prosthetic, they released Carving Desert Canyons, which Revolver called “a cinematic blast of intricately melodic fretwork and pummeling percussion,” in 2009. The band subsequently toured with Dream Theater, Devin Townsend and Between The Buried And Me, among others. SCALE THE SUMMIT also has tracks available for the Rock Band video game through the Rock Band Network, while Chris Letchford was recently featured in MetalSucks’ “Top 25 Modern Guitarists” list.

https://www.facebook.com/scalethesummit
http://www.scalethesummit.com
http://prostheticrecords.com

Crystal Thoughts – Toxic Phenomena In Kosmic Fields

Guess this album might be CRYSTAL THOUGHTS’ (especially the frontman Spiros’) interpretation upon the ‘current’ acid folk.

CRYSTAL THOUGHTS, founded in 1999 as an acid folk duo by Spiros ROUCHOTAS and Vassilis STAVRIANAKOS but disbanded in the following year, were reformed under the same moniker as another quartet by Spiros. Finally in 2011 they have released their debut creation “Toxic Phenomena In Kosmic Fields”, featuring four new tracks, and one recorded in their beginning era.

At the same time, they should consider ’streaming and floating’ pretty important, and have played and recorded much carefully. They can amazingly come out with mellow, meditative, meaningful darkness and freshness in their soundscape, that sometimes sounds like mind-altering space rock like Pink Floyd for me but basically steady (namely, not whacked-out like Furekåben) acid-folksy colour comes to the fore. Cannot know whether I can call their primeval-flavoured melody line as Greek one or not, but their ethnic history or life should create such a deeply mysterious line. The first track “Kosmic Journey” sounds exactly cosmic / hypnotic / spacey, deeply in the core of meditation journey of their mind with altered states. “Psilocybe Effect” has definite acid folk depth and width with expanding sound echoes and eccentric voices by a sound effector – a bit inorganic and awkward though.

The titled track, the beginning of the B side, expresses another acid tour overlapped with typical folk pop scene, that indeed reminds me an early-1970s Japanese acid folk project Folk Crusaders (especially “Imjin River”). Female voices and cloudy flute solos are quite beautiful and tragic in “Tear Of An Elephant” – this stuff sounds a bit different from the other ‘dark / spacey acid folk’ for me. Don’t know in detail why it sounds so honestly, but I guess this song should have more definite ‘progressive folk’ structural essence here and there than others. The last shortest one “Carovna Pistalka” can be suitable for the epilogue of this album, with sharp-edged acoustic guitar, flute, and female narration (so graceful!) combo. Cool, delightful air is left around me after listening to this album really.

Tracklist:

Side A
1. Kosmic Journey (16:24)
2. Psilocybe Effect (3:30)
Side B
1. Crystal Thoughts (8:47)
2. Tear Of An Elephant (9:35)
3. Carovna Pistalka (2:30)

Total Time 40:46

Line-up:

* Lilian Tsatsaroni – all voices
* Mike Lawson – voices, narration
* Janka Helmeciova – narration
* Spiros Rouchotas – bass, drums, guitars, keyboards, percussion, flute, oboe, bassoon, electric sitar, nature sounds & effects

Links:

http://dedalospsych.blogspot.com/

Phlox – Quiver

Nice mellow psych-alt-prog!

Let me clarify something before we get confused, the band I am reviewing right now is Phlox, from Malaysia, please do not confuse with the Estonian avant-jazz band with the same name.
Well, so let’s start. “Quiver” is the name of the first full-length album of this young band, who had previously released a five-track EP back in 2009; in this occasion, they reunited ten compositions in which we can listen to their influences and style. This four-member band is trying to reach more listeners, so if you can go to their bandcamp site and help them, they would really appreciate.

So this 2011 release begins with “Quiver (part 1)”, which has a soft guitar in the few seconds, which later will be accompanied by drums and atmospheric keyboards. A minute later the atmosphere becomes tenser, with some kind of drama on it, we can appreciate it when the intensity increases. Later it slows down and finishes as it began. The second track is entitled “Speak to me”, here we can listen to a more aggressive sound created by guitars, which at the same time, and helped by the other instruments create a kind of soft psychedelic sound. In this track the vocals (in English) appear for the first time.

“High & Low” reminded me a bit of Gong due to the quirky voices and to the spacey and psychedelic sound in the beginning. Later it slows down a little bit with those mellow vocals, but only for a few seconds because it changes again to that increased intensity where the psych tones reappear. The track intercalates moods, the calm and the intense ones. “Morning Dreams” is a shorter piece with acoustic guitar and background keyboards, that create a nice and joyful sound.

It leads to “Quiver (part 2)” which happens to be the longest composition with almost eight minutes length. It softly starts and little by little progresses while the seconds pass, we can appreciate how it begins with a calm, barely listenable sound, and later becomes more intense. However this is a laid-back track, with charming vocals and delicate drums. The guitar work (both, acoustic and electric” is really good, nothing complex but always accurate. Though it is a long song, it does not really have notable changes, the sound and rhythm is the same during almost all the time.

“Everything Kills You” is another shorty with acoustic guitar and that joyful sound of the previous short track. “Where You Go” is one of those tracks with a sound closer to alternative or indie rock, this also reminds me of their EP, with this mellow, relaxed and friendly sound. This is a truly enjoyable song, though it is far from the progressive rock realm, but, who cares?

“Inside, Outside” retakes the spacey, atmospheric and soft psychedelic sound they previously shared. For the first three minutes the structure does not really changes, however in the last two it becomes more interesting, with some guitar riffs and a more intense sound. I dare say this is one of their finest moments, though I don’t like how it all of a sudden ends with the drums, I would have preferred a fade out.

“Bring me there” is the third and final short track with acoustic guitar, keyboards and joyful sound. And it leads to the final song of the album which is entitled “Quiver (part 3)”. It is actually my favorite of the quivers, due to its dramatic, yet emotional sound. I love how It is progressing, creating a wonderful psychedelic, spacey and atmospheric feast. Very good decision to finish the album with this track.

Phlox are an interesting and promising band, I am sure we will listen of them in the near future, meanwhile, spread the word and get their music.

Enjoy it!

Tracklist:

1. Quiver (part 1)
2. Speak to me
3. High & Low
4. Morning Dreams
5. Quiver (part 2)
6. Everything Kills You
7. Where You Go
8. Inside, Outside
9. Bring me there
10. Quiver (part 3)

Line-up:

* Hakim Tahar – vocals, keyboards, guitar
* Hanafi Rahman – electric guitar
* Syazwan Sazali – bass
* Ahmad Zulikhwan – drums, percussion

ProgSphere’s AwesomeCast: Episode 13 – Prog Sphere Promotions Pt. 2

Hello everybody and welcome to the second season of ProgSphere’s AwesomeCasts series. Although it was previously announced that the opening podcast in a new year will be actually an interview with Greek modern psychedelic rockers Sleepin Pillow, due to their busy schedule, I decided to come up with an AwesomeCast, highlighting the bands off the Prog Sphere Promotions roster.

There are 10 new bands, each presented with two tracks (for tracklist, check below) taken from our ever growing roster.

My choice, for opening this AwesomeCast fell upon the band hailing from Fleetwood in Lancashire, UK. The band in question is Earthling Society, presented here with two songs from their latest album called Stations of the Ghost. The band’s influential field is pretty wide as you can hear variety influences ranging from 70’s space rock, Krautrock, folk rock and of course progressive. I am sure you’ll notice it during listening the tracks.

John Duva, with their style of performing garage rock flirting with punk, is a new band coming from Sweden, which self-titled debut album is due on February 15^th on Transubstans Records.

Unified Past hails from Syracuse, NY and they are completely into progressive/art tock a la Rush. Focused on melody, this trio signed by great Melodic Revolution Records are ready to deliver much more on their upcoming release.

Probably the most interesting acts at the moment coming from Nuremberg, Germany is Effloresce, fronted by charismatic vocalist Nicki Weber. The band’s debut album called Coma Ghosts, mixed and mastered by legendary Dan Swanö, is set to be released on February 10th via newly formed (Michael Schetter’s of Relocator) label – Generation Prog Records. In this podcast, we have a premiere of a new song called Swimming Through Deserts, which is second song off the album to be streamed somewhere. The first one is Spectre Pt. I: Zorya’s Dawn.

Great 70’s Swedish progressive rock Trettioåriga Kriget (eng. 30 Year War) released a new album in 2011 called Efter Efter and here they are featured with two songs off that release. This band served as inspiration to many bands, most notable to Opeth, Anekdoten and Änglagård.

Trigon comes from Karlsruhe in Germany and are one of my most recent discoveries. The sense for improvisation within a time frame makes this band admirable. Their latest release 2011 shows that the band deserves much more and the term „underrated“ cannot be accepted.

Reason, with their variant of progressive/heavy metal released The Darkest Star on Alienation Records last December. The album splutters of of catchy songs, very melodic and memorable riffs. If you are hungry for true heavy metal combined with progressiveness, give Reason a chance, you won’t regret.

Estonian X-Panda is certainly one of the bands which debut Flight of Fancy could be described as a savior of the genre in 2011. These guys serve progressive metal with fusion leanings and they do it like real pros. Wonderful album!

Pittsburgh’s Radio for the Daydreamers came up with second part in their trptych Praying for the Be(a)st. Avant-garde jazz, ambient, atmospheric, alternative – these are some of the keywords adorning them.

And finally, one of the most anticipated releases and certainly an album which will hit the tops on many charts in 2012 is Gamma Knife by New York’s avant-garde elite Kayo Dot. What was announced with last year’s Stained Glass, on Gamma Knife is brought to perfection.

I may say that this podcast is personally my favorite, just because it was great choosing the tracks and making them as an entity. The tracks here, you will agree, come up as a good showcase of what all these bands are about. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

01. EARTHLING SOCIETY – Dark Horizons (taken from “Stations of the Ghost”)
02. EARTHLING SOCIETY – Night of the Scarecrow (taken from “Stations of the Ghost”)
03. JOHN DUVA – The Wind (taken from “John Duva”)
04. JOHN DUVA - Vi Drar Vårt Strå (taken from “John Duva”)
05. UNIFIED PAST – Exploratory Observations (taken from “Observations”)
06. UNIFIED PAST – Mesmerized (taken from “Observations”)
07. EFFLORESCE – Spectre Pt. I: Zorya’s Dawn (taken from “Coma Ghosts”)
08. EFFLORESCE – Swimming Through Deserts (taken from “Coma Ghosts”)
09. TRETTIOARIGA KRIGET – The Child (taken from “Efter Efter”)
10. TRETTIOARIGA KRIGET – Glorious War (taken from “Efter Efter”)
11. TRIGON – Peitscht das Kamel (taken from “2011″)
12. TRIGON – Space Chick Strikes Back (taken from “Emergent”)
13. REASON – Another World (taken from “The Darkest Star”)
14. REASON – The Darkest Star (taken from “The Darkest Star”)
15. X-PANDA – Dickybirds (taken from “Flight of Fancy”)
16. X-PANDA – Journey of a Dream (taken from “Flight of Fancy”)
17. RADIO FOR THE DAYDREAMERS – Bloodlights (Oh I Sleep) (taken from “Praying for the Be(a)st”)
18. RADIO FOR THE DAYDREAMERS – No One Ever Comes Here, But Me (taken from “Praying for the Be(a)st”)
19. KAYO DOT – Rite of Goetic Evocation (taken from “Gamma Knife”)
20. KAYO DOT – Gamma Knife (taken from “Gamma Knife”)

Download:

http://www.archive.org/details/ProgSphere_sAwesomeCast_13-ProgSpherePromotionsPt.2

Øresund Space Collective “Chased by the Space Police” Out Now!

The third Prog Sphere Records release is a single of space rockers Øresund Space Collective called Chased by the Space Police. This track originates from the band’s It’s All About Delay session from March 2006.

The single comes together with amazing artwork (as shown above) designed by Påhl Sundström, with notes about the session and track itself written by Dr. Space, and is available on Prog Sphere Bandcamp. Without further ado, get over there and grab this piece of awesomeness!

Øresund Space Collective on the web:

http://www.oresundspacecollective.com/
http://www.facebook.com/OresundSpaceCollective

Ennis Tola – Seed aka “How a band amazed me…”

It’s not  like I am accustomed to put any additional descriptions in a title of a post as I rather love to keep the things simple and straight, but I couldn’t avoid to make an exception here. Let me introduce you an amazing group hailing from Melbourne, Australia. Amazing by all means. Now when you shook hands, let’s see what lies beyond.

Laid-back ambient style in their ever-progressing soundwaves reached through many rhythm-changes and startstops is what builds Seed. Wonderful sounds of Karen Heath’s clarinet mixed with Tomas Fitzgerald’s Jeff Buckley-like voice, in addition of precise, but spontaneous instrumentation place this installment out of time. Eastern flavored sound walls are on a thin line with folksy flirts and even some of post-rock and alternative legacy.

Check the player below and enjoy this amazing journey!

Next Page »