One of my favorite musicians (and an incredible man of integrity and friendship), Zee Baig, has just announced a pledge campaign for his mighty and as-near-as-perfect-in-this-world progressive band, Fire Garden.
I give you my fullest and most complete and bestest encouragement to pledge!
Zee is worth it.
Zee’s art is worth it!
A hundred fold.
http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/firegardenmusic
There’s a wonderful look at the “behind the scenes” of Rush’s 40th anniversary tour last year by Derk Hagedorn. The article is actually six months old, but I just found it now.
From Jack White and Bruce Hornsby to Van Halen, Shakira and Jane’s Addiction, Brad Madix has mixed for a huge number of top artists over his impressive career, winning a number of Parnelli Awards, a Grammy nomination, and other industry accolades along the way. Together with business partner Greg Price, Brad also founded Diablo Digital Inc., a company that specializes in providing turn-key live recording systems for tours, festivals and installations. Most recently Brad was behind a VENUE | Profile at FOH for Rush’s R40 Live Tour, which commemorated the band’s 40th anniversary and featured songs from every era of their extensive catalog. I spoke with Brad shortly after the tour about the unique challenges he faced mixing the R40 Live Tour as well as his initial impressions of the new VENUE | S6L system.
Go here to read the full article.
“Killer was one of the first songs written for Disconnected,” commented Airbag guitarist Bjørn Riis. “I had this idea of this ruthless corporate guy who used everyone to gain success – sort of Bateman from American Psycho meets Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko. He’s outside, or disconnected from, the rules of our society.
“Musically, ‘Killer’ is slightly different from what we’ve done before. There’s more emphasis on the drums, different rhythm patterns and electronic elements. It really was a band effort, where everyone was contributing ideas and trying out new stuff.”Disconnected, the follow-up to Airbag’s critically acclaimed 2013 release The Greatest Show on Earth, will release on June 10 via Karisma Records.The band has launched a Disconnected website with several pre-order options, video content and more at: http://www.airbagdisconnected.com/.
Featuring six songs with a common theme of alienation between the individual and society, Disconnected was recorded with long-time collaborator and engineer Vegard Sleipnes and produced by Airbag vocalist Asle Tostrup and guitarist Bjørn Riis.
Guitarist Bjørn Riis adds: “The early demos for ‘Disconnected’ were written during a couple of months in late 2014. The idea and inspiration for most of the lyrics, and the title track in particular, came from me realizing that I had to make some changes in my life. I was tired of the daily routine, working 9-5 in an office doing basically nothing and never having enough time for my family and music. I took a year off and started writing for the album.
“As for the music, you want to look forward and explore new sounds and musical ground. We talked a lot about wanting to use more electronic elements and giving more room for the drums, allowing them to be more percussive and basically avoid the usual rock formula on all songs. We also wanted to do a more stripped down production and create a more spacious and dynamic sound.”1. Killer2. Broken3. Slave4. Sleepwalker5. Disconnected6. Returned
Airbag’s music is best described as scenic, epic rock – a sonic journey of lush soundscapes and arrangements, underlined by soaring guitars and soulful vocals. Airbag’s three previous album releases: Identity (2009), All Right Removed (2011) and The Greatest Show on Earth(2013) have gained the band a solid following and reputation among both fans and the press. Prog Magazine hailed The Greatest Show on Earth as a “confident step in the right direction, so much so you’re led to believe that album number four really could be the big one.”
Over the years, Airbag has also become a solid live act, playing at several major festivals and as support and in double-bills with bands like Marillion, Anathema, Pineapple Thief, Riverside, RPWL and Gazpacho.
Stay tuned for more information on Airbag and Disconnected, out next month on Karisma Records.-###-
It’s quite possible that you need to be an American (United States variety) for this to be funny. But, trust me, it’s pretty incredible.
Here’s the original.
Here’s the version by The Doors (aka Jimmy Fallon).
There may be too much to say about and too much going on in Esperanza Spalding’s new album, Emily’s D+Evolution, to relate anything meaningful in writing here. “Live at BRIC,” a performance of songs from the album, was recorded by NPR in March, and it shines brightly, landing it’s Parliament-like Mothership on planets traveled by Joni Mitchell, King Crimson, Zappa. Importantly, it throws down the gauntlet in terms of prog rock performance, making more out of less. It’s not just a bunch of musos looking at the floor in their noodle space, but the simple theatricality complements the music without getting in the way — it’s emotional, engaged, a pure and honest expression.
TeamRock and Prog are reporting that Trevor Horn will be playing with Yes, live on May 9-10. Amazing.
http://teamrock.com/news/2016-04-26/trevor-horn-to-join-yes-for-two-uk-shows
Porcupine Tree, ANESTHETIZE: LIVE IN TILBURG, OCTOBER 2008 (Kscope, 2cd/1dvd, 2015).
I’m a relative late comer to his music. As chance happened (as chance does), I actually turned on a radio (something I’d really not done since the late 1980s) while driving through Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the early fall of 2002. And, miraculously, at that moment, the station was playing something from IN ABSENTIA.
“Trains,” I think.
Continue reading “A Not So Gentle Reminder: Anesthetize from Porcupine Tree”
The Enid, one of the most iconoclastic progressive bands have ploughed their own furrow over the last 40 years guided by the individual (some might say bloody minded) vision of Robert John Godfrey, a unique musical visionary who polarises opinion with his outspoken critiques, yet he has driven The Enid forward for the last 40 years and with the current tour being his last hurrah with the band as he steps back and lets the young blood in the current revitalised incarnation take over, I was lucky to catch up with Robert, and Enid vocalist Joe Payne last month before they flew of to Japan, to talk about their latest opus Dust.
Robert John Godfrey
Robert is one of the most erudite musicians I have ever interviewed, an intelligent and passionate individual he has so many ideas that we would veer off topic at a regular occurrence including several off the record chats that sadly I cannot reproduce here, witty, self deprecating and very down to earth I think when he steps aside from the stage work he should do a few ‘Evening with…’ theatre shows.
We started our chat by talking about their mighty fine new album Dust and Robert explained the albums concept and themes,
‘Basically there is stardust round and round us, and it’s the culmination of a trilogy, Dust is a prophetic look at where we’ve got to.
It’s about 7 things represented by a seven-point star, there are six things that are on a collision course with massive consequences, the environment vs consumerism, the sacred and the secular and wealth and poverty.
The seventh is something that might have been implicit at the Big Bang, when you got a Terry Pratchett disc world and the 6 points are all fighting each other and this enormous problem us something the next generation has to sort out is the legacy of the mess my generation have made. In this pretty devastated place at the end of it all you’ve got Love, which you must have had in place at the start.
Love, it’s what you’re left with at the end and the stuff of creation, the message that was behind (classic Enid album) Something Wicked this Way comes.
Is this the end? A punishment or a great forest fire, a reset. The trilogy is about the relationship between the one and the many.
It’s about being interested in ideas of mortality and what it means to be a believer, I honestly don’t know and don’t pretend to know.
I’ve spent my life half rationalising against the idea of God and the other half talking to him’ Continue reading “The Enid, Dust to Glory.”
Progarchy 