This photo captures the loving spirit of Glass Hammer. So much mystery and adventure, an endless exploration of what is known and unknown, majestically progressing not toward perfection, but toward beauty.
Ulver – The Assassination Of Julius Caesar
New music from Norwegian experimentalists Ulver is always something to savour, and its diversity might surprise you. 2016’s cryptically-titled ATGCLVLSSCAP was mostly instrumental and partly-improvised, veering from ambient to intensely atmospheric post rock and back again. Their latest release is a quite different proposition, however.
The Assassination Of Julius Caesar channels progressive, pop and electronica influences to utterly glorious effect. Repeated listens variously bring to mind Pure Reason Revolution, Anathema, New Order, Propaganda, early Simple Minds and Massive Attack, amongst others (a list of musical reference points that will have a few Progarchy readers salivating, I’m sure).
It’s difficult to pick out highlights in an album of such consistently high quality, but right now I’m particularly enamoured by the expansive dark groove of Rolling Stone (at over 9 minutes, the album’s longest track), the elegant pop of Southern Gothic and the achingly beautiful chorus in Transverberation.
I’m calling it now. One of the best albums of 2017.
Neal Morse Inner Circle Goes TOTALLY Digital. NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
Over the last several weeks, Neal Morse has announced that his venerable INNER CIRCLE club is going exclusively digital.
To state that this infuriates me would be going way too far. To state that I’m unhappy, however, would not be an exaggeration.
Not only have I been a proud INNER CIRCLE member for years, but I’ve also got my own Neal Morse display in my office–in all of its tangible (yes, TANGIBLE) and technicolor glory.
Do I want downloads? No. I don’t want downloads from Neal Morse or from Glass Hammer or from The Tangent or from Riverside or from NAO or from Big Big Train.
As far as I’m concerned, sadly, Neal Morse’s INNER CIRCLE is done. Whatever it was (and, it was brilliant), it’s over.
I’m so tired of the world moving toward nothing but digital. We (or, at least I) love prog because everything is so well done–the lyrics, the music, the playing, and the art. I want an album or a CD or a DVD or a blu-ray. A down load is just not cheap, but, frankly, tacky.
Mr. Morse, please, please, please reconsider this.
Is Prog Really Still Prog?
J.C. Harris posted this in the comments, and I thought it was too interesting to leave it there. Thanks, J.C.–BB
Samey. I honestly can’t tell one of these ‘new prog’ bands from the other. And I have tried. What originally drew me to progressive rock almost 50 years ago now was the -originality- of the best groups. Each band had a truly distinctive voice. And on almost every album, the groups were really -trying- to incorporate new instruments, cultures, chord structures, rhythms, techniques, etc.; -anything- to widen the variety. -That- was the essence of ‘progressive’. How far things have fallen.
The only response people have to the above critique seems to be, “Man you’re -old-.” Which doesn’t address the point. Whenever I hear almost any new (cough) ‘progressive’ group it makes me wonder, “Are bands like this -really- the best we can manage in 2017?”
IOW: this will sound naive, but back when I was 15, I thought that progressive rock would -grow- just like jazz and classical and other serious art forms. And that the ‘prog’ records of -today- would feature even -better- playing, more outrageous compositions and even more imaginative stories. And mostly? That hasn’t happened.
Should We Remember Big Country?
Big Country is one of those bands that still gets me rather excited, even after three decades. That excitement, however, leads to joy as well as to disappointment. For me, all of the first album, THE CROSSING, eight of the ten tracks of STEELTOWN, and two of the ten tracks of THE SEER are perfect. Yes, perfect rock songs. The rest are not just “meh,” but actually kind of bad.
Your thoughts? Am I being unfair to the rest of Big Country’s output?
soundstreamsunday: “Pran Ka Mwen” by Lakou Mizik
I will never know, I mean KNOW, what a lakou is, in the same way that a Haitian will. It is a backyard, a coming together, a process, a form, a spirit. It is a community and a memory of communities stretching back through time all the way to the only successful slave revolution in recorded history and beyond. A summation and a celebration. It’s also just a freakin’ party, where all the significance of what Lakou means ends up in the bottom of a bottle of rum.
Lakou Mizik built itself as an experiment of sorts, coming out of 2010’s Haiti earthquake with a purpose, to revisit traditional Haitian music and recast it for a world pop culture tied to YouTube, not radios. In full disclosure I know this band, or they at least they know my house, as I hosted them for dinner (and yes, rum), a road-weary touring unit criss-crossing the states. The songs they sang in my living room included this gem, a homebrew version of “Gaya,” a raveup with Michael Brun that otherwise looks like this:
Their lone LP Wa Di Yo is the ultimate lakou. The beautiful “Pran Ka Mwen,” featuring vocalist Nadine Remy and Steeve Valcourt’s gorgeous guitar, and a chorus of cornets and percussion, is the gem in the goldmine (well, then there’s “Poze” …). This is joy drawn from the ashes, as brave a get down as any I can think of.
“I came on earth to live in peace
Down here on earth, we are all one”
Lakou Mizik: https://www.lakoumizik.com/home
soundstreamsunday presents one song or live set by an artist each week, and in theory wants to be an infinite linear mix tape where the songs relate and progress as a whole. For the complete playlist, go here: soundstreamsunday archive and playlist, or check related articles by clicking on”soundstreamsunday” in the tags section above.
Chris Cornell Lives On…
I stumbled across this video today. It appears at least one member of the Cornell family is capable of carrying on Chris’ legacy – Toni has some pipes like her father!
Seasons, Jimi Hendrix, and the Virgin: Jammin’ in the Kingdom with Chris Cornell
And I’m lost, behind
The words I’ll never find
And I’m left behind
As seasons roll on by
Thus far, 2017 has been a rather amazing year when it comes to rock and prog. PROG magazine is back and better than ever. Thank the Good Lord for Jerry Ewing.
The music releases–already and forthcoming–this year are nothing less than stunning. Big Big Train has released the finest of the band’s career, and The Tangent’s new release has yet to come. Steven Wilson is coming out with a progressive pop album, and newspaperflyhunting and Bjorn Riis have, as with BBT, released the best thing either’s written and done, thus far in their respective careers. There’s a new Anathema that is pretty good, and Steve Hogarth seems, at the moment, unstoppable with Marillion as well as with Isildur’s Bane.
Now I want to fly above the storm
But you can’t grow feathers in the rain
And the naked floor is cold as hell
This naked floor reminds me
Oh the naked floor reminds me
As I type this (having just returned from a conference on libertarian thought in 1840’s France), I have just received in the mail two grand packages. The first I opened is Steven Wilson’s remix of Jethro Tull’s SONGS FROM THE WOODS. The second is Aryeon’s signed five-disk ear-book, THE SOURCE. Honestly, I’m not sure how to react with anything that would be regarded as decorous. I’m a 13-year old boy, at the moment, just having had my first listen of MOVING PICTURES.
Holy schnikees.
Continue reading “Seasons, Jimi Hendrix, and the Virgin: Jammin’ in the Kingdom with Chris Cornell”
Progarchy 