Seventh episode of SexCake! DJ Mowsee and Lady K discuss the music that’s played during this episode track by track. WARNING: This show is uncensored! It contains useful (or useless) info about your favourite tracks, a DJ Mowsee on a bed (and you may guess if he’s wearing any pants), and your usual dose of Tim Bowness (which Lady K almost forgot to add to the playlist).
Today is Local Comic Book Day in North America. Most comic shops have limited markets and can always use much bigger ones.
For what it’s worth, my kids would not be the kids they are without comic books inspiring them to read, to think imaginatively, and to emulate heroes who are not afraid to speak and act in the name of virtue. I can say the same about myself (whatever my faults).
If it helps to overcome the stigma that comics are “funny books” or juvenile, just think of comic books as intricately and nobling moving and interlocking stained glass.
Or, consider this. All modern comic book heroes are simply medieval saints and classical heroes and demigods in modern garb.
So, without hestitatiion, I encourage you to support your local comic book store today.
One of at least three different covers for this album.
If there’s anything in the music world quite like Pure Reason Revolution’s first full album, THE DARK THIRD, I’ve never encountered it. Of course, I can think of Talk Talk, Lush, Pink Floyd, My Bloody Valentine, Porcupine Tree, Cocteau Twins, NAO, and Newspaperflyhunting. . . but PRR is still something rather altogether different.
Even upon my very first listen, I remember being just utterly dazzled. Hard to believe that has already been a decade ago. it was the first album I ever purchased as a download. Frankly, I hate downloads, and I have long since bought the actual physical CD of THE DAR THIRD, but I remember well putting my credit card number in and waiting nervously for it to appear in iTunes.
Originally released in 2016, the album has been remastered with five bonus tracks, and is presented in Digipak format for the first time. The release also features all new artwork by celebrated artist Mark Buckingham.
…Morecambe represents the first flowering of The Fierce And The Dead’s signature sound, and displays both the immediacy of their music and a promise of what was to come.
Guitarist Matt Stevens says: “We’re really pleased to get this opportunity to release a definitive version of the first Fierce And The Dead album – we’re still really proud of it. It’s nice to get an opportunity to go back to remaster it, sort out the packaging and put some previously unreleased tunes on there. Mark Buckingham’s brand new art is really special and the opportunity to work with one of our favourite artists is a massive deal for all of us. I’m really pleased to be able to release it in partnership with our friends at BEM.”
Written interview! Interview with Geoff Tate of Operation: Mindcrime Geoff Tate recently released his second studio album with his band Operation: Mindcrime, named Resurrection (you can read my review of that album here). It’s a follow up of the album The Key, and the second part of the trilogy. Geoff and Iris did an interview […] Continue reading by clicking on the link below!
The Gift, WHY THE SEA IS SALT (Bad Elephant Music, 2016). Tracks: At Sea; Sweeper of Dreams; Tuesday’s Child; The Tallest Tree; All These Things; and Ondine’s Song.
From: Bad Elephant Music, 2016
Talk about mythic. The Gift has given us a love song to the vast world of the oceans. Well, “love” might be too strong. There’s love here, to be sure, but there’s also fear and mystery and more than a bit of properly understood awe.
Finding myself quite taken with this most recent release, I keep feeling waves of nostalgia for the first time my great friend, Craig Breaden, introduced me to real Procol Harum—not the Procol Harum of the top 40, but Procol Harum in all of the band’s art rock glory. Yes, The Gift talk about “Salty Dogs”, but it’s far more than this lyrical reference that calls me back to my first moments with that Procol Harum album, more than a quarter of a century ago, now.
Partly, it’s the flow of the album.
Partly, it’s the intelligence of the lyrics.
And, partly, it’s the whimsy that mixes so well with gravity—not an easy skill for any lyricist.
And, there’s another fantastic aspect to this album—the flow of the music perfectly follows the flow of an ocean journey. How The Gift accomplished this so ably, I’m not sure. But, every instrument—whether the keys, the bass (love the bass playing on this album; absolutely love it), the voice, or the guitar—leads to the next one, always playing nicely as it trades off the focus, one to the next. The effect is an usual and compelling flow for the listener as he (or she!) journeys from one wave to the next.
Due to overwhelming demand, there will be encore screenings of the documentary Rush | Time Stand Still across the US on Thursday, November 17 – check http://rushtimestandstill.com for a theatre near you!
On Thursday, November 17 there will also be a special screening by Planet Rock in London, UK. The event will be hosted by Rush Superfan Darren Redick at Planet Rock studios at 6pm. There are 10 pairs of exclusive tickets to be won, you can enter here: http://www.planetrock.com/win/rush-exclusive-uk-advance-screening/Contest closes Monday Nov 14 at 23:59PM.
Fire Garden, FAR AND NEAR (2016). Tracks: Far and Near; There’s Something; A New Day; Life of a Drifter; A Thousand Lost Souls; War and Peace; Faint Shadows; Whitelight; and Diary of a Blood Moon.
One of the single best things about being a hyperfan of progressive rock music is always dealing with the most interesting of people. When it comes to prog—the musicians, the engineers, and the fans—we’re all basically a bunch of OCD perfectionists. And, I think we understand each other in ways non proggers simply cannot (as in, not constitutionally equipped to do so). In the nearly ten years I’ve been reviewing music online, I’ve met a number of absolutely fascinating people. None less so than Chicago’s young master of all that is melodic metal prog, Zee Baig.
The moment I first found Zee’s music—as first sold through his ep, aptly titled THE PRELUDE—I knew I had to reach out to him. I did, he was responsive, and we pretty quickly established a friendship through email. We talked about war, tradition, music, kids, art. You name it, and Zee and I talked about it. Even though we’re only a three-hours drive from one another, we’ve never actually met in person. Strange, but true. And, here’s hoping, someday soon this will be rectified.
Zee BaigUntil that glorious moment, I’m more than content listening to Zee’s astounding music. It, in and of itself, has become a close friend. The band’s first album, SOUNDS OF MAJESTIC COLORS, has remained in my constant listening rotation since it first appeared in 2014. There’s no mistaking that the best of Dream Theater influenced and inspired much of the first album, but Fire Garden takes chances that Dream Theater never would. This is especially true in lyrical content. To be sure, Fire Garden is no clone of DT.
FAR AND NEAR, Fire Garden’s second full-length album, has just appeared on the market, and it’s a stunner, as strong and as good as anything else that has come out this year. This is no small praise when one considers how many greats have come out: from Frost* to Glass Hammer to Big Big Train. FAR AND NEAR stands with those at the very top.
I’m near to tears! Thank you so much dear Sel Balamir of 
Progarchy 