Artist: Big Big Train Album Title: Folklore Label: English Electric Recordings Date Of Release: 27 May 2016 Albums like this need to be consumed for some time before any thoughts are committed to paper or PC. However, I was desperate to review ‘Folklore’ by Big Big Train before it was officially released and so, after […]
via Big Big Train – Folklore – Album Review — The Blog of Much Metal
One of America’s two finest print sources has a great writeup on BENT KNEE. And, well deserved. By Jim Fusilli.
Bent Knee, whose latest album, “Say So” (Cuneiform), arrived on Friday, has been classified as a proponent of art rock, which is only a little more helpful than saying it makes music. Across the span of its three full-length discs, the silo-smashing, Boston-based sextet taps into cabaret, ’70s piano-based folk, chamber pop, industrial rock, metal and prog rock—with the snap of funk and hip-hop in some of its rhythms. Featuring the versatile, ever-appealing voice of Courtney Swain on top, Bent Knee’s unique mix is equal parts ingenuity and deliciousness.
Bent Knee may begin and end a track near the same sonic place, but in between it offers a journey filled with fruitful detours. The initial listening experience is to wonder what’s next; later, it’s a matter of catching up with what was missed the earlier times around. On “Say So,” the track “Counselor” features bouncy allusions to show tunes; punchy funk; wailing metal; and a sing-along worthy of a protest rally. A cocktail-lounge piano and a theatrical vocal by Ms. Swain introduce “Nakami,” but soon comes Gavin Wallace-Ailsworth’s booming drums, a stinging guitar and sweet strings; Ms. Swain, who also plays keyboards, sings the stirring outro in Japanese. “Eve” has two bludgeoning interludes right out of sludge metal, but there are also little bits on plucked violin and accordion, with some jazzy chording on electric guitar. For all that’s happening on this album, there’s little bloat or self-indulgence, and even the longest tracks feel like concise statements.
To read it all, and you should, go here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/say-so-by-bent-knee-review-1464125585
Thanks to Stephen Humphries for pointing this out to me this morning.
My lyrical analysis of one of my favorite albums, Pendragon’s “Not of This World”.
via Album Spotlight: Pendragon – “Not of This World” — The PROG Mind
I believe that everybody already knows that Haken have a new album called Affinity and that it’s bloody great. The band is literally about to kick off their European tour together with Special Providence, Rendezvous Point, and Arkentype. For bassist Conner Green, Affinity is the second release with Haken after 2014′s EP Restoration, and in an interview for…
via CONNER GREEN Talks New HAKEN Album, Gear, Tour & More — Prog Sphere
Artist: Airbag Album Title: Disconnected Label: Karisma Records Date Of Release: 10 June 2016 I may be the Man Of Much Metal but occasionally, there’s nothing I like more than to dial down the extremity and indulge in something altogether more relaxed. The scratching post for this particular itch comes in the form of Norwegian […]
via Airbag – Disconnected – Album Review — The Blog of Much Metal
Multi-instrumentalist Abraham Sarache, who recently released a new album titled The Gardener, will play a special release show in support of the album at Volta in Amsterdam on June 24th. The show will be recorded for a future live release.
The Gardener is an alt/progressive rock concept album with the inclusion of folk instruments like ukulele and Venezuelan cuatro. To express the feelings involved, different kinds of voice registers are provided: from a soft, melodious or whispered voice to raspy voice. Various pads and synthesizers are used to give depth and warmth to the songs where an acoustic guitar with a low tuning predominates. A multicultural composition on the instrumental level and a progressive rhythmic base create an exquisite atmosphere of imbalance and peculiarity.
Continue reading “ABRAHAM SARACHE to Play “The Gardener” on June 24 in Amsterdam’s Volta”
District 97 is such a great band. Here’s a taste of them live from their recent world tour. Notice how amazing Leslie Hunt is fronting the band. I love how she is so totally into the music. What a great way to draw the audience in. This is one of my favorite songs off of the last District 97 album. It’s so darn good.
The Benny Goodman Orchestra’s performance at Carnegie Hall in January 1938 has a place in history as the coming out party for jazz, a legitimizing of an art form within the fortress of American (read: white/European) highbrow music. Ripe for irony? Yes. But when we recall this was the era of “race” records, and that jazz in the white American psyche was still an odd conflation of jump-and-jive black culture, blackface minstrelsy, and the carefully staged musical numbers of Hollywood sophisticates, Goodman and company’s triumph was quite real. Bringing an integrated group of musicians that included the best of its day to Carnegie Hall, blowing the collective Depression-era Jim Crow “high culture” hive-mind…. remarkable. This music is fierce, sometimes nasty, less a nod to propriety than a tuxedo-ed finger in the eye, dashing racial and artistic division by sheer force of celebratory musicality. “Sing Sing Sing,” a Goodman Orchestra signature tune written by Louis Prima, was the band’s finale, clocking in at over 12 minutes, and thus recorded, using the technology of the time, on acetate discs using a relay of multiple turntables (while the concert was almost instantly legendary, the recordings wouldn’t be made available for over a decade: see http://www.jitterbuzz.com/carcon.html for the whole fascinating story). The centerpiece of the song is Gene Krupa’s drumming, fading in and out of the mix — which was performed by the musicians rather than by the engineers — and ultimately making him jazz (and, by association, rock) drumming’s first real star. Lithe, articulate solos by Goodman, Harry James, and Jess Stacy shift dynamics, riding over Krupa’s pounding, roiling the waves sent up by the Orchestra. Even if you haven’t heard this song, you’ve heard it. But…get lost in it.
The new Big Big Train album has eight tracks, if you count “Along the Ridgeway / Salisbury Giant” as one track, which you should, since the two fit together seamlessly.
David Longdon writes about four of the tracks:
Folklore 7:33
London Plane 10:13
Along the Ridgeway 6:12 / Salisbury Giant 3:37
The Transit of Venus Across the Sun 7:20
Wassail 6:57
Winkie 8:25
Brooklands 12:44
Telling the Bees 6:02
Andreas Šala, guitarist and composer who plays with bands Subscale, The Ralphand If And When We Die, released a play-through video for the song “Hue” taken from his upcoming solo album Pleasure Dome.
Asked about the inspiration for the new song and the album overall, Šala who plays Wreck Guitars’ BlueMorpho 6 in the video, said: “Well I wanted to make a solo record for quite some time now but I just couldn’t decide in which direction I want to take it. But when I got my hands on the BlueMorpho melodies just started to pour out of me and I knew what I had to do. I felt like a kid again.”
Pleasure Dome differs from the albums he releases with Subscale and The Ralph in that is more ambient and minimalistic. “I wanted to do something a bit different. For the past 5 years I was composing mostly metal for The Ralph so I wanted to take a step back. I’m a huge Joe Satriani fan (and 80’s/90’s instrumental music fan in general) and I always liked “bigger than life” melodies so it seemed like a logical step to make a guitar driven instrumental album,” Andreas continues.
As mentioned, Andreas uses Wreck Guitars’ 6-string model BlueMorpho. “I was going for a blend of a old-school ’80s lead sound and modern rock/metal sound. I record everything digitally so I have more room to manipulate the sound later on in the mixing process. The guitar goes straight into my audio interface (an old-school E-MU 0404USB) with nothing in between. I use mostly Ignite Amps products — Emissary for the amp simulation and NadIR for loading the cab impulses. For the cab impulses I use mostly Catharsis‘ IRs. BlueMorpho is loaded with Dolezal pickups which are pretty hot and punchy which was great for tracking rhythm guitars.”
Watch a playthrough video for the new song “Hue” below, and follow Andreas on YouTube. Make sure to check Andreas’ other band The Ralph on Bandcamp and Facebook.
Visit Wreck Guitars official website and Facebook page.
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