“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.-###-
Prince: An Appreciation
One of my first jobs in high school was valet parking for a restaurant. Besides the perk of driving all kinds of cool cars, I also sometimes heard interesting music on the sound system. One time I hopped into a car, and there was a guy singing falsetto over a funky beat with a catchy melody. I picked up the cassette lying on the passenger seat and noted that it was by a guy named Prince, and the album was For You. I later learned that he was 17 years old, and he self-produced it.
I never picked that album up, and I didn’t hear much of Prince after that, because my tastes were more punk/new wave. However, one morning in 1982 my favorite rock radio station was playing an irresistible song where the singer declared, “Tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999”. Whoa! I cranked it up, because this guy was the perfect combination of rock, dance, synthpop, and rhythm and blues. It was Prince.
I did purchase that album (1999), and like later ones he would release, it was all over the place. Hard rock, gritty funk, blues, new wave, techno – it was a foretaste of Prince’s unique ability to combine seemingly incompatible styles of music into an original and appealing blend. It was also a harbinger of his incredible productivity: a double album that was “Produced, Arranged, Composed, and Performed by Prince”.
In 1984, it was impossible to turn on the radio and not hear something from Prince’s breakthrough album, the soundtrack to his movie, Purple Rain. A mega seller that actually deserved to be one, Prince was suddenly considered the main rival to Michael Jackson, the so-called King Of Pop. The movie made Prince a huge multimedia star. But there were things happening in Purple Rain foreshadowing the restless genius of Prince; things that indicated he was an artist who would follow his own muse, regardless of the commercial appeal.
Take the first single, “When Doves Cry”: opening with a crazy, squiggly guitar line, an insistent keyboard riff takes over, only to disappear while Prince sings over spare percussion. It took me dozens of listens before I figured out what made the song so compulsively listenable: there’s no bass! It’s impossible to sit still to, yet there’s no lower end – it’s brittle, percussive, beautiful, and spacey all at the same time.
A big part of Purple Rain’s success has to go to Prince’s band, The Revolution. A diverse group of musicians in the mold of Sly and the Family Stone, each member made a distinctive contribution to the overall sound. For the next few years, they would become integral to Prince’s success, reigning in his wildest musical forays, and providing him with song ideas he could bounce off of.
Every song is brilliant on Purple Rain, even the notorious “Darling Nikki”, which spurred Tipper Gore to fight for warning labels on music. The title track put to rest any doubt of Prince’s instrumental prowess: a gospel-tinged masterpiece, it features one of the finest guitar solos ever committed to tape. Which brings up the main contradiction in Prince’s music: he wrote some of the dirtiest lyrics any major star ever got away with, while at the same time composing almost sacred songs of devotion – and they expressed devotion to a lover or to God with equal ardor.
This contradiction became explicit with the next album’s closing song, “Temptation”, where Prince literally argues with God about his carnal desires vs. his spiritual struggles. Around The World In A Day, released two years after Purple Rain, confounded everyone. From its psychedelic cover to the summer-of-love sounding music within, it was the last thing anyone expected. Not surprisingly, it was a relative disappointment commercially, but after the passage of time, it is now seen as being years ahead of its time. There simply aren’t many albums containing songs as strong as “Paisley Park”, “Raspberry Beret”, “Pop Life”, and “The Ladder” all in one place.
After Around The World In A Day, Prince made another movie, Under The Cherry Moon, which flopped, but the songs from it served to make another extraordinary album. Parade continued Prince’s psychedelic rock explorations, this time leavened with some spare funk (“Kiss”) and smooth balladry.
Meanwhile, Prince was also writing hits for other artists, including Sheena Easton, Sinead O’Connor, The Bangles, and Tom Jones. He also participated in a side project, Madhouse, which featured funky jazz. It was as if he couldn’t get all the music in him onto tape quickly enough.
1987 brought the release of the album many consider his masterpiece: Sign ‘O’ The Times. The Revolution were gone (except for a couple of live house jams), and once again Prince produced, arranged, and performed everything. A sprawling double album, Prince is all over the map stylistically, yet nothing is wasted. There are gritty R & B (“Sign ‘O’ The Times”), playful pop songs (“Starfish and Coffee”), roaring funk (“Housequake”), anthemic rock (“The Cross”), and just plain weirdness (“If I Was Your Girlfriend”).
After Sign ‘O’ The Times, Prince seemed to lose focus. He recorded the infamous Black Album but never released it, because he thought it was too profane. (That didn’t prevent bootleggers from spreading it far and wide, however. It was eventually released officially by Warner Brothers.) Instead he released Lovesexy, which had some excellent songs on it, but they were all combined into one track on the CD, which made it hard to navigate among them.
He recorded the soundtrack to Tim Burton’s Batman movie and filmed another movie himself, Graffiti Bridge, which flopped. But just when Prince was starting to sound like he was repeating himself, he released Diamonds and Pearls, which had some terrific songs in the style of classic Stax/Motown, albeit with salacious lyrics that Berry Gordy would never have allowed.
He became embroiled in a long-running dispute with his record label over artistic freedom, and began referring to himself as “The Artist Formally Known As Prince”, going by an inscrutable symbol in place of any alphabetic name.
1995’s The Gold Experience was a fairly strong return to form, with Prince, oops, I mean 
, anticipating virtual reality and the internet. By this time, though, he had long lost the huge fan base from the Purple Rain days.
In 1996, Prince was finally released from his Warner Brothers contract, and he quickly released a 3-disc set, Emancipation. He followed that up with the 4-disc Crystal Ball. The sheer quantity of music was enough to try the patience of the most devoted fan. He desperately needed someone to tell him what was worth releasing, and what should stay in the vault. The last album I bought was Lotusflow3r, which was a nice surprise. It featured some of his best guitar playing in years, and the songs were by and large straight-ahead rock. True to form, though, he included another disc of funk, MPLSound, and another album by his current protégé, Bria Valente, all in the same package!
Word has it there is enough unreleased music in Prince’s vault to ensure that we’ll be getting new albums for decades to come. Regardless, there are very, very few artists who have released a string of albums as consistently strong as the ones he produced from 1984 through 1987. In that brief, four-year span, he graced us with Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day, Parade, and Sign ‘O’ The Times. If that were all we had from him, his place in the highest rank of rock artists would be assured. We should count ourselves fortunate that the restless genius of Prince compelled him to share his gift with us for as many years as he did.
RIP, Prince Rogers Nelson.
Reading Rainbow: The Doors
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).
soundstreamsunday: “Live at BRIC” by Esperanza Spalding
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.
Album Review: Haken — Affinity ★★★★★ @InsideOutUSA @Haken_Official
With Affinity, Haken proves definitively that this band is in the upper echelon of musical talent. The album departs from what the band has usually done before, but whereas this would usually generate outrage and disappointment, Haken is not your usual band.
Instead of recycling their past glories and shoring up their dedicated fan base, Haken has boldly risked everything and created a unique, completely original musical offering. As if to demonstrate that every fibre of their being refuses mindless mimicry, Affinity deliberately chooses to mine musical inspiration from the 80s, but only in order to perform a kind of musical miracle: while referencing the past, it doesn’t repeat it; instead, it transforms it into a uniquely personal creative act.
The album opener, “Initiate,” gives minor clues that the album will be a fresh direction. But then “1985” follows fast on its on heels with a mind-blowing array of sonic references to the 80s, including unbelievably cool synth sounds harkening back to Peter Gabriel’s Security album (during the “map in hand / direction misaligned” section of “1985”).
Quite simply, “1985” is one of the greatest songs you will ever hear. It performs the feat of time travel back to 1985, creating an alternate universe where both Yes’ 90125 and Haken’s “1985” would be playing back-to-back on the same radio station. It is absolutely my favorite track on this album because everything about it, every twist and turn, is so incredibly satisfying. It manages to be both familiar and unexpected at the same time. I don’t know how the hell they did it! But it’s wonderful.
“Lapse” then gives the listener a chance to catch their breath, only to blindside them with the album’s 15:40 epic, “The Architect.” The complexity of this track means that it will take you longer to get into it, unlike the immediately accessible genius of “1985.” But the repeated listens will pay off big time as you acquire familiarity with the insanely great ambition of this ultimately successful track. My favorite parts are when Haken goes into King Crimson mode and does that time travel trick back to the 80s again for me.
Then comes “Earthrise” which is just a flat-out beautiful song, totally uplifting and inspirational, with a Sigur Ros-like “blast off to Mars now” vibe. From the beginning of the album to the end of “Earthrise,” 40 minutes have elapsed and the amazing richness of the music supplies you with more than enough mull over. For the longest time, I simply couldn’t listen any further, since I was overwhelmed by the sonic abundance of everything from “Initiate” to “Earthrise.”
But then after awhile I was able to add the last three tracks to my full listening experience of Affinity. “Red Giant,” “The Endless Knot,” and “Bound By Gravity” are all fantastic and full of delights. In total, they give you an extra 22 minus of music. But I still think of Affinity as one vinyl LP (everything up to “Earthrise”) plus one vinyl EP (the last three tracks). Sometimes I have time to listen to the LP; sometimes to both the LP and the EP. Either way, I consider it a testament to Haken’s retro-transmogrifying brilliance that they have me thinking with my 1980s brain in the very terms of vinyl time-logic!
If I had to register any complaint, it would only be with the record company’s idea of having a CD release of two discs: one CD containing the regular version of Affinity, another CD with instrumental-only tracks. Who the hell would ever want to listen to instrumental-only tracks? The people who do karaoke aren’t doing it to Haken, so I just do not see the point. For me, because the vocals and lyrics on this album are such soaring perfection, I consider it a desecration to remove them.
A better idea would be for the record company to include a 40-minute version copy of the album (everything up to “Earthrise”) on a second CD that looks like a mini vinyl record, to give away to friends. Then that friend would eventually be inspired to buy their own version, to get the full 60+ minutes experience, and to give away the smaller version to another friend, and so on. That would make so much more sense than having a wasteful second disc that you will only listen to once or twice at most. This second CD could even have a picture of a 3.5 floppy disc on it. And the CD case itself for both discs could be made to look like a 5.25 floppy disc. Okay, I will stop now with the crazy ideas from my 80s brain! But again, I credit Haken for causing my mind to time travel in such a joyful manner.
This stunning album is one of the best of the year. See you back in 1985, dudes! Back to the future. Five stars.
Trevor Horn: Two Shows with Yes
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
Fallujah – Dreamless – Album Review
Artist: Fallujah Album Title: Dreamless Label: Nuclear Blast Records Date Of Release: 29 April 2016 ‘Dreamless’ represents my first foray into the world of Fallujah but it most definitely won’t now be my last. Hailing from San Francisco, this heavy metal behemoth has produced a startling third album which has to be heard to be […]
https://manofmuchmetal.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/fallujah-dreamless-album-review/
A Not So Gentle Reminder: Anesthetize from Porcupine Tree
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”
Album Review: The Syn — Trustworks ★★★★☆
Trustworks, the new album from The Syn, is magnificent. It’s a very easy listen, but it hits all the right prog/rock pleasure points. It’s so smooth, you could even use it as “starter prog” to get friends and loved ones hooked on the good stuff. It’s very soothing, but yet full of subtle musical skills.
I do like some tracks better than others. These are the ones that I think are absolutely fantastic: “Something That I Said” (5:10), “Lucifer Hesitating” (5:23), “The Wheel” (4:16), and the pull-out-all-the stops ultra-proggy closer, “Seventh Day of Seven” (14:50). Steve Nardelli‘s relaxed-dude vocal style works best on these four songs, and they are all super cool musical outings. I can’t get enough of listening to these tracks, whereas I frequently skip the others (especially the snoozily didactic title track).
Nardelli recorded Trustworks with co-producer Jonas Reingold and Swedish prog-rock band Moon Safari: i.e., Pontus Åkesson – guitars; Simon Åkesson – keyboards; Johan Westerlund – bass; Petter Sandström – vocals, acoustic guitar; and (now former Moon Safari member) Tobias Lundgren – drums.
There’s no school like old school. Do yourself a favor and get this album. It’s worth the price of admission simply for “Seventh Day of Seven” alone. But everything else is a bonus, and everybody will find a fave bonus track to dig. For me, that would be “The Wheel” — which is so groovy, I think that word may just need to make a comeback in order to allow us to properly describe this song.
Rock on, dudes!
Progarchy 