The Mute Gods Dissect the Era of Disinformation on Debut Album

On By Time LordIn Progarchy2 Comments

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If you haven’t listened to The Mute Gods yet, you really should. They have crafted one of the best albums of 2016.

Nick Beggs himself will personally take you through the album, track-by-track, if you listen to his detailed, in-depth interview with Progarchy from last week.

Also, here’s the press release from Inside Out records, which accurately describes what’s going on with this supremely excellent album:

Nick Beggs (Steven Wilson, Lifesigns), Roger King (Steve Hackett) and Marco Minnemann (Joe Satriani) join forces to deliver engaging, expansive rock for the thinking person

Is everything truly as it seems? Are we living in a state of manufactured reality? How can regular people rise above the propaganda that floods daily existence? Those are some of the important questions The Mute Gods explore on its debut album Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me on InsideOut Music.

The album’s 11 provocative tracks explore the dark clouds governments, corporations, media, and religious institutions form atop society. Songs such as “Praying to a Mute God,” “Feed the Troll,” “Your Dark Ideas,” and “In the Crosshairs” look at how we’re driven to distraction by these forces, taking our focus away from important issues and meaningful personal priorities. Musically, the album is a mercurial journey that seamlessly shifts between the realms of progressive rock and adventurous pop.

“We live in a time of heightened religious fundamentalism in which people deliver the wrath of God or speak out on his behalf,” says Nick Beggs. “When did God appoint these dubious PR men? The people in this world who should truly be listened to are often the ones who are silenced. The voice of reason seems strangely quiet in the face of so much disinformation. The Mute Gods address this imbalance.”

The band is the brainchild of Beggs, an acclaimed bassist, Stick player, songwriter and vocalist, with a footprint stamped across a wide range of genres including progressive rock, pop, Celtic, funk, and soul. Collectively, his own band and project releases have sold more than four million copies.

Beggs has also worked with some of the biggest names in rock and pop, including Belinda Carlisle, John Paul Jones, Gary Numan, Cliff Richard, Seal, and Tina Turner. In the progressive rock realm, he’s performed with Steve Hackett, Steve Howe, Iona, Lifesigns, and Rick Wakeman. Currently, Beggs records and tours with Steven Wilson, the progressive artist enjoying significant acclaim and chart success with Hand. Cannot. Erase., his latest release.

The Mute Gods came together during Beggs’ tenures with Hackett and Wilson. Roger King, the album’s keyboardist and producer, worked with Beggs on Hackett’s sold-out multi-year Genesis Revisited tour. King has long been Hackett’s right-hand man, serving in production, arrangement and writing capacities for the ex-Genesis guitarist. Marco Minnemann, considered one of the most important drummers of his generation, has worked with Beggs extensively on many Wilson tours and recordings.

The album also features contributions from other rock, pop and jazz luminaries, including keyboardist Adam Holzman (Miles Davis, Steven Wilson), drummers Nick D’Virgilio (Spock’s Beard, Tears for Fears) and Gary O’Toole (Steve Hackett, China Crisis, Kylie Minogue), and multi- instrumentalist Rob Reed (Magenta) as well as Ricky Wilde (who happens to be Kim Wilde’s brother).

Perhaps the most important special guest on the album is Beggs’ daughter Lula, an emerging singer- songwriter. The album closes with “Father Daughter,” a poignant reminder of keeping family intact even in the face of difficult challenges. The emotional vocal duet between Beggs and Lula looks at the struggle of a father reconciling dealing with his responsibilities to the world with the needs of his children.

Line-Up:

Nick Beggs: string basses, string guitars, Chapman Stick, programming, keyboards and vocals

Roger King: keyboards, programming, guitars, backing vocals, production and mastering

Marco Minnemann: drums, guitars and sound design

Guests on the album:

Ricky Wilde: keyboards, programming, guitars and backing vocals

Frank Van Bogaert: keyboards and backing vocals, additional mixing

Nick D’Virgilio: drums, guitar and keyboards

Gary O’toole: drums

Lula Beggs: vocals

Teaser Video: Eric Gillette’s 2nd Album

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment
The second album forthcoming from Eric Gillette. His first was absolutely stunning, and this one looks even better! Congratulations Eric and Chris Thompson!
 

Lake Street Dive @LakeStreetDive Live in Vancouver, Canada (March 1)

On By Time LordIn progressive rock3 Comments

Lake Street Dive played live in Vancouver on March 1. Appropriately, they played at a Main Street dive in the sketchiest part of the Vancouver East side. Doors were to open at 8pm, and the line snaked around the block well before then, and even long after, since the show sold out. A bouncer greeted my wife with a friendly, “Welcome!” Okay, I don’t know if this was standard procedure, but my explanation was that she was looking so good. Anyway, the interior was a club that was mostly like an empty barn, pretty much geared towards standing around the bar at the back or dancing in the stage room up front. But we found a rare sofa and got a chance to chill out before the show, lying back as we surveyed who was to be seen in the crowd.

The Suffers was the interesting opening act that took the stage at 9pm sharp. As an eight piece that included talented trombone and trumpet players, they got the crowd worked up. The dance floor was full, ready for Lake Street Dive (LSD) when they took the stage at about quarter past 10pm.

Lake Street Dive was absolutely amazing and you simply should not ever miss the chance to see them live. They are stellar on their albums, but this is a band that excels when playing live. Their talent is so immense that they are actually that rarest of breeds: musicians who are even better live. This is how music was meant to be experienced!

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The excitement and energy that they bring to their live show is quite astonishing. It’s hard to believe, but the live versions of their songs are even better than the recorded ones. There are sometimes extended bits, new improvisations, and — of course — delightful interactions with the crowd.

LSD vocalist Rachael Price remarked early on about the sea of faces on the dance floor and how they were sending an incredible energy to the musicians on stage. The band loved the crowd, and the crowd loved them back. It was a perfect show, almost two hours long. Take a look at the set list below. Notice where it says that the encore is at LSD’s discretion. Well, guess what they chose to do!

LSD-set

Because the band had had so much fun with the crowd, LSD gave their Vancouver audience, as the encore performance, a stunning live version of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Maybe you’ve seen the YouTube video version of LSD’s cover of this classic song, but the live version was even more entertaining — a truly amazing and impressive feat. It brought the house down, and the crowd freaked out and had a blast at every point during the song. We said goodbye to LSD with thunderous, roaring applause.

Besides “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the other great cover of the evening was Annie Lennox’s “Broken Glass” — which was a completely magical experience! The original song is mighty fine, but I dare say that this was the perfect cover, given that the cover was even better than the original. And that they pulled it off live with such an intricate and exciting arrangement! It was totally mind-blowing.

You can see from the set list below that the pacing of the show was a work of art. “Elijah” was introduced by a whip smart Michael Calabrese drum solo. By the way, why don’t more drummers set their drum kit up sideways like he does? Not only can the crowd watch the drummer better, he can communicate with the other musicians on stage much better.

“Elijah” also ended with a dueling bass vs. drums freakout session, as Bridget Kearney jumped onto the drum riser for some insane antics with Calabrese. I have to say that her amazing playing all night song was like a secret thread stitching everything together via an invisible dimension. What a talent!

Mike “McDuck” Olson played nimble guitar throughout the evening but also switched over to  trumpet whenever required. McDuck simply slayed the crowd with his sweet trumpet tone — equally nimble with his brass work as he is on guitar. This guy is a connoisseur of rare sounds and I love how he has mastered the art of timbre.

Every song of the evening had special live features that caused jaws to drop. One example would be the way “So Long” was played, which won me over to appreciate its many underestimated beauties. “So Long” starts only with Rachael singing and also some tastefully spare accompaniment from McDuck on guitar, but then the song builds and builds until finally the whole band comes in and, more and more, generates unprecedented passion with LSD’s killer live dynamics.

If you ask me, did I enjoy the concert? I only got two words for you: “Hell, yeah!”

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If LSD is coming your way, don’t miss the chance to see them live. They are one of the greatest live bands in the history of music. Each member of the quartet inhabits the upper echelons of musical talent. Each person brings so much to this ensemble — including superb vocals from every member, in order to harmonically craft a rich, and full, living wall of sound.

Rachael Price has charismatic vocal talent that has to be heard live to be believed. Some sound systems highlight how a merely mortal vocalist is really smaller than life; but Rachael’s magical voice is so much larger than life that it completely takes over the sound system and bends it effortlessly to her will. When you hear her sing live, it’s like a miracle is happening. It’s hard to describe the whole effect, but the total musical alchemy achieved by this quartet is something quite special. With rare style and grace they elevate even novelty songs like “Side Pony” into the most satisfying of musical experiences.

Three cheers for Lake Street Dive! Long may they thrive!

Only 12 Days from Now: Big Big Train’s STONE AND STEEL

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment

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To pre-order, go here: http://www.bigbigtrain.com/main/shop/stone_and_steel

Review: Different Light – The Burden of Paradise

On By NickIn progressive rockLeave a comment

The Burden of Paradise

The fourth album of a Prague based art rock band calling themselves Different Light, ‘The Burden of Paradise’ is nothing, if not incredibly diverse. Taking the sounds of classic rock and a great many other styles of yesteryear, and compiling them in a twenty-one-track album, this is quite an ambitious project. Despite proving that the band is evidently very adventurous, the end result is an album that is masterfully crafted in the way it turns out, making for an inconsistently enjoyable piece of work.

Led onward by the vocals of singer Trevor Tabone, the music cycles through everything from classic progressive rock, to symphonic, to even progressive metal. Overall, while I understand that the band is testing the grounds quite a bit with this one, it does feel incredibly cohesive, and the songs as a result have very an excellent flow to them.

The songwriting is excellent here, it’s consistent. On top of the album feeling a bit too long for its own good, the album’s structure is in a state of greatness. Different Light deliver a very good impression with their newest material, and I really hope that they will embark on tour promoting it.

Buy ‘The Burden of Paradise’ from the official Different Light website.

26 Minutes with Steve Hackett

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment

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This afternoon, I had the grand pleasure of speaking with a man whom I have admired since at least 1978, Steve Hackett.  Though I called an hour earlier than scheduled (by accident) and though I mislabeled Hackett’s latest box set, PREMONITIONS, as PROGENY, Hackett was as kind, as intelligent, and as interesting as one might possibly imagine.

I have a feeling that I could’ve easily talked with him for another hour or so, but I didn’t want to take advantage of his obviously gracious and easy-going nature.

We covered a lot of ground in our conservation.

I was mostly interested in how he wrote, structured, and reworked his own music.  Growing up a huge Genesis fan, I have rather happily found that Hackett’s several GENESIS REVISITED II releases (live and studio) have reminded me yet again just how very layered and nuanced everything Hackett produces is.

His latest studio album, WOLFLIGHT, is no different.  After all, it almost seamlessly incorporates classical, orchestral, ELO-esque pop, carnivallesque rock, and Brazilian-style guitar into a mythological whole.  The lyrics, too, pull together Greek antiquity with the Norse Volsunga and shed light on modern psychological and personal dysfunctions.

Rather than take copious notes or record our conversation, I simply asked questions, listened with great interest to Hackett’s many excellent insights, and jotted down a note here or there.

As Hackett has become more comfortable with his own views on music and now willing to reassess many of his once strongly held opinions as a young man, he has come to love much of what he had once dismissed, he tells me.

He knowingly and sagaciously laughed about his “one-time prejudices.”

Now, while a certain style of music might or might not grab him at every level, he loves listening to how various peoples from various cultures use an instrument.  What if one uses the guitar, for example, as a drum or as something primarily rhythmic?

Whether one calls his music “world or progressive,” Hackett doesn’t want a label or genre to narrow his own thinking or his own creativity.

He is, he says, “always looking for a good tune and a good lyric,” no matter where it is to be found.

At the moment, he tells me, he’s working on two new tracks for his forthcoming album (no time frame yet, as Hackett wants it to come as it comes).  One track is influenced by flamenco playing and the other deals with his own recent (and wondrous) visit to Iceland.

In our conservation, he also notes how very interested he is in exploring how the smallest and most easily dismissed instrument can contribute to a larger whole.  Imagine, he asks out loud, what “the humble triangle” brings to an orchestra.  It’s critical, he explains, to see what color the triangle or any other instrument offers to the whole.  Once we understand what the least obvious can do, we are ready to allow things to develop in a right “sort of way,” letting each thing breathe.

In my own enthusiasm, I told Hackett how much his various GENESIS REVISITED II releases reminded me just how very alive the music of Genesis was and is and always will be.  I mentioned that the performances elicited not nostalgia from me, but admiration.

With GENESIS REVISITED II, he answers, he never “wanted to be slavish, but” he did desire “to be authentic.  A perfect reproduction would” be nothing but boring.

Still, he says, some things he felt needed to be exact—such as certain parts of “The Musical Box.”  They were properly written from the beginning and need to remain as is.  It’s all a matter of judgment.  The notes are just as right in 2016, he says, as they were in 1971.  He sees the GENESIS REVISITED II project as “dusting off the exhibits” while presenting them in new light.

What more can one state?  Hackett is a gentleman and an artist.  How nice it is to find that’s one’s hero is fully human, but in all the glory that it attaches itself to humanity.  Thank you, Mr. Hackett.  I will be listening for years to come.

Here’s the press release and dates for the forthcoming 2016 tour: https://progarchy.com/2016/02/18/steve-hackett-north-american-tour-2016/

 

 

Review: Fatal Destiny – Palindromia

On By NickIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Fatal Destiny Artwork Palindromia

Verona-based Italian prog metallers Fatal Destiny are a new name on the international scene. Their debut album “Palindromia” creates a convincing case that other prog bands from Italy may just have a challenger in sight for their reign as the modern metal champions of the country. Essentially, Fatal Destiny embrace a similar modern metal culture flush with melody as Fates Warning and Dream Theater do in their respective soundscapes, but with an additional touch of modern take on the genre.

The band open convincingly with “Palindromia”, immediately making it known to the listener that this is going to be a melody-driven metal album. But once we get to “Beyond Dreams”, there’s only one word appropriate to describe the track: amazing. The interaction dynamic between the vocals and the rest of the mix is superior, and the instrumentals create an intricate, yet massively melodic landscape when they aren’t busy in dynamic riffage and pummeling percussion. The chorus is something else: an uplifting, elevating clean-vocal driven passage, instantly catchy and memorable.

Later, “Leave Me Here” provides another brilliant moment with more melodic approach which leads into yet another unforgettable explosion of clean vocal melody over a heavy instrumental landscape during the chorus.

“The Gate of Time” toys with straight up melodic metal at the start of the track but quickly counters with punishing metallic riffage. Here, too, the chorus doesn’t disappoint. “Feel Alone” leans on progressive metal more, which breaks up the album’s pace somewhat for additional diversity. “Human Factory” afterwards provides yet another highlight on the record.

One thing’s for sure: there are enough great melodies on “Palindromia” to push Fatal Desitny to the forefront of modern metal bands in Italy. They should be expecting much bigger crowds at their performances as word begins to spread. A new Italian metal star has been born.

Stay in touch with Fatal Destiny on Facebook.

Rush Interviewed on Sound Opinions

On By Thaddeus WertIn progressive rock3 Comments

Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot put out their Sound Opinions podcast weekly, and the latest episode features an in-depth interview with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. It is one of the best interviews of them I’ve ever heard, primarily because -despite being professional music critics – Jim and Greg are both very big fans of Rush.

You can stream the podcast or download it here. The interview begins at 6:15 minutes in.

Review: Jusska – Tsuki

On By NickIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Tsuki

In the time span of just few months, Belgian prog metal band Jusska released two EP’s. After l’homme de l’ombre released in August 2015, the band is back with Tsuki — an EP which features ex-Monuments drummer Mike Malyan on the three songs it’s made of.

Tusk starts off with “Cascade,” a progressive metal number with superb djent hook. “Geisha” has it all — perfectly balanced vocals and music, it’s made of both slow and fast parts.

“Limbo” is a perfect example of the multi layered sound of Jusska. Complex drum fills courtesy of Malyan, subtle guitar riffs by Leander Verheyen, and excellent singing of Iason Passaris, and you get a winning formula.

Although short, there is so much to hear within these three songs on Tsuki. Even after hearing it more than 10 times, there is still more to be discovered.

You can get Tsuki by Jusska on Bandcamp here, and follow the band on Facebook.

Progarchy Interview with Nick Beggs

On By Time LordIn Progarchy3 Comments

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Nick Beggs spoke with Progarchy today! Listen above to this exciting interview, in which The Blonde Bombshell talks in detail about the tracks on The Mute Gods album, as well as his upcoming tour with Steven Wilson, and the nature of prog rock music.

We reviewed one of his concerts with Wilson back in June 2015 when he visited us in Vancouver, Canada.

Thanks again, Nick! We can’t wait to hear whatever Sir Nicholas does next. In the meantime, all Progarchists should do nothing until they hear this excellent new album from The Mute Gods…

The Mute Gods

Here’s a video for one of the songs we talked about:

 

Nick is also a talented illustrator as well as being a far-from-mute prog god:

 

Enjoy!