Interview with The Crazy Juggler’s Prog Orchestra

On By NickIn Progressive rockLeave a comment

TCJPO

Swiss progressive rock group The Crazy Juggler’s Prog Orchestra, besides having a great name, also makes great music what is probably best documented on their latest opus, a studio album titled “Planet Euphoria – Part I.”

The band is already working on the follow-up to the mentioned album, and here is what they had to tell us about their work.

Define the mission of The Crazy Juggler’s Prog Orchestra.

Our mission is to combine the two generations of progressive rock music (70’s prog and the modern one) in a very various and experimental way. The Crazy Juggler, a character from our story behind, conducts the Prog Orchestra – ourselves, the band – to tell the story of Utopia from album to album.

Tell me about the creative process that informed your album “Planet Euphoria – Part I” and the themes it captures.

It was clear for us very early to create a story about a paradise-like Planet, the first album our characters find together and experience adventures on the search of paradise. It was an interesting challenge to find the suitable melodies and themes to this beautiful landscapes. As the music itself the fantasy of the lyrics don’t have any limitations, and that’s the best motivation for us to write music.

What is the message you are trying to give with “Planet Euphoria”?

It’s the message of an amazing planet, a paradise-like place called Euphoria, on which people and other creatures can live together in peace and freedom and in harmony with the nature and its beautiful landscapes: The classical utopian story.

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My Top 100 Albums, 1966-2016

On By bradbirzerIn Progressive rock5 Comments

So, after posting my top 20, I thought I’d go for broke.  My top 100.

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Or, perhaps, 1966-2016.

Anathema, We’re Here Because We’re Here

Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Lost in the New Real

Aryeon, Universal Migrator

Aryreon, Into the Electric Castle

Beach Boys, Pet Sounds

Big Big Train, English Electric

Big Big Train, Gathering Speed

Big Big Train, The Difference Machine

Big Big Train, Underfall Yard

Continue reading “My Top 100 Albums, 1966-2016” →

My Top 20 Albums of the Rock Era

On By bradbirzerIn Progressive rockLeave a comment
jim trainer bbt
Jim Trainer’s cover for Big Big Train’s UNDERFALL YARD

For what it’s worth, I took a quick break from work this evening and forced myself to write down my twenty favorite rock albums.  I gave it almost no thought–I just brain stormed and listed my all-time favorite albums of the rock era.  [I intentionally left off all Rush albums.]

Despite my own restrictions, I discovered something very interesting.  At least to me.

For the last 29 years, I would have listed my favorite album of all time as Talk Talk’s The Colour of Spring.  My iTunes numbers tell me something different, and I must agree.

Big Big Train has finally replaced Talk Talk.

Here they are in alphabetical order:

  1. Aryeon, Universal Migrator
  2. Big Big Train, English Electric
  3. Big Big Train, Underfall Yar
  4. Cure, Disintegration
  5. Echo and the Bunnymen, Ocean Rain
  6. Flower Kings, Space Revolver
  7. Gazpacho, Night
  8. Genesis, Selling England by the Pound
  9. Glass Hammer, Lex Rex
  10. Kansas, Leftoverature
  11. Kate Bush, Hounds of Love
  12. Kevin McCormick, Squall
  13. Marillion, Afraid of Sunlight
  14. Neal Morse, Testimony
  15. Simple Minds, New Gold Dream
  16. Talk Talk, Colour of Spring
  17. Tangent, Le Sacre Du Travail
  18. Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair
  19. XTC, Skylarking
  20. Yes, Close to the Edge

THREE WORDS by Newspaperflyhunting

On By bradbirzerIn Progressive rockLeave a comment

Newspaperflyhunting, THREE WORDS EP (2015).

The band:

  • Michał Pawłowski: guitars, backing vocals
  • Jacek Bezubik: guitars, lead and backing vocals
  • Gosia Sutuła-Grabowska: basses, lead and backing vocals
  • Krzysztof Sarna: drums
  • Beata Grzegorczyk-Andrejczuk: Fender Rhodes piano
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THREE WORDS.

 

There’s something just so terribly infectious about the music of Newspaperflyhunting.

Granted, the name of the band is the weirdest thing since Annie Oakley shot three playing cards (ace of hearts, of course) at 100 yards while looking at the target through a mirror.  Yes, as with Oakley, Newspaperflyhunting brings a standard of excellence to every single thing it touches and produces.

The band’s latest EP, THE THREE WORDS, is a thing of wonder, beauty, and majesty.

Though the three-song EP has a familiar Newspaperflyhunting sound, THE THREE WORDS is different from their other releases and offers the long-time listener even new aural ecstasies.

As I’ve mentioned previously, the band’s music possesses much in common with the American and British neo-psychedelic wall-of-sound revival of the late 1980s which saw the rise and glory of such bands as Opal, Mazzy Star, the Cocteau Twins, and My Bloody Valentine.  Whatever the similarities, however, Newspaperflyhunting (as the name would suggest) is very much—maybe even absolutely—its own band.  Other than being from Poland and believing in the purity of art, Newspaperflyhunting evades any easy labeling or categorization.

At nearly 11 minutes in length, the opening track, “3 Words,” a song ostensibly about wisdom, tradition, and loss.  The song builds slowly but surely in the first two minutes, exploding at the 1:56 mark.  The voice drones (appropriately) as much as sings in a longing fashion, a plea for attention and contemplation.  The mood of the song changes numerous times through the 11 minutes, demanding the full immersion of the listener.

At just under 10 minutes, “Past Perfect (revisited),” track two, is a remake of an older Newspaperflyhunting song.  Never satisfied with the song, the band completely rebuilt it for the THREE WORDS EP.  The new version of the song is nothing short of stunning.  The female vocalist especially brings the song to life, drawing the listener into introspection as well as inspiration.

“Demolished Mansions” reflects the overall themes of the EP: the loss of tradition, replaced by heartless modernity.  There might also—though I speculate, nothing more—be something scriptural in the title, a loss and the death of God in our insane whirligig.

***

To order: http://newspaperflyhunting.bandcamp.com/album/the-three-words-ep

The band’s description of itself: “Formed in 2006 in Białystok, Poland. Prog/post/space rock. Longing, melancholy, and rays of light scattered throughout. Introspective music, disregarding trends or expectations.”  One of the most accurate self-evaluations I’ve encountered in my life.

So Much Left Unsaid – Piotr Grudziński, 1975-2016

On By Erik HeterIn Progressive rock11 Comments

Losing your musical heroes is never easy.   In the past year, we’ve lost a number of them. Piotr GrudzinskiAt least two of them, Chris Squire of Yes and Glenn Frey of the Eagles, were the subject of Progarchy posts upon their passing. Today we mourn the passing of possibly the best guitarist of the current prog scene, Riverside’s Piotr Grudziński.

The passing of Squire and later of Frey were one thing. Both of them were 67 when they died, and while they were taken from us too soon, losing them was easier to process emotionally. Both had decades long, successful careers. Both of them had peaked and were able to let their full abilities play out. On the other hand, Grudziński was a mere 40 years old and had many creative and productive years still to come. Losing him now, coming off Riverside’s most recent (and stunningly good) album, is the equivalent of what would have been had Squire or Frey been lost in 1975. I’m just shaking my head in disbelief that this has happened …

So much potential has been lost. Don’t take this the wrong way – it’s not that he hadn’t lived up to it. No, he was living up to his potential, spectacularly so. He was in his prime, continually evolving as a guitarist, and we are now denied seeing where that evolution would have taken him.

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Piotr Grudzinski, RIP

On By bradbirzerIn Progressive rock3 Comments

Piotr GrudzińskiIt is with immense sorrow that we report that Riverside’s Piotr Grudzinski has passed away.  This appeared this morning at Riverside’s Facebook page:

With great pain and disbelief, we inform you that our dear friend and brother Peter Grudziński left us this morning. We ask that you respect the privacy of the family and loved ones.

***

In our deepest pain and disbelief we would like to inform you that our dearest friend and brother Piotr Grudzinski has passed away this morning. We kindly ask you to respect the privacy of his family and friends.

May we all keep Piotr and his family in our prayers and best thoughts.  This is a terrible loss.