Check out the Dutch Progressive Rock Page writers’ individual Top 10 of 2015 lists.
http://weekendprog.blogspot.fr/p/alan-weston-coming-close-edwin-peter.html
DPRP’s Top 20 of 2015
Check out the Dutch Progressive Rock Page’s Top 20 of 2015 – based upon the top ten lists of the writers, including yours truly. The individual lists of top 10s will be coming out there shortly.
http://weekendprog.blogspot.fr/2015/12/the-best-progressive-rock-albums-of-2015.html
Space rock from Bristol
Bristol based psychedelic prog folk band Hi-Fiction Science came to my attention last year when their 2nd album Curious Yellow was released on the Esoteric Antenna label, fundamental to their sound is guitarist and songwriter James McKeown, whose recently released his latest solo album
From his background and his previous full band releases with Hi Fiction Science, you would have expected the Dead Astronaut to be a full on prog psych album, with plenty of the imaginative guitar work that is given on any project James is involved with, however you’d be wrong.
With it’s haunting and sparse artwork by highly regarded designer Carl Glover, to the musical contents, the album is as different from Hi Fiction Science as is possible to get, and as we’ll find out later has a loose narrative written around some highly personal and emotional issues experienced by James.
As he explains in the interview below, writing the album was like therapy, and it’s more intimate, stark and emotionally raw than anything I’ve heard him do before.
With a small core of collaborators, including HFS band mates Aidan Searle and Jeff Green and guitarist Paul Bradley, one of the sounds that is at the heart of this record, and believe me, this is a record that is full of heart and soul, is the cello of Charlotte Nicholls, which, when coupled with the emotionally raw and confessional style of songs that James presents here, adds so much to the texture and the tone of the record, and yes, I am talking about a record as I opted for the vinyl edition, which is a pure immersive experience to listen to.
Taking a deliberate musical step away from the powerful full electric band sound is a HFS trademark, James instead has opted for the maxim of ‘less is more’ on this record, with the sympathetic guest musicians and the deconstructed singer songwriter sound working in harmony with some truly great examples of confessional songwriting.
With the low fi drone of North Star Loop leading into the mournful haunting beauty of Concrete Town, with it’s bleak lyrics and the cello accompanying James guitar this is a powerful and beautiful opening to an album like no other I’ve heard this year, it’s dystopian world view an acoustic counterpoint to Hawkwinds High Rise 30 odd years on.
As a listener, reader or viewer I get excited and engaged by media that features places that I know, so this albums references to James home town (and my adopted city) of Bristol also draws me in, from references to the Underfall Yard (a topic covered by another band close to Progarchys heart) on Underfall or the mention of College Green on Worktable really grounds this album for me, and I would love to listen to it on my iPod as I walk round the city on a cold winters day.
Ricochet is one of the stand out tracks on this album, the cello and guitar working beautifully together, whilst the bands performance is amazing here as James pours his soul out to the world, this is definitely the antithesis of easy listening and yet James warm vocal works perfectly with the bleak and haunting lyrics on display here, not to mention him unleashing one of his astounding guitar solos loose here.
The word bleak comes up again and again when describing the themes on this album, and this shouldn’t ever put you off, there is beauty in this darkness, and whilst James is pouring out his heart, the production and the music adds warmth, almost like the song is giving him a big hug as he’s singing it.
The trademark guitar sound comes out again on the darkly wry Black Sky, whilst the beautiful, very English sound of Severn is matched by the darkest lyrics I have heard this year, James juxtaposing the dark and the light to perfect effect here.
The trumpet playing of Pete Judge adds its timbre to the gentle beauty of Underfall, again working in perfect symmetry with the music and the therapy of walking round the floating harbour in Bristol, James has been very selective with his collaborators, and each and every one add something to the music, not a note wasted, not a heartstring untugged.
This album has a very English sound to it, and the pared back sound allows the songs to breath and the lyrics to shine, it’s like the difference between early Pink Floyd records and Syd Barrett solo records.
The title track is another beautiful piece where James intricate guitar playing is almost folk like in its style. Skyboat then continues in the folk vein, whilst the only nod to James heavier psych sound come on the Skyboat reprise where he psychs out as a HFS power trio, and the additional keyboard sounds from Duncan Gammon from fellow Bristol proggers Schnauser, gives a nod to James roots and showcases the improvisational side of his compositional skills, which when you consider it’s a full electric space wig out, it could have jarred, but as the album flows it fits perfectly and works incredibly well in context.
The closer of Blackberry Hill, again with its wonderful trumpet work adds an element of melancholy optimism to the album, showing a chink of light in the darkness, and some fantastic lyrics and another great vocal performance by James.
You can hear the humanity and the raw emotions on display throughout this album, and again you can feel it, through the music, the lyrics and the sparse packaging, this isn’t an album that can be ignored.
Once it’s in your heart and in your head it takes over the room you are listening to it, and it’s one of those albums that demands your attention, and rewards your listening time and time again.
This is as far removed from the traditional prog albums I have heard all year, and yet, no album has grabbed me quite as much as this has, it is a record of immense power and beauty, and with its raw emotional depth, astonishing musical performances throughout, and themes that are identifiable and that resonate with me on a personal level, is an album that will stay with me forever.
Not to mention of course it is just a bloody good record, and one that once you’ve heard it, will never leave you.
I also caught up with James recently in a cosy pub The King William, on King St in Bristol to talk about The Dead Astronaut album and some of the themes behind the songs and the concept.
I started by talking about the release, as it’s been produced by Tonfeloat Records on Vinyl and download only,
‘I was expecting to do a package of vinyl and CD originally, but get speaking to Charles at Tonefloat, and he’s a massive vinyl enthusiast, so their preferred format is the 180g vinyl, with the download available from band camp. To be honest I never thought in a million years that they would do it’
‘It’s a beautiful vinyl package with a Carl Glover sleeve, which is a massive thing for me as a No-Man fan, it was amazing to be introduced to Carl and get the dialogue going about the album and it was weird because I didn’t want to tell him what to do!’
‘I explained the concept and he sent over some NASA images that I really liked, I was expecting him to use some stock footage, but he explained he had a whole set in his personal archive from the Apollo launch.
After looking at the images I choose the one that I want, I wanted the clear expanse, like the ones you get with the No-Man albums, I wanted it clean not like a Floyd/Hipgnosis sleeve, I didn’t want to be obviously copyist, and the artwork and music came together really well, it’s an amazing package and the sound is phenomenal’.
How did the concept of the album come about?
‘The idea came from the last twelve months where I had a strange series of life events, which were fairly traumatic relating back to my childhood which came back to haunt me. I had some therapy and came up with this idea about inner space in your mind, the way that your mind can run away and how on a fundamental level how the universe is like that. Then I came to the idea of the Astronaut on a space walk, cut off and left to drift. The title track came as a song, sometimes you have an idea and it just comes out of you. I wrote the lyrics on the iPhone, and then got some chords and it all came together. I had some other songs that were melancholy and very intimate and it was very much a tool for therapy.
It started coming together thinking about the space theme, and compiling the songs and putting them into a concept in a very loose sense, the narrative doesn’t flow like an obvious concept, but there’s a narrative I can explain.’
At this point James was kind enough to go in to more detail about each song on the album,
Side A
North Star Loop – Sets the scene and gets you in the ambience to take you on a trip, I used a sample from a the NASA site and a piano drone piece layered over it, then expanded on it in the studio.
Concrete Town– I’m nuts about JG Ballard and dystopia, that kind of sci-fi, a very human sci-fi, this introduces the character and is following through his eyes, this is the character and this is where he’s at.
Ricochet- This is the ‘Shit this is what happened, this is what it’s done to my life’ moment.
Worktable – This is written around and based on an arts festival here in Bristol, In Between Time that was on at the Arnolfini. I am interested in contemporary art, and this was a piece of conceptual art in Portakabins, where you would walk and be surrounded by all this stuff from around the city, you would select an object then destroy it, and through a series of rooms reassemble it in a different way, taking something that has been destroyed and remade in your own image.
It read to me like an analogy for self-harm and it fitted into the bleak narrative.
All the lines in the song relate to the arts festival and is profound in its own way.
Black Sky– Very much about Black Sky thinking, a few songs were developed on the drum machine and this is one of them. The thing about Black Sky is I started using this mellotron sample of a boys choir which had a melodic quality to it, I was going for a Cardiacs sound and it came out a bit Kate Bush.
Side B
I hadn’t had much thought about sequencing the album for vinyl, but it seemed to work, as what I’d imagine to follow Black Sky was
Severn– the lyrics for this are bleak and expressive, a melodic song talking about something horrible, that juxtaposition of someone talking about wanting to kill themselves but changing their mind with the music.
Underfall – One of those narrative songs I wanted to talk a lot about Bristol, the landmarks of the city that mean a lot to me, I love to walk along the harbour side and through the Underfall Yard, I also mention places like College Green on the album. It came out like a simple Big Star song, 13 or something like that.
The Dead Astronaut- This is the title track.
Skyboat – It takes it cues from the Skye Boat song that my Dad sang as a lullaby to me as a child, and it could be like a Spacecraft, its very confessional, I remember watching Columbia launch and how the obsession with space started.
Skyboat (reprise) – This is all about trying to recapture myself, Jeff & Aidan as Hi-Fiction Science before Maria brought so much more to the band, as we used to improvise with these long kraut rock jams and when she joined us we became more song based and a much better band for it.
This was a second take of a live in the studio jam, its probably a bit out of place having all these confessional sons and then bam into this space jam, but I thought Fuck it, it’s my album, in the spirit of Neil Youngs After the Gold rush. That will of being able to do it because I funded the album, it’s not commercial and I’m not accountable to anyone, I just did it myself.
Blackberry Hill– I wrote this when I was 16 on a piano at my Mums house, I brought it up to date, re-wrote the lyrics to make it more relevant and it became the closing track.
Were any of these songs ever destined for Hi-Fiction Science?
No, it was always intended as my project, because it was so personal, it was always going to be a solo album, my last one came out on a tape label, and as I thought about it and thought more about the concept I get other musicians involved and then wanted to call it something, it made more sense to do that.
Hi-fiction Science we have our own studio that we rent out with other guys, its called Joes Garage and is run by Joe Garcia whose recently done a recording there with Dylan Carlson and Maddy Prior. He’s a skilled engineer and I worked closely with him, explained the concept, as I am nuts about recording, I’ve always done it at home but I had this toy box and thought lets do it. I had two days to get the basic tracks, its fairly low key because of the time and the budget as it was totally self financed so we did it in those two days.
I got Charlotte (Nicholls) in on cello, she’s worked with Portishead and Crippled Black Phoenix and Joe suggested her, she’s such a pro and gave it the vibe I wanted, so mournful and it adds the timbre.
My wish list was her, Paul Bradley whose a crazy Irishman, I’ve known about him for years from when he played with an Anglo Irish psych band called Me, he plays improvised guitar and sings harmony vocals and I also got Pete Judge in on trumpet.
Jeff (Green) & Aidan (Searle) from Hi-Fiction Science provide bass and drums, and I got Duncan Gammon in (from Schnauser), I sent him Skyboat (Reprise) and said I wanted something between Mike Ratledge and Richard Wright, and he did, all over it. He added an extra flavour to the piece, he did so much more that I had to edit down otherwise it would have been too uber prog.
Would you do a prog album?
It would be great to do that with Duncan and get Gaz Williams in from Asteroid Deluxe and do an ultimate prog album.
Is there a sequel to Curious Yellow in the works?
HFS 3 is currently being worked on in the studio in town, and The Dead Astronaut has given me more scope with my songwriting, we’re going to get Charlotte in to play some cello, there’s some songs I wrote around the same time as the Dead Astronaut that we’ve reworked as band songs.
It’s a very dark album, such a hackneyed phrase, but it is quite dark in terms of the sound, I wanted the guitar to sound raw and the themes are all pretty dark. It’s got a real ritualistic sound to it. As a band on this one I think we’ve nailed it’
James spoke about the art scene in Bristol earlier, and indeed it crops up on The Dead Astronaut, he was recently invited to play at an instillation called Sanctum, that was 27 days worth of art performances in a disused church running 24 hours a day for the duration of the installation.
I got to play at 8pm on a Friday night where I debuted the album there and played the majority of it, then Jeff and Aidan joined me for Skyboat, Skyboat (reprise) and we chucked in a new HFS track, it really captured the audience, they were really receptive, it was a case of just getting it out there and it was great to be affiliated with an art organisation promoting art across the city.
I did two slots there and got a taste for playing those kind of gigs and I’ve now got another The Dead Astronaut set at the Exchange in Bristol on the 9th January in the afternoon at 1pm, which I am really looking forward to.
Thanks to James for his time and supplying the pictures for this piece.
Spock’s Beard: THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS
Spock’s Beard, THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS (Radiant, 2015). Three disks. 15 tracks and a video documentary by Randy George.
As far as I know, I was the very first person in Bloomington, Indiana, to purchase a copy of THE LIGHT by Spock’s Beard. Though various websites claim the album to have been released in 1995, I have rather clear memories of purchasing it in the fall semester of 1994. I was my final graduate classes, then, preparing for comprehensive exams. It would be no exaggeration to state that THE LIGHT was my soundtrack for exam prep.
As someone born in the summer of love and having heard my first prog in 1971 or so, I had done everything possible to carry the prog torch throughout the 1980s. In college, I even dedicated two years of a radio show (every Friday night, August 1988-May 2000) to prog and what was then called “college rock.” Lots of prog-loving “old guys”—at least old to me—called in from places as far as Chicago (South Bend’s FM waves carried across all of Lake Michigan), excited that someone was still playing the best music rock had to offer. My co-host at Notre Dame was none other than now famous classical guitarist and fellow progarchy editor, Kevin McCormick.
This is a long way of stating: Spock’s Beard wasn’t just prog-influenced or arty rock or pop with prog tinges. It was pure and simple prog. Unadulterated prog. Unapologetic prog. Brazenly prog. In hindsight, of course, one can see that a lot was happening in 1994 and 1995—with releases from Roine Stolt as well as Marillion. In late 1994, however, I had no idea that prog would explode into a third wave, lasting through today as I write this.
And, to be pure, simple, unadulterated, unapologetic, and brazen—Spock’s Beard opened and led this third-wave of prog. They were, for all intents and purposes, the very voice of third-wave prog. And, this latest from Spock’s Beard is nothing less than the autobiography of third-wave prog.
Twenty years later, we sit comfortably in 2015. And, to celebrate what is not only Spock’s Beard’s legacy but, frankly, the very history of third-wave prog, the band has released a “best of,” Spock’s Beard, THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS (Radiant Records, 2015). This gorgeous package is well beyond a “best of,” however, and it invokes far more than mere nostalgia. As much as possible, it really does offer a glimpse of the history of prog over the past two decades.
Looking back, we can now divide Spock’s Beard into three rather distinct parts or phases.
- SB 1.0: Neal Morse fronted.
- SB 2.0: Nick D’Virgilio fronted.
- SB 3.0: Ted Leonard fronts
And, yet, no matter what form or manifestation of SB occurs, Neal Morse remains the touchstone and the fountainhead of the group. And, this is not a knock on any past or present member of the band. SB began in pure excellence, and since THE LIGHT, it has done nothing but continue to pursue excellence.
Not surprisingly—and with no small amount of joyous wonder and love and appreciation for all that is prog and SB—Neal Morse has penned a brand new track for this album release, “Falling for Forever,” making something special even more so. Neal Morse, being so utterly Neal Morse, has written an 20:02 (interesting number—the date Neal left SB) minute epic, pulling together all of the members of SB over its two-decade history. Epic and charitable—the very essence of Neal Morse.
And, featuring every single member who has ever graced a SB album, “Falling for Forever” is exactly what you’d suspect—with the usual Morse prog twists, turns, and surprises—from the band. It is a thing of prog glory. Instruments driving and pounding here, there, and everywhere. Multiple voices—of the the human type—proclaiming beautiful things. And, of course, the song, though complete with beginning and ending, soars and falls and cascades and lingers and explodes. It’s all so very Neal Morse, so very SB, so very third-wave prog, so very incredible.
Not surprisingly, Radiant has done every single thing right with this release. In addition to the brand new track, “Falling for Forever,” the album also remixes and remasters fourteen of SB’s “best” tunes. Every SB album is represented on this retrospective, and even to my very poor ear, the remastering sounds perfect, bringing out a number of things that were toned down in previous mixes. The packaging is superb, and Randy George’s documentary about the history of SB 1.0 is an insightful and moving look at the creation of the band, its sound, and the unexpected departure of Morse in 2002.
There’s little doubt that 2015 has been a great year for prog. As a release, despite it being a retrospective, THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS holds its own even against original releases this year. As an artistic package of love, appreciation, and history, it is unparalleled. Yes, I love Neal Morse. But, I love Neal Morse for the very things that make him loveable—he so very much respects the art and the artist.
THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS is nothing if not a very revelation of the man’s soul.
To order, go here: Radiant Records.
Happy Birthday, Ol’ Blue Eyes!
Born one hundred years ago today, Frank Sinatra remains an American icon.
Something for Nothing? “Nothing” for Nothing! Thanks to @DaveKerzner
You learned from Rush that “you don’t get something for nothing,” right?
Well, here’s a case where you can get “Nothing” for nothing!
Download the Radio Edit version of Dave Kerzner’s “Nothing” for free for a limited time only.
Review: Vederkast – Northern Gothic
Vederkast is an unsigned band out of Tromso, Norway, and like many young bands around, they are clearly influenced by a wide range of progressive rock, while largely based on heavy/stoner rock. All that means that “Northern Gothic” is heavy on guitar tone with soaring vocals and epic songwriting. It’s the type of music that typically either works or doesn’t with little room for error.
Interestingly, Vederkast finds itself in neither camp. “Northern Gothic” is a perfect album, but it also offers up a template for future success. Album opener “Skirmish” is one of the heavier tracks on the album, with a great on-top-of-lungs chorus. “My Burden” is a slow burner that feels too slow burning but reveals itself through an underlying melody. “Leave Them Behind” and “Forget Me Not” are solid doses of stoner rock energy.
Overall, Vederkast feels like they developed their identity fully. There are shades of many different styles traced in their music, and that makes “Northern Gothic” a very pleasant surprise. As it is, the group is still in the growing phase, but “Northern Gothic” is a sign that the band is one to watch.
“Northern Gothic” is available from Bandcamp. Vederkast is on Facebook.
Rhys Marsh’s Glorious Song Cycle
Rhys Marsh, THE BLACK SUN SHINING (Autumnsong, 2015). A Song Cycle divided into seven parts: I Hear, I Know; Down to the Waves; Wondering Stars; One Step Inwards; Find Another Way; Soothe the Fear; and In the Summer Light.
So, Mark Hollis, Robert Smith, and Sam Healey walk into a bar. . . . Out comes Rhys Marsh.
Much to everyone’s surprise, the perfectionist Anglo-Norwegian beatnik, Rhys Marsh, who must never sleep, has released yet another album this year. A sequel to last year’s stunning SENTIMENT, 2015’s THE BLACK SUN SHINING follows closely after his Mandala and Kaukasus releases. I’m usually fairly impressed with my own productivity as a writer, but I’ve got nothing on Marsh’s productivity as a musician. The guy is as astounding in his output as he is immensely talented.
Much darker and less psychedelic than the first solo album, THE BLACK SUN SHINING revels in gothic gloom, steady explosions of primitive and driving percussion, as well as heart-felt lyrics. Listening to it demands immersion. Preferably with headphones and in a dark room. Impressively, Marsh has written the album as a seven-part song-cycle. Even the track listing claims only one track, divided into seven parts, separated as a-g.
As much as I hate to admit it, I’m not quite sure what the song cycle is about. It’s either about the death of a man who ends by finding the light of eternity, or it’s about severe depression that ends in finding real love and starting anew. Either of these themes fit the lyrics, and, frankly, at least at some level, they fit each other.
There’s nothing Marsh does that doesn’t impress me, but this is—to my mind—his absolute finest effort. The flow of the music is nothing short of astounding, but what impresses me most is how the music fits the words just so perfectly. The two best moments of the album:
First, at roughly 13 minutes into the album, when the percussion explodes, taking the listener from something previously mesmerizing to something ecstatic.
Second, at the beginning of the fifth part (e) of the song cycle, when Marsh brings us down again, not into the mesmerism of the first 13 minutes of the album, but into a kind of purgatorial drifting.
Each of these points make the listener realize just how completely invested he is in the music.
As I jokingly (well, my attempt at humor) mentioned above, Marsh combines the talents of numerous great musicians, but especially Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis, The Cure’s Robert Smith (the dark Smith, not the bubble-gum smith), and NAO’s Sam Healey. Given its influences (or at least the ones that seem to me to be influential), the entrancing cover of the new solo album resembles an artsy and gothic rendering of New Order’s POWER CORRUPTION AND LIES.
2015 has proven to be one of the best years in the history of rock music. As the year comes to a close, do not–for a moment–bypass Marsh’s THE BLACK SUN SHINING. It is not only one of the finest albums of 2015, it’s one of the finest albums I’ve ever had the privilege to hear.
Buy it now, and immerse yourself fully.
New music video: “Nothing” from @DaveKerzner prog rock concept album New World
New World is one of the very best albums of 2015.
Here’s a new music video for “Nothing,” which is one of its many killer tracks:
You can also watch cool videos of more great tracks from the album over at Dave Kerzner’s Web site.
Progarchy 