We invited one of our favorite artists, Cailyn Lloyd, to tell us about what’s going on in her rather busy life. Dedicated to her family and her home life, she’s also quite dedicated to her art. And, excellent it is. Her first album, FOUR PIECES, was one of the best albums of 2012, and she demonstrated to the rock world how to approach classical music (and a bit of Texas-style blues guitar) with taste and nothing but taste.
Thank you, Cailyn, for taking the time to let us know what’s going on.
Voyager:
I am in the studio, working on a new project called Voyager. This project arose from my interest in the Planets Suite by Gustav Holst. Problem was, the music as it stood did not easily lend itself to a rock interpretation and the opening movement, Mars, had already been explored extensively by better artists than I. The idea gradually evolved from there to a musical interpretation of the Voyager Space Project.
Voyager will include excerpts from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune from the Planets Suite as well as ten original pieces of music: Voyager (the opening track), Io, Europa, Titan, Enceladus, Miranda, Ariel, Triton, Pale Blue Dot, and Heliopause. I have completed sketches for all of the tracks and I am now working on the instrumentation and programming.
While I originally imagined this as a progressive rock suite, it will be more eclectic, not adhering to any single genre. Much of it is classically inflected symphonic prog, particularly the Planet Suite excerpts as well as Io, Titan, and Triton. Europa and Pale Blue Dot are more New Age with blues inflections. Enceladus is free form without time or key signature.
Voyager will primarily be an instrumental work though I do imagine some wordless vocals on a few tracks using a vocalist rather than samples. Most of the drumming will be recorded on an acoustic set. The bass guitar and keyboards will be more prominent, especially the keys as much of the original music is being written at the keyboard.
Currently planning for a release date in mid-2014. When I’m not working on Voyager, I have been listening to Steven Wilson (The Raven that Refused to Sing), District 97 (Trouble with Machines), Erik Satie (various piano works), Respighi (Church Windows and others), and Sarah McLachlan (one of my guilty pleasures). More soon….
There several things I (Brad-ed.) want and have wanted to accomplish with Progarchy.
First and foremost, I wanted to form (and have certainly achieved) a cadre of great writers. It’s my opinion that any reviewer (of any form of art) should be as good in her or his craft as those being reviewed. Who wants to read a poor writer when reading about works of beauty, goodness, and truth? The disconnect is too great. Frankly, I think we Progarchists have accomplished this; we’ve been successful, and we’re not even quite a year old. And, at the risk of sounding arrogant, I think the writers of Progarchy can match any writers anywhere on the internet in terms of depth, craft, wisdom, and empathy.
Not a single writer of Progarchy wants to put a thing of nastiness next to a work of greatness. It’s not in the nature of any one of us. Not to be Nietzschean, but we want excellence to match excellence. Really, why do a thing without excellence–whether it’s cleaning the kitchen floor or writing a novel? Why waste the time. Mediocrity hovers like a cancer over much of history and the world (I blame big governments and big corporations for this, but I’m merely express an opinion). But, if we look at the culture and civilization that gave us progressive rock, we see a society of amazing persons, whether we agree with every aspect of those persons or not: Socrates, Cicero, Hillel, St. John, or King Alfred. Not a single one of these persons is mediocre.
Second, we want to connect reviewer to artist and reviewer and artist to listener. If we (and by we, I mean me–Brad) err, it’s probably on the side of being Fanboyish/Fangirlish at times. But, again, I think as reviewers we should be fine with this. While I greatly admire, for example, biographers who can explain the evil of a Josef Stalin or an Adolf Hitler, in my own work, I want to look at J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, persons I admire and consider heroes. I’m not interested in hiding their flaws, but I am intensely interested in finding their greatnesses. Even in this world of egalitarianism, I want heroes. Nothing excellent is based in equality. It can’t be. If it were average, it wouldn’t be excellent. All excellences are particular and individual.
Additionally, I don’t want to spend my time analyzing someone through the lens of hatred, no matter how necessary it is for us as a civilization and as–simply–humanity to deconstruct and analyze such horrors in our society. So, while I’m glad there are folks dedicating their lives to studying the writings and actions of a Hitler, I want to think deeply about people I love and admire.
Give me, for example, a Greg Spawton or David Longdon over a Justin Bieber (in full disclosure, I’ve never heard a song by Bieber). Give me a Matt Stevens, not a Madonna (yes, I’ve heard Madonna songs). Give me a Matt Cohen, not a Lady Gaga (ok, don’t know her either). Give me a Giancarlo Erra and Nosound, not a corporatized boy band. Give me a Jerry Ewing, not an (don’t even know the name) editor of People! Give me a Neil Peart or a Mark Hollis, not a Nicholas Sparks. Give me a Brian Watson not a Thomas Kinkade. Well, you get the point.
In the spirit of this editorial, let me state that I’m very, very happy to inaugurate a new irregular feature at Progarchy–a discussion with the artists themselves about what is happening right now in their lives. How they’re responding to their older works; what they think about art and beauty; and what they want for their futures. Our first such feature comes from a beloved artist at Progarchy, Cailyn Lloyd. And, so it begins. . . .
On Facebook, Chris McGarel posted his favorite albums of all time. It’s an excellent list. I’d like to do the same, and I’m hoping all of the Progarchists will as well at some point. But, I’m not quite ready to be so definitive yet. So, instead of a “best of,” I offer a list of 101 favorites, subject to change over time. Two weeks before turning 46. . . with a bit of humility and more than a bit of awe, I offer the following 100 in (according to group name) alphabetic order.
So, after nearly a year of existence (and, yes, I’m rather proud of progarchy’s success!), I’ve finally gotten around to getting a proper contact email for our website. So, if you have questions, or if you want to send us links to your music. . . please. We’d love it.
Our new official email address: progarchy@gmail.com. Not creative, but efficient and memorable.
The Miami-based proggers Little Atlas (home page) have—according to keyboardist, vocalist, and founder Steve Katsikas—been around for nearly twenty years and have just released their fifth studio album, Automatic Day(10t Records). I have all of the band’s albums save their debut, Neverworldly, which are all very solid to exceptional, and yet have never spoken with anyone else about the group. A few months ago, I was going to write a post about that odd silence, and now that the group’s new album is out, I’m finally writing it.
My .02 is that Little Atlas is well worth checking out, and that each of the band’s album has progressively (yes, pun intended) built upon and improved on the previous. Comparisons to early Genesis, Marillion, and Spock’s Beard are apt points of reference. The music is highly intelligent and tasteful, with a wide array of tones, moods, tempos, and lyrical perspectives. While the players are all top-notch, the focus is definitely on songs and grand themes rather than virtuoso showcasing. Katsikas has a background in psychology, which is evident in many of the songs, notably in the 2007 album, Hollow, which presents ten different perspectives in a sort of psychological-prog suite (the title song, “Hollow”, is one of my favorite cuts by the group). As for the new album, Roger Trenwith of the “Astounded by Sound” blog does a fine job of explaining its many merits:
Covering subjects linking the mythical, the stellar, the metaphysical and the politick, both personal and impersonal, Steve Katsikas has crafted a set of intelligent lyrics that to highlight one particular trio of songs make a stately progress from Greek mythology (Twin of Ares) to man’s helplessness at the mercy of the passage of time (At the End Of The Day), via a depiction of Nature as the true deity (Emily True), without seeming in the slightest part contrived, or indeed jarringly disconnected, as could have been the case with a blunter intellect holding the pen. OK – so the lyrics to Emily True are actually by poet Emily Dickenson, but these three songs manage to flow seamlessly nonetheless!
Musically, Emily True manages to mix Rush and Blue Oyster Cult with an epic vision to come up with a new art rock template for the 21st century, and a fine beast it is too.
Illusion Of Control continues an undercurrent of darkness that runs through the album, and would not have sounded out of place had it been penned by Amplifier around the time of The Octopus. Although not quite as heavy (but heavy enough!) as the Manchester sci-fi prog metallers, it is yet more evidence of a new post-prog zeitgeist currently weaving its smoky tendrils through the subconsciousness of a fair number of bands around the globe….
Never forgetting the value of a structured song, there are no aimless instrumental passages, and no displays of musical ego on Automatic Day. Everything is kept tight and to the point. Probably the best song on the record is We All Remember Truth, which within its economic four minutes manages to display all the virtues of the first two sentences in this paragraph.
Read the entire review. And watch a video for “Oort”, the opening cut from Automatic Day:
Los Angeles, CA – Founding member of pioneering space-rock band Hawkwind returns to his intergalactic roots with his soon-to-be-released mind-blowing new CD titled ‘Space Gypsy’! Featuring all new material, ‘Space Gypsy’ boasts guest appearances by fellow Hawkwind alumnus violinist Simon House, and Gong guitar legend Steve Hillage, along with Nicky Garratt of the UK Subs, Jurgen Engler of German industrial band Die Krupps, and Jeff Piccinini of ’70s punk icons Chelsea. Making the CD release even more exciting, Nik Turner has released a dark, hypnotic new video called “Time Crypt featuring Simon House”. This is the second video Nik has released in support of ‘Space Gypsy’, the first being “Fallen Angel STS-51-L”; from the album’s first single about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Nik Turner’s Space Ritual Tour runs in the US from October 9th through November 17th in support of the new CD.
Nik Turner was a founding member of Hawkwind during what has been considered their most commercially successful and critically acclaimed period for the band from 1970 to 1976. He wrote/co-wrote some of the group’s most popular songs such as “Brainstorm” and “Master Of The Universe”. Hawkwind’s 4th and possibly most popular album ‘The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London’ was recorded in 1972 (released in May 1973). Reaching #9 in the UK album charts and #179 in the Billboard Top 200, the double-record was recorded during the tour to promote the band’s ‘Doremi Fasol Latido’ (third) release. The Space Ritual show attempted to create a full audio-visual experience. The performances featured dancers, lightshow by Liquid Len and poetry recitations by Robert Calvert. Nik Turner recently brought his version of the historic show to the US shores, recreating the magic once again!
Says Nik Turner, “This single ‘Fallen Angel STS-51-L’ is the epitome of epiphanic, orgasmic, cathartic embodiment of my space dreams, become one man’s reality, exploding into space. Expect lots more on this awesome album”.
Nik Turner’s ‘Space Gypsy’ will be released in three different formats: A regular CD release packaged in an attractive digipak with original artwork; a limited edition gatefold vinyl with bonus etched 7-inch single; and for the ultimate collector – the complete experience! A special limited edition deluxe box version of ‘Space Gypsy’, which includes a bonus CD of rough mixes and instrumental versions that feature additional flute and saxophone improvisations from Nik not included on the album. Also included are 4 postcards, a gorgeous full color patch and collectible pin.
Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com
CLEOPATRA RECORDS, Inc.
11041 Santa Monica Blvd #703
Los Angeles CA 90025 http://www.CleopatraRecords.com
My dad served on the merit badge review board for our local Scout troop. I’ll never forget the night he complained to me about one of my fellow Scouts who was trying to pass the requirements for the music merit badge, which included so many hours listening to and writing about classical music. “You know what he told me?” asked my agitated father.
“’I’ve listened to the Moody Blues and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.’ And I told him, ‘Young man, that ain’t classical music.’”
I was filled with embarrassment, both for my dad and my buddy. I knew where they were each coming from, and knew nothing I would say could bridge the generation gap. But I did tell my friend that the London Festival Orchestra on a pop album and ELP’s blistering cover of Pictures at an Exhibition were no substitutes (in Scouting) for the real thing, i.e. original arrangements.
The London Festival Orchestra’s appearance on Days of Future Passed was more a novelty than an innovation. Band legend has it that Deram Records wanted the Moodies to cover Dvořák’s 9th Symphony. That story is disputed. If true (and acted upon), the Moody Blues would have pre-empted “Rondo” and Pictures. Either way, Days of Future Passed (1967), while not a prog album in the strict sense, opened up possibilities that energized the emerging prog scene.
Technically this is a psychedelic pop record adorned with orchestral cinemascapes. Apart from the opening and closing motif (drawn from the chorus of “Nights in White Satin”) the symphonic sections seem almost thematically disconnected from the band’s songs themselves. In fact, the listener can detect a difference in the audio quality of the rock songs. It has the feel of two different musical works mashed together. To the mind’s eye this is visually a day in the life of any city, punctuated by trippy music videos.
The most memorable songs here are Justin Hayward’s “Tuesday Afternoon” and Ray Thomas’ marvelous, pulsating gem, “Twilight Time.” John Lodge’s “Time to Get Away” underscores the latent pastoral psyche of Britain, unbound by place or time (though the Tiny Tim-like falsettos are my least favorite moments). And then there is Graeme Edge’s poetry, introduced here with great effect by Mike Pinder’s reading – a voice befitting a medieval bard, looking down on the city’s humdrum routine with both an ethereal sagacity and sympathetic proximity.
Being worked out here were elements that would fall seamlessly into place with On the Threshold of a Dream (1969). Regardless of whether the Dvořák story is true or not, the band realized the mythic proportions that orchestral sensibility could bring to their music. More importantly, they learned to master the arrangements themselves and temper the elements into cohesive statements.
It would be a stretch in my mind to herald Days of Future Passed as the prototypical prog album. But it put the Moody Blues on a trajectory to inspire the first generation prog artists, waiting in the wings to unleash beauty worth not missing.
Just as The Tangent’s Le Sacre du Travail was entering into the ordinary time of our lives, Andy Tillison (though the son of a Congregationalist minister) jolts us toward a high Feast Day, and the liturgy of life and art continues with The Tangent’s second release of 2013.
A moveable but glorious feast, L’Étagère Du Travail offers us more glimpses–through a glass, not darkly, as it turns out (with apologies to Paul)–of the essence of truth and beauty.
Please forgive all of the religious references, but musicians such as Tillison, Spawton, Longdon, Armstrong, Cohen, Erra, Stevens, and others bring this out in me. These fine artists always reach for the best, and that best is often beyond any rational interpretation or explanation. It’s no wonder the medievals spoke of artists with reverence and awe, in terms of ecstasy. They touch something the rest of us (the vast, vast majority of us) can only sense exists.
2013 will go down, someday, as one of the best years in the history of progressive rock music, and Tillison has now contributed not one but two major releases and, consequently, two critical steps to and toward the sheer quality of this year.
The Tangent has been in existence for over a decade now, and Mr. Diskdrive himself, Andy Tillison, that red-headed, mischievous sprite, has given the music world much to celebrate. Tillison has consistently brought together the best of the best musicians, and he has orchestrated all–lyrics, instruments, and arrangements–with some thing that is nothing short of brilliance.
The “red-headed” one. Stolen from Tillison’s FB page. Without permission but not with malice.
This new release, available exclusively at thetangent.org consists of ten tracks including, as the website notes, five new “unreleased demo” tracks and 3 “revisitations.” The 10 tracks come to roughly 1.2 hours of music. So, this is no EP. As Tillison notes on the site, it’s a companion album, a “sister” (a very lovable little sister, I presume) to Le Sacre du Travail.
As with its sibling–naturally having received almost nothing but rave reviews–L’Étagère Du Travail is a must own. It needs to be in the collection of anyone who appreciates fine art, but especially for those of us who like our music progressive.
I received a review copy just after departing for family vacation, and it has, in many ways, become the soundtrack of my trip into the American West, despite the fact Tillison is, perhaps, the most English of English folk!
From my many listens, I’m absolutely taken with and blown away by the energy and the highly controlled anger of the album. It’s jazzier and more experimental (there’s even a hint of disco on one track, “Dancing in Paris”–all done, of course, with taste), moment by moment, than Le Sacre du Travail. This, of course, is to be expected, as the former album told a coherent story, while this companion album explores the same sacred space, but in exemplary fragments not in overarching mythos.
Yet, Tillison’s art is unmistakably Tillison’s art. Every single thing you love about The Tangent is here in abundance. As far as I know, I (rather proudly) own everything The Tangent has recorded with the exception of A Place on the Bookshelf (a stupid oversight on my part; it slipped under my radar when it came out; and I’ve regretted not buying it ever since), and I’ve been listening to them for a decade.
Getting a review copy just on the eve of my longed-for summer vacation into the Rockies was akin–again, forgive the religious references–to having wine filled to the brim at a wedding. As it was at Cana, so it must be in York. Tillison’s goodness overflows.
Yet, as I just wrote–there’s a lot of anger in this album, but it’s the anger of a righteous man, the kind of anger that demands justice. What Tillison does with his lyrics is criticize what desperately needs to be criticized in this world. He does it with passion, but also with immense graciousness, charity, and exactness. This is not the cheesiness of Bono’s preaching in 1987, but the jeremiad of, well, a modern Jeremiah, albeit an atheist anarchist Jeremiah. Tillison wants the idealism of his era to meet reality, and he finds the post-modern world more than a bit disconcerting. The Tangent’s website proclaims correctly and with perfect self-understanding, “Progressive Rock Music for a World on Auto-pilot.”
Yes. Absolutely, yes. Every word Tillison sings proclaims, “Wake up, world!!!”
I’ve never had the privilege of meeting Tillison in person, but I suspect he’s rather Chestertonian–clever as the dickens and willing to let the world know what needs to be known, but always with that impish and knowing smile and always with a wry sense of humor. He is, I believe, a man who reaches and reaches but who understands too much of human nature to be taken in by the nakedness of the king.
Topics on this companion album include generational betrayal, crony capitalism, and corporate biotechnology.
As soon as I heard the first lyrics of “Monsanto,” I knew I’d love this album as much as any thing Tillison has written. Perfection itself. My favorite track, however, is the bitterly hilarious “Supper’s Off,” an obvious reference to the Genesis classic, complete with generational disgust and bewilderingly Apocalyptic imaginings, bettered only by John the Revelator himself at Patmos!
As I’ve noted before at progarchy and elsewhere, the various prog musicians in the world today are nothing if not perfectionists. Eccentrics, to be sure, but perfectionists, too. And, to these perfectionist eccentrics, I offer the highest praise I can. If every person took her or his life and work as seriously as do the greatest of prog musicians, the world would not swirl so close to the abyss, the killing fields might be kept a bit more at bay, and we might all recognize the unique genius in every one of our neighbors. Or, as Tillison writes of himself: “romantic enough to believe you can change the world with a song. I wanna write that song.”
Mr. Diskdrive, thank you. Thank you for truth, and thank you for beauty. Long may you rage.
*****
Order from http://www.thetangent.org/. Now. Yes, now. Hit the link. Quit reading this–go now! Ha. Sorry–too many John Hughes’ movies in my life. Go order!
Seriously, enjoy this offering from The Tangent. L’Étagère Du Travail by The Tangent (2013). Tracks: Monsanto; Lost in Ledston; The Iron Crows (La Mer); Build a new House with The Le; Supper’s Off; Dancing in Paris; Steve Wright in the Afternoon; A Voyage through Rush Hour; The Ethernet (Jakko Vocal Mix); and The Canterbury Sequence live.
For interviews with Tillison (including with the grandest of interviewers, Eric Perry and Geoff Banks), check these out:
interview – Eric Perry, “beta tester” for the new album asks Andy some very involved questions about it – and gets some very involved answers.
interview – The Dutch Progressive Rock Page’s David Baird asks about the album, the band, the lineup changes etc
radio interview – Geoff Banks and Andy natter on ad-infinitum about prog, pop, Magenta, the UK, the world etc.
It has been observed more than once that Red was a “swan song” for the early 70’s King Crimson. While Robert Fripp (like Frank Zappa) has always brought out the best in almost anyone he’s worked with, listening to Red now reconfirms my sense of a very singular musical chemistry — or perhaps the better word is alchemy? — that can be heard between Fripp, Wetton, and Bruford in this incarnation of KC. There’s something essential that gels on this album, in fact, from all of the band’s previous albums, and (I’m tempted to say) remains an unavoidable benchmark for all subsequent work.
The title track alone is a paradigm for any proggish texture that would lean recklessly into a Zeppelinesque aesthetic. It raises the hairs on the back of my neck in just about the same way as ‘The Rover” from Physical Graffiti (released only a few months later).
I have met a good number of folks who otherwise appreciate King Crimson, but whose main complaint about the early-70’s KC is dissatisfaction with John Wetton’s vocals. It’s hard to say whence our various aural fixations arise, but I wish to be on record as claiming that Wetton’s singing on this album is essential to its textural perfection, and is (to my ear) the best vocal work that Wetton has ever done.
Go. Get Red out and listen again. You know you want to.
We invited one of our favorite artists, Cailyn Lloyd, to tell us about what’s going on in her rather busy life. Dedicated to her family and her home life, she’s also quite dedicated to her art. And, excellent it is. Her first album, FOUR PIECES, was one of the best albums of 2012, and she demonstrated to the rock world how to approach classical music (and a bit of Texas-style blues guitar) with taste and nothing but taste.
Progarchy 