Watch out for Adriana Tegova in 2013

On By Time LordIn ProgarchyLeave a comment

Adriana Tegova

Adriana Tegova has tweeted a link to a great new song. I can’t wait to hear her debut album next year.

Listen online to the new track in its entirety while you can. Download it now, because it’s brilliant.

I first heard her as lead vocalist for All Eyes on Saturn, a fabulous Australian band that released a magnificent but hard-to-find EP with five amazing tracks.

Thanks in no small part to Adriana’s distinctive singing, the EP is a favorite of mine. Watch out for her in 2013.

You can also hear online (but not download) the lovely track, “Hiding“.

And here’s a video preview of another song, “Heaven“:

New Cosmograf–47 Days Before Launch

On By bradbirzerIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

prog demi god Robin

 

http://www.cosmograf.com/

English Electric, Part II

On By bradbirzerIn Uncategorized2 Comments

Ave, Greg Spawton!  Greg has just revealed the cover art for the forthcoming English Electric Part Two.  Out March 4, 2013.

bbt ee2

Leah: Live at The Columbia 12-12-12

On By Time LordIn Progarchy, Uncategorized5 Comments

LEAH

Leah’s 2012 Symphonic Metal Debut: Of Earth & Angels 

Leah released her first full-length album in 2012, Of Earth & Angels, and I first learned of its existence when Leah’s song “Ex Cathedra” (featuring suitably epic Latin lyrics) found its way into my Facebook feed, thanks to a student who had taken a number of my Latin classes over the years. After a quick sample of the album’s songs online, I knew I had to download the whole thing.

That was back in September. This month, as I was assembling my Top Ten of 2012 for the Progarchy archives, I realized that Leah was in my upper echelon, because, months later, I had not moved on from her album; if anything, I was enjoying it more and more, which is a sure sign that an album is a rare and special find, especially with a new artist. I love this time of year, when I look back and survey the wreckage and the survivors: the many albums that I had such high hopes for (but then turned out to be sad disappointments); the few surprises that came out of nowhere (to become treasured discoveries). Leah’s music has surprised me, and it stormed its way into my Best of 2012.

Continue reading “Leah: Live at The Columbia 12-12-12” →

Yet Another Best of 2012

On By Thaddeus WertIn Progarchy2 Comments

10. Flying Colors – At first I thought this was more “pop” than “prog”, but I kept coming back to it throughout the year. It’s prog, and it’s very good!

 

9. Neal Morse – Momentum. Neal stays true to his beliefs, while delivering the best album of his solo career. Full of energy and great melodies, he, Randy George, and Mike Portnoy create a masterpiece with this one.

Momentum

8. Jeff Johnson & Phil Keaggy – WaterSky. A beautiful set of ambient pieces that were recorded while on retreat at a lodge in rural Texas. The sympathetic interplay between Johnson’s keyboards and Keaggy’s guitar is simply wonderful. My students request this music while working on math problems! Continue reading “Yet Another Best of 2012” →

Songs from the Hedgerow: Preliminary Awards, 2012

On By bradbirzerIn Uncategorized4 Comments

146BBT1by Brad Birzer, Progarchist Editor

Though Progarchy is only two months old, I’m absolutely thrilled with its successes.  A thanks, first, to all of you out in the world (it’s a blast to look at the google map of who checks us out daily) who read us.  I hope you keep coming back to us.

Second, though, an immense thanks to all of the Progarchist writers.  Everything written here is purely voluntary.  We each have full-time jobs and families, but we do this because we love it.

We’re certainly not the biggest music website, but I believe that–in terms of sheer literary quality–no other website matches us.  I would hold any one of our writers (individually or collectively) against any other group of writers in the blogosphere.  If this sounds cocky, I apologize.  But, as editor, I find it quite humbling.  We really like each other, but we also believe that the importance of the music demands that we write and try to match with our utmost abilities.  On this, I think we’ve succeeded.

Additionally, though the site is based in the western Great Lakes of North America, we also have writers from the U.K., Brazil, and New Zealand.  We’re hoping to have someone from Antarctica soon—Penguin Prog?—but, it’s been more difficult than one might first imagine.

As 2012 comes to its necessary and inescapable end, each of the Progarchists has been asked—as time permits—to rank her or his favorite albums of the past year.

I’ll be ranking my top fifteen albums as well, and I’m sure my number one pick of the year, which I think is the best album of the last twenty-four years, will probably come as no surprise to anyone.

Continue reading “Songs from the Hedgerow: Preliminary Awards, 2012” →

The Greatest Christmas Rock Song

On By Time LordIn ProgarchyLeave a comment

Dan Flynn makes a very strong case that the greatest Christmas rock song is The Kinks’ “Father Christmas“:

The number that most embodies the spirit of the season depicts a violent robbery of Santa Claus. Thirty-five Christmases ago, The Kinks released “Father Christmas,” a gritty tale about a department-store Santa getting rolled by a gang of teenagers. “Father Christmas, give us some money/We got no time for your silly toys/We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over/Give all the toys to the little rich boys.”

It’s a 45 with a sense of humor. It also has a sense of the Beatitudes.

If upon first listen “Father Christmas” rings as cynicism inverting the spirit of giving into one of taking, subsequent spins reveal a track telling us to give thanks for our good fortune rather than the small fortune under the tree. A hoodlum instructs St. Nick to hold off on the Bionic Man costume for his brother and the cuddly doll for his sister. “But give my daddy a job cause he needs one/He’s got lots of mouths to feed.”

“Father Christmas” invites us to be more Christ like. An ode superficially about the ultimate expression of materialism (theft) becomes a spiritual admonition to remember the least among us.

And, as Dan points out, the ultimate coda to the song is how Ray Davies actually got shot in New Orleans when he chased two muggers!

By the way, Dan says the best Christmas songs “can be counted on an eight-beaded abacus” and lists “Silent Night” as one of the eight best.

I have to say that the only version of “Silent Night” that I can wholeheartedly endorse is Leah’s version. And I wish Dan could have seen her amazing show last night, because she did epic metal versions of “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”, “The Holly and the Ivy”, and “God Rest Ye Merry”, which Dan will have to make room for on his abacus! But more about Leah’s incredible concert later on, as Progarchy shall post a full review…

An Epic Night of Symphonic Metal

On By Time LordIn Progarchy3 Comments

I had the privilege of seeing an epic evening of symphonic metal tonight, as Leah rocked New Westminster with an orchestra of superb musicians. My full review will be posted tomorrow, but those who want a sneak peek at the set list can search Twitter for #Leah121212 because I tweeted the whole concert live. It was an amazing show, and I promise to share the details with you soon.

leah-metal

Leah-12-12-12

My top 10 of 2012…almost

On By russellclarkenzIn Uncategorized1 Comment

I was sorely tempted to do a “Top 10 ‘Top 10 of 2012’ Lists” list. But I decided that’s a bit meta so instead I tried to scientifically rank my favourite albums released in 2012 and present them with my thoughts about why they’re so awesomely excellently fabulously brill.

I even considered building an Excel spreadsheet. Imagine if you will a matrix, using subtle pastel hues of course, with a list of 2012 albums (alphabetical by title for convenience) down the left side and a list of prog ‘features’ (aka clichés?) along the top. Then I’d cross-reference the albums by the ‘features’ they contained, and put a little tick (that’s a ‘check’ to you US types!) in the corresponding box. Perhaps I’d even colour-code each tick to weight it based on such criteria as homage to past bands/decades/instruments/guest artists/dress sense/lack of dress sense. The album that got the highest score would be the clear winner. It would be awesome*.

Easier said than done. Plus, the winner wouldn’t have been my favourite album. Not by a long, long way.

So I went back to basics, to think about what I really mean by ‘favourite’. I considered that even though I bought a lot of music in 2012 very few albums are still played routinely in my house or (and this is reserved for the holier-than-holy) elevated to a spot on my car’s MP3 player, which is where I have some of my most profound musical moments. Drivers of NZ beware!

So I present my easy-to-use criteria for blistering prog:

1. Tears flow.

2. Smiles erupt.

3. 1 often occurs concurrently with 2.

4. Ermmm…that’s it.

And without further ado, I present my Top 10 Albums of 2012:

1. Big Big Train – English Electric Part One

1. Echolyn – Echolyn.

OK, so I failed at making even a Top 10 list, but I am very happy with my top shared first place selection. Each does weird/good things to me for completely different reasons, and each will join me as a truly special companion on my (hopefully) long journey into the future. Kudos, BBT and E!

Finally, if I may make an honourable mention of other favourite 2012 prog moments, in order of merit again:

1. Being invited to contribute to Progarchy.com.

1. Joining the Big Big Train facebook group and meeting some incredibly fantastic people.

Enjoy December everyone, however you choose to/not to celebrate. Personally I will be training for the 2013 Hedonism Olympics. Huzzah!

*Apologies, I work with software people. But I refuse to be one of them. Mostly.