This is the official music video for the song “Be The Light” featuring special guest Steve Rothery (Marillion).

This song is from the forthcoming debut sci-fi concept album “Acceleration Theory” available for pre-order from http://sonicelements.bandcamp.com

Video created by Christian Rios, Christine Leakey & Dave Kerzner
Green Screen Visual Capture by Erik Nielsen
Live footage shot by Joel Barrios, Erik Nielsen, Hal Feldman & Matt Urban at ProgStock Festival 2018 in Rahway, New Jersey

Starring: Gabriel Agudo & Leticia Wolf with Dave Kerzner, Matt Dorsey, Randy McStine, Fernando Perdomo & Marco Minnemann

Mixed by Chris Lord-Alge
Additional Mixing & Mastering by Dave Kerzner
Produced by Dave Kerzner
Executive Producers Hal Feldman & Dave Kerzner
Recorded by Dave Kerzner, Marco Minnemann, Matt Dorsey and Fernando Perdomo
Audio Editing by Andrew Gonzalez & Dave Kerzner

Audio Music Performances:
Gabriel Agudo – Lead Vocals
Leticia Wolf – Lead Vocals
Jon Davison – Vocals
Dave Kerzner – Keyboards, Vocals
Steve Rothery – Cameo Guitar Solo
Randy McStine – Guitar
Fernando Perdomo – Guitar
Matt Dorsey – Bass
Marco Minnemann – Drums

Music written by: Dave Kerzner, Randy McStine
Lyrics by: Dave Kerzner

Special thanks to Ewa Karolina Lewowska, Chris & Tom Lord-Alge, Gavin Lurssen, Steve Rothery, Jon Davison, Nick Davis, Simeon Spiegel, Erik Nielsen, Hal Feldman, Leticia Wolf, Gabriel Agudo, Matt Dorsey, Marco Minnemann, Randy McStine, Fernando Perdomo, Sherri Nahan, Jay Kerzner, Daniel & Leah, Jerry Ewing and everyone at Prog Magazine, Larry Morand and everyone at Cruise To The Edge, Thomas Palmieri, Ann Rinaldi and everyone at ProgStock.

More information visit: http://www.incontuumband.com

David Mitchell, the author of Cloud Atlas, has just written a truly remarkable and insightful piece in the Guardian about Kate Bush and her musical achievement. His discussion of Kate’s masterpieces is so good that every Kate fan will delight in it and find themselves rushing to listen again to these beloved albums.

Every word of Mitchell’s essay rings true. His memories of youthful, pre-Internet encounters with Kate’s music are so beautiful, they will remind you of special scenes from your own life. I was also thrilled to find him conclude his piece with this exhilarating interpretation of “Under the Ivy,” one of my very favorite Kate songs of all time:

I can’t help but interpret “Under the Ivy”, a B-side from the Hounds of Love era, as a kind of self-portrait or “meta-song” about the Kate and her oeuvre that have existed “away from the party” of musical fashion since the start of her career. Her music is secluded “under the ivy” and yet it invites you to join it, almost coyly: “It wouldn’t take me long / to tell you how to find me … ” Both Kate’s wariness of celebrity and her oneness with music and sound are recalled by the lines: “I sit here in the thunder / The green on the grey / I feel it all around me / And it’s not easy for me / To give away a secret / It’s not safe.” Yet she does give away secrets: they’re just coded, in extraordinary songs like this one.

Fans want more of what we loved the first time, yet we complain if things feel repetitive. Kate is a mighty exception to all this, as rare as a yeti. Her fidelity to her ever-curious, ever-morphing muse has won her a body of fans who hold her songs as treasured possessions to be carried through life. By dint of never having been in fashion, she has never fallen out of fashion. By taking bold artistic risks that she navigates with ingenuity and wisely chosen collaborators, the albums Kate made in her late 40s and 50s equal and surpass the songs recorded in her teens and 20s that made her famous. To any artist in any field, her example is a hope-instilling exhortation to evolve, to reinvent, to reimagine what we do.

Note that Mitchell has written the introduction to a print edition of Kate’s lyrics which is published by Faber & Faber: How to Be Invisible.

Oh, I don’t care what your favorite Glass Hammer album is. This one is mine!

Chronomonaut is a magnificent achievement. I was not prepared to love this album as much as I do. But truly, resistance is futile. This is quite simply, in my opinion, the finest prog statement Glass Hammer has ever made.

And they were albe to make it because, rather than be complacent or predictable, they decided to take risks and blaze an adventurous trail instead. Not only that, they dared to face, head on, their fans’ own penchant for nostalgia, by choosing to confront it in themselves as well, and to overcome and transform it by means of an unexpected, thoughtfully coherent artistic reckoning.

The two tracks that instantly won me over were “Roll for Initiative” (propelled by the mightiest bass playing I have heard since Chris Squire) and “Blinding Light” (with its truly fantastic horn arrangements, which I now think should become a Glass Hammer signature).

Soon enough I was quickly subdued by the devastating thematic track “The Past is Past,” and then the totally rockin’ “A Hole in the Sky,” and then the righteously sprawling album closer “Fade Away.” What feats of musicianship, what joys to savor!

Further still, sprinkled like extra treats at an already lavish banquet, are the quirky instrumentals which stand out with exceptional prog cred, as independently stimulating in their own right: “Clockwork,” “It Always Burns Sideways,” and “Tangerine Meme.” I always look forward to each one of them, and I dare anybody to call such fascinating tracks “filler.”

Finally, Susie’s vocal contributions add another dazzling dimension to the whole proceedings, with the diverse scenes painted by “Twilight of the Godz,” “1980 Something,” and “Melancholy Holiday” constituting definitive proof of the musical richness that Glass Hammer can pack into one glorious album.

If you haven’t picked this one up, don’t miss it. One of the year’s most thrilling albums awaits you. You will find resistance is futile: you will be air drumming, or playing air guitar, and saluting Glass Hammer as you join in the rockin’ republic of prog.

“Brooding in the tower…”

H/T: Open Culture: Music

Ever since Gungfly’s On her Journey to the Sun dominated my January listening, the year 2018 has been saturated with the brilliance of Rikard Sjöblom, especially as I proceeded to mine the stereophonic riches of the Gungfly Rumbling Box since its release earlier this year.

Even so, I was scarcely prepared for the devastatingly jazzy prog onslaught of Friendship when it finally arrived. Thanks to multiple listens, which have only led to ever-increasing enjoyment, the disc makes my Top 10 Prog list here at #3.

The theme of friendship is very skillfully handled, making this a concept album that ascends to the highest echelons of excellence.

In an age where digital media are relentlessly assaulting polite society, and people whom you thought were your friends suddenly unfriend you and ghost you on account of some mysteriously vague line demarcating a non-negotiable political tribalism, the poignancy of this Gungfly album’s deep exploration of childhood memories is all the more powerful.

The album gently evokes not only feelings that many will recognize as resonating with their own experiences of personal loss, but it also evokes the loss of genuine human sympathy and compassion as a generational event, as technology brutally empowers people to treat others as they themselves would never want to be treated.

After heavy immersion in the album’s seven main tracks over many months (thanks to a review copy obtained far in advance), I am now also enjoying the amazing extra tracks on my CD copy, which I of course purchased to support this fine music, yet which only recently arrived in my mailbox.

Mark my words, you will want to own this CD, and your bonus reward will be the absolutely fantastic extras: “Slow Dancer” and “Past Generation” (and a radio edit of the title track slicing it down to 6:31, less than half the length of the original epic of 13:41).

It’s almost impossible to pick a favorite track on Friendship, thanks to the continuously dazzling diversity in the music. But currently, for me, I am most fond of the rockin’ “Past Generation.”

Nonetheless, you yourself are sure to make every track your personal favorite, depending on the day of the week, and on exactly where you are in discovering the many beautiful depths of this stunning release, just as I too experienced, spinning through it and exploring every tree and glade, winding through the cycle of seasons.