Tag: Andy Tillison

PROG Magazine Issue 74

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment
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For better or worse, the latest issue of PROG is just slightly too big for my scanner to handle it all.  Ian would be proud, I’m sure.

I suppose it seems a bit silly for me to state the following.  After all, who I am–a goofy, middle-aged American professor and historian?

Still, when PROG issue 74 showed up in my post box today, I was both thrilled and proud.  Yes, the proud part is the silliness.  Does Jerry Ewing need me to be proud of him?  Well, I am.

After everything PROG has gone through over the past three months, how great is it that I get issue 74 only days after it’s released.  Under the previous company, it took about a month for each issue to get here (in the states).  In fact, issue 73 just showed up this past weekend.  Now, 74 is already here.

Amazing.

And, it looks gorgeous.  Jethro Tull, Tim Bowness, The Mute Gods, ARW, Dream Theater, and Blackfield are all covered.  And, best of all, Greg Spawton shows up on page 10 and Andy Tillison and Matt Cohen on page 11.  Call me a very happy fanboy.

Congratulations, Jerry!  You are our leader.  No question.

Pre-Pre-Order the Forthcoming TANGENT ALBUM

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Welcome to our PRE PRE ORDERS PAGE 2016/17


This is the special pre-preordering page for the as yet unfinished album “The Slow Rust Of Forgotten Machinery” – the Ninth studio album by The Tangent. All composed and demoed – ready to record

Before we start – please let us make this very clear.. This album will be on sale at a perfectly normal and reasonable price in 2017 and we will have “normal” pre-ordering for the album nearer the time at those prices.

Continue reading “Pre-Pre-Order the Forthcoming TANGENT ALBUM” →

Cryptic Andy Tillison

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock1 Comment

So, without much explanation at all, the master of mischief, Andy Tillison, has just posted on Facebook that he would be releasing new music tonight.  Whether this is solo or The Tangent or something else is unclear.  Regardless, we await it eagerly.  And, we’ll let you know when we do.

Best Prog of 2016, Part IV (and Final)

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock1 Comment
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One of the many Steven Wilson remixed albums.  And, one of the best.  Beat.

Well, I must admit, I am a bit sorry to have taken so long to get all my “best of 2016” out.  Four parts is outrageous, even by prog standards.  Too much music, too little time, too many keys on my keyboard!

So, the final part of 2016 list is nothing less than a bit of cleanup, an attempt to give coherence to a number of disparate things.

First, I want to offer a huge thanks to all of you for reading Progarchy and also to all of our writers.  Obviously, we do what we do for love, not profit.  But, it’s truly a community effort.  Again, a profound thank you–to all members of the progarchy community.

Second, I’d like to single out three companies for making reviewing so much easier than it might otherwise be.  An amazing slap on the back to Roie Avin and Jeff Wagner at Insideout!  Incredible guys, incredible company.  Another loud and hearty shout out to Brian Rocha of Fresno Media not only for his wit and friendship, but also for all of his excellent support.  And, again to Steve Babb of Sound Resources (Glass Hammer).

Third, there are a few musical releases from 2016 that don’t fit easily into the lists I’ve offered thus far.

One album I’ve thoroughly enjoyed but have not had long enough to offer it a place within my lists is The Gift’s latest album, WHY THE SEA IS SALT.  It’s extraordinary, and I very much look forward to spending more time with it.

I must also recognize Steven Wilson’s ep, 4.5, and The Tangent’s single, “A Few Steps Down the Wrong Road.”  Each is simply outstanding.

Finally, this year’s progarchy audiophile award goes to Steven Wilson for his work remixing so many classic albums.  Indeed, Wilson has remixed so many, it’s becoming hard to keep track of them all.  But, I’d like to single out the ones that meant so much to me this year: Jethro Tull’s STAND UP and AQUALUNG; XTC’s SKYLARKING; King Crimson’s BEAT; and Yes’s TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS.

Best Prog of 2016, Part II

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment

continued from last night. . .

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAndy Tillison Diskdrive, MACHTE ES DURCH.  Sadly, this release has gotten very little press, and, yet, as with all things Tillison, it’s simply genius and extraordinary.  When thinking of Andy and The Tangent, think intensity and integrity.  When thinking of Andy Tillison Diskdrive, think of taste and integrity.  On his solo albums (at least this one and the previous one), Andy has been exploring–rather expertly–jazz-rock-fusion.  He is a natural and a master.

ghost communityGhost Community, CYCLE OF LIFE.  I’ve been rather joyously following the trajectory and art of Matt Cohen for almost a decade now.  The guy is simply put–the kind of guy you really, really, really want to support.  Whatever tragedies the man has experienced, he comes out on top and with an infectious joy.  Not only is his bass playing on this album gorgeous, but the album itself is just joy made manifest.  Imagine a truly progressive and non-cheesy Styx of 1975, and you have Ghost Community.  Probably more rock than prog, it’s what prog needs right now to keep some balance. (Notice, please, that I used some form of “joy” three times in this mini-review!)

Continue reading “Best Prog of 2016, Part II” →

Coming Monday: A New Tangent Single

On By bradbirzerIn Andy Tillison, art rock, progressive rock1 Comment

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That greatest and most mischiveous redheaded bard of the 21st century, Andy Tillison, has announced that this coming Monday, August 15, The Tangent will be releasing a new single and a film to go with that single.

The title of the single is “A Few Steps Down the Wrong Road,” and it comes in at over 19 minutes.

Having been privileged enough to have a glimpse of this new film, I can state that Tillison and The Tangent fully return the spirit of rock to the spirit of rebellion of the late 1960s.

This is blatantly art as protest.

Whether or not you agree with Tillison’s views, you will happily recognize the importance of what The Tangent is doing and the significance of the film itself in the history of rock.  Tillison, who describes himself as a leftist-anarchist, has never shied away from expressing his politics in music.  “A Few Steps Down the Wrong Road,” however, takes Tillison’s art and views to an entirely new level.

Again, whether you agree or disagree with Tillison, you should never make the mistake of NOT taking him and his ideas seriously.

Progarchy (and yours truly) is extremely eager to see where all of this leads.

Rage on, Mr. Diskdrive.  Rage on.

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Square Brad with ultrahip Andy and Sally, Boulder, Colorado, February 2015.

The Tangent News!

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Wow, after just posting my praise of Andy and Jonas (previous post), Andy posted this at the exact same time on Facebook.  Nothing like a little synchronicity to get the blood flowing.

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Andy Tillison and Theo Travis, intimate house concert.

***

Continue reading “The Tangent News!” →

Scando-Anglo Hippiedom: A Karmakanic Album in Six Parts

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock3 Comments

Really, who doesn’t admire wild Scandinavian hippies?  One can only imagine those Viking lovers of peace returning in their long boats to establish a loving order upon all the conquered, asking for forgiveness!  Even the clever name of the band, Karmakanic reveals much about the very intentions of ever-amusing Jonas Reingold (The Flower Kings, The Tangent).  The band’s outstanding 2008 album, WHO’S THE BOSS OF THE FACTORY, especially exemplified the best ideals of the late 1960s.

IN A PERFECT WORLD (2011) did as well, but despite the opening track, “1969,” the album didn’t cohere as well as the previous one.

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Karmakanic’s best, DOT.

Whatever the case might have been, Reingold has just released the best of the Karmakanic albums, DOT (officially out from Insideout on July 22, 2016).   It is an extraordinary release in every single and imaginable way.  Not only its structure and flow, but its lyrics, especially, are quite moving.

Continue reading “Scando-Anglo Hippiedom: A Karmakanic Album in Six Parts” →

An Apology to Mr. Steven Wilson

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock12 Comments
Steven Wilson
Steven Wilson, The LONDON GUARDIAN.

I will admit, I find it hard to believe that Steven Wilson’s HAND.CANNOT.ERASE. is now fourteen months old.  It arrived on my doorstep—courtesy of amazon.com—on the day it was released, and I played it immediately, of course.  At the time, however, I had become truly skeptical of anything Wilson was doing at that moment.  My dislike and distrust had not come on me suddenly, but, rather over a relatively long period of time.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I didn’t come across his work until a random turning on of album rock radio in Fort Wayne played an incredible song—“Trains” if I remember correctly—just as Porcupine Tree had released IN ABSENTIA.  I not only purchased that album that day at a Fort Wayne Bestbuy, but I also searched out an independent CD/record store, and purchased much of PT’s back catalogue.  To say that a decade of obsession (in the healthy, fan sense; not in the psychotic sense) with Wilson and all of his art set in.  I was certainly a completest.  If it had Wilson’s name on it, I owned it.

Continue reading “An Apology to Mr. Steven Wilson” →

Preempting Andy Tillison: DURCH

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rockLeave a comment

Andy Tillison Diskdrive, DURCH (forthcoming, 2016).  Pre-order available now.

Tracks: Machte es Durch; The Pursuit of Oil; and From the Steppes of Central Asia

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Tillison, making it through!

 

Whenever I see or hear the name Andy Tillison, two thoughts immediately spring to mind. 1) Class.  2) Mischievousness.  A contradiction?  Not really.  Most of the greatest artists in history have possessed various measures of each.

Tillison is a great artist.

For those of who have been fortunate enough (wise enough?–naw, too strong, even if accurate) to pre-order Tillison’s forthcoming solo album, DURCH, we already know what glory and amazement is in store for us, even if in attenuated form.  The pre-order allows us to listen to the raw tracks.

Raw?  If Andy Tillison had said, “Here, they are, just as I want them,” I would not have doubted him.

These three tracks are simply glorious.  Track one, “Machte es durch” strikes me as a sequel to some of Soft Machine’s best work, though Tillison credits Camel for the inspiration.

Track two, “The Pursuit of Oil,” is atmospheric to the extreme, the soundtrack to a horror movie set within a a decrepit house for at least their first nine minutes or so.  The piece screams moodiness.  It, too, is glorious.  Around the nine-minute mark, Tillison gets righteous, and we hear his voice for the first time, decrying the abuses committed against the eco system but doing so in a way that helps explain our current cultural mindset toward resource use.  My words don’t do this piece justice.  Tillison is nothing if not about justice in his very personhood, and this is the kind of piece that welcomes the imagination to explore the deeper ethical issues of our day without screaming at us to reform.  In other words, in his music and lyrics, Tillison gives us art, not propaganda.

Finally, “From the Steppes of Central Asia,” the remaking of a piece originally written by Alexander Borodin, a chemist and composer.  Despite the title–which invokes, at least to my mind, more of what I’d heard in track two–the piece is incredibly upbeat and jazzy in an experimental, fusion way.

Well, what more can I say?

I love Tillison as a man and as a artist and as a class act and as a mischievous character.  If you’ve preordered, you’ve already experienced the immense joys I have from this master of all things prog, rock, and jazz.  If you’ve not preordered, do so now.  No, not then.  NOW!

http://www.thetangent.org/shop.html

As most of you already know, Tillison suffered some very serious health problems last year, but his lovely equal, Sally Collyer (our prog person of the year) and the NHS kept him in great shape.  In his own personal note accompanying the link to the new tracks, he wrote:

“As you may know, I had a full on heart attack last year and essentially the life I now have is all a bit of a bonus track on the album of existence.”

Whenever I write about Tillison, I have to end with a line stolen (and paraphrased) from Mark Hollis and Talk Talk.  Rage on, Mr. Diskdrive, rage on.

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When Sally (and Andy) Met Harry (my son).