Tag: Matt Stevens

Kevin McCormick’s Squall (1999)

On By bradbirzerIn Uncategorized3 Comments

kcmccKevin McCormick, Squall (1999).  To my mind, this is some of the best rock music ever written—but tempered with very serious classical sensibilities and lacking the over-the-top bombast present in even some the best of 1970s progressive rock.

If one had to label his music, it would most likely be a post-prog, post-rock, or, simply put post-Talk Talk.  In the current realm of music, one might think of a mixture of Matt Stevens, Gazpacho, and Nosound.

McCormick incorporates his profound poetry as lyrics.  Each word—and the way Kevin sings it—seems utterly filled with grace and conviction.  This is part two of a rock/post-rock trilogy (he’s currently working on number three).  And, it’s hard to listen to Squall without listening to its equally fine predecessor, With the Coming of Evening (1993).  Kevin really has it all: a great voice, the ability to write poetry as lyrics, and the training of a classical guitarist.

Before I write any more, let me admit my bias.  Kevin is one of my closest friends, and he has been since we first met in the fall of 1986 as freshman at the University of Notre Dame.  We still talk and correspond frequently.  Kevin is the godfather of my oldest son, and I of his second daughter.

We bonded immediately on matters of music back in 1986.

Kevin and his two brothers had a well-known Texas band in the mid 1980s, and Kevin formed the finest band at Notre Dame, St. Paul and the Martyrs, during our years there.  Toward the end of our senior year, St. Paul and the Martyrs opened for the-then unknown progressive jam band, Phish.

During our years in college, Kevin and I traveled throughout the U.S. and England together (making sure to visit Trident studios as well as EMI (hoping to catch a glimpse of Mark Hollis) while journeying through the mother land of prog and New Wave), co-produced a “Dark Side of the Moon” charity show, complete with an angsty-movie backing a full performance of the album by the Marytrs, talked music and lyrics until late into the nights, and even co-hosted a prog rock radio show on Friday nights.

Not surprisingly, one of my greatest memories of Kevin in college was listening to the entirety of Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden in 1988.  We remained completely silent for a very long time after its completion, stunned by the immensity of its beauty.

Kevin is extremely talented in a number of ways.  Not only is he the father of our beautiful daughters, but he has won national poetry as well as classical guitar composition awards.  In addition to the two post-prog albums (With the Coming of Evening and Squall) already mentioned, Kevin has also released several albums of solo classical guitar as well as an album of Americana, all recorded on an 1840s Martin.

His music has been praised publicly by many (see, for example, his entry at Allmusic) and privately by such luminaries as Phill Brown and Greg Spawton.

As of this afternoon, Kevin has finished mixing a Christmas CD, recorded with his oldest daughter on vocals, to be released next Christmas season.  And, as mentioned above, he is currently working on the completion of his post-rock trilogy.

Here’s Kevin’s music at CD Baby:  http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/KevinMcCormick

Here’s Kevin’s official site: http://www.kevin-mccormick.com/KM/index.html

I know we at Progarchy have offered lots and lots of suggestions for worthwhile purchases over the last three months.  But, as we begin this near year, I can state unequivocally that it’s worth supporting Kevin, especially as he prepares to record his new post-prog album.  I’ve only heard bits and pieces, but Kevin is a man of absolute integrity.  He is, like so many of us who either play prog or simply listen to prog, a perfectionist.  He also possesses one of the finest senses of beauty I’ve ever encountered in another.  So, while 2013 will probably NOT be the year of Kevin McCormick in the prog world, 2014 almost certainly will be.

Certainly, Kevin’s album should be one of the most anticipated releases of the next two years.  It’s worth beginning to anticipate today, January 1, 2013.

 

***

 

Some video links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umMMJ4B-D6k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kewac1nhue8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqsAcTs8KN0

Merry Christmas to and from all Progarchists, 2012

On By bradbirzerIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

progarchy xmas 2012.001

The Best 15 Albums of 2012, The Greatest Year in Prog. Ever.

On By bradbirzerIn Uncategorized12 Comments

IMG_3725by Brad Birzer, Progarchy editor

One of my greatest pleasures of 2012–and there have been many–has been listening to massive quantities of progressive rock, mostly for pleasure.

Being a literary and humanities guy, I’d contemplated rejecting the entire numerical ranking scheme.  Rather, I thought about labeling each of my best albums with various qualities of myth.  These albums achieved the level of Virgil; these of Dante; these of Tolkien, etc.  But, I finally decided this was way too pretentious . . . even for me.

Below are my rankings for the year.  Anyone who knows me will not be surprised by any of these choices.  I’m not exactly subtle in what I like and dislike.  Before listing them, though, I must state three things.

First, I loved all of these albums, or I wouldn’t be listing them here.  That is, once you’ve made it to Valhalla or Olympus, why bother with too many distinctions.  The differences between my appreciation of number 8 and number 2, for example, are marginal at best.

Second, I am intentionally leaving a couple of releases out of the rankings: releases from Echolyn, The Enid, Minstrel’s Ghost, Galahad, and Kompendium, in particular, as I simply did not have time to digest them.  Though, from what I’ve heard, I like each very much.

Third, I think that 2012 has proven to be the single greatest year in prog history.  DPRP’s Brian Watson has argued that we’re in the “third wave of prog.”  He might very well be right.  But, I don’t think we’ve ever surpassed the sheer quality of albums released this year.  This is not to belittle anything that has come before.  Quite the contrary.  I am, after all, a historian by profession and training.  The past is always prologue.  Close to the Edge, Selling England by the Pound, and  Spirit of Eden will always be the great markers of the past.

Ok, be quiet, Brad.  On with the rankings.

Continue reading “The Best 15 Albums of 2012, The Greatest Year in Prog. Ever.” →

First Cosmograf Song from New Album

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cosmograf1Great Brit Robin Armstrong, master of time, just released his first single/video from the new Cosmograf album, The Man Left in Space.

The first track, “The Vacuum That I Fly Through,” is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO_klTAF7I0

Performed by Robin, Greg Spawton, Matt Stevens, and Nick D’Virgilio.  Mastered by Reverend Rob Aubrey.  The song is as moving as it is tasteful.

My Top 12 Albums of 2012

On By iangreatorexIn 20125 Comments

I’ve taken the plunge and chosen my top albums of 2012. My top 6 came to me quite quickly. The rest took some time to rank but I finally managed it. I’ve also ‘mentioned in dispatches’ a few other albums that I either like and/or think are worth having a listen to if you haven’t already. 2012 has been a very good year indeed for the Prog world.

No 12 First Stage Zoltan by Zoltan

Zoltan - First Stage Zoltan

Wonderful cinematic soundscapes that would make John Carpenter proud. It’s all analogue and sounds great on a good hi-fi system. For lovers of atmospheric film scores.

Continue reading “My Top 12 Albums 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” →

Matt Stevens’s Silent Night.

On By bradbirzerIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Two things I never hide: my love of Christmas Music and my love of the music of guitarist Matt Stevens. Matt is one of our single best living guitarists. Here, he puts his own very reverent and tasteful twist on a holiday classic. You can listen to it for free. If you like it, please purchase a download copy. It’s very much worth supporting Matt–as an artist and an entrepreneur.

http://mattstevens.bandcamp.com/album/silent-night

A Favorite Discovery of 2012: Yppah

On By Thaddeus WertIn 2012, Progarchy3 Comments

Besides Big Big Train, one of my favorite discoveries of the past year has been Joe Corrales Jr.’s project, Yppah. Their latest album is Eighty One, released on the Ninja Tune label.

Corrales is similar to Matt Stevens (another Progarchy favorite) in that he likes to lay down a bed of rhythm using delays and samples while playing beautiful guitar filigrees on top of it. His style is much simpler than Stevens’, however, as he stresses the groove above all else. The bottom line for me is that his music makes me feel happy when I listen to it. (Which makes sense if you read the band’s name backwards!) Snatches of wordless chants swim in and out of the mix, Anomie Belle adds her siren vocals to several of the songs, Eno-esque audio effects burble along, and the percussion percolates with a world music feel. All of this creates an overall atmosphere of relaxed bliss. This is music for a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Yppah’s bandcamp site states,

Drawing on a cultural heritage that took in My Bloody Valentine alongside hip hop and heavily influenced by various forms of electronic music, psychedelic soul and rock, his music often mixes guitars shoved through massive reverbs/delays, keyboards/synthesizers, live drums, and other techniques.

Can hip-hop influenced music find a place in the prog music universe? Listen to “Happy To See You” below and decide for yourself. Beginning with a nice little guitar riff, the swelling synth background soon takes over and we are soaring through the clouds pictured on the album cover. There’s a brief detour to listen to a children’s chorus sweetly chanting us along our journey before the guitar comes back, turbocharged this time, to shoot us into the stratosphere.

If you’re interested in more, watch the in-studio performance below. A word of warning: Anomie Belle does some rapping in the second song, “Film Burn”, but it’s quickly followed by some beautiful violin work (she’s a classically trained violinist). And hey, if Rush can rap in “Roll The Bones”, then I guess it’s OK, right?

Cosmograf news

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Progarchists, our friend and ally, Robin Armstrong, just announced a slight delay in the release of the new Cosmograf album, The Man Left in Space.  The album will now be released at the end of January 2013, giving Robin a bit of cushion in the final production.  Robin’s full post (complete with wonderful Rush references in the title) can be found here:

http://www.cosmograf.com/launch-delayed-too-many-snakes-not-enough-ladders/

Also, Robin would like as many as possible to “like” Cosmograf on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/552531094761535/

Of course, it should go with out stating that every Progarchist should own the first three Cosmograf albums as well as pre-order The Man Left in Space.  Sadly, the first one is very difficult to find, but let’s hope Robin reissues it.

Comograf’s music can best be described–if a comparison is necessary–as a cross between Ayreon and Big Big Train–theatric, eclectic, and totally prog.  Despite the comparison, Robin’s music is certainly original, and he is, no doubt, his own man and artist.  The new album will feature other Progarchy favorites, Greg Spawton and Nick D’Virgilio of Big Big Train and Matt Stevens of The Fierce and the Dead.  Additionally, our generation’s Phill Brown, Rob Aubrey, is helping with engineering.  And (yes, I’m incredibly proud of this), I have a few spoken lines on the album.  How cool is that?  Very.

One last treat: here’s the title track of the last release.  Enjoy.

Latest from Matt Stevens/Tangent

On By bradbirzerIn Uncategorized1 Comment
Photo © TheChaosEngineers. For information: info@thechaosengineers.com

Great news this weekend.  First, from Matt Stevens:

Hello Brad

Hope you’re good. It’s been crazy here, a weird kind of post gigging come down. The Jazz Cafe gig was great fun, they treat you well there, blimey. Dressing rooms and beer!

I made a Spotify playlist with a “best of” my solo stuff. Is there any chance you can share it on your Facebook, Twitter, Groups or on any Forums you are a member of? This stuff makes a MASSIVE difference to obscure/DIY artists like me. The URL is:

http://open.spotify.com/user/1117036918/playlist/0uecTVxzs6d4dIBdWiOYDc

I know Spotify is controversial but for me at the moment the important thing is to grow the audience for the music. Your help is really appreciated, thanks loads.

Also if anyone is voting in the Prog magazine reader awards at:

http://www.progrockmag.com/news/vote-in-our-2012-readers-poll/

And fancies voting for for Fierce and The Dead or me it would be really appreciated 🙂 Exposure in these sort of polls really helps 🙂 Hopefully all the gigging this year has raised the profile a bit…

I’ve no more gigs booked now so the next months will probably be a bit quiet while we write and record  the new Fierce and The Dead record and plan my new solo record. Busy busy. The new Fierce And The Dead demos sound really good. They may be some sort of Pledge Music type pre-order. I’ll let you know.

Also we’re planning to tour outside the UK so please let us know where you’d like to see us. Thanks 🙂

Speak soon,

Matt Stevens

News from the invisible world

http://www.mattstevensguitar.com

http://www.spencerparkmusic.com

mattstevensguitar@btinternet.com

 ***

And, I had the great privilege of listening to about 75 minutes of Geoff Banks’s Prog Dog Radio Show this afternoon.  He announced some exciting news from The Tangent.  Pre-sales for their next album will be open beginning tomorrow afternoon.

On Friday, The Tangent released this on their Facebook page:

OK Folks the wait is over here is the very first chance to hear BRAND NEW work (in progress) from THE TANGENT. email workday@thetangent.org to get updates and find out how you can be part of a pre-pre order campaign to support this project. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkOgivtLy_U

So much good coming out of the progressive rock community right now, it’s more than a bit overwhelming.  Of course, it’s the kind of overwhelming any lover of the genre craves.