Tag: Progradar

Review – White Moth Black Butterfly – The Cost of Dreaming

After their lauded 2017 album ‘Atone‘, White Moth Black Butterfly return with their new studio album ‘The Cost Of Dreaming‘.

Created by Daniel Tompkins, the collaborative project features a team of songwriters & producers based worldwide, all at the height of their own scenes. Collaborating with Tompkins are New-Delhi based Skyharbor songwriter and producer Keshav Dhar; US based producer and string arranger Randy Slaugh, drummer Mac Christensen and the line up is completed by ethereal vocals of UK singer & lyricist Jordan Turner.

Daniel Tompkins explains why he sees White Moth Black Butterfly and ‘The Cost Of Dreaming‘ representing the dichotomy between peace and conflict within a life full of chaos. “Our new album ‘The Cost of Dreaming’ is something we feel just about every human being on the planet that’s been affected by life changing disruption will relate strongly to. Our nature is to always be planning, dreaming about an ideal future in which we will have ticked various boxes that define our ideal lives, often at the cost of the present. And when control over that future is seized away from us and all we are left with is the present, we realise just how much we took for granted. Life is surely a gift to us all throughout which we experience moments of soaring bliss and happiness, and then in a heartbeat sink into states of great trouble and suffering. Often our struggles can serve as momentous opportunities for growth, but the balance of life can often hold us back from seizing the day. We believe that this album is our greatest achievement – it’s an outpouring of love and a cry for help.”

The album is a very clever integration of contemporary pop with the stylistic flourishes of progressive rock and ambient, experimental music. Catchy hooks abound along with lush orchestral notes and edgy keyboard infused electronica. All the songs are short, like perfect little gems of musical wonder, never outstaying their welcome.

The ethereal strains of opener Ether blend perfectly into the harder, staccato notes of Prayer For Rain and this is followed by the gorgeous wistfulness of The Dreamer where Turner’s vocals stand out perfectly.

The exquisitely refined tone of Heavy Heart bleeds melancholic nostalgia and the lush Portals would grace any modern club scene. Use You is deliciously dark, almost malevolent in its sinister delivery and segues seamlessly into the powerful, funky edginess of Darker Days, given added sparkle by Kenny Fong’s glorious saxophone.

The album builds superbly with each track, an audio experience that draws you in piece by piece. Sands of Despair mournfully washes over you with its plaintive vocal and contemplative piano note before the thoughtful mood of Under The Stars grabs you in its embrace, Jordan’s dreamy vocals imbuing a sense of calm serenity. Soma is a super smooth slice of jazz/pop that is as classy a piece of music that you will hear this year and Liberate takes the art of writing contemporary pop muisic to another level.

There’s a insistent demanding feel to Unholy, an anticipation building of something enigmatic and ominous before heartfelt vocals and the addition of Eric Guenther’s keyboards introduce an emotive emphasis to the sumptuous sounds of Bloom. The album closes out with Spirits, a wonderfully uplifting piece of music that continues to resonate long after the final note dies away.

In ‘The Cost of Dreaming’, White Moth Black Butterfly have created an utterly captivating and beautiful collection of songs where nothing has been held back. It contains every piece of their heart and soul and, just as Daniel Tompkins says, it is a perfectly conceived outpouring of love and cry for help, one that I hope everyone takes heed of…

Released 28th May, 2021

Order the album here:

WHITE MOTH BLACK BUTTERFLY (lnk.to)

Review – Ray Fenwick – Playing Through The Changes – Anthology 1964-2020 – by John Wenlock-Smith

Modern music has long had its own set of musical minstrels who journey between different groups and sounds, how would Elvis sound without Scotty Moore and James Burton’s inspired playing? where would Cliff and most British rock be without Hank Marvin’s Stratocaster and graceful guitar lines? Music is littered with the artists whose sole role was to make the music the boss, make it sound better or different. Ray Fenwick is one such journeyman musician who skills have graced recording of the Spencer Davis Group, Fancy, the Ian Gillan Band and many over in his 50 plus year career, Ray also replaced Steve Howe in The Syndicats in 1964.

Ray is probably best known for his time in the Ian Gillan Band, which was formed after Gillan first left Deep Purple in 1973. The music the band made was hugely different from Purple with more Jazz, and even funk, elements present. The Ian Gillan Band made three albums, ‘Child in Time’, ‘Clear Air Turbulence’ and ‘Scarabus’, along with a set recorded in Japan that gained eventual UK release after the band had split up.

Ray is also remembered for his part in the Fancy project, who recorded a steam version of Wild Thing by The Troggs, the band was originally fronted by Penthouse Pet Helen Caunt, then by Annie Kavanagh, an ex-Musicals singer who had appeared in Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar. Fancy had a follow up hit single She’s Riding the Rock Machine that was also a bit hit in the states.

Their unique blend of poppy, funky rock was in a similar vein to The Average White Band and, whilst Fancy enjoyed some US success, they failed to capitalise on it in any significant way which then led to Ray getting involved with Roger Glover’s Butterfly Ball, project where he worked along with various Deep Purple related musicians, including Ian Gillan which is where the Ian Gillan Band idea was first conceived.

This expansive 3 CD set covers all areas of Ray’s career and includes a few rarities, along with some excellent tracks that really show Ray’s skills as a guitarist, writer and arranger. Especially fine is an eight minute plus psychedelic track called The Dream, recorded for Ray’s 1971 solo album ‘Keep America Beautiful, Get A Haircut’, released in 1971 on the Decca Label, an album that now commands a hefty price tag on various well-known auction sites and on line retailers It may be time for a proper reissue?

After the Ian Gillan Band years, Ray turned to being a session musician, recording with a variety of artists including Roger Glover and Eddie Hardin’ (in his Wizard Convention albums and concert) and worked with Graham Bonnet before forming the all-star rock project Forcefield in the mid 1980’s. This called on such luminaries as Jon Lord, Don Airey, Neil Murray and Cozy Powel. Jan Akkerman appearing on ‘Forcefield 3 – To Oz and Back’, along with Graham Bonnet.

If I have one criticism of this set it would be that the music is so very varied that it would be better presented in sets or eras, that way you could have all the 60’s tracks together, all the Deep Purple related tracks in one place and also Forcefield and Ray’s solo stuff and session work together. This would give better continuity and make this more accessible to listen to. That is just my opinion though and, hell, what do I know? I am only a reviewer, not the artist.

Some of these tracks are really hidden gems that passed the public at large by and really deserve a platform and should be heard. I am thinking of the Wizards Convention tracks, especially Money to Burn with David Coverdale, who turns in a fabulous performance. The Wizards Convention 2 tracks also impress, as does the Hardin and York track Have Mercy Woman. In fact, the second disc is crammed full of good tracks and many surprises, also noticeable is just how versatile a guitarist and musician Ray really is, playing a mean slide guitar on Between the Devil and Me.

The different styles of music that Ray plays on this set range from hard rock, jazz fusion, pop and country to reggae and all points in between. The more progressive of his work appears as tracks by Ray Fenwick in the main, although there is a whole stack of stuff to enjoy over the three discs. Packaged in a handsome three panel set with good photos and a highly informative booklet that gives the lowdown on his extraordinary career, this is a fine set indeed and well up to the usual standard of Cherry Red reissues and box sets.

Released 30th April, 2021

Order from Cherry Red Records here:

Ray Fenwick: Playing Through The Changes – Anthology 1964-2020, 3CD – Cherry Red Records

Review – Frost* – Day And Age – by John Wenlock-Smith

What a year this is turning out to be, eh? We have had lockdowns, a new US President, I was so glad to see the back of Donald Trump and his inane ‘Twittering’s’, along with his clan of hangers on and thugs. Thankfully so were most Americans, sick of his lies and arrogance and concern for himself and so voted him out, although the incidents at the Capitol Hill probably sealed his fate, for now at least.

In other news, we have seen mass vaccinations against Covid, the emergence of random variants and possible hope for return to a more normal way of living, although some changes will probably remain in situ for now. In this time of uncertainty there are signs of new life, especially musically, as bands are emerging, once again, with the promise of live shows nearer to reality and new material in the can awaiting release.

Frost* are one such act. After a fine digital EP last year, ‘The Others’, and the ’13 Winters’ box set that brought the first ten years of the band together in one fabulous complete 8 CD set, comes this new release ‘Day and Age’ which opens the next stage of their ongoing history.

Consisting of 8 tracks lasting just over 53 minutes, this is a stroll through the modern world as seen by Frost*. Expect despair, hope, longing, confusion and fear along with strong melodies and inspired music, albeit with an edge of discomfort and unsettlement.

“Welcome to the rest of your life… sit back and remember, enjoy yourselves, you scum”, or so the disturbing child’s voice intones at the beginning of opener Day and Age. Things settle into a mid-paced track with lots happening musically, a powerful back beat and masses of keyboards and chiming guitars and with John Mitchell sounding not unlike a certain Mr Gabriel on this song. Everything passes swiftly with nary a wasted second, indeed, as an opener, it is certainly one of the most effective I’ve heard this year and stands right up there with tracks like Hypersonic from ‘Liquid Tension Experiment 3’ and Out Of This World from Kayak. Yes folks, in a dim world, there is mighty fine new music being conceived and delivered by our prog heroes who are, to a man, refusing to allow Covid restrictions to curtail their ongoing creativity and we are most thankful for that.

The album has a few shorter tracks in amongst the longer ones and, in all of these, you can hear the pop sensibilities that Frost* employ so wonderfully, along with the thunderous drums of Kaz Rodriguez, Darby Todd and Pat Mastelotto, each of whom pound away very satisfyingly indeed with power, strength and finesse..

This is especially so on the awesome The Boy Who Stood Still, which includes a fine voice over from Jason Isaacs. Sound wise, this song reminds me of the mighty Propaganda of ZTT Records fame who, through a blend of hard-edged percussion and angular vocals, married funk and progressive elements so wonderfully. Check out Duel or Dr Mabuse for an example of their sound and then see how this Frost* track compares, I can certainly see the similarities. The track is a decent length too and benefits from the extended running time to realise its ideas fully, it really is an interesting song. Lyrically this is a dark album and, were it not for the imaginative music Frost* create, could be considered very mournful and sad. Yet the music works with the lyrics to create something that is not really that sad somehow, I think it is the imagination they employ that elevates the songs to different heights. 

Another Excellent song is Kill The Orchestra, it opens with some rather dreamy piano that is completely in contrast to the darkness of the lyrics. That may, of course, be in part due to the locations involved in the writing of these songs, namely a converted coastguard tower in the south west of England amongst other locations. This possible bleakness contributes to the darkness and stark feelings contained in these songs, which, when you read the lyrics, is clearly apparent as a dark and yet interesting view of the world becomes clear.

All of this makes the album all the better for it does not sugar coat the band’s views and takes such a bold lyrical stance. Kill the Orchestra is particularly dark in tone with its tale of a would-be rock star who is lost in his own self worth to the point of self-obsession. All of this is backed by some epic musical sections to make a seriously good song.

This is an ambitious set of songs performed wonderfully and are very satisfying musically. With the modern edge to its sound, ‘Day and Age’ is an album that is impressive from its disturbing opening voice right to the end some, 53 minutes later. This is one that is best heard loud in the dark I think, you will love it!

Released 14th May, 2021

Order from Burning Shed here:

Day And Age (burningshed.com)

Steve Howe Announces Release of Homebrew 7 on 30th July

YES guitarist Steve Howe has announced he is to release the seventh edition of his Homebrew album series on 30th July via HoweSound. Homebrew 7marks the 25th anniversary ofthe guitar legend’s first album in his Homebrew collection.  Pre-order the album here: https://cargorecordsdirect.co.uk/products/steve-howe-homebrew-7

The Homebrew series typically features recordings from Steve Howe’s home archive of demos and tracks, originally recorded for one of his many solo or group projects with YES, ASIA, ABWH or GTR. Homebrew 7 differs slightly as none of the tracks have previously been released in any form and there are no plans for any to be rerecorded in the future.

“Many are things I’ve enjoyed saving until the right moment,” says Howe, “and the Homebrew series allows this. Some tracks have matured with my nurturing but others have been recently rediscovered.”

This collection includes tracks from the late seventies through to 2016 in Howe’s extensive range of playing styles. Each of the 21 tracks is dated and accompanied by Howe’s background notes and details on instrumentation. Most of the tracks are Howe’s solo recordings with occasional contributions from Dylan Howe and Virgil Howe on drums with Phil Spalding on bass guitar (Half Way). The booklet includes the lyrics for the four vocal tracks and is also illustrated by some of Howe’s delightfully atmospheric photography.

Homebrew 7 Track Listing:

1. The Glider (2015) Time: 1.37

2. October (1998) 1.56

3. Half Way (1997, 2009 & 2015) 3.49

4. The Only One (2013) 1.26

5. In One Life (1982) 2.41

6. Outstanding Deal (1982) 3.21

7. Be Natural (2013) 1.47

8. Cold Winds (1983) 2.38

9. Deanscape (1982) 2.21

10. Tender Hooks (2015) 2.06

11. A Lady She Is (1982) 4.12

12. Two Sided (2013) 1.45

13. Strange Wayfarer (2016) 3.00

14. Devon Girl (1983) 2.42

15. Safe Haven (2015) 1.31

16. A Matter Of Fact 1986)

17. Touchstone (2015)1.58

18. From Another Day (1979) 1.47

19. Foregone Conclusion (2015) 1.58

20. Space Void (1978) 1.05

21. From The Get-Go (2015) 1.49

Total Running Time: 49.41

All titles written, arranged, engineered and produced by Steve Howe with additional drums by Dylan Howe and Virgil Howe.

HOMEBREW 7 Released on 30TH JULY

Pre-order Homebrew 7 here: https://cargorecordsdirect.co.uk/products/steve-howe-homebrew-7

Homebrew 7 by Steve Howe: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Neal Morse Band – announce fourth studio album ‘Innocence & Danger’ for release this August

Neal Morse Band are pleased to announce the release of their much-anticipated fourth studio album ‘Innocence & Danger’ on the 27th August 2021. 

With NMB’s previous two releases being concept albums, it’s perhaps remarkable that Innocence & Danger is a series of unrelated songs, but drummer Mike Portnoy says “After two sprawling back to back double concept albums in a row, it was refreshing to get back to writing a collection of unrelated individual songs in the vein of our first album.”

Indeed, making this album came easy to the band; while the initial inspiration came particularly from Bill Hubauer (keyboards) and Randy George (bass), the ideas flowed from everybody from there on, as George recalls: “I am excited about the level of collaboration that we achieved on this one. We even went in with a lot of ideas that weren’t necessarily developed, and I think in the end we have something that represents the best of everybody in the band.”

In fact – like its two acclaimed predecessors – Innocence & Danger is a double album by inspiration, rather than design, as Portnoy explains: “As much as we wanted to try and keep it to a single album after having just done two double albums, we wrote so much material that we found ourselves with our third double album in a row! That’s pretty prog!”

There is also plenty in Innocence & Danger to excite those prog fans who have a thirst for epics, as Neal Morse explains: “There’s one half hour epic and another that’s about 20 minutes long. I really didn’t realise that they were that long when we were recording them, which I guess is great because if a movie is really good, you don’t realise that it’s three hours long! But there are also some shorter songs: some have poppier elements, some are heavier and some have three part acoustic sections. I’m excited about all of it, really.”

The album will be released as a Limited 2CD+DVD Digipak (featuring a Making Of documentary), 3LP+2CD Boxset, Standard 2CD Jewelcase & Digital Album, featuring artwork by Thomas Ewerhard (Transatlantic). Pre-orders start on the 18th June, and the full track-listing is below:

CD 1 (Innocence):

1.    Do It All Again 08:55

2.    Bird On A Wire 07:22

3.    Your Place In The Sun 04:12

4.    Another Story To Tell 04:50

5.    The Way It Had To Be 07:14

6.    Emergence 03:12

7.    Not Afraid Pt. 1 04:53

8.    Bridge Over Troubled Water 08:08 

CD 2 (Danger):

1.    Not Afraid Pt. 2 19:32

2.    Beyond The Years 31:22

The Neal Morse Band (now NMB) was formed in 2012, featuring long-time collaborators Neal Morse (vocals, keyboards and guitars), Mike Portnoy (drums, vocals) and Randy George (bass), as well as Bill Hubauer (keyboards, vocals) and Eric Gillette (guitars, vocals). The band’s first album, The Grand Experiment, showed both a freshness and maturity that was further developed in 2016’s The Similitude Of A Dream, 2019’s The Great Adventure and 2021’s Innocence & Danger.

Look for NMB on tour in North America in October 2021 and in Europe throughout May/June 2022. Tour dates coming soon!

Review – Dinesen/Christensen/Sonne – Blessings – by Progradar

Saxophone player Jakob Dinesen and bass player “AC” Christensen have been household names on the Danish jazz scene since the nineties, where they played together in the now legendary Once Around The Park. 

On this recording they are joining up with drummer Laust Sonne. He is one of the most versatile musicians in Denmark and he has been the drummer in the popular Danish rock band, D-A-D, for over 20 years. He played drums in the avant jazz rock outfit, Bugpowder, and also made a career for himself with his solo project, his own rock band, Dear. He has even made straight pop music in his own name on two albums, in 2011 and 2016. In 2007 he received the prestigious Danish music award, Ken Gudman Prisen.

The three musicians have known each other for many years. In their younger days, they often ended up together, playing late night jams and gigs at parties. It went so well that they made big plans of doing more stuff together. But it never happened.

The corona outbreak in the first half of 2020 finally brought the three musicians together again, as other plans were cancelled because of the virus. As a blessing in disguise, they began to play together again, in the rehearsal room. They found, and created, a space for their thoughts and ideas. A space for listening and playing. 

In the picturesque gardens of Det Kongelige Danske Haveselskab in Frederiksberg in Copenhagen, a series of jazz concerts were held, as a compensation for the cancelled Copenhagen Jazz Festival. Among the concerts were one by this trio. It is the sounds from that concert that we can hear on this album. Peacocks were walking around in the garden when the audience was listening to the trio. 

For those of us relatively new to a ‘serious’ jazz album, ‘Blessings’ can seem a bit impenetrable at first with its complex and sinuous musical mosaics and tendency to run off at right angles at any moment but, given time and space and, crucially, the right atmosphere to take in every note and nuance, the album opens up and gives its treasures freely.

Free Eddie, written by Dinesen, in honour of his good friend and fellow music lover, Eddie Michel, is a soul searching track that invites you to join three like-minded musicians on an intensely personal journey.

The jazz standard I’ve Told Every Little Star was composed in 1932 by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. It was introduced in the musical ‘Music in the Air’ and, with their version, the trio are giving an honorary nod to saxophone legend Sonny Rollins who often played it live in the late fifties. Jakob Dinesen has a more leisurely tone in his playing, giving the track breathing space to grow and Laust Sonne has swing down straight and imbues the music with grace, assurance and clarity.

Sonne wrote Anouar as a tribute to the Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem. There’s a laid back and enigmatic desert atmosphere to the music and a whole boat load of soul to Sonne’s drum playing which, allied with Jakob Dinesen’s deliciously dark tone, gives an exceedingly mysterious aura to proceedings.

Tyk Vals is a tune written by Dinesen, and is dedicated to the late Master Fatman (aka Morten Lindberg), who was very close to Jakob. The track invokes the warm and touching kindness that inspired many musicians and is smooth and sophisticated at heart, allowing a warm glow of contentment to settle on the listener.

The Charlie Haden penned Sandino allows fellow bass player Christensen to demonstrate his perceptive and slick bass playing skills on a lengthy solo that tops off this utterly compelling piece of music.

Eddie Harris’ Freedom Jazz Dance was a Miles Davis standard, featured on the album, ‘Miles Smiles’. It allows the three musicians here to just play with an utter freedom of expression, as if they are just jamming for a group of friends and not playing a concert in a prestigious location. You are completely drawn into the minds of the musicians as they intertwine their instruments in a classy musical spectacle.

‘Blessings’ is a recording that allows everyone to join the trio on a wonderful celebration of jazz as an art form but also as one with an utterly relaxed atmosphere. Three musicians playing at the height of their powers and obviously enjoying every moment, it is a party we should feel highly blessed to have been invited to.

Released 9th April, 2021

Order the album here:

Blessings | Jakob Dinesen/Anders Christensen/Laust Sonne (bandcamp.com)

Caravan Announce the Release of Who Do You Think We Are? A 37 CD Deluxe, limited edition box set on 20th August.

The Canterbury scene combined elements of jazz, folk, rock and melodic pop into a sound that bridged the gulf between psychedelia and progressive rock, and ultimately shattered all genre barriers. At the heart of the Canterbury scene was a group of musicians whose career has now spanned more than half a century: the legend that is CARAVAN.

Who Do You Think We Are? is the ultimate tribute to the ultimate Canterbury band. It’s released on 20th August on Madfish. This deluxe box set runs to a staggering 37 discs. All the official Caravan albums – studio and live recordings among them – are joined by eleven discs of previously unreleased live performances. A Blu-ray includes remixer extraordinaire Steven Wilson’s 5.1 surround sound mix of the classic In the Land of Grey and Pink album. In addition, a DVD includes vintage European TV performances from 1971 – 1981 (London Marquee, German TV’s Swing In, Bataclan, Paris & French TV show ‘Pop 2’).

The lavish packaging of the set reflects the band’s stature. A hardback coffee table book features rare Caravan photos and memorabilia, and a full discography. A second Fan Club book assembles historic press articles from across the band’s career, alongside a new interview with founder member Pye Hastings. Every copy of the box includes photos signed by the three surviving members of the original Caravan line-up: Pye Hastings, Richard Sinclair and David Sinclair. The celebration continues with a selection of memorabilia: a Caravan-centric map of Canterbury; a specially commissioned Caravan family tree poster, charting their long and circuitous progress; and two replica 1970s gig posters.

Put together with the band’s full co-operation, the full list of contents is as follows:

• 16 NEWLY REMASTERED STUDIO ALBUMS & 4 OFFICIAL LIVE ALBUMS

• 11 DISCS OF PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED CONCERT RECORDINGS

• ON BLU-RAY FOR THE FIRST TIME 48/24 STEREO & 5.1 MIX BY STEVEN WILSON OF IN THE LAND OF GREY & PINK

• DVD INCLUDING RARE FOOTAGE FROM THE MARQUEE 1971, ROCK EN STOCK 1972, BATACLAN 1973 & FRENCH TV PERFORMANCE 1981

• INDIVIDUALLY SIGNED PHOTO BY THE THREE SURVIVING MEMBERS PYE HASTINGS, DAVE SINCLAIR, & RICHARD SINCLAIR

• 144 PAGE HARDBACK COFFEE TABLE BOOK FEATURING RARE PHOTOGRAPHS & MEMORABILIA

• A4 FAN CLUB MINI BOOK FEATURING ARCHIVE ARTICLES & AN UP TO DATE INTERVIEW WITH PYE HASTINGS

• A4 REPLICA TOUR PROGRAMME FOR BLIND DOG AT ST DUNSTANS

• ‘FOR GIRLS THAT GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT’ REPLICA PRESS PACK

• CARAVAN’S TRIP DOWN MEMORY LAIN MAP OF CANTERBURY 

• ILLUSTRATED FAMILY TREE• 2 REPLICA POSTERS

This box set will be limited to 2,500 copied worldwide and released on August 20th 2021 on the Madfish label. This deluxe box set is available to pre-order HERE https://CaravanBand.lnk.to/WDYTWA

GIANCARLO ERRA RELEASES NEW SINGLE & VIDEO “A BLUES FOR MY FATHER”

Taken from the forthcoming new album Departure Tapes released on Kscope on 2nd July 2021

Having announced his new album Departure Tapes and released the first single “Departure Tape”,  UK based Italian composer, multi-instrumentalist and visual artist Giancarlo Erra has revealed his next single and video, the moving and poignantly titled “A Blues For My Father”.

Giancarlo explains the song’s touching significance “After my father’s passing, the mourning brought back the curiosity to go re-look at all the material I wrote during the previous months and I realised I had an album that made a lot of sense. It was dark, experimental for me, confusing but also a discovery, it was a mirror in music of what I was going through. Something was missing, ‘ A Blues For My Father”  the only track that I wrote once back home, and the mournful yet peaceful closure”. 

The deeply personal video he recalls came about after a visit to his father in hospital  “on this particular visit he seemed unusually happy and excited to show me a DVD”, he recalls  “The footage was from the 1950’s and of his family and childhood, sadly his memory was failing at this point but once we started watching these moments came back to him, the people and the places, he was laughing and genuinely happy. I love this footage as it shows my father with his siblings and is the perfect mirror for the peaceful and warm meaning of this closure, a closure to an album and to many other things.”

The new studio album Departure Tapes, the follow up to 2019’s Ends I-VII, consists of 6 contemplative recordings, written while travelling between the UK and Italy and reflect the extremely difficult year Giancarlo experienced due to the death of his estranged father. Erra comments “In 2019 my first solo album was just being released, and I already had the view that I wanted to be more experimental with the second one, but no precise idea how at that point. Then my father suddenly got ill with cancer, and everything changed. I found myself taking care of this man, someone who I have been distanced from for so long.  During this time both of us to came to terms with many things. I wanted to get closure, but a positive one, for him and for me. 

Creativity it was an interesting period for me – writing this album without realising I was actually writing it, as it is so intrinsically linked to one of the hardest and yet more healing parts of my life. The end result is the most experimental, and at the times, the darkest material I have ever written, without compromise or set plan. It contains all the elements of my music in a very unconscious free flowing way. “

Departure Tapes sees Erra play and record every instrument himself along with taking on full production responsibilities at his own studio (https://widescreen.studio). 

Max Richter, Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm and the more electronic / ambient recordings of Brian Eno may offer a reference point by which to enter Erra’s world, but the depth within his recordings is truly original.

Departure Tapes will be released on the following formats and is available to pre-order HERE (https://GiancarloErra.lnk.to/DepartureTapes)

·       a gatefold LP on oxblood coloured 180g vinyl

·       2-disc CD/DVD with the DVD-A/V including high resolution stereo & 5.1 mix:DVD-V: stereo 24/48 LPCM lossless mixes, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, DTS 96/24 5.1 Surround and DVD-A: 5.1 Surround 24/48 LPCM lossless mixes

·       Digitally (with digital pre-orders receiving the single “Departure Tape” as an instant download)

Review – Tillison Reingold Tiranti – Allium: Una Storia – by Progradar

The Lineup of Andy Tillison (The Tangent/Po90), Jonas Reingold (The Flower Kings/Steve Hackett Band/Karmakanic) and Roberto Tiranti (New Trolls/Ken Hensley/Labyrinth) is a pan European Progressive Rock Band project and the album was recorded during lockdowns in Italy, Austria and the UK.

The album ‘Allium: Una Storia’ is a concept album which takes as its subject a real band, Allium, that Tillison saw play (and jammed with) in Italy when he was a teenager in the mid 1970s.

“One afternoon spent with this band was enough to decide my career for the rest of my life” says Tillison, who subsequently spent a long time searching for any information about them.

“It was the first time I saw and touched a synthesiser; it was the first time I ever saw an electric band play. It was a golden moment on a holiday camp in Italy that has been an influence on every recording I have ever made in the past 46 years.”

The new band –TRT-‘s album is an imagining of the record Allium might have made. Written in the style of the music that they played, the band were joined by Italian lyricist Antonio De Sarno (Moongarden, Barock Project, Mangala Vallis) who, in keeping with Tillison’s original music, wrote the kind of lyrics that might have been penned by Allium at that time.

All members of the band have contributed to the songwriting since inception. The album, whilst paying homage to this and many other forgotten Rock Progressivo Italiano bands, is all original material written in 2021.

Right, that’s the publicity blurb and the background out of the way, the main question is, is it any good?

The album consists of three tracks and is just over forty minutes long. I’ll give you my initial feelings first, the way I felt when I first listened all the way through and what I told Andy when I discussed it with him…

The feeling I get from the music is one of pure unfettered joy, it takes me back to when the world was a much more simple place. It literally does just take me away to a another place in my head and I just smile every time I listen to it.

Andy told me, “Like you, I find the modern world exhausting, I feel more and more like I’m in a dystopian story every day. So a bit of my own memory of more joyful times has helped!”

It certainly shows on this album, it just feels as if it was created naturally, with love and just a in a really relaxed way, it’s a feeling of freedom and no constraints, the album will be ready when it is done and not before.

“I have always found, at least since the Prog Glory Days that Italian Prog was almost the “real thing”. It’s not that Crimson and Yes and Emerson didn’t develop the style, they certainly did, but it was the Italians who really coalesced the style into the most diverse and free thinking forms. Even bands I love like Camel, Genesis, even ELP themselves were often left standing by The Italians. They hadn’t had much truck with Rock Music.. but when Prog arrived, we were on their turf.”, Andy went on to say.

So it’s that Rock Progressivo Italiano vibe brought right up to date for our modern times but music to give you some relief from the complexity of modern life. The swirling, sweeping keyboards that are are signature of Mr Tillison are present and correct and Jonas’ bass is as smooth and stylish as ever, his excellent electric guitar playing skills are also much evident on the album too but what makes this hugely different from what has gone before are Roberto Tiranti’s mesmerising vocals which, like all the best foreign language singers, make the lyrics less important than the actual way in which they are delivered, his voice is like an additional instrument. They add a bit of innocent naivety to the songs and take you back to the sepia tinged hue of a nostalgic 1970’s and, boy, have I longed to be somewhere like that quite a few times over the last eighteen months!

The three songs are the side long epic Mai Tornare and the two shorter tracks Ordine Nuovo and Nel Nome Di Dio and usually at this point, I would go into further detail about each one but, this time, I’m not. This album is a listening experience that should be consumed in one sitting, in the fashion of the 70’s and not dipping in to one track and going back later to listen to another.

Is ‘Allium: Una Storia’ an antidote to the lockdown and everything associated with it? Well I wouldn’t want to make a claim that huge and I don’t think Andy, Jonas or Roberto would thank me if I did! No, it is a joyous expression of music, as, deep down at its core, it should be. Simple but perfectly formed and harking back to the days when music just put a smile on your face, this is one album that deserves success just because of how it makes you feel and I love it for that.

The album is set for a SUMMER 2021 release and is available on Reingold Records. pre-orders are available at Jonas Reingold | Webshop

Review – Esthesis – The Awakening – by Progradar

Esthesis is a French progressive/alternative rock band, their music is characterised by many different influences (70’s british rock, film score, ambient, metal, pop…) and is primarily based on emotion and ambiences. 

Created and led by French multi-instrumentalist Aurélien Goude (music, lyrics, keyboards, vocals, guitars and bass), the current line up is completed by Baptiste Desmares (lead guitar), Marc Anguill (bass) and Florian Rodrigues (drums).  They released their first EP ‘Raising Hands’ in January 2019.

The band’s highly anticipated debut album ‘The Awakening’ is a thought provoking, intense musical experience full of ambient, cinematic soundscapes. The band allow the music to grow and expand in your conscious as the melancholic chords and Pink Floyd like electronica lead you on a mysterious musical journey.

Wistfully indulgent guitar tones overlay the elegant brush stokes of the sombre piano and elegantly delivered bass and drums while Goude’s pensive vocal leads the way. Listening to tracks like opener Downstream and the stylish High Tide, you find yourself immersed completely into the album’s concept of the notion of identity (awakening, quest and loss of identity), the intelligent songwriting and excellent musicianship allowing exquisitely refined progress.

No Soul To Sell is deliciously dark in its subtle atmosphere and Chameleon, with its graceful acoustic guitar, is polished and precise. Title track The Awakening is an apprehensive instrumental that has me on the edge of my seat with its repetitive key strokes and random sounds that wash over you as the tempo increases and a harder, strident guitar tone takes over. The album closes with the powerful and dramatic track Still Far To Go, a riveting and mesmeric song full of emotion that stays with you, holding your attention, until the last note fades away.

What with lockdown and real life getting in the way, it has taken me quite a while to write this review and, in a way, I’m glad it did. ‘The Awakening’ is one of those albums that grows on you with more and more listens, you find little nuances after every play that give it more soul and depth. Esthesis have produced a seminal slow-burning debut that, in my opinion, is one of the best in recent memory and you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t add it to your list of must have albums.

Released November 14th, 2020

Order the album here:

Esthesis – The Awakening (smarturl.it)