11 June 2024: It's A Beautiful Day; Invisible Opera Company of Tibet (Brazil); Psyche

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It's a Beautiful Day is an American band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1967, featuring vocalist Pattie Santos along with violinist David LaFlamme and his wife, Linda LaFlamme, on keyboards.

David LaFlamme, who as a youth had once performed as a soloist with the Utah Symphony Orchestra, had previously been in the group Orkustra playing five-string violin. The other members of It's a Beautiful Day in its early years were Val Fuentes (drums), Mitchell Holman (bass) and Hal Wagenet (guitar). Although they were one of the notable San Francisco bands to emerge from 1967's Summer of Love, the band never achieved the success of contemporaries such as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana, with whom they had connections. The band created a unique blend of rock, jazz, folk, classical, and world-beat styles.

It's a Beautiful Day is the debut album by San Francisco band It's a Beautiful Day. This album's song "White Bird" was the band's biggest hit. The album rose to number 47 on Billboard's Top LPs American albums chart.

The group's signature song "White Bird" was inspired by the experiences David and Linda LaFlamme had while living in Seattle, Washington. For a few weeks in December 1967 the group members lived in the attic of an old house while playing and rehearsing at a Seattle venue originally known as The Encore Ballroom. The band's manager, Matthew Katz, had recently assumed control over the club and renamed it "San Francisco Sound". In an ironic twist on the band's name, the song was partly inspired by Seattle's rainy winter weather. In a later interview David LaFlamme said:

Where the 'white bird' thing came from ... We were like caged birds in that attic. We had no money, no transportation, the weather was miserable. We were just barely getting by on a very small food allowance provided to us. It was quite an experience, but it was very creative in a way.[6]

A substantial part of the theme and arrangement of the song "Bombay Calling" was used by Deep Purple as the basis for their song "Child in Time".

 


 Review by Mellotron Storm
PROG REVIEWER

5 stars The INVISIBLE OPERA COMPANY OF TIBET is actually the idea of GONG's Daevid Allen. His goal was to have like-minded bands playing under that banner from different places of the world. Of course by like-minded we're talking about the love of playing Psychedelic music that is positive and uplifting.There is one band in the UK, one in Australia and of course this one from Brazil.This particular projected was put together by the guitarist for VIOLETA DE OUTONO (Fabio Golfetti) who contacted Daevid Allen about participating and has since played with Daevid in concert in Brazil under the GONG GLOBAL FAMILY name, and the DVD for that is listed here. I have to mention that Fabio contacted me some months ago thanking me for my review on his band's "Volume 7" album. In all honesty that album by VIOLETA DE OUTONO is one of my all time favourites and I can't even describe why it touches me so deeply but it does. So to get this message left me both numb and elated at the same time.To have one of my heroes message me (we exchanged several messages) is difficult to put into words. He sent me this particular cd along with that DVD I was talking about earlier from the GLOBAL GONG FAMILY.Talk about a humbling yet uplifting experience.The music on this album is gorgeous by the way. Fabio like Daevid plays this Glissado guitar which brings an otherworldly aspect to this music.

"First Contact" is the over 27 minute opener.The guitar to open is so beautiful that i can't help but be moved. Bass and drums join in then we get a second guitar that starts to solo so tastefully over top. It turns more aggressive a minute later. Check out the bass and drums 4 1/2 minutes in ! It settles before 10 1/2 minutes then kicks back in after 12 minutes. Hell yeah ! Killer drum work then the guitar is crying out in a powerful way. Drums and bass only after 16 minutes.The guitar is back and Fabio is lighting it up 19 minutes in.My God ! It then settles back as they jam.

"Sal Paradise" has this pleasant and drifting sound to start. Marching styled drums come in around 2 minutes which signal a change. Bass and drums take over then the gutar joins in. Nice. Vocals come in around 3 1/2 minutes and they remind me of early FLOYD. So good ! Some whistling 5 1/2 minutes in then the vocals return a minute later.This is such a feel good track just like the opener.

"Stars" has this beat with the guitar playing over top. It reminds me of early PORCUPINE TREE. "Spirits" has this relaxed trippy sound and I love the tone of the guitar.The drums do get aggressive.The guitar late reminds me of FLOYD.

"Landing In Shambala" opens with drums as the bass comes in along with spacey sounds.The spacey sounds end up taking over and they echo 3 1/2 minutes in.The drums and bass then return to the fore but it's still spacey. "Moon In June" is of course a SOFT MACHINE cover and it was done live in Brazil September 8th 2007. Man the guy singing sounds like Wyatt too. Just a fantastic cover. Love the guitar after 9 1/2 minutes and check out the bass before 11 minutes as the drums and guitar continue.Vocal melodies follow. Freaking perfect !

This is an absolute joy, that's the only way I can describe the experience of listening to this album.

 Studio Album, released in 2010

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. First Contact (27:16)
2. Sal Paradise (9:50)
3. Stars (3:02)
4. Spirits (3:15)
5. Landing In Shambala (11:36)
6. Moon In June [Live *] (15:11)

Total Time: 70:10

* Recorded at Centro Cultural São Paulo, in Sept 8, 2007

Line-up / Musicians

- Fabio Golfetti / guitar, vocals, mixing
- Gabriel Costa / bass
- Fred Barley / drums, vocals

With:
- Fernando Alge / guitar (2)

Releases information Artwork: Invisivel

CD Voiceprint ‎- VPB125CD (2010, Brazil) 
 

 
In the ethereal journey woven through the five mesmerizing tracks of Psyche, Rick Hopkinson masterfully intertwines ambient music with a myriad of elements, including subtle minimalism and evocative field recordings. Each composition serves as a sonic exploration of the psyche itself, delving into the depths of consciousness and emotion.

As one ventures into the sonic landscape crafted by Hopkinson, they are enveloped by layers of sound that seem to echo the complexities of the human mind. The gentle ebb and flow of synthesizers evoke a sense of introspection, while carefully integrated field recordings transport the listener to distant realms of imagination.

Hopkinson's keen attention to detail extends beyond the music itself. Through his Sanctuary project and his insightful YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@rickhopkinson), he invites listeners into his creative "sanctuary", offering glimpses into his meticulous process of music production. Here he unveils the inner workings of his sonic explorations, sharing his passion for synthesis and the art of crafting immersive ambient soundscapes.

credits

Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella for providing us with a copy of this release.

released May 16, 2024

REVIEWS

Luminous Dash
Psyche is a much more challenging album than most of the dark ambient and related ones that we are bombarded with almost every week.
luminousdash.be/reviews/sanctuary-psyche-reverse-alignment

Ver Sacrum
www.versacrum.com/vs/2024/05/sanctuary-psyche.html

Avant Music News
avantmusicnews.com/2024/05/19/amn-reviews-sanctuary-psyche-2024-reverse-alignment/

This Is Darkness
The latest album from Sanctuary is this wonderfully dark and foreboding album of dark ambient / experimental electronica – in which the boundaries of the genre are blown away, resulting in an album that takes things to the next level. Multi-layered, and featuring incredible synth work, eerie drones, and spine chilling field recordings, this is an album that offers something different in each and every listen. This is an album for losing yourself in, as you lie back in a darkened room, and immerse yourself in the unfolding soundscapes. Stunning.

Published by Reverse Alignment.
Mastering by Raffaele Pezzella (a.k.a. Sonologyst).
© 2024. All rights reserved.

 

 


04 June 2024: No FreeForm Radio this week - we return on June 11.

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The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites and Spotify. 

We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio. 



28 May 2024. Rural Electric (Mostly) Country spotlights New Zealand Country Music Artists

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Please support FreeForm Radio and KMXT by going to www.KMXT.org and pledging your support.

The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites and Spotify. 

We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio. 

I am also hosting Rural Electric (Mostly) Country from 7:15-9:00 pm before FreeForm.
This week I am featuring lesser known New Zealand country music artists.



28 May 2024: Tibet; The Prog Collective; Whettman Chelmets

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The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites and Spotify. 

We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio. 

I am also hosting Rural Electric (Mostly) Country from 7:15-9:00 pm before FreeForm.
This week I am featuring lesser known New Zealand country music artists.

Tibet biography
Founded in Werdohl, Germany in 1972 - Disbanded in 1980

Jürgen Krutszch formed TIBET in 1972, having been inspired by the Eastern experimentation of groups such as the BEATLES and THIRD EAR BAND. Krutszch had spent the latter part of the sixties in cover bands (FINE ART, NOSTRADAMUS), and was interested in putting together a group that played native Tibetan instruments such as the tabla, violin, zither, and flute. He quickly abandoned this idea after recruiting former band mates Karl-Heinz Hamann (FINE ART, TESKE) and Dieter Kumpakischkis (NOSTRADAMUS), as well as drummer Fred Teske and vocalist Kalus Werthmann, but the band did retain a certain pseudo-mystic feel to their music during their nine year existence.

The band toured extensively throughout the seventies, opening occasionally for fellow countrymen and friends of the band KRAAN, but managed to release only a single album, their self-titled 1979 studio release. The tracks for the album were recorded in three separate sessions dating from December 1976 to September 1978,
The band's sound was a complex fusion of astral rock, jazz, classical music and Tibetan sounds, heavily keyboard-driven (Hammond, mellotron) and compared to the likes of ELOY, AMENOPHIS, and even URIAH HEEP, although most of their studio release consists of tracks that are similar in style but more reserved than any of those bands. Lyrics (when present) were primarily in sung English, but the band was known to play longer instrumentals in concert, and three such tracks appear on their studio release.

Rumor has it that when Musea Records decided to release the album on CD in 1994, the original master tapes were nowhere to be found, so the label arranged for the entire album to be re-recorded. It is unclear whether the original band members were the actual musicians who recorded the CD version of the album. The original vinyl release sold somewhere between 5,000 and 15,000 copies and is no longer available.

As an interesting side-note, Garden of Delight Records released a series of sampler recordings of early psychedelic and symphonic bands around the turn of this century, and volume 5 of that collection features two songs credited to TIBET. While the core membership of the band is the same as that one their 1979 studio release, the singer is listed as a 16 year-old girl known simply as Maggie. These tracks were believed to have been recorded by the band very early in their career, and prior to signing Werthmann as their permanent singer. Nothing else is known of the girl.

Having failed to make a commercial impression with their one record, TIBET decided to call it quits and disbanded following their final concert appearance on March 22, 1980.

TIBET deserves recognition for having been a small part of the progressive music scene with their extensive live performance history throughout the seventies, and for the eclectic and ambitious style of music for which they were known by their small but persistent fan base.

Bob Moore (ClemofNazareth)


The Prog Collective: Dark Encounters  

Purple Pyramid/Cleopatra Records [Release date 29.03.24]

If this is “dark prog” then dark prog sounds to me like jazz/rock fusion. Once you are past the descriptors, a look at the cast list suggests this might be a rather tasty fusion fest.

The latest in a series put together by Yes bassist Billy Sherwood (who writes all the material and plays on all tracks) is mainly instrumental.

It’s a chance to hear various guitarists outside of the straitjackets usually imposed by their big name masters. So we have Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens on the opener ‘Darkest Hour’ setting the scene with a suitably dramatic and moody edge.

Steve Morse’s workout on ‘Ominous Signs’ will be recognisable to fans of his prime Dixie Dregs era whilst itinerant violinist David Cross provides a King Crimson/Mahavishnu vibe to ‘At The Gates’.

Bumblefoot Thal sings and plays on one of three vocal pieces – the standout ‘Dark Days’ -  accompanied by Patrick Moraz and drummer Omar Hakim. Another highlight ‘Between Two Worlds’ features Steve Hillage.

And as if to confirm this is really jazz rock fusion in disguise John Etheridge crops up on ‘The 11th Hour’ which sounds like Allan Holdsworth in an unholy alliance with Hawkwind (Del Dettmar period).

The space keyboard vibe is repeated on several tracks, Sherwood evidently likes this effect but to these ears it can be intrusive and when a piece like ‘Distant Thunder’ also meanders the results aren’t convincing.

Tagged on to 13 tracks are two bonuses which don’t really sit with either the dark theme or the rest of the album.  So, bizarrely, there’s an “instrumental version” of ‘I’m Not In Love’ with Rick Wakeman when it’s actually got a vocal (originally featured on a Nektar “covers” album in 2012), whilst Todd Rundgren reprises ‘I Saw The Light’ (previously part of a Todd “covers” release in 2022). To me this is lazy and sloppy programming and detracts from an otherwise consistent offering.

If you can dispense with that dark prog tag, this is still a satisfyingly dark album for lovers of the individual artists, Billy Sherwood, minor keys, or mainly instrumental fusion. ***

Review by David Randall

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Darkest Hour (4:01)
2. Ominous Signs (4:01)
3. At the Gates (3:55)
4. Dark Days (5:09)
5. Lonely Landscape (3:37)
6. The Long Night (4:01)
7. The Quasi Effect (3:32)
8. The 11th Hour (4:01)
9. Between Two Worlds (3:33)
10. Distant Thunder (3:41)
11. Dark Money (3:30)
12. For All to See (3:25)
13. Beyond Reason (3:29)

Total Time 49:55

Bonus tracks on CD edition only:
14. I Saw the Light (3:39)
15. I'm Not in Love (5:53)

Line-up / Musicians

- Billy Sherwood / bass, guitar (7)

With:
- Steve Stevens / guitar (1)
- Steve Morse / guitar (2)
- David Cross / violin (3)
- Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal / guitar (4)
- Patrick Moraz / keyboards (4)
- Omar Hakim / drums (4)
- Kasim Sulton / bass (5)
- Frank Dimino / vocals (6)
- Marco Minnemann / drums (6)
- John Etheridge / guitar (8)
- Steve Hillage / guitar (9)
- Gregg Bissonette / drums (9)
- Todd Sucherman / drums (10)
- Joe Bouchard / keyboards (11)
- Pat Mastelotto / drums (12)
- Chad Wackerman / drums (13)
- Todd Rundgren / guitar (14)
- Rick Wakeman / keyboards (14,15)
- Nektar / (15)

Releases information

Cover: Javier Carmona
Label: Cleopatra Records
Format: Vinyl, CD, Digital
March 15, 2024

Quiet Details 18:  Whettman Chelmets:  A New Place

FreeForm Radio thanks Alex at Quiet Details for providing us with a copy of this release.

Delighted to announce that next up in the quiet details series, with an incredible interpretation of the idea, is Whettman Chelmets.


A singular artist, Whettman truly defies genre-boundaries, taking his experimental and visionary approach to music creation through many different guises. 

Largely guitar-focused and broadly covering drone/shoegaze/ambient, yet deconstructing each of those generic terms into something truly unique and purely his own. With releases on such diverse labels as Flaming Pines, Submarine Broadcasting, Girly Girl, Strategic Tape Reserve and more - each new release promises something very special and unexpected.


A New Place is exactly that - originating from an improvised, deeply poetic song from his young daughter and extrapolated into his own improvisations, thoughts circling of yearning for new things and the nostalgia for the past - ultimately creating powerful and moving pieces that are utterly compelling.

Highly textural, the three tracks are each complete worlds of their own - using a palette of guitars, synths, field recordings and trumpet from Whettman, his two children, Lucy and Reese guesting on vocals and screwdriver guitar respectively - we hear the full range of sonic emotion.


Soft and gentle murmurations morph into walls of layered structures - always shifting and advancing into yet new scenes that elicit unpredictable feelings. The musicality is a match for the sound design, both so refined and precise while always feeling organic and natural - you can feel his hands making this music, the nuances come through perfectly.


Beautiful picked guitar evolves into heavily saturated washes which turn into vast open spaces - this is a true masterclass in using every corner of dimensional space and the complete frequency spectrum to say exactly what he wants to say in this time and place.


“There's a cyclical nature to the whole thing, and I'd like to highlight that with the words.  We humans spend most of out time longing.  It seems to be what drives us.  Not inherently a bad thing, I don't think, but at the same time, takes us away from the Now.  I think the work here focuses on that.  We long for things.  Then we find said things.  Then we continue to long.  Always on the precipice of fulfillment, but never actually there.”


At times light and expansive, at times dark and evanescent, Whettman Chelmets has taken the quiet details concept to a wonderful and extraordinary world - A New Place in every wonderful regard.


Huge thanks to Whettman for everything, a complete and gorgeous addition to the series.


The artwork was made as always influenced by the music and idea behind the album - originating from a photo from Whettman which was then captured with analogue photography and processed here at quiet details studios.


As usual, the album is presented on the physical edition, a custom 6-panel digipack with a separate fine art print too.

The CD also has a special long-form continuous mix of the album, representing the music in its purest form.


Here's a link/code and please find the press release with the full details attached. I'll follow this email with private streaming link too.

As a label we support the incredible Cancer Centre - Milton Keynes University Hospital and all their wonderful NHS staff.

 


 

21 May 2024: Tom Eaton et al; Andrew & Julian Lloyd Webber; Music Inspired by Stalker

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This is the project that our performance at Echoes in 2017 inspired. Vin, Jeff, and I decided to see what would happen if we let ourselves wander together into the music. We gathered at my studio with no preconceptions about what we were going to play. I had some ambient loops prepared, and we picked a few to give us landscapes to play into... and then we just explored and responded to each other in the moment. I love how it turned out... and I particularly love that Vin played electric guitar and was completely at home with the slow drift that Oster and I have spent so much time in. Hope you love it!

Seven Conversations
A shimmering blend of Jeff Oster’s liquid Flugelhorn, Vin Downes’ dreamy electric guitar, and Tom Eaton’s watercolor touch on keyboards and bass. At times soft and emotional, at times driving and propulsive, the album explores deeply ambient territory across seven in-studio improvisations.

From the liner notes:

"my admiration for tom and vin as musical artists is exceeded only by my appreciation of their wry humor. sometimes laughter comes from the deepest places, just like this music."
- jeff oster

"an indescribable alchemy happens when good friends create music together in the moment. words are unnecessary. these musical conversations capture that magic so well."
- vin downes

"we chose a key and one of us began. nothing written, no safety net. the real trick to improvising in a group is not the playing, it's the listening, and these are two of the very best listeners out there."
- tom eaton
 

credits

released April 26, 2024 
FreeForm thanks Tom Eaton for providing us with a copy of this excellent release.

all songs written and performed by
jeff oster (ascap)
vin downes (bmi)
tom eaton (bmi)


Jeff Oster - Flugelhorn and Trumpet
Vin Downes - Electric Guitar
Tom Eaton - Keyboards, Loops, Programming and Bass

Produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Tom Eaton

 
 

Variations is a classical and rock fusion album. The music was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and performed by his younger brother, the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber.

The Lloyd Webber brothers were always very close but their two different careers (a rock musical composer and a classical cellist) meant that a collaboration seemed unlikely. It was not until Julian beat his brother in a bet on a Leyton Orient football match that Andrew was forced to write his cello work.

As his subject, Andrew chose the theme of Paganini's 24th caprice and added 23 variations for cello and rock band. The work premiered at the 1977 Sydmonton Festival with rock band Colosseum II, featuring Gary Moore, Jon Hiseman and Don Airey being joined by Barbara Thompson (sax, flute), Rod Argent (piano, synthesizer, keyboards) and Julian Lloyd Webber (cello). It was subsequently rearranged and recorded in 1978. It reached Number 2 on the UK album charts.[3]

The cover is based on the painting Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his sisters by Philip Mercier.

Personnel

Original rock version
with additional performers


 

"Stalker" is Eighth Tower's tribute to the cinematic masterpiece "Stalker" (1979) by Russian director Andrej Tarkowskij. Tarkowskij 's second science fiction film after Solaris, "Stalker" is based on a novel by the Strugackij brothers, Arkadij and Boris, renowned authors of Soviet science fiction. The novel, titled "Roadside Picnic," was released in 1971. Tarkovskij adapted the basic literary work, written in the form of dispatches and intelligence reports, inspired by the Tunguska event of 1908—a probable impact in a remote Siberian area of a meteorite or possibly a comet. This collision, still the subject of studies and controversies today, in the 1970s generated a series of pseudoscientific hypotheses akin to a pre-Roswell event, based on the suggestion that the mysterious crashed object was an extraterrestrial spacecraft.
The Zone is primarily the interior of a rural territory that has been disrupted by an unspecified event, perhaps the fall of a meteorite or the passage of an extraterrestrial spacecraft. Within it, strange and mysterious events occur, and many people have disappeared. Above all, there is a rumor that a "Room" capable of fulfilling any desire is located within the Zone. After attempting to study the Zone, the military evacuated the population and restricted access. Scholars need special permits to enter. Only the Stalkers, guides who, for money, accompany anyone willing to try to reach the Room of Desires, challenging the authorities, venture into that territory. The film follows the journey of one of them. The man, a father of a legless daughter, despite his wife's opposition, decides to bring a failed writer in search of inspiration and a professor driven by scientific curiosity into the Zone. Three unnamed characters who seem to represent faith, art, and science.

The world of "Stalker," filmed in Estonia, Russia, and Tajikistan, is a science fiction of inner space, reminiscent of Ballard, a dreamlike space. Leaning light poles, debris, abandoned huts. The film's world is heavily degraded and contaminated by trash, debris, and wreckage. A damp world, flooded, with puddles and rain. A disturbed world of a civilization now in a state of post-industrial decay, continually punctuated by the "dodeskaden," the noise of trains and their vibrations. If we remember the Soviet Union, which would eventually have its forbidden and radiation-contaminated zone around the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl, then we can say that Tarkovskij was prophetic in outlining that degraded landscape with the reactors of a nuclear power plant in the background.
Everyone will form a different idea while watching Stalker, but everyone will be left with the impression of having witnessed a work of art, thanks to the emotion that the images and dialogues manage to evoke. After all, art is, above all, emotion.

"The Zone is the Zone, the Zone is life: crossing it, a person either breaks or resists. Whether a person will resist depends on their sense of their own dignity, their ability to distinguish the essential from the transient."
— Andrei Tarkovskij.

In this compilation of musical tracks and soundscapes, Eighth Tower Records and the musicians involved in the project pay passionate homage to this masterpiece of science fiction cinema and, more broadly, the history of cinema.

The cd is accompanied by a beautiful anthology of unpublished stories by: B. E. Dantalion, Andrew Coulthard, Chris McAuley, J. Edwin Buja, Glynn Owen Barrass, Michael F. Housel, Nora B. Peevy, Sarah Walker.
 

credits

released May 2, 2024
FreeForm Radio thanks Raffaele Pezzella (AKA Sonologyst)
for a copy of this release.
REVIEWS

Mark Hjorthoy
Eighth Tower Records is responsible for turning me on to movies I had never heard of before. How many music labels can boast that? Their latest delves into a movie called ‘Stalker‘ by Andrej Tarkowskij – a 1979 Russian sci-fi thriller, that has a huge cult following. The tracks included on this release bring the chills and fear associated with the plot brilliantly, and leave you feeling like you’ve just lived through a harrowing experience. Post-apocalyptic brilliance shines hard on this album. A perfect representation of a long-loved creative masterpiece. This is a huge winner from a great label. I’m going in for another listen.

Ver Sacrum
www.versacrum.com/vs/2024/05/stalker-music-inspired-by-andrej-tarkowskijs-movie-by-various-artists.html

Bizzarrechats
bizarrechats.blogspot.com/2024/05/eighth-towers-stalker-music-inspired-by.html


Music by: Cult Of Light, Rapoon, Mombi Yuleman, Tsath, phoanøgramma, Mario Lino Stancati, Esa Ruoho, Kelados, Morgen Wurde, vÄäristymä, Zabbaleen, Yousef Kawar, Glacial Anatomy.


Artwork by John D. Chadwick
Layout by Matteo Mariano
Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella (a.k.a. Sonologyst)
Published by Eighth Tower Records
Cat. Num. ETR049
© 2024 All rights reserved.

license

all rights reserved
ambient dark ambient drone ambient electronic music industrial noise ambient Italy
 


14 May 2024: Rural Electric (Mostly) Country Music: Outlaw Country

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The music you hear tonight is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites and Spotify.


I am hosting Rural Electric (Mostly) Country from 7:15-9:00 pm before FreeForm.
 Tonight's theme is "Outlaw Country" - Spotify Playlist here.
 

 

Outlaw country[2] is a subgenre of American country music created by a small group of iconoclastic artists active in the 1970s and early 1980s, known collectively as the outlaw movement, who fought for and won their creative freedom outside of the Nashville establishment that dictated the sound of most country music of the era. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and David Allan Coe were among the movement's most commercially successful members.

The music has its roots in earlier subgenres like Western, honky tonk, rockabilly and progressive country, and is characterized by a blend of rock and folk rhythms, country instrumentation and introspective lyrics.[3][4] The movement began as a reaction to the slick production and limiting structures of the Nashville sound developed by record producers like Chet Atkins.[3][5]

Origin of term

The movement was named, at various points, "redneck rock", progressive country, or "armadillo country", after the animal which would become the movement's unofficial mascot, before it was termed "outlaw country".[1] The origin of the outlaw label is debated. According to Jason Mellard, author of Progressive Country: How the 1970s Transformed the Texan in Popular Culture, the term "seems to have sedimented over time rather than exploding in the national consciousness all at once".[10]

The term is often attributed to "Ladies Love Outlaws", a song by Lee Clayton and sung by Waylon Jennings on the 1972 album of the same name.[11] Another plausible explanation is the use of the term a year later by publicist Hazel Smith of Glaser Studios to describe the music of Jennings and Tompall Glaser. Art critic Dave Hickey, who wrote a 1974 profile in Country Music magazine, also used the term to describe artists who opposed the commercial control of the Nashville recording industry.[10]

In 1976, the Outlaw movement solidified the term with the release of Wanted! The Outlaws, a compilation album featuring songs sung by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. Wanted! The Outlaws became the first country album to be platinum-certified, reaching sales of one million.[1

In 1973 Jennings produced Lonesome, On'ry and Mean. The theme song was written by Steve Young, a songwriter and performer who never made it in the mainstream, but whose songs helped to create the outlaw style.[citation needed] The follow-up album for Jennings was Honky Tonk Heroes and the songwriter hero was Texan Billy Joe Shaver. Like Steve Young, Shaver never made it big, but his 1973 album Old Five and Dimers Like Me is considered a country classic in the outlaw genre

 A list of Outlaw Country Artists profiled on Wikipedia

 

14 May 2024: Ozric Tentacles; Michael Rutherford; øjeRum

 Be sure to follow KMXT FreeForm Radio on Facebook and Bandcamp.  

Please support FreeForm Radio and KMXT by going to www.KMXT.org and pledging your support.

The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites and Spotify. 

We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio. 

I am also hosting Rural Electric (Mostly) Country from 7:15-9:00 pm before FreeForm.
 Tonight's theme is "Outlaw Country" - Spotify Playlist here.
 

Review by Rick Eaglestone for MPM

Instrumental intergalactic travellers Ozric Tentacles return with 6 new tracks constructed in their very own blue bubble for new album Lotus Unfolding

Opening track Storm in a Teacup is wonderfully familiar of which I feel that I am transported back to the groups Jurassic Shift era with soundscapes incredibly reminiscent of when I discovered them in my teenage years back in the mid 90’s.

it’s one of the albums longest tracks but is so varied and well-structured that the entrancing waves feel that no real time has passed.

The first time I listened to this album was in the stillness of the night in complete darkness and because of this became engulfed in follow up track Deep Blue Shade

Halfway point of the album opens up for the albums title track Lotus Unfolding which is deeply hypnotic and easily my highlight track of the release it has a real calming presence with prominent bass and swirling solo’s which is then complimented by the albums longest track the majestic near 10-minute chaotic nature of Crumplepenny

The albums final duo really hone in on the quintessential essence of Ozric Tentacles journey through planes of melodies and musicianship Green Incantation is a wonderful blend of experience and experimentation with the album final venture Burundi Spaceport end this particular chapter with an air of hypnotic serenity sprinkled with just a dash of showmanship and artistic flair.

Ed Wynne comments: 

The concept is, as usually wide & open to interpretation but basically is a sonically illustrated excursion through some of the musical realms we found ourselves in this time around.

Designed to elevate and delight the senses, should that be required, because if the day feels like an unfolding lotus, it’s probably going to be a good one!

A rather splendid astral journey via the aural senses.


 
Smallcreep's Day is the first studio album by English guitarist and songwriter Mike Rutherford, released in February 1980 on Charisma Records. It was recorded in 1979 during a period of inactivity from his rock band Genesis, during which Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks recorded their first solo albums. The 24-minute title track is based on the 1965 novel Smallcreep's Day by Peter Currell Brown which tells the story of Mr. Smallcreep and the journey of self-discovery he takes through the assembly line of the factory he has worked in for forty years. 

Rutherford played all lead and bass guitars on the album which included an acoustic 6-string Ovation, an electric 12-string Alvarez, his custom made Shergold double neck bass, a Fender Stratocaster for lead parts, an Ibanez,[3] and a Roland guitar synthesiser, from which he acquired a string sound that reminded him of a Polymoog synthesiser.[5][3] He also borrowed a few models from a keyboard roadie who was an avid guitar collector.[2]

Smallcreep's Day opens with the 24-minute title track that has seven distinct movements.[5] It is based on the 1965 novel Smallcreep's Day, the only book written by Peter Currell Brown.[5] A satire on modern industrial life, the story follows Pinquean Smallcreep who has worked in the same factory for forty years and embarks on a journey of self-discovery as he follows its assembly line to find out what the factory produces.[4] Brown had in fact worked in a factory for forty years himself.[3] Rutherford had read the book roughly three years prior to starting work on the album, noting it had similarities to the Gormenghast series of fantasy novels by Mervyn Peake.[1] Though he considered it "hardly a great piece of literature", he was more impressed with its spirit and the atmosphere it presented as a reader.[7] He also chose the book as its story and setting were something he could work and develop from and adapted it to have a happy ending.[1][8] He later noted a strong contrast in themes between the factory and machine-oriented imagery on his album and the more romantic and fantasy-inspired Genesis songs typical of the time.[3] Rutherford had attempted to pass lines from the book as lyrics, but abandoned the idea as they failed to work effectively.[3]

En Sten for Solen (A Stone To The Sun)

 

 Next in the quiet details series we have something very special - an incredible interpretation from the musician and visual artist, øjeRum.

Loved for his music as much as his stunning collages, øjeRum has a deep back-catalogue of releases spanning labels such as Room40, Opal Tapes, Fluid Audio and many more - all exploring his unique minimal and deeply textural style.

With En Sten for Solen (A Stone To The Sun, translated from his native Danish) we find an album which builds on his already finely-honed sensibilities and creates an emotive and introspective journey through his refined creativity.

Beginning with what feels like rhythmic footsteps into the immersive worlds he’s so adept at conjuring, you quickly fall deeper into these mesmerising and all-encompassing narcotic soundscapes.

Gaseous clouds mix with disintegrating melodic phrases, beautifully designed auditory illusions come in and out of focus - all perfectly paced and subtly shifting as time goes on and the music draws you further in.

This music, like his artwork, has an almost mystical feeling, verging on the supernatural - it’s timeless and has a way of speaking to people regardless of background or culture - it’s purely human and moving beyond words.

The production is as we’ve come to expect from øjeRum - dense yet soft, with bright rays of light beaming through the nebulous mist.

Living up to his reputation as an artist that traverses media with great skill, along with the album he wrote these poetic words:

I hold a stone to the sun / so I cannot see
the sun for the stone / but only its outline
that vibrates and shapes / the stone bigger and smaller
organic and graceful as / an angel in the snow
until the point where / the stone seems to disappear
too real to be / real and / now I hold the sun
the sun for the stone / and the angel in the snow
is dancing with the sun / in the stone

Huge thanks to øjeRum for everything, a truly complete and wonderful addition to the series.

The artwork was made as always influenced by the music and idea behind the album - this time it was very special as øjeRum is so well-know for his visual art - he gave me the honour of using one of his original collages to use as the basis of the piece - which was then captured with analogue photography and processed here at quiet details studios.
We’re both very happy with the results and so pleased to share it with you.

Our thanks to Alex at quiet details for providing us with a copy of this release.

øjeRum - A Stone To The Sun

1 The Sun’s Light Behind My Eyelids
2 A Hundred Years From Now
3 When Bodies Of Glass Contract
4 Out Crawls The Day
5 Under The Dream
6 A Stone To The Sun

oejerum.bandcamp.com
 

credits

released May 8, 2024

copyright © quiet details 2024 
Digital half price until 17th May x

Music by øjeRum
Mastered by Alex at quiet details studios
Artwork by quiet details in collaboration with øjeRum
Design by quiet details 

 


 

 
 

07 May 2024: Dragon (NZ); Anthology of Contemporary Music from the Far East

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Universal Radio is the debut album by New Zealand group Dragon released in June 1974 on Vertigo Records and produced by Rick Shadwell.[1][2][3][4] Universal Radio, along with their second album Scented Gardens for the Blind are in the progressive rock genre—all subsequent albums are hard rock/pop rock.[1][2][3]

 Dragon are a New Zealand rock band which was formed in Auckland in January 1972,[1][2] and, from 1975, based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The band was originally fronted by singer Graeme Collins, but rose to fame with singer Marc Hunter[3][4] and is currently led by his brother, bass player and co-founder Todd Hunter.[5] The group performed, and released material, under the name Hunter in Europe and the United States during 1987.

 Dragon formed in Auckland in January 1972 with a line-up that featured Todd Hunter on bass guitar, guitarist Ray Goodwin, drummer Neil Reynolds and singer/pianist Graeme Collins.[19][5] All had been in various short-lived bands in Auckland, and Collins is credited with using I Ching to provide the name Dragon. Their first major gig was an appearance at the Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival in early January 1973.[8] By 1974 several personnel changes had occurred, with Todd Hunter's younger brother, Marc Hunter, joining on vocals and Neil Storey on drums.[19][5] The band recorded two progressive rock albums in Auckland, Universal Radio in June 1974 and Scented Gardens for the Blind in February 1975 both on Vertigo Records.[19][5][20] Despite being one of Auckland's top live attractions by late 1974,[19] neither albums nor related singles had any local chart success,[19] and they recruited Robert Taylor (ex-Mammal) on guitar as they searched for a raunchier pop sound.

1974 Vertigo

Side 1

  1. "Universal Radio" (Goodwin, M. Hunter, Thompson, Storey, T. Hunter) - 8:33
  2. "Going Slow" (T Hunter) - 6:16
  3. "Patina" (Goodwin, (Break Dragon)) - 11:47

Side 2

  1. "Weetbix" (Goodwin, T Hunter, Bedgegood, Abbot) - 2:55
  2. "Graves" (Goodwin, T Hunter, Reynolds, Thompson) - 6:56
  3. "Avalanche" (Goodwin, T Hunter, Reynolds, Thompson) - 11:08

 


'Anthology Of Contemporary Music From Far East' is part of the 'Sound Mapping project' published by ©Unexplained Sounds Group, and featuring anthologies of music from the African continent, the Middle East region, Latina America continent, Persia, Lebanon, Indonesia, China, India, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Scandinavia, Italy, Greece, South Africa, Finland, the Balkan region.

credits

released April 4, 2024 
FreeForm Radio thanks Raffaele Pezzella for a copy of this release.

REVIEWS

Ver Sacrum
www.versacrum.com/vs/2024/04/anthology-of-contemporary-music-from-far-east-by-various-artists.html


Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella.
Cd layout by Matteo Mariano.
Cat. Num. USG095.
2024. All rights reserved.
experimental avant-garde drone improvisation musique concrete sound art Italy