KMXT FreeForm Radio

20 October 2026: Ian Boddy and Scanner "Juxtapositions" (DiN97); Shallow Margins "tule (QD55), Various Artists "Kinetic Void" (USG122)

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The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites. (links below)

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

Ian Boddy and Scanner Juxtapositions (DiN97)

Scanner (UK musician Robin Rimbaud) has previously released two solo albums on the DiN imprint, namely An Ascent (DiN63) and The Homeland of Electricity (DiN72), as well as being included on several of the label’s compilation albums. He also performed alongside label boss Ian Boddy at the Subliminal Impulse festival in Manchester back in 2022, and although this concert was well received, the duo didn’t take their collaborative efforts further at that time. However, here we are four years down the line, and this pair of renowned musicians have finally combined their multitude of talents on Juxtapositions.

In many ways, both Boddy and Rimbaud operate in different sound worlds, but such diversity is often the catalyst for the best form of musical collaboration. The nine tracks on the album gently oscillate between hypnotic cycling patterns and nebulous, ambient soundscapes. The music plays as a continuous suite of tracks, which segue into each other and create a dream-like journey that constantly shifts the listener’s focus. Interspersed with field recordings from old houses and reverberant cellars, as well as Rimbaud’s signature radio chatter, the music is both abstract and emotive. The concept of deep listening is well known to the electronic music fraternity, and certainly, this album will benefit greatly from such an approach, as this will unveil its delicate beauty and hidden depths.

Over the course of the DiN label’s extensive catalogue, Boddy has collaborated with many diverse musicians. With this release, once again, such musical connections between different sonic voices has produced an album of outstanding quality.

credits

released September 4, 2026
FreeForm Radio thanks Ian Boddy for a complimentary copy of this release.
All music composed, recorded and produced by

Ian Boddy & Robin Rimbaud.
Mixed and mastered by Ian Boddy (January 2026).

Ian Boddy:
Serge, Roland System 100-M & Eurorack modular systems
Analogue Systems French Connection
Make Noise O-Coast
Moog Matriarch & Voyager
Soniccouture Polarity Modular
Spectrasonics Omnisphere
Folktek Resonant Garden
Field Recordings

Robin Rimbaud:
1010 Music Bento and Blackbox
Eurorack modular system
Elektron Digitakt
Erica Synths Zen Delay
Novation Bass Station
Roland TR-6S
Ableton Live 12
UVI Falcon
Shortwave Radio

ambient em electronic electronic music electronica experimental electronic modular synth Sunderland

Shallow Margins - Tule

For the next in the quiet details series, we are pleased to present a collaboration between Craig Tattersall, the humble bee, and Alex Gold, fields we found - here as the shallow margins, with tule.

Inspired by a mutual love of ecology and fragments of sound, and the margins of our lives - shaped into musical form.

Quiet and textural - these pieces are a view through misted glass, clouded and suggesting a reflection on the layers found within. Emotions conveyed through hand-played instruments, magnetic tape and the patina of many generations of recording.

Sharing sounds back-and-forth - piano, harmonium, field recordings, long free-form experiments from collections of instruments and more. Recorded and looped on multiple tape machines and old samplers - coaxing out the underlying sonic remnants, and bringing those traces into view.

Endless thanks to Craig for this, and his constant inspiration.

The artwork was made as always influenced by the music and idea behind the album - originating from a photo from the humble bee 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 six-panel digipack with a separate fine art print too.

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

Credits:

FreeForm Radio thanks Alex for a complimentary copy of this release.
Music by the shallow margins (the humble bee & fields we found)
Mastered by Alex at quiet details studios
Artwork by quiet details in collaboration with the shallow margins
Design by quiet details
© quiet details 2026 all rights reserved

The ambient lineage, from Brian Eno’s Music for Airports forward, has been characterized as sounds that can recede into the background, creating an absence that exists laterally to the listener’s attention. The Kinetic Void originated from a different premise. The compositions assembled here retain a commitment to atmosphere, putting texture over melody and suspending conventional notions of meter. But they embody an inverted relationship to density from that of the tradition. These pieces are present, saturating and confronting the listener with detail, weight, and structural complexity, yet stopping short of being pure noise.
There is no settled name for this particular style of music. It has no genre, though it can be described in terms of adjacencies: the more abrasive moments of Ben Frost, the looping decay of William Basinski, the layered distortion of some Tim Hecker pieces. When I put together the call for submissions for what became The Kinetic Void, I felt as if I was throwing a dart while blindfolded, hoping that I hit a target that I could not fully articulate. It was a leap of faith that the artists who answered the call would understand what I intended – that the void of the title was not a space to be preserved but a vacancy to be intentionally overloaded by the compositional act. I was not disappointed. The ten tracks of this album take these notions in different and even surprising directions. The densities of these pieces vary along compositional, textural, and emotional axes. Some artists, such as Nihil Impvlse and Soloi Sounds, develop intricate, overlapping strata. Others explore the capacity of a single instrument, as in the guitar work of Gianluca Becuzzi and Robert Thurman.
Richard Bégin presents a work based around a three-note pattern that builds to a crescendo before falling back into quietude. Browning Mummery explores patterns of percussion in combination with feedback and swirling noise. Rumore and William St. Hugh’s contributions are two sides of the same coin, the former focused on sculpted distortion, the latter on a haunting soundscape that uses tension to fill space. Similarly, Mario Lino Stancati employs echoes and processing as load bearing elements. Autistici closes the album with dissonant fragments drawn from instruments, field recordings, and synthetic sources. I am grateful to these artists who answered the call. What began as a question about how silence might be populated has become, across these ten pieces, a set of answers. The void has been filled for now, and in ways that I had not considered.

Mike Borella
Avant Music News (www.avantmusicnews.com)
April 2026

released October 8, 2026

REVIEWS

Weird Bones
This is an album that asks us to consider what ambient is, but it’s an album that also asks us to consider what music itself is, why we enjoy what we enjoy. Sometimes it’s okay to listen to something that doesn’t initially make a lot of sense, because if you give it the time it needs, it might end up telling you something you didn’t realise you needed to hear.
weirdbones.co.uk/ambient-music-and-the-strange-business-of-paying-attention

Bad Alchemy
The oxymoron of Kinetic Void (USG122) reads like an attempt to build the photographic negative of 'Ambient Techno', reversing it entirely. Background and atmosphere become a complex, restless, blindfolded approach. Together with Mike Borealla from Avant Music News, Raffaele Pezzella has gathered ten attempts to touch the desert and the void, in the microcosm and in the macrocosm: Prof. Richard Bégin in Montreal with 'Ubik' as a cryonic lullaby. His countryman Nihil Impvlse with 'Malignant Accretion' as a surrendering, grinding surf. Gianluca Becuzzi in Rome with the fatally surrendering 'Liturgy of Void'. Soloi Sounds in Tokyo with 'Ordinary' as a melancholic postscript, a tender what if not? Browning Mummery in Terra Australis with distorted pain and merciless loop in 'Persistence in Absence'. Mario Lino Stancati from Mesagne with 'The short distance between two deserts' as a wistful 'from dust to dust'. Robert Thurman in Tennessee, in electric guitar driven, turbulent drama with 'Convergence'. Rumore (?) with a plaintive guitar and sawtooth rough drones in 'Mustang'. William St Hugh in Fairhaven with 'Andromeda', which after a touchingly monotonous beginning drifts anxiously toward doomsday. And Autistici in Sheffield with 'Recoverse 79S', guitar waves and guitar farts in stereophonic minor key. Soundtrack for sleepwalking into chaos? [BA 135 rbd]

DaMusic
damusic.be/cd/various-artists-kinetic-void

Curated by Mike Borella and Raffaele Pezzella.
Mastered by Raffaele Pezzella.
Layout by Matteo Mariano.
Published by Unexplained Sounds Group in collaboration with Avant Music News. (Cat. Num. USG122).
© 2026 All rights reserved.

experimental avant-garde drone improvisation musique concrete sound art Italy

13 October 2026: No FreeForm Radio due to major KMXT station equipment and software upgrade; FreeForm returns 20 October 2026

No FreeForm Radio on October 13 due to major equipment overhaul at the station.

KMXT is going under the hood Oct. 10–14.

We’re doing some major technical work at the station next week — the kind involving racks, wires, equipment, tools, and at least one moment where somebody will probably say, “Well… that’s interesting.”

While we’re working, KMXT 100.1 FM will still be on the air, but instead of our usual live programming, we’ll be carrying our friends at KUCB in Unalaska

06 October 2026: Steve Hackett & Steve Rothery "The Roaring Waves"; Bvdub "Morning Glories" (Quiet Details 54) QD54

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

You can now listen to the livestream of the show through the KMXT app; it's available through the Mac App Store or Google Play. The stream is also available at www.kmxt.org

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. (links below)

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

I am also hosting Rural Electric this evening immediately after the Island Messenger at 7 pm until 9 pm.

Two titans of progressive music, Steve Hackett (Genesis) and Steve Rothery (Marillion), come together on ‘The Roaring Waves’ - a striking and deeply atmospheric instrumental album shaped by memory, imagination, and the elemental power of the sea. The record has been much talked about over the years, and it will now finally see the day on the 28th August 2026 via InsideOutMusic.

Years in the making, The Roaring Waves brings together seven instrumental compositions that move fluidly between the cinematic and the intimate, as Hackett explains, “It’s not the kind of album that guitarists normally make together.”

Written and recorded intermittently over nearly a decade - with sessions at London’s Racket Club and the duo’s home studios - the album emerged from an organic, improvisational process. Jams and shared ideas form the backbone of the music, allowing both players to explore a collaborative dynamic defined by sensitivity and mutual respect.

Throughout ‘The Roaring Waves’, the duo embrace a painterly, almost filmic approach to composition - crafting music that invites listeners to drift, imagine, and immerse themselves. “You’re trying to create an atmosphere… like painting a picture,” says Rothery. “Taking people on a journey.”

Review of the new album from Steve Hackett & Steve Rothery – The Roaring Waves

by Geoff Bailie

If you asked ChatGPT who were the 3 most distinctive melodic British prog rock guitarists active today… well, you don’t need AI to give you the answer: Gilmour, Hackett and Rothery! So the fact that 2 of the 3, Steve Hackett & Steve Rothery, have made an album together is definitely something worth your attention.

Working together on and off over 10 years, the two Steves’ improvisations have created something that, perhaps, you might not expect. The theme of the music is right there from the moment you get the sleeve and the song/album title. The unifying theme is the sea and all of the images and atmospheres that it creates. It may be helpful to explain first what the album isn’t: it’s not a guitar-gunslingers at dawn shred-fest (though the guitar playing is outstanding!) and it’s also not a snoozy soundtrack album (though the scope and dynamic of the music is cinematic in itself). It’s also not GTR Part 2 – and I say that as someone who loves the GTR album! There are no vocals or pop songs, yet there is a melodic strength that makes this music memorable.

(In the absence of track by track notes, I am going to make some guesses as to who plays what, and will undoubtedly get it wrong – sorry!)

Opener “The Storm” has Hackett (first guess) playing some Jeff Beck-esque lyrical melodies, bending notes with ease, before the crash of thunder shifts the pace. Daniele Pomo’s drums kick in and drive the rest of the song forward. The two guitarists trade melodies as the song progresses, very much like a duet – complimentary rather than competing.

“Sandsend” is next, with a main melody that could quite easily be a vocal piece. A striking feature of this whole album is – what does the guitarist do when the other is taking the lead? For me that’s a great example of how well crafted an album this is – the subtleties and the backgrounds will, I’m sure, stand out in the surround/ Atmos mixes. There are various sound effects and other textures which all contribute to the experience. “Red Dragon” has a great strummed riff, along with some sitar-like playing. This one had me searching my notes to find who was playing the bass – and what I discovered is that Ricardo Rommano plays bass, and keys… and co-wrote and mixed the album! Rommano will be known to some for playing keys in the Steve Rothery Band and with Rothery’s second guitarist in The David Foster Band. He is a multi-instrumentalist, writer and singer. You get the sense that he’s also a vital contributor to this album and holds his own with the Steves.

Title track, “The Roaring Waves,” starts with some nylon string guitar which I assume is Steve H, before the underpinning orchestral riff begins. I can certainly tell that it’s Rothery on the opening electric section of this song. I have to say, this album invites you to crank up your stereo/ surround set up, or immerse yourself with your best headphones, close your eyes and picture the images it conjures. The moving and flowing rhythms of this most certainly give you a picture of The Roaring Waves, which then return to calm, symbolised by the closing acoustic guitars.

If you haven’t already Googled, “K-129” was a Soviet submarine that sank in the North Pacific, and all of its crew perished. When it was eventually recovered, many wondered why it had sunk/ what had it been doing/ what had it been carrying… producing the now famous governmental response “We can neither confirm nor deny…”. The track begins with a mechanic looping backing, symbolising the repetitive progress of the ship through the water. Both guitarists jam over this backing, Rothery playing more melodic, while Hackett digs deep into distortion and “noisy” guitars, all subtly mixed! When the backing ends, the sonar ping in the silence indicates something isn’t right – and the musicians return with a series of imaginative solos. This section is a great example of the Steves playing in support of each other, rather than battling!

You may have heard “The Black Sea” already, as it was the first single from the album. Like the whole album you get a mix of the fresh and the distinctive guitar sounds of Hackett and Rothery. The chiming Strat on this is presumably Steve R, as Steve H provides the shimmering sounds behind him. When I first heard this track, it reminded me of an update on Hank Marvin of The Shadows playing – smooth and melodic, rather than harsh and shreddy!

Closing track “Pacific Coast Highway” is another shift. If you know Steve Hackett’s history, you will know that his first instrument was a blues harmonica, and that’s a featured instrument in this America-inspired track. The most uptempo album track, with wordless female vocals, blasts of Hammond organ, and the guitars slide and bend at their bluesy best. The tempos shift throughout the piece, changing the background scene and allowing more melodies and styles to emerge. It all leads to a soft, clean toned ending, with the choral vocals returning, sounding as if it could have come from either of the bands the two are most famous for!

I’ve said it before, and I say it again here: I am a big fan of the 45 minute album, especially for instrumental music. This one is 45:08 in total – so this is just perfect for me. Great kudos should be given to the two Steves for producing an atmospheric guitar-led album, filled with a rich variety of sounds and atmospheres. This is very much music to fuel your imagination, and to create pictures and images in your head, perhaps similar to what the musicians saw in theirs. The album has clearly been a labour of love for Hackett and Rothery, and if you’ve enjoyed any of their guitar playing within their bands, you should definitely get a copy of this.

Bvdub - "Morning Glories" quiet details 54 (QD54)

	1.	The Rain Knows 05:58
	2.	Skies of Seven 11:30
	3.	They Said Love 09:48
	4.	Time in Space 07:18
	5.	Three Nights Ago 10:32
	6.	Let Go Slowly 03:21
	7.	Almost Home Now 10:19
	8.	Rise to Fall 06:03
	9.	Light That Blinds 11:45

about

Credits:
Music by bvdub
Mastered by Brock Van Wey
Artwork by quiet details in collaboration with Brock Van Wey
Design by quiet details
© quiet details 2026 all rights reserved

FreeForm thanks Alex at Quiet Details for a complimentary copy of this release.

Very happy to welcome the return of one of the first artists to believe in the idea behind quiet details, and dear friend of the label - the one of a kind, inimitable Brock Van Wey, bvdub, with Morning Glories.

Aside from qd04 Days of Gold, the bvdub discography is vast. Spanning over two decades, with a music history that goes much further back into underground and rave culture - Brock is a music head in the truest meaning of the term. Explorations into ambient, techno, house, drum and bass and more - evolving into an artist like no other. He is a a singular artist, completely unique and instantly recognisable - something only a fraction of musicians achieve.

Morning Glories, coming fifty releases on from his first appearance on the label, is bvdub at his absolute peak.

From the first few seconds it’s clear this is something special - trademark lush pads and ethereal vocals, huge bass weight and percussive propulsion - soon joined by melody that touches your soul, and shaped to pull you in emotional directions that will be unique to every listener.

This first track lays down a marker for what’s to come - as always, the level of Brock’s production is sky-high - he’s created an incomparable musical world, harmonically and technically. From the production through to the mastering - there is clear vision, all coming together into a beautifully cohesive whole. Nobody does it like bvdub.

As we move through the perfectly sequenced album, we get it all - huge walls of sounds, the lightest gaseous clouds of ambience - moments of deepest reflection married with driving releases of inner pressure. Trance-inducing sonics of the highest quality.
Words don’t do it justice - this is a masterpiece from an unparalleled talent.

Huge thanks to bvdub, another essential addition to the series.

The artwork was made as always influenced by the music and idea behind the album - originating from a photo from bvdub 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 six-panel digipack with a separate fine art print too.

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

bvdub.bandcamp.com
bvdub.org

ambient vocal bvdub chill-out downtempo drone electronic field recordings synth techno United Kingdom

FreeFrom Radio is on hiatus until October 6 when we’ll spotlight the new release from Steve Rothery and Steve Hackett

01 September 2026: Pink Floyd "Atom Heart Mother"; Dane Law & Chants "Bonded Pairs" Quiet Details 53

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

You can now listen to the livestream of the show through the KMXT app; it's available through the Mac App Store or Google Play. The stream is also available at www.kmxt.org

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. (links below)

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

I am also hosting Rural Electric this evening; this week's show will be a Dolly Parton retrospective.

Immediately after the Island Messenger at 7 pm until 9 pm.

Atom Heart Mother is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd. It was released by Harvest on 2 October 1970 in the United Kingdom, and on 10 October 1970 in the United States.^[3] It was recorded at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London, and was the band's first album to reach number 1 in the UK, while it reached number 55 in the US, eventually going gold there.^[4]

The cover was designed by Hipgnosis, and was the band's first not to feature their name, or have photographs of them on any part of it. This was a trend that would continue on subsequent covers throughout the 1970s. The cover shows a Holstein cow on a meadow landscape.

Although it was commercially successful on release, the band – particularly Roger Waters and David Gilmour – have expressed negative opinions of the album. A remastered CD was released in 1994 in the UK and the US, and again in 2011. Ron Geesin, who had influenced and collaborated with Waters, co-composed the title track.

Pink Floyd 1970 — (Image credit: Getty Images)

From the hell of an Italian trip to the heaven of Hyde Park, the year leading up to the release of Atom Heart Mother was a life-changing time for Pink Floyd. In 2016 Prog looked back at the events that helped shape the band’s first No.1 album.

“Ah, Friesians.” It was summer 1970 and LG Wood, managing director of EMI’s Record Division, was peering at the cover of Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother. It was EMI policy for Wood to sign off on all EMI album sleeves, but here was a cover missing a title and the group’s name. Instead, there was just a cow in a field. Presuming there were words somewhere, Wood turned the sleeve over, only to find more cows. According to one eyewitness, “Ah, Friesians” was all the baffled MD could muster.

Three months later, Atom Heart Mother became Floyd’s first No.1 album. EMI’s powers that be already knew that strange-sounding hairy rock groups sold lots of records. Now, it seemed, they could do so without including their name or the album title on the cover. Just a cow in a field.

The band’s gargantuan seven-volume box set, The Early Years 1965-1972, dedicates an entire volume, Devi/Ation, to Atom Heart Mother and the Zabriskie Point soundtrack that inspired its title track. Here you’ll find the earliest known recording of the AHM suite, plus filmed performances from Hyde Park and St Tropez, and much more besides.

But Atom Heart Mother is probably better known for the cow than the music. Revisiting the album now is like entering a parallel universe inhabited by epic orchestral suites and songs created from the sounds of boiling kettles and frying bacon. Floyd would make better albums, but it remains the apotheosis of their experimental era – or as guitarist David Gilmour later described it, “Our weird shit.”

For the next release in the quiet details series, it’s my great pleasure to share with you a wonderful collaboration from the perfectly-matched pair of Adam Parkinson and Jordan Cohen, otherwise know as Dane Law & Chants, with Bonded Pairs

Public announcement 26th August; full release 2nd September 2026.

Both have extensive bodies of solo work: Adam using deep programming skills with the likes of Max/MSP alongside deft guitar and production expertise to release on the likes of Opal Tapes, Blue Tapes, Quantum Natives and more; and Jordan, a vastly talented drummer and producer, on Hush Hush, Astral Plane Recordings and others.

Their previous collaboration, on The Trilogy Tapes, was a masterclass in human performance excellence and digital sonic manipulation - and Bonded Pairs builds on that in stunning fashion.

Hypnotic percussive structures and ever-evolving textures are the core of the album - realised by a range of acoustic instruments, and custom-built software processing.

The creative imagination on display here is truly something to behold - their tactile instrumental skills provide incredible source material, and their mastery of computer-based transformations allows them to shape these complex collages. Defying classification, this is an album of huge scope and inventiveness.

As they say:

Materials: guitar, drums, cello, saxophone, trumpet, balafon, and voice.
Transmuted digitally to access the ineffable.

Guitar and drums take centre stage, melodic and metrical - sampled, rearranged, merged into shifting rhythmical patterns that move in and out of focus. These are complimented by the textural beauty of the other instruments, giving harmonic depth to the pieces, and the arrangements’ true musical maturity.

Intricate polyrhythms, emotive diversity, ineffable soundscapes - the album as a whole is unique quiet details interpretation, and it’s an honour to share it with you.

Huge thanks to Dane Law & Chants, a fantastic addition to the series.

Thanks also to:
Greg Riss - additional drumming on ‘Paths to Leyton’ and ‘Drum Drone (Four Mallets)’
Contains samples of performances by:
Bossada - saxophone
Brian Grimm - cello
Charlie Palm - trumpet

The artwork was made as always influenced by the music and idea behind the album - originating from a photo from the pair 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 six-panel digipack with a separate fine art print too.

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

Credits:
Music by Dane Law & Chants
Mastered by Alex at quiet details studios
Artwork by quiet details in collaboration with Dane Law & Chants
Design by quiet details
© quiet details 2026 all rights reserved

25 August 2026: Neal Morse Band (NMB) "L.I.F.T."; Pete Swinton "Quantum 2"

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

You can now listen to the livestream of the show through the KMXT app; it's available through the Mac App Store or Google Play. The stream is also available at www.kmxt.org

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. (links below)

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

Press Release

For over a decade, NMB has stood as one of progressive rock’s most enduring and unified collectives. With their latest studio album L.I.F.T., set for release on the 27^th February 2026, Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy, Eric Gillette, Bill Hubauer, and Randy George return with a work that embodies vision, passion and inspiration . Written and recorded during a period of major transition, L.I.F.T. captures the band’s creative chemistry at its most instinctive and inspired.

To coincide with this announcement, the band has launched the first single from the album, and you can watch the video for ‘Fully Alive’ (directed by Industrialism Films) now here: https://youtu.be/rk-ZJFGbfUo

Conceptually, L.I.F.T. stands toe to toe with NMB’s greatest works like their much acclaimed concept album “Similitude of a Dream”, combining emotional depth with the band’s trademark progressive rock grandeur. “In short, L.I.F.T. is a prog concept album that follows the journey of someone seeking to belong to something greater than themselves” Morse explains. “It starts with feeling connected to the world and life, then there is a break in belonging, after which comes the turmoil and desperate cry, leading to a return to that place of profound connection.”

The album title came late, though its meaning remains intentionally vague. “We thought it could stand for different things,” says Randy. “It’s kind of whatever the listener wants it to be.”

True to the band’s collaborative spirit, L.I.F.T. began with the usual whiteboard full of ideas, with columns under each member’s name filled with riffs and snippets. However, few of them made it onto the final album. “We hardly used any of the ideas on the board,” says George. “Most of it was written right there in the room, more so than in the past.” While Bill Hubauer contributed a few early sketches, and Morse improvised piano pieces that evolved into key themes, much of the music took shape spontaneously.

The sessions were engineered by longtime collaborator Jerry Guidroz, with all drum tracks recorded on-site before each member continued working individually from home studios. For the first time, NMB worked entirely outside their familiar recording environment, at Eric Gillette’s studio in Tulsa, adding a layer of uncertainty to the process. “It was strange not being in the usual studio,” George admits. “But hearing the final mixes, it all came together beautifully.”

Mixing once again fell to longtime collaborator Rich Mouser, who has been refining NMB’s complex sound for years. As George explains, the band sends him the tracks and lets him work independently: “We just let him do his thing.” Despite the enormous amount of detail in the arrangements, Mouser once again delivered a mix where “everything lives.” The drums, in particular, stand out. Mouser will experiment by removing or combining elements “to see what it sounds like if this isn’t there.” The result is another brilliant showcase of the band’s trademark sound.

L.I.F.T. is everything the NMB fan could hope for and will surely live on in the great canon of the band’s outstanding career as one of their best.

Review of the new NMB album, L.I.F.T., out on February 27th, 2026.

by Victor Giol

In the early fall of 2023, the progressive rock world was lit up with excitement by the announcement that Mike Portnoy would be returning to Dream Theater after his shocking departure more than a decade earlier. As the news spread quickly, a new question arose: how would the bands in which Portnoy had remained active and productive during his time away from DT continue moving forward? The long-hoped-for reunion, complete with expectations of a new album, reunion tour, and subsequent album tour, suddenly placed the future of Morse/Portnoy collaborations into question, at least from a timing perspective. Would there still be room for Portnoy to operate outside the Dream Theater universe?

The answer arrived like a surprise gift on Christmas morning. In early December 2025, the Neal Morse Band, now known as NMB, revealed that the band had convened in secret, at Eric Gillette’s home studio, to write and record a new album during the spring of 2025. Featuring the familiar and formidable lineup of Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy, Randy George, Eric Gillette, and Bill Hubauer, NMB delivers a fun, inspired, and deeply engaging album in L.I.F.T., their fifth studio release and first since Innocence & Danger in 2021.

L.I.F.T. immediately distinguishes itself as a strongly focused, single-disc concept album. As fans have come to expect from NMB, the opening track “Beginning” serves as an instrumental overture, instantly easing the listener in with top-tier production and compositional finesse. Memorable, singable melodic themes are introduced right away and seamlessly transition into the next track. “Fully Alive” launches the narrative with Morse and Hubauer trading vocal lines and harmonies during verses. This mid-paced piece steadily builds, highlighted by its soaring chorus and the first of many blazing Eric Gillette guitar solos.

“I Still Belong” acts as a brief transitional piece that would feel at home on ‘The Similitude of a Dream’ album from 2016, featuring a passionate vocal performance from Morse, before giving way to the instrumental “Gravity’s Grip,” where the band flexes its technical chops and showcases its continued musical maturation atop Portnoy’s relentless rhythmic foundation. This sets the stage for the musical highlight of the album’s first half, “Hurt People.” An anthem-like rocker with Gillette on lead vocals, the track features a thrilling middle instrumental section with dueling guitar and keyboard lines, intricate odd-time shifts, and dynamic drum fills that will have listeners air-drumming along. This is NMB’s musicianship firing on all cylinders. Next is the dramatic and emotionally charged “The Great Withdrawal,” highlighted by an over-the-top Gillette solo before the song winds down to Neal Morse’s lone voice.

The first half of the concept continues with the polyphonic piano introduction of “Contemplation.” This short instrumental leads to “Shame About My Shame” which marks the point in the story where the main character has hit bottom and comes to terms with being broken. Morse’s vocals shine alongside the backing choir, while the guitar solo—tinged with a Pink Floyd–like atmosphere—ushers the mood from shame and sadness toward hope and joy.

The second half of the album picks up with “Reaching,” an uplifting, uptempo rocker where NMB’s collective vocal harmonies are fully on display. The emotional arc now trends upward, with the song’s chorus standing out as one of the album’s highlights. Morse and Gillette split lead vocal duties on this one, while the modulation to a higher key provides an extra lift. This song recalls previous NMB anthems like “The Call” and “The Great Adventure.” “Carry You Again” begins with Morse on vocals and acoustic guitar before gradually building into a full-band arrangement, combining a steady groove with a wall of harmonized voices. The track strikes a balance between the unmistakable sound of NMB and the uplifting spirit of a modern worship song.

The album concludes with a powerful trifecta that brings the concept to its climax and resolution. “Shattered Barricade” serves as a transition into “Fully Alive Pt. 2,” which reintroduces earlier musical themes with renewed energy—most notably in the final 90 seconds, where some of the album’s heaviest instrumentation and arrangements take center stage. All of this leads into the expected, but nonetheless incredible, closing epic, “Love All Along.” At over 11 minutes, the track serves as a microcosm of L.I.F.T., beginning with a somber, restrained vocal from Morse before steadily building and recalling earlier lyrical and musical motifs. Morse, Gillette, and Hubauer trade vocal lines alongside a harmonizing choir, culminating in an epic ending that only the Neal Morse Band can deliver.

It is clear that NMB has crafted yet another excellent album, driven by collective inspiration, focused intention, and a long-established chemistry that continues to deepen with each release. L.I.F.T. strikes an ideal balance between conceptual narrative, musical virtuosity, compositional depth, melodic accessibility, and progressive complexity, all woven together by the magic sauce, Rich Mouser’s unparalleled mix mastery. The result is an instant NMB classic that can comfortably stand alongside the band’s most beloved releases.

Pete Swinton - Quantum 2

Pete Swinton is a half Hungarian, half Polish man born in London, UK in 1961. Since 2015 he has lived in Jawa, Indonesia. He began playing guitar in the '70s. He started playing keyboards in the 2000s. He makes Ambient and Experimental music. And a cross between the 2 which he calls Insanbient music. He likes cats and motorbikes.

Pete Swinton is an ambient music producer known for his unique soundscapes and albums like "HUNGER" and "HOMO CRETINOUS." His work often explores themes of human experience and contemporary issues through atmospheric compositions.

Overview of Pete Swinton

Pete Swinton is an ambient music producer recognized for his innovative soundscapes and thematic albums. His work often delves into human experiences and contemporary societal issues, creating immersive auditory experiences.

Notable Albums

Album Title	Release Date	Themes and Concepts
HUNGER	October 26, 2021	Inspired by Knut Hamsun's novel, it reflects the psychological effects of extreme hunger through ten evocative tracks.
HOMO CRETINOUS	April 15, 2022	A critical exploration of modern dependency on technology, featuring ten tracks that blend dark drones with rhythmic elements.

Musical Style

Soundscapes: Swinton's music is characterized by atmospheric compositions that evoke deep emotional responses.
Themes: His albums often address complex themes, such as human suffering and societal critiques, using ambient sounds to enhance the narrative.

Collaborations and Projects

Swinton has collaborated with various artists, contributing to multiple projects that showcase his versatility in the ambient genre. His work includes contributions to compilations and collaborative albums, further establishing his presence in the ambient music scene.

Bandcamp

18 August 2026: Thad DeBrock "Perfect Abstract (Guitar Only)"; Defense Technologies "Instability"

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Overview of "Perfect Abstract (Guitar Only)"

Perfect Abstract (Guitar Only) is an album by Thad DeBrock, released in 2019. The album showcases DeBrock's guitar work and features a total of 9 tracks.

Album Details

Attribute	Description
Release Date	January 4, 2019
Total Tracks	9
Total Duration	43 minutes

Notable Tracks

Hello (Can You Hear Me)
Like It's the First Time

This album is available on various music platforms, including the iTunes Store.

Perfect Abstract is a distinctive album by Thad DeBrock, featuring a guitar-only format. It consists of 9 songs and has a total runtime of 43 minutes. This album marks a departure from DeBrock's earlier works, emphasizing a unique artistic direction focused solely on guitar compositions.

Comparison with Previous Albums

Feature	Perfect Abstract	Previous Albums
Format	Guitar-only	Varied instrumentation
Number of Songs	9	Typically more songs
Total Runtime	43 minutes	Varies
Artistic Direction	Focus on guitar	Broader musical styles

Key Differences

Instrumentation: Unlike previous albums that may include various instruments, Perfect Abstract is solely focused on guitar.
Artistic Direction: This album represents a shift in DeBrock's approach, showcasing his guitar skills in a more concentrated manner.

Overall, Perfect Abstract stands out as a unique entry in Thad DeBrock's discography, highlighting his versatility and commitment to exploring new musical avenues.

Apple

thaddebrockmusic.com

Instability is the third album from Defense Technologies. This was the result of recording sessions in June, July and November 2024. Recorded, mixed and mastered at Worthless Research Dublabs in Providence RI

loudbient dronegaze loopscapes improvised music, drone ambient, doomgaze, looping, soundscape,