27 December 2022: Karfagen; Parallel Worlds; Unexplained Sounds Group 8th Annual Report

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Karfagen — Ukrainian art rock band formed in 2006 by songwriter, architect and designer Antony Kalugin from Kharkiv, Ukraine. The music of Karfagen is mostly instrumental and combine elements of progressive rock, art rock and symphonic rock. Almost all songs and concepts of the band created by Antony Kalugin himself.[1]. By the end of 2018 band released nine albums and participated several European progressive rock festivals. The band don't have a constant line-up although since 2006 a lot of musicians from Ukraine and all around the world played there as a session musicians. Karfagen is mainly an instrumental band that shows imaginative use of keyboards, guitars, classical and ethnic instruments. Their music has strong connections and references to the music of the other Antony Kalugin projects — Hoggwash and Sunchild. According to Antony, the music of Karfagen is created under the influence of Camel, Genesis, UK, Pink Floyd and The Flower Kings among other art rock bands[2]

Review by apps79
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Ukraine-based band KARFAGEN is a somewhat personal best of young composer/keyboardist Antony Kalugin,who founded this project in 1997 (at the age of 16!),being himself a student at school.Before the turn of the millenium he started writing material for the first KARFAGEN album and actually the band played a few gigs as well,before they were put on ice with Kalugin following a personal career,mostly composing and participating on new-age albums.By mid- 00's Antony had been a self-employed musician,so he gave birth to his former band and recorded the long-awaited KARFAGEN debut in 2005 on the Canadian Unicorn Records.

His work can be easily compared to these of MIKE OLDFIELD,GANDALF and CAMEL if you add some more passion and energy to the compositions.Having next to him his fellow keyboardist Sergei Kovalev,Kalugin explores and unites the paths of Symphonic Rock,New Age and Electronic in a very adventuruous and highly attractive package.Lots of spacey floating electronics dominate the album along with pianos and some great organ parts,which give the album a grandiose symphonic taste,while the succesful addition of limited parts with cellos,harmonica,flutes and bagpipes give the album a folkier and almost oriental touch in parts.Among those sometimes bombastic themes weird effects (water,birds etc.) are added in order to calm a bit down the dynamics.Electric guitars are much carefully used with a main aim to rise up the energy and nerve of the music between the keyboard-based parts,sometimes also in a jazzy mood.I could say that most of the tracks contain from even a bit to a higher range of Kalugin's classical training,especially on the piano parts...and one more thing:Do not expect the music to be overall sweet and atmospheric.In ''Continium'' KARFAGEN offer a fair amount of complex ELP-ish breaks to make it even more attractive and challenging.

The final taste is more than positive.Intricate,balanced,adventuruous and marvelously arranged,''Continium'' was worth waiting and Kalugin made no mistake on insisting on this band's future.An excellent addition to your collection,especially if you are a fan both of Symphonic and keyboard-driven Progressive Rock. 

 

                                                                        “Plector” (DiN76)

 Greek synthesist Bakis Sirros who records under the name of Parallel Worlds has become a familiar name to followers of the DiN label. His debut release was “Obsessive Surrealism” (DiN26) back in 2007 and since then he has released a further solo album, “Shade” (DiN32), as well as several collaborative albums with different artists including DiN label boss Ian Boddy & Node guru Dave Bessell.


“Plector” (DiN76) is his third solo outing on the DiN imprint and continues the deep dive into organic, analogue modular excursions that this talented musician is so adept at. Throbbing, deep bass lines are accompanied by sparse drum patterns and beguiling melodic synth lines. The album has a beautifully cohesive, dark and brooding atmosphere. Hints of a John Carpenter like synth soundtrack lurk around every corner but the sound world that Sirros creates is very much his own. At times the raw beauty of his synth patches grab you whilst at other moments the delicate, glitch like sound design details hover just out of sight. The album is built upon two groups of three rhythmic tracks interspersed with the dark drone of “Atmoform” and the beautiful, almost Enoesque final track, “Harmonic Pathways”.

Lovers of Electronica, Dark Techno, Downtempo & IDM will find much to admire in “Plector” and this new album once again showcases the unique talent of this highly individual musician.

credits

Our thanks for DiN Label Head Ian Boddy for providing us with a copy of this release.

released December 9, 2022

All tracks composed, arranged and produced by Bakis Sirros during 2022.

Mastered by Ian Boddy July 2022.

Thanks to: friends and family, John Sirros, Ian Boddy, Mamonu, Ingo Zobel & Dimitris Pavlidis.


Machines used:
Buchla modular
Eurorack modular
Korg opsix
Softwares
 
 

Parallel Worlds Plector (2022)

The music here spans a wide range of genres, no matter what the responses of its moods Read the complete review.
 

 
Unexplained Sounds Group 8th Annual Report is the 8th chapter of the series that comes out every year in December, and showcases the best 2022 experimental electronic and electroacoustic music. It includes veteran composers alongside younger but equally talented musicians from all around the globe. All musicians here are united by the spirit of pushing the boundaries of music and of charting the new territories thus forged. This 8th edition features artists coming from United States, Italy, Finland, Iran, Argentina, Jordan, Germany, Mexico, Greece.

credits

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

released December 2, 2022

Published by ©Unexplained Sounds Group
Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella
© 2022. All rights reserved
experimental avant-garde drone improvisation musique concrete sound art Italy

 

20 December 2022: FreeForm Holiday Special #3: A Winter Solstice Celebration with Markus Reuter

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 Comet is the follow-up to "Winter Solstice" is my second release of ambient versions of melodies that are associated with Christmas here in Germany. My intention was to present these melodic cells in a new context. I hope you enjoy the results.

Much love,
Markus

credits

released December 9, 2021

Markus Reuter: Touch Guitars® AU8, Guitar Synth, Dual Looping System
Recorded live at home in Berlin on Saturday, November 20 2021.

Stereo version mixed and mastered by Markus

Surround mixes by Jan Printz
surroundmusic.one/album/comet/

---

1 Comet
based on a melody by Johann Abraham Peter Schulz ("Ihr Kinderlein kommet")

2 Amid The Thorn
based on a traditional melody ("Maria durch ein Dornwald ging")

3 Rose
based on a traditional melody ("Es ist ein Ros entsprungen")

4 The Gates Draw Wide
based on a traditional melody ("Macht hoch die Tür")

5 Here I Stand
based on a melody by Johann Sebastian Bach ("Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier", BWV 469)

6 Cometh
based on a melody by Mike Oldfield ("The Time Has Come")

all rights reserved 

5.1 christmas christmas music free download natale quad surround weihnachtslied x-mas Berlin

 


Winter Solstice:  Bizarre soundscape versions of traditional songs usually associated with this time of year, at least here in Germany. In addition to the meditative soundscapes (which are based on the series of pitches of each tune) I've also overdubbed straight versions of the original melodies. Enjoy this parallel universe... It's strangely hypnotizing. Only available from December 1st to December 31st.

 
5.1 surround mix available here:
surroundmusic.one/album/winter-solstice/

credits

released December 17, 2018

1. Silent (Night) / Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
2. Chorus of Youths / Tochter Zion
3. Snow (Children Song) / Leise rieselt der Schnee
4. Joy / In Dulci Jubilo
5. Night (Silent) / Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
 
 

13 December 2022: Holiday Special #2: A Jethro Tull Christmas

 

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 Tuesday, December 13, we continue our series of three very special FreeForm Holiday Shows.

The Jethro Tull Christmas Album is the 21st studio album released by Jethro Tull, on 30 September 2003 (see 2003 in music). The songs are a mix of new material, re-recordings of Tull's own suitably themed material and arrangements of traditional Christmas music. In 2009, the live album Christmas at St Bride's 2008 was included with the original album on CD.
Ian Anderson about the song Birthday Card at Christmas: "My daughter Gael, like millions of other unfortunates, celebrates her birthday within a gnat’s whisker of Christmas. Overshadowed by the Great Occasion, such birthdays can be flat, perfunctory and fleetingly token in their uneventful passing. The daunting party and festive celebration of the Christian calendar overshadows too, some might argue, the humble birthday of one Mr. J. Christ. Funny old 25ths, Decembers…"

Track listing

  1. "Birthday Card at Christmas" (Ian Anderson) – 3:37
  2. "Holly Herald" (Instrumental medley arranged by Anderson) – 4:16
  3. "A Christmas Song" (Anderson) – 2:47
  4. "Another Christmas Song" (Anderson) – 3:31
  5. "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" (Trad. instrumental arranged by Anderson) – 4:35
  6. "Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow" (Anderson) – 3:37
  7. "Last Man at the Party" (Anderson) – 4:48
  8. "Weathercock" (Anderson) – 4:17
  9. "Pavane" (Instrumental, Gabriel Fauré, arranged by Anderson) – 4:19
  10. "First Snow on Brooklyn" (Anderson) – 4:57
  11. "Greensleeved" (Trad. instrumental based on "Greensleeves". Arranged by Anderson) – 2:39
  12. "Fire at Midnight" (Anderson) – 2:26
  13. "We Five Kings" (Instrumental) (Instrumental "We Three Kings", Rev. J. Hopkins, arranged by Anderson) – 3:16
  14. "Ring Out Solstice Bells" (Anderson) – 4:04
  15. "Bourée" (Instrumental J. S. Bach, arranged by Anderson) – 4:25
  16. "A Winter Snowscape" (Instrumental, Martin Barre) – 4:57
Tracks 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, and 15 are all re-recordings of previously released pieces. 'Bourée', however, has significant alterations to the musical arrangement.

Christmas at St Bride's 2008

Recorded Live at St Bride's Church
  1. "Weathercock" (Ian Anderson) – 4:41
  2. "Introduction: Rev. George Pitcher / Choir: What Cheer" (William Walton) – 3:32
  3. "A Christmas Song" (Anderson) – 3:19
  4. "Living in These Hard Times" (Anderson) – 3:44
  5. "Choir: Silent Night" (Traditional) – 3:06
  6. "Reading: Ian Anderson, Marmion" (Sir Walter Scott) – 2:17
  7. "Jack in the Green" (Anderson) – 2:33
  8. "Another Christmas Song" (Anderson) – 3:56
  9. "Reading: Gavin Esler, God's Grandeur" (Gerard Manley Hopkins) – 1:50
  10. "Choir: Oh, Come All Ye Faithful" (Traditional) – 3:50
  11. "Reading: Mark Billingham, The Ballad of The Breadman" (Charles Causley) – 3:33
  12. "A Winter Snowscape" (Martin Barre) – 3:39
  13. "Reading: Andrew Lincoln, Christmas" (Sir John Betjeman) – 3:12
  14. "Fires at Midnight" (Anderson) – 3:38
  15. "We Five Kings" (Instrumental "We Three Kings", Rev. J. Hopkins, arranged by Anderson) – 3:19
  16. "Choir: Gaudete" (Trad. arranged by Anderson) – 3:39
  17. "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen / Thick as a Brick" (Trad. arranged by Anderson / Anderson) – 10:25

Personnel

Jethro Tull
Additional personnel
  • James Duncan – drums and percussion
  • Dave Pegg – bass, mandolin
  • The Sturcz String Quartet:
  • Gábor Csonka – 1st violin
  • Péter Szilágyi – 2nd violin
  • Gyula Benkő – viola
  • András Sturcz – cello (leader)

 

06 December 2022: FreeForm Radio's Annual Merry Twisted Christmas Show

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 Tuesday, December 6, we begin a series of three very special FreeForm Holiday Shows



Join us this week for the Annual FreeForm Radio Twisted Christmas, our first of three FreeForm Holiday Shows. 

This show will feature clever, irreverent parodies of traditional Christmas songs as well original satirical Christmas songs.  

Note that some material may not be suitable for children and anyone who does not have a sense of humor about Christmas.

 Disclaimer:  Tonight's show is not in any way associated with the fictional "War on Christmas".

Among the featured artists are the Bob Rivers Twisted Radio Troupe, The Fools, The Capitol Steps, some cows, and of course, Elvis Presley.

So pour yourself an eggnog fortified with the spirits of your choice, throw a log on the fire, and sit back for a hearty Ho Ho Ho!


NOTE:  No chipmunks were harmed in the making of this program.

29 November 2022: Dancer; litmus0001; Capricorni Pneumatici

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THIS FRIDAY IS BANDCAMP FRIDAY WHEN THE MUSICIANS GET TO KEEP ALL REVENUE FROM SALES AND PAY NO FEES TO BANDCAMP.

 

Sonnenmensch's avatar

Sonnenmensch
ProgArchives:

DANCER were formed from remnants of Isle of Wight folk rockers SHIDE & ACORN and future famed film director the late Anthony Minghella. Minghella had previously appeared as keyboardist in a small jazz group known as EARTHLIGHT.

The musicians were discovered by Wilf Pine, former manager of BLACK SABBATH and future reputed ranking member of the Gotti mafia syndicate in the United States. Pine secured the group studio time at Olympia in the Barnes suburb of London in 1972, where they recorded seven tracks over a month's period under the direction of GROUNDHOGS guitarist Tony McPhee. McPhee, despite having an arm in a cast offered the guitar solo to close the title track. DANCER dissolved soon afterwards and their recordings remained forgotten until copies emerged nearly thirty years later and were released by Kissing Spell.

Minghella would go on to a lengthy and successful career as a film producer, while Athey and Cuffe would form the funk band BIG SWIFTY.

DANCER merit a place in the ProgArchives.com for their brief but enjoyable contribution to progressive music at a transitional and largely forgotten period in the individual members' careers.

biography by Bob Moore (aka ClemofNazareth)
 
 

 
From Jonathan Ewald:
This release, negative fundamental,  was recorded 12/27/2021 in a single take, all improvised, one track recorded live, no overdubs. The only thing I had a good idea about was to play around the modes associated with G min/Bb maj. 6 string bass thru loops and delays and fx. Knife glissando. Alligator clips chimes. MC202 old school analog synth thru a tremolo pedal and then, programmed sequence thru a delay pedal. 
 
Influences: Robert Fripp, Steve Hillage, Manuel Gottsching/AshRa, Bill Laswell, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sunn O))) ,Boards of Canada.
 
In my process, when these recording sessions turn out best, all but the most bare of plans goes out the window. I try to be patient and build a worthwhile soundscape with minimalist intent. Ideally, this leaves room for development and turning corners, changing the mood and direction of the piece slowly so it all just gently flows together.

I try to have my mind as blank as possible while open to what my ears are hearing. I try to be patient. Again, slow development seems to allow avoidance of trainwrecks... maybe.

A factor contributing to the success of these longform improvised pieces is to approach the primary instrument, the 6 string bass, more as an means to make sounds than as a musical instrument.

Right now working on an extension of the litmus0001 project, called Uberwacht. Essentially, litmus0001 + drummer.
 
This release is available on Bandcamp.  Bandcamp Friday is this Friday.   Our thanks to Jonathan for providing us with a copy of this release.


Eighth Tower Records re-discovers by a cd publication the cult 1989 tape cassette "Nibbas" by Capricorni Pneumatici. They took their name from the Aleister Crowley "Liber A' ASH vel Capricorni Pneumatici SUB FIGURA CCCVII", and between 1987 and 1991 were one of the most active projects of the esoteric/industrial Italian underground.

All tracks composed and performed by Capricorni Pneumatici
Recordings and mixing 1988 - 1989
Cover design by CPS

credits

Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella for providing us with a copy of this release.
released November 17, 2022

Original tape release by Minus Habens, 1989
Remastered at CPS, Jan 2022
© CP & ETR 2022 all rights reserved
Published by Eighth Tower Records
 

22 November 2022: d'Voxx; Deaf; Granada

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It’s always said that the second album by any band is the difficult one to create and release. This could well have been the case for the duo d’Voxx who launched their debut record “Télégraphe” (DiN58) on DiN in 2019 too much critical acclaim. Rather than continuing in the same vein they have really raised the bar with a stunning sonic interpretation of the classic twentieth century novel “1984” by George Orwell. Not only that but they have the blessing and permission of the estate of the late Sonia Brownell Orwell to not just use the novel’s title but to directly quote from this seminal work.

Over the course of eight tightly focused tracks, which feature stunning sound design, what unfolds is a musical work that really captures the essence of this great work. Male and female voices quote from the novel as modular systems churn and chatter around their syllables. Throbbing sequence lines and incessant percussion grooves worm their way into your consciousness as the overall sense of unease and paranoia is gradually ramped up throughout the course of the album. Heartrending strings and melodic themes twist and turn to superimpose an emotional layer over the brutality of the underlying message.

Written in 1949 the dystopian themes of the novel seem even more relevant today than when it was first published. Most importantly the ways that truth and reality can be manipulated by governments and large corporations seem to be an insidious force that affects us all. This unique album by d’Voxx could well be the greatest musical interpretation of this novel to date and is another milestone in the burgeoning catalogue of the DiN imprint. 

credits

Our thanks to Ian Boddy and DiN for supplying us with a promo copy of this release.

released November 18, 2022

Composed and produced by Nino Auricchio and Paul Borg.

Nino Auricchio plays Winston
Wendy Auricchio plays Julia
Paul Borg plays O’Brien

Mastered by Nino Auricchio

Cover image by Nino Auricchio
Designed by Jamie Currey

Special Thanks to Ian Boddy, Florence Reese & Bill Hamilton at A.M. Heath, Penguin Random House, HMH Books & Media, Mark Roland & Neil Mason at Electronic Sound Magazine.

This album is a musical interpretation of George Orwell’s 1949 novel, 1984.

Use of the album title 1984 and spoken text has been granted by permission of the estate of the late Sonia Brownell Orwell.

ambient em electronic electronic music electronica eurorack downtempo eurorack modular modular synth Sunderland

Review by DamoXt7942
FORUM & SITE ADMIN GROUP Avant/Cross/Neo/Post Teams

3 stars DEAF were an extremely obscure Swiss Krautrock outfit around 1970 and we can hear their "real" soundscape only from their one and only compilation "Alpha" including the longest album-titled suite and three live sessions. Of the whole album, such a mixture of heavy & peppery guitar-based kick and drunken keyboard walk can notify us some fragrance of Krautrock.

From the beginning "No Time" we can be knocked out by freak out flute, percussive rhythm section, simple and persistently fluctuate bass, and sometimes familiar sometimes heavy attacking Samuraish rock ensemble. Against clear heavy rock texture, obscure voices (like this band's history ... cannot understand what they said) are there. In the latter half, eerie keyboards catecholamine intermittently follows drumming solo. A mysterious and interesting stuff. The second "Run You Off The Hill" can shoot into our brain dreamy drowsy bluesy heavy missiles from Swiss Deaf-y launcher. Basically a simple blues number, but simultaneously with groovy keyboard-based glimmering psychedelia. In "The Galactic Pack Of Kari" a warped flute and a greasy acoustic guitar can be very active and aggressive over the percussive rhythm stage especially in the middle part. Definitely not a single poppy ballad but delightful tragedy theme we can hear alright?

The last Ravel's Boléro-based extreme suite "Alpha", one of their few and rare studio sessions, should be absolutely beyond expression. Calm and gracious falsetto chorus with exotic, ethnic woody-moody percussive melodies by flute and clarinet solos, plus a bit weird shouts, not entirely united and polished but slightly scattered into each of instrumental pieces. Nutty and dry-fruity merged organ sounds themselves can remind us some Kraut-ish keyboard-based soundshower. Quirky percussion and a bass solo with spacey synthesizer-elevated tribal jamming ensemble is not fundamentally honest at all but a bit whacked-out with merry-go-rounder flute sounds and complex, flexible drumming. Certainly shoegazey garagey made-on-trip sounds follow the whackey bloody footprints by struggle between a guitar and a synthesizer. Maybe they cannot be too soft nor too heavy in the last part. Well-balanced bluesy boogie fever can rush into confusion world. We cannot realize and well-read where and how this longest suite goes until the very last, and just after listening to it, no fresh air nor comfort but something missing (maybe DEAF themselves I do consider!) should be left around us surely.

Listen to the entire album, Alpha, by Deaf 1972

 Studio Album, released in 1975

Review by apps79
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator

3 stars 3.5 stars...

Short-lived but worth hearing,GRANADA were the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Carlos Carcamo,who started this project in 1974 in Madrid.Musicians would come and go,before Carcamo found a stable trio for the guitar/bass/drums section,while he was responsible for the vocals and the rest of the instruments,including violins,keyboards,accordion and flutes.

''Hablo de una tierra'' came out a year after GRANADA's formation and it is an album of pure progressive rock with different influences and sounds.In this work mellotrons and pianos battle with Spanish folklore through flamenco guitars and accordion,while a jazzy feeling tries to capture the symphonicism of the album.Carcamo does an excellent job,especially his mellotron playing is dreamy and nostalgic,while he also handles the flutes in a fine way,sometimes in a softer style,while others he marks JETHRO TULL's Ian Anderson as a big influence.I'm not really sure if he is also responsible for the flamenco guitars,but this blending of Spanish sounds with nice keys and backing vocals is also very attractive,not far from what co-patriots TRIANA were trying around the same time.Besides this flamenco stuff,the album contains also a fair amount of acoustic passages with backing mellotron and flutes and a balanced dose of vocals to make it even more interesting and worth searching for,while several Italian bands of the same style come to mind (PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI, BLOCCO MENTALE, OSANNA,QUELLA VECCHIA LOCCANDA).This is absolutely fascinating Spanish flamenco-tinged symphonic rock with tons of romanticism and a relaxed but atmospheric dimension.Recommended! 

Hear the entire album here.


 
 

15 November 2022: Campo Di Marte; Wigmam, Cristiano Bocci

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Campo Di Marte biography

Founded in Florence, Italy in 1971 - Disbanded in 1975 - Reformed in 2003 for Live acts

The story of CAMPO DI MARTE (named after an area of Florence) is a familiar one in the annals of Italian progressive rock. Like many of their fellow countrymen they released one album and due to a lack of interest and record company promotion split up. In fact the band had already called it a day before the album was released. Nevertheless it remains an important release and well worth seeking out for anyone with more than a passing interest in the genre.

The band was formed in Florence in 1971 by ex-SENSO UNICO guitarist Enrico Rosa who also composed all the material. Drummer/flautist Mauro Sarti had previously played with Rosa in LA VERDE STAGIONE and the line-up was completed by American bassist Paul Richard (real name Richard Ursillo), on keyboards and French horn Alfredo Barducci and second drummer Carlo Felice Marcovecchio who had previously played with I CALIFFI. All band members are credited with vocals, though they only appear sporadically, the album being for the greater part instrumental.

Musically the band played classical influenced symphonic prog alternating with a heavy rock style. Fans of PFM should find much to their liking and parallels can be drawn with DE DE LIND on the heavier sections. A high standard of musicianship is present and the albums subject matter deals with the futility of war. Confusion may arise with the sequencing of the album. After completion their record company decided to swap side A and B around due to their feeling that what had been conceived as side B was the stronger of the two and more immediate. This understandably messed with the concept causing the original titles of the seven tracks to be changed to I Tempo through to VII Tempo. The current cd version sees the originally intended running order restored.

After the split Rosa formed a completely new version of CAMPO DI MARTE and recorded a second album. Unfortunately to this day it has never been released. Shortly after this he turned down an offer to join BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO and moved to Denmark where he's still a professional musician to this day. Richard, now reverting to his real name of Richard Ursillo moved onto a career with SENSATION'S FIX and Sarti joined BELLA BAND. Both these bands can also be found on Prog Archives.

In 2003 CAMPO DI MARTE were to rise again with a line-up that included original members Rosa and Sarti. They were joined by bassist Maurilio Rossi, on recorder Eva Rosa and keyboardist Martin Alexander Sass. They played some live shows that were released as a double album which also included a concert recorded in 1972.
 -Paul Fowler/Nightflyhttps://www.progarchives.com/video.asp?id=4873   


 

Hard N' Horny is the debut album by Finnish band Wigwam, released in 1969. The progressive rock album contains both Finnish and English lyrics. The track "633 Jesu Fåglar", marked with Huldén's name at the beginning of the A-side, contains about 5 seconds of mimicking the sounds of birds, because the actual track did not fit on the album, but the labels of the album had already been printed. The Swedish lyrics of the song are printed on the cover booklet of the first edition of the album and the 2003 remastered CD version. The other songs on the A-side were written by Jukka Gustavson. The B-side of the album features a series of songs composed by Jim Pembroke about a man named Henry, which forms a kind of miniature rock opera. The covers of the first edition of the album are hand-drawn by the band members. The single "Luulosairas", released at the time of the album, became a big hit and is still one of Wigwam's best-known songs today.                                                                                         Wigwam biography
Formed in 1968 - Disbanded in 1978 - Reformed in the 1990s and are still active (as of 2017)

Finland's WIGWAM were truly one of the pioneers of early progressive rock. The history of WIGWAM can be subdivided into two separate eras: the original or "old" WIGWAM of 1969-1974 and the "new" WIGWAM of 1974-1977. The two were dramatically different, in terms of personnel and overall sound. The music of this unique band is dominated by the piano and organ sounds, all of those wrapped up in a sometimes dark music filled with typical Scandinavian influences. There is some great interplay between all the musicians. It gives you the feeling they were doing this to stay warm!

Though not a classic album, "Tombstone Valentine" was the first WIGWAM album that seems to show the band members getting to grips with each ones individual musical desires. In many ways, "Fairyport" was a continuation of "Tombstone Valentine", but I would say it is a bit more experimental and progressive. Nowadays, this album is considered a classic within progressive rock circles and it has a number of features that make it stand out as one of the great progressive albums of the seventies. "Being" (1974) was the last album by the legendary Pembroke/Gustavson/Pohjola/Österberg lineup. This album is a concept album, with most of the music and lyrics written by Jukka GUSTAVSON. This is an essential album for any fan of progressive rock. In early 1975, the new lineup was up and released the album that became an instant classic, "Nuclear Nightclub". When the new titled "Dark Album" was released in late 1977, WIGWAM had ceased to exist.

In the nineties PEMBROKE, RECHARDT and GROUNDSTRÖM suprised many by coming back with a third edition of WIGWAM, but that's a whole new story, to be continued...     
 
       

 
Cristiano Bocci’s Beyond the Dark Zones does just what its title promises. It takes us beyond the heavy sounds of dark ambience—not only beyond them, but through them. Bocci’s poetics is rooted in the electronic soil of texture-based music; the plant that grows from it is a multi-faceted, many-branched thing.

First, the electronics. Bocci is a skilled creator of audio software; many of the programs he uses to generate and manipulate sound are his own custom designs. These are basic compositional tools for him; with them he composes floating drones and dirges, thickly woven textures of overlapped and interleaved timbres, stretched and compressed tones, basic motifs that are looped, granulated, and otherwise transfigured.

But for all their ability to expand on the possibilities of sound-as-sound, the electronics are ultimately in the service of the music. Many of the compositions on Beyond the Dark Zones seamlessly incorporate acoustic instruments, modal tonalities, and cyclical rhythms into surrounding electronic frameworks of varying abstraction. Bocci has a fine ear for creating ad hoc instrumental ensembles from disparate parts; brass, reeds, piano, and even the human voice all have a place here, along with Bocci’s signature 6-string electric bass. One of the most striking features of the album, in fact, is its unusual employment of trumpet or flugelhorn as the melodic voice in an electronic setting.
Certainly, the aesthetic core of the album is defined by the deep pitches and minor keys of dark ambience as well as by an associated sensibility, but this is a point of departure rather than a destination reached at the end of a cul-de-sac. Along the way, there are echoes of jazz and slowed-down jazz fusion, hints of field recordings, harmonies of a multi-tracked brass ensemble, down-tempo electronica, portentous prog rock, spoken word performance, and choral music.
Ultimately, in Beyond the Dark Zones, genre is an irrelevance; creative interfusion is of the essence.

Daniel Barbiero
 

credits

released September 22, 2022
Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella for providing us with a promo copy of this release.
REVIEWS

Avant Music News
avantmusicnews.com/2022/09/24/amn-reviews-cristiano-bocci-beyond-the-dark-zone-2022-unexplained-sounds-group/


Music composed by Cristiano Bocci

Cristiano Bocci: electric basses, electric upright bass, contro-baritone 8, string guitar, electronics, synths, drum programming.
Paolo Acquaviva: trombone on tracks 5, 6 and 8
Gianluca Becuzzi: voice on track 4
Mara Lepore: piano on track 8
STIGMATE (a.k.a. Nicola Locci): noise on track 2
Emiliano Nencioni: trumpet and flugelhorn on tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8
Diego Rossi: baritone saxophone on tracks 5, 6 and 8

Published by Unexplained Sounds Group
Mastered by Raffaele Pezzella
Artwork by Marinella Caslini / DisGrafica Atelier
© 2022. All rights reserved

license

experimental avant-garde drone improvisation musique concrete sound art Italy
 
 


 

C

25 October 2022: Philip Glass & the Kronos Quartet "Dracula"; Music Inspired by Bram Stoker's "Dracula"

 KMXT is live broadcasting the Kodiak City Council work session which may run past 9 pm.  

The show will begin as soon as the work session ends or 9 pm if the meeting ends early.

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

Please support FreeForm Radio and KMXT by going to 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.


 Two trailblazing new music artists — Kronos Quartet and composer Philip Glass — come together once again for a recording of the first original score for the Universal Pictures 1931 horror film classic Dracula, starring Béla Lugosi. Glass’s score marks the first-ever for a film which the composer himself considers a classic. “Many films have been made based on Dracula since the original in 1931 — however, none is equal to the original in eloquence or the sheer power to move us.”

There have in fact been many screen versions of Bram Stoker’s classic tale of Dracula, but none more famous or enduring than the 1931 original. Starring Béla Lugosi as the world’s best known vampire and directed by horror specialist Tod Browning, Universal Studios’ Dracula creates an eerie, chilling mood that has rarely been realized since. Dracula’s initial theatrical release coincided with the transition from silent pictures to “talkies.” At that time limited technology existed to present the film as a sound picture, so no musical score was ever composed and there were few sound effects. Browning relied on Lugosi’s legendary Hungarian accent to give the film its distinctive sound.

Glass’s new original score for Dracula was commissioned by Universal Family and Home Entertainment Production for inclusion as part of Universal’s Classic Monsters collection, to be released on video on August 31. Philip Glass, in commenting on writing this score, said, “The film is considered a classic. I felt the score needed to evoke the feeling of the world of the 19th century — for that reason I decided a string quartet would be the most evocative and effective. I wanted to stay away from the obvious effects associated with horror films. With Kronos we were able to add depth to the emotional layers of the film.”

 
Eighth Tower is here to celebrate Dracula on the book’s 125th Birthday.
Two books, since first publication, have never been out of print. One is the Bible and the other is Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Dracula is the embodiment of Satan for the Victorian age. The character is sinister. He is cunning. He is repulsive, sickening in fact. He is quite different to the suave gentleman that any of the films depict him as. He is an old man who grows younger when gorged with blood. He is a walking, rotting corpse, the opposite to us and a reminder of our own mortality. He is arrogant, psychopathic and obsessed with imperialism. Perhaps the novel’s popularity has always been in its ability to make one feel like order has been restored through a strong empathy with the characters. We feel that we have become part of their existence through reading their diaries, letters and hearing their phonograph recordings. There is a real element of hope in their words and in their practices, we even see technology used to aid their war. Therein is progress alongside the knowledge of the past, looking to the future to dispel the shadows and bring us light where once we only saw fear in darkness. We can see the war of civilisation versus our baser instincts, not only in the fight against the sexual charge in the vampiric bloodlust but also in the ability that our heroes have to prevail against the animalistic forms that Dracula brings. As the Bible this is a book full of temptations and resistances that gets to the core of the psychological war inside us, as we fight our own inner biblical adversary, subdue the satanic beast within us and aspire to righteousness.
To celebrate this modern myth Eighth Tower has called musicians from various countries and asked them their musical interpretation of the Dracula myth. Either gloomy soundscapes or electroacoustic compositions, all the pieces are inspired by chapters, scenes, or characters from Bram Stoker’s novel.
 

credits

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

released October 7, 2022

REVIEWS

OndaRock
www.ondarock.it/recensioni/2022-aavv-dracula.htm

Bizarre Chats
bizarrechats.blogspot.com/2022/10/eighth-towers-dracula-inspired-music.html?sc=1665128621667#c942901699638122052


Published by Eighth Tower Records
Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella
Artwork by John Chadwick
© 2022. All rights reserved
ambient dark ambient dark chamber drone industrial noise Italy


11 October 2022: Ian Boddy; Mark Shreeve; Experimental Music from Greece

KMXT is live broadcasting the Kodiak City Council work session which may run past 9 pm.  

The show will begin as soon as the work session ends or 9 pm if the meeting ends early.

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

Please support FreeForm Radio and KMXT by going to 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.

 


DiN label boss Ian Boddy follows up his 2020 studio release “Axiom” (DiN64) with another vinyl album length slice of vintage electronic music synth heritage: Coil (DiN74). Whilst there are many focusing in on the world of possibilities of modular synths to the detriment of form and composition Boddy uses his 40 plus years of experience to create six succinct slices of analogue warmth and emotion.

The title track which opens procedures is a case in point. Boddy crams into its seven minutes more drama than many would manage in a side length track. Soft textural chords soon give way to a pulsing arpeggiator playing from his venerable Roland System 100-M modular. Just when the piece seems to be settling into a cyclical groove a series of transpositions move the harmonic interest along before a climax of percussion and synth textures soar toward a stunning crescendo.

The next piece, “Messiaen M31”, in contrast is a calm, floating track with an unusual harmonic chord progression based on Olivier Messiaen’s music theory with a beautiful Ondes Martenot style solo line. “Rings” features layers of sequencers and arpeggios that twist and turn through various key changes toward another stunning climax.

“Teutonium” is pure Berlin School with a thundering Moog bass line interspersed with edgy, glitchy interjections before subsiding to the calm, gentle fluctuations of “Flow”.

Finally “Silver Surfer” is a slice of Synthwave fun featuring the crisp tones of the 100-M set against a syncopated bass line and a beautiful Ondes Martenot duet over a transposing sequencer line.

“Coil” will be released on both CD digipak as well as a limited edition 180g vinyl edition.
  
 
From Minilog on Bandcamp:  "Ian at his peak. An incredible album, full of melancholic and haunted beauty, in which the modulations operate like "melodic steps", and where the sequences wind and unfold like glittering vines. Just like the superb cover by Wendy Carroll : a must have !"

credits

Our thanks to Ian for providing us with a promo copy of this release.

releases October 14, 2022

All tracks composed, patched and recorded by Ian Boddy January - March 2022.
Mixed and mastered by Ian Boddy March 2022.

Instrumentation:
Serge & Eurorack modular systems
Roland System 100-M
Buchla Easel Command
Make Noise 0-Coast
Moog Voyager & Matriarch
Novation Summit
VCS3
Analogue Systems French Connection
Analogue Solutions Generator
Spectrasonics Omnisphere
Kontakt playing sample libraries by Spitfire Audio & Soniccouture
Ableton Live

ambient em electronic electronic music electronica downtempo modular synth synthwave Sunderland


 

Mark Shreeve (2 June 1957 – 31 August 2022) was a British electronic music composer. After initially releasing his early work on cassette through the label Mirage Records, he went on to sign for the newly formed Jive Electro in the early 1980s,[1] and released the albums Assassin, Legion, and Crash Head.[2] His last solo album to date, Nocturne, was released in 1995. A live album, Collide, was released in 1996 featuring his live performance at EMMA two years before.

Shreeve was born in Great Yarmouth on 2 June 1957.[3]

Shreeve also composed scores or sections of scores for some feature films, recorded a number of library music CDs and wrote the song "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)" for Samantha Fox, which was released and hit the chart in 1986. He also worked briefly with Christopher Franke of Tangerine Dream and has had some technical association with producer and modular synthesiser expert Ed Buller.

In 1996, Shreeve formed the group Redshift with his brother Julian, James Goddard and Rob Jenkins. The group has recorded nine albums to date and played live in the UK and in all Europe, including one concert made at Jodrell Bank Observatory.

Shreeve died on 31 August 2022, at the age of 65.[4]

 From Sylvain Lupari:

Fan of horror movies and books? Unconditional of Stephen King? How about listening to the music The Stand? It's obviously inspired by this book that Mark Shreeve built the 7 tracks, the 40 minutes of his 8th solo album. LEGION stands out from the more exploratory genre of Mark Shreeve's first solo albums with shorter and more explosive compositions. A catchy EM conceived around hard sequencing patterns, synths more in synth-pop style and samplings drawn from the sonic librarie of 1980's horror movies. Without a doubt, it's England School's most rock album at the time when Tangerine Dream still enthralled thousands of fans and dozens of musicians with its Underwater Sunlight tour in 1986. It's also possibly the flagship album of English artists' response to Berlin School. Movement which brings EM into more rock basis and which popped out with the emergence of Ian Boddy, Andy Pickford, David Wright and Wavestar, just to name a few. As far as I'm concerned, it's the most pop, heaviest and the most catchy album I've ever heard in the wonderful world of Electronic Music. A heavy opus with jerky and unbridled rhythms that are backed up by a sequencer and breathless electronic percussion to support simple, effective and catchy melodies. An album that has aged quite well!

Using samplings to the maximum, LEGION is full of satanic winks. It's therefore with a strange incantation, like a Black Mass, that a big and heavy line of bass sequences, like a bass, opens the procession of Legion. From then on, the rhythm becomes fast. It coughs on good percussion, metallic chords and a powerful sequencer that sculpts a hard and heavy rhythm with the support of a swarm of percussive keys that roll like the drumming of drums. Subsequently, the rhythm gets tribal. Big trance-like percussions (which may have inspired Juno Reactor) pushes the limits of synthesizer strings a bit philharmonic, but which sound like guitar riffs. It's a heavy, fast and totally demonic title that you've probably heard. Because it was part of the soundtrack of the film; The Jewel of the Nile in addition that it played a lot on dance floors, as evidenced by the many mix and the 7'' that have been made since its release. This shot is not isolated! There are several other very rhythmic tracks that are animated by a sequencer as heavy as fluid on this album. Like Sybex Factor with its hammering percussions and its long synth solos combined with those of Chrissie Bonnacci's guitar. There is Icon with its unbridled rhythm and the ultra paced sequencer, and as fast as that of Chris Franke for example, as well as these metal wings and these cries of bats. Finally, there is Hammer & Cross which arrived on the late. This is a bonus track that appeared on the 1st CD edition on Centaur Discs.

The melodies are still well anchored. And there are some that are simply catchy. Like Storm Column rolling on a structure of rhythm as wild, as jerky as the title-track. It's a loud and nervous title with light and melodious choruses that are in harmony with a very sharp synth. Moreover, this mixture of voice samplings on a rhythm as that jerky is quite great. Flagg is another stroke of genius! The longest track of LEGION opens with a very gloomy intro, as in a horror movie of series B. A little keyboard turns a melody into a threatening rhyme on a line of diabolical sequences that accelerates the pace in the long winding lines of a magnetising synth. The pace pounding a slow walk, at times it looks like a walk of vitamined zombies, and again the sampling is superbly successful. With Domain 7, it feels like being in a surreal marsh with birds and wolves coexisting on momentums of violins and a harmonium keyboard that hovers with good silky impetus whose lines follow the long sensual curves of a dark electric guitar and suggestive of Pat McManus. The effect is demonic! And even more with the violin strings that resonate on little more symphonic layers. The guitar is sublime. We feel the strings being scratched so much the effect is realistic. Being more sentimental than rocker, it's my favorite track. But after The Stand! We hear a synth crying and suffering in an envelope of melancholy so deep that we feel the threads of our soul shivering. Behind a slower rhythm structure and a lot fog effects, a synth line turns its harmonies into those of a trumpet. This track finally comes to give me these goosebumps that has resisted so far throughout this adventure that is LEGION. Not by its roughness, but by its sensitivity and the hold of evil that seems to triumph. It sounds like Ennio Morriconne who made a pact with the Devil in a more Mexican final than Mephistophelic. But the crying of a baby brings us back to reality behind the precepts of LEGION.

Even if closer to a synth-pop, quite progressive and very worked on the other hand, than the other albums of Mark Shreeve, LEGION remains a major album. Just see the asking price on Ebay so one understands its importance in the chessboard of contemporary EM. Its canvas is the kind that can appeal to fans of Gothic music, even if at times the melodies are at skin's edge, lovers of synth-pop and/or hard and heavy E-rock. Everything is well structured. It's a music filled of surprising samplings and unbridled sequences which preserves, in spite of these two elements, all of its melodic dimension. Simply great ... And that should be very kind if one day Mark Shreeve decides to reissue it, because the asking price on eBay is closer to a stealing option than to please the fans of Mark Shreeve.

Sylvain Lupari (September 8th, 2006) *****

SynthSequences.com

 Recorded at Battery Studios, London.

Words to 'Flagg' by Mark Shreeve based on a character created by Stephen King.

Equipment used on this record:

Fairlight CMI, Emu Systems Emulator II, P.P.G. Wave 2.2, Oberheim OB8, Roland Jupiter 6, Roland Jupiter 8, Yamaha DX7, Linn Drum 9000
Linn Drum 2, S.C.I. Drumtraks, Roland TR808, Roland MSQ 700

Tracks 8 and 9 are bonus tracks.

 

In ancient Greece, music played a central role in all areas of life, both public and private. We can only imagine how this music sounded. But there are many visual sources that can tell us who was playing which instruments and in which settings, as well as showing us that there were often people dancing together. Listening to "The M. band" by Pina Bounce, one seems to perceive a sonic glimpse into those ancient times, reverberating through the long notes of the trumpet and filtered by the distortions of the electrical equipment. Grim Machines' "Sparagmos" showcases primitive noise rituals, combining analog equipment and amplified built instruments, thus creating music informed by a creative blend of ethnological study and ancient culture. "Luc" by epavlispavlakis and Nicolas Malevitsis sounds like a requiem played in an abandoned Arcadian monastery. These are some examples of music which, alongside the abstract minimalism and the electronic and electroacoustic experimentation of Costis Drygianakis, Michalis Paraskakis, melophobia, Meteoros Meteor, Savvas Metaxas, Dimitris Savva, and many other talented musicians, can testify to how tradition and innovation, past and present, history and future are in a constant dialectical relationship; and how, incredibly, music in Greece is still flourishing through its youth, despite the millennia of culture behind it.

Raffaele Pezzella

credits

Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella and the Unexplained Sounds Group for providing us with a promo copy of this release.

released September 2, 2022

Published by ©Unexplained Sounds Group
Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst)
Special thanks for their precious collaboration to Nicolas Malevitsis, Ion Christodoulidis, Dimitris Tsironis.
Cover image “Dyonisus on a boat”, 550-540 BC.
© 2022. All rights reserved

experimental avant-garde drone improvisation musique concrete sound art Italy