Hamadryad in the Studio Live

Today's show on http://www.mohawk-radio.com/ was a live CD listening party of the forthcoming Hamadryad album intitled Intrusion. As special guests we had the pleasure to have three members of the band in the studio with us: Jean-François Désilets (bass), Denis Jalbert (guitars), and Sébastien Cloutier (keyboards). Laughs were had by all, the guys from the band have quite a good sense of humour, and music was played on the air.


Having a laugh (Sébastien, J.F., Denis, and Frank)


Goofing off (Sébastien, MontrealRick, J.F., and Denis)

The new album, at first listen, sounds great, and I'm looking forward to hearing a finished CD in the near future.

The band were nice enough to leave us 2 DVDs of their 2006 concert in France during the Crescendo Festival, and T-Shirts. These are to be given out by draw to people responding to this post by either a comment or by sending an e-mail to progrockshow@hotmail.com. The winner will be contacted and asked for his or her mailing address.

The songs that were played were as follows:

1. Amora Demonis, from Live in France 2006 (2007)

2. Alien Sphere, from Safe in Conformity (2005)

3. Nameless, from Live in France 2006 (2007)

4. Funk-a-Trunk, from Intrusion (Forthcoming album)

5. Here and Now, from Intrusion (Forthcoming album)

6. In My Country, from Intrusion (Forthcoming album)

7. Lap of Love, from Intrusion (Forthcoming album)

8. Liar, from Intrusion (Forthcoming album)

9. Sentence, from Intrusion (Forthcoming album)

10. Torture Zone, from Intrusion (Forthcoming album)

11. Lost, from Intrusion (Forthcoming album)

12. Pray to My God, from Intrusion (Forthcoming album)

13. ...Action!, from Live in France 2006 (2007)

14. Anatomy of a Dream, from Safe in Conformity (2005)

15. Still They Laugh, Part 1 and Part 2, from Live in France (2007)

I would like to thank the Jean-François, Denis and Sébastien for their generosity and the good times we had in the studio.

As always, if you loved the music - buy the albums!

I'm so pleased!

I'm pleased that The Tangent has found my review of their newest opus worthy of being highlighted on their website! I'm honoured.

Frank

Nov. 15 2009: Special Guest Dave Meros of Spock's Beard

On November 15th we had the pleasure to interview Dave Meros of Spock's Beard for close to two hours. Dave Meros is a great guest on and off the air, talking about his menagerie of cats and about the new Beard album (number 10) that will be released in the new year. We also had a live blog with questions from our audience.

We played the following Spock's Beard songs on the radio show:

1. Go the Way You Go (Light, 1995)
2. Thoughts (Beware of Darkness, 1996)
3. The Good Don't Last (The Kindness of Strangers, 1997)
4. June (The Kindness of Strangers, 1997)
5. Gibberish (Day for Night, 1999)
6. The Gypsy (Day for Night, 1999)
7. Thoughts, Part 2 (V, 2000)
9. At the End of the Day (V, 2000)
10. Welcome to NYC (Snow, 2002)
11. Devil's Got My Throat (Snow, 2002)
12. The Bottom Line (Feel Euphoria, 2003)
13. The Ballet of the Impact (Octane, 2005)
14. On a Perfect Day (Spock's Beard, 2006)


As always, if you liked the music, buy the albums!

November 8, 2009 Set list

OK, I'm late in posting these setlists with links, so here they are (better late than never).

On November 8th we reviewed 4 CDs on air, and played some new releases. The following songs were heard:

1. Solaris, by Moongarden (Songs from the Lighthouse, 2008)
2. Awakened, by Moonrise (The Soul's Inner Pendulum, 2009) New release
3. I Could Be God, by Galahad (Sleepless in Phoenixville - Live Rosfest 2007, 2009) New release
4. Straight to the Otherside, by Voyager (I Am the Revolution, 2009)
5. Total Existence Failure, by Voyager (I Am the Revolution, 2009)
6. What Would You Do?, by Leap Day (Awaken the Muse, 2009)
7. Shop Window Dummies, by Leap Day (Awaken the Muse, 2009)
8. In'terview, by Gentle Giant (In'terview, 1976)
9. Emerald & Ash, by Steve Hackett (Out of the Tunnels Mouth, 2009) New release
10. The Start of Something Beautiful, by Porcupine Tree (Deadwing, 2005)
11. For Such a Time, by Transatlantic (The Whirlwind, 2009)
12. Where Are They Now?, by The Tangent (Down and Out in Paris and London, 2009) New release
13.Paroxetine 20mg, by The Tangent (Down and Out in Paris and London, 2009) New release


CD reviews:

Voyager's I Am the Revoltion

MontrealRick: 8.5/10
Frank: 8.0/10



Leap Day's Awaken the Muse

MontrealRick: 8.0/10
Frank: 8.0/10



Transatlantic's The Whirlwind

MontrealRick: 8.8/10
Frank: 7.5/10



The Tangent's Down and Out in Paris and London

MontrealRick: 10/10
Frank: 10/10 (Read my whole review here)



As you can see, MontrealRick and I seem to have similar taste... for now! At least we both think that Down and Out in Paris and London is a fantastic album that everyone must have in his collection.

The Tangent's new offering - best of 2009

Rating: 10/10

Songs
1. Where Are They Now?
2. Paroxetine - 20mg
3. Perdu Dans Paris
4. The Company Car
5. Everyman's Forgotten Monday
6. Ethanol Hat Nail (Canterbury Sequence Vol. 2)

Andy Tillison : Vocals, keyboards, and electric guitar
Jonathan Barrett : Bass
Paul Burgess : Drums
Theo Travis : Sax and flute
Guy Manning : Acoustic guitar and vocals

First off, let me say that I hadn’t heard of The Tangent before being exposed to their music by my co-host MontrealRick. He introduced me to two of their albums, while I introduced him to Parallel or 90 dergrees. This might seem bizarre to most fans of The Tangent, but I knew of Andy Tillison’s music through another band. This said, on with my take of the new album by Andy and his friends.

Down and Out in Paris and London is, by my measure, one of the best new album of 2009 – and I have heard a lot of albums this year. From the opening track to the closing bonus song, this album is a pure jewel. And like a jewel, you can hear the beauty of each song, and the skill of the artisan in crafting each of those small jems.

The album opens with Where Are They Now?, a song that has a deceptively simple melody played on a solo guitar, and added on by multiple instruments, but is in reality a masterful piece using mixed meter, starting with what I take to be a suite of 5/8 – 3/4 - 6/8 . These meter changes do not detract from the song, they flow into it, then they rattle you with a cacophonic saxophone section only to bring you back smoothly into the song. All I can say is that this is a magnificent opener, with touches of Camel-like guitar playing, even a guitar solo that sounds like Sanata.

Paroxetine 20mg starts off strong with a fuzzed synth, but becomes a smooth jazzy song with Floydian touches here and there. A great song about the incapassity to feel. Perdu dans Paris, the second of three long songs, starts off smooth, and you can realy feel as if you are walking through Paris on a beautiful evening night. The middle section is more uptempo and offers a beautiful contrast to the whole atmosphere.

The Company Car also starts off smooth with a magnificent bass line and a subtle sax in the background, only to have a middle instrumental section where drums, guitars, synths, and piano play off each other to the hilt on what seems like a wild ride. Then the sax re-enters the fray whaling, only to fade in the background the same way it came in.

Ethanol Hat Nail starts off a-la Gentle Giant, with syncopated percussions and keyboards, even the sound a glass shatering in the background. Going through different moods, this song returns to the main theme introduced at the beginning, only to change tracks completely in the middle section. This song, about the insecurities of being an artist and not trusting oneself to write good melodies, ends with a return to the main theme.

As for Everyman’s Forgotten Monday, this is a perfect song with which to end the album, with a soaring guitar solo in the middle section. This is also Floydian in tone, with sax and keyboards hinting back to Wish You Were Here, and and closing ping-sound very reminescent of the opening of Echoes. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t sound like Floyd songs, they only use sounds that we associate with the Floyd.

This is a “must-have”, and may be the best album to date by The Tangent. This has been playing in my car and at work for the past month, and will be for some time to come.

No Show Last Sunday

Sorry about that folks, but there was no International Prog Rock Show last sunday, due to equipment changes at the studios. This week, though, we will have a great show, with special guests Hamadryad in for the whole 3 hours.

Live blogging

OK. This is a first: live blogging. I'm here live at the radio station and awaiting your questions for Dave Meros of Spock's Beard.

To ask a question, simply use the comments section, or send an e-mail to: progrockshow@hotmail.com

You won't be able to ask questions on the air since Dave will be on the phone, our only phone line.

16:20 Update: got a couple of questions from Chris Spiessens in Belgium, and a phone-in question from Philadelphia.

November: Busy Month on the International Prog Rock Show

Thanks to the unrelenting work done by my co-host MontrealRick, we are now able to announce that this November we will have special interviews with the following artists:

First, on November 15th we will have Dave Meros of Spock's Beard as a guest on the show. It will be a live phone interview, and we will dedicate the whole show to Spock's Beard. We welcome questions by our audience. Leave your questions and your name in the Comments section of this post.

The following week, on November 22nd, Andy Tillison of The Tangent and Parallel or 90 Degrees will be our guest. this interview will either be through Skype or through our message boards, so stay tuned for more info. Still, one way or another, we invite our audience to come up with questions and to send them to us.

And lastly, on November 29th we will host the launch of the new Hamadryad album titled "Intrusion", with members of the band in the studio with us. During the interview, listeners from North-America will be invited to comment live on the phone at: 1-877-842-5050. Other listeners will be able to send questions through our Facebook page.

Stay tuned for more info.

November 1st Setlist from www.mohawk.com

Our special “Covers” show, set the day after we all covered ourselves for Halloween. This is the set list that was played during. The show started, as always, at 15h00 EST. The links here are provided for those who liked the music presented and would like to purchase albums from the artists themselves.

1. 21st Century Schizoid Man, by The Human Experimente (Dreaming in Exile, 2009)
2. No Quarter, by Ayreon (Day Eleven: Love CDS, 2004)
3. The More We Live, by Conspiracy (Conspiracy, 2000)
4. The Return of the Giant Hogweed, by Transatlantic (Whirlwind, 2009)
5. Sign o’ the Times, by Steven Wilson (Cover Version V, 2008)
6. Running Up That Hill, by Within Temptation (Running Up That Hill CDS, 2003)
7. Rocket Man, by Kate Bush (Rocket Man CDS, 1990)
8. Money, by Mary Fahl (From the Dark Side of the Moon, 2007)
9. To France, by Blind Guardian (The Forgotten Tales, 1996)
10. Solsbury Hill, by Saga (The Works, 1991)
11. Space Oddity, by Star One (Space Metal, 2002)
12. Suffragette City, by IQ (Frequency Tour CD 1, 2009)
13. See Emily Play, by David Bowie (Pin Ups, 1973)
14. For Nobody, by The Gourishankar (Close Grip (Reissue), 2008)
15. Karn Evil 9, by Shaun Guerin (Archives, 2004)
16. Man in a Long Black Coat, by ELP (In the Hot Seat, 1994)
17. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, by OSI (Office of Strategic Influence, 2003)
18. Arnold Layne, by Airbag (Download only, 2009)
19. The Colony of Slippermen, by Nick D’Virgilio (Rewiring Genesis, 2008)
20. I Know What I Like, by Fish (Songs from the Mirror, 1993)
21. Bridge of Sighs, by Opeth (Watershed, 2008)
22. Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Part 2, by Dream Theater (Black Clouds & Silver linings, 2009)
23. Southside of the Sky, by Glass Hammer (Culture of Ascent, 2007)
24. I Am a Camera, by The Buggles (Adventures in Modern Recording, 1982)
25. The Cinema Show, by The Flower Kings (The Road Back Home, 2007)

October 25th Setlist from www.mohawk.com

I’m a bit late in posting this and the next posts. This is the set list that was played during the International Prog Rock show on Sunday the 25th of October. The show started at 15h00 EST. As always, if you liked the music, please buy the albums directly from the artists - simply follow the links.

1. What Happens Now? (Live), by Porcupine Tree (The Incident (Japanese release), 2008)
2. Ready to Live, by Mindfields (One, 2009)
3. The Lie and the Liar, by Ageness (Songs from the Liar’s Lair, 2009)
4. Looking Outside Inside, by Anathema (A Fine Day to Exit, 2001)
5. Peel, by Redemption (Snowfall on Judgment Day, 2009)
6. Fighter Command, by Big Big Train (Gathering Speed, 2004)
7. Shadow of the Lake, by Mystery (Destiny?, 1998)
8. Aegian Sea, by Aphrodite’s Child (666, 1972)
9. The Parting, by Nathan Mahl (Exodus, 2007)
10. Ships, by Guy Manning (Number 10, 2009)
11. Midas Touch, by Pallas (The Cross & the Crucible, 2005)
12. Gift of the Flame, by Phideaux (Number 7, 2009)
13. Storia Senti, by Phideaux (Number 7, 2009)
14. Secondo Incontro, by Il Balletto di Bronzo (Ys, 1972)
15. Meantime, by Porcupine Tree (Web download only, 2009)
16. Give and Take, by Unitopia (The Garden, 2008)
17. Same Old Song / Sunset, by Beardfish (Sleeping in Traffic: Part 1, 2007)
18. Frantic, by Robert Svilpa (A Fine Line Between, 2009)
19. A Street Between Sunrise and Sunset, by Satellite (A Street Between Sunrise and Sunset, 2003)