Following the release of the title track from The Tangent's forthcoming new album A Spark In The Aether - The Music That Died Alone Volume Two, due out on April 20th, 2015 in Europe and April 21st, 2015 in the US, they are now pleased to reveal a lyric video for the track San Francisco, which sees The Tangent moving slightly outside the familiar surroundings of Progressive Rock.
Band leader Andy Tillison had this to say about the song:
"It is part of a long piece about the way we view America from other parts of the world, and as such some of the music is reflective of the subject matter. Highly inspired by the TV theme tunes of the 1970s with shows like "The Streets Of San Francisco", "Kojak" & films such as "Shaft" and "Bullit" - this song takes an affectionate, tongue-in-cheek look at the sheer number of times San Francisco has been destroyed on-screen. It also pays homage to the Oakland (a bay area city close to San Fran) band "Tower Of Power".
"Funk and Prog are like two estranged sisters. They existed side by side in the early seventies. Both musical forms relied on precision musicianship. Both forms embraced the emerging synthesizer technology. Earth Wind & Fire's albums sleeves sometimes featured fantasy artwork with pyramids and sphnixes, Osibisa even used Roger Dean for their sleeves. Yes & EWF both toured with huge stage sets and effects that could have been describes as "similar" in concept. Anyone who is into 70s progressive rock bands must have experienced the funk stuff as part of their musical soundtrack. Where there was a Zappa, there was a Bootsy, where there was a Daevid there was a George Clinton. I think that if it had all happened now, the two racially segregated forms might have been closer to one another. Although in this video you only meet one of the sisters... the overall result of the song itself is, hopefully, to bring these forms a little closer together."
You can check out the video for San Francisco here:
British proggers The Pineapple Thief have just release a new live release that is exclusively downlodable from their website.
Live 2014 is the third in a series of downloadable live performances from the band. The first one was Live at the 013, recorded in Tilburg, the Netherlands on 30th November 2012. This new one was recorded at De Boederij in the Netherlands during the Magnolia European tour in November, 2014. All are available for download in both mp3 and FLAC.
But this new release has a new twist to it: it is also available as 5.1 Surround Sound FLAC files.
Live 2014 tracklist: 1. What Have We Sown - Part 1 (3.44) 2. Wake up the Dead (4.27) 3. Alone at Sea (6.06) 4. The One You Left to Die (4.23) 5. Don't Tell Me (3.39) 6. Coming Home (3.14) 7. All the Wars (4.15) 8. Magnolia (3.54) 9. Seasons Past (4.15) 10. Simple As That (4.01) 11. Sense of Fear (4.53) 12. Remember Us (6.45) 13. Bond (5.4) 14. 137 (5.15) 15. Reaching Out (10.55) 16. Part Zero (4.13) 17. Snowdrops (6.23) 18. Nothing at Best (4.49)
UK prog-metal band, TesseracT, are set to release their first live audio/video concert. Titled Odyssey/Scala, the CD/DVD and LP/DVD package welcomes back One vocalist, Daniel Tompkins.
Odyssey, the audio portion, was recorded live during various stops in the autumn of 2014 throughout Europe and Russia on the Altered State World Tour. Scala, the video portion, was filmed live on November 6th, 2014 at Scala, London, UK. A trailer for Odyssey/Scala can be seen here:
TesseracT officially burst on the scene in 2011 with their debut album, One. Touring with the likes of Devin Townsend, Protest The Hero and Between The Buried and Me helped make them one of the most successful break through acts in the progressive metal genre. 2013's Altered State, featured vocalist Ashe O'Hara and was nominated for the Progressive Music Award's Album of the Year.
They toured the US with Cloudkicker and Intronaut, playing to sold out venues across the country. Altered State went on to outsell One and appeared on many Year End "Best Of" lists.
Odyssey/Scala, available in CD/DVD, LP/DVD and in digital formats on May 18th in Europe and May 19th in North America on Century Media Records.
Odyssey Tracklisting: 1. Singularity (recorded in Moscow, Russia) 2. Deception - Concealing Fate, Part Two (recorded in Birmingham, UK) 3. The Impossible - Concealing Fate, Part Three (recorded in Nottingham, UK) 4. Perfection/Epiphany - Concealing Fate, Parts Four/Five (recorded in Rome, Italy) 5. Origin - Concealing Fate, Part Six (recorded in Strasbourg, France) 6. Of Matter - Proxy (recorded in Koln, Germany) 7. Of Matter - Retrospect (recorded in Nijmegen, Netherlands) 8. Of Matter - Resist (recorded in Budapest, Hungary) 9. April (recorded in Paris, France) 10. Nocturne (recorded in Manchester, UK) 11. Acceptance - Concealing Fate Part One (recorded in Moscow, Russia)
Scala Tracklisting: 1. Singularity 2. Deception - Concealing Fate, Part Two 3. The Impossible - Concealing Fate, Part Three 4. Perfection/Epiphany - Concealing Fate, Parts Four/Five 5. Origin - Concealing Fate, Part Six 6. Of Matter - Proxy 7. Of Matter - Retrospect 8. Of Matter - Resist 9. April 10. Nocturne 11. Acceptance - Concealing Fate, Part One
The Psychedelic Ensemble’s fifth album, The Sunstone, is now available. The album features the multi-instrumentalist, TPE, as well as vocals from Ann Karen who appeared on the fourth release, The Tale of the Golden King. Other guest performers include Michael Wilk of Steppenwolf. Live orchestra is included with eminent orchestral musicians from Boston. The orchestra is conducted by Jonathan Roberts. The music, like previous albums from The Psychedelic Ensemble, blends symphonic prog, fusion, and contemporary classical styles.
Like previous albums from The Psychedelic Ensemble, The Sunstone is a 62-minute concept. The concept derives from medieval folklore about Viking mariners who used crystals, or "sunstones", to navigate the seas. Folklore suggests that these sunstones could orient navigators to within a few degrees of the sun, even in fog when the stars were not visible or after the sun had set. While The Sunstone concept is simple storytelling, a number of allegories lie beneath its surface, which TPE invites the listener to discover.
The Sunstone promises to be the most ambitious release from The Psychedelic Ensemble to date. To order The Sunstone, visit www.thepsychedelicensemble.com.
Muse, one of the most successful bands in the UK marrying pop and prog, has announced the release date of their latest CD. Drones will be released on 8 June 2015!
From Matt:
To me, Drones are metaphorical psychopaths which enable psychopathic behaviour with no recourse. The world is run by Drones utilizing Drones to turn us all into Drones. This album explores the journey of a human, from their abandonment and loss of hope, to their indoctrination by the system to be a human drone, to their eventual defection from their oppressors.
Drones tracklist: 1. Dead Inside 2. [Drill Sergeant] 3. Psycho 4. Mercy 5. Reapers 6. The Handler 7. [JFK] 8. Defector 9. Revolt 10. Aftermath 11. The Globalist 12. Drones
The first single from Drones, Dead Inside, will debut the week of 23 March. Preorder for the new album will be available tomorrow at 7:30pm GMT, along with the new song Psycho.
And speaking of Psycho, Muse has also announced ticket sales for their Psycho UK Tour!
15 March | Belfast, Northern Ireland | Ulster Hall 16 March | Glasgow, Scotland | Barrowland 19 March | Newport, Wales | Newport Centre 20 March | Exeter, England | The Great Hall 22 March | Manchester, England | Manchester Academy 23 March | Brighton, England | Brighton Dome
General on sale starts tomorrow (Thursday, 12 March) at 09h30 GMT. For ticket links, please click here.
For more information go to Muse's website here: http://muse.mu/
The Tangent will release their eighth studio album A Spark in the Aether - The Music That Died Alone Volume Two on April 20th, 2015 in Europe and April 21st, 2015 in the US. Now they are pleased to launch a promo video for the title track of the album which you can view below.
Band leader Andy Tillison had this to say about the track:
A Spark in the Aether is the title track of the new album by The Tangent. In many ways it's a bit of a rallying cry to people to keep open minds about newer music in a world where remasters and re-issues are more eagerly anticipated than new material. But it's a hugely optimistic piece that's primarily about keeping a young spirit as you go through life.
The song was premiered on the 2014 tour and was filmed by several audience members who uploaded their clips of it to Youtube without knowing that we would use their clips to make our video. Of course it's an alternative version of the studio recording you're hearing as the soundtrack. We wanted to make a video that showed the real energy of the band on stage, something that has always been important to the group who have never set much store by big light shows or video projections. "We do it with our bodies" is the philosophy. And what the fans do with our music, we use and give back to them.
The band, led by multi-instrumentalist Andy Tillison, is made up of Jonas Reingold (Bass), Theo Travis (Sax & Flute), Luke Machin (Guitar) & Morgan Ågren (Drums).
Steve Hackett has just released a lyric video on Youtube for the song The Wheel's Turning from his upcoming new album Wolflight.
The album is to be released on March 30th in Europe and April 7th in North America, but you are invited to pre-order their copy here. You can choose between three different CD packages and one vinyl + CD package.
IZZ’s new studio album, Everlasting Instant, is scheduled for release on April 7, 2015 and serves as the final installment of a three-part series of albums that began with The Darkened Room in 2009 and continued with Crush of Night in 2012. Everlasting Instant concludes this epic thematic arc with a fresh palette of sounds, all the while maintaining the sharp and memorable melodies that have become a hallmark of the band.
From the syncopated rhythms and unpredictable meter changes of Can’t Feel the Earth, Part IV to the through-composed nature of Keep Away to the uplifting drama of Sincerest Life, the fearlessly modern sound of IZZ continues to surprise at every turn.
Tom Galgano, IZZ’s keyboardist and vocalist who continues his roles as producer and engineer for this album, regards Everlasting Instant as a fitting culmination of the musical themes presented throughout the last two IZZ albums:
“Many of the melodies, rhythms and lyrics on Everlasting Instant began as seeds on the two previous albums and they have undoubtedly come to fruition on this new release. Listeners will recognize these subtle variations on prior themes and will also be presented with an exciting new collection of musical ideas.”
Everlasting Instant Track Listing: 1. Own the Mystery 2. Every Minute 3. Start Again 4. If It's True 5. The Three Seers 6. The Everlasting Instant 7. Keep Away 8. Can't Feel the Earth, Part IV 9. Illuminata 10. Sincerest Life 11. Like a Straight Line
The IZZ line-up for Everlasting Instant is: Paul Bremner: electric and acoustic guitar Anmarie Byrnes: lead and backing vocals Brian Coralian: electronic and acoustic drums and percussion Greg DiMiceli: drums and percussion John Galgano: bass guitar, acoustic/electric guitar, lead and backing vocals Tom Galgano: keyboards, lead and backing vocals Laura Meade: lead and backing vocals
IZZ’s Everlasting Instant will be available for purchase at Amazon, iTunes and all of your favorite progressive rock online music retailers.
In other news, IZZ will kick off the release of Everlasting Instant with a live performance at the New Jersey Proghouse on April 19. IZZ plans to announce more shows in support of Everlasting Instant during the Summer/Fall of 2015.
It is with regret that the Touchstone announces the departure of Kim Seviour from the band.
Kim has decided to leave due to ongoing medical issues. Here are a few words from her:
"I'm sure that this will come as a shock to many people, and for that I'm very sorry. As many of you will know, I've dealt with a health condition, M.E for the last five years of being in Touchstone. The condition and the lifestyle changes that it has resulted in, including a move cross-country, have made it impossible for me to commit to Touchstone in the way that it truly deserves. I need to take time to concentrate on my health and getting myself back to peak condition. Who knows what lies ahead after. I love my boys to bits and we've shared many amazing adventures, which would have been impossible without the support of incredible music lovers, and friends such as yourselves. I wish the guys the very best and know that they will continue to make awesome music, which I fully support all the way. For those who can make it, I would love to see you and share a drink at HRH, which will be my last Touchstone gig. Thank you so much for everything, I love you all. God bless xxx"
All the band fully accept this situation and support her decision and we know that you will join us in wishing Kim all the very best for the future. We will still be in very close contact. It’s been an amazing journey for all of us and we sincerely appreciate all the fantastic support from our fans and friends, given to us over the years.
Kim will be leaving after our performance at Hard Rock Hell on Friday 20th March, so if you want to get a last chance to see this lineup, it’s a trip to North Wales…!!!
As for the future of Touchstone, there are no immediate plans for a new release; the band is currently on indefinite hold and remaining members will pursue other projects.
At some time in the future the Touchstone phoenix may arise again…
