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June 24, 2008
3RDegree‘s new CD Narrow-Caster (their first studio album since 1996’s http://www.3RDegreeONLINE.com/3RDegree/HumanInterestStory.html - Human Interest Story ) is released today. The 10-song CD (or download) was started just over 2 years ago when the band reformed after a long hiatus. It is a mix of songs, some started at the end of the quartet’s first tenure and some fresh compositions upon the band’s restart. The collection is a real tour-de-force through the different types of songs have shown capable of pulling off: from the intense odd-timing of “Apophenia”-a song about humanities’ tendency to look for patterns and meaning in the seemingly meaningless-to the pastoral, gentle delivery of “Scenery”-a grand addition to the band’s canon of melodic and accessible songs with long multi-part lead ups to great pay-off choruses. Sandwiched in between is “Cautionary Tale”, taking on the subject of militant religiosity in all its forms and in a musical delivery no less intense than the subject deserves, “Young Once” with its synthesized, other-worldly respite-an oasis on the way to the album ending “The Last Gasp”, which features full orchestration along side the band calling out “sing on!” until the band and orchestra break down in an almost exhausted fashion.
The concept of the song (and to a degree the album) Narrow-Caster has to do with how we-with the help of technology- can now focus in on the art, entertainment and perhaps soon-people-that interest us while cutting out the things we don’t like or don’t think we like. While this makes it easier for us to find what we want to focus in on (like those things we know we already enjoy), we are losing the common experiences we used to all share-like watching the final M*A*S*H or Seinfeld, or hearing the songs of the Top 40. Since we can narrowly cast a line out to those things tried and true, we may suffer from an inability to be exposed to something outside our sphere like jazz or a different kind of beer or a unique movie. While it’s certainly not the end of the world, the internet is changing how we are exposed to art and possibly what we would even classify as art.
http://www.3RDegreeONLINE.com/3RDegree/Buy.html - Narrow-Caster is available via paypal at 3RDegreeONLINE.com in CD form or download.
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www.3RDegreeONLINE.com www.facebook.com/3RDegree "Defiling Perfectly Good Songs With Prog Since 1990"
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