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Tsevir Leirbag 
Forum Senior Member 
Joined: May 03 2009 Location: Montréal Status: Offline Points: 8321 |
 Posted: May 12 2010 at 16:16 |
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Thanks, Paul. I'll try to post some other reviews soon!
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Les mains, les pieds balancés
Sur tant de mers, tant de planchers, Un marin mort, Il dormira - Paul Éluard |
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Nightfly
Special Collaborator 
Honorary Collaborator Joined: August 01 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3659 |
Posted: May 12 2010 at 09:39 |
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^ Great review Gabriel. |
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Tsevir Leirbag
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 03 2009 Location: Montréal Status: Offline Points: 8321 |
Posted: May 11 2010 at 18:18 |
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Review by Tsevir Leirbag
Collaborator Zeuhl RIO/Avant Team — First review of this album —
 A forgotten album; an excellent debut by a man who is not really well known for his musical work
Serge Bringolf's first album, Strave, is an impressive effort. Classified as zeuhl, but including lots of jazz to it, he achieved to create a unique sound. Of course, since Bringolf is a drummer (and a good one), the drums are very important on this album. Adding to that the incredible bass player François Grillot, the impressive brass section consisting of Jean Golanet (trumpet), Philippe Gisselmann (saxophones) and Pascal Beck (trombone), you have a good idea of how the music sounds. You just need to throw in some great, effective choral vocals. It is also worth noticing the violin, which gives a folk emotion, by moments.
Strave is a double album that consists of four long epics, ranging from fifteen to approximately twenty minutes. Simply put, it is a long album. Surprisingly enough, it does not get boring, every moment of it is enjoyable, and that is quite a rare thing on albums of such length.
The first piece of the album, Délire, is probably my favourite as it efficaciously shows the intensity that Bringolf's band is capable of. It is the perfect example of the fusion between jazz and zeuhl I was speaking about. Strave is good too. It is not the greatest piece of the album, but some violin parts are quite impressive, not in a manner of virtuosity, but as a powerful element in the music. It gives a folk note to the composition, as I was referring to. This piece also features a great drumming performance, showing Bringolf's mastering of his instrument. Utopie is more of a "classic" zeuhl piece. I love the intriguing, but lively mood in it. The vocals are particularly noticeable here and the level of composition is once again admirable. It also features some of the greatest bass lines I have heard, and definitely Grillot's best performance of this album. The album ends with Jodwerssen, which ends the album on a high note. It is definitely good as a closer. It could be described as a reminder of the previous pieces, as it mixes the best elements from each of the compositions, notably the bass and trumpet remarkable performances, the drums' jazzy feel, the virtuoso violin and the choral works.
If you are able to find this album, you definitely should take the chance to get it; I promise it is worth it. A truly inspiring mixture of genres. Edited by Tsevir Leirbag - May 11 2010 at 18:19 |
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Les mains, les pieds balancés
Sur tant de mers, tant de planchers, Un marin mort, Il dormira - Paul Éluard |
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Tsevir Leirbag
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 03 2009 Location: Montréal Status: Offline Points: 8321 |
Posted: May 11 2010 at 18:17 |
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Why has this been unstickied?
It is a very good and informative thread...
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Les mains, les pieds balancés
Sur tant de mers, tant de planchers, Un marin mort, Il dormira - Paul Éluard |
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Nightfly
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: August 01 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3659 |
Posted: May 06 2010 at 12:31 |
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Here's a good one for you.......
Ouroboros Kotebel Symphonic Prog Review by Nightfly With Ouroboros Spanish symphonic proggers Kotebel have delivered one of the outstanding releases of 2009. An improvement over their previous studio album Omphalos, which while being good, was marred by operatic female vocals which were a bit overpowering for me. They only briefly appear at the end of the album here, the rest of it being instrumental. Ouroboros is darker sounding creating more musical tension than its predecessor and with a harder sound.
The seven compositions including three pieces around the 15 minute mark are complex, dense and atmospheric, skilfully executed with lots of dynamics where the powerful interplay between electric guitar, keyboards and the versatile rhythm section gives way to melancholic restraint. The music constantly shifts through varying themes and time changes with pleasing melodies, always maintaining the listeners' interest. There's no doubting the musical pedigree of these excellent players as they create their largely symphonic prog with some fusion thrown in for good measure. I'm reminded to some extent of Syrinx only with electric guitars replacing the acoustic favoured by the French quartet. Ouroboros is an album I've constantly returned to over the last few months, never tiring of it. A great one to turn out the lights and chill out to. Highly recommended. |
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Nightfly
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: August 01 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3659 |
Posted: May 03 2010 at 09:28 |
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For Hammond lovers.....
I'll borrow Dick Heath's great review to ilustrate.
Walk The Nile Elephant9 Jazz Rock/Fusion Review by Dick Heath With a two long car journeys and a half decent hifi system available last weekend, I had planned to listen to a dozen new albums but instead, I spent most time listening to Elephant9's 'Walk The Nile' quite a few times and with great pleasure.
Their 2008 'Dodovoodoo' delightfully borrowed from and skated all over the early jazz rock scene. From the handful of critics who bothered to write, a list of a dozen or so early influences were to be found across the resulting reviews. 'Walk The Nile' is more focussed. This is largely Hammond and or overdriven electric piano led music, which with its thrashing drumming results in what at first sounds like good old fashioned jazz rock but with something of the 21st century, that is difficult to nail. I tend to go along with Elephant9's label, Rune Grammofon's blurb wrt the citing and parallelling with the original Tony Williams Lifetime, although I would go further saying this recording has echoes of the Jack Bruce edition of the 'Turn It Over' period, especially with its dirty deep down thudding bass. But it is not a copy: the drumming as suggested, deliberately lacks the precision of the late Tony Williams so creating some of the degrees of separation. And whilst the Lifetime thing is more obvious in the shorter high speed tunes, the long slower tracks suggest psychedelia, such as the title track. An album of high energy music, (and in view of my initial hearing, certainly drive time music), which I need a little time before deciding if this is going to impact on me to the same extent as Elephant9's first - my favourite album of 2008. But it is the best I've heard of its type this year. |
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richardh
Prog Reviewer 
Joined: February 18 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 29438 |
Posted: April 30 2010 at 17:49 |
This has long been one of my favourite albums.Yes it is' New Age' and certain tracks appeared on the Channel Four 'Art Of Landscape' series! Its a mute point whether it can be classified as ''prog'',probably not, but then Mr Jobson had been an important player in the prog scene with both UK and Frank Zappa.
This is all played on a computer which doesn't sound promising at first but actually the sampled sounds sit somewhere between acoustic and electronic which creates a unique atmosphere and original textures.Eddie also is a wonderfull composer and TOS gives full reign to his massive talent. As good as any instrumental album I've ever heard. |
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BaldJean
Prog Reviewer
Joined: May 28 2005 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 10387 |
Posted: April 30 2010 at 10:09 |
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another gem is this one:
 Didier Malherbe in top form, outshining the rest of the band (who are not slouches either) Edited by BaldJean - April 30 2010 at 10:10 |
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 A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
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MFP
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 31 2009 Status: Offline Points: 9439 |
Posted: April 30 2010 at 08:27 |
I got the album a mounth ago and I can't stop listening to it. Definitely in the same league as Comus and Jan Dukes the Grey. I think it is a great starting point into the Acid Folk subgenre.
What do you think of Spirogyra's BurnThe Bridges: The Demo Tapes 1970-1971? Is it worth getting? Edited by MFP - April 30 2010 at 08:36 |
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Nightfly
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: August 01 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3659 |
Posted: April 29 2010 at 18:08 |
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^ High praise indeed Jean. Sad to hear that Morris Pert has recently died. Edited by Nightfly - April 29 2010 at 18:11 |
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BaldJean
Prog Reviewer
Joined: May 28 2005 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 10387 |
Posted: April 29 2010 at 15:12 |
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for all friends of space rock this one is an absolute must-have::
 "Xitintoday", the first solo album of Nik Turner, made with the help of half of Gong (Steve Hillage, Mike Howlett, Tim Blake, Miquette Giraudy), the late Morris Pert and a few others. in my opinion the best album of 1978 and one of the very best ever |
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A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
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Logan
Forum & Site Admin Group
Site Admin Joined: April 05 2006 Location: Vancouver, BC Status: Offline Points: 37228 |
Posted: April 29 2010 at 15:12 |
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^ That is a terrific album! (that and Spirogyra's début are two of my favourite albums in Prog Folk). Spirogyra gets a quite a lot of love here from the acid folk lovin' crowd, but not a lot of recognition from the general PA audience (and not nearly as much as Comus, which I love).
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MFP
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 31 2009 Status: Offline Points: 9439 |
Posted: April 29 2010 at 15:02 |
 Studio Album, released in 19734.44 | 19 ratings
Spirogyra Prog Folk
Review by Leningrad
 This album is of a rare breed; one that can shatter your emotions and slowly melt you into a deep hole for thirty minutes and reciprocate completely in about three.
As well, for a British band, never before have I heard melodies so unmistakably American. Throughout my listening, images of the wild west, Grand Canyon and the wide open sunny plains filled my head, and it's truly a sublime experience. 'In The Western World' is written in such a way that, if you removed the lyrics and didn't tell me the title, I would nevertheless instantly know what the song was about. Songwriting of this caliber comes along far, FAR too scarcely, and I consider it one of the human race's great follies that so few are aware of this absolutely marvelous album. Barbara Gaskin's vocals deserve special mention; yes, they really are as good as people have told you, and I'm not going to tell you any differently. Listen to her range on 'Spiggly' and 'An Everyday Consumption Song' and tell me with a straight face that you can match that pitch. You can't. Leave it to the professionals who do it right. I'm not even going to tell you about 'In The Western World', because I don't want to even slightly ruin the experience of what is definitely one of my favorite songs of all time. It's perfect in every sense of the word from start to finish, and culminates in one of the best climaxes in all of recorded audio. It's truly worthy of a smile, a nod, and the assurance that, maybe if just for a while, all is right with the world. If there were some way for me to distribute this album to everyone on the planet, I would happily do so. I urge you to spend every penny it takes in tracking down this album. It's a crime that not enough people already have. |
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Nightfly
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: August 01 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3659 |
Posted: April 29 2010 at 14:25 |
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Saena
Saena Symphonic Prog Review by Nightfly What a breath of fresh air this album is. Saena are 5 talented musicians from Mexico and this is at present their only album though from the sound they skilfully produce its clear there's no lack of experience here. They produce a refreshing blend of symphonic Prog with classical, folk and jazz touches and a latin flavour, most noticeable with the vocals of Margarita Botello which are often without words, becoming more of an additional instrument. The instrumentation is often acoustic based - acoustic guitars, piano, accordion, drums and violin; the violin in particular being dominant in their sound much of the time. It's not all acoustic though with bass guitar, electric guitar and keyboards adding to the sound.
Musically the album has a similar feel throughout and without going into detail of every track opener Astromelia is as good a representation of Saena's sound as any. Opening with Botello's wordless vocals the band come in, expertly weaving piano, guitar, bass, violin and drums with a light touch weaving all the afore mentioned influences into the sound and at almost 9 minutes giving ample scope for the musicians to stretch out. The album is enjoyable for its entire 68 minute length but personal favourites are the 12 minute Venenos Y Antidotos with its jazz inflected piano and swooping violin part. Drummer, Adrian Zarate adds a subtle light jazz touch perfectly in keeping with the overall sound. Cosecha has a beautiful haunting melody, heavily piano and violin based alongside Botello's vocals until changing tack as electric guitar comes, which has a bit of a King Crimson feel, alongside organ, violin, bass and drums turning it into one of the albums most dynamic pieces. Final Del Juego offers a bit of diversification from the prevalent feel of the album with an almost dischordant guitar riff at times, piano, violin, bass and drums expertly weaving around it - once again having a bit of a King Crimson feel to it in places. I thoroughly enjoyed this cd and anyone wanting to experience some symphonic prog with a difference would be advised to check out Saena. I'll certainly have no hesitation in buying their next album, this one being a strong contender to make my top 10 albums of 2008. |
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Finnforest
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 03 2007 Location: The Heartland Status: Offline Points: 17259 |
Posted: April 20 2010 at 15:58 |
Same here largely, except for Kazumi Watanabe, Ghost, and Vermillion Sand. I wonder if Watanabe could be added to PA. He has an awesome live DVD with Jeff Berlin and Bill Bruford. |
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...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell"
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Nightfly
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: August 01 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3659 |
Posted: April 20 2010 at 12:46 |
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Jim, thanks for bringing Chaos Code to our attention. Sounds interesting.
Moshkito, I've got to admit ignorance to a large extent to the Japanese scene. I do have one Ruichi Sakamoto album (Neuromantic) which I suspect is not representative of his sound. I do enjoy Ars Nova though but apart from them and a couple of albums by metal bands I can't think of anything else from Japan in my collection. I'm sure there's loads of wonderful music to discover there.
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moshkito
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 04 2007 Location: Grok City Status: Offline Points: 18064 |
Posted: April 19 2010 at 21:00 |
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Hi, Nice to see these ... and I would like to add to them in the future. There are way too many crossovers that we think are not "prog" but defy the definition of things and were people that had a say in the exploration that helped create it in the first place.
Totally under-represented and rarely discussed is the Japanese scene. I guess that Japan would never know prog, or some people might think that Riuichi Sakamoto is just another crazy playing a Roland synth with pingpong balls all over the speakers! It was extremely progressive at the time and far out, not to mention the family of projects and solo efforts that the Sadistic Mika Band sprouted. Also deserving mention would be the family that became Kitaro. And few here even speak of Stomu Yamash'ta.
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com |
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Finnforest
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 03 2007 Location: The Heartland Status: Offline Points: 17259 |
Posted: April 19 2010 at 20:14 |
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A little-known American band John and I enjoy....I'm using his review because it's better than mine and more enthusiastic too. Great retro feel, and quite haunting in places. Very enjoyable.
A Tapestry Of Afterthoughts Chaos Code Symphonic Prog Review by
sinkadotentree
After reading how excited fellow reviewer Finnforest was about this
band, i thought i
better listen to their debut that i just hadn't gotten around to yet.The
cover art does
depict a future apocolyptic planet earth,and there are serious lyrics
about how we as
individuals need to stop and think about the future of our planet and
our lives.The title
of this record does have some meaning in that regard.The music itself
absolutely blew
my mind!We all have our favourite bands,and it's so cool to find a new
band who
pushes all the right buttons for us.Well it's like this band knew my
every musical
desire,and then recorded it.Thankyou CHAOS CODE!
The record starts with "The Cave" a song about people who live their
lives indoors
wathching TV,and not even bothering to answer their phone.And although
on the
surface the lyrics can be amusing,they are dead serious about this
problem.The song
starts off mellow enough,with keys,acoustic guitar and drums.Then some
aggressive
guitar comes in.I love the tone of his guitar.Vocals come in with
acoustic guitar and
mellotron.Nice.The soundscape is so beautiful after 6 minutes."Heights
of Time" is
about the dishonour of destroying our past,our history, just for
something new and
mass produced.The vocals here are unique sounding,almost like the singer
for the
German band NOEKK,but not quite.The guitar and vocals are very
passionate 4 minutes
in.Good tune."Antidote to Entropy"is an amazing instrumental.Flute,keys
and mellotron
are great!The guitar comes in,i love the tone,did i mention that?Some
odd metered
drumming,and it's awesome!We are treated to some organ,and angular
guitar
melodies.It then gets very pastoral and beautiful with flute,before some
amazing guitar
comes in,and the song ends with more angular guitar melodies.Nice."Days
of
Reflection" has some great lyrics.Gentle flute to open and light drums,
and i'm thinking
of SINKADUS right about now.Waves of mellotron come in as vocals do too 3
minutes
in.This is so uplifting!The melody gets intense with organ and drums
before becoming
mellow again with acoustic guitar,flute and vocals."A Silent Scream"
features dark
lyrics,and opens with acoustic guitar,flute and vocals.The guitar to
follow almost soars
as drums and passionate vocals follow.More great guitar,and check out
the melody 6
minutes in!It's Heaven,there are no words."Gravy Fries" is another
instrumental.Sax
leads the way with odd metered drumming and unique guitar melodies.This
is a
reserved but killer track."The Devil's Trombone" is the final and
longest song on the
record.This has a dark Rio feel to it.The mellotron and sinister guitar
sounds are
incredible!The drumming is fantastic too.Mood and tempo changes are
drastic.Angular
guitar melodies and some eerie female background vocals along with the
FLOYD like
lyrics,bring a haunting end to a ride that i'll never forget.A ride
called CHAOS CODE.
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...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell"
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Nightfly
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: August 01 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3659 |
Posted: April 16 2010 at 08:48 |
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Thanks for the recommendation Steve, sounds like an interesting band.
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steve2603
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 14 2010 Location: Scotland. Status: Offline Points: 502 |
Posted: April 16 2010 at 06:05 |
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This was one of my first Prog/jazz fusion albums and it is astoundingly good. Every instrument plays a major role within the band.  KARCIUS - SPHEREsinkadotentree Prog Reviewer  4.5 stars.These guys from Montreal are amazing!This music is often on the heavy side,which i like,yet there is some good variety here,including lighter jazz passages. Things get started with "Kunide" opening with intricate acoustic guitar with background synths.Drums,guitar and keys come in to provide an interesting,tasteful soundscape that intensifies.The melody changes again with heavy bass and drums with some great guitar as well."Liquid Meat" is a crunchy,heavy song with intricate drumming and a great bass solo.The guitar is so good,man these guys would be incredible to see live!"Evolution" opens with a good bass line, with a great guitar melody that comes and goes.There is this amazing,searing guitar solo as well.The next section is called "Lunatik" and consists of the next three songs,starting with "Highway To the Moon".It opens with bass and percussion as synths,guitar and drums create a wonderful sound.Nice bass solo 3 minutes in!There is some piano, light drums and a relaxing guitar melody to follow."Synapse" is an uptempo song with drums and guitar,before the bass and guitar trade solos, until the lead guitar comes in with some scorching melodies."Back To Earth" goes from a light and jazzy sound to a dark and heavy sound.Some more amazing guitar too,as the drums pound away."1111" is dominated with piano melodies,with drums and guitar providing different moods and tempos along the way."Labyrinthe" features the bass outfront again,as RUSH comes to mind in this well crafted tune."Bois Ta Musique" is a lighter,jazzy song that eventually speeds up with some scorching guitar."Absolute Decadence" is quite mellow until about 2 and a half minutes in when the guitar is on fire again!The tempo continues to change in this fantastic song. This is a must have for fusion fans,you won't be disappointed.
Edited by steve2603 - April 16 2010 at 06:08 |
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sounds like an interesting album.
Logan wrote:
