Anglagard's "Hybris" reissued!
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Topic: Anglagard's "Hybris" reissued!
Posted By: Todd
Subject: Anglagard's "Hybris" reissued!
Date Posted: March 22 2009 at 19:09
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I just got this from the Anglagard newsletter (almost a full year after the last thread of this nature that I opened regarding Anglagard!):
The latest re-release of Anglagard's first album "Hybris" is now available for sale directly from the band over at http://www.alvarsdotter.com/ - www.alvarsdotter.com - and it should also be available from selected progressive rock vendors, soon. "Epilog" is supposed to be re-released in a couple of months. This is all the information I have so far, but I think it makes for a worthy first newsletter after almost 2 news-less years. I will update Anglagard.net once I get more details regarding the release like tracklist, packaging and local retailers.
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Replies:
Posted By: Jorvik
Date Posted: March 23 2009 at 08:13
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Damn, you beat me to it! I saw this on Saturday and was just about to post the news – I ordered my copy of Hybris last night and wanted to leave a little gap before telling the world and unleashing the floodgates! I must have got one of the last few copies of Epilog when I ordered direct from Mellotronen in Sweden at the end of 2006, as not long afterwards people were saying that both albums were out of print, but this is good news that it will be available again soon.  There are currently two copies of Hybris on the Amazon marketplace, a re-issue at £336 and an original CD release at £500  . Much as I wanted the album, there's no way I would pay that amount, especially as the band would not get a penny from it.------------- I ljuset från min lykta ser jag skuggan utav sorg drömmar som har slocknat ifrån ett liv som haft sin tid |
Posted By: Mr ProgFreak
Date Posted: March 23 2009 at 08:20
| I wonder why they don't simply publish the albums as downloads on the major platforms (iTunes, Amazon, Napster etc.). |
Posted By: Jorvik
Date Posted: March 23 2009 at 11:48
Personally, I couldn't care less about that – I wouldn't want to listen to their music at anything less than CD quality anyway. Plus, with a CD there's pretty artwork and should either my PC or my music player die, at least I'll have have a back-up and it won't be gone forever and have to be bought again. ------------- I ljuset från min lykta ser jag skuggan utav sorg drömmar som har slocknat ifrån ett liv som haft sin tid |
Mr ProgFreak wrote:Posted By: Negoba
Date Posted: March 23 2009 at 13:04
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mp3 download is so much easier these days, and Buried Alive is already available (that's all I could get). If they're re-releasing I suspect we'll see the two main ones up on iTunes by the end of the year.
Great great news.
I recently introduced my brother to them, he's just a dabbler in prog, and he was blown away.
------------- You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all. |
Posted By: The Hemulen
Date Posted: March 23 2009 at 13:06
Quite, Much as I love the convenience of mp3s, they are NO substitute for CDs. Ideally, the albums would always be available for legal download through those aforementioned outlets as well, but it would be a terrible shame if that was the ONLY way to get hold of them. CDs are lovely. |
Posted By: Jorvik
Date Posted: March 23 2009 at 14:04
Exactly. If other people want MP3s then fine, as long as CDs are still available. I don't actually listen to CDs, these days they get used once when I rip them on my PC: after that I just play the FLAC files, either on my PC (I don't possess a "hi-fi", using my PC and studio monitors instead) or on my music player (through £250 IEMs), so source quality really does matter. Let's face it, given the skill and artistry of prog musicians it's worthwhile listening on better equipment. Completely off topic, but did anyone see Steven Wilson on UK news last weekend, driving over an iPod in protest at the fact that MP3 is poor quality? Apparently his latest album of 10 tracks has been indexed as 100 tracks to discourage people from playing the album on shuffle! It's a shame though that FLAC is not more widely available -- I'd still rather have an actual CD with booklet and artwork, but at least with FLAC you could have the convenience of download without losing any audio quality. In this day and age, with the availability of large hard-drives there's really no longer an excuse for MP3. ------------- I ljuset från min lykta ser jag skuggan utav sorg drömmar som har slocknat ifrån ett liv som haft sin tid |
Posted By: The Hemulen
Date Posted: March 23 2009 at 14:34
Warning. There now follows a severely off-topic rant:
 ...That's a bit of an overreaction, don't you think? Putting obstacles in the way of people who wish to listen to music on shuffle strikes me as a very negative and aggressive gesture towards the listener. Why shouldn't someone be allowed to listen to a song in the context of different songs, other than the original album tracks it was placed with? I mean, last week I posted a couple of CD compilations to some friends, in an effort to try and get them interested in some new sounds. If I'd wanted to include one of Mr Wilson's new tracks I would have presumably had to have laboriously stitched together ten individual snippets after ripping the album before adding it to the tracklist. I'm a great believer in listening to albums in full, and hardly ever put my mp3 player onto shuffle (only when I simply can't decide what to listen to), but to try and actively PROHIBIT it... Well, it just seems like such a petty, miserable thing to do. We shall now return you to your scheduled discussion. |
Posted By: Negoba
Date Posted: March 23 2009 at 14:44
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How many people even in a music-phile forum like this, actually can tell the difference? Most folks don't even have more than a 2-band EQ, let alone the ear to tell the difference between a 192k Mp3 and CD quality. I barely do and I've spend many many hours mixing and mastering music.
Isn't FLAC still 50-60% of memory usage as .wav? Which defeats part of the convenience of the mp3 in the first place. ------------- You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all. |
Posted By: Diaby
Date Posted: March 23 2009 at 15:00
You've got the point. I would NEVER buy anything in online music stores. Everything you get that way are just files, and when buying an album, half of the joy is caused by the artwork and the booklet. ------------- yeah |
Posted By: memowakeman
Date Posted: March 23 2009 at 17:21
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cool ------------- Follow me on twitter @memowakeman |
Posted By: Distant Earth
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 05:34
| AT LAST!!! |
Posted By: Mr ProgFreak
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 06:06
It's nearly the exact opposite for me. I really appreciate cover art and liner notes, but the most important for me is still the music. ------------- https://tagyourmusic.org/users/Mike" rel="nofollow - https://tagyourmusic.org/users/Mike |
Posted By: N Ellingworth
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 08:13
| Nice to see it's finally been reissued, I love Buried Alive so it'll be nice to finally hear some of the songs in their original form. |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 08:18
that is why some consider him to be the poster boy for biggest a****le in prog today...  ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: Jorvik
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 11:57
I daresay the MP3s streamed from this site are probably not very high bitrate so as to save bandwidth, but I can hear it – they sound flat, dull and lifeless. I still think one of the strongest arguments for lossless is "how do you know whether you're missing information if it isn't there to be heard". As for EQ, I don't believe in it and always turn it off: I don't want the music unnecessarily coloured by EQ or supposedly-pleasant sounding speakers – I prefer to listen to music as near to as the artist intended as possible, which is one reason for having studio monitors and decent in-ear monitors for my music player. Yes, FLAC compresses file size to about 50–60% that of WAV, but as I said earlier, these days with high capacity miniature hard-drives and flash devices and high-speed internet, MP3 is not so much a convenience as a pointless compromise. I agree with Mr ProgFreak about music being the most important thing, but the additional aspects of a physical medium and artwork etc still adds something to the whole experience which it would be a shame to lose. I don't like the idea of only having files though as they can easily be lost or corrupted (which I've had happen on occasion), with a CD it's always there as a back-up should the worst happen. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to getting Hybris as I'm looking forward to holding it and looking at the artwork (I shall say no more).  ------------- I ljuset från min lykta ser jag skuggan utav sorg drömmar som har slocknat ifrån ett liv som haft sin tid |
Posted By: LiquidEternity
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 12:14
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I'm getting it, and I'm wonderfully excited about it. I've listened to the band's songs on this site a bunch of times and have been long hoping to find it somewhere cheap, and now look! PS downloading is for suckers. ------------- 
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Posted By: Mr ProgFreak
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 12:41
There is no conceivable difference between a properly coded ~256kbit mp3 and the CD ... there have been many tests that proved this. I downloaded Mr. Wilson's album as mp3 from eMusic.com ... sounds great! And I can even play it from beginning to end ...  ------------- https://tagyourmusic.org/users/Mike" rel="nofollow - https://tagyourmusic.org/users/Mike |
Posted By: Todd
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 13:48
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Some sites to check out:
http://www.anglagard.net - www.anglagard.net
http://www.anglagardmusic.com - www.anglagardmusic.com
I'm interested to see if the tracklist is the same on both albums. Also great news that perhaps they will release the live recording from NEARfest 2003 (which by report has new material which is better than anything they released to date). I never hold my breath with these guys, unless of course I'm listening to their stunning music . . .
As an aside to the sidetrack to the original post: there is so much great music out there and such a small budget, and there is a lot of great prog on eMusic.com--I use that site frequently. I have bought CDs after getting them originally in download (for example, Echolyn's Cowboy Poems Free), but downloads are a great economical way to enhance my collection, at least at eMusic. I don't use any other sites.
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Posted By: Negoba
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 14:05
I'm calling Shenanigans. What do you mean by "flat and lifeless"? Generally, that descriptor is used for over-compressed music that lacks dynamics....that's a mastering level choice and has absolutely nothing to do mp3 encoding. If you turn off your EQ yet claim to be able to tell the difference, I'm skeptical.
I don't know about your portable player, but if was using FLAC instead of mp3, I wouldn't be able to carry my entire music catalog with me constantly, which is a nice thing.
There's an old story about a bunch of wine critics not being able to tell $20 wine from $2000 wine in a blind test......this reminds of that. ------------- You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all. |
Posted By: Negoba
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 14:06
I'm calling Shenanigans. What do you mean by "flat and lifeless"? Generally, that descriptor is used for over-compressed music that lacks dynamics....that's a mastering level choice and has absolutely nothing to do mp3 encoding. If you turn off your EQ yet claim to be able to tell the difference, I'm skeptical.
I don't know about your portable player, but if was using FLAC instead of mp3, I wouldn't be able to carry my entire music catalog with me constantly, which is a nice thing.
There's an old story about a bunch of wine critics not being able to tell $20 wine from $2000 wine in a blind test......this reminds of that.
Edit: Seeing that you're using extremely high end monitoring, you obviously have some audio savvy. What is it that you're actually hearing? There are old prog works, "In a Glass House" is a good example, where the hiss in the upper frequency ranges is so loud that the decreased resolution in the upper frequencies that is the mp3 data loss would do nothing but change the nature of the hiss. ------------- You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all. |
Posted By: Jorvik
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 18:01
On topic, I've just received an email:Hello, Wow, Anna Holmgren! I think I need to go and sit down... I can't wait, it's nearly here! ------------- I ljuset från min lykta ser jag skuggan utav sorg drömmar som har slocknat ifrån ett liv som haft sin tid |
Posted By: Todd
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 18:12
Congratulations, Jorvik!! Keep us posted--I'd be interested to know if the tracklist in particular is the same as the most recent Akarma version (four studio tracks and bonus track of Ganglat Fran Knapptible) or if any new remastering has been done.
What incredible music . . . I have to concur with Greg Walker when he said that if they had continued, they would probably be considered as one of the greatest prog bands of all time.
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Posted By: Jorvik
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 18:35
Ah, I was just about to reply and only just spotted your edit. Being able to hear the tape hiss well can be rather distracting -- hearing imperfections better is a bit of a downside. I generally describe overly-compressed music as "overly-compressed, too loud and lacking in dynamic range" rather than flat and lifeless -- Anekdoten's last album fits that bill to some extent -- but I see that that description would be apt there as well. I'm not sure I've ever come across anyone using those terms for overly-compressed music though. This is the problem with music, trying to describe it without using woolly, ill-defined terms. By dull and lifeless I had in mind the lack of erm... I was going to say sparkle... high-end detail and clarity, that's better, in cymbals -- I find they usually sound a bit muddy, exactly like they've been run through a high-cut filter. Fine detail is often missing from breath sounds from either vocalists or close-mic'd wind players. The lack of high frequency detail in reverb tails can make some mixes sound shallower -- less front-to-back depth to the soundstage as the altered reverb affects depth/distance perception. All the sorts of things that are usually associated with "air" in a mix. I don't see what my choice of EQ setting has to do with all this though. It's a choice -- I prefer to listen to music flat, with no hyped bass or other boosts or cuts to alter the sound to make it "pleasing"; I listen to all music this way and am used to it, plus I know my monitors pretty well with mixing on them as well. As for my music player, I have the vast majority of my music collection on there and only have about 4 GB free out of 80 GB -- capacity is going to become an issue as my (currently small) collection grows, but I'm just going to have to live with it. ------------- I ljuset från min lykta ser jag skuggan utav sorg drömmar som har slocknat ifrån ett liv som haft sin tid |
Posted By: Negoba
Date Posted: March 24 2009 at 18:47
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Well that makes some sense. "Sparkle" and "Air" are the usual terms for the extreme high end of the spectrum, which of course is the thing that gets progressively most destroyed by mp3. The reason the EQ thing threw me was that truly flat speakers sound pretty bad to the layperson. I have a pair for mixing and mastering and though the clarity and separation are great, it's not the same thing I want when I listen to music for enjoyment. Most of the time, and maybe with your high end monitoring this isn't true, you need EQ to really define a great sound, considering the room, etc. etc. The other thing is that the level of definition we're talking about is beyond the quality of some of the source signals to matter. (My previous example about hiss, but there are others) Sorry to call wrong, there are frankly few folks who would know the reverb tail on a cymbal from a raccoon tail or the depth of a soundstage from.....well that's enough. Congrats on the Anglagard. They are an unbelievable band. I totally agree that having the booklet in front of you is part of the experience. ------------- You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all. |
Posted By: GosudO
Date Posted: March 25 2009 at 18:26
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This is GREAT news. A date for Epilog ? Would be wise to order them both at the same time. |
Posted By: Nightfly
Date Posted: March 25 2009 at 18:28
Excellent, I've been after this for ages! 
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Posted By: Jorvik
Date Posted: March 26 2009 at 08:28
There was no date when I ordered on Sunday night, I think just vague mention of "in a few months" or something similar. I already own Epilog, however, if I did not I would still have ordered Hybris now rather than waiting to order both at once – I wouldn't want to miss out just to save a few pounds on postage and packing ------------- I ljuset från min lykta ser jag skuggan utav sorg drömmar som har slocknat ifrån ett liv som haft sin tid |
Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: March 26 2009 at 12:48
| I'm really curious about the album. I just didn't want to spend more than a 100 dollars or euros for a copy. It's very interesting news. |
Posted By: Negoba
Date Posted: March 26 2009 at 12:50
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The album is amazing. Epilog is a little mellower, but still very very good. If you like prog, get them both. ------------- You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all. |
Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: March 26 2009 at 15:32
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Thanks for the recommendation, Negoba. I'm a big Genesis fan and I like the Scandinavian touch (bands like Anekdoten and White Willow), so I suppose this really could be something for me, because if I recall well, the music has some links to Genesis and really is Scandinavian in sound.
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Posted By: Jorvik
Date Posted: March 27 2009 at 15:03
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Right, my copy arrived today. When I ripped it, the CD was recognised by the FreeDB CD database as the remastered version and it has the bonus track Gånglåt från Knapptibble that was on previous re-issues. It's a digipak. It has a nice 16-page booklet with with lyrics in Swedish and photos of the band. The case says Änglagård Records on it and the booklet has details of Änglagård Records (website and email address) and catalogue details of the full Änglagård discography. I've never seen the re-released version, but I guess this is identical to it but with just a few amendments to the packaging. In total, it cost me £18.73 with all the taxes, charges and postage and packing. I've just had another look at the website and the shipping outside of the EU is only 10 SEK more (for one or two CDs) than to all EU destinations, so I think you'll be looking at 225 SEK, which is currently about US$27.50. But I'm sure it'll be picked up by prog distributors in the States anyway -- it depends how desperate you are to get your hands on it! I got into Anekdoten and White Willow because of my love for Änglagård. All three bands sound different, but there's definitely a "Scandinavian sound" in common to them. I guess some of the more pastoral sections sound reminiscent of bits of Genesis, just Scandinavian pastoral rather than distinctly English. In addition to the two tracks up here, there's another track from Epilog, a demo of Ifrån Klarhet Till KlarhetVandringar i Vilsenhet (both from Hybris) http://www.anglagard.net/sounds.htm - here if you want more of an idea of what their music is like. ------------- I ljuset från min lykta ser jag skuggan utav sorg drömmar som har slocknat ifrån ett liv som haft sin tid |
Posted By: JLocke
Date Posted: March 27 2009 at 15:43
| Maybe this is a sign that I should give these guys another chance. I never understood what all the hype was about this album, but who knows? I could listen to this re-issue and totally change my thinking. |
Posted By: Todd
Date Posted: March 30 2009 at 16:18
Thanks for the report, Jorvik! It sounds like the packaging is wonderful--perhaps it's finally been given the release it deserves!
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Posted By: Nightfly
Date Posted: April 03 2009 at 13:27
| I've ordered my copy....really looking forward to hearing it. |
Posted By: Todd
Date Posted: April 03 2009 at 13:42
| For those of you in the USA who want to save on shipping, Greg Walker has it in stock. |
Posted By: Doomcifer
Date Posted: April 03 2009 at 22:44
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who is greg walker? i have needed this forever. ------------- Greater is the man who conquers himself, than he who conquers a hundred times a hundred on the battlefield. |
Posted By: Doomcifer
Date Posted: April 03 2009 at 22:53
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Just ordered mine. STOKED.
------------- Greater is the man who conquers himself, than he who conquers a hundred times a hundred on the battlefield. |
Posted By: Todd
Date Posted: April 03 2009 at 22:55
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Greg Walker is an excellent retailer of prog CDs with a fabulous selection, fast service, reasonable prices. I wish I'd known about him long ago! And he's a really nice guy, too.
http://www.synphonic.8m.com/ - http://www.synphonic.8m.com/
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Posted By: fusionfreak
Date Posted: April 07 2009 at 14:31
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I ordered it sunday morning:it's on the way to my home!I'm also looking forward to buying Epilog. ------------- I was born in the land of Mahavishnu,not so far from Kobaia.I'm looking for the world of searchers with the help from crimson king |
Posted By: Eastvillage
Date Posted: April 18 2009 at 12:28
| Hmm, it wont be possible to buy it at cd shops, or other music websites like cdon, ginza and amazon? And how much time do we have? it feels like it is going to run out of copies sooner or later, like it have before :P |
Posted By: LiquidEternity
Date Posted: May 27 2009 at 21:19
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Any word on Epilog? I can't find the memo about it.
-------------
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Posted By: DamoXt7942
Date Posted: May 27 2009 at 22:18
Afraid they're hoping not to release their previous work again, aren't they?  ------------- http://www.facebook.com/damoxt7942" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: clarke2001
Date Posted: May 28 2009 at 03:26
| I'm glad to see it's reasonably priced; my used copy acquired a few years ago in Dublin was ridiculously expensive, and yet cheaper than some other ones that I used to see on the web. |
Posted By: sleeper
Date Posted: May 28 2009 at 05:21
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Got my copy of Hybris about a week ago, fantastic album I can see why its so highly rated and very nicely packaged too.
------------- Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005 
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Posted By: DamoXt7942
Date Posted: May 28 2009 at 08:31
Yea I quite agree with you!  Well so...I've been lookin' forward to re-release of Epilog... ------------- http://www.facebook.com/damoxt7942" rel="nofollow">
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