Author Archives: Tim Hall

Arch Enemy – War Eternal

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Tim Hall

Something a bit metal – the new single from Arch Enemy

Posted in Music News | Tagged , | 1 Comment

What Killed Last.fm?

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Tim Hall

lastfmWith the news that last.fm is shutting down their streaming online radio, I’m wondering exactly what changes in the music environment have forced them to rip the heart out of their service.

Are the majors demanding too much in licencing fees for the thing to be viable? Remember that it’s not stream-on-demand in the style of Spotify, so it should not cost as much. Or, more cynically, did last.fm’s major label owner deliberately decide to kill what had once been a useful music discovery tool because they don’t like people discovering independent music?

Or maybe last.fm has just had its day? Back in the days before their radio went behind a subscription paywall I used to listen quite a bit, and it played a lot by independent bands. That fed into a lot of CD purchases, and I spent a lot of time curating the wiki entries for bands. But nowadays a combination of social media and sites like Reverbnation and Bandcamp seems to be filling that role. The social side of Last.fm has more or less faded away as Twitter and Facebook have grown, and they never did resolve the artist disambiguation issue in their database.

All last.fm really does now is scrobbling and statistics collecting, and I’m not convinced that has much value unless it’s feeding into some sort of music recommendation that last.fm itself no longer provides. Yes, I know they’re still got a web-based music player, but all that does is play YouTube videos, and is not fit for purpose in it’s present form; too many of the videos are abysmal-quality fan-uploaded mobile phone footage from gigs, or worse, bedroom karaoke performances that don’t feature the actual artist at all.

Does last.fm’s scrobbling data still have any value for independent artists now, or is it time to stick a fork in the site?

Posted in Music News | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Good luck to all of you trying to get hold of Kate Bush tickets when they go on sale today. No, I’m not joining the feeding frenzy myself; I find the things like this far too stressful. Instead I will continue to support the grass-roots music scene.

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

Hipster Prog? No Thanks!

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Tim Hall

Huffington Post’s William Higham asks if Prog Rock is the new Folk, and pens what has to be one of the worst music articles I’ve read on the interwebs for a long, long time.

When you read nonsense like this, it’s clear you’re facing someone who seems to think it’s 1994 rather than 2014

So, prepare to guffaw now when I suggest what the next wave of music and culture looks set to be. Are you ready? I believe it’s prog rock … (Okay, perhaps the headline spoilt the surprise). Yes, progressive rock. The kipper tie or puffball skirt of music. The genre that brought us Genesis and Jethro Tull. A genre so embarrassing to talk about that, in a recent documentary, Prog veteran and regular Grumpy Old Man Rick Wakeman likened it to pornography: *lowers his voice* “here mate, you got any, erm, prog rock?”

It gets worse…

This lot grew up on the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Game of Thrones? It’s like a Yes album sleeve come to life. Meanwhile, technical skills are being lauded. In an Emeli Sande-loving, talent show-filled, post-Strokes world, “they can actually play/dance/skate/dive” is a compliment not an insult. And what could be more fashionable right now than long greasy hair and double denim?

His failure to name a single new prog act demonstrates that he’s not only totally ignorant of the current grass-roots scene but too lazy to do even the most basic of research. No mention, for instance, of Steve Wilson’s ability to fill The Royal Albert Hall. Or the strong and undenied prog influence in bands like Elbow or The Decemberists.

And, for the love of God, spare us the prog equivalents of Ed Sheeran and Mumford & Songs, where were never “folk” in any meaningful sense of the word anyway. I would rather we didn’t see bands dressed in capes and wizard’s hats playing pedestrian indie-rock playing three chords on a Mellotron “ironically”.

Posted in Music Opinion | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Purson – The Contract

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Tim Hall

It’s going to take a while to write up my review of HRH Prog 2, so in the meantime here’s a video of one of the many highlights of the weekend, the psychedelic rock of Purson.

Posted in Music Opinion | Tagged , | Comments Off

Now Playing: For All We Shared

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Tim Hall

For All We SharedNowadays much of my music listening focuses on trying to keep up with all the new music that’s coming out, especially the stuff I’m reviewing. So it’s not often I sit back and listen of a much loved album.  Not nearly often enough, in fact.

With Mostly Autumn’s 1997 début, it’s so long since I last played it I’ve grown more familiar with the live versions of some of the songs from seeing the band on stage.

Mostly Autumn of 1997 were a very different band to the hard-rocking act of today, with celtic atmospherics a much bigger component of the sound. Bob Faulds’ electric violin is all over this record, as prominent as Bryan Josh’s guitar. It’s also the only album to feature Kev Gibbons on high and low whistles, adding to the celtic flavour, especially on songs like “Boundless Ocean”.

If you’re used to hearing the more recent live versions, “Nowhere to Hide” and “The Last Climb” sound quite different; the former is a lot softer than the guitar-driven hard rocker of their most recent tour. And “The Last Climb”, nowadays a showcase for Anne-Marie Helder’s flute, instead contains a lengthy violin solo. Also, in the light of what the band were later to become, it’s also notable that Heather Findlay only sings lead on a single song, “Steal Away”.

Ah yes, the jigs. There are three of them on the album, and it’s a reminder that in the early days they were almost as much a ceilidh band as a progressive rock one. They’re not the sort of thing the band indulges in nowadays, but numbers like “Out of the Inn” still featured heavily in live sets as late as 2006.

Perhaps the highlight is the album closer “The Night Sky”, one of the best of their “celtic Pink Floyd” numbers centering on Bob Faulds’ magnificent violin solo. It’s a song I’d love to hear them play live again; it made a brief appearance in the live set in early 2007, but they haven’t played it since.

Although they were to exceed it with later albums, this was a very ambitious début, especially when you consider that it came out at the height of Britpop, when the prog scene was at its lowest ebb. Its one flaw perhaps is that it’s too varied for it’s own good, with the folk jigs sitting uncomfortably alongside the Floydian epics. But a lot of the material has stood the test of time, with several numbers remaining live favourites, not least the now-traditional set closer, “Heroes Never Die”.

Posted in Music Opinion | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Dark Dungeons!

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Tim Hall

Yes, they really are making a live-action film version of that infamous 1980s Jack Chick tract warning of that dangers of Dungeons and Dragons.

Posted in Games | Tagged | 4 Comments

Halo Blind – Occupying Forces

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Tim Hall

Halo Blind Occupying Forces sm“Occupying Forces” is the second album from the progressive rock project led by singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Chris Johnson. It follows on from “The Fabric”, released under the band name “Parade” before a heavily promoted girl band with the same name forced a name change. That girl band rapidly crashed and burned after their album flopped, but that’s another story. Still, “Halo Blind” is a far better name.

It’s also a rather different band from the lineup that recorded “The Fabric”, although four out of the five from Halo Blind’s last live appearances in 2011 are still on board, Gavin Griffiths on drums, Stu Fletcher on bass, Stuart Farell on lead guitar and of course Chris himself, with new recruit, multi-instrumentalist Andy Knights, completing the band.

It’s got a similar combination of indie-rock guitars and progressive rock atmospherics. But while “The Fabric” was by Chris’ own admission a collection of songs originally written with different projects in mind, in contrast “Occupying Forces” has a far more coherent feel as an album.

One highlight is the sequence of songs on the first half of the album “Mirage”, “Saturate”, “Torrential” and “Downpour”, shimmering summery pop numbers with a hint of darkness and melancholy that flow into one another to build into something more than the sum of the parts. The whole thing shows Chris Johnson’s ear for memorable but unconventional melodies, and some great use of atmospheric instrumental passages in place of conventional solos. The final song of that sequence in particular is a thing of breathtaking beauty.

After the short jazz instrumental “The End of the First Side” featuring Jonny Enright’s trombone, the second half gets more eclectic. “Brain Dog” combines dance thythms with some Tom Morello-style guitars. It continues with the stripped down balled “The Puppet” with just piano and Jennifer Chubb’s cello, the burbling electronica of “Analogue”, and ending with the soaring ballads “Coma” and “Control”.

The way this record combines elements of progressive rock and indie-rock ought to appeal a broad audience. There are echoes of Anathema, Pineapple Thief, mid-period Radiohead and late-period Marillion. It’s not too dense or twiddly to frighten off indie fans, but it’s still got enough depth for all but the most narrow-minded of prog fans.

It’s been a long wait for this album; “The Fabric” came out as long ago as 2009. But an album of this quality is well worth the wait.

You can buy the album from haloblind.com

Posted in Record Reviews | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Alex Cromarty joins Mostly Autumn

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Tim Hall

The Heather Findlay Band at The Brook, Southampton

Latest News from Mostly Autumn:

Mr Alex Cromerty has now become a permanent member of Mostly Autumn. We are all very excited about this, his drumming and percussion has proven to work extremely well with the band, drummers like Alex and Gavin are a rare thing to come by, the quality is first class. We would also, on this note, like to wish Gavin all the success for the future, it’s been a real pleasure my friend.

Alex had been playing drums with Mostly Autumn as a stand-in for much of 2013 while Gavin Griffiths had extensive recording and touring commitments with Fish, and Alex’ playing showed the drums were in safe hands. With Fish announcing further tour plans across Europe in 2014, it’s not a total surprise that Alex is joining the Mostly Autumn on a longer-term basis.

Mostly Autumn had already had more drummers than Spinal Tap back in 2007, and now they can add a further name to the list.

Posted in Music News | Tagged , | Comments Off

Bending Light

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Tim Hall
Free Electronic Press Kits template from ReverbNation.com

One of the standout tracks from Morpheus Rising’s “Eximus Humanus”, notable for Pete Harwood’s E-bow solo.

Posted in Music Opinion | Tagged | Comments Off