A promo for the forthcoming album “Monument” by Shadow of the Sun, the new band formed by Dylan Thompson, former guitarist from The Reasoning, and singer Matthew Powell. Here, Dylan Thompson and Matthew Powell talk about how the band came into being and the final steps leading up to their imminent release.
The album is available for pre-order from The Merch Desk.
Listening to UFO’s last-but-one album “The Visitor” reminds me of how great Phil Mogg can be as a lyricist. He’s one of Britain’s most underrated songwriters. If he worked in a more fashionable genre than hard rock people would be comparing him with Springsteen.
This Stratfor Glossary of Useful, Baffling and Strange Intelligence Terms is an amusing and entertaining read, regardless of what you think of ethics of Wikileaks. I like the term “Clancy” meaning, “Somebody who has read a lot of Tom Clancy novels and thinks he knows the Craft. Total moron“. If you’re planning on writing fiction or running an RPG with an espionage-based theme, the whole thing is gold. Which explains why the link came via author Charlie Stross.
Best one for me is what they say about Microsoft Powerpoint
An efficient means for turning complex and sophisticated analysis into half-witted bullets. If you can’t read a 50 page analysis before invading a country or buying a company, you probably shouldn’t be in the business.
Single most destructive invention known to man.
This is not the first time PowerPoint has been blamed for the decline of Western civilisation…
Today is the 30th anniversary of Marillion’s first single, “Market Square Heroes”.
Who would have guessed back then that they’d still be going three decades later? Of course, they’ve changed and evolved a lot, soon shaking off the “Poor man’s early Genesis” tag to develop a sound of their own. And they’ve continued to reinvent themselves since their original frontman Fish and the rest of the band went their separate ways more than two decades ago. Most artists of their vintage have long since ceased adding to their legacies, content to turn into their own tribute bands playing greatest hits sets from their glory days. Both Marillion and Fish with his solo career are exceptions to this.
I bought the 12″ version of “Market Square Heroes”, which contained the infamous 17-minute “Grendel” on the b-side, loved by some, hated by others. I’ve actually been a fan for rather longer, since seeing them play halfway up the bill at the 1982 Reading festival.
I ended up spending my 25th anniversary of first seeing Marillion in the company of Fish’s ex. But that’s another story…
I do like this software testing term. “A Lance Armstrong Bug”. It means that the code is passing all the tests, but it’s not behaving as it should.
Reading band A Genuine Freakshow have announced the forthcoming release of a new EP titled “Where The River Bends“.
We have decided to release an EP called ‘Where The River Bends’. We will be announcing the release date for this very soon, but it will be before the end of the year. It will be a digital EP with 4 new tracks:
Low
Claw and Grasp
Where The River Bends
Albert Trophy
I’ve seen this band live a couple of times; they are the sort of band it’s more or less impossible to pidgeonhole them to any one genre. They’ve got a huge, shimmering sound with elements of pop, post-rock, indie and prog, with classically-trained string players as the lead instruments. Not only have played the Reading Festival, they were also one of the special guests at the 2009 Marillion convention in Holland.
This is why I will never buy an Amazon Kindle, and why I refuse to buy eBooks or music crippled by DRM. Because the vendor can take away what you thought you’d bought and paid for on a whim. Just like that…
It’s getting to the time of year to start thinking of this blog’s end-of-year albums list. Still one or two albums to come, but Panic Room’s amazing “SKIN” is still ahead of the pack for album of the year.
Way back in 2008, Mermaid Kiss made quite a few live appearances supporting bands such as Panic Room and Breathing Space. They performed as a semi-acoustic lineup, playing a mix of stripped-down arrangements of songs from their 2007 album “Etarlis” and brand new material from a project with a working title of “American Images”. Four years later, that project has reached completion as their new album “Another Country”
It’s not a long album; with a running time of an 38 minutes it’s closer to an old-fashioned vinyl LP, and this time it’s a digital-only release. The theme is an imaginary journey through the America of music and film; the nation as seen though the eyes of someone who’s never actually been there. The American Images page on the band’s website tells the stories behind the songs
There’s a strong emphasis on acoustic instruments, with a lot of flute, cor anglais and acoustic guitar. With touches of gospel and Americana the sound is closer to those 2008 gigs than to the symphonic prog-rock sweep of their previous album. It’s all very song-focussed, there are no lengthy instrumental passages, although there are some brief interludes of piano and cor anglais. But neither is it an unplugged record; there are electric solos courtesy of lead guitarist Pete West, and Colin Henney’s less-is-more keyboards add some effective atmospherics. Good as those two are, if anything the best instrumental performances come from woodwind player Wendy Marks with some evocative playing that’s a major component of their signature sound.
High points include the spine-tingling “Dust Bowl Bride”, with it’s haunting melody, evocative choral sounds and beautiful flute solo, and the simple but effective ballad “Comes And Goes”, with another melody that gets stuck in your head.
Evelyn Downing has progressed a long way in four years as a vocalist, giving an especially strong performance on “This Trail of Tears”. This recording marks the end of her work with Mermaid Kiss, as the band begin work on a follow-up to “Etarlis” with new singer Maria Milewska. It will be interesting to see what projects Evelyn involves herself with next.
I like this album a lot. It takes them in a slightly different musical direction while still keeping enough of a continuity with their earlier work. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s worth the wait.
It’s available for download from CDBaby.