Touchstone have released a promo for their DVD “Live Inside Outside”, containng the full set from their show at Bilston Robin 2 in September 2013, and their set opening the High Voltage festival in Victoria Park in London back in 2010.
The DVD is availible for pre-order from the Touchstone Shop.
Mastodon’s latest. Posted as much for the video than for the music. Yes I know the first few moments are a bit sexist (As Nigel Tufnel would say), but just watch the rest of it.
Panic Room are back on the road again. The first two shows at Bath Komedia (below) and Reading South Street (above) were great shows, with much the same set as a Gloucester back in April. Next weekend of gigs include Liverpool, Bilston and The Borderline in London.
HRH Prog 3 have announced the first bands, including The Enid, Steeleye Span, Mostly Autumn, The Enid, The Reasoning and Touchstone.
Not totally convinced by the SF and fantasy actors as part of the event, and wonder what message that sends and what stereotypes it reinforces.
The lead track from the much-awaited new Opeth album “Pale Communion”.
New single by the London-based metal band fronted by Finnish valkyrie Elina Siirala.
Home to Mostly Autumn, Halo Blind and Heather Findlay’s various projects, York has been a centre of progressive and contemporary classic rock for quite a few years now, and Cloud Atlas are the latest in a string of excellent bands to emerge from the city.
Cloud Atlas is the band formed by former Stolen Earth, Breathing Space and Mostly Autumn vocalist Heidi Widdop. The band features Martin Ledger on guitar, one-time musical partner with Heidi in the duo The Secrets, a rhythm section of Neil Scott and Mostly Autumn alumni Stu Carver, and Dave Randall on keys. As is becoming increasingly common nowadays, the band crowdfunded the album with a pre-order campaign.
The album begins with two and half minutes of eastern-sounding atmospherics, with electronic drones, wordless wailing vocals and controlled guitar feedback. Then Martin Ledger’s guitar riff hits you right between the eyes and “Searchlight” explodes into a powerful rocker with a great bluesy soulful vocal. It ends with Martin Ledger cutting loose with a glorious extended solo. The effect is Janis Joplin fronting The Cult circa “Sonic Temple” with Steve Rothery on lead guitar. And that’s just the opening song.
The acoustic guitar and breathy vocals at the beginning of “Siren Song” recall the fragile beauty of Goldfrapp’s last album before building into another atmospheric rocker flavoured with Martin Ledger’s e-bowed guitar. The over-ambitious “Let The Blood Flow” is the one song on the record that doesn’t quite work; the hard-rocking opening part is great but it loses it’s way with its awkward middle section, and the whole thing comes out sounding disjointed.
But we’re back on track with with two following numbers, the length, brooding “Falling” and the piano-led “The Grieving”. Instrumental passages in both recall recent Marillion, especially the minor-key piano chords leading into Martin Ledger’s overdriven solo at the beginning of the latter.
The final part of the album includes two real highlights, the big epic “Stars” with its memorable hook, and atmospheric ballad “Journey’s End” with some beautiful cello playing from Sarah Pickwell, after which the acoustic “I’ll Take Care of You” forms a coda for the album.
Heidi’s distinctive vocals set them apart from many of their obvious peers, but this album’s sound is as much about Martin Ledger’s soaring melodic lead guitar. There are still a few echoes of Heidi’s previous band Stolen Earth, and anyone still missing that band should find a lot to like about Cloud Atlas.
It’s big widescreen rock with an epic scope, with just one song under seven minutes and some stretching to nine or ten. It may be that some songs might have benefited from slightly tighter arrangements, but the music still feels as though it’s likely to come across very powerfully live. It amounts to an impressive début from the latest addition to their home city’s already strong roster of bands.
The band will be launching the album at Fibbers in York on June 28th, and the album can be ordered from http://www.cloudatlas.org.uk/webstore.htm
On the eve of the second leg of Panic Room’s UK tour I caught up with Jon and Anne-Marie to talk about the album “Incarnate” and the tour for Trebuchet Magazine. Here’s what they had to say. Continue reading
It Bites have had to cancel their appearance at Prog Splash in Holmfirth because they’ve lost all their data:
It Bites have been forced to pull out of Saturday’s Holmfirth Prog Splash. Due to technical issues and a memory card malfunction John Beck’s entire It Bites catalogue of keyboard programming – some 30 years worth – has been lost.
Under normal circumstances in the time between now and the gig John would have worked day and night to reprogram it but with him committed to other projects this week the task has proved impossible. Therefore, rather than put on a sub standard show the band have taken the difficult decision to cancel the gig.
It Bites realise this impacts on both their fans and to other bands on the bill and sincerely apologise to all.
The moral to this is “always back up your data”. Or go back to the good old days of Hammond B3s and Mellotrons….
46 years after his biggest hit “Fire”, Arthur Brown has a new record out. There is something very, very English about it…