Farmhouse Odyssey – Rise Of The Waterfowl (2016)

This is one of the bands who actually discovered me through my review work, and asked me if I was interested in writing an album review for their second album named Rise Of The Waterfowl. This was a though album to review, because these gentlemen made something quite brilliant. I love the album sleeve, the bright colours and the psychedelic look of it makes me curious… And the music fits the album artwork!

Profuna Ocean – In Vacuum (2016)

After quite some years Profuna Ocean finally released their second studio album named In Vacuum, which is also their first full length album. The album is just over one hour long, containing eight tracks of different lengths.

Personal Playlist by Iris (10 March 2016)

Yes, why not? I listen to a lot of new music, old music, weird music… Any kind of music! I discover a lot of new music thanks to the albums I get from Background Magazine/artists & bands to review, but sometimes I make time to explore both new and old music by myself. Here’s a selection of what I’m listening to recently…

MUST HAVE ALBUM: Mahoney – You Are The Big Bang (EP) (2016)

The debut EP from former Amplifier bassist and ‘riffmeister extraordinaire’ Neil Mahony (Mahoney)… And what a debut it is!

IWKC – Evil Bear Boris (2015)

The name of Russian band IWKC is an abbreviation of the words I Will Kill Chita, a joke that refers to the tensions the band members had in the past. There are ten different musicians contributing on this album (most of them playing classical instruments like cello and violin or jazz instruments like saxophone), plus the Gnesin State Musical College Choir. The band itself describes their music as a combination art rock, neo-psychedelica, post rock and neo-classic… Which makes me very curious. I just love the sleeve of the album. It’s a very very artistic painting of a furious bear. The inside of the album sleeve contains a letter written by Russian composer/musician Vladimir Martynov, it’s written in English and in Russian (and I have to admit, my English is better than my Russian). Vladimir gives a brief opinion about the album, which makes me even more curious.

Richard Barbieri & Tim Bowness – Flame (1994)

Why a review about this album? Well, it’s because it’s one of my favourite albums of all time. Every time I put this album on I enjoy it in its entirety.

Gazpacho – Molok (2015)

I discovered Gazpacho a couple of years ago through a friend of mine. He always played it at his home when I was visiting him. Because it was always used as ‘background music’ during our conversations I never really paid attention to the music. I appreciated the music when it got played but never thought to buy one of their albums because ‘it didn’t hit me’. I had the feeling something was missing, like a recipe that misses an ingredient, and needs a bit of extra pepper or garlic.

Steven Wilson – 4 ½ (2016)

This album (EP, actually) is named 4 ½ because it is an ‘interim release’ between Steven Wilson’s fourth album Hand.Cannot.Erase and his upcoming fifth studio album. It contains songs that didn’t make it on the Hand.Cannot.Erase album which was released in 2015, plus a song that was meant for the album The Raven That Refused To Sing. A lot of members who were involved with Wilson’s solo band over the years are contributing on the album; Adam Holzman (keyboards/piano), Nick Beggs (bass/chapman stick), Guthrie Govan (guitars), Dave Kilminster (guitars), Craig Blundell (drums & percussion), Marco Minnemann (drums & percussion), Chad Wackerman (drums & percussion), and Theo Travis (flute/saxophone). It’s 37 minutes long, it could almost go for a full album.

Anthony Phillips – Private Parts & Pieces I – IV (2015 5-CD Deluxe Clamshell Box Set)

Anthony Phillips is mostly known as the former guitarist of the band Genesis. Anthony left Genesis after their second studio album Trespass, making Steve Hackett his successor. After Genesis mister Phillips made a lot of solo albums and also collaborated with other musicians and made guest appearances on different albums from well-known artists like Mike Rutherford and even Steve Hackett. While making different studio albums, Anthony also released collections of (mostly) instrumental music named Private Parts & Pieces. Almost all tracks are written, composed and played by Anthony himself. Some of the tracks are recorded at home and some are recorded in different kinds of studios or other places. There are also demo tracks that were meant for other albums or collaborations but were never officially released.

Bruce Soord – Bruce Soord (2016)

Bruce Soord is known as The Pineapple Thief’s frontman/guitarist/lead vocalist. He collaborated with different musicians over the past few years and also does production/mixing work for several artists and bands. This self-titled album is Bruce’s first solo album. He wrote and performed on all the tracks of the album, with Darren Charles (Godsticks) playing additional guitar.