Steve Thorne – Island Of The Imbeciles (2016)

You would say this would be a punk rock album by looking at the album sleeve, probably because of the steampunk-like British flag and the graffiti text on it. I never heard of this artist before, and I actually should be ashamed of it, because I found out this is music that I really enjoy listening to. This isn’t punk, but pure and wonderful prog rock/pop, and very accessible too. Some tracks could be even filed under soft prog, or something like that. It doesn’t contain long prog epics, but songs between three and seven minutes long.

Crashride – Crashride (2015)

Crashride is a debut album made by French Canadians Jean-Sébastien Côté (composer, sound designer) and François Therriault (guitarist, composer), and has different musicians contributing on several tracks. The sleeve looks very interesting, it reminds me of a microscopic cluster of plant cells. The music itself is mostly instrumental. It is dreamy progressive and electronic music, with lovely ambient and soundscape moments, which I find very beautiful. Twelve tracks that are between three and six minutes long, which sound very good. Keyboards/synthesizers, guitars, bass, Chapman stick and v-drums are mostly presented. Frédérike Bédard provides vocals on some of the songs. This is a tough album to review track by track, because the instruments you hear are often merged together perfectly, making it one gamut of musicality.

Purple Flower Progressive Hour with Stick Men and Gazpacho interview!

Not one, but two amazing interviews!!

Stick Men, Live At The Boerderij, Zoetermeer, 16 October 2015

Stick Men started as a solo project from Tony Levin on Chapman Stick and during the years he formed a stable (touring) band with Pat Mastelotto on drums and Markus Reuter on Touch Guitar. Tony and Pat are also playing in King Crimson which also recently toured.