Music of 2018

I'm conscious that I've been a little quiet this year, but that doesn't mean I've been neglecting the finer things of life - among which I count music. Although my motivation for writing has been quite low, I've not been short of inspiration, and 2018 has proven to have been another great year for the music I love.

Gigs

Due to transport issues (not having a driving licence for the first part of the year) my gigging was somewhat restricted, but I still managed to get to a number of shows, mostly with the CRS. I began the year with the CRS Awards night in Wath, with This Winter Machine and Mostly Autumn providing wonderful entertainment. Other CRS gigs were Jump, John Hackett Band (joined by John's big brother, Steve), Lazuli and Southern Empire & Damanek, all of whom put on stellar performances. Elsewhere, I managed to get to Yes's 50th anniversary show in Sheffield City Hall, and just last week was back there at the brilliant Australian Pink Floyd. Closer to home, Neal Morse at the Musician in Leicester was a treat, as were the Norwegian band Soup, who sadly only attracted a select crowd for their excellent set. DanFest this year was superb - highlights for me were Comedy of Errors and I Am The Manic Whale, and Summer's End didn't fail to enchant with great bands and sparkling company! A first for me was my third festival of the year: a trip to Download (handy as it's on the doorstep) - more reflection here!

Gig of the year? Probably (just) Lazuli @ Summer's End.

 Live Albums

One of the things that I love about live recordings is their ability to transport one back to another time and place, and three of this year's live albums do just that for me. The other two on my list are not bands that I've seen live, but they are ones whose work I have admired for years and am so glad that their music is still being performed these days. My Top 5 for the year are (alphabetically):

Big Big Train - Merchants of Light
Brand X - Locked & Loaded
Steve Hackett - Wuthering Nights
John McLaughlin & Jimmy Herring - Live in San Francisco
Tangekanic - Hotel Cantaffordit

All these albums have some very poignant moments, but for the evocation of my feelings the first time Sanctuary in Music was performed at Summer's End last year, the top spot has to go (just) to Tangekanic!

Discoveries

I came across a number of acts for the first time this year, but the ones that stood out for me included the following:
John Holden & Mark Rowen: two excellent musicians & song-writers who have both pulled together a wonderful collection of talent to help get their music out there. Their albums, Capture Light & Radiance have been played a lot this year;
Oak, Malady, Electric Mud, Burntfield and the wonderfully titled Hats Off Gentlemen, It's Adequate have all delighted at the progressive end of things, as have Coast & Mildlife at the jazzier end, and my trip to Download introduced me to the wonderful bluesy metal of Greta van Fleet;
Nova Cascade have produced an album of ambient progressive music that is sensational, and I have delighted to discover the minimalist compositions of Steve Reich & Nils Frahm this year.

Jazz

I've found myself listening to a lot more jazz this year - not that it's been a stranger to me in previous years - and here are a few that have stood out for me over the past 12 months:

Coast - Coast An excellent debut from this Sydney four-piece
John Coltrane - Both Directions At Once The lost album from 1963, finally released in 2018
Dinosaur - Wonder Trail An excellent follow-up to Mercury 2017 nominee 'Together, As One'
The Hypersonic Factor - Inventions of Diffusion More progressive, but wonderfully jazzy too
Lydian Collective - Adventure A fantastically self-assured debut
Mildlife - Phase "cosmic jazz with a funky edge" from Melbourne
Ryan Porter - The Optimist A breathtaking long collection from this excellent trombonist
Bob Reynolds - Quartet Another stellar offering from a Snarky Puppy regular
Wayne Shorter - Emanon Fine orchestral jazz from the master
Soft Machine - Hidden Details Songs old and new from the latest incarnation of the band
Kamasi Washington - Heaven & Earth Storming soulful sounds
Chip Wickham - Shamal Wind A wonderful follow-up to last year's 'La Sombra'


And so, on to my top albums of the year... always a tough choice, and just as much so this year. Only 93 albums to choose from in my collection, but I've managed to whittle it down to 25, some of which I've mentioned already above. The first 20 I will list in alphabetical order, and then a Top 5.  So, here goes...:

Big Big Train - Merchants of Light. A marvellous record of last year's gigs at Cadogan Hall in London, that sounds like a studio recording. Favourite track: Brave Captain

Bomber Goggles - Gyreland. A contemporary fable of life on a new island formed by discarded plastic in the ocean. Favourite track: March of Tides

Coast - Coast. See above.  Favourite track: Blackline

Damanek - In Flight. A perfect combination of superb song writing and excellent musicianship fronted by the peerless Guy Manning. Favourite track: Ragusa

Judy Dyble - Earth is Sleeping. Poignant and at times emotive songs, and a voice that still enchants. Favourite track: Faded Elvis

Rikard Sjoblom's Gungfly - Friendship. Another assured collection from the BBT and former Beardfish multi-instrumentalist. Favourite track: If you fall Part 2

The Hypersonic Factor - Inventions of Diffusion. A wonderful instrumental collection that pushes the boundaries of Progressive music and jazz. Favourite track: The Pursuit

Kalman Filter - Exo-Oceans. A splendid assembly of evocative ambient electronica from Tangent mainstay Andy Tillison, designed to take you out of this world. Favourite track: Veltorn

Mike Kershaw - Arms Open Wide. The strongest album yet from Mike, tackling some powerful themes with his usual unique style. Favourite track: I Wish Your Eyes Were Mine

Lazuli - Saison 8. A band that never ceases to delight me, both on disc and on stage, this is yet again another brilliant offering, albeit one I can't fully understand! Favourite track: J'attends un Printemps

Lydian Collective - Adventure. A joyful, assured debut, full of life, light and great musicianship. Favourite track: Lydia's Dream

Laura Meade - Remedium. A soulful, folky, thoughtful collection of great songs and a great voice to go with them. Favourite track: Dragons

Nova Cascade - Above All Else. Ambient progressive music that is hard to categorise, and about which I have written elsewhere. Favourite track: Icarus

Perfect Beings - Vier. A third album called 'Four'! Four 'side long' tracks, all subdivided, all with a musical depth and complexity. Favourite track: Vibrational

Ryan Porter - The Optimist. Some of the best jazz around, and the best musicians to play it. Favourite track: The Psalmist

Riversea - The Tide. The long-awaited follow-up to 2012's Out of the Ancient World, Mark Atkinson & Brendan Eyre do not disappoint. Favourite track: Blasphemy

Mark Rowen - Radiance. Great songs, enhanced by the voice of Lisa Box who brings great depth and power to them. Favourite track: Feel Like Letting Go

Southern Empire - Civilisation. An outstanding sophomore offering from the Australian band that grew out of the ashes of Unitopia, and an excellent live act. Favourite track: Cries for the Lonely

Tangekanic - Hotel Cantaffordit. My Live album of the year, and a fabulous collection of tunes from two of the best bands around at the moment. Favourite track: Sanctuary in Music

Kamasi Washington - Heaven & Earth. 2016's The Epic was a hard act to follow, but Washington has done that with gusto in this powerful collection. Favourite track: Song For The Fallen


And so to my Top 5 for 2018...

5. John Holden - Capture Light. This is an album that has grown with every listen, with great storytelling, equally great musicianship, and a veritable feast of talent on display. Favourite track: Dreamcatching.

4. Gleb Kolyadin - Gleb Kolyadin. Gleb is one half of iamthemorning, a virtuoso musician who is just as much at home with the gentle progressive sounds as he is with the classics. This is a matchless collection of piano music that will enchant and entrance. Favourite track: Eidolon

3. John Hackett & Nick Fletcher - Beyond The Stars. In recent years John seems to have come out more fully from his brother's shadow, and has grown considerably as a Progressive musician in his own right, along with his regular band, of which Nick is a key part. This album allows both of them to fully flourish as musicians and songwriters, and Nick in particular shows such a breadth of skill and style in his playing. I count both men as friends, but even if I didn't this would still be an exceptional work. Favourite track: A Time In Place.

2. Oak - False Memory Archive. This Norwegian band took me completely by surprise with this release, but a pleasant surprise it was. Such assured music, with echoes of Riverside & Pink Floyd among others from the off, and a laid-back vibe that never fails to enthral and enchant: there is light a shade here, but neither in a flippant or maudlin manner. Just a stunning collection of finely crafted songs. Favourite track: We, The Drowned

1. The Tangent - Proxy. I've been a fan of The Tangent for a few years now, and I must confess that when I heard their latest album, Proxy, it took a while to really 'click' with me. Whilst recognisably a Tangent album, there is a distinctiveness about this record that sets it apart, and it was that, I think, that I struggled with to begin with. But given time and patience this album grew for me, and I grew towards it, and began to fully embrace its musical and lyrical brilliance. And now, here it is, my album of the year, and deservedly so. Favourite track: a tough call, but probably The Adulthood Lie


So there we are: another year over (almost), and another exceptional one for the music I love. Thank you for taking time to read this: what do you think of my choices? I know I've probably missed some important albums out, but there's only so much time in the year. I hope to be able to write more over the coming year, which may or may not be a good thing... Let's see what 2019 has to offer.

Nova Cascade - Above All Else

I don't know about you, but when I'm looking for new music (which I must confess I do from time to time) one of the avenues that I explore is through the 'tags' on Bandcamp. My tastes are reasonably broad, though they tend to hover mainly in the areas of Jazz and Progressive Rock, but every now and then I stray into other areas, particularly that of ambient music. Much of this can, at times, be seen as nothing more than aural wallpaper, though there are occasional diversions from this analysis.

It was because of this interest in these somewhat diffuse musical styles that my curiosity was piqued by Nova Cascade, who tag themselves as both Progressive Rock and Ambient. The latter seemed to be to the fore, as the band has had 3 tracks that have topped the UK ambient chart, but on further listening their progressive credentials showed forth as well.

Above All Else is the band's debut album, and comes as a result of three of the band members meeting by chance in an on-line chat room, swapping files and eventually creating this collection of 37 minutes-worth of music spread over 12 tracks. It is, in the band's words, 'an unashamedly home-made album', and the sounds are 'retro, and proudly so! Not through any contrivance on our part, but because that is just in our DNA.'

The band are: Dave Hilborne - synths, lead & backing vocals; Dave Fick - bass and Alessio Proietti - guitars & backing vocals. They are joined by Charlie Bramald on flute and Heather Leslie on violin, and there is a special appearance by David Anania (Blue man group) on drums on the track 'Epiphany'. The music they produce is mostly instrumental, but 4 of the 12 tracks have lyrical content, of varying amounts.

The cover art (above) seems to be inspired by (or the inspiration for) the opening title track, which has a nice poetic quality to it, wanting the rapture of love to never end. The track opens with a ticking clock, which then reverses to give that sense of time standing still. Dave Hilborne's vocals are not prominent and are quite breath-y, which gives the song an ethereal quality. Continuum continues that dreamy theme with a gentle rhythm and guitars to the fore, but not overpowering in a mix of multi-layered instrumentation. Prophecy, the longest track on the album at just over 5 minutes, has a more brooding feel to it, with the bass a little more prominent. We Never Spoke is more up-beat with flute and piano vying with each other, before an almost metal feel, and a feeling of motion and hurry about it, which perhaps is fitting as we move into Hurtled. This has an almost industrial feel to begin with before Hilborne's vocals come in in their usual understated way. Lo-Fi is a soaring instrumental piece, that, like a number of the tracks on the album, seems to want to give more and go further - perhaps there's scope for developing some of the musical ideas in further releases. One Hundred & Fourteen is a quiet, meditative piece mainly on piano, with atmospheric keys in the background. Epiphany (as stated above) is the track with live drums on, which gives it a vibrant, energetic ambiance, albeit briefly, as the track only lasts just over 2 minutes. Imago is wistful and thoughtful, and then hopeful and emergent, perhaps relating to the sense of the last stage of metamorphosis that the title suggests. Swept Away has a strong driving beat to it - perhaps the least 'ambient' track in the collection - and some good bass work in the middle stages of the song. Icarus is, for me, the strongest tune musically of the set, and perhaps the most 'progressive' with hints of Tony Banks in it at times. The album ends with Wilted, a quiet piano-led piece that layers many sounds and has an almost mantra-like quality to it. Again there is a feeling of wanting more at the end, but also of tranquillity and peace.

This is an album that repays multiple listens, as each iteration brings more depth and interest from this simple yet complex suite. You can give it a listen here, and if enamoured even purchase a copy, which will encourage the band to create and develop more ideas. Above all else, do check it out!

Mike Kershaw - Arms Open Wide

Progressive music is a strange beast. The name seems to cover so much ground these days, from material that is obviously influenced by, and even seeks to ape, the music of the 1970s heyday of the genre, to more avant garde, experimental tunes. And one of the finest places to find this latter example of Progressive music over recent years has been the wonderfully eclectic Bad Elephant Music label, whose roster is 'progressive' in the widest sense of the term.

From the Bad Elephant 'stable' comes Mike Kershaw's new album, 'Arms Open Wide', his fifth LP - his second with BEM - along with 2 EPs previously released (all available through Bandcamp). One thing is clear from the start of this disc, and that is that this is 'progressive' in terms of Mike's canon: there is clear development of ideas and song structure here from previous releases.

Part of that development is that Mike is not alone on these songs: as he did on his last album, he has gathered a collection of musicians to play guitar, bass and drums, which gives a certain depth and completeness to the music that would be lacking without them. Each brings their own twist to the music, but this doesn't detract from Mike's trademark style, which permeates all the songs, even where Stu Nicholson is singing instead of Mike in places.

The first half of the album is 'The Fear Quartet', a four part suite of songs that takes up 22 minutes. By virtue of the subject matter, but also in keeping with Mike's style, there is a dark melancholy about much of the material, but not in a negative way. The musicianship throughout is spot on, and Gareth Cole's guitars in particular have a depth and maturity to them that lifts the music. That darkness continues throughout the collection, but there are occasional glimmers of something a little more optimistic and hopeful. I've commented before, I think, about a subtle spirituality in Mike's writing and this is evident here in places too. One stand-out example for me is the song 'I Wish Your Eyes Were Mine', in which Kershaw bemoans an inability to see the good that another cannot miss: "I see desperation on the lines of every face, but you, you see courage and a love that leaves no trace." Is it an adult looking at the innocence of a child, or a search for a more positive world-view in general?

The rest of the album is a kind of enigma, as the next tracks - 'A Promise', Keys To The Kingdom' & 'Dark Spaces' - all have an up-beat feel to them, yet also all have a feeling of menace and foreboding which almost feels at odds with that mood. The album closer 'Curtains', though, leaves us in no conflict: "We ring in every new year so we cannot hear the screams. Eyes open we approach the abyss that lies ahead: it's time to close the curtains now."

To be fair, perhaps with the exception of 'I wish...', this not an album to put on to cheer yourself up, (despite the up-beat nature of some of the songs) but music has many roles in life and this is a well-crafted collection of songs, both musically & lyrically, that address some of the darker areas of contemporary life with insight and creativity. Now that there is a band to play this music, maybe we'll see a live performance some time...?

Download 2018 - a 'Vicar's' experience

"Are you really a vicar?" is not a question I get asked a lot, I must confess, but it cropped up on more than one occasion over the last weekend. When I moved to Castle Donington last autumn, one of the things I was asked to do by the church was to explore the possibility of setting up some kind of chaplaincy presence at the Download Festival, the largest Heavy Metal gathering in the UK, which has made its home at Donington Park, and as a first step towards that I attended the festival for the first time last weekend.

I'm not a complete stranger to festivals such as this: I attend Greenbelt regularly, but Download is something a little different to that. At its peak on the Saturday evening there were estimated to be abut 100,000 people on site, plus staff etc: this is a HUGE event. Even my last festival - Leeds in 2006 - was nothing compared to this, and my previous experiences in my youth - Glastonbury 1981, Reading 1980 & Knebworth 1979 - had not prepared me for the scale of Download. This field becomes a small town for the weekend, focussed on one thing: heavy metal music.

Anyone who's read this blog will know that my particular preference is for more progressive sounds, and on the whole these were few and far between. I did manage to find some bands who were a little different from the bass heavy, loud, drum-laden, shouty (and usually sweary) fare that was generally offered - much to the average punter's delight it seemed. von Hertzen Brothers, Plini and Koyo were all a little more progressive, though the latter two were playing in a small tent and were a little too loud for me, though they left me wanting to check out their material at a later date and perhaps with a little more control of the volume. Of the main bands, Temperance Movement were as good as I remembered them from their appearance at Greenbelt a few years ago, and I was delighted to discover Greta Van Fleet, with roots in Led Zeppelin and the East Coast sound of the late 1960s.

Of the headliners, Avenged Sevenfold were solid, and I recognised a few tracks from my wife playing their stuff in the car, though they did have a slight pyrotechnical problem during their set when the stage caught fire! Guns 'n' Roses pulled the biggest crowd on Saturday night, and gave a 3½ hour set of their own material and some covers, but I was left a little nonplussed and flat, and left after about 2 hours (as did a few others). The musicianship was fine, but it seemed to me to be more of a performance than a show. Ozzy Osbourne, Sunday's final act, on the other hand, had the crowd from the off and stormed through his solo material and classics from Black Sabbath's catalogue: for me the highlight of the weekend.

Ozzy, of course, is hailed (marketed) as The Prince of Darkness: so should a Methodist Minister really be partaking in such matters? The festival was interesting in many respects, but one for me was the blatant at times use of pagan and satanic symbolism, and a downright antipathy, rather than the usual apathy, towards aspects of the Christian faith. At one point Marilyn Manson was advocating allegiance to Satan in one of his songs, and on more than one occasion I spotted a t-shirt with the legend "Jesus is a C***" on the back. That said, I came under no personal attack, and even had a number of interesting conversations with people in various stages of inebriation about why I was there, and what life and faith was all about, though I can't claim any miraculous conversions.

Although I didn't get to meet everyone on site, I think I was the only one there in clerical garb -  a decision I made consciously as I was there as a guest of the Festival on behalf of the church. But I'm sure I wasn't the only Christian there: part of the work of the Welfare team was being done by a group from an Anglican Fresh Expression in Chesterfield which goes by the name of "The Order of the Black Sheep", and it will be good to confer with them about any future work that the churches do on the site. Other believers off-site were no doubt praying for the work there, and some tried to get the message to festival goers by flying over the site with a banner pulled behind a small aircraft declaring 'Jesus loves every 1 of U' - which had scant if any response, other than someone asking me later whether I'd been flying the plane (well, I am the SkyPilot!). That kind of scatter-gun approach may make them feel better, but maybe it would be better to show the crowd just how much Jesus loves them by serving them rather than by bombing them?

I think my biggest mistake this year was going alone: there were times when I needed someone to be with and talk to and no-one was there other than complete strangers. But I think there are things that can be done at future festivals for the sake of God's Kingdom: there is a great need, and I am convinced that, were Jesus here today (which, through his Body, the Church he is, of course...) he is more likely to be at Download than he is to be in the Methodist Church (or any other). And maybe I need to explore more ways of bringing my two worlds of music and God together...

Spock's Beard - Noise Floor

I came to Spock's Beard quite late in the piece. The first album of theirs that I heard was 'X', and I have to say that I was quite bowled over by it, and from then on I started to dip into their back catalogue, and through that discovered the talents of Neal Morse. With Neal at the helm, they were a different band, and I was saddened to hear that he had left the band following his 'conversion' to evangelical Christianity - he didn't want to foist his new-found beliefs on the band, which I suppose is quite gracious. Perhaps some of Neal's intensity had gone from the sound, but the music was still good.

Of course I was getting into the band just as another major change was afoot, as shortly after 'X' was released Nick d'Virgilio left the band. With Ted Leonard taking on the vocal duties and Jimmy Keegan occupying the drummer's chair, the sound of the band changed again, and, if I'm honest, they seemed to be lacking something for me. After two albums with this line-up, Keegan left the band, but last year it was announced that d'Virgilio would be coming aboard again as drummer & backing vocalist for their 13th album, 'Noise Floor', which has just been released.

This strikes me as a very positive album, and for me the best they've produced in the last eight years. The opener, 'To Breathe Another Day', rocks with a firm ease, but midway through shifts into 7/8 time and produces some unconventional drumming as a result, but all to the good. Leonard's voice has a strong rock quality to it and helps to drive the song along well. 'What Becomes of Me' starts with a gently ticking clock, and begins in a more thoughtful vein, before kicking off into a steady rhythm with good interplay between guitars & keys. This is unmistakably Spock's Beard, with good vocal harmonies and numerous time signature changes. 'Somebody's Home' moves between acoustic guitars and what sounds like a oboe effect on the keys & electric full band building for the chorus. The bass comes through strong, and even sounds like a double bass at times: again, a good, solid song. 'Have We All Gone Crazy Yet' starts with good interplay between guitars, bass and keys, before moving into the main section of the song which is mostly in 5/4 but with numerous changes into 3/4 & 4/4 - maybe they have gone crazy! A catchy tune, though perhaps not a dance song, and at 8:07 it's the longest song in the collection - perhaps a little too long, for me, as it does drag a little towards the end.

'So This Is Life' sounds, not unpleasantly, like Sergeant Pepper-era Beatles from the off, and this just increases as the double bass comes in: just like the Beatles, but with better drumming! In contrast to the lightness of this song, 'One So Wise' is markedly darker, with first keys and then guitars taking a lead, and later sparring with each other. The Prog purist will warm to the Melotrons, and this tune displays for me a strong Kansas feel to it. 'Box of Spiders' is an instrumental, and from the off is an interesting and enthralling amalgam of all kinds of patterns and rhythms working in counterpoint with each other, from keys, guitars, bass and drums. Maybe a hint of arachnophobia...? 'Beginnings' is the album closer (?) and from the start has a feel of a classic Spock's Beard song, harking back to the Neal Morse days (what I know of it, which is limited): I can certainly hear Neal singing this, and it certainly has his intensity to it.

A bonus Disc has a small collection of songs from the 'Cutting Room Floor', all quite short (under 5 minutes). 'Days We'll Remember' is a pleasant-enough acoustic-y waltz-time song, which may, in days gone by, have been a possible single - may've got some airplay on BBC Radio 2. 'Bulletproof' has a good melody and the slightest hint of Genesis for me at one point. 'Vault' is probably the strongest of the four, and begins with some good duelling guitars and builds into a solid rocker, even in challenging time signatures. 'Armageddon Nervous' (seriously...) is another instrumental and is temporally all over the place, but pleasant enough. Perhaps rightly not first choice material.

This is an album of good, AOR-tinged pop-y Progressive Rock, as are most of Spock's Beard's output. I was going to say that this is, to my mind, the best the band have done since Nick d'Virgilio left, but technically he's back, and that may be the reason why I enjoy this album as much as I do. Yes there are flaws, but very few bands are producing perfect albums and this is certainly worth an hour or so of your time.