Thursday 29 August 2024
Kujakuon's Yugiriro no Genso, from 1984
Tuesday 27 August 2024
Homunculus Res 2013 to 2023, limited time only
These guys put out 5 wonderful albums very reminiscent of Rascal Reporters as you could tell from the preceding Lunaphone, all our wonderful. The first one may be the best but the gradations between quality are not too significant and others might disagree. If there is any drawback it's that the tracks are quite similar and the drony organ/guitar sound becomes a bit repetitive, a bit more variety in tempo/sound would have been quite welcome. They do mix instr. with vocals, like RR.
Note the classic prog dissonances that turn up on this unfortunately short instrumental from the first release with the wonderfully silly art of a mushroom-growing scalp:
The first track of the second 2015 CD sounds very much like Het Pandorra Ensemble:
And so on as the years pass, multiple enjoyable sounds...
Friday 23 August 2024
Lunophone Surroundings 2024, limited time only
Here's a really stunning find from my friend, very much like Rascal Reporters and just as good. (The bonus tracks from them I posted back then gave me so much joy and happiness for such a long time btw and hopefully I wasn't the only one.)
Online info:
Lunophone is a new musical project born from the fruitful collaboration between Dario D'Alessandro (Homunculus Res) and James Strain (Rascal Reporters). Six compositions from each member result in a total of 12 songs which were played and arranged from their respective locations in Italy and Ireland.
The result is an intriguing fusion of styles united by common tastes and feelings that lead the two musicians to craft a blend of progressive jazz-rock with influences from Canterbury/RIO and characterised by bizarre and eclectic avant-pop song structures.
The album marries lively and fun rock music with delicate and intricate soundscapes, occasionally featuring microtonal elements due to Strain's use of fretless and Middle Eastern instruments. The songs themselves are dynamic and moody, with shifting shapes and articulated structures, further complicated by the ambiguous lyrics written and sung by D'Alessandro.
The richness of the arrangements and the melodic sophistication lend a dense and pulsating quality to the music, with layers and subtleties waiting to be discovered and savoured with each listen.
Lunophone evokes the notion of a sound emanating from the Moon, bewitching and mysterious. "Surroundings" is a 42-minute album, characterized by its compact sound masterfully handled by Strain in mixing and mastering.
Dario and Homunculus Res info here. James Strain here.
Definitely all the tracks here are strong, barely any throwaways. You could say about half the tracks are reminiscent of 70s Ital-prog like Picchio dal and half are more Rascal Reporters RIO in complexity. And that's a good combo as far as I'm concerned.
Cioch charraige sounds just like classic RR RIO:
The last track gives you an indication of the Picchio-like sound derivation, with the electric guitar arpeggios, breathy vocals, and flutes, bassoon (?) and other chamber instruments alongside:
Wednesday 21 August 2024
Missus Beastly - Minden 1976, limited time only
Saturday 17 August 2024
Lifeline Fauhrt ins Blaue by request, plus the other 2, requested
Wednesday 14 August 2024
Journey's Charge of the Light Brigade from 1973, requested, limited time only
Total surprise for me, and quite unexpected--obviously. Thanks to the requester from long ago. Information here, for this unreleased album.
This came before their ST from 1975, see their discography here. I'm just going to copy paste the info inside:
The unfinished album by the original pre - Steve Perry Journey. 13 tracks from the fusion tinged rockers plus 3 live tracks from a pre-Journey Schon fusion band known as Birthday.
Includes the title song & more rare unreleased masterpieces.
Journey:
Neal Schon - Guitar
Ross Valory - Bass
Gregg Rolie - Vocals, Keyboards
George Tickner - Guitar
Prairie Prince - Drums
The last three tracks are apparently from a Neal Schon group between Santana
and Journey, which the cover says is called Birthday and is from Diamond Head,
11/73 (not the whole album, as the poster states in the info listing here.
The cover just says these three tracks are from that date). In the liner notes
to the 3rd Santana album from 1971, Rolie says when he and Neal quit the band
(after the 4th album), he opened up a restaurant for a year before hooking up
with Schon to form Journey. The 1st Journey album's songs are copyrighted 1974
and the album was released in '75, so it's logical Neal was doing something
musically during the year or so between the two bands. All three of these
tracks are instrumentals and it sounds like a decent audience recording in
a small club. The first thirteen tracks are all studio recordings and other
than some hiss and slight distortion in louder places, are probably an 8.5-9
on a sound quality scale of 1 to 10.
The rough and raw Kohoutek track is a bit different from the studio version that came out subsequently on the ST Journey from 1975:
An untitled Fusion track is quite impressive we must admit:
Monday 12 August 2024
Jazz Oder Nie, Northsea November
Friday 9 August 2024
Thierfeldt Dilettantischer Sentimentalismus, 1980
The drummer for the Release Music O. released this remarkably beautiful fusion album in 1986, playing in addition to percussion, various keyboards, flute. For ex., If You Think:
Traumwandler:
Wednesday 7 August 2024
Oktagon 1980 ST reripped
Monday 5 August 2024
Back to Third Stream with their Black Widow (1989) lossless limited time only
This one came out in 1989 but it's still enjoyable here and there. If you heard their compilation Celebrating 40 Years, many of the tracks appeared there, and possibly all the ones worth hearing. You can see for ex. there are renditions of Flintstones (for real!), Sanford and Son, Battle Hymn of the Republic, the awful William Tell overture, etc.
Information here. Of course the title track is the best composition: