Jez Rowden (RIP)

Luo – Unspoken

People who go to gigs and deliberately choose to miss the support bands are very silly. Yes, some supports can be dire, but the opposite is also true and over the years I’ve been startled by many bands I’d never…

Lazuli

The Drill Hall, Chepstow 14th March 2020 Music flies over borders. Or at least it should; as Lazuli lead singer Dominique Leonetti quips, the band’s previous trips to the UK have been afflicted by such obstacles as snow, demonstrations, Brexit,…

Pee Bee – Or Not to Be

For a band from France, the new album from jazz collective Pee Bee is as British as the red telephone box on the cover. Maybe not surprising given that co-founder and bassist Gary Brunton is an ex-pat Burnley boy and…

Sirkis/Bialis IQ – Our New Earth

In 2016, in a church hall in downtown Stroud at Ian Fairholm’s beautifully curated Eppyfest, I had the pleasure of being introduced to the music of the Sirkis/Bialis International Quartet, featuring Israeli drummer Asaf Sirkis and Polish singer Sylwia Bialas.…

Admirals Hard

Pin-Ups, Islington, London Saturday, 1st February 2020 With a selection of TPA scribblists in attendance, it would be rude not to ask some of them how it went… Roger Trenwith Frowns. We all wear them too readily these days, so…

Godsticks – Inescapable

It’s over two years since Godsticks’ last album, the classy and visceral Faced With Rage, and four since they resolutely punched the button marked ‘HEAVY’ with Emergence, so I’ve been looking forward to hearing where they head with this one.…

The Decade in Review – Jez Rowden

How do you compare and rank albums as diverse as those released into the ‘Prog Zone’ in the last decade? It’s a tricky challenge that requires the use of generalisations, but also specific factoring. In this case, having assembled a…

Afenginn – Klingra

Was it not Jebediah Springfield who once said: “A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man”? Likewise, and with all certainty, music of true quality embiggens the soul, and few artists have a spirit as noble as Kim Rafael Nyberg and…

Thieves’ Kitchen – Genius Loci

Thieves’ Kitchen have produced some wonderful albums over the last decade and more, seemingly appearing with special new music every four or five years before vanishing again as quickly as they arrived, to pore over their next creation. 2015’s Clockwork…

Portico Quartet / Phil France

Gorilla, Manchester Wednesday, 6th November 2019 Another unexpected gig night – this is getting to be a habit – and Manchester beckons. So what’s on? Having studied the gig listings I’m drawn to Portico Quartet, a band that I’ve come…

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Author: Jez Rowden (RIP)