August 2022 – T P A

Solstice

A New Day Festival, Mount Ephraim, Faversham, Kent Saturday, 20

Mikael Åkerfeldt – Clark (O.S.T.)

In all my years of reviewing, it’s surprising to me that I’ve never reviewed a soundtrack before. And this is no small-time indie flick soundtrack, this is a syndicated Netflix show, available to millions of viewers around the globe. You…

Six by Six – Six by Six

Six by Six is a collaboration between three accomplished and acclaimed musicians from different parts of the globe, Canadian Ian Crichton (Saga), Englishman Nigel Glockler (Saxon) and American Robert Berry (3). What drew me to this release was Ian Crichton.…

Alberto Bravin – Big Big Train

After three visits to the United Kingdom to attend shows and two previous interviews with founder/songwriter/bassist Greg Spawton, I have the honour to speak once again to a member of the famous English prog band, Big Big Train. New Italian…

ArcTanGent 2022

Fernhill Farm, Compton Martin Friday 19th & Saturday 20th August 2022 Returning after a three year absence, and for its eighth incarnation, the ArcTanGent festival has marked itself out as a kind of Glastonbury for the math-, post- and noise-rock…

Long Distance Calling – Eraser

Long Distance Calling are a band that has a reputation for almost starting from scratch with each new album. I made the comment in my review for their previous album that the band “seem to take on a different aspect…

Lifesigns

De Boerderij, Zoetermeer Saturday, 20th August 2022 More than a year after the release of their most recent album, Altitude, at last Lifesigns finds itself in the Netherlands for a live show. “Finally” are the first words of founder/songwriter/singer/keyboardist John…

Prog For Peart 2

Abingdon United Football Club, Oxfordshire 1st & 2nd July, 2022 A year ago, the first outing of this wonderful little festival, in aid of Glioblastoma Multiforme Research (for the particular form of brain cancer that ultimately took the life of…

Lonely Robot – A Model Life

A Model Life is the excellent fifth album from John Mitchell’s Lonely Robot, and it’s not only his most personal album to date but could well be his most complete one, both musically and lyrically. With wonderful slabs of spritely…

Gazpacho – Fireworking At St. Croux

Back in 2020, Gazpacho inimitably added to the general strangeness of that momentous Covid year with their own particularly peculiar and unmistakably ‘Gazpacho-flavoured’ release, Fireworker, a darkly hypnotic concept album. The pandemic prevented them from presenting it in a live…