Rafael Pacha first came to my attention as part of The Samurai Of Prog universe, collaborating with such acts as Kimmo Pörsti, Guildmaster and Inner Prospekt. His exceptional talents on a huge variety of instruments have lifted all the music…
View More Rafael Pacha With The Friends of (Con)Fusion – Not Normal After Music
Synth pop has been the soundtrack for much of my adult life. From electronic beats underlying the dance clubs of the eighties to the current day output of Taylor Swift, synthesizers have been an inescapable part of the music scene.…
View More Various Artists – Musik Music Musique 1979: The Roots Of Synth Pop
CBGB, located in what was at the time one of the least desirable parts of New York City, could barely aspire to divedom. It was a sleazy, tiny and filthy bar in a city that was spiraling down the toilet.…
View More Various Artists – CBGB & OMFUG: A New York City Soundtrack 1975-1986
Nearly twenty years after the release of his superb first solo album (Four O’Clock And Hysteria), Spock’s Beard guitarist Alan Morse releases another fine record with So Many Words. Whereas the debut was largely jazz fusion, the new record opens…
View More Alan Morse – So Many Words
The second collaboration between Snarky Puppy and Metropole Orkest, Somni (Catalan for “dream”), is an introspective tour de force that leaves the listener breathless. Watch the companion video, and you can see that even the musicians themselves look on in…
View More Snarky Puppy – Somni
When Spock’s Beard keysman Ryo Okumoto teamed up with I Am The Manic Whale’s Michael Whiteman for the former’s 2022 solo album, The Myth Of The Mostrophus, it ended up as my favourite album of the year. Three years later,…
View More Spock’s Beard – The Archaeoptimist
Progressive rock and dance music share some DNA. Both are enamoured of the latest technology and long form explorations of the music. Both are known for incorporating influences from genres as diverse as classical music and third world rhythms. At…
View More Various Artists – Burn It Up: The Rise Of British Dance Music 1986-1991
Upon its initial release in 2011, Fly From Here, the first of the new millennium Yes albums not to feature vocalist Jon Anderson, received a critical reception that was, shall we say, less than stellar. The only studio album to…
View More Yes – Fly From Here (Return Trip)
In 2023, when I reviewed Sad Serenity’s debut album, The Grand Enigma, I remarked that the band showed a lot of promise for future outings and, with their widescreen approach to progressive metal, the possibilities for Marcell Kaemmerer and company…
View More Sad Serenity – Tiny Miracles
The members of Samurai Of Prog are among the most ubiquitous musicians in all of progressive rock. The are so many variations of SoP that I have lost count. The one thing they have in common is, of course, high…
View More Marco Bernard – Moby Dick