There is a touching, almost nostalgic sense of solidarity which wistfully embraces you the further you travel into this wonderfully assured and beautifully accomplished debut album from This Winter Machine. A powerful and haunting presence elusively lingers in the music,…
View More This Winter Machine – The Man Who Never Was
Islington Assembly Hall, London Friday, 13th January 2017 The Islington Assembly Hall is a magnificent venue. Built in 1929 it is an eloquent testament to the confidence, exuberance and elegance of the art deco period, even though its formidable scale…
View More The Steve Rothery Band / The Dave Foster Band
In a year which did so much to highlight the future possibilities for creative innovation in prog through its openness to modern sounds and willingness to integrate contemporary ideas, it is only fitting that the release of Dårskapens Monotoni from…
View More Kaipa DaCapo – Dårskapens Monotoni
The assured, comforting rhythmic beating of a heart, echoed inhalations of breath, gradually merging with the ceaseless ticking of a clock, whispered mutterings from indistinct and barely heard voices all come to an abrupt end with the stark intrusion of…
View More t – Epistrophobia
The existence of No Spare Planet, the third studio album from collaborators Nikki Squire and Nigel McLaren, is a bitter sweet experience. On the one hand it marks the triumphant return of Esquire nearly twenty years after the release of…
View More Esquire – III: No Spare Planet
From the moment you hear the opening chords of From the Undertow there is a reassuring and comforting sense that you are in familiar waters. Both the style and the tone signal not only clear connections with And Then There…
View More Tony Banks – A Curious Feeling (Deluxe 2 Disc Expanded Edition)
O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London Friday 21st October 2016 This is my first visit to the Shepherd’s Bush Empire and I absolutely love it. Built in 1903 as a music hall, it became the BBC Television Theatre in 1953 and…
View More Katatonia with Vola and Agent Fresco
When time finally runs out for the human race, what will we be left with? We face increasing uncertainty about the future, the dwindling availability of resources, the extinction of species, the greed and consumption which plunders our planet with…
View More Thence – We Are Left With A Song
Progressive rock speaks to us directly, intensely, profoundly; it elicits all manner of feelings, evokes a gamut of passions and emotions and forces to the surface thoughts and ideas which startle and surprise. It takes hold of us, resonates and…
View More Oak – Lighthouse
The seemingly innocuous appearance of Barack Obama’s voice at the start of Another Hope is a pivotal and profoundly brilliant seminal moment for this exceptional third solo album from Dec Burke. Taken from his New Hampshire primary speech in 2008,…
View More Dec Burke – Book of Secrets