Fordham Road - Fordham Road

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2017
Time: 53:02
Size: 126,2 MB
Label: Self Released
Styles: Progressive Rock/Crossover prog
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Andrew - 5:49
 2. New Love in New Places - 3:24
 3. Midnight Skyways - 2:51
 4. Eye to I - 3:32
 5. Take One - 2:47
 6. The Universal Dream - 2:36
 7. Goodnight 617 - 2:22
 8. Moe's Loganberry Stash - 9:56
 9. Tom's Basement Jam - 7:05
10. On the Road - 7:31
11. Same Love in Different Places - 5:05

This November, Fordham Road will be releasing their self-titled debut album. Fordham Road was conceptualized when the band formed in January 2016, and it tells the story of how four individual artists became united in a single musical vision. On the album you’ll hear several styles of music influencing the progressive rock sound that has become what Fordham Road is today.
This will be Fordham Road’s second release of 2017, coming on the heels of The Gates of Heaven EP that was released in February. The new full-length album will feature one previously released single (“New Love in New Places”) along with nine newly recorded tracks, some of which will be recognized by fans of their impressive live show.
Fordham Road is Kristian Veech (vocals/guitar/keys), Tom Shubsda (drums), Mark McCarthy (guitar/trombone/vocals), and Joe Everett (bass). Several special guests also contributed to this album, including Gianluca Farina (who also played trumpet on The Gates of Heaven), Chris Dorsey (from Slack Tide), Moe Michnick (from Astro Collective), and Ethan Wojick (who currently is performing with Chiggin and Baked Potatoes). The album artwork was designed by Nessa Godinez.
Physical Copies will be released on November 19th at Fordham Road’s album release show. It will be made available on all digital platforms on November 20th. The Album release show will be at The Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA. Tickets are only $5 and the show runs from 4-8pm. Tenfold Path, Robinwood, and Amanda McCarthy will be performing at this show as well.
Make sure to check out Fordham Road on Facebook and Instagram to keep updated on events leading up to the album release. Fordham Road would like to thank everyone who has supported them on their journey so far, and they can’t wait to share the new album with all of you!

Fordham Road

The Larry Dougher Band - Let me Stay

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2006
Time: 33:58
Size: 77,9 MB
Label: Self Released
Styles: Blues/Electric Blues
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Willis - 3:05
 2. Borrowed Time - 3:06
 3. Better off (Without You) - 5:15
 4. Let me Stay - 3:56
 5. I Wanna Know - 1:49
 6. Tired & Troubled - 3:58
 7. I'll Always Be - 2:58
 8. Make me Love Again - 3:37
 9. Butterscotch - 4:03
10. I Wanna Know (Rhumba) - 2:07

The studio debut from this exciting New England-based blues trio infuses Chicago blues with their own passion and intensity. With passion and reckless abandonment, Larry's guitar playing and singing never fails to leave a crowd exhilarated and amazed. It is because of his live performances that Larry has gained a reputation among his fans, musicians, and critics as being a rising star on the blues horizon; often surprising them with his antics and interaction with the crowd. For the last few years, fans have been waiting for a studio album to match the intensity of the bands live shows. Now the wait is finally over.
The bands debut album “Let Me Stay” features everything fans would expect to hear from The Larry Dougher Band. What was not as expected from a first album was the depth of Larry’s songwriting talents, as he wrote all but one of the songs on “Let Me Stay”. The songs have a firm foothold in the blues while incorporating other genres as Larry pushes his raw emotion and talent past the limits of straight-ahead blues. Not satisfied to merely pay tribute to his heroes, Larry infuses Chicago blues with his own intensity and fearlessness.
Larry Dougher began playing guitar at the age of 15, although self-taught, he turned to such "teachers" as Buddy Guy, Albert King, Muddy Waters, BB King, Jimmie Vaughan, Magic Sam, Otis Rush and many others. You can hear all these influences every time Larry picks up a guitar. Larry didn’t have to wait long for recognition of his guitar expertise as he was selected to be in the top 5 of over 100 competitors in the 1996 D'Addario National Electric Blues Guitar Competition, after only playing guitar for a year! Four years later The Larry Dougher Band was opening for the J. Geils Band at the 2000 Laconia Bike Rally. Larry has shared the stage with such musicians as Duke Robillard, Luther “Guitar Jr.“ Johnson, Jeff Toler of the Allman Brothers, Monster Mike Welch, Sweet Roy Jones and Nobby Reed.
Backing up Larry on drums is veteran of the New England music scene Glenn Rogers. Glenn brings a certain authenticity that draws on his former work with blues heavyweights such as Darrell Nullisch and Luther Guitar Jr Johnson. Rounding out the trio on bass is Jeffrey Murphy who is a lifetime musician from the Keene, NH area. Jeff's energy, musicianship, and versatility provide the backbone that is so important to a top-notch blues trio.
The debut album from The Larry Dougher Band captures what fans have been waiting for - an original blues album with the energy and passion fans have come to expect from their live shows.
"Larry Dougher is in touch with all of the things that make the blues matter. He plays with passion, intensity, subtlety, and a twisted sense of humor, delivered with the fearlessness of a young Buddy Guy."

Let me Stay

Arion - Arion

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2001
Time: 63:30
Size: 148,9 MB
Label: Rock Symphony
Styles: Progressive Rock/Symphonic Prog
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Eyes Of Time - 14:13
 2. Daybreak Child -  8:56
 3. True Love -  5:18
 4. Land Of Dreams - 10:03
 5. Cosmic Touch -  7:31
 6. Everyway -  8:39
 7. Natureza Mistica -  8:48

From first till last minute sheer enjoyment, impeccable performing and what's most important is usually the reason to give five stars: great compositions.
Simply Brazilian prog at it's best !

Arion

Panther & C. - L'Epoca di un Altro...

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2015
Time: 37:26
Size: 86,1 MB
Label: Black Widow Records
Styles: Progressive Rock/RPI
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Conto Alla Rovescia - 11:13
 2. Mariam... -  4:53
 3. ...Il Volo Di Mariam -  2:31
 4. Dik -  6:00
 5. La Leggenda Di Arenberg - 12:48

Musicians:
Mauro Serpe - vocals, flute;
Riccardo Mazzarini - guitars;
Giorgio Boleto - bass;
Alessandro La Corte - keyboards;
Roberto Sanna - drums.

Many Italian progressive rock bands started their musical career by playing covers of well known names in the scene. But this was never the case with the, for me, totally unknown act Panther & C. When they started the band in Genoa in 2003, they only thought about writing and creating music by themselves. At first the band, consisting of Alessandro La Corte (keyboards), Riccardo Mazzarini (guitars), Roberto Sanna (drums and percussion), Giorgio Boleto (bass) and Mauro Serpe (vocals and flute) didn't think about releasing an album. But after doing a support act for Il Tempio Delle Clessidre people were asking if they could buy their album. From that moment on they considered recording their compositions for an official debut album. This led to their debut L'Epoca Di Un Altro..., released in August 2015 and distributed by Black Widow Records.
L'Epoca Di Un Altro... is a fine collection of musical works with no particular theme. The album has two long songs, one at the beginning and one that closes the album. In between you can enjoy three more short pieces. The band themselves mentioned Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yes, Gentle Giant, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Banco Mutuo Soccorso and Premiata Forneria Marconi as possible influences on those tracks. In a way you can hear throughout the entire album that this is very much true for most of the mentioned acts, but you can hardly hear anything that might be related to Led Zeppelin and Gentle Giant. I would replace them for a band such as Marillion (Fish-era). I will not go into details about every song, but you'll have to believe me when I say that everything on this release is the finest progressive rock possible! All of the tracks have every ingredient that make them perfect pieces of progressive rock music; many breaks, strong melodies, beautiful synthesizer incursions, great interaction between guitar and keyboards, distinctive flute playing and warm Italian vocal parts.
The conclusion is quite simple; this is a very beautiful album and recommended to lovers of the bands mentioned earlier. My only complaint is the length. With a time of thirty-seven minutes it is way too short, but that's just a minor detail. When the album has ended you just press play again and enjoy this excellent album over and over!
I would like to end this review by telling you that the album title L'Epoca Di Un Altro... has a special meaning for all of us! The album title is the wish that anyone who hears it can be associated with one of his own, personal and serene periods of life and then have the pleasure to listen to it again to find the same emotions. If this could happen, we could say that it has confirmed the value of music.

 L'epoca di un altro...

Elizabeth Lee - Texas Bound

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 1995
Time: 49:34
Size: 114,0 MB
Label: Part Records
Styles: Blues/Roots Rock
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Texas Bound - 3:23
 2. Got My Heart Cryin' - 4:05
 3. No Blame - 4:53
 4. Different Color Blue - 5:39
 5. The Way That I Love You - 4:37
 6. Sorry 'Bout That - 2:44
 7. Shadows - 4:35
 8. Eagle Flies - 3:56
 9. Broken Land - 4:14
10. Free Fall - 3:54
11. Billy - 2:50
12. Anna Lee - 4:40

Elizabeth Lee ist in Texas gebohren und wuchs dort auf. Ihrem Traum folgend ging sie nach New York und von dort nach Europa und grundete die Elizabeth Lee Band. Nachdem sie ihr erstes Album "Don't Rub Me The Wrong Way" aufgenommen hatte, begann sie in Frankreich, England und Deutschland zu touren.
Nach den Aufnahmen zu "Texas Bound" zog sie nach Nashville und lebt seither mit Gitarrist und Produzent Larry Chaney zusammen. Ihre musikalische Zusammenarbeit begann mit dem Album "Milagro"
auf dem etwas mehr Funk, Rock und Blues zu horen ist. Durch dieses Album
wurde Taxim Records auf Elizabeth aufmerksam.
Elizabeth und Larry zogen anschlie?end nach Austin, Texas, schrieben und produzierten dort das Album "You Got That Right", das von Taxim Records  veroffentlicht wurde. Im Januar 2004 nahmen sie das Album "Longhorns And Chinamen" auf, das in Deutschland uber (Zyx Music, www.zyxmusic.de) vertrieben wird.
Cozmic Mojo ist das Projekt von Luca Gallina (GALLO), Luca Manenti (MANNY), und Federica Zanotti.
Die drei haben verschiedene musikalische Erfahrungen im Bereich Rock, Blues,
Funk und Pop gesammelt und fanden im Blues einen neuen Platz sich auszutauschen und einen neuen musikalischen "Trip" zu beginnen. Aufgrund ihrer unkonventionellen Haltung zur Musik ist ihr Sound einzigartig und alternativ.
Aus den Aufnahmen fur das Album "COZMIC MOJO" auf dem auch Elizabeth Lee zu horen ist, und das als einmalige Zusammenarbeit gedacht war, entstand schlie?lich ein neues Projekt und letztlich eine neue Band: ELIZABETH LEE'S COZMIC MOJO
Neuestes Album der Band ist das im Fruhjahr erschienene "Hard Core Delta".
Ernesto Pascal ("Il Popolo del Blues") beschreibt es als "Fat Possum orientierten Trashpunkblues angetrieben von der texanischen Rock'n'Roll Sangerin Elizabeth Lee".
Brandneu ist die DVD “Psycho Blues & Acid Roll” die die Band live im Studio oder
auch am Tresen in Elizabeth’s zeitweiliger Wahlheimat am Gardasee zeigt.
ELIZABETH LEE'S COZMIC MOJO haben seither die Buhne mit Kunstlern wie Eric Sardenas,
Rudy Rotta, Nine Below Zero, Rick Vito, Poppa Chubby und anderen geteilt.
Ihre Tourneen fuhrten sie u.a. nach Deutschland, England, Frankreich, Belgien, Osterreich, Holland, Spanien, in die Schweiz, nach Australien und Italien.

Texas Bound

Prime Mover - Put In Perspective

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2001
Time: 50:36
Size: 116,5 MB
Label: PM-001
Styles: Progressive Rock/Crossover Prog
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Why Do You Think You Are -  8:06
 2. The Agenda for Instant Truth -  6:00
 3. Pitiful -  5:12
 4. Never Like It Seems -  3:30
 5. Sunrise, Again -  5:38
 6. Laughable -  5:30
 7. See It for Yourself -  4:50
 8. The Experience - 11:47

PRIME MOVER is  young progrock band from Finland. "Put in perspective" is their first official release, 2 years before ago they have recorded a 40 minute demo called "Mr Zingelmann". The music of PRIME MOVER can best be described as sophisticated rock with dominating influences from progressive rock and soft 70ies hardrock. The compositions are hooky and very comfortable, but too complex to be boring. This is not "default"-progrock and not neoprog either. PRIME MOVER seem to love entertaining rhythms, clean guitar tunes and of course the effects of keyboards (that mainly come in spacy and neoprogressive sound). The music is always moving ... the bass is poundering around, the drums are straight and also complex, the vocal arrangments are changing quite often and the band even finds time for some quite complex technical parts just in order to return to the main song theme. The sound of this production sounds more like a demo but the quality of the compositions and the technical ability of the band members is so good, that I can recommend this band to any label which is looking for a new signing. PRIME MOVER perfectly sound like a mixture of SYMMETRY, PORCUPINE TREE, ELOY, TWIN AGE, neoprog, 70ies soft hardrock and a little bit of charming psychrock.
Highlights of this album are The agenda for instant truth, Never like it seems, the nice and varied Sunrise, again, the fast Laughable, the great and freakin' See it for yourself (with funny ska influences !!). This band offers fresh and unusual progressive rock ... and after you have listened to The experience it is clear, that PRIME MOVER really mad ... this (primarily instrumental) track is freakin' the hell out of your open minds.
The only thing that I did not like was the style of the vocals ... often they were more spoken than sung and they are not varied, not powerful and not impressive enough ... but anyway this newcomer band is a HOT recommendation !

Put In Rerspective

Galahad - Seas Of Change

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2017
Time: 55:54
Size: 128,5 MB
Label: Oskar
Styles: Progressive Rock/Neo-Prog
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
1. Seas Of Change - 42:43
2. Dust -  5:57
3. Smoke -  7:13

Seas of Change consists of only one forty two minute track which incorporates many changes of tempo, mood and style and the band thinks it also represents a kind of hybrid of the older, earlier 'traditional' Galahad sound mixed with the more modern heavier, 'techno' orientated sound of the last few albums.

Seas Of Change

Umphrey's McGee - It's Not Us

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2018
Time: 52:57
Size: 124,0 MB
Label: Hanging Brains Music
Styles: Progressive Rock/Jam Bands
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. The Silent Type - 3:30
 2. Looks - 3:05
 3. Whistle Kids - 3:36
 4. Half Delayed - 3:36
 5. Maybe Someday - 6:36
 6. Remind Me - 7:37
 7. You & You Alone - 3:58
 8. Forks - 4:28
 9. Speak Up - 6:04
10. Piranhas - 4:19
11. Dark Brush - 6:04

Musicians:
Brendan Bayliss - guitar, vocals;
Joel Cummins - keyboards, vocals;
Ryan Stasik - bass;
Andy Farag - percussion;
Jake Cinninger - guitar, vocals;
Kris Myers - drums, vocals.

A jam band coming out of the Midwest in the mid-'90s, Umphrey's McGee edged toward the Frank Zappa side of the improv rock scale, as opposed to the Grateful Dead/Allman Brothers Band direction of their many contemporaries. The members of Umphrey's McGee met at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The original four bandmembers (keyboardist Joel Cummins, guitarist Brendan Bayliss, bassist Ryan Stasik, and drummer Mike Mirro) had been playing in various campus bands when they got together in December 1997, naming themselves after a cousin of Bayliss'. With the national jam band infrastructure already in place, they quickly began disseminating their live shows and soon released their first studio album, Greatest Hits, Vol. 3. The fourth-generation jam band often included songs by Phish and moe. in their live sets, along with the usual selection of wacky covers.
The quartet won a large following in the South Bend area. As bandmembers graduated, the group began a more and more rigorous rehearsal schedule. Half of the band had degrees in music, so emphasis was placed on constant precision. The bandmembers religiously studied tapes of their performances in order to improve them. While their record sales still hadn't reached high levels, they used live recordings to pave the way for gigs in parts of the country they'd never been to before. (A story circulates of the band selling out shows in Colorado before their first trip there due to the distribution of their live CDs.) In 1999, the band released a live recording titled Songs for Older Women, which also marked the debut of percussionist Andy Farag. In 2000, the band became a sextet with the addition of guitarist Jake Cinninger, a former member of a fellow South Bend group Ali Babba's Tahini, which had broken up, and they made the move to the bustling metropolis of Chicago. From their new home base, the band went on two-week jaunts throughout the Midwest, occasionally hitting other markets and sharing the stage with a variety of musicians, including Dr. Didg (aka Graham Wiggins), the Chicago-based blues harmonica player Sugar Blue, Béla Fleck, Topaz, and many others.
On New Year's Eve 2000, Umphrey's McGee released their third album, another live disc, titled One Fat Sucka. Their first studio album, Local Band Does O.K., came out in 2002. One year later, they released their first DVD, Live from the Lake Coast, which had been filmed in July 2002. It marked the last appearance on an Umphrey's McGee recording by Mirro, who left to go to medical school and was replaced on New Year's Eve 2002 by Kris Myers, who had a Master's degree in jazz drumming. Local Band Does OKlahoma, their next live album, was also released in 2003.
A second studio album, Anchor Drops, appeared in 2004 on the SCI Fidelity label run by fellow jam band the String Cheese Incident, and a second DVD, Wrapped Around Chicago: New Years at the Riv, was issued in 2005. In 2006, Umphrey's McGee released their third studio album, Safety in Numbers. It was their first to crack Billboard's albums chart. Another studio effort, The Bottom Half, was culled from Safety in Numbers sessions; both it and the critically praised concert album Live at the Murat appeared in 2007. Mantis was released early in 2009, and it charted even higher than Safety in Numbers. The Manny Sanchez- and Kevin Browning-produced Death by Stereo followed in 2011.
Three years later, Similar Skin charted a progressive course through '80s rock and metal, becoming their highest-charting album to date. A one-day recording burst at Abbey Road in June 2014 produced The London Session, a mix of new material, road-tested songs never recorded in a studio, new arrangements of previously recorded tunes, and a cover of the Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)." It was released in April 2015. Around 2008, Umphrey's McGee had begun a ritual of delivering off-the-wall mashups -- their own originals paired with famous songs from just about every genre -- during their annual Halloween show. In 2016, they released Zonkey, which presented studio versions of those unwieldy concoctions. Following a live release, Live from Missoula, MT, in early 2017, Umphrey's McGee returned with the studio single "Half Delayed" from their forthcoming 11th album, It's Not Us. ~ Jesse Jarnow

It's Not Us

Kayak - Seventeen

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2018
Time: 60:04
Size: 138,1 MB
Label: InsideOut Music
Styles: Progressive Rock/Crossover Prog
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Somebody -  3:03
 2. La Peregrina - 11:42
 3. Falling -  3:08
 4. Feathers and Tar -  3:14
 5. Walk Through Fire - 10:23
 6. Ripples on the Water -  3:40
 7. All that I Want -  3:47
 8. X Marks the Spot -  1:58
 9. God on Our Side -  3:31
10. Love, Sail Away -  3:12
11. Cracks -  8:50
12. To an End -  3:31

Musicians:
Bart Schwertmann – Vocals;
Ton Scherpenzeel – Keyboards, Vocals, Bass;
Marcel Singor – Guitars, Vocals;
Lean Robbemont – Drums.
With:
Kristoffer Gildenlöw – Bass (track 11)
Rens van der Zalm – Fiddle (track 10)
Izak Boom – Banjo, Ukelele (track 9)
Nico Outhuijse – Percussion (tracks 2,5,6,8 & 11), Additional Backing Vocals
Andrew Latimer – Guitars (track 6)

Legendary Dutch progressive rock band KAYAK has signed a worldwide deal with InsideOutMusic! The band's seventeenth studio album is entitled "Seventeen" and is set for release on January 12th, 2018.
Currently being busy mixing "Seventeen", the band's mastermind Ton Scherpenzeel comments: "KAYAK are excited about signing to IOM, and are looking forward to a long lasting and successful collaboration. The combination of the band with an almost complete new line up, and a new record company seems very promising and will hopefully open new doors for us!"
Originally, the album's release was already announced for October 2017 and a presale is available via KAYAK's official website. It remains valid but due to the new record deal, these pre-orders will be fulfilled in early 2018 when InsideOutMusic officially releases "Seventeen".
KAYAK was founded in 1972 by keyboardist/composer Ton Scherpenzeel and drummer/composer Pim Koopman, along with lead singer Max Werner, guitarist Johan Slager and bass player Cees van Leeuwen. Often compared to contemporaries like Yes and Focus, the band quickly developed their own style of symphonic rock that was rather concentrating on songs than elaborate solos and long instrumental passages while KAYAK never shied away from including epic, longer tracks and captivating, dramatic arrangements. Throughout the years, KAYAK has seen many line-up changes with Ton Scherpenzeel now being the only original member and leader of the band.
KAYAK achieved tremendous success from the late 70's onwards, cracking the US top 60 charts with the single 'Want You To Be Mine' in 1978, holding number #1 in the Dutch charts for several weeks with the Platin awarded "Phantom Of The Night" album released in 1979 with its single 'Ruthless Queen' reaching #5 on the Dutch single charts. This first era of KAYAK ended after eight albums in 1981. All members went their own way, Ton Scherpenzeel for instance played and recorded with groups like Earth & Fire and Camel, whereas former singer/drummer Max Werner scored a number #2 hit in Germany with 'Rain In May' from his second solo record "Seasons" already in 1981.
But the story of KAYAK was not over.
Fast forward to 1999: after an 18 year absence, Ton Scherpenzeel and Pim Koopman restarted KAYAK, with Max Werner again taking over lead vocals. This second era was marked by an explosive, new creativity making the band's output exceed the early days. In 2009, disaster struck when Koopman died of heart failure in the middle of the "Letters from Utopia" tour. In 2011, the band had overcome this big loss and returned to the stage and with a new album. A couple of years later KAYAK completed their rock opera trilogy "Merlin", "Nostradamus" and "Cleopatra" but when lead singers Cindy Oudshoorn and Edward Reekers left the band shortly after, Scherpenzeel realized he had to completely renew the line up in order to maintain his creativity as well as keep the band going.
Now, with singer Bart Schwertmann and guitarist Marcel Singor joining Ton Scherpenzeel as the band's creative core and additional members Kristoffer Gildenlöw (bass / ex Pain Of Salvation) and Collin Leijenaar (drums / Affector, Neal Morse, Dave Bainbridge), a reborn KAYAK once again proves that the band's name - though chosen randomly back in 1972 - is as appropriate as ever. Just when everyone expects the boat to sink, it miraculously resurfaces and sails on.
Further information on the new album "Seventeen", which also features a guest appearance by Camel guitar player Andy Latimer, will be revealed soon!

Seventeen

Curtis Salgado and Alan Hager - Rough Cut

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2018
Time: 49:51
Size: 114,4 MB
Label: Alligator Records
Styles: Acoustic Blues
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. I Will Not Surrender - 4:50
 2. So Near to Nowhere - 3:56
 3. One Night Only - 2:46
 4. I Want My Dog to Live Longer (The Greatest Wish) - 2:44
 5. I Can’t be Satisfied - 3:47
 6. Too Young to Die - 4:04
 7. Depot Blues - 4:08
 8. Morning Train - 4:10
 9. You Got to Move - 4:29
10. Hell in a Handbasket - 4:09
11. Long Train Blues - 3:22
12. The Gift of Robert Charles - 3:50
13. I Want You by My Side - 3:31

Hager has been jamming with Salgado since 2003, and joined his band full-time in 2015. Together, the two friends took time out of their busy touring schedule to record Rough Cut, a stripped-down album featuring a potent mix of newly written, timeless originals and carefully chosen blues covers. “We did it for the love of the music,” says Salgado. “This is where our hearts are. These are deep songs that we love to play.”
Produced by Salgado and Hager, the 13 songs on Rough Cut (including six originals) range from plaintive to playful. Recorded in one live unrehearsed take, the original I Will Not Surrender, with its haunting and sparse soundscape, showcases some of Hager’s strongest guitar work, and some of the most profoundly emotive vocals Salgado has ever laid down. The canine-lover’s anthem, I Wish My Dog Would Live Longer (The Greatest Gift), is already a huge fan favorite. Salgado’s soulful singing and Hager’s elegant slide guitar playing shine on Elmore James’ You Got To Move and Muddy Waters’ I Can’t Be Satisfied. “He’s the best player in the business, unlike anybody else,” Salgado says of Hager. “One reason I made this record was to show him off.
Salgado and Hager have performed at Portland’s Waterfront Blues Festival, The Chicago Blues Festival, The Tampa Bay Blues Festival and Canada’s Tremblant Blues Festival and on the Legendary Blues Cruise. Salgado has also performed at The San Francisco Blues Festival, Memphis’ Beale Street Music Festival, Denver’s Mile High Blues Festival, as well as in Canada, England, throughout Europe, Brazil, Chile, Panama, The Philippines, Thailand and Hong Kong. Blues Revue, describing Salgado’s performances, declares, “He starts at excellent before segueing into goose bumps, ecstasy, and finally nirvana.”
Salgado released the first of his 10 solo albums in 1991. He joined Alligator Records in 2012, debuting with the award-winning, critically acclaimed Soul Shot  followed by The Beautiful Lowdown in 2016. The albums earned Salgado multiple Blues Music Awards for B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year, Soul Blues Male Artist Of The Year, Soul Blues Album Of The Year and Song Of The Year. NPR calls him “a blues icon” with a “huge voice.”
Along with his accolades, Salgado is no stranger to adversity. During his career, he has overcome multiple health challenges, battling back from liver cancer in 2006 and lung cancer in 2008 and 2012. In March 2017 he underwent quadruple bypass surgery. Now he is back on the road, revved up and firing on all cylinders, performing with his band as well as a duo with Hager. His resilience can be heard – and felt – on I Will Not Surrender, Rough Cut’s lead track.
With Curtis’ inspired singing and world-class harmonica playing and Alan’s spellbinding guitar, Rough Cut is the album Salgado and Hager have always wanted to make together – soulful, sparse and haunting. The music is a moving exploration of the joyful, emotionally uplifting power of passionately played and soulfully sung acoustic blues. They’ll perform together as a duo both on their own and during Curtis’ full band shows, giving their fans a taste of what Alan calls “American Classical music.” “This type of music moves us the most,” says Salgado. “You believe it when you hear it.”

Rough Cut

Feather & The White - Like A Million Dollar

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2017
Time: 31:55
Size: 73,2 MB
Label: Wuuh Yeah Records
Styles: Garage Blues
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Cold SOB - 3:21
 2. Backdown - 3:19
 3. Can't Stand the Heat - 3:08
 4. In our Graves - 3:08
 5. I'm Right Here - 3:19
 6. Dentist Blues - 3:31
 7. Highway 168 - 2:56
 8. Hometown - 4:18
 9. Riding High - 4:50

3 November 2014 schreef ik op deze site het volgende. ”Soms loop je zomaar iets tegen het lijf dat onverwacht goed is. Feather & The White spelen naar eigen zeggen garageblues. (…) Het duo speelde inderdaad garageblues en deed dat zeer verdienstelijk. Maarten Intema (gitaar/zang) en Ron Stoop (drums/zang) deden me onmiddellijk denken aan Lonesome Shack. De band speelt een soort ‘basic blues’ en laat zich niet verleiden tot krachtpatserij. De muziek blijft bij de kern en onvermijdelijk zijn de nummers dus kort en to the point. De presentatie is buitengewoon sympathiek en de heren krijgen een paar fans zelfs even aan het dansen met hun aanstekelijke boogie. De twee ep-cd’s/ zijn ook zeer de moeite waard: ‘Josephine’ (2012) en ‘Highway 168’ (2013) laten goed horen wat Feather & The White kunnen en willen: met hart en ziel uitgebeende blues spelen”. Nu is er het eerste bijna volledige album (negen nummers, krap 35 minuten) ‘Like A Million Dollar’ en het bovenstaand geldt onverkort. Trefwoorden: sympathiek, recht-door-zee, compromisloos, energiek en vol overgave. Het album is opgenomen in de Twang Wolf Recording Studio van Hans Hannemann in Nieuwe Pekela. Op de ouderwetse manier. In hun eigen woorden: “In 2016 hebben wij naast vele optredens al onze energie, tijd en euro’s gestopt in het vol passie en met plezier (praktisch live) opnemen van de songs voor ‘Like A Million Dollar’. Old school (zonder hulp, zonder hulp van computers en andere elektronische nonsens om mee vals te spelen). Back to basic, een gitaar, drums en vocalen”. De muziek van Feather & The White zit in de hoek van The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Seasick Steve en ook enigszins The Black Keys. Geen poespas, dus, en vooral gaan als de brandweer! Live ook absoluut een aanrader!

Like A Million Dollar

Oscar Benton - I Am Back

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2018
Time: 40:21
Size: 92,7 MB
Label: Munich Records
Styles: Americana
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Benjamin Wilder - 3:51
 2. I Am Back - 3:24
 3. Bensonhurst Blues Revisited - 4:54
 4. Like a Howlin' Wolf - 3:52
 5. My Heart Skips a Beat - 3:13
 6. Fuzz 'n Fight - 3:11
 7. I'll Come Ridin' - 2:26
 8. My Love, Why - 3:15
 9. Blue Blues Singer Remake - 2:12
10. Better Stop Cryin' - 2:09
11. Brown Eyes - 4:13
12. Old, But Happy - 3:37

De nieuwe cd van Oscar Benton heet ‘I Am Back’. Wil dat helemaal correct zijn, dan moet Benton dus zijn weggeweest en dat is niet echt het geval. Ok, hij doet het de laatste jaren rustig aan en heeft sinds een ongeval een aantal jaren geleden problemen met zijn gezondheid, maar weg was Benton nooit helemaal.
Zo speelde hij de afgelopen jaren nog een aantal keren in concertzalen in Boekarest en Istanbul en werd hij vorig jaar door de president van Tsjechie uitgenodigd om op te treden voor het kabinet in Praag.
Ok, hij woont in een verzorgingstehuis, maar in datzelfde verzorgingstehuis heeft bluesbroeder Johnny Laporte (een van de gitaristen van Barrelhouse) de vocalen voor de nieuw cd opgenomen. De cd is een aangename verrassing, met name omdat Johnny Laporte bij het schrijven en arrangeren van de nummers gekozen heeft voor een ruime diversiteit aan stijlen. Soms zijn de nummers ingetogen van opzet, soms soepel swingend (My Heart Skips A Beat, I’ll Come Rididin’) en soms geven Benton en Laporte en Erik Schuurman, Martijn Bosman, Rob van Donselaar, Jaap Jan Schermer en Laura Nijhuis gewoon lekker vol gas. Laporte schreef tien van de twaalf nummers. De andere twee –Bensonhurst Blues revisited en Blue Blues Singer– zijn remakes van bestaande nummers. Bensonhurst Blues, afkomstig van de soundtrack van ‘Pour la peau d’un flic’ met Alain Delon (1981) was Benton’s grote hit, ook in het oostblok. In de loop der jaren is het nummer in beeld gebleven, ook al omdat er steeds nieuwe remixes van verschenen. Benton’s eigen nieuwe versie op ‘I Am Back’ is ingetogen van aard, sober geinstrumenteerd met fraai galmend Calexico-gitaargeluid, de cello van Juna Schuurman en met Benton spreekzingend a la Tom Waits. Resultaat: een eigenzinnige, intrigerende uitvoering. Grappig is te horen dat het vleugje balkansound, zoals in het koortje “Bui Bui Bui”, ook in nummers als I Am Back en My Love, Why doorklinkt. Benton heeft ongetwijfeld goede herinneringen aan die sound. De ingetogenheid van de Bensonhurst Blues revisited hoor je ook op Benjamin Wilder, Brown Eyes en op het slotnummer Old, But Happy (met Kim Snelten op blues harp). Dat Johnny Laporte meespeelt, arrangeert en de productie voor zijn rekening heeft genomen is goed te horen op stevige stampers als Like A Howlin’ Wolf, Better Stop Cryin’ (met een fraaie gitaarsolo van Ruben Hoeke) en Fuzz ’n Fight. Barrelhouse is op deze nummers nooit erg ver weg.
Conclusie: Oscar Benton is back van niet echt weggeweest en samen met Laporte is hij terecht trots zijn op het eindresultaat van hun samenwerking. Luister maar:

I Am Back

Bryan Scary - Daffy's Elixir

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2012
Time: 70:02
Size: 162,5 MB
Label: Paper Garden Records
Styles: Progressive Pop
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. The Wicked Frontier - 3:45
 2. Zeigfield Station - 3:53
 3. Cable Through Your Heart - 5:07
 4. The Silver Lake Mining Company - 4:30
 5. Diamonds! - 5:41
 6. Ballroom Kid - 4:01
 7. You Might Be Caught in Tarantella - 3:45
 8. The Tale of Opal Dawn - 3:12
 9. Faintless Moody: Outlaw - 4:40
10. Another Ace in the Hole - 1:51
11. Red Baron (Of Arizona) - 7:36
12. Owe Mister O - 4:12
13. Day-Glo Waterfalls - 4:29
14. Quicksilver Daisy Day - 5:14
15. Data Mountain - 7:58

I’ll be damned if Bryan Scary doesn’t have the stage musical already choreographed for Daffy’s Elixir. It’s a prog-pop concept album with huge scope that drops on April 18, but downloads are available now.
“The Wicked Frontier,” slowly fades into view, a grand introduction with long gorgeous harmonies across it’s Smile-kissed strings and “Happy Trails” rhythm. Then the train pulls into “Ziegfield Station” one of the album highlights, as it zips from player piano to organ to moog and back again. The melody’s hook is repeated with a perfectly chugging outro. Then it kicks in overdrive with “Cable through your Heart” a Scary version of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” with multiple melody lines and dizzying tone changes. It’s basically the musical version of a tossed salad, and its the exhausting heart of the album.
Wrapped in Floydian Wall of distorted vocal “Silver Lake Mining Company” is a fuzzy musical treat with a dream-like melody at its chewy center. “Diamonds!” is pop in a lush configuration with harp and harpsichord woven together in the chorus. “Ballroom Kid” is another strutting standout that recalls Imperial Drag. But fatigue sets in with “You Might Be Caught In Tarantella,” and even though a few gems are found on the second half of the album (like “The Tale Of Opal Dawn” and “Day-Glo Waterfalls”) it wears out its welcome quickly. Out of the massive 15 tracks here, the mellow “Quicksilver Daisy Day” appears to be the best coda. The mediocre tunes turn a truly great album into merely a very good one. Scary seems to have been caught up in this melodramatic, grandiose mock-opera, making Daffy’s Elixir taste more like strong whisky instead of sweet wine. However after half a bottle, you’ll be pretty dizzy and satisfied.

Daffy’s Elixir

Rumpelstilz - Vogelfuetter

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 1975
Time: 36:33
Size: 83,8 MB
Label: Schnoutz Records
Styles: Progressive Rock
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Muschle -  4:11
 2. POTburri - 10:37
 3. Vogelfuetter-Song -  3:06
 4. El Trabajador Teil 1 -  6:38
 5. El Trabajador Teil 2 -  5:44
 6. Parabel -  6:14

Swiss art rock band Rumpelstilz was founded in 1971 by Hanery Amman (piano) and Polo Hofer (vocals, lyrics), along with Jurg Werren (guitars), Sami Jungen (bass) and Hans Jungen (drums). Hans Jungen was replaced soon after its founding by Kure Gudel, and half a year later Rene "Schifer" Schafer replaced Jurg Werren. The first single Warehuus Blues (Swiss German, meaning "department store blues") was released in 1973 and was less successful, and in 1975 the first LP Vogelfuetter (meaning "bird seed") was released. The band's performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1975 opened the band's sound to a wider audience. The song Teddy marked the commercial breakthrough in 1976, and shortly afterwards Kiosk became their greatest hit. Both singles are compilations taken from the LP Fuuf Narre im Charre (five jesters in the wheelbarrow), which was released in a German translation "Funf Narren im Karren" one year later, and Kiosk was ranking in the single charts in Germany. The fourth album was published in 1978 as the double LP Fatze u Bitze vo geschter u Jitze, including the film score for Kleine frieren auch im Sommer by Peter von Gunten, and a live concert from the Atlantis event venue in Basel. Thenafter, the band members pursued solo projects. In 1989 three concerts were given, followed by a further live album and an acclaimed tour in Switzerland. After that, the band split definitely.

Vogelfuetter

The Tirith - Tales From The Tower

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2015
Time: 73:27
Size: 168,4 MB
Label: Tunecore
Styles: Progressive Rock/Neo Prog
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Farewell Fair Laurien -  5:49
 2. Gin Lil -  6:59
 3. Laurelae -  4:40
 4. Home From The Sea -  6:58
 5. The Daughter Of The Water -  6:46
 6. The Quest -  4:03
 7. Gazing At Stars -  5:31
 8. The Tower -  3:01
 9. Song Of All Ages -  5:47
10. Pioneers Of The Outer Arm -  6:58
11. Lost - 10:03
12. The Daughter Of The Water (acoustic) -  6:44

UK based band The Tirith has a history that takes you back to the seventies. Disbanded and reformed in 2010 The Tirith started to play festivals and did selected concerts. The last three years they worked on the album Tales From The Tower. An album that sees compositions that go back to the first incarnation of the band, but have been interpreted and recorded in the modern progressive rock idiom. The Tirith consists of founding members Tim Cox; guitars and keyboards and Richard Cory; vocals, bass, acoustic guitars and pedals. The duo is also responsible for the songwriting and Tim Cox did the production of the album. The drums are performed by latest band member Carl Nightingale and Paul Williams on four tracks.
Tales From The Tower turned out to be a very pleasant album, with elements from both classic rock as well as neo progressive rock and solid compositions. Like the opener Farewell Fair Laurien, a song that vocally combines the vocal lines of neo prog rock with hunches of RPWL's Yogi Lang. Musically we are taken back a few years with electronic sounding drums and even some Rush reminding parts come to mind. The following Gin Lil has a slightly bluesy touch and takes The Tirith's music towards the style of landsmen Wishbone Ash. During the semi acoustic The Quest and the other slower songs like Laurelae and Gazing At Stars, the attention is drawn to the vocals, which immediately take you back to the years when progressive rock started to grow, gaining an audience and basically conquering the musical world our readers live in. Personally my highlights are the more powerful compositions on the album, The Daughter Of The Water, The Tower, Pioneers Of The Outer Arm and the epic Lost. Songs that are filled with strong guitars and solos that combine modern music with the old trusted parts.
Tales From The Tower certainly is a strong album for those who like their progressive rock music solid and heavily based on the seventies. I know a lot of the progressive rock fans cherish the seventies and The Tirith's music definitely has its roots in that decade. So, Tales From The Tower is an absolute must for the old school fans, but on the other hand, if you are into more modern progressive rock and massive riffs, I suggest you first listen to the music before a purchase.

Tales From The Tower

Ronny Aagren & His Blues Gumbo - Close to You

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2017
Time: 44:01
Size: 100,9 MB
Label: Hunters Records
Styles: Blues
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Trying To Get Close To You - 4:17
 2. Walking With The Devil - 3:30
 3. I Don’t Care - 3:44
 4. There Is Hope - 3:59
 5. I Love That Lady - 3:11
 6. Silence - 3:42
 7. After Midnight - 4:42
 8. A Question Of Time - 2:57
 9. Precious Lord - 5:47
10. Bring Me Home - 3:37
11. Sometimes - 4:30

Uit Noorwegen komt een uiterst prettige bluesverrassing in de vorm van dit abum van Ronny Aagren & His Blues Gumbo. Hoewel hij voor velen als een nieuw talent zal worden beschouwd is Aagren totaal geen nieuweling op bluesgebied. Eind jaren ’80 speelde hij al in The Basement Band en daarna nog eens in de bands Larsens Last Chance, The Harmophonics, Get Rhythm en Solid Comfort.
De ervaring, die hij in deze bands heeft opgedaan is zeer zeker te horen op zijn nieuwe album met zijn Blues Gumbo (Alexander Andre Johnson op piano en orgel, Roar Paulsberg op bas en Ole-Christian Rydland op drums). Samen produceren zij een geluid op dit album dat de klanken van Duke Robillard uit zijn beginjaren combineert met invloeden uit de soulmuziek en van de muzikale duizendpoot Ry Cooder.
Het gitaar geluid van Ronny is hard, fel en priemend en hij is op de slidegitaar erg rauw in de weer.
Het album opent met de lui swingende shuffle Trying To Get Close To You. Hier valt gelijk al opp dat Ronny als zanger over de nodige soul beschikt. Hij soleert hier op een harde priemende manier. Walking With The Devil is een broeierige shuffle waarin wat New Orleans invloeden zitten. Ook het geluid van Robert Cray is nabij. In de shuffle I Don’t Care gaat het tempo omhoog. Een onweerstaanbaar rockend nummer met jazzy piano. In de soulblues ballad There Is No Hope wordt terug gegrepen op het soulgeluid van de jaren ’60 met als resultaat een heerlijke slijper. Ronny laat zijn slide gitaar lekker rauw brullen in de pompende bluesrocker I Love That Lady. De lome funky soulblues Silence wordt gedragen door Ronny’s rauwe gitaar riffs. De mid-tempo boogie After Midnight (geen cover van het Eric Clapton nummer!) heeft iets Black Crowes-achtigs. Een funky geluid met splijtend hard gitaarwerk van Ronny.
In de spetterende rocker A Question Of Time mengen Ronny en zijn mannen het geluid van Rockpile en the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Een nummer waarmee elke zaal plat gespeeld kan worden!
Precious Lord is, het kan ook niet anders met zo’n titel, een gospel-achtige soulblues ballad met snijdende Ry Cooder-achtige slidegitaar. Nadat de drumband binnen gemarcheerd is begint het New Orleans bluesnummer Bring Me Home met wederom de snijdende slide op de voorgrond.
Het album eindigt met de slowblues Sometimes. Een nummer met een enorme hoeveelheid soul waarin Ronny een staaltje van zijn kunnen op de gitaar etaleert.
Ronny Aagren & His Blues Gumbo leveren met dit album een prima muzikale smeltkroes (gumbo) af waaraan menig bluesliefhebber veel plezier gaat beleven.

Close to You

Pablo El Enterrador - 2

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2013
Time: 79:45
Size: 184,4 MB
Label: Viajero Inmovil Records
Styles: Progressive Rock/Symphonic Prog
Art: Front

 1. Nariguetas - 7:57
 2. La ciudad eterna - 5:37
 3. Emigrante - 8:29
 4. Sentido de lucha - 5:39
 5. San Vicente - 6:29
 6. Solo viento - 5:59
 7. Mitad por mitad - 6:55
 8. Accionista - 3:47
 9. Fotografia - 5:09
10. Carrousell de la vieja idiotez (en vivo) - 5:54
11. Elefante de papel (en vivo) - 5:12
12. Espiritu esfumado (en vivo) - 4:54
13. Solo de bateria  - Marcelo Sali - 3:40
14. Accionista (en vivo) - 3:59

Second album by this great Symphonic Rock band, who are back after many years of silence with a contemporary-sounding style and continuing where they last left off with their renowned and moving social protest form of poetry. This new remastered edition includes 5 bonus tracks recorded live in-concert March, 1998.

2

Pablo El Enterrador - Threephonic

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2016
Time: 50:21
Size: 115,9 MB
Label: Viajero Inmovil Records
Styles: Progressive Rock/Symphonic Prog
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. La Marcha Del Regreso - 6:15
 2. Pasion - 5:32
 3. Caida Libre - 6:07
 4. Entre El Bien Y El Mal - 7:27
 5. Paginas De Cristal - 5:27
 6. Encontrare Un Lugar - 5:23
 7. Los Cielos De Irak - 6:07
 8. Solo Y Desafinado - 4:15
 9. Clave De Sol - 3:43

Here we got the third recording of Pablo el Enterrador, the mitic Argentinean prog band. Threephonic consists in 9 songs from the last period of the band, as trio format. The recordings dates are between 2004 to 2006, till the death of Jorge Antún, keyboardist and band composer. The first track , Marcha del regreso, is the only song that have a different style from the rest of the album, is in a strong ELP format. Always been a success at live shows, in the old times, but never recorded till now. The rest of the album have the early 80's Genesis style, with strong keyboards presence, plus some rhythm machines and real drums played by Marcelo Sali, and guitars solos and accurate vocals by José Maria Blanc. Best tracks: Marcha del regreso; Pasión, with fantastic lyrics and an epic finale; Caída Libre, instrumental, a dynamic and very well played tune, remind me Do the neurotic, a Genesis B side from mid 80's; and Encontraré un Lugar, a beautifull song, probably the best track, with strong lyrics and changing tempos, perhaps in a Genesis ? Duke style. As a closing era, this third album is a brillant effort. Here in Rosario, Pablo el enterrador origin, we know how they worked for this to see the light. Congratulation for the musicians, is a great album,  without doubt. Sorry for my english!

Threephonic

The Snyders - Reaching Higher

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2017
Time: 43:52
Size: 100,5 MB
Label: Salon De Musique
Styles: Blues
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Snyder Slider - 3:27
 2. Chasing Fear - 3:38
 3. Shadow-Like Being - 4:05
 4. Gives Me the Blues - 5:52
 5. People Get Ready - 3:58
 6. My Home - 3:52
 7. Clouded Ego - 5:01
 8. Reaching Higher - 4:24
 9. You Would Think by Now - 4:11
10. Crazy Mike - 5:21

The Snyders, formed in the summer of 2011 in Montréal, is a family blues/roots band that digs deeply from many styles of music. The family unit is comprised of Indiana born blues-rocker Southside Denny Snyder - vocalist/lead guitarist (aka blues artist Southside Denny), his daughter Lorrie Snyder on Vocals/Bass (21 years old) and his son Phil Snyder on the drums (17 years of age).
For the past 30 years, Southside Denny has garnered the reputation of a legendary blues rocker in his own right with 9 album releases, and performing at may notable blues clubs and festivals in 20 states and 5 Canadian provinces. Early on he developed a strong association with Luther Allison and Sugar Blue, and spent a couple of years in the 90’s performing regularly at Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago. He has a very long list of artists for which he has performed the role of opening act for that resembles a who's who list of blues and Rock n' Roll music. In 1999 he won the Ole Harv award for artistic contribution to blues music in Michiana area. In 2004 the Southside Denny Band represented the state of Indiana at the IBC competition in Memphis.
Inspired and influenced by their father's musical talent, the siblings took interest at an early age and began to 'hone' their craft. Then only 12 years old, Lorrie appeared on two songs of her father's award winning 'Full Circle' album in 2009.  In 2010 the two made several appearances as a duet at the Montréal Festival du Jazz, the Mont Tremblant International Blues Festival, the Canadian Guitar Festival.
One year later, Phil joined and has become the powerhouse drummer that propels the band.  The trio recorded their first album together (The Snyders, March, 2012) and made numerous concert appearances on both sides of the border. This debut album was placed number 13 in the Blind Lemon Top 20 Canadian Blues albums of 2012.  It was also nominated for blues album of the year in Québec, and Lorrie won a Lys award for 'Upcoming artist of the Year' in Québec City at the Gala Lys on July 21rst, 2013. 
On June 8th, 2014 The Snyders released their second album, aptly titled Growing Pains.  This album marked a large growing period for the whole band. Many of the songs received lots of airplay across Canada and in Europe as the band continued to advance their reputation.
Since their inception, The Snyders have played numerous festivals, concerts series and other venues in Indiana, Michigan, Ontario and Québec including Blissfest, The Kincardine Summer Music Festival, The Rendez-Vous Estivale in Le Gardeur, QC, The Kalamazoo Blues Festival, the Laporte County Bluesfest, the South Bend Firefighters Blues Festival, The Purdue Memorial Union, the Worlds Largest Block Party in Columbus, Indiana
Releasing their third album (Reaching Higher, July, 2017), The Snyders are touring this music thoughout the next year. Recorded at Golden Mallard Analog Studio by Bryan Lewis in South Bend, Indiana, this album captures The Snyders at their best. Much more a collaboration than their previous two albums, the growth and maturation of all three musicians/composers is amazing. Having a difficult time tagging the musical category of this blues/roots band they are calling it 'Modern Devil's Music'.  After touring all summer and into the fall, the band continues to grow their following in Canada and the US. They broke new ground in Western Canada and continue to set their sights on developing a larger fan base.  The Band also competed in the 2017 IBC competiton in Montréal to raise awareness locally...

Reaching Higher

Tiger Moth Tales - The Depths of Winter

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2017
Time: 71:30
Size: 164,3 MB
Label: Self Released
Styles: Progresive Rock/Neo Prog
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Winter is Coming -  0:31
 2. Winter Maker - 10:50
 3. Exposure - 13:34
 4. The Ballad of Longshanks John -  6:57
 5. Migration -  2:58
 6. Take the Memory -  7:10
 7. Sleigh Ride -  6:40
 8. The Tears of Frigga - 11:42
 9. Hygge -  9:12
10. Winter's End -  1:50

Pete Jones is super talented, and everything he touches turns to gold. This is another solid album that will take some time to digest, but the first few listens have placed it in very familiar territory. His voice is perfect, and he takes command on any song with huge impact. As a Multi-instrumentalist, it is hard not to be impressed. The Depths of Winter is a theme that should provoke feelings of this time of the year, and there is an excellent collection of vocals and instrumentation to keep any music fan interested. With 3 tracks over ten minutes and 3 more with some nice length, The Depths of Winter has some progressive roots as well. Cocoon is such a stellar album, Story Tellers - Part One is a ton of fun, and The Depths of Winter fits in perfectly to the Tiger Moth Tales catalog. Notable tracks are Hygge, Winter Maker, and The Ballad of Longshanks John. This is another high quality release.

The Depths of Winter

Trama - Prodomi Di Finzioni Sovrapposte

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 1999
Time: 52:08
Size: 121,0 MB
Label: Mellow Records
Styles: Progressive Rock/NeoProg
Art: Front+ Back

Tracks Listing:
 1. Sogni (I Parte) - 9:28
 2. Fuoco nel Buio - 5:50
 3. Visioni - 5:20
 4. Leggende Metropolitane - 5:37
 5. Errike - 3:29
 6. Morte a Mezzanotte - 6:22
 7. Vago - 6:34
 8. Sogni (II Parte) - 7:56
 9. The end - 1:26

Musicians:
Annalisa Accorsi - vocals;
Lorenzo Loria - guitar;
Gabriele Guidi Colombi - bass;
Luca Scherani - keyboards;
Paolo Gaggero - drum.

Found in 1995 by guitarist Lorenzo Loria and drummer Paolo Gaggero, Trama from Genova, Italy were completed with the additions of Luca Scherani on keyboards, Annalisa Accorsi on lead voice and Gabriele Guidi Colombi on bass.The sixth hidden member of the band was their manager and lyricist Davide Bruzzone.By 1996 they had already started playing live and also sent a demo to the management of Mellow Records.As a result Trama participated on the Italian Prog tribute album ''Zarathustra's revenge'' in 1997, followed the next year by their debut ''Prodromi di finzioni sovrapposte''.
The album is balanced between the romantic sound of Classic Italian Prog and the more updated Neo Prog stylings, the use of crystalline female vocals with the keyboard-driven arrangements reminds me a lot of fellow-native acts like ZAUBER, TOWER, EMPIRE and CONQUEROR.The ultimate ace is Annalisa Accorsi and her beautiful voice, a combination of angelic chords and sentimental deliveries, supported by a tight company of musicians.The music is pretty melodic with atmospheric synth and piano passages and some more pronounced guitar moments, creating mostly dreamy and emotional tracks.However there are some strong instrumental parts with a bit of complexity akin to BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO, remember, the sound is fairly keyboard-driven with lots of Classical interludes and sometimes pompous keyboards.The emphatic display of synths along with the synthetic production are the reasons the band could be linked with the Neo Prog movement and in parallel the reasons why some arrangements are less convincing.MARILLION are a good reference point as well, the smooth electric guitars along with the atmospheric background synthesizer create some sort of mood similar to the British 80's Prog groups.A couple of decent rockers and some virtuosic E.L.P.-like pyrotechnics add some depth in the process, but the cheesy sound of keyboards holds down the overall quality, fortunately the level of the compositions is pretty high, so the listener can enjoy some good music.
After the band participated in a couple more Mellow Records compilations/albums they added Elisa Montaldo in the line-up, who later became the leading figure of Il Tempio delle Clessidre.But soon they fell in hiatus with Scherani getting involved in La Coscienza di Zeno and various Fabio Zuffanti projects, while Colombi became one of the most active members in the modern Italian Prog scene as a member of Il Tempio delle Clessidre, Not a Good Sign and La Coscienza di Zeno.Trama returned in 2010 with a cover song on Marillion's tribute ''Recital for a season's end'', but a new album is yet to be desired.
Standard Italian Prog of the 90's, highlighted by a fantastic female singer and some great keyboard parts and striking tunes.Not the best around, but definitely a worthy addition for symphonic-oriented Prog fans.

Prodomi Di Finzioni Sovrapposte

DBA³- Skyscraper Souls

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2017
Time: 52:58
Size: 121,9 MB
Label: Cherry Red Records
Styles: Progressive Rock/Neo prog
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Prelude -  2:14
 2. Skyscraper Souls - 18:08
 3. Glacier Girl -  2:38
 4. Angel On Your Shoulder -  6:48
 5. Tomorrow -  4:19
 6. Lighthouse -  5:40
 7. Skin Deep -  4:32
 8. Darker Times -  7:19
 9. Finale -  1:15

The third album from the Downes Braide Association, which is Geoff Downes (Asia/Yes) and singer/songwriter Chris Braide, who has worked with a whole host of artists including Beyonce, Britney Spears and Marc Almond, who appears on this album. As a testament to modern working neither of the musicians were ever in the same room during the making of this album, not that you’d notice! The sound and production is spot on and a real treat on the headphones.
Unlike the previous two albums the DBA have a core band consisting of Ash Soan (drums), Andy Hodge (bass) and Dave Colquhoun (guitars). Our esteemed managing editor David Randall is a big fan and he thoroughly enjoyed DBA’s last album, 2015?s ‘Suburban Ghosts’.
Opening with ‘Prelude’ we get the first guest spot, from none other than XTC’s Andy Partridge, who plays the guitar solo and adds his backing vocals. He also appears on two further songs on the album, making this one of definite interest to XTC fans given his rare musical appearances.
There is a theme running through the album of going forward in life because you can’t go back, although the uplifting music counteracts the sometimes darker lyrics. Mind you there is the odd bit of light hearted relief, as on the title track Chris Braide sings ‘There is a voice inside us all’ to which Geoff Downes responds with ‘Hello’ via his vocoder.
The title track is a mammoth eighteen minutes long, although it is like three pop/prog songs linked together and what a marvellous bit of guitar playing from Dave Colquhoun. The keys of Geoff Downes and Chris Braide weave in between the guitars and vocals of Chris Braide, who has a wonderfully melodic singing voice.
More interest for prog fans as Big Big Train’s David Longdon guests on ‘Tomorrow’, a song with its wistful melody and flute (played by Langdon) wouldn’t look out of place on a Big Big Train album. Tim Bowness adds backing vocals to the pop refrains of ‘Lighthouse’, again the musical backing reveals more on each subsequent play.
Marc Almond puts in a suitably impressive vocal on ‘Skin Deep’, another singer who seems to get better with age and has lost none of his vocal prowess.
Pop, prog and rock melded together in one wonderful album. Don’t let this album become a ‘lost classic’ – enjoy it now!

Skyscraper Souls

On The Raw - Big City Awakes

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2017
Time: 65:50
Size: 151,5 MB
Label: Self Released
Styles: Progressive Rock/Jazz-Rock Fusion
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Big City Awakes - 9:59
 2. Roller Coaster - 5:13
 3. Day 49 - 7:46
 4. On The Raw - 7:39
 5. Caravan - 6:21
 6. Dreams in a Box - 5:39
 7. Everything Will Come - 7:35
 8. Two Steps from Glory - 5:56
 9. Looking for Mr. Hyde - 9:39

Musicians:
Jordi Prats - Guitars;
Jordi Amela - Keyboards;
Toni Sanchez - Bass;
Pep Espasa - Sax, Flute;
Alex Ojea - Drums.

Two thousand seventeen has brought us yet another fantastic instrumental prog album that I want to share with you.  I’ve been listening to so much more instrumental prog this year than I ever have in the past, and I’m learning that these albums generally operate on an entirely different set of rules than “normal” albums.  This debut from On the Raw is a case in point of fantastic instrumental music that comes at our ears from a different perspective.  “Big City Awakes” is a complete success.
On the Raw hails from Spain and consists of Jordi Amela on keys, Jordi Prats on guitars, Pep Espasa on sax and flute, Toni Sanchez on bass, and Alex Ojea on drums.  The style here is an organic, sublime fusion of jazz and progressive rock, with some folk and even funk elements sprinkled in here and there.  This makes for a groovy, eclectic album which features a wide variety of sounds and textures.  The album features heavy usage of saxophone, synth, and flute alongside the standard guitars, bass, and drums.
This band and album oozes class and sensibility, and this comes across in their amazing ability to craft each and every track to be interesting and even surprising.  Just when you thought that you knew what to expect, a track will completely shift tone and genre, but it all makes perfect sense after it happens.  One thing that is readily obvious is that the band never overdoes a certain musical idea.  If a rhythm or melody has run its course, they move on to other things and whole new ideas.
Somehow, the album feels both urban and pastoral at the same time.  So, while the classy subtlety and folksy flutes feel rather along the lines of Big Big Train in this quiet and comforting fashion, the music is also quite urban in its tone and in the feelings it evokes.  The steely beauty of the city at sunset: That’s often the feeling I get in this album.  The artwork for the album makes this readily available too, as if the band wants to celebrate the beauty of human designs and pedestrian places in this discreet yet colorful fashion.
One of things I like best about this album is that the saxophone is not just an instrument saved for special moments, nor is the flute: You will find that Pep’s performances on these instruments often lead the way in several tracks, and the pairing with Jordi’s keys and synth is so very magnificent and somewhat outside the box.  Jordi’s guitars are suitably technical and emotional, with plenty of riveting solos and fingerwork.  I’m also a huge fan of Toni’s excellent bass sense and composition.  He creates a jazziness with this energetic atmosphere that creates a darker and more urban tone for the album.
My one real complaint about the album lies in the mixing of the drums.  While Alex does a great job in creating voluptuous fills and beats, the drums are often not given their due place in the mix.  This is a small complaint, though, especially since the drumming is so good.
Overall, “Big City Awakes” plays by its own rules.  It excels at giving us an idyllic feeling toward a more hardened human landscape, and so the feelings evoked are often different than you might expect.  I find new emotions every time I listen.
The tracks here all work well together.  The title track is an excellent intro song with a truly classy groove backed by wonderful flute and sax, plus a great guitar workout near the end.  “Roller Coaster” starts out very “predictably” somehow, but then throws a left hook with some very cool rhythms, which happens quite often in this album.  “Dreams in a Box” is jazzy track with some ethereal elements that feel like desperation and longing.  “Looking for Mr. Hyde” is one of the most interesting tracks with its quirky jazziness.  It’s also the only track with some vocals on it, and they are quite well done.
“Day 49” is the best track on the album.  It features a wonderful groove to begin with that transitions into a beautiful flute segment that turns into a rock portion.  This song really melds into “On the Raw” perfectly, almost like sister tracks.  And the album often does this thing where the songs transition right into each other with fantastic results.
I really love this debut album from On The Raw.  “Big City Awakes” is a wonderful album of the type that you’d listen to while wordlessly driving through the city during the darkness of night.  On your drive, you will see the bright lights of the city and the silent monolithic structures that signal the presence of mankind, and somehow this band has transferred those sights into beautiful music.  I highly recommend this fantastic debut.

Big City Awakes

Travis Woyen - Echoes in the Dark

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2017
Time: 59:30
Size: 136,7 MB
Label: Self Released
Styles: Progressive Rock
Art: Front

Tracks Listing:
 1. Prologue - 1:46
 2. Echoes in the Dark - 5:15
 3. Summer Morning - 2:59
 4. Entering a New Age - 6:52
 5. Revolution in My Head - 4:29
 6. Fear in the Night - 6:45
 7. Watercolor Nightmares - 4:10
 8. Consume - 3:27
 9. 30 Pieces of Gold - 5:59
10. The Dead are in the Wind - 4:32
11. Man Without a Life - 4:21
12. Epilogue - 8:47

Progressive hard rock that takes you on a journey through one man's experience in an 18th century madhouse.
Imagine waking up without any memory of who you are. That's the basic premise of Echoes in the Dark, a one hour story about a man who wakes up in a for-profit 18th century madhouse and wants nothing more than to find out who he is how to get out, especially when he notices that the only other inmates he knows of start turning up missing. Thematically, it deals with the idea of identity, how people view themselves, and how they view others.
The music draws from a lot of different inspirations, such as Rush, Genesis, King Crimson, King Diamond, Neil Diamond (okay, maybe not Neil Diamond.) All parts were written and all instruments played by Travis Woyen. Overall, it strikes a balance between taking an adventurous musical approach while maintaining consistency throughout.

Echoes in the Dark

Walter Christian Rothe - Let The Night Last Forever

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 1985
Time: 52:01
Size: 120,3 MB
Label: Archipel
Styles: Electronic
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Intro + Dawnfall - 5:55
 2. The Next Leaf - 5:05
 3. Tea Dance - 3:10
 4. Sahara - 3:29
 5. Death - 9:03
 6. Radio - 3:02
 7. Verena - 5:30
 8. Hymne - 9:36
 9. Let The Night Last Forever - 7:08

Belgian composer Walter Christian Rothe lived in the heart of the city of Brussels when he composed his classic album ‘Let the night last forever”. Comprising of nine parts it tells the story of his love for the night in the city especially the loneliness of the early hours. Today the music is as compelling as it was thirty years ago thrusting the listener on a mood roller coaster. The album kicks off dramatically with “Intro+Dawnfall” followed by the beautiful reflective sound painting of “The Next Leaf” both favourites of mine echoing Vangelis.
The mood changes with the high energy “Tea-dance” and “Sahara” (used in the Belgian film C4) leading into the enigmatic “Death”. “Radio” picks up the pace again with some great percussive and melodic elements followed by “Verena”, a lush sounding romantic exploration. “Hymne” creates a new atmosphere with traditional influences accentuated with sparse and dramatic sounding tympani crashes setting the mood for the album title track finale. The final title “Let the night last forever's” dramatic intro and melodic qualities brings the journey full circle. The magic blend of sounds and compositions offer many surprises for a remarkable album.

Let The Night Last Forever 

I Cadmo - Boomerang

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 1977
Time: 45:33
Size: 104,4 MB
Label: Vedette
Styles: Progressive Rock/Jazz-Rock Fusion
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Terra Di Mezzo - 12:33
 2. Uadi Garandhel - 10:58
 3. Boomerang -  8:52
 4. Sa Morra - 13:09

Boomerang e l’album d’esordio de I Cadmo, trio sardo dall’anima fortemente jazz, formato da Antonello Salis al piano, Riccardo Lay al contrabbasso e Mario Paliano alla batteria. Stilisticamente la band puo essere affiancata a gruppi quali Maad, Baricentro e Spirale, solo per citarne alcuni. Il disco, composto da quattro lunghi brani, e caratterizzato da suoni ed atmosfere molto sfaccettate. Si passa dalle evoluzioni al piano di Salis, che a tratti richiamano situazioni futuriste, al jazz piu puro con una fusione perfetta dei tre musicisti, sino a fugaci apparizioni di musica quasi sperimentale. Il sound della band colpi talmente tanto Franco Fayenz, grande esperto di musica jazz, che lo indusse a scrivere una presentazione/recensione del disco, molto entusiasta, la quale fu poi pubblicata sul retro stesso dell’album: “[…] Sono convinto infatti che il trio sardo sia senz’altro il migliore complesso giovanile di jazz, o riferibile al jazz, riunitosi in Italia negli ultimi anni. In ogni caso e il piu affiatato, il piu compatto, il piu originale […]”. Nella stessa presentazione Fayenz descrive anche i tre musicisti con parole di elogio e, soprattutto Salis, viene definito come uno che “suona come una forza della natura, formando un corpo unico col suo strumento, quasi che questo fosse l’unico mezzo possibile per comunicare col resto del mondo”.
Particolare la copertina del disco in cui un boomerang colpisce e distrugge una sorta di “navicella spaziale musicale”, con a bordo i nostri tre musicisti, quasi a significare la volonta di rompere gli schemi della musica tradizionale (in questo caso il puro jazz).
Il primo brano dell’album, Terra di mezzo, ci mette sul piatto subito tutti gli ingredienti che troveremo nell’intera opera.  Si parte con il piano di Antonello Salis a farla da padrone con un’esecuzione “poco canonica”, quasi futurista (ricorda “La guerra” di Francesco Balilla Pratella). Si attende un po’ prima che avvenga l’ingresso di un nuovo strumento. Sara la batteria a dare il cambio al piano (a tratti sembra l’anticipazione del tribale che troveremo in Sa Morra). Dura poco. Si torna molto presto al futurismo di inizio brano e poi ad un ottimo jazz-rock.
Con Uadi Garandhel i Cadmo partono direttamente con cio che gli riesce meglio: puro jazz. Sara cosi fino alla fine del brano, con un intermezzo quasi romantico, nella parte iniziale, messo in piedi dal piano. Ancora una volta eccezionale il piano di Salis, senza dimenticare Mario Paliano alla batteria, a cui viene lasciato anche lo spazio per un bell’assolo.
Boomerang. Uno sprazzo di “follia futurista” di solo piano da il via alla title-track. Poco dopo la batteria diventa degna compagna. E solo dal terzo minuto che il brano si “ricompone” diventando un’ottima esecuzione tendente essenzialmente al jazz (si rivedono a momenti gli Spirale). Sembrero ridondante, ma ancora una volta va sottolineata la superba prova di Salis.
Sa Morra e una lunga suite di quasi 14 minuti che, nella struttura cangiante, ricorda Terra di Mezzo. Un “uccello sintetico”, un contrabbasso, dei campanelli e altri rumori compongono la prima parte del brano. A questa seguono vari cambi di rotta, tra cui una  parte piu “regolare” su una base di contrabbasso e percussioni con la presenza di un canto in dialetto sardo, e, successivamente, un breve e strano gioco di cori. E dopo gli  8 minuti che ci troviamo in preda al panico. Le voci sovrapposte sembrano un intreccio tra James Senese e Demetrio Stratos (della fase sperimentazioni vocali) accompagnati da urla varie. Cantato sardo, cori ed urla ci conducono sull’isola nell’atmosfera tipica del gioco della morra. Per chiudere la batteria di Paliano si cimenta in una danza tribale, inframezzata dalle grida dei compagni. Brano decisamente diverso dal precedente, con una fisionomia quasi sperimentale.

Boomerang

Barrock - L'alchimista

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 1990
Time: 38:28
Size: 88,9 MB
Label: Moon Witch Records
Styles: Progressive Rock/RPI
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Regina Della A Luna -  2:40
 2. Overture -  2:05
 3. Re Artu - Suite - a) Alla Guerra Delre b) Dopo La Battaglia c) Nel Silenzio D... - 13:06
 4. La Gloria E Le Armi -  4:10
 5. L'alchimista -  7:49
 6. Al Pari Degli Dei -  5:15
 7. Tarantella -  3:21

BARROCK were an Italian act,formed in 1982 by members with strong classical studies and background.Their open minds led them to explore the progressive rock field and in 1985 they released a cassette with satisfying success.BARROCK kept working on new material and at the end of the 80's they were signed by the Japanese label ''Spring Song Co.'',through which they published worldwide their debut album ''L'Alchimista''.As their name indicates,BARROCK's debut is filled with baroque/medieval tunes through the fantastic keyboard work of Giuseppe Vendramin and Valter Poles.Their sound is characterized by the combination of alternating delightful baroque organ/grandiose synthesizers,the classical-inspired Italian vocals of the two female singers and the numerous keyboard/guitar interplays.I find their work quite inventive and original and I recommend it strongly not only for progressive rock fans,but also for admirers of classical/rennaisance/baroque music.A rare yet tasteful work from early 90's!

L'alchimista

Gnidrolog - Live 1972

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 1999
Time: 70:17
Size: 161,4 MB
Label: Audio Archives
Styles: Progressive Rock/Eclectic Prog
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Intro,Any Use In Living - 10:15
 2. Could Never Be A Soldier - 13:19
 3. Time And Apace -  8:33
 4. Meanwhile Back At The Office -  4:42
 5. My  Mother -  9:52
 6. In Spite Of Harry’s Toenail - 14:38
 7. Sixpence For A Handstand (Bonus Track) -  8:55

Musicians:
Colin Goldring - lead vocals, guitar, sax, recorder, tenor horn, harmonica;
Stewart Goldring - lead guitar, vocals;
Peter "Mars" Cowling - bass guitar, cello;
Nigel Pegrum - percussion, flute, oboe;
John Earle - alto, tenor, baritone and soprano sax, flute, vocals.

Live 1972 is the third album of the British progressive rock band, Gnidrolog. The album was recorded live in Birmingham on July 10, 1972, and released in 1999 to be the band's only live album. The album's bonus track was recorded live in Aylesbury on July 8, 1972. The album introduced four Gnidrolog songs which have never been released, while re-releasing only three tracks, "I could never be a soldier", from the Lady Lake album, "Time and Space" and "In Spite of Harry's Toenail", from the In Spite of Harry's Toenail album. The album was released after the band reunited, following a 27-year break up. This comeback saw the recording and release of one more album, 'Gnosis, released later in 1999.

Live 1972