GARY HUSBAND & MARKUS REUTER – MUSIC OF OUR TIMES – INDEPENDENT

There is no doubt we are living in very strange times indeed. The whole world has succumbed to a pandemic, and as for politics, let us just say I am incredibly glad to be living at the end of the world. But there are always people who look to make the best of a bad thing, and the album I am listening to is an example of just that. Stick Men (Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto and Markus Reuter) with very special guest Gary Husband (on keyboards) had just commenced a tour of Japan and China when the world turned upside down. With some time before their flights out of the country Husband and Reuter, along with producer Leonard Pavkovic, booked a studio in Tokyo and on 3rd March 2020 captured a moment unlike any other. While Husband will probably always be linked with the mighty Allan Holdsworth as his drummer for many years, he is also a jazz keyboard player held in high regard, and here he sat at the studio’s Fazoli Pianoforti grand piano and allowed his imagination to take flight. Many years of playing next to one of the world’s most celebrated improvisors has put him in good stead to work with Markus Reuter, who has expanded the normal guitarists repertoire by his use of live electronics and Touch Guitars® AU8. 

The set was recorded live in the studio with no overdubs, and anyone who thinks that improvised music is always unlistenable should hear this. Gary often takes the lead, although not always, but Markus is right there with him providing the support whether it is a few well-chosen picked notes on a guitar or some electronic backdrops for Gary to provide his magic against. It is languid, it is relaxing, and Gary has a deft control of the sustain pedal, allowing the piano’s notes to hang in the air and harmonize against each other. The two musicians may not have played with each other as much as they would have by the end of the tour, but due to each’s own personal musical journey they are able to interpret and react to what is happening in real time and adding to the overall feeling and never detracting. I wish I had been in the control room next to my old friend Leo, as I can imagine for the most part he was making minor tweaks to the sound and just sitting there with his eyes closed being transfixed by what was taking place. This is sheer beauty from start to end, and really is something magical. I am glad it was just the two of them, as if Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto had been there then I am sure it would have been special but there would have been a very different focus to the sound. Here we have the sound of water, sometimes babbling, sometimes a larger sea, but always in motion and never resting. This is music which transports the listener to a better time and place, where there is no pandemic, no death, no hate and while this plays it truly is a blessing.

Kev Rowland | 9/10

MoonJune Records Celebrates 18 Years With Free Sampler or Specially Priced Limited Edition 2 CD Set

Dear Friends in Music

JUNE is the month of MoonJune Records.
In JUNE 2001, MoonJune has released its first album: 
DEAN/HEWINS “Bar Torque”
https://bit.ly/2KuQTWX

Special offer during the MoonJune month of June:
20% of anything on MoonJune’s BandCamp page:
https://moonjunerecords.bandcamp.com/music
at the checkout use the following discount code:
moonjune2019

The Invitation to MoonJune Records
Vol. 01

Progressive Music Exploring Boundaries of
Rock, Jazz, Avant, Ethno & The Unknown.

==> FREE DOWNLOAD <== 
($0 at the checkout / donations welcome)
WAV / FLAC / M4A / MP3-320
24 tunes from 23 MoonJune albums
and 1 previously unreleased tune.
Direct link: http://bit.ly/2oClbua

==> Limited edition 2CD <== 
$20 + shipping, signed by Mr. MoonJune
Direct link: http://bit.ly/2oClbua

*** SPECIAL OFFER ***

Contribute $12 at the checkout, and receive 
2 BONUS DIGITAL ALBUMS.
https://moonjunerecords.bandcamp.com
(Any album)

Contribute $25 at the checkout, and receive 
5 BONUS DIGITAL ALBUMS.
https://moonjunerecords.bandcamp.com
(Any album)

**** Once You complete Your purchase, please e-mail Your selection of bonus albums to: [email protected] 
and You will receive download codes in less than 24hrs. **** 

Featuring musicians from the USA, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Israel, Uruguay, Indonesia, Switzerland, Serbia, Spain, Canada, UK: 
Stick Men (Tony Levin, Markus Reuter, Pat Mastelotto), Mark Wingfield, The Wrong Object, Slivovitz, Marbin, Moraine, Doubt, Beledo, Tohpati Ethnomission, Dusan Jevtovic, Dwiki Dharmawan, Machine Mass, Vantomme, Dewa Budjana, Soft Machine Legacy, simakDialog, Mark Wingfield & Nicolas Meier, D.F.A., Xavi Reija, Vasil Hadzimanov Band, Savoldelli Casarano Bardoscia, Wingfield Reuter Sirkis, Mahogany Frog, Holdsworth Pasqua Haslip Wackerman. 

FREE DOWNLOAD
Direct link: http://bit.ly/2oClbua

Stick Men // Prog Noir // Featured Video Of The Week

 

Video directed and edited by ofrin (www.ofrin.com)

Order the Stick Men album PROG NOIR here:
http://iapetus-store.com/album/prog-noir
https://stickmen-moonjune.bandcamp.com/album/prog-noir

Written by Tony Levin, Markus Reuter, Pat Mastelotto

Tony Levin: Stick and Voice
Markus Reuter: U8 and AU8 Touch Guitars (www.touchguitars.com) and Voice
Pat Mastelotto: Acoustic and Electronic Drums and Percussion

Mix and post-production by Benjamin Schäfer and Markus Reuter for www.unsung-productions.com
Mastered by Lee Fletcher

Markus Reuter Tour Announced

markus-reuter
MARKUS REUTER is on tour in the USA this Fall, after finishing two weeks tour with Stick Men in Europe (between October 11-23), celebrating the 20th anniversary of his own project CENTROZOON. It’s a combo of live concerts, live radio shows and radio interviews. If You are in the area, please check out one of the busiest and the most productive men in circulation on the progressive music market in the universe and beyond. And in my opinion, one of the most unique, original, innovative and talented musicians of XXI Century.
November 3 – WDIY/Bethlehem, PA
Radio appearance @ Galactic Travels (with host Bill Fox) – 11pm

November 4 – WPRB/Princeton, NJ
Radio appearance @ Music With Space (with host Mike Hunter) – 12 midnight

November 5 – Mt. Laurel, NJ
Private show: Living Room Concert Series – time TBA

November 6 – WXPN/Philadelphia, PA

Radio appearance @ Star’s End Radio (with host Chuck van Zyl) – 2am

November 8 – WLFR/Pomona, NJ
Radio appearance @ Digital Dreams Radio (with host Mark Dickson) – 10pm

November 9 – Charlottesville, VA
Live @ IX Art Park – 8pm

November 10 – Asheville, NC
Live @ Living Room Concert / Streamside Concerts – 8pm

November 11 – Charleston, WV
Live @ Kanawha United Presbyterian Church – 8pm

November 12 – Baltimore, MD
Live @ (venue TBA, time TBA)

November 13 – Beacon, NY

Live @ Quinn’s – 8pm

November 15 – Philadelphia, PA
Live @ The Rotunda – 8pm
Event Horizons Concert Series
with special guests: Chuck van Zyl, Nocturne Blue

November 17 – Farmington, CT
Live @ Edge Media Space / Farmington H.S. (Rm. 809) – 7pm

November 18 – Bordentown, NJ
Live @ The Cosmic Crossings

with Centrozoon and Nocturne Blue

November 19 – New York, NY
Live @ Spectrum – 8:30pm

with special guest Nocturne Blue

November 20  – WVKR/Poughkeepsie, NY
Radio appearance @ Secret Music (with host Scott Raymond) – 11am

November 20 – Branchburg, NJ
Private show: Living Room Concert Series – time TBA

February 4, 2017 – Dallas, TX
Live @ I Came for the Light and Stayed for the Shadows (time TBA)
w/Nocturne Blue
For more info about the tour, please RSVP George Bley, the Markus Reuter USA Tour liaison: [email protected]

The long awaited new album of STICK MEN “Prog Noir” is now available for pre-orders

Much to the excitement of music aficionados worldwide, prog legends Stick Men will be releasing their new album “Prog Noir” on October 21, 2016, which is now available for pre-order as a single disc edition and a super deluxe box set, which contains an additional bonus CD with exclusive material, a double vinyl version of the album, a t-shirt and poster. The band, featuring members of King Crimson Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto, and Touch Guitar® innovator Markus Reuter, has also released a new lyric video for ‘The Tempest’! A departure from their previous efforts, “Prog Noir” also includes ‘song’ oriented material featuring vocals on several tracks.The long awaited new album of STICK MEN “Prog Noir” is now available in multiple formats (pre-sale of SIGNED Box-Set is sold-out)

1) LIMITED EDITION COMBO PACKAGE DELUXE BOX SET (2LP/2CD/POSTER) + T-SHIRT
ONLY UP TO 50 COPIES AVAILABLE.

The combo package includes:
• 2LP 180 grams gatefold (the LP has one 11 minute bonus tracks on the Side B of the second LP, which is not included in the regular CD package)
• 2CD special edition of the new album, Digipack. (Disk One is the regular 10 track album. Disk Two contains 8 bonus tracks.)
• Full color poster of the album artwork (17×22 inches)
• Full color T-Shirt (front only). Available in Navy Blue and Black.

All orders will be shipped between the last week of October and early November 2016.
Pre-orders are $99 USD / 89 EUR plus shipping.
This special box set includes digital pre-order of “Prog Noir”. Fans will get 4 tracks now (streaming via the free BandCamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.

2) LIMITED EDITION COMBO PACKAGE DELUXE BOX SET (2LP/2CD/POSTER)
ONLY 100 AVAILABLE.

The combo package includes:
• 2LP 180 grams gatefold (the LP has one 11 minute bonus tracks on the Side B of the second LP, which is not included in the regular CD package)
• 2CD special edition of the new album, Digipack. (Disk One is the regular 10 track album. Disk Two contains 8 bonus tracks.)
• Full color poster of the album artwork (17×22 inches)

All orders will be shipped between the last week of October and early November 2016.
Pre-orders are $75 USD / 69 EUR plus shipping.
This special box set includes digital pre-order of “Prog Noir”. Fans will get 4 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.

3) SINGLE CD, REGULAR EDITION of “Prog Noir” (10 tracks)
can be pre-ordered for $17 USD / 15 EUR plus shipping

4) DOWNLOAD of “Prog Noir” (10 tracks in WAV, FLAC, ALAC and/or MP3-320 formats)
can be pre-ordered for $10 US / 9 EUR

Exclusively available at:
https://stickmen-moonjune.bandcamp.com/album/prog-noir
(orders placed from North, Central and South America, Middle East, Africa and Asia)
https://iapetus.bandcamp.com/album/prog-noir
(orders placed from Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia)

With riveting performances by the modern prog-rock legends Stick Men – Tony Levin, Markus Reuter and Pat Mastelotto – , “Prog Noir” is ambitious, achieving and immediately essential. Cinematic themes, towering grooves and intricate arrangements are all on tap, and shower down in abundance. Proving conclusively that the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts, this herculean effort exceeds any perceived limitations of the trio format — satisfying even the most devout and demanding of listeners.

Long-time fans of Stick Men and King Crimson will revel in ecstasy, as the three sonic adventurers gleefully waltz to the outer fringes, while remaining sure-footed through every scene. The chemistry of Levin and Mastelotto has never been more evident, keeping a solid, propulsive undercurrent flowing beneath the soaring presence of the ingenious ‘mad scientist’ antics of Reuter. … and a profound presence Markus Reuter does prove himself to be. One could be quickly forgiven for mistaking his avid, searching, convicted playing for that of Master Fripp, if administered under blindfold!

The album’s ten compositions showcase Stick Men at their most versatile and enterprising; there’s even some superb vocals (and vocal arrangements). While most of the large following the band has amassed will undoubtedly be surprised by the more structured and preconceived nature of the tunes, the revelation is a pleasant one. The album triumphantly succeeds on every level, with the group even displaying a playful sense of humor, clearly enjoying and savoring the moment.

From the overpowering to the sublime; from an organic, instinctive avant garde, to intricate, Crimsonesque tapestries, to rich cinematic themes and potent melodies, the album embodies the go-for-it, pioneering spirit that fans of the genre have long savored. A modern prog epic!

Watch the new Stick Men video:
https://youtu.be/BEBw4F5HuVI
https://vimeo.com/173539916

In association with iapetus Media, MoonJune Music, 7d Media and Audio Anatomy, proudly and loudly, totally indy.

Special thanks go to Trey Gunn of 7d Media, Andrzej Mackiewicz & Marcin Dabek of Audio Anatomy, and Masahide Matsuzaki of Inter Art Committees

Official Website: http://www.stick-men.net
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stickmenofficial

Press inquiries: Billy @ Glass Onyon PR, [email protected]

Booking inquiries:  Leonardo @ MoonJune Music, [email protected]
PROG NOIR CD (10 tracks) and DOWNLOAD (10 tracks)
$10 DOWNLOAD – USA STORE
EUR 9 DOWNLOAD – EURO STORE
$17 – CD – USA STORE
EUR 15 – CD – EURO STORE
includes 2LP/2CD/POSTER/T-SHIRT
PROG NOIR Box Set
includes 2LP/2CD/POSTER
$99 BOX SET – USA STORE
$75 BOX SET – USA STORE
EUR 89 – EURO STORE
EUR 69 – EURO STORE