MMXX is the new album by Italian prog act ifsounds, the album features 48 minutes of music within five new tracks. The official releases date is April 28th but MMXX is available to Pre-order now!
Watch the Official teaser video here
The Story of MMXX We’re living the most surreal, creepy and tragic years of modern era history. This album tries to translate in words and music the sensations, the emotions and our sense of loss of these strange days. MMXX is the latin notation for 2020, the year that changed our lives forever. MMXXII stands for 2022, and our sense of loss gets worse and worse.
MMXX was recorded in two years. It was a great challenge because of its structure and its complex arrangement including a rock band and a choir, merging several styles together.
An ambitious and insightful choral album for the Italian band, flagship of the American label MRR. Their seventh work is an album full of polyphonic and contemporary prog-rock
Lino Giugliano – piano, organ, synth and keyboards Dario Lastella – guitars, bass guitar, synth and vocals Lino Mesina – drums Italo Miscione – bass guitar Runal – lead vocals Ilaria Carlucci – lead and backing vocals
Guest Musicians: Claudio Lapenna – vocals on MMXX and piano on Kandinsky’s Sky Nadezhda Chalykh – vocals on MMXX Mariano Gramegna – vocals on MMXX Giovanni Liberatore – vocals on MMXX
Written and produced by Dario Lastella, except MMXXII (music by Lastella – Mesina – Giugliano) Arranged and performed by ifsounds Mastered by Steve Kitch – audiomaster.co.uk
To celebrate and promote the forthcoming ‘The Journey Continues’ Tour this August & September, Big Big Train will be sharing videos of a couple of songs filmed on tour last year. The first of these is “The Florentine” which was recorded in September 2022 at The Boerderij in The Netherlands. You can see the video here:
Alberto Bravin says: “I was very pleased when we agreed last year that “The Florentine” should be on the set list for our shows last September. After all, what could be better for an Italian than singing about Leonardo da Vinci?! “The Florentine” is a wonderful song to sing and a perfect example of David Longdon’s songwriting genius. We’re very fortunate to have the song as part of the Big Big Train catalogue.
“Duetting at the start and end of “The Florentine,” with Nick D’Virgilio coming out from behind the drum kit, was fun. It has some great opportunities for ensemble playing as well as some showcasing some terrific solos – I really enjoyed being on stage watching Oskar Holldorff playing that keyboard solo and Rikard rocking out on the guitar solo every night. For the gig at the Boerderij we thought it would be interesting to have a camera on Rikard’s guitar too. I hope we will be playing “The Florentine” live many more times in the future.”
Nick D’Virgilio adds: “I loved singing with Alberto. Seeing the live film of us playing “The Florentine” at the legendary Boerderij venue in the Netherlands is so cool. It still amazes me that this was only our third show playing together with Alberto, Oskar, Clare Lindley and Dave Foster. Our performance may not be 100% perfect but we really rocked and it was very memorable – particularly for a Monday night!”
“Our Boerderij show was also the first time that we had played a standing venue since our Night Of The Prog gig back in 2018. The night had a different vibe to the shows we’ve done in seated theatres on previous tours and I’m really looking forward to us playing a mix of venues when we’re back out on the road in August and September this year.”
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2023 DATESSaturday 26th August – Cultuurpodium Boerderij, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands Sunday 27th August – Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany Monday 28th August – Stora Teatern, Gothenburg, Sweden Tuesday 29th August – Cosmopolite, Oslo, Norway Wednesday 30th August – Fryshuset Klubben, Stockholm, Sweden Thursday 31st August – Viften, Copenhagen, DenmarkSaturday 2nd September – 2 Days + 1 Festival, Revislate, Italy Sunday 3rd September – Z7, Pratteln (Basel), Switzerland Tuesday 5th September – Neuberinhaus, Reichenbach, Germany Wednesday 6th September – Carlswerk Victoria, Cologne, Germany Thursday 7th September – Colos-Saal, Aschaffenburg, Germany Friday 8th September – Mozart-Saal, Stuttgart, GermanySunday 10th September – The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, UK Monday 11th September – Town Hall, Birmingham, UK Tuesday 12th September – Cadogan Hall, London, UK Wednesday 13th September – Cadogan Hall, London, UKSupport at all shows except Wednesday 13th September comes from rising Norwegian stars Dim Gray, who feature BBT’s Oskar Holldorff. There will be no support at the Wednesday 13th September show.Please see www.bigbigtrain.com/livefor ticket links to all venue box offices.
Big Big Train will release the album titled ‘Ingenious Devices’ on 30th June 2023 on CD, double vinyl (black and sky blue vinyl) and hi-resolution (24/96) Bandcamp download. ‘Ingenious Devices’ will be available on all major streaming platforms from 28th July 2023.
‘Ingenious Devices’ features 59 minutes of music, including new versions of “East Coast Racer”, “Brooklands” and “Voyager,” which prominently feature an elite 17 piece string section recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London and have been re-mixed for this release.
Additionally, ‘Ingenious Devices’ includes a previously unreleased orchestral piece called “The Book of Ingenious Devices”, which links “East Coast Racer” and “Brooklands”, as well as a live version of “Atlantic Cable”, which was recorded on the band’s tour in September 2022.
New US progressive rock group, Ascher, release their debut album ‘Beginnings’ today, March 16th. The album, containing five instrumental pieces and four songs, clocks in at fifty-seven minutes. From the opening instrumental title track to the bonus track closer, “The Instrumental Divide,” the album flows seamlessly through a sonic landscape of guitar-driven rock, vintage keyboard wizardry, and a lofty hook-laden ballad. The instrumental pieces power through enough time signature and meter changes to keep the die-hard prog fan happy while the thought provoking songs reveal a more grounded down to earth feel.
The band features Doug Bowers (Guitars/Keys/Bass/Vocals), Blake Dickeson (Rhythm Guitars), Rob Perez (Lead Guitar), and Kyle Graves (Lead Vocals).
Beginnings will be available via the band’s Bandcamp page as well as all digital music retailers and streaming sites. Lyrics are also available on Ascher’s Bandcamp page. https://ascher1.bandcamp.com/album/beginnings
To coincide with the release of the album, Ascher has released video for the track, “What the World Can’t Give,” which you can see here:
The band released their first single, “The Great Divide,” in February accompanied by a video.
Doug Bowers (Ad Astra, KDB3, Vertical Alignment) and Rob Perez (Visual Cliff, Bluesyndrome) have been collaborating on one another’s projects for years. A short-lived band formed in 2021 and disbanded in early 2022 yielded many co-written instrumental pieces that never saw the light of day. Toward the end of 2022, Doug began collaborating with guitarist, Blake Dickeson, fleshing out some musical ideas that Blake had developed over the years, Rob was brought in to add tasty lead guitar to the effort. When Rob suggested that the trio revisit some of the unfinished instrumental pieces, it was decided that a band might be the best expression of their growing repertoire. Thus Ascher was born. It quickly became apparent that Doug was not up to singing the melodies he was writing for his lyrics and the search for a proper singer was soon underway. Rob suggested a singer that he had recently encountered. Kyle Graves was writing lyrics for an upcoming album for Rob and Rob felt he would be a perfect fit for Ascher. Rob was right and the band was complete.
Tracklisting:
1. Beginnings (6:03) 2. In the Clear Distance (5:07)
3. The Great Divide (7:44) 4. Ransom For the Righteous (6:19) 5. De Profundis (7:58) 6. Nail Soup (5:27) 7. What the World Can’t Give (6:03) 8. Wheels Turning Now (4:12) https://ascher1.bandcamp.com/album/beginnings
10th March 2023: YES, who are Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood & Jay Schellen, are pleased to announce their new studio album Mirror To The Sky on InsideOutMusic/Sony Music on the 19th May 2023. This is a very important album for the band, says Steve Howe, Yes longest serving member, master guitarist, and producer of Mirror To The Sky. We kept the continuity in the approach we established on The Quest, but we havent repeated ourselves. That was the main thing. As Yes did in the seventies from one album to another, were growing and moving forward. In later years, Yes often got going but then didnt do the next thing. This album is demonstrative of us growing, and building again. For Yes, that next thing is a collection of high energy, intricate, lush and layered new studio songs for an album which adds to the bands much heralded legacy, while charting a path to exciting future times ahead.
Today also sees the launch of the first track taken from the album. Listen to Cut From The Stars & watch the video here:
Mirror In The Sky will be available on several formats, all featuring artwork by longtime Yes artist & collaborator Roger Dean:
Ltd Deluxe Electric Blue 2LP+2CD+Blu-ray Artbook with poster
Ltd Deluxe 2CD+Blu-ray Artbook
Ltd 2CD Digipak
Standard CD Jewelcase
Gatefold 2LP+LP-Booklet
Digital Album
The blu-ray editions include the album as Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround Sound, Instrumental Versions & Hi-Res Stereo Mixes.
As they were wrapping up The Quest, Yes found themselves with song sketches, structures, and ideas that were demanding attention. Yes received unconditional support from InsideOut boss Thomas Waber, who encouraged them to keep going in the studio, months before The Quest would even go on sale. It was like throwing gasoline on their creative fire.
When we delivered everything, and they were just getting the vinyl and everything into production for manufacturing, we were still very much in that creative zone, explains Steve Howe. That belief that Thomas had in us really meant a lot, he says.
We truly get along as people, says Jon Davison. I feel like everyones focused inward to the greater circle, concentric to the core of highest standards that define Yes. Its a wonderful thing to witness and of which to play a part. I believe this reflects vibrantly in the music and the creative input that each one is willing to apply, not for the benefit of the individual, but for the greater whole that is Yes.
There was a lot of material floating around because the band hadnt done anything in the studio for so long. Ideas were just copious, says bassist Billy Sherwood. The pace of it was fast. As soon as we were finished with The Quest, and the mix had come out, we took a couple of little breaks there to catch our breath. But there was still music flowing around in the loop. It was just constantly being looked at and worked on. As we were all home and in that mode, things started progressing quite swiftly. We just went one album into another without really announcing, Hey, were working on a second record right now. We just continued to work on material. It came about pretty naturally, and then we refined it as the process went on. But the initial bursts there was a lot of material around!
Much to everyones delight, including that of longtime-fan Thomas Waber, Yes have pushed into territory they practically invented the prog rock epic albeit in a thoroughly new and modern way. I always felt that it would be great to have stuff thats a little bit more epic, he says, although he resisted the temptation to push for something that would be too formatted and could come off as contrived. He just gave the band space to do what they do and let things develop. They were so excited by The Quest and the momentum they had that they went straight back in to the studio. What they were writing, even early on, was obviously headed in that epic direction what Yes music really is to me. It is almost a genre onto itself. It is Yes Music. Mirror To The Sky certainly is Yes Music.
Mirror To The Sky features not one, but four tracks clocking in at over eight minutes, with the sweeping and cinematic title track coming in just shy of fourteen minutes. Whats more, the tracks, like Yes best, take the listener on a wide dynamically ranging journey of soundscapes which also showcase Steve Howes dazzling guitars, keyboard wizard Geoff Downes impeccable sounds, exquisite melodies and fills, Jon Davisons angelic, crystalline vocals, Billy Sherwoods deftly dancing bass and Jay Schellens masterfully controlled explosions, on drums.
Jay Schellen, who has been touring with the band since 2016, was hand-picked to step into his mentor and friend Alan Whites role when White sadly passed away in 2022. I had done the 2016 Topographic Drama tour on my own for Alan, say Jay. From late 2017 onwards, we had a partnership, and a beautiful partnership, I might add. I learned so much, and discovered so much about Alans style, and why it was the way it was. It fit his personality so perfectly. This album has Alans presence all over it. It is inside of us. So this is still, in my heart, Alan just being present and with us, and with me, in a big way.
Melodic Revolution Records is thrilled to announce the upcoming release Chasing the Lesser Light by US Symphonic Prog band Kinetic Element.
Chasing the Lesser Light is a sixty-minute symphonic prog journey through human’s desire to explore space. From the lunar missions of 50 years ago to the present-day planning for a journey to Mars.
Five songs cover the past, present, and future:
1) First Stage (6:15) – contemplating space travel, as we learn to fly high without wings. 2) Chasing the Lesser Light (19:50) – landing on the moon, and seeing the earth as one world. 3) Radio Silence (9:55) – the perils of space travel, with the emotional impact on an astronaut’s son. 4) We Can’t Forget (11:35) – glancing back at the moon, as we look ahead to mars. 5) Door To Forever (15:18) – reopening the door to space travel, and to become the Starman in the sky.
The cover artwork portrays space travel as commonplace with a man in a business suit and helmet, as he observes an Apollo launch that brought a nation and the world together.
Mike Visaggio: Piano, Organ, & Synthesizers Michael Murray: Drums Mark Tupko: Bass Saint. John Coleman: Vocals Peter Matuchniak: Guitars
Track 2, 5, by Mike Visaggio Track 1, 3, by Peter Matuchniak Track 4, by Mike Visaggio and Peter Matuchniak
All arrangements by Kinetic Element Mixed and mastered by Peter Matuchniak Engineered by Michael Murray, Peter Matuchniak Layout and Graphics, Man in the Mountain
Kinetic Element is a neo/symphonic progressive rock band from Richmond, Virginia that harbors musical roots in classic artists like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes, Asia and Genesis and blends those influences with philosophical and spiritually powerful and uplifting lyrics. They are a known act in the prog-rock genre.
Kinetic Element has been invited to perform at the Winters End Festival UK on April 1st, 2023, the band has also performed at many prestigious festival in the past i.e., Prog Day, RoSFest, Progtoberfest, ProgStock, in the USA and Terra Incognita in Canada
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