SENNI ESKELINEN AND STRINGPUREE BAND

Stringpuree Band plays 100% progressive "Kantele" music. This three piece Finnish band comes from the Northern Savo region with a very unique instrumental sound mixed with traditional and contemporary elements including psychedelic and progressive spices topped with jazz and folk. What brings out this unique sound is of course the band's lineup which consists of electric kantele, bass and drums. All original music reflects the roots of Finnish folk music and Scandinavian prog and psychedelic sound... more

Olivier TEJEDOR (NeBeLNeST)

Olivier TEJEDOR, keyboardist of the French prog band NeBeLNeST, is our interview guest this month. NeBeLNeST are one of the most adventurous and energetic young bands to emerge on the international post-rock / avant-progressive scene in recent years. This young French band is noted for its dark symphonic rock... more

Kate BUSH / Never For Ever

1980‘s “Never For Ever” is Kate’s 3rd album. The album was co-produced by Jon Kelly & Kate herself. One of the most interesting things about this album is that it is the first record by a British female artist to top the UK album charts. (Wikipedia). Kate’s progressive approach to music reaches its peak with Never For Ever. She tastefully blends different genres including folk, oriental, rock, classical and jazz. Unlike her first two albums which she wrote on piano, this one was written on synths... more

DAVID PALMER / THE QUALITIES OF SILENCES

This album was recorded in 2007 at, for the most part, the Pfeiffer University in NC. David Palmer wrote all the songs and the lyrics. It sounds like a live recording, not a lot of production went into it. I would not call this album “progressive”, what Palmer was trying to achieve in my opinion was experimenting with different genres like folk, rock, jazz, classical and ambient. Each song has a different atmosphere in this sense.

The first song “Resolve” is a bit ambient. The only problem with this song was that the bass and percussions in some parts sounded a little cluttered. The song itself is well written and has a nice intense atmosphere.

My favorite songs on the CD were “The Moon in July” and “Somnolent Exaltation“, on which Palmer tried a bit of jazz. These are most definitely the better performances on the CD. One song however was quite different then the others, and that was “Der Doppelganger“. It was influenced by classical music. The vocals (Steve Harrill) were especially good.

“Too Metallic To Smile” and “Wal-Mart Chronicles” were on the hard rock side. The problem with those tracks is the vocals. They sound too dry and they were overly dominant in the recording. Although this was a live recording I would like to see some production work, especially a better studio mix, this would really make a big difference.

Hande BURDG