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

IAN NEAL / ALL IN THE GOLDEN AFTERNOON

Track List:

Ian Neal is a British musician who recently released this album titled “All In The Golden Afternoon”. It took him 3 years to finish the recordings of this project which was influenced by Lewis Caroll’s work. Keyboards and guitars are the two major instruments played by Ian, however throughout the CD there are samples of readings of poetry by a child (Ian himself sounding like a little kid). Although it is an instrumental album for the most part, you can feel that the songs are written around a theme. Since we are talking about Alice in Wonderland, I believe this theme is about “a past time”, like childhood. The poetry readings of the child give you the feeling of flashbacks.

Ian’s music reminds me of Genesis, Mike Oldfield and even Camel on some parts. He blends ambient and rock to create the sound of his own. As far as computer effects go, you will find virtual mellotron on this album.

The first song "Shining, Really Brightly" opens up with the reading and it is a nice blend of ambient and pop-jazz with a changing tempo. "Alice" sounds more like, it could have been written by a Scandinavian because of its cold atmosphere. The third track of the album, "All In The Golden Afternoon" is somewhere between Camel and Goldfrapp and stands out alone compared to the other songs. This is one of my most favorite songs on this CD along with "Violet, White, Lilac Lily" which has some vocals on it. And I have a feeling that making a CD with vocals was not Ian’s intention, however when you hear this song you can’t help but think that vocals would take this CD to a totally different place. This song also includes samples of the sounds of hand played wine glasses recorded on a virtual mellotron. The vocals are very new-age, kind of like Enya.

There are songs on which you will hear acoustic or electric guitars as leading instruments. Like "She", or "Kingdom of the Birds". These instruments change the ambiance of the album and actually make it sound more like old school prog. As for the “electronic” elements, I can say that they will not bother you. Ian keeps these effects as close to natural as possible in my opinion. However I find myself needing more guitars as well as vocals.

Altogether, this is a well thought project, and you will notice that a great deal of time went into it. Also, the use of the virtual mellotron brings All In The Golden Afternoon to a more prog-y place, if you think about finding a real one might be a little costly. This CD is a pretty good fusion of different genres like prog rock, ambient and maybe a little classical. If you like early prog but are open to listen to electronic stuff, you might like All In The Golden Afternoon.You can actually download the album through Ian’s website at: ianneal.com.

STEPHANIE BUTLER