PowerofProg.com Presents The Premiere of 41POINT9's New Video “The Marine”
Your favorite Nerds of Norcal, progressive rock band 41POINT9 have released their newest video for the soon to be released album “Mr. Astute Trousers.” Following closely on the heels of the success of their first two videos this time out the band adopts a heavier sound and more serious topic. The video is for a song called “The Marine” and was based on the true story of a U.S. Marine Corps soldier killed in Afghanistan. When his body was returned to his wife (who was pregnant with their first child) she requested to “sleep one last time by her husband's side” in the funeral home. At her request, the Marine Honor Guard fixed her a makeshift bed beside the coffin and as the last Marine was leaving the chapel, he looked back to see her quietly crying. He turned around and went back to her and asked her if she would like him to stay for a while. She said she would like that. The Marine stepped back up on the dais beside the coffin and stood at attention. When the young mother woke the next morning, that Marine was still there….still standing at attention. Still watching over her, her unborn child and her deceased loved one.
41POINT9 wishes to pay tribute to the honor and traditions of the Marine Corps and to the sacrifice embodied by all who serve. It is for this reason all proceeds from this video will be donated to The Semper Fi Fund, an A+ rated charity that provides immediate financial assistance and lifetime support to post 9/11 combat wounded, critically ill and catastrophically injured members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families.
In the ongoing series of rare live Magma recordings, “AKT XVIII - Marquee - Londres 17 mars 1974” 2CD is now available on Seventh Records!
At the time of this concert, “Köhntarkösz” was still in its phase of elaboration, although the recording of the studio album began only 2 months later. Large sequences were still not composed, others were borrowed from “Köhntarkösz Anteria” and were taken away, then used later in the “K. A” recording of 2004. In a similar way, “Theusz Hamtaahk” did not have its final shape and its coda was cut soon after.
ZÜND 1 KÖHNTARKÖSZ (Christian Vander) (Work in progress) SO›ILOÏ (Christian Vander) KMX B XII opus 7 (Jannick Top) SONS ET CHORUS DE BATTERIE (Christian Vander) (PTAH)
Brussels, Belgium - “Monty” is the new album by Italian music artist Emiliano Deferrari, conceived, written and recorded in Brussels, Belgium, where he lives since 2015. The album was recorded between November 2016 and September 2017 at his Monty Studio. It was mixed in Valencia, Spain by Matteo Nahum, music composer, film scorer and musical partner of Emiliano in their art-rock oriented project Nanaue. Finally, it was mastered in Brooklyn, NY by internationally acclaimed drummer, bass player and sound engineer Nate Wood.
All songs are written by Emiliano with Italian lyrics. Emiliano plays all instruments heard on the tracks (piano and keys, fretless bass, drums, classical, acoustic and electric guitars, violins, pocket sax, voices and programming), like on all his solo releases.
Matteo Nahum mixed creatively the album, indulging with some of his preferred effects and reverberations. Nate Wood mastered the album with balance between deep bass and the subtle textures of cymbals. Great presence but no big compression, maintaining a coherent ratio between loudest and lower sounds, giving the album a jazzier listening experience. Three different masters were made for the CD/downloads, the vinyl and a special “mastered for iTunes” version. The cover photo for the album was shot by celebrated Italian visual artist Pietro Fortuna. The album is produced for Emiliano's personal label Rattsburg Records.
Says Emiliano, “In 2016, after 1 year of life in Belgium, I started producing music with a new mood. I recorded and published 2 new singles with Nanaue, one of which, “As Love is Naked,” was featured on the English movie “Hanging In There” (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3822076/?ref_=ttsnd_snd_tt ) . During the recordings I realized that my last solo work was dated 2010, and I had the urgency of a catharsis from some of my deepest emotions and fears. So I closed myself in the studio for long sessions of writing and improvising (heritage of my first moves in jazz). Most of the songs came out in less than a month, and for the first time in years I used Italian lyrics. Then I started with a work of 'selection', 'subtraction', and recording instruments playing in a less conventional way (like the deconstructed and expressionist drums in the first tracks of the album, or combined with samples and drum-machine in the second part), and forcing myself on new territories (like the extensive use of fretless bass and electric piano clusters, counterbalanced by a sparse and rare use of guitar throughout the album). I also wanted to use the voice differently, to underline the visions showed with the lyrics. The lyrics are in general brief, with cut-ups and direct speech, helping expressing the two moods of the album.”
As for the album's concept, Emiliano explains, “The album describes a slow descent into hell, followed by a slow resurgence in search of a balance between the diverting forces, attitudes and wills of a man. It is evidently an autobiographic representation of common states of mind of mankind. As always the place in which the album is recorded affects the music. The recording studio is placed inside the old Brussels cinema studios Sonart, in a room which still keeps the original audio isolation and some of the equipment. It was a great place to concentrate and listen to your deafening silence, in search of some of your monsters. After an experience like that, it is crucial to find your balance, to reset your mind and body. Meditation helps, but the tendency of building infinite layers of superstructures makes your exercises hard and frustrating. The last resort is surviving in light of this indispensable instability.
“Over the album sounds and instruments perform specific and recurrent characters of the play (the acoustic drums represent the human unpredictable touch, while the drum machines represent the mantras we use to fine-tune our weighted minds; brasses represent Brussels, or more precisely remind of the band's parade of James Ensor's 'Christ's Entry Into Brussels'. After all it is quite easy to divide the album in two parts, the first musically jazzier and apparently improvised, while the second is mainly more rhythm driven, with recurrent chorus and mantras bringing to the last song 'Fuoco' (fire), the musical zenith of the album. There is also space for improvised drones (the short intro 'Aria', made with looped guitar effected with mellotron-like sounds), and a classical guitar piece, the eponymous 'Monty' (disturbed by field recordings of a tram).”
Everything was recorded and premixed by Emiliano in solitude. Tracks were passed to Matteo Nahum in Valencia, where he spent November and December 2017 mixing creatively. “He knows me very well, as we work together since 2008, and he could get the best of the tracks. I credit him in every song for his work at the mixing desk, as it was crucial for the album, like an added musician. As well crucial was the master by Nate Wood. I had already listened to his great masters of the albums of Donny McCaslin, Kneebody and Tigran Hamasyan, so I am honoured he accepted to work for 'Monty'.”
When it came to find a name and a visual identity for the album, “I had my studio in mind, and Monty is the nickname of Montgomery, the area of Brussels where the studio is. I wanted the cover to show what I could see every day from the window in front of the recording booth. Pietro Fortuna was so nice to shoot a photo for the cover and the Italian film-maker Alessandra Populin directed the video-clip of 'Fuoco'.”
Emiliano was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1977. He started playing guitar at 6 and recording his own music at 11. He played and sang jazz, rock and world music with different bands in Italy. In 2005, after settling in Rome, he produced his first solo album “SO_LO” with Rattsburg Records, with good reviews. Since then he started touring Italy with his solo show with guitar, voice and effects. Between 2007/2011, Emiliano toured as The Loop Duo with Adriano Arena, with guitars, voices and live loops, producing an album (THE LOOP DUO/BMA and Rattsburg, 2009). In 2009/2010, he produced a new EP (O.S.T./Rattsburg, 2009) and LP “LIGHT EARS” (Rattsburg 2010). Since 2008 he's been working on the project Nanaue with Matteo Nahum. Between 2011 and 2017 they published 8 singles (Rattsburg Records and Gutenberg Music) and 1 album (Nanaue/Gutenberg Music, 2013) plus 3 recordings for tribute albums of Italian prog label Mellow Records. In 2014 Emiliano moved to Brussels, Belgium. In September 2017 he re-published his seminal album “Small Engines” (2002, Rattsburg).
2018 is the year of “Monty”! In support of his new solo release, Emiliano will work hard to perform the album live, recruiting a small group of talented musicians, able to improvise and to recreate both the brooding atmospheres and the uprising against the brink.
The video-clip of “Fuoco”, the last song of the album, by Italian film-maker Alessandra Populin was filmed at Monty Studio and around in a “mad day out” in Brussels:
Here's what the press has said about Emiliano:
“For his debut, Genoese multi-instrumentalist Emiliano Deferrari, based in Rome for his musical activities, shows on more than one occasion brilliant skills as composer and performer, skills he could cultivate in his important past experiences...the voice works, the guitars work, the rhythms work, the mix works in this personal reflection in the form of music. Inspired, humble, really pleasant.” - Rockerilla
“You listen to the first song and you feel like falling down on an enchanted land between Genesis’ “the lamb” and the first Gabriel. With Guilmour’s floydian guitars. Unknown land, sinuous and fascinating. Nanaue is a duo of composers and multi-instrumentalists, often active in completely different musical contexts, but when they go for art-rock, they adhere strictly to what it should be: memory of a unique past melted altogether with the sounds of the future.” - Il Manifesto
The Pineapple Thief have launched their brand new video for “Try As I Might”, the new single from their forthcoming new studio album Dissolution. The highly anticipated follow up to 2015’s Your Wilderness, is the band’s second album to feature King Crimson and Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison.
Vocalist, songwriter and guitarist Bruce Soord explains his dystopian view “The video follows the theme of the song and the album - if you sign up to this hyper connected world we live in, then you have to live with the consequences. Try as you might to get out of it.”
The futuristic clip was created by Blacktide Phonic/Visual (www.black-tide.co.uk) director George Laycock, who expands on how he created the film “When The Pineapple Thief came to me with their track ‘Try as I might’, they had a broad basis for an idea for a music video that dealt with a social media obsessed 'connected' world.
This had nods to previous films and television like ‘The Truman Show’, ‘Black Mirror’, the ‘Big Brother’ landscape and its preceding shows, so it was about creating a storyline using these broad influences and encapsulating into an obscure 3 minute film on a budget.
I was interested in the concept of ‘in eye cameras’, scary technology I am sure isn’t too far away from us. We decided to go down the optical medical route and follow our character on a journey from first pre-operation, to surgery, recovery and then trying to battle the decision he has made, whilst battling with the corporation he has signed up too. The film hopefully leaves the viewer to create their own conceptions on his outcome.
We filmed it all on the Dorset/Devon coastline around where I live and were fortunate to be able to secure great locations to shoot in with a few favours, including a remote seaside post-modern house, a private beach and a real working hospital and opticians.
To keep the cast down to a minimum I decided that the camera that is watching Bruce would become the main supporting actor and his nemesis, appearing in scenes without anyone operating it. This allowed us to see the cameras point of view and tell the story to the fictional viewer. This old broadcast camera weighed an absolute ton, and carrying through remote woods, down a mile-long steep cliff path to a beach was a challenge on some of the hottest days of the year. Filming in the water at the end was a welcome refreshment.
Many thanks to all those who helped with the film, especially everyone involved at Yeovil hospital for allowing us such amazing access, and to Bruce for being so amenable about having scalpels inches from his eyeball.”
The Pineapple Thief have grown to become one of the leading lights of Europe’s experimental rock domain, Your Wilderness produced 4m+ album streams, a #7 in the UK Independent Charts and two extensive headline European tours culminating at London’s Islington Assembly Hall where the concert was recorded for the live release Where We Stood, and their new album Dissolution promises to propel the band to even greater heights.
Dissolution tracklisting Not Naming Any Names [02:05] Try As I Might [04:26] Threatening War [06:37] Uncovering Your Tracks [04:29] All That You've Got [03:27] Far Below [04:36] Pillar of Salt [01:25] White Mist [11:05] Shed A Light [05:20]
Dissolution will be released in the following formats – all available to pre-order now HERE https://thepineapplethief.lnk.to/DissolutionPR CD Black LP –pressed to audiophile 180g vinyl Limited Edition Crystal Clear LP edition - pressed to audiophile 180g vinyl Blu-ray – features a 16-page booklet, the album plus bonus music in a 24/96 DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround sound mix and 24/96 hi-res stereo audio Deluxe 4 disc edition - features 52 pages containing exclusive additional artwork, the original album on CD plus a second CD of bonus music, and is topped off with a DVD and Blu-ray featuring the album and bonus material in a 24/96 DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround sound mix and 24/96 hi-res stereo audio. All digital & streaming platforms
The Pineapple Thief will be taking Dissolution on the road starting in September 2018, with new dates added for March 2019. This tour includes their biggest show to date at London’s prestigious O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire – tickets are on sale now and selling fast: http://www.pineapplethief.com/tour/ ;
The Pineapple Thief – Dissolution Tour 2018/2019 Sep 15 – FR – Paris - La Maroquinerie Sep 16 – BE, Brussels- La Madeleine Sep 17 – DE, Bremen - Schlachthof Sep 18 – DE, Hanover - Musikzentrum Sep 19 – DE, Berlin - Lido Sep 21 – PL, Warsaw - Stodola Sep 22 – CZ, Olomouc - S-Klub Sep 23 – CZ, Prgaue - Rock Cafè Sep 25 – AU, Wien - Szene Sep 26 – DE, Munich - Backstage Werk Sep 27 – DE, Aschaffenburg- Colos-Saal Sep 28- DE, Cologne - Live Music Hall Sep 29 – NL, Amsterdam – Melkweg Oct 4 – UK, Edinburgh – Liquid Rooms Oct 5 – UK, Sheffield – Leadmill Oct 6 – UK, London – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
2019 Feb 22 - IT, Roma - Largo Venue Feb 23 - IT, Milano - Santeria Social Club Mar 3 - DK, Copenhagen - Vega Mar 5 - SE, Stockholm - venue tba Mar 6 - NO, Oslo - John Dee
(photo credit James Cumpsty)
The Pineapple Thief are: Bruce Soord – vocalist, guitarist, composer Gavin Harrison – drums Jon Sykes – bass Steve Kitch - keyboards
Three CDs feat. over three and a half hours of material performed during the band's five nights residency at Teatro Metropolitan, Mexico City in July 2017 & audio extras!
This 3CD/1Blu-Ray set features over three and a half hours of material performed during King Crimson's five night residency at Teatro Metropolitan, Mexico City in July 2017 plus audio extras. The Blu-Ray contains over two hours of multi-camera HD recorded footage, audio soundtrack in 24/48 LPCM, hi-res stereo and 5.1 DTS HD-MA (with 'picture off' mode allowing the music to be heard independently in lossless audio).
Meltdown in Mexico includes, for the first time with this line-up, audio recordings of “Breathless,” “Discipline,” “Moonchild” and Tony and Jeremy's nightly Cadenza improvs. Mixed by King Crimson member Bill Rieflin from full multi track recordings
King Crimson Mexico 2017 - photo by David Singleton
King Crimson is a band that continues to defy conventional expectations. As listeners to last year's rush-released official bootleg from June 2017 recorded in Chicago discovered, this band gets better by the year. Given the amount of rehearsals, practicing, constantly expanding repertoire base (nearly six hours' worth of material ready to select from on any given night), wealth of experience among musicians, technicians/sound crew, more comfortable traveling arrangements, better PA systems/mixing desks & the fact that the band is playing, for the most part, in purpose built theatres rather than the more imaginatively named but sonically challenged venues that hosted rock gigs in previous decades, this should come as no surprise. But it does. Perhaps it’s still part of the Rock 'n' Roll myth – the “hope I die before I get old” thought process that seems forever associated with rock music that's proved so difficult to alter. Whatever the reason, the concept of a band maturing, re-inventing itself and being able to present music from a lengthy history in recognizable but ever-changing ways, still with same sense of wonder as if it were newly-written, remains, if not unique, certainly notable.
A few weeks after the Chicago concert, the first part of 2017's tour reached its final destination – five nights of concerts in Mexico City. All of the concerts were recorded and filmed with a view to issuing a definitive document of Crimson live in 2017 and Meltdown is the result of that process. With over two hours of HD filmed performance and three hours of audio, Meltdown offers a comprehensive overview of a band at the very peak of its performing ability.
King Crimson's Meltdown in Mexico will be released on September 28th and will be distributed by Amped Distribution.
“Playing with Tone was one of the most illuminating musical experiences of my career. Yes, he's that good.” - Graham Parker
NYC - The singing sustain of multiple razor edged electric guitars, the monster rock backbeat of Jethro Tull drummer Doane Perry and The Moonlight Sonata? Yes, This mash-up is the concept behind Tone Masseve's album “Amp L'étude.” Classical pieces? Yes, but these are not the dry, conventional versions we've all heard before. The album vividly brings these compositions to life with a new and powerful sound.
Tone said, “In my childhood I was exposed to many different musical styles and genres. Although I am really a blues player, I also love the music of Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Chopin and Debussy. I wanted to play their classical pieces with a rock sound and attitude.” He used the feedback, bends, shakes, falls and dives of his guitar heroes; Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, early Eric Clapton, Robert Fripp, Brian May, Joe Satriani and George Harrison to do just that.
Tone's dynamic playing combined with Doane's great rock feel, give this music of the masters an entirely new presentation. Some of the sound and production techniques of this record are drawn from famous rock tracks such as; “Whiter Shade of Pale,” “The Hill of the Skull,” “God Save the Queen,” “Wind on Water,” “She's so Heavy” & “Girl,” and, “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be).”
Every now and then a brilliant and fully developed artist arrives on the scene. Such is the case of Tone Masseve's enigmatic emergence out of the shadows. His sonic identity, unique voice and concept and his blending of seemingly disparate styles simply amazed and surprised me. Tone's inspired and highly original take on some of the most hallowed and iconic classical music ever composed is eloquently orchestrated, passionately and precisely executed and a wholly satisfying aural experience! I believe any of the great composers represented would be honored and thrilled to hear their music so creatively reimagined and lovingly brought to life within such a modern and innovative context.
One of the most powerful elements in his music is the thick, sonorous and clear voice which he elicits from his “Guitorchestra”. Speaking as one who participated in this exciting project, I found the rich harmonic blend and counterpoint combined with the strength and subtlety of his parts, compelling and utterly inspiring to play off of ... and was astonished to think so much of this was coming through the head, hands and heart of a single musician. And I never even met him. I don't know how he did it but that is one of the delightful musical riddles which does not need solving.
Joyful, biting, menacing, muscular, melancholy and euphoric are apt descriptions which are summoned to mind when I listen to his music. All of those elements provided a powerful catalyst for my own contributions. I am honored to have worked with this gifted artist and to have been a part of such an original musical adventure … and I would like to think the mysterious and hugely talented Tone Masseve will not remain unknown for much longer.
Doane Perry
Tone started playing the guitar at age 6 and performing live at age 15. By the time he was 18 he was doing session work in NYC. Legendary Graham Parker saw him playing with a band called Robazz Bowtime, and asked him to play a few gigs. Graham said, “I didn't play with Tone for a great deal of time, but it was one of the most illuminating musical experiences of my career. Yes, he's that good.”
The recording started in 1995 and took more than 20 years to complete. The guitar parts alone took more than two years to record. In 1997, while still working on Amp L'étude, tragically, Tone got pneumonia and died.
In 2016 a wonderful and talented group of musicians came together to finish his long lost album. The first was Doane Perry who added his hard hitting rock drumming to six tracks. Doane was the drummer for the legendary, Grammy winning rock band, Jethro Tull, for twenty-seven years. He also played with Lou Reed, Todd Rundgren and many, many others.
Next was Garry Kvistad who is a Grammy award winning master percussionist. He is a member of the four man percussion group Nexus. The New York Times called Nexus “the high priests of the percussion world.” Steve Reich said, “They are probably the most acclaimed percussion group on earth.” Garry added orchestral percussion; tympani, large gong, orchestral bass drum, glockenspiel, orchestral chimes, and symphonic crash cymbals to two of the pieces
Then members of the vocal group Prana added their voices to a couple of tracks. They gave one piece, “Maria, (She's so) Ave” a decidedly Liverpudlian sound. Finally Maria Todaro was brought in to conduct the choir for “O Fortuna.” Maria is not only an internationally renowned opera singer, stage director, and conductor, but also the general director of The International Festival of the Voice. For this recording, with her deep understanding of the voice as an expressive instrument, she evoked an impassioned performance from the choir.
In closing Tone had this to impart, “Music has no boundaries. If you play it with all of your heart it doesn’t matter what style it is, the feeling will come through.”
