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February 2022 = |
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Agusa
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Cyrillic
Typewriter
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Mouth Painter
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Rostro Del
Sol
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Cafe
Kaput
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the Lancashire
Hustlers
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Agustín Pereyra
Lucena
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Tangerine Dream book
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Home |
AGUSA
– EN ANNAN VÄRLD
(bandcamp)
There’ve
been a lot of great bands and albums of late
hearkening back to the heyday of 70s prog – many
of them coming from Scandinavia - but I consider
this one, from Sweden’s Agusa, one of the finest
of the recent crop.
Agusa was formed in 2013, and this is
their first studio album since their 2017
self-titled release.
Composed
of two long-form instrumental tracks, En Annan Värld
(Another World) contains most of the positive
attributes of prog, and little to none of the
elements that turn some listeners off.
It’s highly accessible, very melodic,
full of standout musicianship, and features
plenty of twists and turns.
While some draw comparisons with fellow
Swedes Änglagård
and English progsters such as Camel (and loads
of others), I’ll throw in UK act (but based in
Germany) Nektar, too.
Most
of the fireworks emanate from guitarist Mikael Ödesjö,
newly arrived keyboard player Roman Andrén,
and
flautist Jenny Puertas.
Each is a master of their instrument.
The two side-long pieces, “Sagobrus” and
“Uppenbarelser,” tend to take a small handful of
musical themes and repeat them many times, with
different variations and instrumentation, and
offramps to myriad side journeys.
This has the effect of centering you
within the latticework of the compositions and
lets you appreciate the melodic and instrumental
alterations and ornamentations.
The
two tracks come from very similar sonic
territory, but I slightly prefer “Uppenbarelser”
(Revelations). Starting
with ethereal harp, then a short martial drum
beat, the main theme emerges from Jenny Puertas’
flute. This
passage will carry much of the 21-minute piece,
weaving its way in and out.
It’s so simple, yet elegant.
Andrén’s
keyboards (Hammond and synths) color in a brace
of passages along the way.
In a way, it reminds me of one massively
extended version of the flute and Mellotron
break in the Moodies’ “Legend of a Mind,” minus
the woozy bending quality of the strings.
It takes lots of dips and detours along
the way where Ödesjö
gets to shine on guitar(s), alternating with
Andrén’s
atmospheric
keys. Ödesjö
contributes a lovely flamenco guitar section
about three quarters of the way through, which
Puertas and Andrén
enhance, and then Ödesjö
switches to some harmonized electric guitars
which build and build.
The baton is then passed back to Puertas,
who repeats the central flute theme and modifies
it into a skyward ray of hope.
Acoustic guitar and Mellotron compliment
this final section, concluding the journey and
the album on a peaceful note.
The ending also reminds me just a wee bit
of the mellow conclusion of Mason Williams’
“Classical Gas.”
En
Annan Värld
is
an engaging, amiable visitor to your home and
your ears. Agusa
plays tuneful, uplifting prog for which you can
drop in for the hors d’oeuvres and wind up
staying for every course, plus dessert and
after-dinner Cognac, making new friends in the
process.
(Mark
Feingold)
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THE
CYRILLIC TYPEWRITER - BUZZ
(LP/DL
from
Jaz Records
)
Jason
Zumpano
AKA The Cyrillic Typewriter has been releasing
rather beautiful albums since 2011, each a
delightful slice of ambience that follows on
from the last creating a sonic pathway that is a
joy to explore. On “Buzz” this trend continues,
the music following on from “2020's “Permanent
Colours” almost seamlessly, yet given a
different sonic palette through the involvement
of Paul Rigby on Pedal Steel, the sound of the
instrument adding warmth and emotion to the
tunes.
Beginning with a tranquil grace that
immediately relaxes you, “Jumping Off a Wall” is
like watching a dandelion seed float past on a
summers afternoon so gentle is its ambience, the
pedal steel adding a soft heat haze to the
music, time seems to slow down.
This ambience continues with “Saloon
Door” although this time the pedal steel takes
centre stage, washes of sound and melody
flickering over
sweetly repetitive bass reminding me of
the more mellow, less sample based, parts of
“Chill Out” the ambient masterpiece created by
The KLF and still much loved around here.
After this magnificent performance, the
pedal steel drifts back into the distance again
as “The Italian, The Englishman” and “Tell All
The Poets” slip away in a warm coating of sound,
both track so gentle that it is easy to melt
away as you listen, the music incredibly sweet
and inviting without ever becoming annoyingly
New Age or undistinguished.
With a harsher, metallic vibe, “Stiff
Cuts” is slightly more unsettling, a sudden
breeze snaking through the orchard disturbing
your dreams whilst “A Flashy Baritone” brings
you back to Earth with wonderfully welcoming
bass tones and a slowly undulating organ droning
underneath. This welcoming warmth remains on
“Crazy Cathedral”, the piece tied together with
another great organ sound before “Always With
Second Thoughts” rounds of a rather lovely final
trio of tunes that are sonically different from
the opening trio although the change happens so
subtly over the course of the album that it
takes a while to realise.
In these difficult times this album
offers a calming retreat that allows you to be
surrounded by sound, forget your troubles and
just be for a while, that can only be
good thing. (Simon Lewis)
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MOUTH
PAINTER – TROPICALE MOON
(LP/Cassette/Digital
on Cardinal
Fuzz/Feeding
Tube/Arrowhawk Records)
Barry
Walker Jr. is a busy man.
His guitar and pedal steel work is in
heavy demand with the likes of North Americans,
Jeffrey Silverstein, and Hearts of Oak, all
high-quality acts, in addition to helming this
exceptional Portland trio.
He’s joined by Valerie Osterberg on flute
and vocals, and Jason Willmon on bass.
They make a heady brew of mostly cosmic
country, but with brief sojourns outside the
genre, such as exotica, spacy instrumentals and
coiling rattlesnake Latin-tinged Southwest
desert fare.
Both
Walker and Osterberg sing, and have ordinary,
but very appealing voices.
I like the tracks Walker sings.
I like the tracks Osterberg sings.
And I really like it when they sing
together, as in “Lossless” and “Yesterday Said.”
They’re
at their best in laid back songs blending acid
folk and cosmic country in a mellow, gently
stoned vibe, such as “A Yardin’ I Once Went” and
“Chesler Park.”
Their sound reminds me at times of the
San Francisco band It’s a Beautiful Day,
if one were to trade the violin for flute and
pedal steel. On
Tropicale Moon, they sing about such diverse
subjects as gardening, science fiction tales,
sea and space voyages, and ghost stories, with
lyrics brimming with unbridled, vivid imagery.
The
album concludes with the powerful “Richard of
Augite,” a folk-rock piece not a million miles
from that of Fairports or Steeleye Span.
It appears the LP may be sold out, but
it’s still available on cassette or digitally.
Gardening is so heavily ingrained in
Walker’s, and especially Osterberg’s DNA, that
you can order the cassette version of Tropicale
Moon with a ‘Yardin’ Blend’ of wildflower seeds,
including zinnias, cosmos, poppies and sweet
alyssum. However,
they caution that orders outside the US may not
shippable, depending on agricultural import
customs.
Seeds
or not, Mouth Painter is definitely worth diving
into, and I strongly recommend giving them a
listen.
(Mark
Feingold)
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ROSTRO
DEL SOL – BLUE STORM
(LSDR
Records)
In
2021
we gave enthusiastic thumbs way, way up on the
self-titled debut from Rostro Del Sol, the
young, hard rocking and progging band from
Mexico. While
we wait patiently for album Numero Dos, the boys
have just dropped this incredible anvil on our
heads, Blue Storm.
It
seems
the band has been busy, not resting on their
laurels. They’ve
beefed up their horn section with Antonio
Alvarez and Daniel Alvarez on saxes, and added
wailin’ vocalist Roy Cabrera, and the rookies
make quite an impression right off the bat.
Sure,
“Blue
Storm” may be just a “single,” but what a
single! Clocking
in at over 14 minutes, it’s Katy Bar the Door
Rock ‘n Roll that Just.
Does. Not.
Quit. The
lyrics
are a forceful litany of the harm mankind does,
from incalculable damage to the planet, leaders
who wrong their own countries, not learning from
the mistakes of history, genocide, heads
exploding from the sickness of civilization,
and, well, golly, that’s just the lyrics!
There’s
something
beautiful about a band playing full throttle
rock, everyone pounding away.
But with the band keeping it up on full
afterburners for 14 minutes, basically without
exhaling – it’ll take you to another layer of
Valhalla. It
keeps going, and going, and going.
You’ve got Baruch Hernandez grooving away
on organ and synths, the two Alvarezes blaring
their horns till their lips fall off, Mitch
Garcia on guitar screeching and wah wahing for
all he’s worth, while Roy Cabrera hurls vocal
fire and brimstone.
Lest you think that might be a sonic
mess, it isn’t.
It’s bloody righteous.
The only mess was my scrambled brain by
the end. I
beg of you...I beseech you.
Listen to this.
(Mark
Feingold)
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CAFÉ
KAPUT MARITIME: THEMES
& TEXTURES
(LP
from
Clay
Pipe Music)
Clay
Pipe
has featured quite a few times in Terrascope since
its inception in 2010 and with good reason too. It
is a unique label based in East London and run by
Frances Castle, an illustrator and musician
herself, whose Hardy Tree albums are well worth
tracking down, she imbues each of the releases
with a strong design ethic, creating individual
artwork for each of the releases, which are mainly
instrumental in nature.
When
this
latest one arrived under the Cafe Kaput moniker I
thought that she had discovered yet another great
new artist, but on further inspection it seems
that Café Kaput is by Cate (formerly Jon) Brooks,
whose previous releases for the label like
‘Shapwick’ and ‘How To Get To Spring’ are firm
favourites.
The
Clay
Pipe label is currently receiving the praise they
quite rightly deserve, with recent articles in The
Wire and Shindig magazines. Each of the releases
virtually sells out on pre orders alone with this
one scheduled for release towards the end of this
month.
Maritime:
Themes
& Textures forgoes all of the usual tropes
that one would normally associate with an album
about sailing, there are no crashing waves or
crying seagulls, however it does emphasise the
inky vastness and depth of the ocean, as well as
that unsettling feeling of a strong undercurrent
and the extreme changeability in large bodies of
water. Using a palette of keyboards, percussive
instruments (such as glockenspiel) and guitars, it
is a quite lovely album.
We
get
the feeling of being alone in a little craft with
‘Tugboat’, subtle electronic glitches always just
under the surface of a hopeful, bright melody.
‘Mid December’ is another gem, being both
unsettling and calm at the same time. The opening
song of ‘Waves and Knots’ starts off with a slow,
stately melody which opens out as it progresses
with a drifting lap steel and choral
embellishments. ‘Easterly Four or Five’ is full of
portent and suggests a hidden danger, emphasising
changeability and infinite channels.
Stillness
is
invoked on ‘A Surface Like Glass’ and a simple
melody corrupted with ‘Light Vessel Automatic’ as
it progresses. The longest track on this 44 minute
suite of songs is the title track ‘Maritime’,
which bubbles along brightly on a sea of
electronics and delicate hammered percussion
towards its conclusion. This is a clever record
being both calm and unsettling at the same time,
optimism tempered by reality and always movement.
I shall certainly be vying for one of the 700
yellow vinyl copies on release day.
(Andrew
Young)
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THE
LANCASHIRE HUSTLERS –
BIG ASK
(CD,
Cassette
& Download lancashirehustlers.bandcamp.com
)
This
is
the sixth album by the duo of Brent Thorley and
Ian Pakes. They have been quietly releasing a
series of fine albums since their inception some
25 years ago. They utilise a wide array of
instruments including mellotrons, clarinet, lap
steel, accordion, guitars, tablas, celeste and
melodica.
They
have
been likened to bands like the Kinks and singer
songwriters like Jimmy Campbell, with legendary
Rolling Stones producer Jimmy Miller giving them
high praise. For previous outings they have
released a trilogy of ‘Pop’ operas, set some of
Walter de la Mare’s poetry to music and even
released the odd Christmas single.
This
is
a highly melodic album of gentle quirky pop
songs. From the keening sixties melodies of
‘Happiness On A String’, to the pop nous of
‘Your Cool Reactions’, they have fashioned an
album of memorable songs which settle in the
brain. ‘We Will Meet Again’ wouldn’t be out of
place on a Darren Hayman album. ‘Bluebell
Painter’ is a delightful song about the beauty
of nature and art. ‘Holding Me Up’ is a musical
dedication to a supportive partner, recognising
that no person is an island.
Another
little
gem is ‘You Who Only Play Love’, it has a
particularly pleasing descending melody. The
questioning push pull of ‘Surrender’ is
embellished with soft wah-wah guitars and ‘No
Patience’ has some fine supportive organ
playing, a song about getting to the point; not
dilly dallying around the edges playing cat and
mouse. I particularly like ‘Held In Your
Promise’ with its stinging lead guitar stabs and
clarinet fills, but it isn’t long enough! This
short and sweet album ends on a high with ‘Is
That Devotion?’
This is a fine album recommended for
lovers of well played, inventive, pop music.
(Andrew
Young)
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AGUSTÍN
PEREYRA LUCENA QUARTET – LA
RANA
(LP/CD/Digital
on Far
Out Recordings)
If
you want a quick burst of happiness - and who
wouldn’t? - listen to this re-released 1980
treasure by Argentinian guitar master Agustín
Pereyra Lucena and friends.
Agustín
grew up worshipping Brazilian greats such as João
Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Baden Powell,
and Vinicius de Moraes, and one day he would
live his dream and collaborate with some of
them, such was his growing reputation as a
musician.
But
in 1976, the foul winds of the brutal military
dictatorship in Argentina drove Agustín
to move to Madrid, and ironically dive deeper
into music. Two
members from his former band Candeias in
Argentina, Guilhermo Reuter (bass, vocals,
piano, percussion) and Rubén
Izarrualde (flutes, vocals, percussion) reunited
with Agustín
in Spain, where they found a musical home for a
time. When
a third member, drummer Carlos Carli, departed,
they met Norwegian stick man Fin Sletten at a
performance, and soon the quartet was complete.
At Sletten’s encouraging, the four
relocated once more, this time to Norway, where
they found great success on the Norwegian
stages. By
all accounts, their time in Norway was filled
with happiness, both in the musical success they
were enjoying, and fun and fellowship the South
Americans had offstage, about as far from their
original home as they could be.
They recorded this gem, released
originally on the Oslo label Plateselskapet Mai,
and one listen will reveal their joy is
contagious.
The
eight tracks are a mix of reimagined chestnuts
by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Ivan Lins, Baden Powell
and others, and stellar Agustín
originals. Most
are instrumentals, but some, such as opener,
Ivan Lins’ “3 Horas Da Manha” (At 3 AM) and the
title track, rain forth with spirited vocals.
AgustÍn’s
acoustic guitar playing is never anything short
of spectacular, his fingers dancing all over the
fretboard, sometimes in sad romance, others in
celebration.
His
playing and arrangements marry jazz and
classical styles, blurring the lines between.
Some tracks begin with lengthy,
melancholy solo classical guitar, only to erupt
almost out of nowhere with the full band in an
explosion of playfulness.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, when
the whole band gets going, you’ll find it hard
to keep your legs still, and may samba your way
around uncontrollably wherever you happen to be.
Hopefully this won’t cause any
embarrassing or dangerous situations.
My
favorite track is the bossa nova title track,
“La Rana” (The Frog), a reworking and major
upgrade of João
Donato’s “A Rã.”
It certainly jumps all around like the
titular frog, and before long so will you to its
infectious groove.
Beginning with a startling a capella
vocal round, pretty soon the band seems
everywhere all around you in bossa nova heaven,
whooping and calling, with sprightly solos on
flute by Izarrualde and electric piano by
Reuter.
The
closer, Agustín’s
fifteen-minute composition, the suite “Encuentro
de Sombras” (Encounter of Shadows) is a moody
work. Punctuated
by his plaintive vocals, Reuter’s piano and
Izarrualde’s flute work, the piece transitions
two-thirds through from rainy day melancholia to
a jazzy break in the clouds.
The final theme in the song cycle is ray
of hope in the setting sun with a rousing vocal
chorus, with a brief, poignant coda by the
ensemble.
Agustín
did the cover design himself.
He would continue to have a successful
career as a revered international musician’s
musician and innovator.
Sadly, he passed in 2019.
The survivors of the quartet look back
fondly on the recording of the album, and the
good times that gave it birth.
Highly recommended.
(Mark
Feingold)
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STEPHEN
PALMER
- TANGERINE DREAM IN THE 1970'S
(book
from
https://www.sonicbondpublishing.co.uk/)
Steve
Palmer
is probably known best to Terrascope readers as
a one-time reviewer and as a musician releasing
music under the names Mooch and Blue Lily
Commision. However, he is also an established
and recognised author, writing Steampunk fiction
novels and short stories. I guess it was
inevitable that at some point these worlds would
collide and so they have with the publication of
this excellent and comprehensive look at the
work of electronic pioneers Tangerine Dream,
concentrating on their ground breaking seventies
albums.
As you would expect the book moves
chronologically, Steve writing in detail about
each track on the albums, his poetic prose
bringing the music to life, making you dig out
all the albums and listen along. I imagine that
everyone of you has at least one album by the
band and one of the joys of this book is the
ease of which you can flick through and find
your favourite album to read about.
Of course there is much more to the
text than a simple review of each album, the
book also tells the tale of the band, line up
changes, methods of recording and their live
work with plenty of bootlegs, live releases
mentioned meaning you can dig much deeper than
the studio releases if you wish, Youtube being
particularly useful at this point. Adding more
depth to the story there is a new interview with
Steve Jolliffe included plus a very interesting
chat with early member Steve Schroyder who sheds
light on the formation of the band.
Informative, well written, entertaining
and with some great photos as well this book is
essential reading for fans of seventies
electronic music though it comes with a warning,
it could get expensive, as you suddenly find the
need to fill the gaps in the collection, as I
did. Worth doing though because if you don't own
“Rubycon” then you certainly should go and find
a copy, possibly their finest moment, when all
the elements come together seamlessly.
(Simon
Lewis)
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