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News of Prog

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26.I+ Vanden Plas
26.I+ Randone
26.I+ Eldritch
26.I+ Queen
26.I+ RPWL
26.I+ Esoteric Recordings
26.I+ Cuneiform Records
26.I+ MALS Records
26.I+ Lizard Records
26.I+ Trail Records


BANDS & PERFORMERS:

Vanden Plas
(Germany) / January 26, 2014

Forthcoming release:

"Chronicles of the Immortals-I: Netherworld", the new album by the German progressive metal band Vanden Plas, will be released on February 2014,

Related Links:
Vanden Plas

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Randone
(Italy) / January 26, 2014

Forthcoming release:

“Ultreja”, the sixth album of the Italian Progressive Rock band Randone, will be released in February. The project is divided into three acts each telling, in chronological order, the experiences, the meetings and the magic of the Way of Santiago in the "path of the North".

Related Links:
Randone

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Eldritch
(Italy) / January 26, 2014

Forthcoming release:

Italian progressive metallers Eldritch will release their new album, "Tasting The Tears", on February 17 in Europe and February 18 in North America via Scarlet Records. The CD was produced by Eugene Simone and was mixed and mastered by Simone Mularoni (DGM). It features 11 new tracks plus cover versions of two famous songs.

Related Links:
Eldritch

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Queen
(UK) / January 26, 2014

Latest News:

Queen guitarist Brian May recently revealed that the band have discovered more unreleased Freddie Mercury material in their vaults, and now he's sharing an update on the planned project. "Well, there's something coming. I'm not really quite sure what it is yet," May tells Rolling Stone. "I don't know if there's a whole album. There's a piece of an album. We were looking at putting together a compilation of the more unusual and yet memorable Queen tracks. Things that weren't singles that have become or stayed popular through the years. That's the way it started and then we unearthed a few tapes of Freddie singing and us in the studio that we never finished off. We thought we got to the end of it with [1995's] 'Made in Heaven'. But there are a few other things which have turned up. So the album may turn out to be a mixture of some unusual things from the past and some very unusual things which no one has heard at all." May and drummer Roger Taylor are recording new backing tracks to the Mercury material, just as they did for the "Made In Heaven" album. "Roger and I have both been working on tracks in our spare time," he says. "A couple of them have Michael Jackson on as well, which adds another layer of interest. Freddie and Michael singing together and experimenting in the Eighties."

Related Links:
Queen

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RPWL
(Germany) / January 26, 2014

Forthcoming release:

“Wanted”, the new album by the German progressive rock band RPWL, will be issued on March 14 (EU) and April 1, 2014 (USA). RPWL tells of the hero of two worlds, Giuseppe Garibaldi who, being a tremendous admirer of the Greek antiquity became aware of a scroll of Plato’s in which he analyzes the work of Hippocrates. It can be read in Garibaldi’s diaries that Hippocrates had in fact found the formula for a medicine that leads the spirit into a real and absolute world, free of all illusion and invisible ghost worlds. The question, however, that inevitable arises at that point is the following: is the human race ready for what Plato called the “gift of absolute freedom?” The action of “Wanted” starts several days before the great day: Plato’s Day. The enemy’s fear is ever-growing, as, after all nobody knows at what point the mirages and illusions are eradicated from people’s minds once and for all. In the course of the record RPWL shift through ten varied songs full of breathtaking soundscapes and tell a compelling story of courage, doubt, bravery, the unconditional desire to never give in and, ultimately, the belief in what is right.

Related Links:
RPWL

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RECORDING COMPANIES:

Esoteric Recordings
(UK) / January 26, 2014

New releases:

  • Peter Hammill & Gary Lucas – “Other World”
  • Chris Spedding – “The Only Lick I Know”
  • Chris Spedding – “Backward Progression”
  • Panama Jug Band – “Panama Jug Band”
  • Panama Limited – “Indian Summer”
  • John Lodge – “Natural Avenue”

    Related Links:
    Esoteric Recordings

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    Cuneiform Records
    (USA) / January 26, 2014

    New releases:

  • The Ed Palermo Big Band – “Oh No, Not Jazz!”
  • Raoul Bjorkenheim – “eCsTaSy”
  • Sonar – “Static Motion”
  • Thumbscrew – “Thumbscrew”
  • Present – “Triskaidekaphobie” (expanded)
  • Present – “Le Poison Qui Rend Fou” (expanded 2CD)

    The Ed Palermo Big Band – “Oh No! Not Jazz!”:
    Long revered and celebrated for his insistently inventive jazz arrangements of Frank Zappa compositions, New Jersey saxophonist/composer/arranger Ed Palermo returns with his fourth album featuring his big band playing his jaw-dropping, brain-busting, and wildly antic charts. Slated for release on February 4, 2014, Oh No! Not Jazz!!, is the band’s third project for Cuneiform, but this time Palermo is offering his own jazz vision along side Zappa’s music. It’s a fascinating juxtaposition, with Palermo’s talent-laden 18-piece orchestra digging into his originals, which stand up effectively next to Zappa’s ingenious songbook.

    Raoul Bjorkenheim – “eCsTaSy”:
    One of the most creatively stunning guitarists/ composers/ improvisers on the planet, Raoul Bjorkenheim’s playing summons the transcendent power, spirit and fury of Jimi Hendrix and Sonny Sharrock to Finland’s distant shores. But the title of Raoul Bjorkenheim’s new album isn’t a boast or a brief manifesto. Rather, eCsTaSy is a simple description of the intense communion achieved by his extraordinary new ensemble. The project captures the Finnish-American musician at the peak of his powers, leading a virtuosic Finnish group featuring the brilliant saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen and the inventive rhythm section tandem of bassist Jori Huhtala and drummer Markku Ounaskari. eCsTaSy is Bjorkenheim’s fourth Cuneiform album, and the project opens the next chapter for an artist with a potent gift for leading improvisation-laced ensembles with a singular group sound.

    Sonar – “Static Motion”:
    To the uninitiated, minimalism may seem like an intimidating concept, but in reality it's just the embodiment of the common axiom "less is more." And in the case of SONAR, less happens to be a lot more, especially on their second album, Static Motion. You don't even realize how much extraneous material exists in most of the music you hear every day until you listen to something like Static Motion and get your senses realigned. By hewing to a cunningly crafted set of constrictions on this album of nine ultra-streamlined instrumentals, the Swiss quartet somehow manages to wring the maximum amount of music out of a minimalist agenda.

    Thumbscrew – “Thumbscrew”:
    The band’s name might conjure a fearsome image, but Thumbscrew makes inviting music full of wonder and discovery. A recently formed collective of improvisational masters, the trio features guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, who can often be found working together in an array of arresting settings, and bassist Michael Formanek, a creative catalyst on jazz’s adventurous frontiers for more than three decades. Thumbscrew’s eponymous debut album documents the group’s commitment to new music created specifically for the ensemble.

    Present – “Triskaidekaphobie”:
    Present – “Le Poison Qui Rend Fou”:
    Founded in 1979, the Belgian band is widely acknowledged and celebrated as one of the leading lights of the Rock In Opposition (RIO) / avant-progressive / Chamber Rock scene, notable for producing genre-transcendent, non-commercial music outside (“in opposition to”) the mainstream music industry. Cuneiform Records, one of the leading and longtime international supporters of Rock in Opposition music, is now reissuing Present’s first two studio albums, 1980’s Triskaidekaphobie and 1985’s Le Poison Qui Rend Fou, as two separate CD releases, each accompanied by a wealth of bonus material. The new CD reissues feature each studio album plus bonus live material by Present, including previously unseen archive concert footage; and CD booklets featuring historical photographs, interviews, and in-depth biographies of the band’s early days written by historian Aymeric Leroy.

    Related Links:
    Cuneiform Records

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    MALS Records
    (Russia) / January 26, 2014

    Forthcoming releases:

  • Mind Portal – “1/2 Thought and Matter”
  • Rick Miller – “Heart of Darkness”
  • Tinkicker – “The Cup of the Lord and the Wine of Demons”
  • Algabas – “Angels and Demons”
  • Seventh Ocean – “Diapause”
  • Flight 09 – “Signs of the Water”

    “Signs of the Water”, is the fourth official album by the Tashkent (Uzbekistan) progressive metal band Flight 09. It will be issued in March.

    Related Links:
    MALS Records

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    Lizard Records
    (Italy) / January 26, 2014

    New releases:

  • Entity – “Il Falso Centro”
  • Aurora Lunaire – “Aurora Lunaire”
  • Chaos – “Technica Mista”
  • Mad Fellaz – “Mad Fellaz”

    Entity is a band from Sardinia, Italy, formed in 1994. Now they came back with "Il Falso Centro", their first official CD with a vintage symphonic progressive sound in the vein of ELP.

    Aurora Lunaire, a band from Livorno, Italy, has existed from 1977 to ‘80. The “Aurora Lunaire” album features new recordings of their old songs.

    The Italian band Mad Fellaz was formed in 2010. Their self-titled debut album evokes several famous progressive rock bands, such as King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Pink Floyd, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Focus, Area, Banco, Opeth and Porcupine Tree.

    “Technica Mista” is the fourth record by the Italian band Chaos, which plays in the style of psych-jazz-ethno-ambient.

    Related Links:
    Lizard Records

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    Trail Records
    (USA) / January 26, 2014

    Forthcoming releases:

  • Ole Lukkoye – New album
  • Polska Radio One – “Cosmos Inside”

    The Russian group Ole Lukkoye is working on the new album which will be released as a limited collector edition on Trail Records. Ole Lukkoye is well known in Europe and has received broader recognition in the U.S. after its 2010 release "Petroglyphs."

    Polska Radio One is a group from the cold and gloomy Ural city of Yekaterinburg (Russia) that in just a year and a half has made its way from a beginner garage combo to one of the Eastern Europe’s most interesting and promising psychedelic bands. First recordings of the band were very uneven and differed from each other in sound and song type, from the 60-s garage rock and the 70-s kraut to the crazy 90-s rave: the musicians were searching for their signature sound, their own style. “Cosmos Inside”, their debut album, contains music well flavored with Indian spices, and thoughtfully presented heavy-bodied psychedelic trip.

    Related Links:
    Trail Records

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