News of Prog [July, 2004] - ProgressoR / Uzbekistan Progressive Rock Pages

Unicorn Records - News & forthcoming releases:

Vladimir Badirov Project:

We are proud to announce that the CD "Greeting form Nostradamus" by Vladimir Badirov Project (Uzbekistan) will be released on the label very soon. At the age of 15 Vladimir started playing drums. He studied at Tashkent's entertainment studio, and it was clear that drums and percussion would become his favorite instruments. For more than 20 years, Vladimir worked on perfecting his professional skills aspiring to transcend standard musical frameworks. He has participated in many musical projects. As a student he was invited to be part of the theatre 'Resonance' created at the Union of Theatre Actors of Uzbekistan, with which he went on tour across Central Asia. At the same time, he played in a famous jazz trio, together with leaders of the Uzbek jazz scene, Sergey Gilev (contrabass) and Eduard Kalandarov (piano). In addition, he played with young Tashkent jazzmen Igor Nadejdin (piano) and Vadim Largin (contrabass) and he also performed in concerts and participated in the recording of the album "Asia Band", the group created by Vladimir's friend and messmate Marat Shunkarov, who works in the ethnic jazz style. Working and playing with the theatre-studio 'Ilkhom' became the great teacher for Badirov, when the famous cult director and producer Mark Vail invited Vladimir to participate as a drummer in a performance of "Tortilla's Flat Block" based on the play by John Steinbeck. From 1994 to 2002 Vladimir worked with singer Yulduz Usmanova, an actress from Uzbekistan. With her group he performed around the globe, played at ethnic pop festivals and participated in the recording of two Yulduz albums. Since 2002 he played with Uzbekistan national actress, singer Nasiba Abdullaeva. As a session musician he worked with the talented young Uzbek singer Sevara Nazarkhan with which he appeared on the Russian TV show "Apology" hosted by Dmitry Dibrov. They also performed a series of concerts in Moscow, and had a successful Japanese tour. In 2003, together with Sevara and her musicians, Vladimir worked as member of the "warm-up-band" in the Peter Gabriel's "Grown Up" tour in Europe and America. While working with other musicians, Vladimir has never put aside the idea of creating his own project, and as a result, he recorded and released his first solo album "Greeting from Nostradamus" with 11 compositions representing a symbiosis of modern rhythms, electronic sounds and splendid oriental colors along with traditional Uzbek folk instruments - Nai, ud, tanbur, karnai, sato, were used for the recording of the album. In the hands of professional performers, they had given a really unique sound to the album. Release date to be announced very soon. MP3 samples are available here.

Spaced Out:

The Master of Ambiguity Antoine Fafard is currently putting the final touch to Spaced Out's first DVD, "Live". The video editing of the upcoming DVD is almost completed. It will feature a concert from 2000 and will contain 13 songs. The release of the first Spaced Out DVD will be announced soon. The songs for the next album have been composed. The new album will see Spaced Out expanded to a seven-piece band.

Hamadryad:

Spring is finally here and, just like in our maple trees, the creative sap is running freely inside Hamadryad's studio. 2004 will witness the birth of the band's new album. The songs are almost completed. They are chosen and composed, they only need the finishing touches. The band is itching to record this album, so they can offer it to you. They are also very eager to climb back up on a stage so they can share the fruits of their labor. But, in keeping with Hamadryad tradition, nothing is finished until all are completely satisfied. Following Jocelyn's departure, lots of work was done, in the last two years, to form a new working unit and to find a new sound. The new album is titled "Safe in Conformity" and contains the following pieces: Sparks and benign magic, Self made man, Gentle landslide, 24, Frail Purpose, Sunburnt, Omnipresent umbra, Alien spheres, One voice, Polaroid vendetta and Anatomy of a dream. The songs range from 1 to 9 minutes. The release should take place at the end of August or in September 2004.

Talisma:

Talisma will be playing at the Festival de Musique de l'Annociation in Quebec at 7:30pm on July 9, 2004. Talisma's "Corpus" is getting great reviews, and sales are going well. The band is preparing a new album. All songs have been composed, and the recording session will be announced soon.

Alkemy:

Since the release of their first CD "Da 63 projekt", the French progressive band Alkemy is getting a lot of airplay in progressive rock radio programs. The CD is getting some very good reviews from all over the world.

Upright:

The CD "Opinion" by Montreal's Upright is getting great reviews from all over the world.