CD REVIEW - KINGDOM OF GLASS “The Other Side of Elsewhere” - is definitively alternative in nature but not the traditional alternative. Kingdom Of Glass have stepped things up and made a cinematic, melodic, rock and pop fusion that just "works".
The most interesting thing is that the lyrics cover such a variety of current and difficult topics and yet still managed to make them positive and hopeful in nature. They have also made the sound so diverse within the album that almost any track could be easily used in any commercial venture.
The heart of their sound is the top-notch stellar vocals and sultry beats. Lush probably best describes not only the music, but the vocals and lyrics with attention to full rich detailed and articulate songs extremely well performed. Such is the case with "Make Believe Angel" and many other tracks.
"To Get By" is an anthem to highlight the current events of the world and yet stays relevant and positive and has that truly lush sound.
"Learning To Fly" Brings in the sultry industrial edge to the CD and is yet another facet of the band.
"Wonder" brings all elements of the bands talents to the forefront and really shows what they can do brilliantly both on an individual basis and collectively as a band and is reminiscent of Muse many times throughout and especially in this tune.
Amazing use of a variety of instruments, especially keys, to enhance the vocals and lyrics and make something that sets their music apart and makes for that truly lush and amazing sound. The use of strings also stands out and set this rock band above the rest for the stunning bridges and outro’s utilizing these and even a choir background vocal in places.
This is a full fourteen track debut CD that leaves no doubt that the band is serious about their music, their direction and perfection of sounds. It is truly the other side of elsewhere with its unique and distinctive sound that cannot be found anywhere else! There is not a repetition of tunes nor any filler in these tracks and they have indeed perfected a CD to delight music fans throughout the world. If you have to decide on taking a chance on a new indie band then this is the CD for you to enjoy!
Enchanting originals interwoven with traditional songs from the British Isles
Hobbyhorse's music is a folk fusion of musical and mythical influences from around the world. They offer stunning originals and have a soft spot for the traditional songs of the British Isles.
Hobbyhorse's sound is an intoxicating blend of soothing and exciting. They combine the raw beauty and romantic sounds of acoustic instruments and female lead vocals with the adventurous spirit of rock. Their vibe is mystical - an inheritance from their San Francisco bay area psychedelic roots. But they are as down to Earth as it gets, believing strongly in the power of real music - made by real musicians - playing real instruments.
"Hobbyhorse's music embodies the magic that is woven in the art of folk music ....it is authentic, spirited & manifests from the love of creation." - DJ Frederick
Hobbyhorse has performed at many festivals around the San Francisco bay area and beyond including PantheaCon, The Annual Midsummer Celtic Faerie Festival, BayCon Sci Fi and Fantasy Convention, Palo Alto World Music Day, Palo Alto Art and Wine Festival, Boulder Creek Music and Art Showcase Festival, GoGirls Music Fest, and many more.
Annie and Phil from Hobbyhorse also host a popular internet radio station called Radio Guitar. They are very proud of this station which plays mostly acoustic - all instrumental guitar music.
Instrumentation:
Hobbyhorse can play live as an acoustic duo or as a band of 3 - 5 musicians. Depending on the venue we play with a set up of the following:
Minimum instrumentation:
Annie - vocals, guitar Phil - guitar
Maximum Instrumentation:
Annie - vocals, guitar, frame drum, cajon, gong, tibetan bowls, other percussion Phil - guitars (standard, tenor and baritone), mandolin, bass, vocals Kelly - cajon, percussion John - mandolin Rob - bodhran, percussion
Discography:
Break In The Clouds (2006) Bootleg Series Vol 1 (2004) Wild Nights (2004) - Songs set to the poems of Emily Dickinson
For the past 20 years or so, Jens Mechler has been experimenting with sound with his large collection of electronic equipment and synthesizers. Jens is self taught by his passion for expression and love of music and is a true artist in every sense of the word.
Better known as “Korgator” by his YouTube friends, Jens says, “My absolute favorite in electronic equipment are the Klaus Schulze, TD, and JMJ!. They allow me to express what is inside me and have been with me a long time.
“I am guided by my feelings and I like to play everything live once.”
German:
Seit nunmehr ca.20 Jahren beschäftige ich mich mit Synthesizern und elektronischer Musik.
Im laufe der Jahre hat sich so einiges an Instrumenten bei mir angesammelt und der Platz wird so langsam knapp.
Aber wer sich einmal diesen Virus eingefangen hat,der kann nicht damit aufhören, Instrumente zu "sammeln".
Meine absoluten musikalischen Favoriten sind eben Klaus Schulze,TD, JMJ!
Sie haben mich immer auf meinem Weg begleitet.
Ab und an hört man das auch bei meiner Musik ein wenig heraus.
Ich bin Autodidakt und habe mir alles selber beigebracht,habe keine Ahnung von Noten und kann auch nicht danach spielen.
Meißtens lasse ich mich von meinen Gefühlen leiten und am liebsten spiele ich alles live ein.
Ansonsten spiele ich leidenschaftlich und gerne Didgeridoo,das nun schon seit über zehn Jahren.
Auch hier habe ich mich allein durchgekämpft und mir alles selber beigebracht,Atemtechnik,diverse Spieltechniken usw.!
Es ist ein fantastisches und interessantes Instrument.
Durch das spielen des Didgeridoos bin ich auch zur Malerei gekommen.
Das malen der Bilder in Dot Paint Stil, war für mich eine sehr große Herausforderung und ein Lernprozess.
Mittlerweile habe ich so um die 50 Bilder gemalt in den verschiedensten Größen.
Das kleinste Format war A 4 und das größte Bild ist 150 cm x 100 cm !
Mein größter Erfolg aber war,das ich ein Bild ausgerechnet nach Australien verkauft habe.
Twenty four year old Scott has been writing, recording and performing original material since he was 17 years old. Scott is a story teller with a strong sense of melody emphasised by Scott’s amazing vocals. His range of influences include Jim Croce, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, Manic Street Preachers and Kings of Leon.
In 2009 Scott formed RABA with old school friend Jamie and with Nick who was at college with Scott’s younger sister. James joined the band in 2011. The band is currently gigging widely around the UK expanding their fan base everywhere they go – with a particularly strong following around their base in West London.
A tight and explosive rhythm section alongside delicate harmonies and expressive guitar work provide the perfect setting for Scott’s vocals. Every song boasts warm melodies and passionate lyrics. RABA is Manic Street Preachers meets the Kings of Leon, with a little something of its own.
The Seeds of Time are a form of musical collective (think Alan Parsons Project) led by James Thompson, based in Hastings, England and with residential recording facilities in SW France.
James is the principal songwriter, guitarist and singer but each project is a full musical collaboration in terms of writing, performing and production. With their roots in post-punk melodic rock and good doses of prog, trance and ambient The Seeds of Time aim to give the word fusion a good name.
The next project, Pagan Blues, will reintroduce a blues-rock feel into this melting pot and is already causing some excitement . . .
The Seeds of Time are hard at work writing material for the forthcoming album Pagan Blues. Recording is scheduled to start later this year. There will be another subtle shift in inspiration and style, but the same intensity of spirit and performance. We are already excited with the progress of this project and we shall keep you up to date as it develops. So watch this space . . .
The name "NORDAGUST" comes from a myth, and according to the myth "NORDAGUST" was the spirit of the north wind. The spirit was said to be extremely wise, and was supposed to have insight in all things. The spirit was also called "the grieving souls spirit”.
The idea of "NORDAGUST" was basically to use the wistful, bewitching and recklessness of Norwegian folk music and to integrate this with a form of heavy rock music. With this as a starting point, we have made music from our own impressions and experience. This has of course been done before, but we try hard to find our own expression, with weight on a soulful atmosphere and organic dynamics, above precision and virtuosity.
The soul of the soil
Some things in life may come a little closer when you take a walk in our woods. You will hopefully find energy and inspiration.
Our music is colored by the spirit of the past, when our forefathers lived in and of nature. They believed everything in nature had a soul, and the better you knew the rituals to reach them - the wiser you were.
Our forefathers are all dead and gone, but their homes have been transformed into the forest again. Their struggle for survival through thousand of years has turned into:
"The soul of the soil"
The woods are ours-though we don't own them...
Reviews: - What they are saying:
NORDAGUST –“In The Mist Of Morning”
This Norwegian formation was founded in the late Nineties as a trio but nowadays it has turned into a six-piece band. During the years Nordagust released three demo’s, in 1999, 2001 and 2003. Then the debut CD entitled In The Mist Of Morning was released as a demo in 2007 and in 2010 as an official album by the Norwegian label Karisma Rekords.
The ten compositions are simply structured but contain strong emotional overtones. The climates alternate between dreamy, compelling and sumptuous featuring breathtaking interplay between the Mellotron in its full splendor, intense guitar work and a propulsive rhythm-section. An extra dimension is the vocal contribution, pretty expressive (I notice elements of the late Marc Bolan): the one moment fragile or melancholic, the other moment powerful with a desperate or sad undertone.
Although Nordagust reminds me of the debut albums by Anglagard and Landberk, their sound owns a special flavor because of the huge emotion and the frequent interludes with a lush Mellotron sound, especially the choir-section is mind-blowing! This is perfectly topped by sensitive and harder-edged guitar play. At some moments it sounds a bit more folksy, like in the mellow and wonderful In The Woods featuring dreamy Mellotron violins.
I am delighted about Nordagust and their first official CD release, from my first listening session I am carried away to Progrock Heaven! For sure fans of Anglagard, Anekdoten, Landberk and Sinkadus will be very pleased. But it’s even more recommended to all fellow Tron-maniacs, this is one of the most impressive Mellotron drenched progrock albums I have ever listened to (and I have heard tons of Trons since the early Seventies). So a big hand for Norwegian proggers Nordagust! - Erik Neuteboom for Dutch progrock magazine iO Pages
Background magazine:
Sometimes you get a notification of a certain album released by a certain band. Mostly the band name doesn't ring a bell. This happened to me when I got a press release from In The Mist Of Morning made by the Norwegian band Nordagust. Since my hunger for new music and new bands is always present, I gave the music a try. I checked out some of the sound samples on their MySpace-page which is the easiest way to discover a band. Wow! The music I heard had definitely something to tell and I decided that I would like to hear more of Nordagust! A promo was being arranged and as soon as I received the copy of Nordagust's debut album I put it in my CD-player and...the music hit me right in the face. This album appeared to be a real killer album which kept spinning in my CD-player and in the back of my head for days!
I just couldn't escape from this beautiful progressive rock music. I was addicted to In The Mist Of Morning playing it almost compulsively several times a day. The great Mellotron-parts and the fine melodic guitar sound produced by these Norwegian musicians were just breathtaking. Also the very emotionally sung male lead vocals fit in with the music perfectly. The heavy guitar interludes on some of the tracks are a welcome change in the high level of the compositions. The music from Nordagust is mostly inspired by Norway's beautiful nature. Especially the instrumental track In The Woods contains wonderful playing on the acoustic guitars accompanied by an impressive Mellotron-sound. The music on In The Mist Of Morning - lasting nearly one hour - certainly has some links with other Scandinavian progressive rock bands like Landberk, Anekdoten and Änglagård. However, I realize that the music of Nordagust has a bigger impact on me than these bands.
Despite the quality of the album, I still got a remark to make. Maybe the production could have been better if more money and time had been available. However, this release is a demo originally recorded in 2007. It was remixed and remastered later on for this second 2010-release, but this doesn't prevent me from giving this album the well-deserved highest rating of five stars! All songs are simply perfect and thus this rating is the only way to express my positive feelings towards In The Mist Of Morning. I can't live with less because this album undoubtedly belongs to one of the musical highlights of 2010. Highly recommended! - ***** Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)
Nordagust – In The Mist Of Morning Posted on 13/12/2010 by homenucleonics
In The Mist Of Morning is the debut album of the Norwegian band Nordagust (meaning “spirit of the north wind”). On this album the sextet performs a very intense mix of symphonic prog rock and dark medieval music.
When I first heard the music of this band, specifically the opening title track, the early sound of Barclay James Harvest came to my mind instantly as it’s very similar here. Rather slow songs, epic Mellotron sections (including strings, choirs, horns etc.), straightforward guitar work and long instrumental passages are the band’s specialities. This is good on one side because Nordagust manage to sound even better and stronger than BJH at many points, sometimes heading towards symphonic metal like in Mysterious Ways or Elegy. Very interesting is that the band’s lead singer Daniel Solheim sounds like Roger Waters most of the time.
On the other side, all songs share a very similar sound despite the fact that so many classical or unusual instruments like a dulcimer, a mouth harp, saws, kettles and more have been used. But this way a certain atmosphere is created which lasts the whole album. The dark heaviness is essential and always present, partly achieved through the broad but not overproduced sound of the album. This, for genre-specific comparison, is what lacked David Minasian’s latest album. The powerful song structures are the other part of this dark and heavy sound.
Although the song lengths are very different, ranging from three to nine minutes, all songs are equally good as well as the band’s musical abilities. The melodies never become boring and there’s a special tension throughout the whole album, making it even more interesting.
All in all Nordagust’s In The Mist Of Morning is a fantastic debut album with an epic sound and strong melodies. I hope that the band will continue that way. There isn’t much to improve. - written by Wolfgang Merx
Nordagust are:
Daniel "Solur" Solheim - Vocal, Guitar, Keyboard, Samples, Kantele, Dulcimer, Mandolin, Sallowflute, Mouthharp, Conch, Axe and Hammer
