Citizen by Billy Sherwood and the Miles Zip!!

The Run – November 12, 2015 – Creek Out and Back Being the fair-weather runner that I am, I was a little concerned on Thursday, when I could see that it was raining in the morning. I thought that maybe my run would be washed out like it was on Tuesday.But the front moved through and by the time I was ready to run at around 4 o’clock it was cloudy but not raining. I decided that I would run my Creek Out and Back since it was getting close to dark and that course crosses only one main street…

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Exploring the Crossover Prog of Umphrey’s McGee – Similar Skin!

One of the albums that has been in my rotation for a couple of weeks now is the latest release from Umphrey’s McGee Similar Skin. Umprhey’s McGee is a crossover prog band with a large following known alternately as “Umphreaks” and “McGeeks. Here’s what they say on their website about the band…..  Umphrey’s McGee has risen to the upper echelons of the improvisational-rock scene through their seamless compositing of diverse musical influences, from progressive-rock to metal to funk to folk to jazz-fusion to classic song-based rock-and roll, all woven together with infectious melodies, thought-provoking lyrics, pristine harmonies, blistering musicianship, and…

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Exploring the Crossover Prog Rock of Finland’s The Chant – New Haven!

The album that was the soundtrack for my run on Thursday was New Haven, the latest release from the Finnish crossover prog. band The Chant. The album has been in my rotation for about a week now and it’s one of those albums, that get better with each repeated listen! The Chant has been around since 1999. First, there were three Jussi Hämäläinen(guitar/vocals), Mari Jämbäck (keyboards) and Ilpo Paasela (vocals), then four when  Kimmo Tukiainen(guitar) joined the group. The final count which has been fairly stable over the life of the band was six, after Markus Forsström (bass) and Roope Sivén(drums) came…

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Exploring the Music of Spain’s Kant, Freud, Kafka – No Tengas Miedo – Symphonic or Not!

After my run last night, I was pretty much physically drained, I took a shower, ate and then wrote a post at Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries. After that, I was going to write about my run and its soundtrack, which was the new album from The Royal Southern Brotherhood. While I was getting ready to write that post, I went to look up something about a prog band that I listened to earlier in the day Rite of Passage. wasn’t having much luck finding information, so I went to progstreaming, where I first saw their album. While I was…

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Crossover Prog from Canada’s AsZension – Biosphere!

AsZension – Crossover Prog – Canada One of the albums that has been in my prog rock listening rotation over the past several days is Biosphere the sophomore release from the Canadian Crossover Prog band AsZension. The band is currently a studio-based band but there are plans to make it a live band. Aszension was founded by multi-instrumentalist Kevin Thiessen after he completed his studies in Contemporary Music and Technology, audio engineering, production and guitar at Selkirk College in Nelson B.C. After finishing his studies Thiessen set out to find like-minded musicians. First he met and then added guitarist and engineer Calvin Shiu,…

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The Safari Explores the Music of Germany’s Frequency Drift – Over!

      Over the last few days I’ve been exploring the music of the German Grossover Prog Band Frequency Drift; I stated with their current release Over. On my first few listens I wasn’t to sure about the vocals. The female lead singer’s voice was just a little too high and operatic sounding than I  like. What I was sure of was the music,I know I heard some instruments that you don’t normally hear like violin and flutes.Here’ what I read about the band at their website: Founded in 2007 by keyboarder and mastermind Andreas Hack, Bayreuth-based Frequency Drift…

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Crossover Prog from Poland’s Iluzjon – Silent Andromeda!

One of the albums that I’ve listened to over the last week is Silent Andromeda from the Polish crossover prog band Iluzjon (yes, in Polish Illusion is the translation) From Wikipedia: Grupa czynnie działała w latach 2000-2010. Założona przez wokalistę, klawiszowca, aranżera, kompozytora i autora tekstów – Michała Dziadosza. Od 2006 jako kwartet. Iluzjon w swojej konwencji, w której punktem wyjścia jest art rock, nawiązywał do jazzu, ambientu, popu, hard rocka, rocka psychodelicznego i poezji śpiewanej. W muzyce zespołu usłyszeć można echa takich wykonawców, jak King Crimson, David Sylvian, Peter Gabriel, Marillion. Wiosną 2005 zespół zadebiutował na oficjalnym rynku swoim…

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The Safari listens to Crossover Prog from Norway’s Fatal Fusion – The Ancient Tale

Today I was reviewing the Top Albums of 2013 at the ProgArchives  at number 16 was a band that I had listened to earlier this year, Fatal Fusion. Their 2013 release is The Ancient Tale and was the soundtrack for several periods of time today. Earlier in the year I had listened to their 2010 release Land of the Sun. I liked both of the albums. Fatal Fusion is a Norwegian crossover prog rock band strongly influenced by bands like  King Crimson, Camel, Pink Floyd, ELP, Yes, Genesis, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Deep Purple from the 60’s and 70’s and 80’s and…

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The Music Safari meets the Dutch Crossover Prog band Tumbletown!

Over the last week or so I’ve listened to the debut album from a band named Tumbletown Done with Coldness  and enjoying it more with each listen. Of course this leads to the ubiquitous question: Who are these guys and where in the world  do they hail from?  The answer to  the who is Han Uil and Aldo Adema, two skilled producers, guitarists and composers and the where is the Netherlands. Uil and Adema both were members of the band Egdon Heath and its continuation Seven Day Hunt. Uil also played with the band Antares and has released some solo works. Seven Day…

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The Safari finds Crossover Prog from Argentina’s Vanished from Earth!

  So one of the things that I like about prog rock are the album covers. The majority of them are very artsy and very interesting and the one to the left of me is no exception! It was one of the reasons that the band and album Vanished from Earth caught my eye this more at progstreaming.com. Of course it was the music that ultimately sealed the deal and made resulted in the album becoming the soundtrack while doing some chores this afternoon. After listening I went to ProgArchives and found that the band hails from Argentina next door…

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