Prog Exploration Goes to France and finds Delusion Squared II

Delusion Squared -Crossover Prog – France So I’ve written before, I like that Prog Rock bands come from all over the world. For example, Delusion Squared.,the band that was the soundtrack for my ride down to the Garden State Parkway is a French band  The album is their sophomore release appropriately titled II The band, formed in 2009, is a trio composed of lead vocalist and guitarist, Lorraine Young, guitarist, keyboard and drummer – Steven Francis and bassist/keyboardist – Emmanuel de Saint Meen. Their music can be classified as Crossover Prog (or Art Rock). If you are a novice to the…

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New Age: “Into the Night” with the nouveau-flamenco sounds of Luna Blanca

So a while back, when I was listening to Jesse Cook, The Blue Sessions album, the album finished and MOG radio came on with artists similar to Jesse Cook. One of the groups that caught my ear was Luna Blanca. I listened to their 2007 release, Magic and really enjoyed it. Since then I have listened to their 2012 release El Dorado and the album Live and enjoyed both of them as well! I have since discovered that the group is from Germany and is one of the most popular  nouveau-flamenco groups in the world. Currently, another 2012 release Obsession is at 2 on…

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Life’s Soundtrack: Greylevel – Hypostatic Union

So it does bode well for a run when within the first quarter-mile you start thinking to yourself, “You know my legs don’t feel very good, maybe I should just go back home”, which is exactly what happened today! But I kept going and turned inward and tried to concentrate on the music, which was provided by a progressive rock band from the west coast of Canada, Greylevel and their 2011 release Hypostatic Union. I passed the first mile mark in just under 10 minutes and my heart rate was too bad. Then it was up Pancoast Avenue, to the beats…

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Prog Rock Explorations: Blind Ego – Numb

So I this morning I listened again to the album Numb from the German group Blind Ego and I liked it as much this time as I did the several previous times I listened! So I was surprised when I went to ProgArchves and saw a rating in the low 3s (3.12). To me, and I know I am just a neophyte when it comes to Prog Rock, the album has everything – good musicianship and vocals, and lots of tempo changes keep me interested in the music! The band is a side project for RPWL guitarist Karlheinz “Kalle” Wallner….

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“Into the Night” with the Jazz Guitar of Grant Green with Organ!

This morning when I opened MOG the first album that caught my eye was a Grant Green album entitled Organ Trio & Quartet. Now I have occasionally listen to the fine guitar of Grant Green, but I don’t ever remember him being associated with an organ trio. So with visions of Jimmy Smith and wes Montgomery dancing in my head I put it on and I was impressed the group was tight and the organ was really smoking. It seemed that through the early tracks of the album the organ was either equal to or more prominent than the guitar of…

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New Age: The Blue Guitar Sessions – Jesse Cook

So this morning I received a newsletter from the PBS show Echoes about the shows that will be on this week. I was excited when I saw that tomorrow John Diliberto will be interviewing one of my favorite guitarists, Jesse Cook about his new album  The Blue Guitar Sessions. Knowing that I will forget all about listening tomorrow night, I thought I better go listen to the album this afternoon. So I went over to MOG and put it on. Now for those of you who are not familiar with Jesse Cook, Here’s some information from Wikipedia: Jesse Arnaud Cook…

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Life’s Soundtracks:The run was a struggle but the music from Day Six was great!

So some days you really look forward to your run, you start, you feel good and the run goes very smoothly. Then there are other days, well, they don’t go as well. Saturdays area often a slow day for me. I work all day at Lippincott and then at Target not getting done until 11:15 plus! Yesterday the day went from 7:15 to 11:15, so overall today this 61 year-old body was moving kind of slow! So this afternoon when I just felt like taking a nap I did some kundalini yoga trying to wake me up, and it worked…

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Life’s Soundtrack – Cryptic Vision – Moments of Clarity

Cryptic Visidn - Momonets-of-Clarity

Cryptic Vision – Heavy Prog – United States So last Tuesday I had a good run. I averaged under 10 minute per mile pace over the 4.2 mile course the soundtrack for the run was the 2004 release from Cryptic Vision Moments of Clarity. Cryptic Vision is  a progressive rock band from Sarasota Florida. The band was formed in 2003 by multi-instrumentalist/producer Rick Duncan and vocalist Todd Plan. I don’t know if I  got the whole story or not. I do know boy found girl, boy lost girl and his faith. Overall both the music and vocals were, in my…

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New to Me: New Age from Todd Boston and Coyote Jump!

OK so like a true junkie who can’t get enough of the drug, I went  searching for new New Age music at lunchtime today! Somehow, and I forget how, I ended up at Echoes.org, I used to listen to Echoes with John Deliberto on WXPN a lot and now most times I forget that it is on at night. Anyway I wrote down the names of several of the artists whose CD have been chosen as CDs of the Month. The list includes: Marconi Union, Theiry David, Todd Boston and Coyote Jump. I gave each a brief listen this afternoon…

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“Into the Night” with the Blues Harp of Brandon Santini

So the other day I listened to the latest album from Memphis Blues Harp player Brandon Santini, This Time Another Year I really liked it, both his harp playing and his vocals were great, at times he reminds me of Leon Russell and at other times Dr. John. From his website: There are many different opinions as to what the future of the blues harmonica will be. Memphis vocalist and harmonica player Brandon Santini is undeniably a worthy player to keep an eye on as the latest surge of young blues artists leave their footprint in blues history. His name…

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