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CD/DVD Releases: Musea Releases July & August

Posted on Friday, September 04 @ 20:00:00 UTC by nightowl

In July/August news from Musea, here are a few of their prog offerings (theirs or distributions):

Dave Kerzner - New World: New World is the debut solo album by American musician, songwriter, producer and sound designer Dave Kerzner. This is Kerzner's first album since his departure from the band Sound of Contact, and was developed in 2014. The album features numerous collaborations with established artists such as Fernando Perdomo, Steve Hackett, Nick D'Virgilio, Durga McBroom and Keith Emerson.

Two versions of the album were developed: a standard edition and a two-disc double album deluxe edition. The former was released in December 2014, and the latter was released in January 2015. The album was produced and mixed by Kerzner. Most of the album was recorded remotely with reference tracks developed by Kerzner using music software technology from his sound production company Sonic Reality. The tracks were then re-recorded by other artists at remote locations and sent back to Kerzner's studio in Miami for mixing. Veteran mixing engineer Tom Lord-Alge mixed the album's first single release, "Stranded."

Cast - Vida: Mexican progressive rock band Cast released their latest album, Vida, this past July. According to the band, "This new work [is] a double CD with unpublished material and also some new versions of classic songs of the band. Also we reveal the cover of the album and we are proud to announce that legendary artist Paul Whitehead, creator of the the most memorable covers of band Genesis, has made a special artwork for Cast's new Album Vida!!!"

On September 11 the band will perform at the Boston Music Room in London, England, along with Frank Carducci and Barock Project. And on September 12, they are on the bill (along with another PW favourite, RPWL) at Progressive Promotion Festival at Das Rind, in Rüsselsheim, Germany.

Rodolfo Mederos - Todo Hoy: Straight after his experience together with Generación Cero, Rodolfo Mederos recorded a new album with a totally different musician line-up, albeit still maintaining the same ideas and sonority of his previous studio output. Todo Hoy represents one of the best exercises in genius and creative liberty ever displayed by this true artist, by blending Tango, Jazz and Progressive Rock. The album also includes as bonus track a composition that compiles the music from the film Crecer De Golpe, which was written by himself back in 1977.


Motis - Ménestrels: In order to celebrate the fifteen years of existence of Motis, the compilation Ménestrels (Musea, 2015) is released as a vinyl edition. This splendid collector's item in gatefold includes eight titles collected from the Motis discography since the year 2000, and is completed by a new track, "L'Aube," recorded in 2015 at Studio La Corbière. These titles have been specifically remastered for the occasion by Fred Woff, and the pressing has been made by M Com' Musique. The illustrations have been designed by Larsen, and the P.A.O. including all lyrics is from Fred Mauron. Lovers of Progressive rock, poetry, vintage sounds, analogic, authentic, and nice sleeve in great format, this album is for you!

Breeze - The King Of The Forest: A current Progressive rock band from Germany, Breeze was founded in the year 2000 in Hannover, by Hansi Arnold (drums & vocals) and Ottfried Mietzke (guitar, bass & keyboards). Intended as a recording project, this German band released three albums: Tales in 2006, Rain three years later, and Strangers in 2012. The duet also performed live with several line-ups between this period. The music of Breeze is quite diverse, ranging from soft ballads to orchestral arrangements, with a special taste for epic compositions. Published by the Musea label in the year 2015, The King Of The Forest reveals itself as an excellent fantasy concept-album. Let yourself be carried away by a fresh Breeze!

Orion - A Face Visible: Orion performs Progressive rock sung in French, with some folk influences, close to French groups such as Mona Lisa or Atoll. One may also think of Anglo-Saxon bands such as Gryphon, Genesis, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Yes or Gentle Giant. Orion lies somewhere between these groups, with its own style. Recorded in the year 1979, La Nature Vit, L'Homme Lui Critique... is a very sought-after collector's item, reissued by Musea with a new cover by Jean-Jacques Killian (He did the same for the reissue of the self-title album by Grime) and, as a bonus, the two titles from the band's single.

Orion returned with a second album entitled M´moires Du Temps. Originally planned for the beginning of the Eighties, this second effort had to wait about thirty-three years to eventually see the light of day! Restored and remixed from the original tapes, these six studio tracks are augmented by four compositions performed live. Here's a very accomplished album you will listen to, over and over again... [And in 2015 is released La Face Visible... -ed.]

KoMaRa - KoMaRa: KoMaRa’s self-titled debut album is based on a dark, deviant and explicit detective story. It reflects the mysterious circumstances of an abduction and the ultimate demise of the abductee. It’s a NSFW, Rated-R release designed for the open-minded and brave. Unnerving, haunting artwork by Tool’s Adam Jones further underlines the album’s provocative vibe. The recording is predominantly instrumental, but includes occasional vocals by Raineri, Leashya and Bill Munyon. Equally menacing, incendiary and vulnerable, they serve as interludes to either break or create moods and tension throughout. The album also has moments of light and hope, told through short trumpet vignettes by Raineri.

KoMaRa came together through social media, with Kollar reaching out to Mastelotto on Facebook about potential gigs and recordings. Everyone was mutually intrigued and met up in Slovakia, where Kollar is based, in November 2014. The trio played gigs across myriad Slavic countries to enthusiastic, open-minded audiences. The group then went on to record in Prague, capturing three long improvisations that formed the basis of the pieces on KoMaRa's debut album.

Acclaimed engineers Bill Munyon and Adrian Benevides also contributed to faithfully reflecting the release’s mercurial approach. "For me, KoMaRa is the epitome of my belief that great records are like movies," said Mastelotto. "The best musicians don't need scripts because they understand the movie is always evolving. That’s the beauty of music, too. It inspires its own script and cinematography in every listener’s head."

Pat Mastelotto is one of the world's most celebrated drummers. He has been a member of every King Crimson lineup from 1994 to the present. In addition, he's one third of Stick Men, a trio with Tony Levin and Markus Reuter. Mastelotto has also collaborated with Steven Wilson, Terry Bozzio, Trey Gunn, Allan Holdsworth, John Paul Jones, and Kimmo Pohjonen.

Slovakian guitarist and composer David Kollar has released nine expansive albums, scored 18 films and worked on many multimedia projects. His last recording, 2013's The Son, an atmospheric, emotionally-charged effort, received accolades from Guitar Moderne, France’s A Decovrir Absolument, and the Czech and Slovak Radio Head awards. He’s also worked with Eivind Aarset, Gergo Borlai, Bjorn Charles Dreyer, Lenka Dusilová, and Tommaso Colliva.

Trumpeter Paolo Raineri takes his instrument and processes it in real-time to create ethereal, otherworldly sounds. The Italian musician combines Scandinavian nu-jazz influences with psychedelic rock, experimental and free improvisation in his award-winning Junkfood 4tet. In addition, he's performed with Stefano Battaglia, Berserk!, The Blessed Beat, Baustelle, Calibro 35, Nada, and Enrico Gabrielli.

Freedom - Freedom At Last: Freedom was formed by guitarist Ray Royer and drummer Bobby Harrison. Both of them were in Procol Harum's line-up at the outset for their debut, "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" single (1967), but were ousted almost immediately when singer Gary Brooker enlisted his former bandmates from The Paramounts (Robin Trower & Barry Wilson) as replacements. The group's early sound echoed Procol Harum's in its prominent use of organ and piano, as well as heavy rock guitar. It also captured late British psychedelia, as it was starting to inch towards Progressive rock. Freedom At Last was recorded in 1970.

Francis Berthelot -L'Inaccessible: Francis Berthelot is mainly known as a science-fiction, fantastic and fantasy writer, and got a lot of awards in that field. Music, theatre and dance occurring in his fictions as recurrent themes, he left literature writing for music composition: more precisely to a narrative and descriptive ballet music, which combines theatre and dance.

L'Inaccessible is the story of the composer Johann Càdre who, agonizing in hospital (prologue), reminds his quest of a mysterious theme, l’Inaccessible – a masked dancer. He lived several centuries : in the Middle Ages, he asks a fiddler to help him : but the man casts a spell on him, throwing him in turns to Renaissance, classical age, romantic period and XXth century; in the epilogue, l’Inaccessible comes and delivers his soul.

The music of L'Inaccessible was composed by computer with a musical creation software and a bank of sounds. Though it's somehow influenced by Russian composers, especially in the use of minor tonalities, every scene has specific colours linked to its period. The leitmotif set inscribes the plot in the musical substance, the electronic sounds occurring to emphasize the supernatural aspect of some scenes.

Other Musea musings: King Crimson's USA is re-issued on vinyl

[Source: Musea (except Cast)]

Posted in Album Release News

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