Afterbach Matinee

The Gardening Club is a progressive rock band infused with plenty of other styles and influences, founded by Martin Springett, the band has released three albums, the Gardening Club, the Riddle, and Boy On A Bike. Based in Toronto Ontario and Victoria BC. 2018 The Gardening Club returns with their self-released sophomore album The Riddle featuring multi-instrumentalist Norm Macpherson, and James Macpherson, on drums and synthesizers. Liner notes and illustrations by Martin Springett.

Commemorating the 25th anniversary of one of the worst natural disasters in Quebec's history while celebrating the courage and collective humanity that emanated from it, Ice Storm Symphony (Symphonie de la tempete de verglas) takes the listener into a whirlwind of music by Quebecois composer Maxime Goulet. The program features Orchestre classique de Montreal under the direction of Jacques Lacombe performing three of Goulet's compositions: Fishing Story, What a Day, and the title work.

Beginning in the early 1970’s and continuing until 1980, this relatively unknown band from Houston managed to record a stunning collection of songs that are the musical expression of the word Chameleon…

The first studio album of Band originals since 1971's Cahoot – in many respects, Northern Lights-Southern Cross was viewed as a comeback. It also can be seen as a swan song, in that its recording marked the last time the five members would work together in the studio as a permanent group, with a commitment to making a record they would tour behind and build on as a working band. The album was also, ironically enough, the Band's finest since their self-titled sophomore effort, even outdoing Stage Fright.

Between 1803 and 1968, the Grand Prix de Rome marked the zenith of composition studies at the Paris Conservatoire. In Maurice Ravel’s time the competition included an elimination round (a fugue and a choral piece) followed by a cantata in the form of an operatic scena. The entries were judged by a jury which generally favoured expertise and conformity more than originality and Ravel’s growing reputation as a member of the avant-garde was therefore hardly to his advantage, and may explain why he never won the coveted Premier Grand Prix, and the three-year stay at Rome’s Villa Medici that went with it.

The 1972 self-titled album from Chicago-based quintet Styx could be considered an ambitious outing for any band's debut. Clearly influenced by the primarily U.K-centered progressive rock scene, Dennis DeYoung (keyboard/vocals) hooked up with twin siblings Chuck Panozzo (bass/vocals) and John Panozzo (drums/percussion/vocals) in a combo named the Tradewinds during the late '60s…