Bird Talk

Detroit's The Rockets are not one of the groups people might think of when considering that city's storied history of great bands - for a reason, since they weren't all that special. Still, they have a vital link to the Detroit sound as drummer Johnny "Bee" Badanjek was in Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels and Detroit and guitarist Jim McCarty was also in the Detroit Wheels and went on to join the failed supergroup Cactus. Their 1979 record, Rockets (Turn Up the Radio), had two pretty solid AOR staples (in the Detroit area anyway) in their blistering cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" and the rollicking "Turn Up the Radio." By the time of 1981's Back Talk, the band was still in the netherworld of being a perennial opening act and really struggling to survive…

Polish band Tale Of Diffusion was formed in 2002 by Bartek Florczak (guitars), Tomek Pawlikowski (bass) and Radek Malinowski (drums). By 2006 they felt ready to start recording a debut album, and in 2009 their initial effort Adventures Of Mandorius (The Bird) was issued.
Evoking a diverse range of atmospheres from the whimsical to the spooky, the album features fine production and excellent performances, the compositions throw in a few nods to prog greats of the past but for the most part have a very individual sound. The contributions of guest keyboardists Pawel and Michal Marciniak and trumpeter Szymon Żmudzinski adds a sort of late-era Talk Talk texture to proceedings which is especially interesting. On the whole, a tale worth listening to.

”Songs III: Bird on the Water” is Marissa Nadler's third full-length album, released in March 2007 on Peacefrog Records. It was distributed in the US and Canada in August 2007 by New York City-based Kemado Records. The album was nominated for Best Americana Record of the Year by the PLUG awards, as well as Best Female Artist, in 2007.