Buck Satan & 666 Shooters Bikers Welcome! Ladies Drink Free (2011)

On Welcome to My DNA, their third studio album, Aviv Geffen and Steven Wilson of Blackfield continue to pursue their neo-progressive Pink Floyd-meets-Tears for Fears sound, overlaying it with doom-ridden imagery. The Pink Floyd influence is overt in the slow-paced soundscapes and echoey vocals, though at times Blackfield pick up the pace and even rock a bit, notably on "Blood," which has a Middle Eastern rhythm at times…

Serving as both accomplished career overview and a live-in-the-studio effort that covers two and a half hours and over 40 years of work, Trainsong is a seemingly effortless release, such is the apparent delicacy and grace of Michael Chapman's performing throughout. As Charles Shaar Murray's combatively entertaining liner notes acknowledge, Chapman couldn't play at least one favored piece due to a recent injury. What is on offer, however, is the kind of reflective, elegant playing on both acoustic and electric guitar one would expect from any instrumentalist after decades of experience. From the start, the tender flow of notes on "The Last Polish Breakfast," almost a portrait of sunrise on sparkling water, Chapman seems to be both celebrating his past and claiming a space in the present.