Paul Diamond Blow is a musician, spoken word artist, a writer and cable televison producer, kung fu master, punk rock star, and part time space commander in Seattle, Washington. He is rocks like no other with his sexy Marshall-driven brand of rocket-fueled hard rockin' glam/punk party rock. Born and raised on a steady diet of Kiss and Ramones, cut his musical teeth rocking in many a punk-rockin' bands (RPA, Suffocated, Berserkers) and his searing style of guitar play soon became legend. His current band the Space Cretins plays regularly in the Seattle area and he also performs occasionally as a solo acoustic "unplugged" artist, deeply in the vein of "Johnny Thunders on acid with a touch of Axl Rose".
Ace ventures back to the 60s for an amazing treasure trove of exciting rare and unissued tracks from the world's best-selling instrumental group. This is our fourth volume in the series, the other three proving to be among the label's top-sellers. It includes many previously unreleased tracks, alternative versions and impossible to find rarities. Most of the tracks are drawn from the classic 60s period and are of very high quality…
With every year that we move further away from our childhood, we lose more of the fascination for the world and forget our initial sense of beauty. The world grows duller, gets swept by everyday routine and a work-sleep-eat-repeat-rhythm – but every few decades, a bunch of musicians are able to break down these grey walls of concrete. And those who’ve seen NIGHTWISH live since their inception in 1996, know that they are the ones to shine a little light with magic, intensity and melancholy into the corners of the one’s mind that seemed long lost and forgotten…
Mercury Prize-nominated Portico Quartet has always been an impossible band to pin down. Sending out echoes of jazz, electronica, ambient music and minimalism, the group created their own singular, cinematic sound over the course of three studio albums, from their 2007 breakthrough ‘Knee-Deep in the North Sea’, and 2010 John Leckie produced ‘Isla’, to the self titled record ‘Portico Quartet’ in 2012. Now rebooted as Portico Quartet after a brief spell as the three-piece Portico, the group are set to release their fourth studio album Art In The Age Of Automation this August on Manchester’s forward thinking indy jazz and electronica label Gondwana Records. It’s an eagerly anticipated return, with the band teasing both a return to their mesmeric signature sound and fresh new sonic departures in their new music.
The Baltic countries, just a couple of decades old in their current incarnations, have emerged as hotbeds of contemporary music, resting on a triad of experimentalism, community music-making, and a few big stars committed to the growth of a distinctive homegrown scene. Among the latter group, violinist Gidon Kremer has made consistently successful recordings, artistically and commercially, with his handpicked group of young Latvian musicians, Kremerata Baltica. Many of these have displayed Kremer's knack for combining contemporary music, tango, and established repertory in compelling thematic combinations.
In these unsettled days Red Bazar return with the rather timely album Things as They Appear, which casts a critical observational eye on some contemporary issues. Red Bazar were one of Progressive Rock’s ‘Surprise packages’ in 2016 with their rather more Gothic, and first vocal, album "Tales from the Bookcase", largely based on stories by diverse writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Alistair Maclean and Arthur C. Clarke. "Things as They Appear" is a distinct contrast and progression, more direct and grounded in style and content, more reflective of some of the current frictions in society.
Red Bazar have bravely taken a different direction from their last album - this is no sequel to the fine "Tales from the Bookcase". Whilst they touch on important issues of our times, they have very wisely chosen not to take a partisan or obvious political position…