Dramatis

Composer Anthony Cheung releases All Roads, a follow up to FCR215 Cycles and Arrows. Featuring performances by the Escher Quartet, violinist Miranda Cuckson, soprano Paulina Swierczek, and pianists Jacob Greenberg, Gilles Vonsattel, and Cheung himself, All Roads encapsulates Cheung's penchant for drawing on broad sources of inspiration and filtering them through an incisive and discriminating compositional process to produce substantial, structurally airtight works.

Featuring Ultravox, Duran Duran, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Devo, Yello, Peter Baumann, Richard Bone, Japan and many others.
Following 2020’s ‘Musik Music Musique’ set, we present the sequel, this time looking at the electronic pop scene as it evolved from curio and novelty into a major movement and began to dominate the airwaves. Featuring a plethora of acts who would quickly become household names (many of which endure today) and exploring the wide variety of directions electronic instruments took both the mainstream and independent music in. ‘Musik Music Musique 2.0’ embraces both the pure pop aesthetic of a new generation of aspirational, defiantly polished artists and those who embraced electronic music in the aftermath of the post-punk explosion…

Three CD set. Following 2021's Musik Music Musique 2. 0 set, the third volume in the series looks at the electronic pop scene as it came to dominate the airwaves. A period which saw the 1980's credible musical landscape evolve from gritty post-punk to shamelessly aspirational polished pop. Featuring countless artists who would become household names (many of which remain active today) alongside lesser-known scene mainstays, independent innovators and novelty opportunists, Musik Music Musique 3. 0 explores the evolution of synth pop from anything resembling a 'scene' into the standard musical form of the day, soon to be embraced by everybody from power balladeers to quasi-rock stadium acts. From chart staples and nightclub anthems to rarities, curios and collectables, this set gives equal airtime to all, basking in the breadth of ideas and innovation being explored as the musical world moved towards the mid-80s.

Variants of Perception was originally released on Carpe Sonum Records in Spring of 2022. Comprising of tracks recorded between 2019 & 2020 the album sees me returning to my trademark mixture of deep Ambient tones & atmospheres with a mix of various electronic music influences with moments of Intricate IDM beats, Dub & downtempo breakbeat etc but with a generous sprinkling of improvised leads and emotive melodic flourishes. Resulting in a rather personal exploration of what it is to be human and triggers memories, feelings & emotions through contemporary & sometimes experimental electronic sound.

The first collaboration ever between conductor William Christie and director Luc Bondy with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, this production of Hercules has been a major event. Hercules returns from the war with Iole, a princess he fell in love with. Mad with jealousy, Déjanire, his wife, ends up totally insane after poisoning her husband. Half theatrical performance, half secular oratorio, Hercules wasn’t originally meant to be performed in front of an audience. Luc Bondy chose to show the dramatis personae as ordinary people, victims of their passions. The superb Chorus of the Arts Florissants, both mediator and prosecutor, is the main witness of this tragedy of women’s jealousy.

Belgian band Mindgames influences are to be found in the whole progressive rock history. Element of Floyd, Yes, Genesis, Marillion and too many others to mention can be found in here. The band grouped in 1997 but it took 2 years until they entered the recording studio to shape their first recording demos. The rehearsals for their debut album took the next three years until the album was ready, in 2002, and was finally released in 2003. This output was carefully structured with mid-long pieces and three epics. It's a very sophisticated music, precisely played and perfect balance between energy and softness. Strong melodies, multiple rhythm changes and a nice instrumental colouring of the songs are warp and woof on "International Daylight", an album that achieved a great success among the lovers of Symphonic Progressive.

Although Druid's future seemed promising, the band failed to record more than two albums, leaving only 1975's Toward the Sun and 1976's Fluid Druid to their name. In 1995, BGO packaged both albums as a two-disc set, saving fans the hassle of locating each album separately. Druid is guided by lead vocalist Dane, who harbors a voice that is both high and sharp, but manages to customize it with the surrounding instruments. Both albums contain lush, relaxing harmonies with simple articulation and a free flowing folk-infused style that's illuminated by the keyboard and Mellotron applications. With parallels arising to that of Yes in Druid's musical composition, the songwriting isn't as intricate or as sensational, but it is delicately poetic and even romantic at times…

In the U.S., Gary Numan is remembered as a one-hit-wonder, while back home in his native England, he continued to crank out hit after hit and became a superstar in the process. His icy space-age persona and sound may be forever associated with early-80's British new wave (Flock of Seagulls, early Duran Duran, etc.), but he was the originator, and today seems pretty darned original. Numan was a scholar of the David Bowie Ziggy Stardust-era, and used Bowie's space alien approach as a starting point. While retaining his futuristic lyrics, Gary stripped Ziggy's sound free of the distorted guitar riffing and posturing, and replaced it with clinical synthesizers and a standoffish stage persona. His music also gives off a paranoid vibe at times, as evidenced on the hits "I Die: You Die" and "Are 'Friends' Electric?" But Numan's songs can also sedate you ("Down in the Park"), while other times sneak up on you (the unexpected punk rocker "Bombers"). And of course there's his sole U.S. hit, "Cars," which sounds like a not so distant ancestor to fellow futuristic weirdos Devo.

Most of us come to the Saint John Passion knowing the Saint Matthew Passion first. The bigger and more elaborate Saint Matthew, which came along three, or possibly five years later (there is controversy about the date), has tended to cast a shadow in which the earlier work is swallowed up, and this has been so ever since Mendelssohn's Saint Matthew performance in 1829 marked the beginning of the public rediscovery of J.S. Bach. (The professionals had never forgotten.) But if the Saint John is smaller in scale than the Saint Matthew, it is hardly the lesser work in quality, though it would of course be silly to claim that the master of the Saint Matthew Passion had not learned from the experience of setting Saint John. But the most interesting differences between these two towering attestations of faith are differences in intention. Read Matthew 26-27, Mark 14-15, Luke 22-23, and John 18-19, and you get four tellings of the last days in the life of Jesus that differ in tone, emphasis, and detail…

Prog/Folk/Rock from the Murky depths of Cumbria. Aided by a merry band of misfits, Gandalf's Fist are your new favourite Cult band waiting to be discovered! Gandalf's Fist draw on their mutual love for classic rock bands such as Pink Floyd, The Who, and even the likes of Iron Maiden. Gandalf's Fist is a British band from Maryport, Cumbria. Their music is influenced by 1970s progressive/psychedelic rock. The group formed in 2005, and built their reputation through various airplay by national radio with the help of several interviews in the "Classic Rock presents Prog"- Magazine, they cemented their reputation by playing at the "Second Stage" of Planet Rockstock in Great Yarmouth in December 2013, despite being a "initially studio only" project. They were featured in the TOP20 of Geoff Barton's 2013 Critic's choice in PROG Magazine Issue #41 lately.