National Health

Zopp is the brainchild of composer and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Stevenson, with collaborations from Andy Tillison of prog legends The Tangent, and drummer Andrea Moneta (Leviathan). Here we are getting close to a genuine canterbury sound, while showing strong roots back into the 1970s.
With nine tracks that are just shy of a 45 minute playing time, Zopp keeps the classic feel of a 70s album but benefits from the professional experience from a seasoned prog veteran such as Moneta as well as a modern seamless production job by Andy Tillison…

This is Annie Barbazza’s first solo album. She was a young drummer in love with progressive rock when Greg Lake discovered her talent as a singer and wanted her on stage with him for the concert which would later become the posthumous “Live in Piacenza”. Again Lake produced “Moonchild”, the duo with pianist Max Repetti for Manticore Records where she sang many songs formerly sang by Lake with ELP and King Crimson. If these were the beginnings of Annie’s career, now she is a rising star of the international Avant / Prog scene. Her friendship with John Greaves (Henry Cow, National Health …) leads her to collaborate permanently live with the Welsh musician and to collaborate on his latest albums (“Piacenza” for Dark Companion and “Life Size” for Manticore). Another one of her stable collaborations is the one with legendary writer-singer-songwriter Paul Roland with whom Annie regularly performs live as a bassist and singer and in the studio also as a drummer.

Mad Fellaz II is generously seasoned with the complex flavours of Canterbury styled prog and at times is lightly spiced with the drive and aggression of rock. Above all else, it is an album that displays the freedom of spirit that the inclusion of jazz influences can provide. Mad Fellaz II is an album that combines the best elements of Canterbury styled prog with the warming reassuring predictability and challenging unpredictability that an infusion of jazz and rock influences can offer. Stylistically, the album ranges from National Health-like instrumental passages to very occasional forays to a fuller quasi big band sound as beloved by bands such as Ian Carr's Nucleus. Nods to Santana, Gilgamesh and King Crimson also peep through in the band's lengthy compositions. The combination of so many contrasting styles creates music that is spaciously vibrant, always distinctive and often unique.

The last international band to lay claim to the mantle of such illustrious '70s improvisationers as HATFIELD AND THE NORTH, NATIONAL HEALTH and the original GONG, GONGZILLA is a muscular quartet that traffics in the kind of music once mislabeled as fusion. Sure to surprise twentysomethings who think jam bands invented adventurous instrumental passages, odd meters and searing melodies, GONGZILLA's latest album East Village Sessions does more with vibraphone, bass, drums and guitar than an entire Vans Warped Tour of pierced-nosed freeloaders could imagine…

Despite locating its releases in places requiring a journey off the beaten path, the music of Next Order has always been well worth the trip. Live-Refined represents a further honing of the Next Order sound, its fourth in a series of live recordings.

The Complete Lost Lennon Tapes is a 22-CD bootleg box set, released by Walrus Records. The main goal of this set was to condense everything from the existing Lost Lennon Tapes bootleg series, which had only been released on vinyl, onto CDs…

Over the last decade, Porcupine Tree founder Steven Wilson has been cagey when questioned about a reunion. He's enjoyed a high-profile solo career as a recording artist, producer, and remixing engineer. His bandmates are also busy: Drummer Gavin Harrison has spent years touring with King Crimson as their music director, and since 2016 he's been a full-time member of the Pineapple Thief. Keyboardist Richard Barbieri cut two albums with Marillion's Steve Hogarth, issued a pair of solo albums for Kscope, and done abundant session work. The reunion leaves out bassist Colin Edwin (who remains a vital, intrepid session bassist playing everything from avant-jazz and rock to art folk). Wilson, whose playing style is extremely different, claimed the bass chair in the studio. The formal set offers seven new tracks, and various editions include bonus cuts. The recording sessions for Closure/Continuation were kept secret for a year….

This double album consists in the reprint of the long OOP studio album from 2011, named "1000 Autunni", plus a second live album, recorded on 06/01/2013 at the AltrOck/Fading festival in Milano, Casa di Alex. Featuring also an unreleased tune, these live versions differ quite a lot from studio versions.
Paolo "Ske" Botta is in the band Yugen and also appeared on French TV's "This Is What We Do". If you are even remotely interested in sophisticated and complex eclectic prog then you can not go wrong with this. Everything about this just evokes musical ecstasy like few others can. What we have here is an amalgamation of many influences seamlessly fused together to create some strange yet beautiful sonic bliss…