The Band Islands

The Baltimore group release As Long As You Are, their sixth studio record, via 4AD. As Long As You Are looks to the past as well as the future, confronting old ghosts and embracing a new hope. It is an album about trust, full of honesty, redemption and “letting go”, allowing old wounds to heal and bringing painful chapters to a close. As Long As You Are also signals a new era for Future Islands. Drummer Mike Lowry officially joins as a fully-fledged member and songwriter bolstering the founding trio of William Cashion, Samuel T. Herring and Gerrit Welmers. Together, the four-piece took on official production duties for the first time, co-producing As Long As You Are with engineer Steve Wright at his Wrightway Studios in Baltimore. Their brand of new wave synth-pop full of bright melodies and heavenly choruses is as euphoric and uninhibitedly joyful as anything the band has done in their 14-year career.

Young the Giant is the debut album by American indie rock band Young the Giant. It was released digitally by the Roadrunner record label on October 26, 2010, and was followed by a physical CD and vinyl release in the United States on January 25, 2011…

Islands is the new double album by progressive rockers THE FLOWER KINGS. After the group’s much celebrated return in 2019 and the highly successful “Waiting For Miracles”, creative mastermind Roine Stolt (Transatlantic, The Sea Within, Anderson/Stolt etc.) now presents 92 minutes of brand-new music with his competent line-up also featuring Hasse Fröberg, Zach Kamins, Jonas Reingold, Mirko DeMaio and special guest Rob Townsend.

Lawrence "Bud" Freeman (April 13, 1906 – March 15, 1991) was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing tenor saxophone but also able at the clarinet…

The Flower Kings on this double-disc, live CD, featuring six compositions ("Garden of Dreams" is in two parts, making for a total of seven tracks) offer one of the brightest views yet of a band whose obsession with musical exploration and complex harmonic issues never, ever gets in the way of an honest expression of "song," and the human emotions and narratives within it. Led by guitarist and vocalist Roine Stolt, this Swedish septet offers a live outing every bit as adventurous as their studio offerings. Stolt's debt to Yes' Jon Anderson and Steve Hackett is still everywhere evident, but his lyrics are not consciously obtuse, and are drenched in life-affirming scenarios. Musically, the band's reliance on melody and harmony to carry forth their edgier musical explorations is a real blessing; they welcome the listener inside their sound world and make them a part of their sprawling musical narratives…

The Flower Kings enjoyed a rather long break following 2007's The Sum of No Evil album and the tour that ensued, with individual members undertaking solo projects or simply laying low, recharging their creative batteries after years of grueling, non-stop work. Naturally, however, this hiatus only heightened fan expectations leading into the band's next progressive rock challenge, 2012's Banks of Eden, which inevitably found the lovable Swedish egg-heads both reveling in and wrestling the characteristic excess, majesty, and hubris of their chosen art form, as expected. Indeed, cynics could easily allege that the album's opening, 25-minute-long "Numbers" is pretty much what happens when a prog rock band starts jamming and simply doesn't bother stopping (nerds armed with instruments gone wild!?)…