PINK FLOYD - "Meddle": A milestone turns 50
It was a tough struggle for every note, a frustrating search for a vision, a sparking idea. Pink Floyd initially found it very difficult when it came to recording a new album. Necessity is the mother of invention, and so the band ventured a new approach, but it required an "aha" effect, an illuminating moment that pointed the way. In late 1971, after a seemingly endless recording process, "Meddle" was finally released. It showed Pink Floyd focused as never before. The band had found itself, had finally arrived in the 70s
INGA RUMPF - 75 years and not a bit quiet
Darf ich was vorsingen?" is the title of the autobiography just published by the exceptional German singer Inga Rumpf. The occasion is 75 years of life and around 55 years as a musician. At the same time there is new music from the rock and soul singer on an anniversary CD double decker: "Universe Of Dreams" is a brand new studio album, on "Hidden Tracks" buried treasures from the archives have been unearthed. We gladly took the chance to let the still vital Hamburg sailor's daughter tell us about her rich life in a Zoom interview
BIG BIG TRAIN "Ping-Pong of Ideas
The big train is unstoppable: Even Corona and the departure of no less than three longtime members couldn't slow down Big Big Train's ride. David Longdon and Greg Spawton are proud of what their band embodies. In a double interview they revealed the idea behind the new studio album "Common Ground" and that they even already know what the next record will be about.
BRIAN MAY & QUEEN "If he was still alive, we'd keep making music."
November 24 marks the 30th anniversary of Freddie Mercury's death, and September 5 would have been the Queen singer's 75th birthday. Already on August 6, the album "Back To The Light" of his ex-bandmate Brian May was re-released, with which he processed the loss of his friend and the resulting end of the group in 1992. In the interview he talked about his crisis at that time, Mercury's continuing presence and the modern media society.
OPETH - 20 years "Blackwater Park"
"I think primarily about the people involved in it, not so much about the songs on the album. The songs are still in my life, half of the people who worked on it aren't," Mikael Åkerfeldt replies when asked what the first thing that comes to his mind about "Blackwater Park" is. 20 years have passed since the album was released in March 2001, which on the one hand decisively boosted Opeth's career, and on the other raised the genre of progressive metal to a new level. Guitarist, singer and main songwriter Åkerfeldt, bassist Martín Méndez and producer Steven Wilson look back.
NMB - NEAL MORSE BAND - More than a project
With "Innocence & Danger", NMB (formerly Neal Morse Band) will release the highly anticipated follow-up to "The Great Adventure" (2019) on August 27. After two sprawling concept albums in a row, however, Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy, Randy George, Eric Gilette and Bill Hubauer have come up with a refreshing collection of individual songs this time. Nevertheless, it has become a double album.
LEPROUS - The power of intuition
With their album "Pitfalls", released in 2019, the Norwegian prog metallers LEPROUS impressively recommended themselves as one of the top bands of the genre. The follow-up "Aphelion" follows on from this almost seamlessly, both musically and in terms of content. Frontman Einar Solberg once again deals with his experiences with depression and anxiety disorders in the lyrics, but this time with a more optimistic basic orientation
ROBBEN FORD - Pure pleasure
He is one of the most important guitarists in the universe between rock, blues and jazz. Grammy-nominated, celebrity-experienced and yet humble. Robben Ford is considered a quiet legend. In the interview he tells us, among other things, why his new instrumental work "Pure" is even more "solo" than a solo album
SMALLTAPE - The human factor
With his third Smalltape album "The Hungry Heart", Philipp Nespital has once again presented one of the best German self-productions in the melancholic art rock sector after "The Ocean" (2017).
Ten years have passed since the debut "Circles", during which Nespital, who originally hails from Neustrelitz in Mecklenburg, has developed enormously. We visited the Berliner-by-choice in his cosy studio in Prenzlauer Berg, where the 33-year-old multi-instrumentalist and producer took a whole afternoon for the eclipsed delegation.
TILLISON REINGOLD TIRANTI - Italian time travel
"Allium: Una Storia" is the name of the production by three prog heroes and friends Andy Tillison (a. o. The Tangent), Jonas Reingold (a. o. The Flower Kings) and Roberto Tiranti (a. o. New Trolls). It's a very special album, the idea for which goes back to a special afternoon that keyboardist Tillison experienced 45 years ago. In the interview, the 62-year-old Englishman talks about an unforgettable musical experience in Italy
JESS AND THE ANCIENT ONES - In the end always a little light too
With their fourth album "Vertigo", the quintet from Kuopio, Finland, is currently causing a sensation: a wonderful mix of 70s rock, occult elements and, yes, pop. We talked to band founder, songwriter and guitarist Thomas Corpse about his hometown, its music scene and his great passion for catchy melodies, which, however, he always likes to cover with a layer of darkness.
LUMP - A strange animal
Laura Marling and Mike Lindsay are LUMP together. Started as a pure fun project, the musically hard-to-calculate psychedelic-electro-folk-pop duo increasingly develops an exciting life of its own. Their second album is called "Animal" and is unparalleled in its originality.
FARGO-PEDDER KNORN celebrates second album after reunion and his new book
"Oh, crap, I forgot all about you. But I'm home, so we can talk," Peter "Fargo-Pedder" Knorn greets me a bit irritated on the other end of the phone connection in Hannover. "I was just listening out the bass lines of older songs. But I can get on with that later ..." Amazing, Mr. Knorn, who founded Fargo with childhood friends in 1973, must be very organized, at least in his second job as a manager (for UFO, among others)
Slowcore band LOW explores the boundaries between tradition and futurism
With their last album "Double Negative", the slowcore pioneers Low took a completely new path. The distorted beauty of their songs not only set a striking counterpoint to the smoothly polished Instagram world of our days, but also to the defeatism of current noise productions. At the time, there was no talk of Corona or Lockdown, but Low seemed to anticipate the events in their music
ROGER CHAPMAN delivers a comeback album of the highest quality
After a twelve-year break, Roger Chapman surprises with "Life In The Pond", an album that focuses on diversity both lyrically and musically. Even at the age of 79, "Chappo" is bursting with power and is fully in the juice. He proves that (also) in the eclipsed interview.
The recordings for the third album were pure joy for gloomy poet JOHN MURRY
If you ask the man from the US state of Mississippi about his musical influences, you travel with him, the born narrator, first back to the small town of Tupelo in the 1980s. Here, in the birthplace of Elvis Presley, Murry, who now lives in Ireland, gathered his first musical experiences
Scottish drummer GRAHAM COSTELLO follows the logic between extremes
Jazz enthusiasm in Scotland has always been strong, but since Jack Bruce the northern half of the UK has not produced a jazz musician of distinction. That is about to change, because with the drummer, composer and bandleader Graham Costello and his entourage, Scottish jazz is taking a completely new look. However, the Glaswegian is a stranger to the term jazz
The label HYPERTENSION MUSIC traditionally holds the independent flag high
It still exists, the much-vaunted "independent scene": In Germany, the independent Hamburg company Hypertension Music has stood for it since the late 80s. Behind it is not only an in-house label, but also a concert and artist agency.
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