Sweat is obviously part and parcel of The Vintage Caravan: They owe their reputation as an excellent live band among other things to very movement-intensive concerts, bassist Alexander Örn Númason is a semi-professional trail runner, the studio sessions for the fifth album "Monuments" turned out to be an endurance sport. And the Icelanders can chat enduringly as well.
eclipsed: You started your own podcast during the crisis. How did it come about?
Alexander Örn Númason: We are all podcast fans, and some people thought it would be fun to listen to us chatter endlessly. Also, it's always been important to us to maintain an open relationship with our fans - which is of course difficult during the pandemic. So now they can participate more in our lives and we in theirs.
2020 was a year that meant standstill for many people. But not for Tom S. Englund. Privately, the Swede entered the harbor of marriage, musically there were two topics in the room: On the one hand, the debut of Silent Skies was released, a project for which Englund teamed up with pianist Vikram Shankar. The other was the new Evergrey album "Escape Of The Phoenix". The two have nothing to do with each other directly, as the musician emphasizes: "The Silent Skies album was already finished three years ago. And my job is also to keep the two things completely apart."
"Thick As A Brick" (1972) by Jethro Tull is one of the great concept albums of progressive rock, inspiring and fascinating with its elegant mix of classical, folk and jazz tones as well as the highly intelligent story, garnished with the invented small-town newspaper "St. Cleve Chronicle", to this day. So in 2012, creator Ian Anderson also served up "Thick As A Brick 2", a sequel to the hit album. A project composed of Crystal Palace, Margin and Jethro Tull Experience musicians now also pays homage to the original with a pastiche, docking perfectly with the style and sound of the original and yet convinces with independent songs and story, a transparent-organic sound and an exquisite multimedia presentation including a complete music magazine supplement. Multi-instrumentalist and composer Lutz Meinert, singer and acoustic guitarist Paul Forrest as well as flutist Ulla Harmuth provide information.
From the Austrian Vorarlberg comes a colorful troupe called Twangmen. In 2011 they gave a first sign of life with the EP "Double Peace". With "Triskele And Cascades" they now deliver their first full album. The basic trio of Martin "Medy" Mayer (guitar), Daniel Seeger (bass) and Flow Frick (drums) has, according to the latter, "been playing together in various combinations since their teenage years". And what makes the instrumental band Twangmen so special? What is their special sound, their "twang" (English for "sharp sound")? Frick immediately draws a bow from the band's sound to the sound of the cosmos: "The 'twang' stands for the positive force in the universe that holds everything together - the vibration that attracts opposites and forms the basis for new, interesting musical forms."
When talking about "Moving Pictures", superlatives are quickly at hand: It is Rush's best-selling album. The album that made sure that even casual listeners couldn't help but devote themselves to this phenomenon - in front of the home stereo as well as in the packed arenas. The album that contains the band's most famous song and the only album that the Canadian trio performed live in its entirety. But what's behind the 40 minutes that saw the light of record shelves on February 12, 1981? We take a look at the genesis of this milestone, present exclusive interviews with producer Terry Brown and artworker Hugh Syme, and have also unearthed a contemporary interview with Geddy Lee.
No tours, no albums, no stress - just family and fresh air: On his 75th birthday, David Gilmour is taking it easy and visibly mutating into a Buddha. A man who has finished with the music business, with band hierarchies and his own status as a rock star and wants to spend his old age in the most contemplative way possible. He is allowed to do so ..
An acoustic album by Saga? This is unexpected and can be seen as a small sensation - the Canadian melodic-proggers usually work fully electric, with a real synthesizer fleet and up to three keyboardists at the same time. Nevertheless, they present a convincing work with "Symmetry".
Many rock bands nowadays present their songs live in a small, fine acoustic set. Saga, too, have done this more often in recent times. After their short hiatus in 2019, the Canadians used the corona-induced forced break to record a sparking work entirely without synthesizers and electronics.
In this interview, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Michael Sadler talks about the album's musical approach and the challenges of minimalist delivery on tracks like "Wind Him Up," "Images," "The Perfectionist" and "Tired World."
