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
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
eclipsed: Robben, your last instrumental album "Tiger Walk" dates back to 1997. Why was the time right now for a follow-up?
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 and was also ready for a spontaneous photo trip through the immediate vicinity.
eclipsed: Philipp, let's open the door right away. When your music style is described, one name always comes up: Steven Wilson. How do you deal with this comparison?
"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
eclipsed: Andy, how is your Italian language skills?
Andy Tillison: "Buon giorno", "Buona sera", "Buona notte" I know. That should be all of them. (laughs)
eclipsed: But obviously you love Italian culture?
Tillison: Especially the ancient culture there is fantastic and unique! From the modern era, on the other hand, there is Italo-Prog, which I love beyond measure.
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.
eclipsed: The band is from the Finnish city of Kuopio, after all. Can you tell us something about the music scene there?
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 an original way. The two don't have that much in common: Here the commercially successful and critically acclaimed folk singer Laura Marling, who in her scarce free time has also devoted herself to a master's degree in psychoanalysis for some years now. There's Mike Lindsay, studio nerd and co-mastermind of the avant-garde folktronica troupe Tunng, whose complex music, often shaped by keyboard instruments such as Moog synthesizers, is well received by a comparatively manageable audience.
"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 in 1973 with childhood friends, must be very organized, at least in his second job as a manager (for UFO, among others).
With "Fargo-Peterchens Mondfahrt" his second book has just been published.
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. There was no mention of Corona and Lockdown at the time, but Low seemed to anticipate events in their music. Now, the new album "Hey What" continues the dualism of "Double Negative" under a completely different premise. "We live in a distorted society," explains guitarist and singer Alan Sparhawk.
