Daniel Bautista - Symphony No. 1 in A minor, Op. 12

Hey, remember me?  It's been an awfully long time since I've posted here - more than a year, it seems, and even longer since I've posted regularly.  I think I just got overwhelmed with a lot of things in 2010, and blogging was something that had to go, despite a few attempts to get back into it.  However,  I had a wonderful time posting about Christmas music on my other blog last month, so I think I'm finally ready to start posting here again too.

The first album I want to share is Daniel Bautista's Symphony No. 1 in A minor, Op. 12.  If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you might recognize the name from a post I did about three years ago.  This new album has as its centerpiece an original symphony for guitars, drums, and bass.  It sounds like an extremely ambitious undertaking, but I think he pretty much nailed it.  Even though I was already familiar with his work, I still found myself pleasantly surprised by this album.  It's very heavy, complex, and melodic.  It's also very memorable - I have caught myself humming and whistling some of the themes from it on many occasions.  I really hope that the "No. 1" in the title is a sign of things to come - I would love to hear more symphonies from this amazingly talented musician.

After the four movements of the symphony have concluded, there are a few bonus tracks to round out the album, including a beautiful version of Satie's  "Gymnopedie No. 1" and a cool progressive metal track called "Free Guitars Forever".  All in all, I would highly recommend this album to any fans of classical or progressive metal music.

Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/104855

Artist Spotlight: The Machine

The Machine is an excellent Pink Floyd tribute band that allows recordings of their shows to be hosted on the Live Music Archive.  At the time of this writing, there are 22 shows available for download in a variety of formats - namely, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, and VBR MP3.  So far I have downloaded three shows, and they all sound great and are quite lengthy; each of them clocks in at just under three hours.

The Machine covers a huge variety of Pink Floyd material.  All the staples that you would expect are here, like "Money", "Another Brick in the Wall Part II", and "Comfortably Numb", as well as more obscure songs; notably, they play songs from The Final Cut, something Pink Floyd themselves never did in concert.  They even play songs from the two David Gilmour-led albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, which kind of surprised me as those two albums do not seem to be very popular among Pink Floyd fans (The Division Bell happens to be my favourite album of theirs, though).  All of the songs are played incredibly well - to my ear, there's not a whole lot to distinguish them from the real deal, making them very authentic sounding.

This post has been written in memory of my father, who passed away very suddenly last month.  Music was a huge part of his life, something that he passed on to both of his sons, and he was the biggest Pink Floyd fan I have ever known.  I love you, Dad.  I wish you were here, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day.

URL:

http://www.archive.org/details/TheMachineLive

Song Spotlight: Dream Theater - "A Rite of Passage"

NOTE: This download was only up for 24 hours and is thus no longer available.

This morning, I woke up to find the kind of email that I love to receive: a new Dream Theater MP3 is available to download, absolutely free, from the Roadrunner website. "A Rite of Passage" is the first single from the band's latest album, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, which is set to be released on June 23, 2009. Dream Theater have been one of my favourite bands for about 15 years now, and I still get excited whenever they release new music.

To access the MP3, a short form must be filled out with details like name, email address, zip code, etc. Unfortunately, the 19.7 MB download has been very slow for me, coming to a complete halt and forcing me to restart several times; I hope that this is just a case of the Roadrunner servers being hammered by Dream Theater fans eager to hear the new song, and that download speeds will pick up soon.

"A Rite of Passage" is mainly a mid-tempo rocker along the lines of the band's greatest hit, "Pull Me Under", at least until the breakdown is reached and the tempo picks up for John Petrucci's guitar solo, which is followed immediately by Jordan Rudess's keyboard solo. There's not a lot in this song that Dream Theater have not done before, but I have always found that their lead singles are rarely their most innovative songs. There are some nice layered vocal effects throughout the entire song, and at the very end a choir can be heard, which sounds quite cool and is a welcome addition to Dream Theater's sound.

Whether you're a Dream Theater fan already or are completely new to the band, "A Rite of Passage" should make a nice addition to your MP3 library.  For my part, it has me anticipating the new album more than ever.  Happy listening!

URLs:
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/ariteofpassage/

Artist Spotlight: JT Bruce

Happy New Year! This spotlight is one that's long overdue, as I began listening to this artist about a year ago (in fact, he was one of the first artists I came across when I began searching for free music) before getting sidetracked with other things. He recently released a new album, though, so that makes the timing of this post at least somewhat appropriate.

JT Bruce is a solo musician who makes primarily instrumental progressive rock/metal music. Think an instrumental version of Dream Theater (so, basically Liquid Tension Experiment) and you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Ever since I discovered him on Jamendo, his albums have been among the most popular on that site, and with good reason. His songs are lengthy, technical, extremely well-written, and expertly produced. Listening to one of his albums is like being taken on an epic journey, whether it is through the mind of a dreamer in The Dreamer's Paradox or through the cosmos in Universica.

I have spent more time listening to The Dreamer's Paradox than any of his other albums. It is a true concept album, complete with an overture and recurring themes, and it ends with a spoken explanation of the entire concept. I have also really been enjoying his latest album, Universica, which features 9 tracks each named after a star and shows a continuing evolution of his sound.

You can download JT Bruce's music directly from his website, although he recommends getting it from either last.fm or Jamendo, as that will save him some bandwidth. Whichever option you choose, you're in for a great experience. Happy listening!

URLs:
http://www.subjectruin.net/MUSIC.htm
http://www.last.fm/music/JT+Bruce
http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/jtbruce

Album Spotlight: Marillion - Happiness is the Road

My interest in Marillion began about ten years ago, and they very quickly became one of my favourite bands. But as much as I love them, I have to admit that I haven't actually kept up with them lately: the last album I actually purchased was the special edition of 2001's Anoraknophobia, and while I have heard the bulk of their recent material, it hasn't yet found a place in my CD collection. Part of the reason for that is the fact that it been very difficult, if not impossible, to find their albums where I have lived, leaving rather expensive special orders as the only option for obtaining them.

Imagine my surprise and delight, then, when I learned of the innovative way in which Marillion have made their latest album available. The official release date for Happiness is the Road is October 20, 2008, but a digital copy of the album has been available for free from musicglue.com for the last nearly a month now; all that is required to obtain the tracks is an email address. Marillion have essentially leaked the album themselves, but in a manner that gives them much more control than they would have over a normal leak - videos and messages embedded within the files themselves let the listener know about the hard work that went into making this music, direct them to the band's website, and urge them to support the band in any way they can. For a band that has become known for making bold moves (for example, being one of the first bands to utilize the power of the Internet to communicate directly with their fans, and funding the recording of their last few albums from fan pre-orders), this one seems to be exceptionally bold indeed, and it will take some time before its impact will be fully known. At the very least, it has allowed new Marillion music to find itself in heavy rotation in my playlists for the first time in years, and I am doing my part to let others know about it as well.

So, how about the music? I think that anyone familiar with at least some of Marillion's music will feel quite comfortable listening to Happiness is the Road, and anyone who hasn't heard them before may find themselves pleasantly surprised by it. Of the two discs, I have found the first (titled Volume 1: Essence) to be more immediately accessible than the second (titled Volume 2: The Hard Shoulder), although the latter has been growing on me after repeated listens. Some of my favourite songs from Essence are "This Train Is My Life", which has a classic mini-epic sound reminiscent of past Marillion songs like "Afraid of Sunlight"; "Woke Up", which has a beautiful, slow, dreamy sound with gorgeous layered vocals; "Liquidity", a short but very pretty piano-based instrumental; and "Wrapped Up in Time", which has a beautiful, chilled out feel to it. The Hard Shoulder has a pair of excellent pop songs in "Half the World" and the first single, "Whatever is Wrong with You" and an excellent, epic outro in "Real Tears for Sale".

Overall, I am very pleased with Happiness is the Road. It's wonderful to hear some new music from one of my favourite bands, and it's exciting to see that the band is trying new things in order to reach new fans and reconnect with old fans. I can't recommend this album highly enough, so if you're still reading this, I would urge you to head on over to musicglue.com and begin downloading, as it will take some time to obtain all of the tracks. If you like what you hear, then please support the band in any way that you can, whether that means buying a physical copy of the album, buying a concert ticket, helping them to reach more potential fans, or whatever else you can do. Please leave a comment here if you feel so inclined, as I would love to know what people think of this music.

Happy listening!

URL:
http://www.musicglue.com/marillion

Artist Spotlight: Marillion

Today I would like to feature a band that has been one of my favourites for more than ten years, and that has been around for much longer than that. Marillion got their start in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England in 1979. Through a few lineup changes (the most high-profile of which was the departure of original vocalist Fish in 1988 after 4 studio albums, with Steve Hogarth stepping on board to take over lead vocal duties), they have released 14 studio albums, numerous live albums, and are currently at work on their next studio album.

In Marillion's early years, their music was primarily progressive rock-based, drawing influence from bands like Genesis and Yes. With Hogarth, the band has managed to retain this core sound while also incorporating a more contemporary sound into their music, drawing comparisons to bands like Radiohead and Coldplay. No matter which album I listen to, I always find their music very melodic and emotional. Perhaps more than any other artist I know of, the words and music of Marillion are woven seamlessly together; a change in the dynamics of the music is reflected by a change in the tone of the lyrics, and vice versa.

The individual band members are all very talented at what they do. Steven Rothery is an exceptionally gifted guitarist with the ability to make his guitar sing, not unlike Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. Bassist Pete Trewavas and drummer Ian Mosley form an incredibly tight rhythm section, with the bass and drums often locked perfectly in time with each other. Keyboardist Mark Kelly is equally at home adding lush textures to songs and also taking the lead with virtuoso solos. And Fish and Hogarth, though like night and day compared to each other, have always provided emotional performances of thought-provoking lyrics. Taken all together, they are able to take listeners on an epic, emotional journey.

As far as free music is concerned, you won't find any complete albums available from Marillion like many of the other artists I feature on this blog. However, if you know where to look, then you can find a good sampling of their current music available for download, as well as a free sampler CD (as long as certain conditions are met - more on that in a bit). In this post, I've done most of the work for you and compiled links to a few sources for some great, free Marillion music.

• First of all, take a look at the band's official MySpace page, where you can currently find a pair of tracks from each of their two latest albums: "Somewhere Else" and "Thankyou Whoever You Are" from 2007's Somewhere Else, and "You're Gone" and "Neverland" from 2004's Marbles.
• Marillion's official website has a downloads page where you can download a couple of radio performances, which include acoustic versions of both older and newer songs.
• last.fm currently hosts another handful of free Marillion tracks. These tracks come from a compilation called Crash Course, which is updated periodically with new tracks as the band releases new material. In addition to the songs listed above, Crash Course currently also contains "The Great Escape" (from 1994's concept album Brave), "Afraid of Sunlight" (the title track from their 1995 album), "Estonia" (an extremely emotional track from 1996's This Strange Engine, inspired by the sinking of the Estonia passenger ferry in 1994, a disaster which claimed 852 lives), "Fantastic Place" (from Marbles), and "Faith" (from Somewhere Else). You can also check the band's last.fm page to see if anything else is available (look for the words "full track" next to a song title).  (NOTE: the Crash Course download seems to have been moved to iLike)
• Finally, if you are completely new to Marillion, then you may qualify for a free CD version of Crash Course. Just check out the Crash Course page on the official site, read the terms and conditions, and if you're able to receive one, just sign up for it. I've already received several things from Marillion's website, so I don't qualify for Crash Course, but it looks like it would be a good introduction to the band's newer material.
  

As great as these songs are, they really only scratch the surface of the world of Marillion. Like a lot of great bands, Marillion's music is best experienced in its original format, i.e. as complete albums, especially since many of their albums are conceptual in nature. If you like what you hear, I would highly suggest checking out an album or two. If you want some recommendations as to where to start, please leave a comment and I would be more than happy to help you out.

Happy listening!

URLs:
http://www.marillion.com
http://www.myspace.com/marillion
http://www.marillion.com/fans/downloads.htm
http://www.last.fm/music/Marillion/Crash+Course (no longer free - try http://www.ilike.com/artist/Marillion/album/Crash+Course instead) 
http://www.last.fm/music/Marillion
http://www.marillion.com/music/racket/crash.htm

Artist Spotlight: Thumpermonkey Lives!

Who are these guys? They are awesome.

That's a direct quote from the notes I made whilst listening to some new music recently. Doing this blog has enabled me to hear all kinds of interesting music, and occasionally I discover an artist that really blows me away. In this case, "these guys" are Thumpermonkey (also known as Thumpermonkey Lives! on their latest releases - I'm not sure why the name changed), a British band that absolutely defies categorization. As of January 2, 2008, all of their music can be downloaded freely from the Internet Archive.

Their music is primarily progressive rock-based, twisting and turning its way through all kinds of tempo and time signature changes; where it will end up from one minute to the next is anyone's guess as you're taken on an epic journey through musical lands both familiar and unfamiliar. For example, I think that fans of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle will love this band; the vocals in particular show a strong Mike Patton influence, and the music has the same out of control, chaotic feeling that was often present in the music of those bands. "Shchrodinger's Cat Lives!", in particular, sounds like a mutated resurrection of Faith No More's "Surprise! You're Dead!" Other parts of the album remind me of Tool (the instrumental section in "Slug City"), Fates Warning (the main riff in "Asymptote", although it is much groovier than anything I've ever heard from Fates Warning), and Steve Vai (some harmonized guitars near the end of "My Reality is Stronger"). None of this is meant to say that the music is unoriginal in any way; I am merely trying to describe it in terms of music that I am familiar with so that people who are also familiar with those artists may have some idea of what to expect. Thumpermonkey Lives! have definitely managed to forge their own sound, which is something that's not always easy to do.

Bring Me Sun for Breakfast is the latest release from Thumpermonkey Lives!, and so far it is my favourite. But their older albums and EPs are well worth checking out as well, and it is amazing to hear how far they have progressed in such a short time. Links to all of their releases are included below. From what I've heard so far, Thumpermonkey Lives! will definitely be a band to watch out for; I'm already looking forward to hearing more from them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

Happy listening!

URLs:
http://www.thumpermonkey.com/
Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Inmates [EP - 2001]
Alpha Romeo [EP - 2003]
Pigheart [LP - 2004]
Chap With The Wings, Five Rounds Rapid [LP - 2006]
Bring Me Sun For Breakfast [LP - 2007]