Straight Light "Love Over Power"

Thanks for making the return trip to The Closet Concert Arena fellow progheads!  Sometimes the search for all things prog turns up a band that has been in the prog garden quite a while yet for me is a new discovery; this week finds us at that juncture.  Staying close to home this week as we venture to Michigan and spend several days (and nights) learning about and catching up with Straight Light.

With just a bit of swagger, Straight Light considers themselves "prog rock for all." They advertise "Crafty songwriting. Excellent playing.  Deep, yet accessible."  I like confidence--especially when it is backed up with talent.  So the only option at this point is to step into a pair of headphones and see if Straight Light is LED or incandescent...


Applying laser to disc, I start the musical foray with the album's title cut, "Love Over Power."  There are top notes of Big Big Train coming through the headphones, blurring with a 10cc meets Todd Rundgren vibe.  Straight Light hits the canvas with colors that light up the room without emitting a day-glow brightness...more of a thinking proghead's color spectrum...

The vocals ride the edge of a strong guitar/drum foundation as the calliope picks up a bit of momentum, cruising along the perimeter of your cranium. A song that makes you think about what powers your moral compass...what's in your character wallet?

Moving a bit farther toward the center of the disc, I discovered this gem, "Bread And Circus."  This song comes at you a bit more direct both musically and lyrically. Straight Light swims in the deep end of the pool as they blend cutting lyrics with a prog style akin to Kansas and The Alan Parsons Project; more to the mainstream side of the spectrum but with added soul and passion.

Liner Notes...hailing from Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Straight Light is Bart Garratt on vocals, keyboards, and recorder, Brent McDonald on guitars, vocals, bass, and additional keyboards, Gil Bristol on bass, and Bill Roelofs on drums and percussion.  The band's FB page also lists Tere Bertke as a second bass player; however the album shows no such credit.

Originally formed in 1973, Straight Light performed in varying line-ups until 1980 when it became hiatus time...a symptom of many bands in the making.  Fast forward to 2007; Bart and Brent decide to get the band back together and bring it full circle...do now what they tried previously...write and play their music their way without the corporate hand cutting off the blood flow from heart to head.  Bump the needle ahead just a bit more to December 2016 and the result of their efforts is Love Over Power.

When a band has a mission of sorts; unfinished business, a change of season, a life experience...something driving them to create, you can usually expect some emotion to find its way onto the vinyl.  Straight Light absolutely fills the album with an understated intensity; you feel their passion without having to be knocked over with a sledgehammer.  Remember how your dad could get a rise out of you with just a stare and a whisper?

Learn more about Straight Light at their website StraightLight.net.  There you will find links to purchase the CD and downloads.  You can also visit their Facebook page Straight Light FB and the Straight Light Twitter (of course) @Straight_Light.

My final song for review this week is called " A Better Place." The opening rings with an almost contemporary jazz vibe if that makes sense; imagine Pat Metheny jamming with Kansas and you start to get a feel for the mood here.  Once again Straight Light comes right at you with lyrics that tug on your thinking nerves.  The mood is upbeat with a core of restraint running through the center, much like finding out your favorite ice cream is really frozen yogurt--good, and good for you...

For your listening pleasure and my way of luring you to the website to purchase the album, I chose "Cell Phone."  On this tune Straight Light seems a bit sobering, like the winning runner who just set a world record comforting his fellow nemesis who fell three feet from breaking the ribbon first...you appreciate what you have and revel in the world that surrounds you.  The acoustic guitar work flows seamlessly through the headphones as it transforms into a more elaborate canvas, bursting with vibrant hues that don't blind but instead clear your vision.  Play. Listen. Repeat...

Thanks for stopping in and staying for the encore fellow progheads.  Once again a week has fallen through the narrow neck of the hourglass much too quickly.  The journey with Straight Light was as much mind candy as it was auditory pleasure.  It has been said that listening to a song for the lyrics takes away from the music; I don't always agree.  There are times when lyrics are but window dressing--and there are times when lyrics bring the point of the music home.  With "Love Over Power" Straight Light brings out the beauty in using one to lift up the other.

The search for all things prog, as always, continues on...until next time...

Pinn Dropp

Good evening once again fellow progheads!  The search for all things prog is ready for spring and anxiously awaiting what the "season of new beginnings" will bestow on the prog faithful.  This week The Closet Concert Arena takes the red-eye for a long journey to Eastern Europe to check out another first-timer here in the prog garden.  Pinn Dropp refers to themselves in the simplest of terms; a "progressive rock band from Warsaw, Poland."  OK, the bio isn't exactly earth shattering, but I learned long ago to never judge an album by its jacket cover...


The buffet opens with a serving of Kingdom of Silence. A beautiful piano opening slides fluently through the headphones, almost concealing the depths Pinn Dropp takes you to with this piece.  Vocals smooth like Montrachet chardonnay seep into your frontal lobe as the tempo begins to rise; an energy starts to burst forth that emits top notes of Marillion.  Excitement wrapped in an understated glow...Pinn Dropp is like that carnival ride that speeds up so it can slow down--designed to keep you guessing as to what is up around the bend...

Next up is a song that cuts right through you without leaving a mark, Unresolved.  Opening as if it were a throwback, the song quickly bleeds into today and picks up a little steam.  Pinn Dropp reflects The Tangent somewhat on this cut, and perhaps a touch of the Alan Parsons Project oozes through as well.  This is a band capable of wearing many hats as they stroll across the prog garden, taking from each section just enough to create a sound they can call their own.  Riding this song to its fade-out as the sea rolls across your ears acoustically and your feet figuratively, you see the canvas filled with a brightness that more naturally accompanies the outdoors.  The hues are brighter, the contrasts more subtle, and everything flows smoothly like ganache rolling down the sides a chocolate torte...decadent and rich, yet you don't feel stuffed.

Liner Notes...Pinn Dropp hails from Warsaw, Poland and is a concept originally brought to life by one Piotr Sym, the band's composer and electric/acoustic guitarist.  In 2015 Piotr was joined by Mateusz Jagiello on vocals, bass guitar, and keyboards, and Dariusz Piwowarczyk on drums, samples, and programming.  The trio put together their self-titled debut which was released in December.  Last month bassist Pawel Wolinski joined the band making them a quartet.  The band is currently working on their next project which will hopefully be a full length LP.

To learn more about Pinn Dropp and purchase the eponymous DP/EP, check out the website
Pinn Dropp bandcamp and of course the band's Facebook page Pinn Dropp FB.  You will also find Pinn Dropp on Twitter @PinnDropp.  These guys are new to the prog garden and with just one DP/EP on ol' the resume, could certainly use all the support you can muster...



Rounding out the review this week is the third cut cut from the EP called Cyclothymia.  Once again the music opens in grand style...Pinn Dropp is very good at getting you to notice as they enter the room.  On this cut the vocals have a more prominent role--as do the keyboards.  Although they stay pretty much within the brighter colors of the spectrum, the background has a bit of a sullen gray to contrast the glare.  Piotr cuts through the fog and clouds that blur our vision with his opulent compositions.  This piece rides the mood elevator like a storm chaser on the outskirts of that elusive tornado...

The ability to paint from both sides of the prog artist's brush--elegant visuals paired with brilliant music--is something I don't find in the prog garden every week.  While it isn't a prerequisite, it is a treat I savor once stumbled across.

Pinn Dropp is a band whose next album is something to look forward to, not only because the first is just three songs, but also because they splayed out across the prog garden in such a way as to pique my curiosity...so much for being just a "progressive rock band from Warsaw, Poland."  The prog garden once again proves its robust ability to support many tangents of the genre and continues to encourage new growth.  While some genres of music under the wide umbrella that is rock 'n' roll flounder, sit stagnant, and have even shown signs of withdrawal, prog marches forward like a brave chameleon strutting right past its predator to reproduce another day.


And that, as they say, fellow progheads, is a wrap.  The search for all things prog continues to enlighten and educate (at least me) and uncover some great music in the process.  The adrenaline rush is in the search; the satisfaction is in the quality of the discovery.  This never gets old, so the journey continues...until next time..

Zombie Picnic "Rise of a New Ideology"

As I love to say upon noticing your return, welcome back fellow progheads!  Always a pleasure to have standing room only in The Closet Concert Arena, and lately it has been shoulder-to-shoulder madness as we continue the search for all things prog.  2018 may be the Year of the Dog in China, but it is the Year of the Prog here in the garden!  Lots of new bands breaking ground, and many more bands and artists coming back to the garden to plant new crops...and The Concert Closet has the best seat in the house to check 'em all out!

This week I honor me Ma (she's a "Sheehan--with two e's" is how she says it), as the search for all things prog heads back to the Emerald Isle to check in with a prog band that just released their second album upon the masses, Rise of a New Ideology.  Let us walk through the garden together expounding on the sounds of Zombie Picnic.  My first thought was death metal when I heard the name, and therein lies the mystery--and the fun--because this band is closer to Picket Fences than Walking Dead...and off to the garden we go...

Zombie Picnic is self described as "...post-rock instrumental..."  So with a focus on their latest release, I plan to indulge on as much of the Picnic as I can.  Two albums laid out in the garden for our listening pleasure means lots of mind exercise just in time for spring.  First up is Democracy Cannot Survive.  The song opens with a short-wave radio like warning complete with static, and bleeds right into a musical overview of a barren landscape still smoldering as the sun rises slowly.  Top notes of Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold" days waft through the mist, giving rise to aromatics of Phil Manzanera's guitar mastery...an ideology I can relate to...


Next serving placed on the platter is Life-Support Systems, which in an ironic way is much more upbeat.  The guitar has a swagger that grabs the drums and struts like the queen of the ball, demanding everyone's attention.  There is a Dreadnaught vibe to this tune, something about the way everything just works together while fun wends its way through the headphones.  Zombie Picnic cleared a wide swath on their journey through the prog garden.  The instrumental approach is stretched just a bit as Zombie Picnic mixes "message clips" and other spoken background pieces into their sound like parmigiana cheese added to piping hot popcorn; they are intertwined and now the magic is complete.

Liner Notes...Originally formed in 2012, Zombie Picnic hails from Limerick, Ireland and is comprised of Jim Griffin and Dave Tobin on guitars, Brian Fitzgerald on bass, and Brendan Miller on drums.  Yes there is no credited vocalist...just four musicians laying deep instrumental roots in the prog garden.  This makes the "vocal snippets" on the new release more beguiling; the hall monitors of the rabbit hole if you will.

Zombie Picnic released their debut Suburb of Earth in 2016.  It too, is an extremely busy canvas, splattered with bright primary colors that are connected with off beat hues.  This is a quartet that seems to enjoy gathering in the studio and just leaving the world behind.  These are two albums you want in your arsenal when breaking in new headphones...

The final selection for review this week is from said debut, "The Rama Committee."  A mellow opening belies the intent as this song delves deep into your subconscious.  There is a calmness along the lines of a Jaco Pastorius/Pat Metheny impromtu jam session throughout the entire piece...smooth as melted chocolate cascading down the sides of a layer cake...

Zombie Picnic staked their claim in a semi-dark corner of the prog garden; no direct light needed but nothing ominous brewing either.  They are more of a lunar band, emitting a silver moonlight glow.  Learn more about Zombie Picnic and purchase either or both of their albums at Zombie Picnic bandcamp.  You will also find them on Facebook at
Zombie Picnic FB and on Twitter @zombiepicnicire.

I was fortunate enough to locate a video clip from the new album to whet your appetite, "Anger in Storage (Denial Will Follow)."  This cut opens like a Liquid Tension Experiment outtake, only to melt right into a slick, stainless steel smooth, Talking Heads-like walk across a marsh...and oh that voice-over!  She leads you right down the garden trail to the briar patch.  My favorite thing about this song is not knowing where it's coming from or where it's going; you just gotta have faith the guys have the journey mapped out.

Zombie Picnic steps out here to paint with primary colors while explaining the whole "new ideology" thing.  This is an album that doesn't ride the mood elevator for kicks; they swing the pendulum across an emotional and psychological landscape.  The canvas is splattered with hues that bleed real passion.  It is rare that an album with little to no vocals says so much about a society and its foibles.  A prog documentary if you will...peel back the curtain and look deeper...listen to what the metal says...


                   

OK progheads, savor this one as it blows the cobwebs and dust bunnies from your mind.  Zombie Picnic walks that fine line between mind-blowing and thought-provoking with the grace of a dancer in the Bolshoi Ballet.  Prog metal is an offshoot of the genre that in my humble opinion is often abused; some bands are loud for the sake of making noise and hide under the prog metal umbrella.  But Zombie Picnic chose a different route much like Will Geraldo when he feels he has something important to say.

Rise of a New Ideology conjures up many things; images of  George Orwell's Big Brother from 1984, the Kent State Protest of 1970, The Chicago Seven in 1968, Martin Luther King's March on Washington 1963...the list goes on.  The mortar between these bricks is ferocity.  Prog music has the ability to be intense even when it whispers through the headphones...all you have to do is listen.  Zombie Picnic harnessed that energy and is able to whisper and scream without scaring you off or losing your interest.

Now of course the search all things prog must continue onward...and with a renewed sense of spirit I take the Closet Concert Arena on another leg of an incredible journey...until next time...

Evership

It's that time again fellow progheads; pay no attention to the calendar or the weather outside--the prog garden is flourishing right now--The Closet Concert Arena is simply trying to keep up.  The search for all things prog has uncovered another relative new comer to the prog garden as the journey brings us back stateside.

This week the Concert Closet travels to Tennessee and a check-in with Evership, a prog band of "...Sky and spirit, space and time..."  They claim to have entered transcendence; hmmm...that is a calling I simply cannot ignore, so Nashville here we come!

Evership took up residence in the prog garden in 2016 with the release of their self titled debut.  Blending a reserved splendor with a touch of the grandiose, Evership pumps through the headphones like maple syrup pouring down a stack o' flapjacks on a frosty morning, only to coat your listeners with a low simmering burst of ornateness that sticks...like maple syrup...

Moving straightaway to the music laid out on the buffet table, I begin at the beginning; "Silver Light."  This song cascades across the inner lining of your skull as it weaves through a myriad of moods.  There are top notes of Kansas free flowing through the music, emitting aromatics of an Al DiMeola/Chick Corea impromptu jam session.  Should be a stimulating week...

Next up on the turntable is "Flying Machine (I: Dream Carriers/II: Dream Sequence/III: Lift)."  A deceivingly lavish piece with an understated elegance.  The beauty here is Evership's ability to fill a canvas with lavish color without ever seeming to lift the brush.  The song carries you across a shifting threshold as you enter Part II; tension builds as you approach terra firma.  

Like tuning the old RCA, Evership fades in and out while building a musical Jacob's Ladder to carry the listener to Part III.  Gently and without fuss you feel your heart rate slow; an acoustic interlude injected with quick shots of just enough energy to keep the ears open and the mind expanding.  The color burst on the underside of your eyelids strikes as the calliope picks up speed...an exquisite almost fourteen minute experience.  Now as the ride slows you best prepare for another round...
                                           
                                                                                Liner Notes...Evership calls Nashville, Tennessee home and is ultimately the creation of Shane Atkinson--but the dream became reality once he connected with Beau West.  The duo is joined by James Atkinson on lead guitar, Jaymi Millard on bass, Jesse Hardin on rhythm guitar, and Joel Grumblatt on drums.  Evership is one of those bands that, like a true romance, needed nurturing, patience, and time to reach its full potential.

The debut album was over a decade in the making, and much like a fine wine, well worth the wait.  They say dreams are things you never let go of while making plans, and that has held true in this case.  When Shane connected with Beau things started to connect.  Sorting through years of songwriting, music, and pieces of their collective souls, Shane and Beau put together and released their eponymous debut in 2016.


Learn more about the origins of Evership and purchase their music at Evership.  Of course you can always connect with the band on Facebook
Evership FB and Twitter @evershipband.  Take a stroll around the prog garden with the headphones on and you will find yourself walking back in time...

Final selection for review this week is called "Ultima Thule."  The opening is hopefully dark; much like a beautiful sunrise after a miserable stormy night.  An acoustic guitar introduces soft vocals that permeate the room entwined with a soft piano that leaves you pleasantly adrift...a soothing mind cleanse.

My chosen appetizer for the senses is "Evermore (A: Eros/B: Agape)." Evership not only channels Yes when naming songs, they fill the room with aromatics of their ornate extravagance; top notes of a classical nature bubble to the top as well.  Vocals as smooth as a velvet painting of Elvis once again pour down your auditory canals and penetrate through to your bloodstream, and you feel every note pulsing through you.

Evership uses a candelabra to light the rooms inside your mind...reflecting so much controlled chaos.  The journey begins and ends on a gentle carpet ride, the prog garden just below bathed in ambient light.  Enjoy the view... 

   
Thus another week rolls rolls through the prog garden.  Evership aptly refers to their music as transcendent.  The music carries the listener forward through the genre with a nod to those bands and artists who came before.  The prog garden thrives because it evolves; Evership realizes their role in the life cycle of the prog genre and walks brazenly through the fire with head held high, the music a beacon to those all around.  Of course The Closet Concert Arena continues the search for all things prog, in the hope of discovering more such gems...until next time...