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Sand

Sand

BY Sand

(Customer Reviews)
$14.00
SKU: KSCOPE270
Label:
KScope Records
Category:
Post Progressive
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"During the last few years North Atlantic Oscillation have been steadily building both their fanbase and their reputation. Well known fans such as Zane Lowe and Guy Garvey have been joined by a growing number of devoted punters drawn to the band's unique combination of sonic complexity and melodic intrigue. The band's second album Fog Electric was released in 2012, following 2010's Grappling Hooks and numerous tours and festival appearances have accompanied both releases.

Now Sam Healy, NAO's frontman and songwriter, returns with Sand, a new solo project which will be released on Kscope in October 2013. Written, performed and recorded throughout 2012 and 2013, Sand allowed Sam to work in a different way, as he describes:

"I wanted to try something that I could work on entirely alone, with no deadlines or schedules intruding on the process. It was an experiment to see if I could conceive and execute a whole record without any outside influence. I only told few people about it until it was almost complete. I had a sense after the release of 'Fog Electric' that I should try something else before starting on a third NAO album, something with a different feel, a musical palate-cleanser."

This change in process has resulted in an album which, while still sure to appeal to fans of Healy's previous work, has a more intimate and personal feel, both sonically and thematically.

Melodic passages and conventional pop structures are framed by striking changes in dynamics, to create a dramatic sonic palette which ranges from the barely audible to wildly loud and back again, often within the same track. The album also has a slightly warmer, less alien feel than NAO recordings, with instruments less likely to be heavily treated and distorted beyond recognition."

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  • Santana

    Caravanserai
    Fusion
    "Santana's fourth album, Caravanserai, finally being reissued and remastered by Columbia Legacy/Sony, is a landmark recording for the band. Originally released in 1973, this album marked a change for the band, as they were moving away from the Latin tinged psychedelic pop rock of their earlier recordings to a more ethereal, jazz fusion based sound. Change also brought about line-up shuffles, as after this album second guitarist Neal Schon and keyboard player/singer Gregg Rolie left the band to form Journey. Famed keyboard virtuoso Tom Coster made his first appearance on this release, and he later spent many years alongside Carlos Santana in various incarnations of the band. The influence of groups such as Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Lifetime, Miles Davis, Larry Coryell's Eleventh House, and John Coltrane are heard all throughout this CD. Latin percussion mixes with swirling organ while Santana and Schon's guitar licks run rampant on each track. While the bands signature melody on "Song of the Wind" still remains a classic, it's the extended breakouts on tunes like "La Fuente Del Ritmo" , complete with an amazing electric piano solo from Coster, and the energetic "Just in Time to See the Sun" that really shine. Drummer Mike Shrieve comes into his own on this albums more jazzy context, and the percussive tandem of Jose "Chepito" Areas, Mingo Lewis, and the legendary Armando Peraza provide the perfect Latin rhythms. "Every Step of the Way" features some wicked guitar work from Schon and Santana, supported by manic percussion and raging organ from Rolie, and stands out as a classic example of Latin jazz fusion.My advice to you all, don't walk, but run to your local CD shop and indulge yourself in this timeless classic. The remaster job is superb, with every instrument crisp and clear, and you get a nice booklet that goes into the history behind the album. A must have!" - Sea Of Tranquility
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  • Procol Harum

    A Salty Dog (2CD)
    Progressive Rock
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  • Sky

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  • Oliva

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    Hard Rock
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  • Psycrence

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  • Riot

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    Power Metal
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  • Diagonal

    The Second Mechanism
    Progressive Rock
    Its been four years since this British ensemble's debut album.  Been a long time coming but there have been a number of personnel changes in the band.  Founding members Alex Crispin (vox/keys) and bassist Dan Pomlett left the band, while guitarist Nicholas Richards switched over to bass.  While the band went through a state of flux their core sound didn't really change a hell of a lot.  Yeah maybe its pared down a bit but it is still steeped in the sounds of the early 70s.  Mellotron, organ and reeds abound.  Guitar is a bit more dominant but still with that retro Vertigo vibe.  Vocals only appear on one track and they are OK.  Think in terms of an instrumental VDGG in a massive jam session with members of Soft Machine and Eloy.  As if!  I will be hard pressed to come across a better progressive rock album released in 2012.  BUY OR DIE!
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  • Soord, Bruce with Jonas Renkse

    Wisdom Of Crowds
    Post Progressive
    "Much like my addiction to Swiss roll, for some people more is never enough. You’d have thought two wildly successful “day jobs” would be enough to keep some folks busy. But not so for Katatonia lead vocalist Jonas Renkse and The Pineapple Thief front man Bruce Soord. Clearly they've got too much time on their hands as they have come together to create Wisdom Of Crowds. I can tell you now, I am eternally grateful that these two chaps did a bit of moonlighting. As will you.Originally written for Renkse’s voice, Soord sought out the acclaimed vocalist to complete the compositions and release the music to the masses. In doing so, Bruce Soord has found the perfect foil for the music he has written. Which is all at once jagged, sharp, melodic, aggressive, tender, sparse and loud. What anchors it all together, what makes it a cohesive mix, is Renkse’s vocals. His delivery is sublime. But we’ll come to that in a bit…Album opener ‘Pleasure’ sets up the album with Renkse’s weary and plaintive voice stretching across the track as it morphs from electronic intro to a upbeat mix of live instruments, effects and sounds. This album is different to their respective bands yet retains enough familiarity to comfort fans of both. Title track ‘Wisdom Of Crowds’ evokes a faint vibe of early Gotan Project with its horns and sparsely placed guitar lines whilst ‘Radio Star’ leaves you haunted…. leaves you looking for something as Renkse sings "give you the lights, give you the stars, give you a sign".Standout track of the album is ‘Frozen North’. It’s simply stunning. A melancholic guitar line awash with strings coupled with Renkse’s beautifully evocative vocal melodies and lyrics transporting you to a place of reflection. When, 4 minutes into the song, we descend musically into a fantastically out-there blend of electronica with jagged shards of glitchy noise rhythmically pounding towards the conclusion of the song. It just feels right and natural. It feels magnificent.Next up we have ‘The Light’, a more traditional (as in what the uninitiated imagine it to be) prog tune that is reminiscent of Saucerful-era Floyd with its backwards guitar and drumbeats. It’s 7 minutes of pure progressive music: bluesy guitar licks on a bed of synths with again startlingly intimate vocals.  ‘Pretend’ counters this with aggressive shards of guitar playing from Soord.With that we head into the final 3 tracks on the album. The triumvirate of the album in fact. I’ve genuinely never heard an album FINISH with such breathtakingly songs. Most artists would have put these tracks at the top of the album such is their magnificence. ‘Stacked Naked’ shimmers into view with a tenderly melodic  intro backed with some wonderfully harmonised vocals. Renkse’s lyrics painfully urging "if anyone should ask how the story goes just pretend we're almost there just pretend....pretend.....". ‘Centre of Gravity’ is a song that made me think of the bond of friendship, of the shared experiences, of the sharing of secrets and hopes and dreams. It ends with Jonas repeating "hold out your hand", a plea to never let go of what once was but also as an offer of support. And finally ‘Flows Though You’ arrives with a wail of siren and simmering aggression. Renkse defiantly proclaiming "I can lose but I will never break" as the song heads towards a cacophony of drums, guitars and electronica.So. After all that what is this album like?Jonas Renkse’s vocals and lyrics are the highlight of this album. They are the lynchpin of the entire record. No matter where the music goes, no matter what genre it delves into, the guiding light is his voice, his delivery and inflection. In Soord, he has found a collaborator that can create music that uses every aspect of his voice and talent.It is a stunning album in both depth and range of emotion and music. It captures so many genres and yet defies labels. Part rock, part electronic it's all blended together to create and album that lifts you up, makes you think and most importantly makes you FEEL. There is a hypnotic use of space and dynamics from the frailest most intimate ambience to bombastic guitar driven sections that lift your spirits. It is everything you can want from an album and more." - Echoes And Dust 
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  • Steely Dan

    Can't Buy A Thrill
    Classic Rock
    "Walter Becker and Donald Fagen were remarkable craftsmen from the start, as Steely Dan's debut, Can't Buy a Thrill, illustrates. Each song is tightly constructed, with interlocking chords and gracefully interwoven melodies, buoyed by clever, cryptic lyrics. All of these are hallmarks of Steely Dan's signature sound, but what is most remarkable about the record is the way it differs from their later albums. Of course, one of the most notable differences is the presence of vocalist David Palmer, a professional blue-eyed soul vocalist who oversings the handful of tracks where he takes the lead. Palmer's very presence signals the one major flaw with the album -- in an attempt to appeal to a wide audience, Becker and Fagen tempered their wildest impulses with mainstream pop techniques. Consequently, there are very few of the jazz flourishes that came to distinguish their albums -- the breakthrough single, "Do It Again," does work an impressively tight Latin jazz beat, and "Reelin' in the Years" has jazzy guitar solos and harmonies -- and the production is overly polished, conforming to all the conventions of early-'70s radio. Of course, that gives these decidedly twisted songs a subversive edge, but compositionally, these aren't as innovative as their later work. Even so, the best moments ("Dirty Work," "Kings," "Midnight Cruiser," "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again") are wonderful pop songs that subvert traditional conventions and more than foreshadow the paths Steely Dan would later take." - All Music Guide
    $7.50
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  • Jefferson Airplane

    Crown Of Creation
    Classic Rock
    Remastered edition with bonus tracks."The group's fourth album, appearing ten months following After Bathing at Baxter's, isn't the same kind of leap forward that Baxter's represented from Surrealistic Pillow. Indeed, in many ways, Crown of Creation is a more conservative album stylistically, opening with "Lather," a Grace Slick original that was one of the group's very last forays (and certainly their last prominent one) into a folk idiom. Much of what follows is a lot more based in electric rock, as well as steeped in elements of science fiction (specifically author John Wyndham's book The Chrysalids) in several places, but Crown of Creation was still deliberately more accessible musically than its predecessor, even as the playing became more bold and daring within more traditional song structures. Jack Casady by this time had developed one of the most prominent and distinctive bass sounds in American rock, as identifiable (if not quite as bracing) as John Entwistle's was with the Who, as demonstrated on "In Time," "Star Track," "Share a Little Joke," "If You Feel," (where he's practically a second lead instrument), and the title song, and Jorma Kaukonen's slashing, angular guitar attack was continually surprising as his snaking lead guitar parts wended their way through "Star Track" and "Share a Little Joke." The album also reflected the shifting landscape of West Coast music with its inclusion of "Triad," a David Crosby song that Crosby's own group, the Byrds, had refused to release -- its presence (the only extant version of the song for a number of years) was a forerunner of the sound that would later be heard on Crosby's own debut solo album, If I Could Only Remember My Name (on which Slick, Paul Kantner, and Casady would appear). The overall album captured the group's rapidly evolving, very heavy live sound within the confines of some fairly traditional song structures, and left ample room for Slick and Marty Balin to express themselves vocally, with Balin turning in one of his most heartfelt and moving performances on "If You Feel." "Ice Cream Phoenix" pulses with energy and "Greasy Heart" became a concert standard for the group -- the studio original of the latter is notable for Slick's most powerful vocal performance since "Somebody to Love." And the album's big finish, "The House at Pooneil Corners," seemed to fire on all cylinders, their amps cranked up to ten (maybe 11 for Casady), and Balin, Slick, and Kantner stretching out on the disjointed yet oddly compelling tune and lyrics. It didn't work 100 percent, but it made for a shattering finish to the album. Crown of Creation has been reissued on CD several times, including a Mobile Fidelity audiophile edition at the start of the '90s, but in 2003, RCA released a remastered edition with four bonus tracks from the same sessions including the mono single mix of "Share a Little Joke," the previously unreleased 8 minute "The Saga of Sydney Spacepig," Spencer Dryden's co-authored "Ribump Ba Bap Dum Dum," which is a spaced-out assembly of noises, effects, and pop-culture catch-phrases, and the more accessible "Would You Like a Snack?," an atonal piece of musical scatology featuring Grace Slick and co-authored by Slick and Frank Zappa." - Allmusic Guide
    $7.50
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  • Porcupine Tree

    Octane Twisted (2CD)
    Progressive Rock
    Double live CD recorded on the 2010 US tour in support of The Incident.  The set includes a complete live performance of "The Incident" recorded in Chicago as well as additional material recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
    $15.00
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  • Armageddon

    Captivity & Devourment
    Power Metal
    "2014 surely seems to be a year of fruitful reunions; CARCASS is one we could see coming from a mile away, but alas, one name stood somewhat overshadowed by the band’s guitarist-mastermind’s main band, ARCH ENEMY; Chris Amott has brought ARMAGEDDON back to life, “Captivity And Devourment”: the first new material from the band since the last album, “Three”, in 2002. A band known for each album being a completely separate entity, genre-wise, “Captivity And Devourment” retains the blistering Melodic Death Metal from the first album, but combines modern nuances, and Chris’s own clean vocal performances, first heard on the last ARMAGEDDON album, and later, on his solo album work. This release is what ARMAGEDDON and the more aware of ARCH ENEMY fans have been waiting for the past 12 years.Fully unified and re-energized, the frontman position now takes the form of thunderous coarse vocalist Matt Hallquist provides the majority of the vocal delivery; a supermassive, unrelenting delivery of harsh growls, yet Chris’s clean singing deliveries are thoughtfully emblazon a number of tracks; the man is a master guitar player, and that is what this album shows. That being said, he a skilled vocalist in his own right.The title track opens the album, and what a monster of a song it is; hinting that this will be the band’s heaviest album to date, it explodes forth with a blast-beaten intro, before subsiding into a pummelling series of groove-ridden riffs. A powerful reminder that the ex-shredder of one of the world’s biggest Melodic Death Metal bands has once again made a foray into the Extreme Metal world, as such, the guitar work on this track drew a smile to my face.  “Locked in” is a bit more mellowed in the heaviness department, but is thickly substantiated with meaty riffs, and soaring, double-kicked sections, though the top dollar are the deliciously-catchy chord progressions .“Thanatron” was one of the first tastes we were given earlier this year, of the band’s new material. Beginning with a crisp, acoustic passage, some of the riffs on this track are as heavy and robust as you’ll hear on the album; a strong Groove Metal sound drives the main riffs. The necksnapping headbangery of this track shovels the coal into the massive engine that powers this album, from the beautiful and up-beat acoustic interlude of “Background Radiation”, through to one of my two favourite piece on the album, “The Watcher”. Seemingly more epic in stature, as the massive, thrumming intro riffs would give away, it certainly pulls no punches. This track happens to be strongly-embellished with clean vocals, not necessarily provided in the lead vocal sense but noticeable nonetheless. Chris commands the lyrics with an unusual style of delivery, sitting somewhere in the mid-range and capable of powerful belts, but with a mysterious, almost Gothic nuance about his singing. Quite frankly, he sounds like no one else I’ve ever heard; the grandiose, soaring section partway through the track will surely convince of this.A power metal enthusiast at heart, I was secretly hoping for more vocal belts; I was met with this and more on “Equalizer”, my other favourite. A virtuosic guitarist at heart, fans of his guitar playing will be at the very least satisfied and sated with the stellar lead work on this track. Chris certainly made no mistake in taking on the  best musicians for the job, either; I couldn’t be more pleased with the line-up after listening to this album, particularly the thundering bass tone provided by Sara. In fact, the overall production of this album is to be highly commended; seemingly, deliberately raw, it is far from overproduced, and everything comes across as far more organic, definitely playing a part in the heaviness factor.Am I approaching this with rose-tinted glasses/headphones? Hardly; ARMAGEDDON is a different band now. Something bigger, something stronger, and hopefully that little bit more infinite. Either way, this is the calibre of comeback I had been hoping for." - Metal Temple
    $15.00
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  • Mothlite

    Dark Age
    Post Progressive
    "Daniel O'Sullivan's acclaimed Ulver has a tendency to traverse a truly abstract path between the realms of shoegaze, metal and black ambient, while his collaboration with Steve Moore, Miracle, remains firmly rooted in the universe of synth-pop. His solo Mothlite moniker makes eerily effective work of hybridising the disparate styles of these two projects, landing somewhere not far from the majestic highs and lows of Talk Talk's The Colour of Spring.With his second album under the guise, O'Sullivan makes a sustained effort to sing from the stomach out, minimally affecting his pitch, which is perfect for the overdubbed goth-pop harmonies that suit this type of music (nowhere are his warm choruses more prominent than on the title track). To imagine Tears for Fears' Roland Orzabal singing with The Big Pink could have been a suitable comparison, but would do a disservice to the lush layers of ambient beats, tribal drums and keyboard arpeggios that O'Sullivan uniquely fuses." - The Skinny
    $16.00
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