Tag Archives: heavy metal

Music

New Album In the Works from Glass Hammer

GLASS HAMMER GOES ROGUE WITH April 11th RELEASE

Glass Hammer’s “Rogue” spins the tale of one man’s fateful, final journey. “He leaves everything he knows behind,” explains composer Steve Babb. “And thinks he’s returning to a place where he once knew happiness, but in reality, his odyssey will sweep him away to somewhere completely unexpected.”

Babb explains that the ten-song album explores themes of regret, heartache, and the mortal salience that comes with age. “Life is fleeting,” he continues. “It’s a heavy topic for an album, but the music isn’t as heavy as our last few releases. Rogue is much more like the Glass Hammer albums our fans refer to as “classic.”

And who’s in the lineup? “It’s no secret that Glass Hammer reinvents itself every few albums,” says Babb. “It’s happened again! This time with a lot of new faces.”

Rogue features performances by Fred Schendel, Reese Boyd, and David Wallimann (GH guitarist 2006-2010). Vocalists Thomas Jakob (Netherlands) and Olivia Tharpe (USA) are new to the band. They’re joined by guitarist Oliver Day (UK), keyboardist Ariel Perchuck (Argentina), drummer Evgeni Obruchkov (Poland), and others. “It’s an international cast of characters,” Babb points out. “A super-talented group that our fans are sure to love.”

The hour-long Rogue is Glass Hammer’s twenty-second studio album. Fans can pre-order autographed copies, t-shirts and downloads on the band’s website. www.glasshammer.com

Steve Babb photo credit: Julie Babb

Track list:

  1. What If
  2. The Road South
  3. Tomorrow
  4. Pretty Ghost
  5. Sunshine
  6. I Will Follow
  7. The Wonder Of It All
  8. One Last Sunrise
  9. Terminal Lucidity
  10. All Good Things

Here’s the teaser video:

Republic of Letters

The Tangent’s PO90’s “The Single”


The Tangent (For One) launch “The Single,” next track taken from ‘To Follow Polaris’ The Tangent  recently announced the release of the new studio album ‘To Follow Polaris’ on May 10th, 2024. That’s not necessarily a surprise, that’s what the band are known for. But at the same time, it’s something else too. As Andy jokes, playing on the Jaws strapline, he says “well this time it’s actually no personnel”.Today, a brand new track aptly titled ‘The Single’ has been released, and you can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/mwdbLOerLH4Andy comments of the track: “’The Single’ was originally recorded by my previous band Po90 some 25 years ago now, on an album called ‘The Time Capsule’. In the spirit of that time capsule, I opened it a quarter of a century later and recorded this updated version of it with new lyrics added to the older version. The old Po90 version was the track that in a way defined what the Tangent would be and giving it the Tangent treatment was a great pleasure. It’s a song about the documenting of history and the new ways this is going to happen, both good and bad…”

Watch the previously released video for ‘The North Sky’ here: https://youtu.be/x5CAzcKZXvA

Watch Andy discuss the making of the new album here: https://youtu.be/Lbqa5QP77L4?si=b-Xji6zq8UheDJvF

In a year when members of The Tangent could be seen onstage all over the world with Steve Hackett, Soft Machine, Karnataka, David Cross, It Bites, Cyan and others, plus on recordings by those artists and The Anchoret, The Michael Dunn Project, Argos and Retreat From Moscow, it became clear that there was not going to be time to get together for anything more than one gig in April 2023.

So the band agreed that the band’s leader/main writer Andy Tillison would keep the material coming and would make an album by The Tangent entirely alone. It would still be The Tangent. Just for one.
“Besides Which” Andy says, “I’ve always wanted to do this, use what I have learned from Luke, Jonas, Steve, Theo and many other alumni and take it to final production. Now was the time!”

What transpired over the following year is in one sense an “absolutist” solo album and is entirely the work of one person in all aspects including artwork, layout, design, lyrics, composition, performance, recording, production, mixing, mastering and authoring. But in another sense it’s totally Tangent. “I could not have begun to make this record without having had the experiences of working with the band. So although the different instruments are not attempted to be played in the actual style of the normal lineup, they are inspired by the kind of things these guys do”

‘To Follow Polaris’ will be available as a Limited Deluxe Collector’s Edition CD Mediabook (including bonus track and extensive 24-page booklet, Gatefold 180g 2LP vinyl (also including bonus track), & as Digital Album. Pre-order now here: https://thetangent.lnk.to/ToFollowPolaris1.The North Sky 11:36
2.A ‘Like’ In The Darkness 08:19
3.The Fine Line 08:04
4.The Anachronism 21:01
5.The Single (From A Re-Opened Time Capsule) 05:51
6.The North Sky (Radio Edit) 03:42
7.Tea At Bettys (Bonus Track) 17:32Produced between January and November 2023, the album features Andy using his multiple keyboards system as normal, but adds to the mix his first ever released performance on Bass Guitar and his second on stick driven (electronic) drums. Add electric and acoustic guitars and electronic wind controller and this is a full band recording in every sense of the word. A recording which shows Andy’s lifelong influence by artists such as Yes, Van Der Graaf Generator, Porcupine Tree, Groove Armada, Earth Wind & Fire, Roger Waters and his bands, Return To Forever, Deep Purple, Gentle Giant, Steely Dan and any band featuring the keyboard player Dave Stewart.Conceptually Andy claims the album is, ahem, “highly optimistic” but regular listeners to his work will anticipate correctly that this optimism will not be ill founded or over-easy and will be highly critical of obstacles to that optimism and the album will look as much into the dark as it does into the light.The album is intended to be thought of as a regular Tangent album – but not as the future of the band. It’s everyone’s intention to make the FOURTEENTH album as The Tangent. For Five.The Tangent online:
www.thetangent.org
https://www.facebook.com/groups/alltangentmembers/INSIDEOUT MUSIC online:
www.insideoutmusic.com
www.youtube.com/InsideOutMusicTV
www.facebook.com/InsideOutMusic
www.twitter.com/InsideOutUSA
www.insideoutmusicshop.comINSIDEOUTMUSIC Spotify Playlist: 
http://spotify.com/progrockessentials
Music, Philosophy

Music and Motorcycling

Years ago an engineering schoolmate brought up the topic of life goals, my terse and quick response was, “owning a wall of music CDs and a high displacement motorcycle”. His reaction was actually terser and quicker – “that’s it?” – And wasn’t exactly devoid of that patronizing tone. But, what can I say, that was indeed my life goal. To cite Chris Nolan’s Joker –“You see, I’m a guy of simple taste. I enjoy, uh, dynamite, and gunpowder…and gasoline!” — In my case, it’s heavy metal and motorcycling.

Also, people usually fall into two categories, ones with specific objectives and agendas, and then there are those with more abstract motivations. Specific goals could be anything, but it will be absolute and measurable – like retirement by age of 45, or making 200 Million dollars, or filing 20 patents etc. Abstract goals are not specific and tend to be subjective — like pursuit of an interesting career or pursuit of knowledge etc.

Meticulously working towards some specific objective requires long term planning, it requires making calculated trade-offs. These specific goals are usually irreconcilable with abstract goals, especially in the long run. For instance, you cannot expect to be a millionaire, or retire by 45, if you are only going to do interesting jobs. Actually those driven by abstract pursuits might just find it meaningless to state specific goals.

Our general approach to life will reflect in everything we do. It’s unlikely someone who targets specific life goals will take a laissez-faire attitude towards other recreational activities. Whether it’s discovering music or exploring the great outdoors on a motorcycle or any similar adventures. Over the years both these pursuits have increasingly moved from specific goals to more abstract. Instead of exploring specific sub-genres, now it’s about discovering broad qualities, like rich layering, structural progression and dynamics of influences. Riding has also similarly moved, from destination driven to exploration driven.

These days it’s just about looking at a map to identify winding roads, most likely involving unexpected unpaved miles, or rustic routes cutting through state parks or bordering that coastal stretch. You will inevitably get a bit lost or run into restricted access roads, or get close to running out of fuel. You will also inevitably run into another solo motorcyclist, traversing the same path, but from the opposite direction. In short, it rarely goes according to the plan. But as the cliché goes –abstract experiences and the journey matters, but the specific destination, not so much.