Dazed #20: Tales From Sheepfather´s Grove is a beautiful Yes fan album

Musicians are usually fans as well, each with their own idols. Often fandom becomes audible in the wrong way, either as probably unconscious but still uncomfortable plagiarism or outright ripoffs. But there are a few - very few, to be exact - nice fan projects where a musician openly pays his/her debt to the admired artist and does it with disarming skill and style. An older case in point is Todd Rundgren´s Utopia with their deliberate Beatles soundalike album Deface The Music back in 1980 (great fun, but not as brilliant as Eric Idle and Neil Inness´ The Rutles). And more recently Robert Reed did the same in the Oldfied territory with his "more Mike than Mike" album Sanctuary.

Johannes Luley, the driving force behind the short-lived US cult prog band Moth Vellum, released in 2013 the perfect fan album that I recently heard for the first time. Tales From Sheepfather´s Grove is a beautifully constructed Yes love letter from the title to the cover art to the music itself. His cards are so openly on the table there´s no point in yapping about copying a style - not when it´s done this well, anyway.

Luley takes the pastoral/acoustic side of Yes (Wonderous Stories, And You And I etc etc - you know that stuff) and uses it as a stylistic platform for the entire album. The result is a vibrant, warm and utterly charming soundscape of Jon-esque chants and bells and drones (thankfully, Johannes does not sound like Jon), Howe-ish guitars and very Rick-y synths circa 1977-78. 

This arsenal would be a moot point without the high quality of the songs themselves; they effortlessly carry on the form and the spirit of a certain period and style in the arc of another artist. In most places, it leaves some later Yes band and solo efforts staring at its tail lights. 

Some might call this a useless exercise; I call this immensely enjoyable and fun. If you´re a Yes fan, do not by any means pass The Sheepfather by.

My rating: 4,5 / 5

Listen to Tales From Sheepfather´s Grove on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/album/0lvUNkohWqlm173PdE5diK

Dazed #19: "Defragments" is a classy 2nd album for Parzival's Eye

Germany's RPWL are one of my favorites in the current prog scene with their "gentle art of music". The bass player, Chris Postl, released a nice solo project under the moniker Parzival´s Eye back in 2009 and has now gone for a second round with the same brand.

Defragments stays close to the RPWL home base. The musical style is an amalgam of (very roughly) Floyd, Beatles and indie guitar rock, with that hard-to-define RPWL spicing. It's warm, friendly, human and open and I like it a lot.

Sometimes deceptively simple, the songs are very well crafted and arranged. They are usually unhurried, sometimes even langurous exercises in nuance. The album does have two longer and proggier pieces, both solid and controlled. 

The surprise of the album is a nice acoustic cover of Yes' Long Distance Runaround - the version may not bring all that much new to the original but it's honest and fresh. Much the same can be said for Defragments as a whole: it's one of the year's most pleasant prog releases.

My rating: 4/5

Listen to Defragments on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/album/0ypMKwHXMCCPwKkImddKqr

Dazed #18: Neural Code's dose of jazz/Latin/metal fusion

Fusion jazz is usually not my premium cup of tea. The genre reminds me of Lee Ritenour and other 80s quick-fingered guys with expensive instruments making music best suited for Macy's perfume department. Or something.

But, then again, you can fuse all kinds of things together, should you choose to do so. The Brazilian virtuoso trio of Cuca Teixeira (drs), Kiko Loureiro (gtr) and Thiago Santo (bs) are a wonderful case in point. Their 2009 album Neural Code seamlessly blends Latin grooves, jazz, funk and metal (Loureiro usually plays with Angra). 

There_s nothing forced here; the elements interact nicely and the overall experience is organic. The production may sound less than top notch to some ears but I found the slightly rough around the edges sound very alive and warm. The trio lineup does not need too many aural enhancements anyway; all the better if it sounds like a gig.

The playing is of the highest calibre and the grooves are always dynamic and varied - I found myself happily bouncing along as I listened to this on my iPhone on a nice summer day. For a while, Finland felt like a much more southern place - thanks guys :)

Listen to Neural Code on Spotify

Dazed #17: Box Of Shamans is more than a quirky name for a prog band

Not too long ago, I discovered a US prog band called Heliopolis (more about them later in a separate entry). They made a very positive impression and when I learned the hilariously named Box Of Shamans is more or less a Heliopolis side project, I wasted no time in getting to hear their recent debut Belief and Illusion.

And it was a good call, too. The album is stylistically varied and yet retains the band's own identity throughout. We get moments of slightly crimsonesque math rock, occasional heavy riffing, pastoral sequences echoing classic 70´s British prog, and even a radio friendly tune in the middle of it all. A lesser band would have made a royal mess of it but B.O.S. keep things under control and somehow manage to build a coherent album that keeps you intrigued and entertained.

The guys in the band are no beginners and the experience shows in not just the high class of playing but also in the willingness to push their musical borders. Belief And Illusion may not be an all-time classic but it's very good prog finely executed. And it comes with cool cover art, too :)

My rating: 4 / 5

Listen to Belief And Illusion on Spotify

Dazed #16: "In Vaults" takes District 97 to the next level

District 97 have been a truly bright spot in the current prog scene from their debut on. Adventurous, fierce, high level musicians with a unique vision that takes certain cues from older masters but has flowered into something quite different.

That's why I got a bit alarmed when In Vaults began. The first track, Snow Country, sounded curiously careful and compromising - still does to me - but fear not: already the next track, Death By A Thousand Cuts, truly sets the scene and blasts the dust off the table with huge guitars and an intricate web of time signatures.

What follows may be the band's finest hour yet. I hear more nuances than before, I admire the way they have subtly expanded their musical palette while not giving up any of their high intensity bite, and Leslie Hunt has never been this good, bless her.

This is an album that may take a turn or two before you really get into it, but once you're in, it's useless trying to get out.

My rating: 4,5 / 5

In Vaults on Spotify