MuzikMan's Reviews And News

3/19/2020

Krautrock Legends GURU GURU Release "Live in China" New CD & DVD

These are thrilling years in the GURU GURU camp. In 2018, they celebrated their 50th anniversary on stage since they were founded in 1968, the year of the student's revolt. In 2020, Mani will celebrate his 80th birthday (born on New Years Eve 1940) by embarking on another extensive tour with more than 50 shows.

In between those two special events, Guru Guru played in China for the first time! In 2019, they were invited to a festival in the far east but nobody had a clue what was in store for them. Guru Guru has played all continents in their long career (except maybe the antarctic) but how would the audience in China receive them? It turned out to be a fantastic, sold-out show with more than 1000 fans celebrating the band enthusiastically which you can see and hear on recently released Live CD + DVD. Some even traveled 18 hours by train from Beijing to see the band!

Even though most of the songs were already released in various other albums, this show features a “historic” document and captures the very special atmosphere of a one-time opportunity for both band and fans. It was recorded live in Shenzhen at the Tomorrow Festival on May 19, 2019 and even though the sound-quality is not up to contemporary standards, Guru Guru decided against extensive overdubbing to preserve the unique atmosphere showcasing the reverence Guru Guru enjoys in the worldwide underground-scene!

Musicians:
Mani Neumeier - Drums / Percussion / Kaossilator / Vocals …
Roland Schaeffer - Guitar / Saxophon / Nadaswaran / Vocals …
Peter Kühmstedt - Bass / Vocals …
Jan Lindqvist - Guitar / Lapsteel Guitar / Vocals …

Tour 2020
80 Jahre Elektrolurch
25.01.2020 Immenstadt - Rainbow
26.01.2020 Landsberg - Stadttheater
16.04.2020 Nürnberg - Hirsch
17.04.2020 Jena - Cosmic Dawn
18.04.2020 Schwerin - Speicher
23.04.2020 Dudenhofen - Festhalle* (+ Jane)
24.04.2020 Aachen - Musikbunker*
25.04.2020 Amsterdam (NL) - Melkweg*
07.05.2020 Kassel - Theaterstübchen
08.05.2020 Darmstadt - Bessunger Knabenschule
09.05.2020 Altenkirchen - Haus Felsenkeller
15.05.2020 Torgau - KAP
16.05.2020 Plauen - Malzhaus
28.05.2020 Essen - Zeche Carl*
29.05.2020 Wetzlar - Franzis
30.05.2020 Nürtingen - Kuckucksei
11.07.2020 Hamm - Open Air Festival
30.07.2020 Breitenbach - Burg Herzberg Festival
15.08.2020 Neuleinngen - Burg Open Air & Guru Guru Fest
10.09.2020 Bingen - Binger Bühne
11.09.2020 Bremen - KITO
12.09.2020 Uslar - Kulturbahnhof
24.09.2020 Koblenz - Cafe Hahn*
25.09.2020 Bruchsal - Fabrik (+ Epitaph)
26.09.2020 Kaiserslautern - Irish House
01.10.2020 Rüsselsheim - Das Rind
02.10.2020 Würzburg - Cairo
03.10.2020 Stuttgart - LAB
15.10.2020 Ingolstadt - KUZ
16.10.2020 München/Olching - Legends Lounge
17.10.2020 Wien (A) - Reigen
22.10.2020 Zürich (CH) - Alte Kaserne (+ Marblewood)
23.10.2020 Zofingen (CH) - Oxil
24.10.2020 Schramberg - Kulturbesen
29.10.2020 Pforzheim - KUZ Osterfeld
30.10.2020 Haßfurt - Rathaushalle
31.10.2020 Offenbach - Wiener Hof
05.11.2020 Bonn - Harmonie
06.11.2020 Wuppertal - LCB
07.11.2020 Dortmund – Piano*
12.11.2020 Regensburg - Alte Mälzerei
13.11.2020 Haiming - Gewölbe Livebühne Eisching
14.11.2020 Hersbruck - Altes Kino
19.11.2020 Soest - Alter Schlachthof
20.11.2020 Ahaus - Attic Musicclub
21.11.2020 OIdenburg - Cadillac
26.11.2020 Berlin - LIDO*
27.11.2020 Hamburg/Bergedorf - KUZ LoLa
28.11.2020 Dorsten - Das LEO
03.12.2020 Ravensburg - Zehntscheuer
04.12.2020 Metzingen - Hirsch
05.12.2020 Kirchheim/Teck - Bastion
10.12.2020 Bietigheim - Kronenzentrum
11.12.2020 Karlsruhe - JUBEZ
12.12.2020 Ludwigshafen - Das Haus
18.12.2020 Bern (CH) - Sternensaal
19.12.2020 Homburg - Musikpark
* mit Violette Sounds

To purchase:
Distributed by In-Akustik:
info@in-akustik.de
The CD/DVD can also be ordered directly through TRANCE-Music:
trance-music@t-online.de

For more information: http://mani-neumeier.de/guruguru/

TRANCE-Music
Müller-Guttenbrunn-Str. 6 . 67373 DUDENHOFEN, Germany
Tel: 06232 / 94076 .
Fax: 06232 / 94108
e-mail: trance-music@t-online.de

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 1-828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Krautrock Legends GURU GURU Release "Live in China" New CD & DVD

3/16/2020

Alt-Rock Review: Deap Lips - Deap Lips

Release Date: March 13, 2020

Label: Cooking Vinyl Limited

Website

In their latest attempt to throw their arms around the world, The Flaming Lips have teamed up with the bluesy LA duo, Deap Valley, to create a curiously satisfying collaboration. Flaming Lips vocalist Wayne Coyne and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Drozd join Deap Vally guitar/vocalist Lindsey Troy and drummer/vocalist Julie Edwards in this psycho-blues-robot-alien-pop rock experiment.

Since their triad of masterworks at the turn of the century, The Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots & At War with the Mystics, The Flaming Lips' trajectory has been crooked and confounding at best. While 2009's Embryonic gave fans hope for the band's evolution into an impassioned psycho-prog sound, 2013's The Terror steered their fans into another confounding direction. 2017's Oczy Mlody and 2019's King's Mouth attempted to blend elements of this newfound psycho-terror with the aforementioned triad of masterworks, striking chords in spots, yet missing the beat as a whole.
What has truly kept The Flaming Lips compelling and viable over the past 15 years has been their work with other bands and artists. Arguably, their best album over this period has been 2012's The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwiends.  Ambitious cover albums of Sgt. Pepper and Dark Side of the Moon assembled even more "fwiends." This current collaboration with Deap Vally follows suit by layering soulful vocals over more complex, yet lighter tracks.  "Home Thru Hell" is a standout that exemplifies this strange fusion, even adding some playful pokes. "taking all my wisdom from the Flaming Lips of youth."
More intriguing elements of the Flaming Lips such as robotic blurps, churchbells, and descension into divine, jangling netherworlds are peppered throughout the collection. "Hope Held High" and "Love is Mind Control" are superb tracks reminiscent of some of the Flaming Lips' best psycho-pop-acoustic work. Lindsey Troy's vocals on these and other songs add an Amy Winehouse-style nofucksgiven nihilist bent to the atmosphere.
Most satisfying is hearing Deap Vally's aggressive garage sound soften amidst The Flaming Lips psycho-prog vibe. Alternately, The Flaming Lips become sharp and soulful within Deap Vally's electrified boundaries.
All in all, The Flaming Lips skillfully harnessing Deap Vally's raw strength makes for one of the most pleasant surprises of 2020. There's enough here to please fans of both bands and then some.
- Tom Endyke | Guitar & Pen

Guitar Master and Composer Peppino D'Agostino to Release "Connexion", His First CD in Six Years!

“Peppino writes wonderful guitar pieces. He's one of my favorite composers for this cranky instrument…I love his sound…” - Leo Kottke

Beloved acoustic guitar master Peppino D'Agostino has had a busy six years since his critically-acclaimed release, Penumbra, touring internationally, scoring documentary soundtracks and video games, and performing with some of the world’s best musicians. This all served as inspiration for his new, original recording, “Connexion”; the long-anticipated album will be released on April 3rd, 2020, by A-Train Entertainment. Peppino's new musical effort contains entirely original compositions that reflect the distilled work and artistic sensitivity of a virtuoso master and composer.

“Influences are as far-flung as the flamenco work of Paco de Lucia and the pop sensibility of The Beatles, evident in the songs he's written, which brim with memorable melodies.” - Chicago Tribune

Peppino is not only one of the top guitarists in the world, but also a charming, engaging performer who composes music that truly mesmerizes audiences. His gift for creating emotional melodies supported by beautiful harmonies is well known. His solo guitar piece, “The Blue Ocean,” for instance, has been used as a soundtrack for the Monterey Bay Aquarium's documentary “Journey to Baja: A Tale of Three Travelers” and watched daily by thousands of visitors.

“It has been a great learning experience for me to see how Peppino plays in front of an audience. He’s very endearing to them because of the conviction and the genuineness in his musicality.” - Eric Johnson

Peppino has been living in the Bay Area for over 35 years. A native of Italy, D'Agostino has made his considerable international mark as a musical artist on the guitar since he arrived in America 35 years ago. In 2017 Guitar Player listed him as one of the 50 transcendent superheroes of the acoustic guitar of all times. The CD, “Every Step of The Way,” was awarded by Acoustic Guitar's People's Choice Awards with a Bronze medal for Best Acoustic Album of All Time. His signature Seagull acoustic guitar has been voted among the ten best signature guitars by Guitar Player magazine.

“Not many guitarists are as unforgettable as Peppino D'Agostino.” - Lee Bell, Senior Director of Programming at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

Since the beginning of his career, Peppino D'Agostino has collaborated, recorded and performed with enthusiasm and passion with many incredible musicians such as Grammy Award-winning Sergio Assad, Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, Jazz guitar legend Martin Taylor and electric guitar genius Stef Burns. Although Peppino continues from time to time to join forces with his amazing colleagues, his desire for his new project was to focus on the beauty, mysteries, and challenges of the solo acoustic guitar.

“Peppino D'Agostino is a guitarist's guitarist know as much for his technical skills as for his writing, he's one of the most capable composers among fingerstyle guitarists.” - Acoustic Guitar Magazine.

Says Peppino, “The first tune on the album entitled 'High Plains Guitarra' will transport the listener to the unforgettable era of the Western movie of the 60's and the work of the brilliant film composer Ennio Morricone. 'Dancing with Shadows' was inspired by the Doo Wop genre of the 40's and the ghosts of the old ballrooms that once were in Torino, Italy. 'Head Case' is pure high energy improvisation inspired by the unpredictable Laws of Chaos. 'Buster' was written for the late great Musician and Guitarist Buster B. Jones. 'Mara's Sleeping Song' is my rendition of a beautiful piece written by the fantastic Mandolin virtuoso Caterina Lichtenberg. I'm blessed to have Stef Burns doubling the beautiful melody and improvising masterfully over it. 'Mexican Sunrises' is about dreaming of laying beneath a beautiful sunset in Baja California, Mexico. 'Liam's Song' is dedicated to little Liam, one of my best friends. Stammi Vicino was written together with the legendary Rock Star Vasco Rossi and the inimitable electric guitar genius, Stef Burns. 'Jenny's Goodbyes' is dedicated to Jenny, a wonderful woman that left us too early. 'Beauty in the Abyss' is about dreaming of the whales, the beautiful creatures of the deep Oceans.

“Peppino's music is deep and beautiful.” - Tommy Emmanuel

Peppino D'Agostino has crafted a solo guitar style that is delicate, ethereal, stunning and technically brilliant. D'Agostino says, “The challenges in composing for steel string guitar are multiple and difficult to overcome. The general tendency is to either relax into predictable and boring musical territory or to show off with useless displays of speed. As my composition instrument of choice, I'm approaching the steel-string guitar as an orchestra with infinite possibilities.”

“A poet…among the best talents around.” - San Francisco Chronicle

To pre-order:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Connexion/dp/B083YSF5WR
iTunes: https://music.apple.com/album/connexion/1495260719?ls=1&app=itunes

The pre-order for autographed CD's starts on March 6, 2020 from Peppino's website

For more information: http://www.peppinodagostino.com

US - Canada booking agents:

Louise Baker
(828) 450-5385
louise@bakerbooking.com

Bruce Swan
(203) 895-7609
bruce@bakerbooking.com

Europe Booking Agents:

Riccardo Cappelli
+39 340 5616958
jorainbo@libero.it

Mathias Pohl
+39 1637105618
pohl.mathias@t-online.de

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com

3/15/2020

Neo Prog Review: Pendragon - Love Over Fear

Release Date: February 8, 2020

Label: Toff Records

Website

Pendragon came into existence way back in 1978 and just a couple of weeks ago were onstage in Kin-ross, Scotland for a concert showing the band is still going strong. They have released 11 studio albums from the debut in 1985, Jewel, up to the release under review at this time, Love Over Fear.

The band on this album, comprises Nick Barrett (lead vocals/guitar), Clive Nolan (keyboards/backing vo-cals), Peter Gee (bass/bass pedals/backing vocals/keyboards) and Jan-Vincent Velazco (drums/percussion). Nick and Peter are original members, Clive has been a member of the band since 1986 and only the drummer has changed several times. All in all, the band seems to be fairly settled.

The single CD version of Love Over Fear contains 10 tracks with a total running time of around 64 minutes with the second track, “Starfish and the Moon,” is the shortest at 3:37 minutes and the penulti-mate track, “Who Really Are We,” being the longest at 8:41 minutes (There is also a 3 CD version of Love Over Fear with CD 2 being an acoustic version of the album and CD 3 being an instrumental version of the same).

The opening track is, as always, an important moment when listening to a new album, as it really should be getting across the idea that “this is good, you need to listen.” “Everything,” (5:40) is the opening track and it certainly ticks all the correct boxes. A great organ passage, with a terrific hook, opens the show before a time change suddenly drops the gears a bit before the guitar gets to shine then the excellent vocals of Nick appear. More time changes carry the track onward until the return of the vocals, prior to another superb guitar passage. There is then a return to the starting theme of the track and a gentle wind-ing down to the ending.

Track 2, “Starfish and the Moon” (3:37) is very different in style, being a simple, beautiful ballad. Beauti-ful vocals by Nick and majestic piano by Clive lead into another stunning, gentle guitar passage before returning to the main theme. “Starfish and the Moon” is a short track which is very simple but excellent.

The last track on the single CD is “Afraid of Everything” (5:08) and is structured in a similar manner to “Starfish and the Moon,” with beautiful vocals, this time fronting a gentle guitar theme. The music slowly builds in the background, but never intrudes before moving into an almost “Camelesque” style guitar theme (I’m not sure that is a word, but it conveys the style of guitar playing). The track then gently builds before slowly fading out to end a very impressive album.

Having been a fan of Pendragon music earlier in their career, my opinion was that their best work was from 1991 to 2001, when they released 4 excellent albums. My interest then drifted a little but this album, has certainly returned this fan to the fold. It seems to have managed to reach those earlier heights and overall is an excellent release. Love Over Fear is an album that should appeal to the majority of neo-prog/symphonic prog fans and is a terrific addition to any CD collection.

Jim “The Ancient One” Lawson – Prog Rock Music Talk Staff
March 15, 2020

Tracks:
01. Everything (5:40)
02. Starfish and the Moon (3:37)
03. Truth And Lies (8:26)
04. 360 Degrees (5:34)
05. Soul and Sea (5:44)
06. Eternal Light (8:19)
07. Water (7:57)
08. Whirlwind (4.59)
09. Who Really Are We (8:41)
10. Afraid Of Everything (5:08)

Pages

3/19/2020

Krautrock Legends GURU GURU Release "Live in China" New CD & DVD

Krautrock Legends GURU GURU Release "Live in China" New CD & DVD

3/16/2020

Alt-Rock Review: Deap Lips - Deap Lips

Guitar Master and Composer Peppino D'Agostino to Release "Connexion", His First CD in Six Years!

3/15/2020

Neo Prog Review: Pendragon - Love Over Fear