Two of the latter day descendants of progressive rock royalty, Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy and Yes, perform at A Royal Affair. Other acts on this bill included the John (Moody Blues) Lodge Band and Asia. This event was held in Saratoga, California at the Mountain Winery concert venue. Lovely afternoon concert.
Showing posts with label progressive rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label progressive rock. Show all posts
Saturday, August 17, 2019
A Royal Affair Concert Event (2019)
Two of the latter day descendants of progressive rock royalty, Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy and Yes, perform at A Royal Affair. Other acts on this bill included the John (Moody Blues) Lodge Band and Asia. This event was held in Saratoga, California at the Mountain Winery concert venue. Lovely afternoon concert.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Greg Lake, "I Believe In Father Christmas"
A sad farewell was bid to Greg Lake, a talented and influential musician, who passed away this week. Lake was a founding member of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. He also held a stint in Asia, as well. Here is the popular Christmas tune he penned years ago. I will miss Lake's distinctive vocal delivery, his impassioned playing and his memorable recorded work. A true progressive rock luminary and a very iconic performer.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
LEMMY, SPACE ROCK, HAWKWIND...BRILLIANT!
With the passing of Lemmy Kilmister, we have lost a great friend and rock and roll character. Lemmy was a firm believer in the spirit and power of rock and roll and in enjoying life in general. Nice philosophy! Before he started his well known, heavy rock outfit, Motorhead, Lemmy had a turn in the space rock band, Hawkwind.
What is space rock? This blog fully embraces space rock and we will explore that topic further at some other time and provide personal definitions. For now, this clip, Hawkwind's "Silver Machine", features some ferocious guitar workups accompanied by some synthesizer wash and assorted, delayed, reverbed, electronic bleeps and tones. Space rock! What a delightful noise it all makes!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Korg Kaossilator 2 Rocks!
Hello. Just a few words about the Korg Kaossilator 2 dynamic phrase instrument: It's sweet! There are over 100 different instruments built in to this handheld unit which is only slightly bigger than a deck of playing cards. There are synth instruments, guitars, basses, drum sets, percussion, etc. that the user can access and manipulate. Use it as a standalone instrument, or treat it as an idea generating musical sketchpad that can inspire you toward new compositions and musical approaches.
The "K2" is playable through a touchpad interface that allows you to crudely play "notes" and adjust volume parameters. Being as this is a black screen on which you are tapping and dragging your fingers to alter the sound, finding the precise spot where a note can repeatedly be played is a little difficult. Maybe a grid pattern could be added that would roughly estimate where notes are and what various effects are possible with sliding your fingers across the touch screen.
That being said, there is a lot of cool sound packed into this little box. Try out the various synth leads, traditional instruments such as trumpets, kalimbas, piano, a Mellotron influenced "tape flute", guitars, or drum kits and percussion.
Another nice feature is a looper function which allows you to lay down some musical patterns and then play another sound over the top of it. Soundscapes created in this fashion can then be saved to an optional microSD card you can add to the unit. There is a headphone jack for playing in private but a word of warning. You may get lost in the rich, lusterous tones. There is also a mic in, 1/8" jack for adding an external microphone. The unit also has its own built in mic. Vocals can thus be added over other loops you have previously created. Nice.
We haven't used the K2 in a live setting but it would definitely be capable of adding some interesting flourishes to a live performance environment.
The Korg Kaossilator 2 should keep you busy for some time to come. Go check it out!
The "K2" is playable through a touchpad interface that allows you to crudely play "notes" and adjust volume parameters. Being as this is a black screen on which you are tapping and dragging your fingers to alter the sound, finding the precise spot where a note can repeatedly be played is a little difficult. Maybe a grid pattern could be added that would roughly estimate where notes are and what various effects are possible with sliding your fingers across the touch screen.
That being said, there is a lot of cool sound packed into this little box. Try out the various synth leads, traditional instruments such as trumpets, kalimbas, piano, a Mellotron influenced "tape flute", guitars, or drum kits and percussion.
Another nice feature is a looper function which allows you to lay down some musical patterns and then play another sound over the top of it. Soundscapes created in this fashion can then be saved to an optional microSD card you can add to the unit. There is a headphone jack for playing in private but a word of warning. You may get lost in the rich, lusterous tones. There is also a mic in, 1/8" jack for adding an external microphone. The unit also has its own built in mic. Vocals can thus be added over other loops you have previously created. Nice.
We haven't used the K2 in a live setting but it would definitely be capable of adding some interesting flourishes to a live performance environment.
The Korg Kaossilator 2 should keep you busy for some time to come. Go check it out!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Syd's Ghost Project
Here is a clip from a music project I am sporadfically involved in (like this blog). Enjoy!
http://youtu.be/GxMXbIc8ulc
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Adventures in HD Music Selections
We got a 1080p plasma for the house. I was watching Comcast HD music channel. Regrouped Asia and Yes - Pathetic. Steve Howe is basically a skeleton holding a guitar. Also carried Royal Albert Hall clips of the Who in 2007. Roger's voice is godawful. The Seeker is already sounding well tired. Bright spot in group is Simon Townsend. Handling the high vocal parts and looking like he is actually enjoying being onstage. The rest are stiffs. Pete Townsend,too. Deep Purple - a train wreck. Only decent sounding band is Rush in a Frankfurt concert. But they are obviously only going through the motions. Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart are middle aged in appearance and spiritually fat. Geedy Lee always looked bad and that is nothing new here. Bryan Adams doing some solo guitar performance at some peace festival. Looks like hell but has a surprisingly strong and decent voice. Haven't watched old Joe Strummer video yet. More ugh for sure.
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