Now that the entire Rosfest 2015 lineup has been announced, could everyone please recommend which CDs to buy to get ready for each band? Please just a handful of CDs from each band. Please offer advice as if I know nothing about all of them. Thanks in advance.
Library Jon
Hi Library Jon, my band Heliopolis is thrilled to have been asked to kick off the proceedings at RoSFest 2015; we are a new band, our debut was released via 10T Records a couple of months ago and it streams, 27/4, right here.
Hope to meet you there.
Stoked to meet up with you and Matt, Kerry! As for G(lass) H(ammer) of course I'm going to point you at the 2 most recent albums. Others may disagree
Haken, The Mountain
I don’t have music from many of the bands this year either, but of the ones I have:
Spock’s Beard: I just saw them a few weeks ago and they did a lot from their most recent album “Brief Nocturnes And Dreamless Sleep” which is a very good album IMO. Everything else they did was from the Neil Morse era. They did bits and pieces from the first album, “Beware Of Darkness”, “Snow” and the big epic from “Day For Night”. Of those early albums the first one still remains my favorite, but they are all good. I like the Nick era albums as well, so for me you can’t really go wrong with any of them.
Enchant: Of their studio discs I still like their very first one “Blueprint Of The World” the best. For a good overview you might want to check out the 2 disc “Live At Last” album. It is recorded very well and contains a lot of their best stuff. I am partial to live albums and this one is very good.
Glass Hammer: This is a tough one. I have most of their albums and I think you will find opinions to be all over the place. My personal favorite album by them is “Shadowlands”, but they are all high quality stuff. “Cor Cordium”, “If”, “The Inconsolable Secret”, “On To Evermore”, and “Lex Rex” are all up there on my list too. I have not picked up their most recent yet.
Sonus Umbra: The title is escaping me at the moment, but the album with the floating eyeballs on the cover is my favorite by them so far.
Last edited by SteveSly; 11-11-2014 at 01:10 AM.
From Lo-Fi Resistance, I recommend starting with the 2nd album, Chalk Lines (2012). It's the most "prog" of the three in a traditional sense I suppose. The latest record, The Age Of Entitlement (2014), is the most experimental album so far, and the 1st album, A Deep Breath (2010), has a bit for everyone...or not.
All records are streaming and on sale via digital (WAV, FLAC, and mp3) at www.lofiresistance.bandcamp.com. This is your best option as the first record is out of print, and the latest is digital-only. Chalk Lines may still be available in physical at Burning Shed, Synphonic, and some other places.
Thanks! -Randy
Randy,
I will be at the NJ Prog House show this Friday night. If you bring some CDs to sell, I will be most likely interested in buying some. Maybe, you can mention to Jonas & Nick to bring some CDs to sell as well. See you on Friday night!!
Library Jon
x2Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk
Amazing CD
JG
"MARKLAR!"
Hi Library Jon.
SYNAESTHESIA is a very young band with only their initial CD (title same as band name) available but it's a good one.
The latest from ABEL GANZ (title is "Abel Ganz") is also very good.
SONUS UMBRA CD with the eyeballs is "Snapshots From Limbo". I like their latest one best "Winter Solstice"
Recommend HAKEN's "The Mountain".
GLASS HAMMER's CD "If" is very good.
STRATTMAN is a very new band and has only a single CD out "The Lie Of The Beholder".
I like SPOCK'S BEARD's "X" best.
HELIOPOLIS' "City Of The Sun" is also a good one.
I like LO-FI RESISTANCE's "Chalk Lines" best of the their 3 CDs.
ENCHANT has a new CD out now "The Great Divide" but I haven't heard it yet. I like "Tug Of War".
My preferences only though.
Hope to meet you at RoSfest. I'll be in the front row stage left.
I am happy to say that I found the first two Lo Fi Resistance CDs for sale on Amazon Marketplace. I bought both "A Deep Breath" and "Chalk Lines" recently. I don't think that the newest album has ever been made available on CD. Can anyone confirm that?
Library Jon
You are correct. I read somewhere (Facebook?) that Randy wasn't putting it out on CD.
Would love to see Enchant, hope I can make it!
Recently, I bought a deluxe copy of Haken's "The Mountain" CD with 2 bonus tracks. I really like it. I know that they are being labelled as Progressive Metal, but it leans to me as being more Progressive than Metal. I am still interested in more suggestions involving other Rosfest 2015 bands. Thanks.
Library Jon
I highly recommend Enchant's new album, The Great Divide. First new music from them in 10 years and I think it's the best they have done. I would think they would be playing quite a bit of it live as well. I second the recommendation of Live at Last.
Eric: "What the hell Hutch, it's all Rush, what if we wanted a little variety?"
Hutch: "Rush is variety, Bitch! Rule number one: in my van, its Rush! All Rush, all the time...no exceptions."
From "Fanboys" 2009.
Actually, the only Enchant CDs that I own are "The Great Divide" (with bonus track) and "Live At Last." I find them to be really enjoyable albums. If I am interested in more music eventually, What direction should I head in with them?
Library Jon
X3
Never feel like you have to buy a bands albums before you see them at a festival. That's what the festival is for. You go to each performance then decide which band you like. That way if you don't like a band you haven't wasted money on one of their cds. It's like sampling before buying. You could just look up a bands material on youtube. Maybe it's just me but I would recommend against buying cds by a band you don't know before the festival. That being said it's not unreasonable to buy one album per band if you really want to be familiar with the material. George usually picks top notch bands and I'm sure you can't go wrong with any of them but it might depend on which bands suit your taste.
Last edited by Digital_Man; 12-05-2014 at 11:32 PM.
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 is worth hearing. It's an album that will grow on you. It's rather song oriented but it's very well done. I have one other by them, Time Lost, but I think I only played it once. I remember it being pretty good though.
Last edited by Digital_Man; 12-05-2014 at 11:36 PM.
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
Except for Glass Hammer. Invest in them heavily before you go.
Haha! Yeah! Plus all the others. Have fun guys! Sounds like a good one.Except for Glass Hammer. Invest in them heavily before you go.
Although this reasoning makes sense from one perspective, I'm totally the other way. I often enjoy live shows a lot more when I know (and love) the music ahead of time, it's much more satisfying, especially when it's prog and so much is going on. Prog grows on you, so I love that growth to start germinating long before I see the live show.
Rosfest bands have been so strong over the years, I've appreciated growing my library *ahead of* the shows, coming to discover & love many bands through their releases before I see them (Mars Hollow, RPWL, Mangala Vallis, Mystery and many more come to mind), and then sometimes loving them even more after I finally see them live (Black Bonzo, Karmakanic and Agents of Mercy come to mind).
But sometimes it's daunting. For example, Glass Hammer has a huge back catalog and I hardly have dipped into that yet. Trurl, do you have any recommendations on a couple of GM albums to focus on which might feature heavily in the Rosfest setlist? Is a new album coming out before Rosfest which might be the centerpiece?
^Well apparently that is the OP's intent as well. However, I'm just saying that if you want to wait and hear the band's music before buying that is ok too and no one should feel like they have to hear all the band's material beforehand(I rarely do).
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
Blink of an Eye! My fav!
IMHO, start with Lex Rex, Inconsolable Secret, or If....and then buy the rest! The new one, Ode To Echo is quite good too!Except for Glass Hammer. Invest in them heavily before you go.
Hmmm, YESHEAD777 lives in Tennessee. What's up with that, Fred?
Oh wait, maybe it's Steve B.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
I'm going to go in hardly knowing a band, I think the only album I own is Sonus Umbra's last.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
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