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Thread: Featured CD- MoeTar- Entropy of the Century

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    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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    Featured CD- MoeTar- Entropy of the Century

    Next up, one of the best of 2014 and a group with a PE member or two. What I have heard from these folks has been super refreshing!

    "This a collection of quirky, intelligent and delightfully melodic "avant-pop" songs that are, in my humble opinion, distracted from by the highly engaging vocals of the uber-talented singer, songwriter and founder Moorea ("Moe") Dickason. I find it quite challenging to really listen to the music because of the draw of the intelligent song lyrics and their delivery style (which does, however, at times, get a bit repetitive and 'old'). Clearly a group of very talented musicians led by a duo with a clear and mature vision, this is highly recommended as another polished example of this new modern era of "poppy prog."
    Favorite songs: "Where the Truth Lies" (4:49) (9/10); "Confectioner's Curse" (3:02) (8/10); "Entropy of the Century" (2:52) (8/10); "Welcome to the Solar Flares" (3:03) (8/10), and; "The Unknowable" (6:26) (8/10)."

    http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=1320290

    Curious your thoughts!

  2. #2
    Recently Resurrected zombywoof's Avatar
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    One of my favorites of the year. A stellar release with stellar playing and stellar writing. Oh and Moorea can SING!!

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    Geriatric Anomaly progeezer's Avatar
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    I made so many comments in the other MoeTar thread that I don't want to parrot here, so I'll just say that this is a special album by a very special band.

    Who do they sound like? Only MoeTar.
    "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

  4. #4
    I'm here for the moosic NogbadTheBad's Avatar
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    Very good album, taking a few more spins to get into than the debut, maybe it's a bit denser and darker, but it's certainly starting to get its hooks into me. Avant Pop is a good description.
    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?
    There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.

  5. #5
    Great stuff. Quirky and wildly original. And a good channel for fans of "pop-prog" to perhaps discover more experimental angles to that.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

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    Traversing The Dream 100423's Avatar
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    Brilliant stuff, one of my favorites from last year.
    Tarik talks about the concept of the album here:

    http://www.moetar.com/#!What-is-Entr...8-039E7BBA08F7

    Hey, Tarik here.

    Since its release, a lot of people have asked me about the concept behind MoeTar’s 2nd album, Entropy of the Century, so I figured a blog post was in order.

    When I first began writing these songs I wanted them to form a narrative about the tumultuous political, economic, social and environmental landscape we are in, countered by the exciting advances in science and technology expanding our ideas about the nature of existence.

    During this writing time I became interested in entropy. Entropy is defined as a lack of order or predictability where a system gradually declines into disorder. However, another way of seeing entropy is that it is actually a system transforming into a richer, more complex form that is progressing beyond our understanding. The laws of thermodynamics also became a fascination for me, the idea that energy can’t be created or destroyed. These two concepts and how they relate to our existence became a central theme for most of the songs that I wrote on this album. I was kind of obsessed.

    The lyrics on the song Entropy of the Century have some lines in particular that explore these ideas. “Perpetual emotion” is a play on the phrase, perpetual motion. The first law of thermodynamics states that a perpetual motion machine is an impossibility. The phrase perpetual emotion implies that love is eternal and an underlying force of the universe.

    “From somewhere, now nowhere” is a reference to energy never being created or destroyed. In the lyrical context it implies that nothing ever really comes into being or dies, it just is.

    The album closes with The Unknowable, which is the narrative coming to an end and reflecting back on the whole experience. It asks the question, “is it impossible to conceive of ones non-existence?”, which to me is unknowable. This ties into the idea that while we can never know what lies beyond our perceived existence, the science may be telling us that we’re already there.

    Now that these songs are out there for you to listen to, they will take on all sorts of new meanings -- as many new meanings as there are listeners. If you want to read the lyrics you can on our website here: http://www.moetar.com/#!lyrics/c1ok9

    Thank you for reading, for listening and creating music and poetry of your own as well.

    - Tarik Ragab

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    Member Lebofsky's Avatar
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    Yeah there is/was another recent MoeTar thread so I'll just chime in to HIGHLY RECOMMEND listening to Tarik's old band E is for Elephant:

    http://eisforelephant.bandcamp.com/a...cus-diabolicus

    I first met Tarik back in 1995 when this band was still active They were absolutely stunning live.

    - Matt

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    Member Yeswave's Avatar
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    yeswave

    Quote Originally Posted by progeezer View Post
    I made so many comments in the other MoeTar thread that I don't want to parrot here, so I'll just say that this is a special album by a very special band.

    Who do they sound like? Only MoeTar.
    ditto. One of my top releases of 2014. Would it be too much to ask for a vinyl release?

  9. #9
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    nice artwork

    will investigate ASAP
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  10. #10
    Very intelligent songwriting. Mega-recommended!

    Macht das ohr auf!

    COSMIC EYE RECORDS

  11. #11
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    mmmmhhh.... maybe the rest of the album willplease me more.
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

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    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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    http://www.moetar.com/#!Matthews-Cal...B-BCFF37A3DA58

    Their guitarist is featured in the new issue of Guitar Player, dissecting a finger twisting lick or two from the album.

  13. #13
    Member wideopenears's Avatar
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    This is on my short list of best of 2014, for sure. Near the top.

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    Quote Originally Posted by progeezer View Post

    Who do they sound like? Only MoeTar.
    And yet their music almost seems like something you've known all your life. Among other matters, they groove so much and have such a good pop sense that its actual complexity often takes a while to notice: The tunes sound so "right" you don't hear the tricky polytonal passages or staggered 16-note syncopations as anything difficult or as more than good, smart pop music. They're like a good pop band from some alternate timeline.

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    Geriatric Anomaly progeezer's Avatar
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    Well stated and I agree completely, John.
    "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

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    Quote Originally Posted by Baribrotzer View Post
    And yet their music almost seems like something you've known all your life. Among other matters, they groove so much and have such a good pop sense that its actual complexity often takes a while to notice: The tunes sound so "right" you don't hear the tricky polytonal passages or staggered 16-note syncopations as anything difficult or as more than good, smart pop music. They're like a good pop band from some alternate timeline.
    I would say to those who haven't yet heard them that they resemble the band Bruford more than anyone else I can think of -imagine Bruford with Annette Peacock moved on several years so their playing has got tighter and more confident and their singer has got got considerably more confident and takes a bigger role. That's about where they fit in my opinion.
    However I wouldn't agree with the "you don't hear the tricky polytonal passages or staggered 16-note syncopations as anything difficult or as more than good, smart pop music" - I was rather too aware of the fact they were being clever for clever's sake on the second album - the vocals take up so much of the space on each track that the others seemed desparate to squeeze super fast multi line riffs into the smallest gaps where the singer drew breath for a few seconds. I feel that they should allow a little more space , particularly between tracks, for the listener to calm down a little before the next onslaught begins. I was so glad of that beautiful track 'Benefits' which creates a little oasis of calm in the otherwise frantic soundscapes.

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    Member Lebofsky's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by alanterrill View Post
    I was so glad of that beautiful track 'Benefits' which creates a little oasis of calm in the otherwise frantic soundscapes.
    Nice to hear, as that's my one tune on the record, and I picked that one for the band knowing it could help be a nice rest stop for the listener.

    Actually, just to add a bit of a tease, we actually tracked another one of my compositions during these sessions which I think would have also been another palette cleanser on this album. But it was a rather long song, the performance not quite meeting up to our quality standards and it admittedly didn't quite aesthetically fit on the record, so it was canned. It contained a rather obvious homage to Gentle Giant's "Interview" that people around here would have enjoyed. I imagine it'll end up on some future recording (MoeTar or otherwise).

    - Matt

  18. #18
    Absolutely fantastic record and one where I'm so drawn into listening to it that I would struggle to do something else at the same time (quite rare!!).

  19. #19
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Ok, I'm definitively ready to check out Moetar! I'll listen to camples but which album do folks recommend I start with?

  20. #20
    Geriatric Anomaly progeezer's Avatar
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    BOTH OF THEM! (There are only two).
    "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

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    That album grubbed my attention while listening to their samples, almost one year ago. Finally I've put my hand on it. And all I can say after the first spin is... WOW... it raised beyond my (high) expectations. Fantastic songs, Tarek Ragab is nearly-a genious... Moorea Dickason on vocals is great. the Artwork is really fine, with that amusing humage (I wont spoil). It's a little pity that the lyrics are not included, it's quite difficult for me to grasp it. I hope it presented elsewhere. but I've got the 'We machine killed the magic / we machine are the magic' line. Its brilliant.

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    Traversing The Dream 100423's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Totemist View Post
    ... It's a little pity that the lyrics are not included, it's quite difficult for me to grasp it. I hope it presented elsewhere...
    Try this:
    http://www.moetar.com/#!lyrics/c1ok9

  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Lebofsky View Post
    Nice to hear, as that's my one tune on the record, and I picked that one for the band knowing it could help be a nice rest stop for the listener.

    Actually, just to add a bit of a tease, we actually tracked another one of my compositions during these sessions which I think would have also been another palette cleanser on this album. But it was a rather long song, the performance not quite meeting up to our quality standards and it admittedly didn't quite aesthetically fit on the record, so it was canned. It contained a rather obvious homage to Gentle Giant's "Interview" that people around here would have enjoyed. I imagine it'll end up on some future recording (MoeTar or otherwise).

    - Matt
    I would like to give a shout out here to Matt and his own fabulous writing. He's a quite gifted composer/musician in his own right and worth checking out, if you haven't: https://mattlebofsky.bandcamp.com/

    I hope that's ok to share, Matt...

    Carry on
    And the code is a play, a play is a song, a song is a film, a film is a dance...

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