GHOST RHYTHMS - avant-jazz progressive band

[XavGel]

Hello there ! I'm new to the forum (WHOHOOOO) and I would like to present myself and my band to you, much appreciated prog fans. I'm Xavier, I'm 36 and I live in Paris. I'm the drummer and co-composer of a band called Ghost Rhythms, which can be described as a blend between the Soft Machine, Magma, Steve Coleman and Bernard Herrmann, plus Genesis, of course, and Pink Floyd. We exist since 2005. The group emerged from different prog-oriented-bands on a commune desire to use jazz experimentation field. We made three albums, two of them are listenable here :
http://ghostrhythms.bandcamp.com
The last one we made, Madeleine, is out since april 1st and we're very proud of it, but you are the judges! It's thought as an alternative soundtrack for Vertigo, the Hitchcock's movie. I'm here to receive feed-back about our work and, more proeminently, to finally understand WHY BRUFORD DID QUIT YES???
Anyway, I'm grateful for any reaction to all that music, and I'll definitely post on those wonderful prog polls. My favorite prog album is Foxtrot, and my favorite track is Siberian Kathru.
Thanks for your attention !
Xavier

[walt]

I received this cd in the mail yesterday. I'm looking forward to spinning it today.

[XavGel]

Hi! Can't wait to hear what you think of it.

[walt]

Hi! Can't wait to hear what you think of it.

It's a winner.There are a few tracks that have a certain sameness in rhythm and feel, imo,but there's more than enough variety and melodic richness to make this a top shelf release,one that i'm sure i'll be returning to often.

Carlotta Valdes may be my favorite track, so far.

[XavGel]

This is great, I'm very honoured you guys like it. And thanks for pointing Carlotta Valdes, we did a hell of a work to get it properly done, so I'm very proud you named this one, Walt. And Ian, I hate to say that, but you'd better hurry if you want both albums since there's only 7 Sept Cercles left. I can keep you one if you want! Neil, thanks for your kind words, it's a thrill to know that this music is listened in Canada (well I sound like saying this is like some faraway magic place and that there's dragons there, but you know what I meant.)

[Poisoned Youth]

Hi! Can't wait to hear what you think of it.

I think it's great and a contender for 2015 for me. Are you generally familiar with the French and Belgian avant-jazz scenes at all? There is some great stuff coming out of both countries. Print, Kami Quintet, Franck Vaillant, Benoit Delbecq, Magic Malik, Aka Moon, Octurn, Jozef Dumoulin, and on and on...

[XavGel]

I think it's great and a contender for 2015 for me. Are you generally familiar with the French and Belgian avant-jazz scenes at all? There is some great stuff coming out of both countries. Print, Kami Quintet, Franck Vaillant, Benoit Delbecq, Magic Malik, Aka Moon, Octurn, Jozef Dumoulin, and on and on...

Yes, I'm familiar with Benoît Delbecq, Magic Malik, Aka Moon (wonderful stuff they did with Bach, did you listen to that? It's called "Pitié"). The others I didn't quite listen. Magic Malik second album (the one with Steve Coleman) is pure pleasure to me.
We're a bit more (I am, anyway) influenced by prog than them I think.

And thanks for calling Madeleine a contender for 2015! It's great.

[XavGel]

Hi everyone. I need some input from you, who already listened to the discs and know it well: in your view, what tune is the more appropriate to use on Bandcamp's Discover feature? I mean, when you go to our Bandcamp page, what tune is more likely to be played first? Thanks for any advice…

[boilk]

Welcome to PE, Xavier. I'm going to download this from Bandcamp. Love the couple of tracks that I sampled, so far.

neil

[NogbadTheBad]

Just heard about you guys in the last week & I'm loving both albums. Will be picking up both soon. Congratulations.

[karel hupjé]

Received my CD's yesterday. Both Madeleine and Sept Cercles are stunning albums. The are highly recommended.

[NogbadTheBad]

Bought Sept Cercles on download from bandcamp, will probably pick up Madeleine pretty soon.

[Polypet]

Wow, yes. What a wonderful listen this is. A Bridge is quite lovely. Nicely done

K

[thedunno]

Received Madeleine yesterday. My first impression is that this is an essential release for avant prog fans. Many more spins will follow.

[rottersclub]

Welcome to PE, Xavier. I bought Sept Cercles from Wayside two years ago, based on Steve F's recommendation. It's a really good album in the jazz-rock vein. I am in the process of putting in an order to Wayside and Madeleine will be on it.

And if you really want to know why BB left Yes, in his autobiography, he basically says that Chris Squire drove him crazy (fou!).

[XavGel]

Thanks for all your kind words. It's very important for us (for me) to receive such comments! And, well, I knew the Fish drove BB crazy, but it sounded phony to me. Come on ! If people would just leave a band because of someone else in the band behaving like shit, well… Wait, that's exactly how it works. Geeeez.
PS: Karel : thanks for all the good press you're making about us just everywhere, it's really sweet.

[thedunno]

This is now officially my favorite album of 2015 :-)

can't wait to get the other two.

[XavGel]

This is now officially my favorite album of 2015 :-)

can't wait to get the other two.

That's a very nice thing to say, thank you! Anyone coming in Paris these days ? We have a couple of dates, with the movie playing behind our backs. Let me know, I'll note you on the guest list.

[Sputnik]

I've had Sept Cercles for some time and enjoy it.

Madeleine arrived last week and I'm just finally spinning disc 2. Nice album. It will need more spins to really absorb, but I think Ghost Rhythms does a nice job of integrating the sounds of jazz and rock. The sounds and instrumentation are very jazz oriented, but it is more composed than most jazz, and has many rock elements present. I'm not a big jazz fan, but I dig this. There is a "saminess" to some of it, but when it gets cranking, it's really great. Ton's of music on this one, being a double.

I guess it doesn't hurt that my wife's name is Madeleine. FWIW, she likes the album too, except she would have preferred a tenor sax solo over the bass clarinet solo on one song on disc 2. But she's a sax player, so she's biased. And she got over it, and just said she's really enjoying the album. She says, "Madeleine rocks." I can't disagree (or I'd be sleeping on the couch).

Bill

[XavGel]

I guess it doesn't hurt that my wife's name is Madeleine. FWIW, she likes the album too, except she would have preferred a tenor sax solo over the bass clarinet solo on one song on disc 2.

Bill

Well, if Madeleine said that, who am I to tell otherwise ? She's always right. I think she's talking about the clarinet bass solo on A Bridge. Thanks for the detailed comment, it's a pleasure to read!

[Zeuhlmate]

Great stuff ! I hope you get a good run in the future !

Reminds me a little of Nick Bärtsch Ronin - and not the least of Genesis & Pink Floyd

[XavGel]

Reminds me a little of Nick Bärtsch Ronin

Oh, Nil Bärtsch, it's an honour to be quoted in the same line as this excellent name…*I love his music. Thanks!

[Zeuhlmate]

I think I can hear notes of Jaga Jazzist in the stew too ?

[XavGel]

I think I can hear notes of Jaga Jazzist in the stew too ?

I personally never listened to them, until 5 minutes ago. That's f***ing good. Animal Chin : what a production, dear God. It may be that some members of the band listen to them, I'll do a poll. Of other influences I know of on our musicians, and I think inevitably one can hear it in the music (even if all is composed by the pianist and I) : the bassist is a Cardiacs and Zappa fan.

[XavGel]

Hey, don't miss our music on this swedish radio program, Kalejdoskop, on sunday. They will talk about us, in swedish. I hope they'll be kind to us. If a swedish-speaking guy or girl in the audience could kindly tell us afterwards if it was nice or nasty, I'll be for ever grateful.