I can tell I've been at a prog festival for a few days because I originally read that as "Lots of MAGMA hats."Originally Posted by Camelogue
I can tell I've been at a prog festival for a few days because I originally read that as "Lots of MAGMA hats."
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The internet was better before Berners-Lee let the riff-raff in.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
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“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
If you don't do the Dime a Dozen torrent thing, remind me in a week or two and I can put it up on Dropbox and provide a link.
That's the lad. He's an impressive dancer and was fearless up on that stage.YOU MEAN THIS RANDOM LITTLE KID
I'd be up for that too...
Dave Sr.
I prefer Nature to Human Nature
Been back for a couple days and am back at work. This past weekend was one of the best for me, too, and am already figuring out my vacation days for next year's ProgDay.
I liked IZZ a lot. I've seen them 6 or 7 times over the years and they get better and better every time I see them. I got a kick out of Strange Changes ("Rock Lobster" was quite the hoot), they practically being neighbors of mine up here in Boston, which I didn't know until I visited their table.
Lou
Looking forward to my day in court.
So, for a completely different take on the ProgDay 2019 bands, here's my list, from most favorite to least favorite:
Marbin: For me, the best band at the festival. Excellent jazz-rock compositions and execution, not to mention the hilarious story telling between songs. Thanks to Michael for bringing them in at the last minute. Without them (and AdC) this would have been a disappointing year for me.
Accordo dei Contrari: I love these guys and couldn't wait to hear some pieces from their fantastic new album. I also enjoyed talking with Giovanni at the hotel and show. They're very friendly and accessible. I only wish they included the female vocalist (Patrizia Urbani) and violin (Alessandro Bonetti, of Deus ex Machina) from their latest album, but that's a lot of expense for just a couple of tracks.
Us, Today: The compositions were top-notch. Captivating, interesting, engaging. They created a large space-filling sound with just three people, but I do think the would benefit from adding a bass player, rather than Kristin having to (literally) split her playing with left hand on the keyboard and right hand on vibes. At times the execution was a little rough around the edges for me. I did not care for the tone of the guitar which came across a little screechy at times, nor did I care for the occasional chiptune pad from the vibes. At one point, Kristin explained that they had never played at a prog event before. They've done jazz, hip-hop, etc., but regarding ProdDay, she said "We feel at home here. This felt good". I look forward to hearing more of them and seeing where their music goes.
IZZ: I had never heard IZZ until their set at ProgDay, and I was pleasantly surprised. They were the third set on day one, and for me, it represented the true beginning of ProgDay, as the prior two bands left be wanting. Strong compositions and skillful execution. During their second piece, they sneaked in a short riff from Yes (Close to the Edge, did you hear it?), and who can deny that they must have had the author Douglas Adams in mind when they composed "Don't Panic" and "42"? Nice work. They gained a new fan.
Mike Keneally: For me, this set was more generic rock than prog. Well done, but not captivating or interesting.
Strange Changes: Strange changes, indeed. Sorry, too much screechy metal and scream vocals. Their compositions were a messy amalgam of incongruous styles. Just as my mind starts grooving on a nice jazzy segment, they jump into heavy metal and totally harshed my buzz. Their music is like looking at a painting where the left side is painted in realism, the middle in abstract, and the right side in pointillism. It just doesn't work. Sorry.
Valence: Good technical skills, but with all three guitars flailing at once, they just created thick, impenetrable audio mud.
Morglbl: Hey, I have an idea... let's chug some brewskies, crank some harsh tunes, scream our lungs out, and verbally assault anyone we see. That might be the expected antics of a bunch of unruly teens or twenty-somethings, but not of a band on stage at a prog festival in front of a bunch of mature adults. There were several instances of skillful guitar play (I mean picking strings, not thrashing chords), but overall, their entire set was an assault on my senses.
My thoughts on this years PD:
Got in thurs evening, too late to catch Marbin or Chaka Khan but just enough time to grab a bite to eat and sit around poolside for a few drinks and plenty of yucks.
Friday night we ran into Mr's Geezer and Lopez - Geez indicating that he was not into a standing show and was going to pass on the pre-show, which in turn we had a lovely dinner together along with Philsunset and his brother Ken (a festival newbie!)
Saturday -
Valence - Kicking the festival of with a very tight instrumental Math Rock/Prog Metal band that were like having a much needed energy drink. I really did enjoy their technical facility along with the heavy sound. Things were off to a great start.
Strange Changes - This is one of these bands that you can't pigeonhole, equal parts Jazz, Metal, Rock, Funk. If you're making comparisons Mr. Bungle comes to mind and even newer bands like Thank You Scientist and Karmic Juggernaut. I really liked their style a lot and the covers that were seamlessly morphed into their songs like B-52s Rock Lobster (with a really pissed off Fred Schneider) and a nice version of Tears For Fears Everybody Wants To Rule The World. Somebody also mentioned they did a Dillinger Escape Plan tune i wasn't familiar with. Will definitely be keeping an eye out for these guys.
Izz - This was my 4th time watching Izz, seems like they get around a lot and so i had an idea what to expect with their brand of symphonic rock. While i've always respected them they've never grabbed me that hard.
Their performance last saturday was a different story, i don't know what it was but they really connected with me, i was smitten! Maybe it was the new material, or John's Rickenbacker bass, or Paul's blistering guitar solos, the vocal harmonies, the double percussionist, man, it just worked so well! I really look forward to the next time.
Accordo Dei Contrari - An instrumental quartet of guitar, bass keyboards/sax and drums from Italy, oh, and those glorious Hammond organ and analog synth tones, man! I was not really familiar with this band, they have a similar sound to DFA and even a bit of Mahavishnu Orchestra which i like very much, all performed by top notch players that work amazingly well together. Would absolutely love to see them again.
Sunday -
Marbin - So i had listened to the samples of Farmhouse Odyssey on the PD site and while it seemed good nothing really stuck with me but i remained hopeful. Then blammo! Farmhouse cancels late saturday and Marbin saves the day (literally!) I really liked them last time they were here and then Dani rips out heads off in the daytime proceeds to entertain us for hours afterwards at the after-pool party with Gypsy Jazz.
The performance sunday morning was just amazing, absolutely "tore the house down" good! On top of that storytime (Sid Yiddish, The Boss) was hilarious. It just blows my mind how they were able to pull this off and do it with the utmost professionalism under those time constraints. Just so happens they will be at a jazz festival about 100 miles from my house this saturday, guess where i'll be?
Us, Today - Quite simply - heard the samples and loved them, saw them live and completely gobsmacked! Instrumental combination of processed vibes, guitars and drums made some amazing music. Extra credit to drummer Jeff Mellot for playing those really hypnotic beats that kept things flowing beautifully. Somebody mentioned similarities to Tortoise which i agree and might also add a little Stereolab and even some Krautrock. Really hope to see them again.
Mike Keneally and Andy West with Nick Small - This was one of those things i knew was going to be great with Mike and Andy, but who was going to play drums?? Hmmmm. Holy smokes, whoever this young guy Nick Small is i sure hope we get to see a lot more of him. A few years back i saw Mike with Bassist Doug Lunn and Gregg Bendian on drums and it was pretty damn awesome, but i think this combo was even better. The story of how they only played for the first time the day before for a rehearsal is off the hook, they sound like they've been together for years. I really enjoyed the power and enthusiasm Nick brought with his drumming and how great it was hearing some familiar songs with a fresh perspective. One of the highlights was hearing the Dregs Country House Shuffle with Mike channeling Steve Morse and Allen Sloan while sounding like Mike. And holy cow nobody pumps out low frequencies like Andy West! This was a hugely anticipated show for me and exceeded all expectations.
Morglbl - Let me just state i am not a fan of the million note per second instrumental wankery however Morglbl have the ability to shred with the best of them and leave you entertained while keeping a huge smile on your face the whole time. These crazy Frenchmen are the real deal - able to play their asses off, pull you in with dynamics then smack you around some more while making it look easy and do it all with a great sense of humor. On top of that they are very accessible before and after the show and seem like genuinely nice guys who enjoy their fans. If they were able to come back every year it would be alright with me. Certainly the best way to cap off a fantastic weekend.
And of course, another high quality Sunday night pool party featuring the usual suspects along with some new friends, plenty of hijinks and always great to hang out the performers from the fest. It's what makes this a really great community.
I think i say this every year, this was the best one yet, i really did enjoy everything start to finish. Looking forward to next year!
Dorsal Sak 2020
Last edited by progholio; 09-05-2019 at 04:52 PM.
Arrived Friday at about 8:20 and immediately headed out to see the Devil's Staircase. Caught the end of Bruteus who did a nice version of YYZ. TDS is very mesmerising music filled with aggressive riffs. Luis Nasser took the mic with his usual panache on the song intros and the playing was solid all around. I look forward to their upcoming debut album.
Saturday
Valence - Crushing math-metal, which I have no issues with. It started out a little relentlessly busy, but got better as the set went on, featuring songs with more dynamics and hence, more interest. Nothing wrong with some crunch to start things off.
Strange Changes - As someone stated above, there are some similarities between this band and Karmic Juggernaut from last year. A myriad of styles were thrown out...so predictably some of it worked for me, and some lost my interest. The singer is a very good lyricist (reminding one of Zappa's sardonic wit, at times) with a slightly acquired taste vocal style. When the band kicked into a wicked riff, it was bliss. Very interesting band, for sure.
IZZ - I've been on board since 2002's I Move, so knew I'd enjoy it going in. A very polished and emotional performance...John Galgano is really sounding great on his 'Rick' and they mixed in a lot of classic older songs with a big chunk of the new album. Great stuff.
Accordo Dei Contrari - One of the bands that I was looking forward to the most, as I have and really like all of their albums. Great analogue Hammond and Rhodes sounds, and loads of kick-ass riffs encased in tricky time signatures, did not disappoint. I still wish they would get an actual bass player, though!
Sunday
Marbin - Well, I was looking forward to seeing Farmhouse Odyssey, but since I have never actually seen Marbin live, this was a great bonus. Bravely driving all night to fill in the vacated spot, they are obviously an iron-tight touring powerhouse. Great fusion, filled with awesome soloing from guitar and sax, particularly.But what really made the set fun, was the extended stories about the song titles. I don't think that I have ever heard better mic technique from a band...Sid Yiddish, The Boss, The World of Computers...I could probably be happy just listening to the song intros, on their own!
Us, Today - Interesting act from Cincinnati (apparently, they actually get bar gigs there, playing this kind of stuff?!), led by Kristin Agee on vibes. Captivating avant rock, and a lot of people really enjoyed them. I dug some of it, but also found a bit of a lack of variety, and sometimes the guitar parts were a bit intrusive. What did work for me, I really liked. They seemed very surprised and overwhelmed at how well the prog audience got them, so that was really nice to see.
Mike Keneally and friends - Every Mike Keneally show is different, and this was no exception. For 6 hours of rehearsal, this trio really cranked it out, and the cover of the Immigrant Song was awesome. I'm not familiar with Dregs material at all, but many were pleased to hear it.
Morglbl - This was the band that put it over the top, for me. Amazing showmanship, chops, audience interaction and just flat out fun, gave everything a boost. All great musicians and guitarist Christophe Godin is an absolute monster. You know when you see Mike Keneally's jaw on the floor, you have the chops. Great exclamation point on another amazing Progday.
As always hanging with friends in such a relexed, music friendly atmosphere was great. I thought that the weather was superb and if this really is the last Progday for Progeezer, well I got in every hug that I could! Already looking forward to next year.
neil
I just googled "ProgDay 2019" to see if I could find any blog posts or reviews - unfortunately no luck. But I did stumble on this inexplicable page:
https://thebettersleepstore.com/prog...-next-weekend/
It's a promo for ProgDay 2014. It was clearly written by someone who knew absolutely nothing about ProgDay but wanted to drive traffic to the Better Sleep Store site (kind of ironic considering how little sleep many ProgDay attendees get), so he just cherry-picked some info from ProgDay's web site and made up the rest.
The page claims to have been written by a therapist from Australia, but has a byline of "Scranton, PA". And throughout the entire page, the author appears to think that Chapel Hill, NC is just west of Scranton, PA. I almost wonder if he got ProgDay and NEARFest confused somehow.
He also, for reasons unknown, thought it would be a good idea to combine ProgDay's banner text with Simak Dialog's logo.
He says that ProgDay was "born in Scranton" and is "coming to Scranton next weekend". He gets the venue name wrong ("beautiful Stonybrook Farm"). He thinks Scranton is next to Carrboro, NC. And then there's my favorite line, "I don't know any of these bands".
It's just....weird. Seriously weird.
--
The internet was better before Berners-Lee let the riff-raff in.
Damn, I was hoping my annual ProgDay scrapbook page (currently under construction) would be the first to unleash Dörsal Sak upon the world.
Not sure the world is ready for Dorsal Sak
Yeah, very weird indeed. There is, however, a Scranton NC in the eastern part of the state, but it doesn't explain all the other bogus claims.
I've finally finished going through all my ProgDay photos and audience recordings, and have put my annual "scrapbook" web page up, if anyone's interested:
http://eichler.byethost11.com/progda...ogDay2019.html
The audience recordings are now all up on the Dime a Dozen site. Most of them came out fairly well this year - at least listenable. If you want to hear them but don't do the torrent thing or aren't a member on Dime, I put the recordings up as MP3s on Dropbox. Send me an email at eichler2@comcast.net and I'll send you the links.
Great read, thanks for posting.
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.
As always, thanks for the summary and review, Bob! I like the personal story as well as the festival/music commentary. Here are some thoughts about a few things from your webpage:
> Accordo dei Contrari
> They're very good...but as with their previous ProgDay performance I came away thinking that I probably should have liked them more than I actually did. I can't really put my finger on it, but I did notice that when people were listing their favorite bands of the weekend, I didn't hear many pick AdC.
I felt the same way. I liked them a lot but didn't love them as much as I expected to. Strangely enough, they were one of my favorite bands at Progstock last year. Really loved them there! I wonder what the difference was?
> After AdC wrapped things up out at the farm, Michele and I went back to our hotel room to get cleaned up and then decided to go to the Mellow Mushroom, a pizza place we had really liked the year before. The trip turned into a bit of a disaster. Chapel Hill isn't the easiest place to find a parking spot on the best of days, and this was apparently the worst of days.
Rhea and I stayed WAY clear of the Chapel Hill Franklin Street area that day. UNC had a football game which impacts not only that immediate area but other areas in a wide radius. We ended up going to a Magiano's a couple of exits down highway 40.
> Marbin
> When they finally got to go crash in the cabin that the promoter had gotten for them, they discovered that they had to share it with a drunken biker clown with a broken leg. The band's drummer and bassist at the time weren't digging the "negative clown energy," so they went back to the festival and later returned with some girls. But they made too much noise and angered the clown, who called the promoter, who showed up and screamed "I let you use my cabin and you bring DIRTY WHORES here?!?" "So this song is called Dirty Whores."
You can't make up stuff this ridiculous!
> Us, Today
> Anyway, I was expecting to like this band based on the sample tracks linked from the ProgDay web site, and they exceeded my expectations. I ended up buying two of the three CDs they were selling, and now regret not getting the other one.
They were the big surprise of the festival for me. Loved this band!
> Mörglbl
I must be one of the few people who found them lacking. I enjoyed their energetic, fun set for about 15 minutes or so, but then it just seemed to be more of the same shtick. I was bored enough to go watch them from the pavilion. They regained my attention with Purple Haze due to the spontaneous inclusion of the guest stars. The little kid was amazing!
Nice picture of my grandson Eli with his back up band Morglbl
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS!
It was great meeting you and Eli at the fest. Thanks for the crab dip recipe as well!
Ed's World Famous Crab Dip!!
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.
So good this year that if you ate too much you didn't even care if you had to pay an extra visit to port-a-potty land
"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
Great review as always Bob. Wish I could have been there.
You were missed Steve. If you haven't heard, in honor of the 25th anniversary, Michael Bennett gave a quick history of ProgDay after the first band and mentioned your role in keeping the festival going back in the early 2000s. There was an audible "Aw" in the crowd when he said you couldn't be there this year.
Yeah, but a lot of them also were sad when they finally realized that I really meant it when I said that my body just can't do the trip anymore after this year.
So try not to get too excited about the adulation from the ProgDay crowd, SS. I'm living proof that there's no accounting for taste with these people.
"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 got several good pictures from that Purple Haze jam.
PurpleHaze1.jpg
PurpleHaze2.jpg
PurpleHaze3.jpg
PurpleHaze4.jpg
PurpleHaze5.jpg
No I had not heard about that. Very cool.
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