Archives: Life’s Soundtracks:The run was a struggle but the music from Day Six was great!

Day sixSo some days you really look forward to your run, you start, you feel good and the run goes very smoothly. Then there are other days, well, they don’t go as well. Saturdays area often a slow day for me. I work all day at Lippincott and then at Target not getting done until 11:15 plus! Yesterday the day went from 7:15 to 11:15, so overall today this 61 year-old body was moving kind of slow! So this afternoon when I just felt like taking a nap I did some kundalini yoga trying to wake me up, and it worked so I got motivated enough to run, went out and discovered that it was a lot colder and windy than I thought it was, anyway, I put on another layer of clothes and set out. I had created a new four mile course and the start looped around a little, so that, after just a little bit a left turn would have led me back home, which was where I really wanted to go or a right turn would set me on my way into the fourteen mile an hour wind and the first leg of my four mile run. Now the only thing good about heading into the wind on the first two miles of a run is that the wind is at your back on the way back!! That’s what happened and really the only reason that I was able to finish the run! The other thing that got me through the run was the music, as always! The music was from a prog rock band Day Six and their album The Grand Design. So with the wind at my back for half of the run, I made it through with an overall pace of about 10:05 per mile, so overall it was not a bad run! read more

The Safari listens to the Crossover Prog of Bremen’s Eyevory – Euphobia!

So I either have to study more German or stop listening to prog rock from Germany, because for the second time today I was faced with websites written in  German, the band’s native language. First it was Osta LCVE and tonight it was the band Eyevory. I have been listening today to Euphoria the debut album from the band. Eyevory is a  a progressive folk rock band from Bremen, Germany. They describe their music as a “colorful mixture, combining joyful flute melodies, catchy hooks, hard rocking guitar riffs and complex instrumental arrangements without boundaries and barriers.” read more

Archives: Symphonic Prog : Shadow Circus – On a Dark and Stormy Night

On a Dark and Stormy NightOk so maybe I have to reconsider my approach to music listening when it comes to Prog Rock. Typically, I listen to an album and then go and find out about the artist and their music. With Prog Rock I think it is most time wise to visit their site and read about the album BEFORE listening! You see many prog rock artist don’t create songs, they create albums many times concept albums and even when it’s not a concept album the tracks often are based on something!! This became clear with my latest listen, On a Dark and Stormy Night from the band Shadow Circus. Now if I had read Madeleine L’Engle’s classic fantasy novel, A Wrinkle in Time. I would have known that the title of the album is actually from the book and that would have given me a clue that the album is based on the book. Anyway on the first several listens, I enjoyed the music, after going to Wikipedia and reading a synopsis of the book I went back and listened to the album again I liked it even more! And check this out from their website – they’re from New Jersey! read more

Crossover Prog from the UK: Into the Night with Big Big Train

Big Big Train – Crossover Prog – United Kingdom

So my son Andrew came over to me in the market at Target,the other night, when he finished his shift.  He asked if the track from Big Big Train he had put in my Father’s mix made it to my computer. I told him no. Because not all of the tracks transferred  properly to my computer from his thumb drive. He told me that he thought I would like them. He told me their new album English Electric was getting rave reviews and it was really good. So last night and today, I have been listening to the album. He was correct in his opinion that I would like them. They are English prog-rock band composed of: Andy Poole / Dave Gregory / David Longdon / Nick D’Virgilio / Greg Spawton. read more

Archives:Crossover Prog from the UK: Into the Night with Big Big Train

So my son Andrew came over to me in the market at Target,the other night, when he finished his shift and asked if the track from Big Big Train he had put in my Father’s mix made it to my computer. I told him no, see not all the tracks got transferred to my computer from his thumb drive. He told me that he thought I would like them and that their new album English Electric was getting rave reviews and that it was really good. So last night and today, I have been listening to the album and he was correct in his opinion that I would like them. They are English prog-rock band composed of: Andy Poole / Dave Gregory / David Longdon / Nick D’Virgilio / Greg Spawton.   read more

Life’s Soundtrack – Prog from Paris – The Black Noodle Project – Ready to Go!

ready to goSo one way a band catches my attention is by their name. One band that caught my attention today through their name was the Black Noodle Project. I stumbled across the name at New Prog Rock Releases when I was searching for new music and once I saw the name I knew I had to check them out. The band released a new album Ghosts & Memories (you can watch a preview of the album here) on November 15th but I have yet to see that album at any music site like MOG or Spotify. I did find their 2011 release Ready to Go which I put on the iPhone. The album became part of yesterday’s soundtrack. It took a few tracks but with each track I thought,more and more “hey I like these guys: . and by the time arrived at “Ready to Go Part 2” I wanted to explore the rest of the band’s discography!! Here’s what I found out about the bans when I returned home…..from the Prog Archives. read more

The Music Safari discovers great Symphonic Prog from Armenia’s Oaksenham!

Yesterday among my “Just for You” recommendations at MOG was  the album Conquest of  the Pacific from the band Oaksenham. The album was released in 2006 and was recommended because I had listened to Kerrs Pink and Dead Heroes Club.Since I had enjoyed both of those bands,  I read the info  about the band. When I read that they were Armenian the hunt became more interesting!  So  I downloaded  the album to the iPhone and what I found was some great symphonic prog-rock!  The highlight for me was the flute! Some background from their website: read more

Life’s Soundtrack – 2013 Prog Rock From Finland’s Lars Eric Mattsson!

So this morning I was checking the new progressive rock album released in September. What usually catches my attention is the country of origin of the artist. There were several bands from Italy, as well as The Netherlands, the UK, the US and one from Finland Lars Eric Mattson When I saw that Lion Music released the album, I thought, hey, I know that company! They released another album that I listened to recently, Marcus Jidell’sictures from a Time Traveller. When I went back to their website, there was Lars Eric, looking at me from right above Marcus… read more

Life’s Soundtrack – Another Strong Run with Prog Rock from Sweden’s Cloudscape!

Cloudscape – Progressive Metal – Sweden

So while I’m not where I want to be yet, tonight’s run was the first time in a long while that I felt strong through the whole run. The four miles seemed to fly by pretty quickly!! The splits went like this: Mile 1 – 10:01, 2- 10:17, 3, 10:15, 4 10:20 not bad at all! Early in the month, the last two miles were like a 1 minute or so per mile slower than the first two miles. Overall, I was about 1:38 faster than the last time I ran this course!!

The Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the run was some Progressive Metal from Cloudscape a band that hails from. Sweden. From Wikipedia: read more

Prog Explorations – from Germany Crises – Coral Dreams

Coral Dreams

So one of the albums that’s been on the iPhone for a while and really hasn’t been listened too fully is from the German Prog Rock band Crises. The album is their 2009 release Coral Dreams But tonight I was listening to a mix of tracks on the iPhone and several of the tracks on the album came on and they sounded really good , so I went and listened to a few more and I say I am going to have to give the album a full listen! From ProgArchives:

This Prog Metal band from Germany with a melodic / heavy blend characteristic. Very interesting quiet melodic passages shift to crunch speed guitar avalanches. Some vistiosism can be noticed among the musicians – above average in the Prog Metal style. read more