Stop Motion Orchestra released their latest album, Lightworks, on August 28th both on CD and vinyl. Make sure you grab a copy on vinyl. The artwork is splendid.

Opposite Day are releasing their EP, Divide by Nothing, today, September 20th. They have a couple awesome videos with some of the music. They will celebrate the release of this EP on October 11 at Empire Control Room.

Both albums have great pieces and showcase very different aspects of progressive music. The production qualities are also very high and you can tell those two bands pay great attention to their releases.

The progressive and experimental music community in Austin continues to grow. As we gear up for the 2016 Voyager Music Festival, we wanted to provide our readers with a recap of the 2016 season of events, from VoyagerFest and beyond.

– In early 2016 VoyagerFest was officially approved for Texas non-profit status! With this designation, we are able to apply for funding to host charitable events, workshops, and serve the community with state and city support.

Kicking off 2016 with Voyager Nights
VoyagerFest began hosting a concert series to promote for the annual festival and to also provide more platforms for our experimental artists. On January 24, 2016, we held our first Voyager Night at Stateside Theater. eBurner opened the night, and then Ponytrap performed their multi-media production, “Promethean Waltz.” It was a great turnout and success!

Experimental and Progressive Music at SXSW
Bands we love and support made some incredible music during SXSW. Chasca kicked things off at The Highball on the opening Saturday, and Descendants of Erdrick performed at Ugly Fest at Cherrywood Coffeehouse midweek. While there is always much activity going on in Austin, some of the progressive circle migrated to San Marcos for SMFest! This was their first annual gathering down in the hilly college town. Another de Sade did an early set on the Friday of that weekend at Gold Crown near the Square, while Black Ladder entertained the crowd at pizza joint, Valentinos. eBurner hit the stage at Stonewall Warehouse later that night.

Documentary Premiere Party
The second Voyager Night was on April 16, 2016 at The North Door, and this was also the release of our documentary, featuring commentary from last year’s artists. Descendants of Erdrick opened the night, we showed the documentary on the projector screen, and then Circling Drones closed the evening. We are very proud of this short film, and we encourage our readers to share the link!

Austin’s Progressive Music Community Keeps on Growing!
In the interim, the progressive music scene has been busy! Stop Motion Orchestra and Opposite Day teamed up for one of the last shows at Salvage Vanguard Theater; Transit Method‘s EP Release Party was at The Sidewinder in May, coinciding with an event hosted by 101X; more studio work for Proud Peasant at Ohm Recording Facility; and The Aaron Clift Experiment has been nominated for the Progressive Music Awards 2016 while staying active in progressive rock shows throughout Austin.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK

– The Aaron Clift Experiment, Thirteen of Everything, Seven Circles, and Black Ladder will be at Lucky Lounge on July 22, 2016! Check out the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/169750743441518/

– Groove Think, Opposite Day, Transit Method, and Jam Therapy will be sharing the bill for Groove Think’s Tour Kickoff on July 23, 2016 at The Sidewinder! Check out the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/150969178647031/

For continuous updates, please check our Facebook page, or you can check out our articles written here by Walter Daniel, Andy Roach, or myself – Lauren Lyman. Also, you can check us out on Twitter and Instagram too!

We are really looking forward to all of these events and the festival, and we thank you all for your support!

CDs: APL has a remarkable collection of music CDs scattered across its many branches. For example, if you search for Steven Wilson you will find solo albums such as his recent Hand. Cannot. Erase. plus In Absentia by Porcupine Tree along with some of the remixes that Wilson has done for Jethro Tull, ELP, and so forth. You’ll find plenty of CDs like classic Pink Floyd and newer Dream Theater. Jazz­rock fusion is not as well represented as progressive rock but there are Mahvishnu Orchestra and Jeff Beck titles.

Books: Sure, any library has books, but this library has two books with the words “progressive rock” in subtitles! As you might expect in music­-heavy Austin there are many instructional books in the collection for guitar, synthesizers, drums, and more. Most sheet music titles are located in the downtown Central Library with coverage from Pink Floyd to jazz fakebooks. I haven’t found many biographies of interest other than well­ known artists such as David Bowie and Pink Floyd.

DVDs: While major films find their way to streaming services such as Netflix I find that concert videos and music documentaries get little coverage in that world. Fortunately, APL still acquires physical DVDs. The movie about every prog­rocker’s favorite tape-­based keyboard is available: Mellodrama, the Mellotron Movie. There are a couple of Rush concert DVDs (Clockwork Angels and Snakes & Arrows) but you’ll also find Moogfest 2006 featuring Jordan Rudess, Jan Hammer, and Keith Emerson.

Online: Like libraries in other large cities, APL has been expanding online “borrowing” of materials using a growing number of services. One such service is named Overdrive and focuses on ebooks that can be temporarily downloaded to Kindles, Android devices, or iOS devices. More recently the library added a service named Hoopla Digital and it is a winner.

Hoopla Digital: Hoopla seems to be focused on movies, TV episodes, and music but the service does have ebooks such as Mountains Come out of the Sky­­the Illustrated History of Progressive Rock. One of the movies is I Dream of Wires, a documentary about modular synthesizers. Where Hoopla really shines is in the breadth of music. Much of the Kscope label catalog is available such as Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree, The Pineapple Thief, Nosound, Blackfield, and many more. Independents such as Austin’s own Descendants of Erdrick are represented by their Advent album. The local Modern Outsider label is on the service such as shoegaze trio Moving Panoramas and post­rockers The Calm Blue Sea. Progressive rock, prog metal, and fusion artists with multiple albums on Hoopla include Brand X, Dream Theater, The Dixie Dregs, Camel, Steve Hackett, Ultravox, Soft Machine, Fates Warning, Brian Eno, Be Bop Deluxe, Bill Nelson, Kate Bush, Jethro Tull, Marillion, Mike Oldfield, Yes, Ozric Tentacles, Gong, and Mick Karn.

The APL site includes a How do I get started with Hoopla page. Once you have a library card you set up an account with Hoopla, link your card, then download an app to your device (or just use the service in a computer Web browser). Some albums can be downloaded to a device for a week, other albums must be streamed. The problem is that you are limited to six items per month! Fortunately, a multi­-CD title counts as just one item.

At the 2015 outdoor festival Circling Drones performed as a quartet (drums, bass, guitar, sax) that had a laid back, Canterbury vibe much like Soft Machine.  For the Sahara show the group included a keyboardist who injected a different energy into the lineup–a good reference might be The Dixie Dregs.  There were a couple of nice organ solos in the vein of John Novello (Niacin) as well as an extended electric piano solo that was reminiscent of the kind of playing that Adam Holzman has displayed on Steven Wilson’s recent solo tours.

Melodies on some of the songs were doubled by guitar and sax for a sound that echoed the Jeff Beck (guitar)/Jan Hammer (Minimoog) collaborations from the late 1970s.  The set included some burning guitar solos as well as tasteful tenor sax from Matt Moore.

Circling Drones will play an album release show at the Mohawk on Friday, June 17, at 7 PM. Note that this show is one of the many pre-event parties for the Solstice Festival at Pan Am Park on June 18.

Before moving to Sedalia, Missouri in 2013, Danny Brymer was apart of local progressive rock band, The Aaron Clift Experiment. After his move, he formed a progressive rock trio, The Alea Dilemma, who released their debut album last year called Within the Clamor of Voices. This jazz fusion record is a strong and electrifying work, of which the band hopes to portray both complexity and artistry. I reached out to Danny Brymer, the lead vocalist and guitarist, for his views on progressive music, progressive rock, and how we can continue to think forward in the music industry.

“I see classical and jazz music as being art music counterparts to what I consider to be true ‘prog,” Brymer said. “I don’t want to be the ‘elitist prog police,’ but I believe that it is more than a mood or a vibe to capture, but it is working with the elements of music and painting or sculpting with them to create a work of art.”

Specifically on progressive rock, Brymer notes that while some bands today weigh heavily on the technical side of music, he believes there is more to offer.

“It seems like the odd time signatures and conceptual elements of typical prog are the only things really used by some modern prog bands, and the harmonic and melodic aspects are not as developed and end up being not that much different from pop music,” Brymer added. “Now that does not mean that prog needs to be highly technical and busy, because that is not all musical art is. The art songs of Schubert and the restrained, lyrical phrasing of Miles Davis tend to be profoundly simple, yet come from a place of richness and, for me, hold high artistic as well as emotional merit.”

He states that his influences as well as his band’s influences include Yes, Rush, Kansas, Return To Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and many others when writing for a jazz fusion album. However, for Brymer personally, his concentrated years of classical study have specifically enhanced his songwriting.

“Getting into prog initially opened up my interest in classical music and I went neck deep in it for a while,” he commented. “At the same time as a guitarist, I played a lot of jazz and studied the greats such as Coltrane, Charlie Parker, etc and burned through the standards, and I concentrated on that for a while. While studying composition for my master degree, it occurred to me that a rock band is an ensemble just as an orchestra or string quartet, and I can borrow ideas and concepts from that and implement them in a rock setting, as I am an electric guitarist after all.”

He not only hopes to incorporate classical setting norms into the rock/fusion world, but also achieve a balance between cerebral discourse and aesthetic experiences.

“The composers of the early 20th Century lost touch with their audiences with the intense focus on cerebral music that alienated anyone searching for emotional expression,” Brymer speculated. “I believe as long as there is a good balance of focus on the composer, performer, and audience, progressive music can succeed and win people over.”

Also, he adds that progressive music needs to be promoted more often. All the more reason why Voyager Fest is determined to make that happen.

“I always wonder how Beethoven was able to write the complex masterpieces he did and be popular among audiences all over Europe and even America,” Brymer noted. “The culture determines thought, and if there was a way to influence culture more toward the higher arts, then progressive artists could flourish more.”

It’s a continuing challenge for all progressive musicians to overcome in their own circle of friends, with family, among people at the workplace, and to the regulars at the bars. Hence, this is the mission of Voyager Fest-to manifest a high-art, cultural hub as well as motivate all live music scenes to do the same.

To see a recent album review of Within the Clamor of Voices, please visit: http://progulator.com/reviews/the-alea-dilemma-within-the-clamor-of-voices/

For more information on The Alea Dilemma, please visit: http://www.thealeadilemma.com/

For more information on Danny Brymer, please visit: http://www.dannybrymer.com/

Following the first annual Voyager Music Festival, the VoyagerFest organization began coordinating a series of events during the year, which are intended to help build interest, awareness, and a broader audience for the next festival. For the first event, we could not be more excited to have Ponytrap perform a new experimental production entitled Promethean Waltz. The group will headline the event on January 24, 2016 at the Stateside Theater.

The overall intent of the work is to influence society to find human connection in a world overrun by technology. The artists wish to convey this using video projections (by RECSPEC)  string instruments, robot drummers (including one that is larger than life) vocals, theatrics, and more. At the core of Ponytrap are husband and wife, Quentin Thomas-Oliver and Hilary Thomas-Oliver, the former performing on viola and the latter on cello.

“The theme of the show is around the search for home and belonging, ” Hilary said. “In a really direct way, the show is about us building the robots, and we built the robots because Quentin had, for a very long time, he had a vision in his head of this musical project, and he couldn’t find the right drummer to participate so he turned to technology and built the drummer. So, it is the story of us coming to that realization-we can just build it.”

The vision began about twenty-five years ago, during Quentin’s music training. He wrote the music for Promethean Waltz at that time.

“At my very first ever recital, one of those tunes-the Waltz-is from that, from that far back,” Quentin noted. “That’s how deep it goes. It is the realization of something that goes back that far. One of those tunes, which ironically for us is one of our newest tunes, is the very first thing I ever wrote for this project. Again, pushing twenty-five years ago.”

Hilary adds that there is a search for each other in their personal relationship, in their project, and then in the poetic sense-a search for everyone’s own tribe and where we can be ourselves. The metaphor of “home” is what drives the mentality behind the production. It is interesting to note that while we live in a society that is saturated by technology, and by now, in almost everything we do, that Ponytrap’s music is built upon technological grounds.

“For us the technology angle has a lot to do with somewhat making our life easier,” Quentin said, “but in the same way that that’s kind of a frightening thing.” Quentin remarks sometimes Ponytrap will get a negative response on the fact they are using a robot drummer.

Hilary continues, “Ironically enough, our relationship to technology is in defense of the technology of music, even though the theme of the show is sort of like ‘how do you connect on a human level in this world overrun by technology,’ and really it’s about the application of technology. Is it helping you or is it coming between you?”

One way to find that human connection is through creativity. Actor Charles Peter Keichline will be the voice of that creative spark in this show.

“He is the voice that kind of narrates the struggles and the successes that we have had in trying to make this project work,” Hilary added. “It’s kind of Quentin’s inner voice, as he’s tried to get this project off the ground, voicing his frustrations, and also kind of narrating, again, the metaphor on all those different levels.”

Additionally, Voyager Fest introduced Ponytrap to Laurel Barickman, who is the founder of RECSPEC-a visual arts production company. Hilary and Quentin are thrilled to have such fantastic visual work for this event, as well as the other elements combined. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own percussion, to participate, and hopefully achieve an aesthetic and musical synchronicity with the audience.

The music will start at 6 P.M. The electronic artist, eBurner, will be the opening act: http://www.eburnermusic.com

All ticket information can be found on this event page: https://tickets.austintheatre.org/single/SYOS.aspx?p=933

For more details on the event: https://www.facebook.com/events/903092409739391/ and http://www.ponytrapmusic.com/

Visuals for the event: http://recspec.org/

Photo credit: Katie Cowden Photography

Last night, three bands gathered at Hotel Vegas on an otherwise simple Monday night, ready to heat things up for the rock-starved folks on the Austin east side. Unbothered by the mist and scattered rain, the attendees included those from the early comedy show, members of local prog band Wonderbitch, and other music enthusiasts looking forward to the night ahead.

Greenbeard opened the night, with a riff-driven set and a tight, solid groove in the bass and drums. I was immediately taken by such a lock into the rhythm, soulful vocals, and just complete command of the songs. Chance Parker, on guitar and vocals, has a concentrated as well as incandescent presence on stage. Off stage, he mentioned he has an affection for stoner metal, which makes sense, as that seems to be an influence to the songs as well. According to their bandcamp website, they call themselves, “desert rock”; perhaps elaborating on the dazed aesthetic, burning both from the sun and mother Earth. Greenbeard was a fantastic opener for the night.

The next band switched gears in terms of genre, but Transit Method can also switch to many things during the course of a song. This alternative progressive rock band performed at Voyager Fest last June, and for me, it was great to hear their set up close this time around, as there is a lot to catch. Their overall strength serves their band name-being able to seamlessly transition from one meter/section to another. They can change it up in the rhythm section (Danny Cruz Borja, Jr. on bass, Mike LoCoco on drums), while the vocals (Matt LoCoco, also on guitar) like to sit up top and move the song forward. This was a delightfully, intense performance.

Mountain Rag closed the night, and brought us back to riff-driven rock, except with a rootsy and hard blues feel. Ryan Nelson, on vocals and bass, can really resonate on both of his instruments; for sure, that voice is clear above the mix. There is something to be said about keeping the heavy and fully distorted sound in rock today. In fact, do we remember rock ‘n’ roll? The “rock” and “roll” are still not mutually exclusive, and this band can remind us of that.

Overall, the three bands powered through the night, providing liberation, deliberation, and the unconventional.

For more information on Greenbeard: http://www.greenbeard.bandcamp.com/

For more information on Transit Method: https://transitmethod.bandcamp.com/

For more information on Mountain Rag: https://mountainrag.bandcamp.com/