Bent Knee - You Know What They Mean

“When she counted all the pieces they didn’t add up/thimble breaks the abacus into thin strata/oversharp cynical/out of date/if you got a bone to pick with time/WE GOT A SCORE TO SETTLE TOO!” from the snarling arrangements of Bent Knee’s second piece called Bone Rage, it almost sounds like hell has arrived by blowing the doors down with an eruptive cannon blast, looking for a massive fight.

There’s no denying that Bent Knee have been around for 10 years. And their music can still grab you unexpectedly like an enormous flower that has opened to reveal its true glory. That and their fifth studio album on the InsideOut label entitled You Know What They Mean, a follow-up to Land Animal, has finally unleashed the beast from their cages as it continues to attack its prey.

It is loud, brutal, scary, and intensive that I’ve ever listened to. Catch Light has this chugging bass thump by Jessica Kion while Ben’s guitar snarls some more to get out of its prison for the first two minutes and eight seconds as Ben becomes free to bring out gigantic patterns for Gavin to reach towards the sky.

Garbage Shark sees Chris Baum plucking the intensive scenarios on the strings from his violin as it becomes very post-apocalyptic while the rhythm gives Bent Knee a chance to honor the atmosphere’s between Supersister’s No Tree Will Grow (On too High a Mountain) before travelling to hurtle through the cosmos of the post-rock version of Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd on Astronomy Domine.

Golden Hour is Bent Knee’s travel towards the seven seas of ambient voyages for the first two minutes to honor both Brian Eno’s Another Green World and Joy Division as Hold Me In gives Gavin a chance to do this Jazz swing on the drums before Courtney and Jessica set up this unbelievable twist with nightmarish vocals into this romantic bliss before erupting into a shining diamond.

They’re almost saying to the listener, “We got something very powerful. We can’t show it you until the very end.” And the magical powers they have are very damn good. Bent Knee’s new album is the group at their finest. They bring over the light and darkness together on You Know What They Mean.

And throughout their 10 years, since their formation at Berklee College of Music, they’re keeping the engines running hot. And they are one of the most amazing, scariest, and intensive bands I’ve listened to.

Nektar - Skywriter/Devil's Door

For 50 years, Nektar were often considered under the radar in the history of Progressive Rock. They weren’t massive like ELP, Genesis, Yes, and Jethro Tull. But they not just had a following, but released so many classic albums including; Remember the Future, Journey to the Centre of the Eye, Down to Earth, and perhaps one of my favorites, A Tab in the Ocean. Among supporters including Iron Maiden, Ian Curtis of Joy Division, Captain Sensible of the Damned, and the late great Frank Zappa, who admired the band so much, he got them to open for him back in 1973 during the time he was promoting Over-Nite Sensation.

Now it’s been three years since lead guitarist and singer Roye Albrighton, who passed away on July 26^th from a long illness, the question remained was, should Nektar move forward? I asked myself the same question when Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso made the decision to continue with Tony D’Alessio when he stepped into the shoes of Francesco Di Giacomo in during that same year. And he fitted in perfectly as the album Transiberiana worked well.

Well Nektar are doing the same thing by not just moving forward, but keeping Roye’s spirit and legacy alive. They’ve released their first single Skywriter B/W Devil’s Door this year. The opening track is going to be on their upcoming album, The Other Side which will be out next year. It’s also their first studio album since their seventh studio release was recorded in the states in 1977 entitled, Magic is a Child.

Back in July, they launched a Kickstarter campaign to complete and fund the album from start to finish. And they had reached their goal with 235 backers and pledged $33,667 as they are about to bring their album for 2020 to life. Alongside the original members including Ron Howden, Derek “Mo” Moore, and Mick Brockett, they also include Ryche Chalanda of Fireballet, Randy Dembo from 2005, and world-class keyboardist and newcomer, Kendall Scott.

The genesis of these two songs, one of which features Roye’s guitar introduction on Devil’s Door, came about in 1978 recording in Derek’s basement in Chatham, New Jersey. Unfortunately, it was put on hold until it was the right time to bring the music to life with new statistics and conceptualize ideas. Now while the new album will be out next year, let’s check out their first single.

Skywriter was originally titled as Sky Pilot. But for Derek, he didn’t like it so much. But for Ryche, he switched it around and it became Skywriter. The song begins with with Howden doing a rim click groove on his drum kit to set up the countdown as Chlanda and Moore gets the controls to engage by heading back into Outer Space once more. Scott’s piano goes into a whole new scenario beyond our solar system as I can hear almost some snippets of the Mellotron thrown in.

The midsection has a bit of their nod to A Tab in the Ocean. Knowing that Nektar haven’t forgotten their roots, Scott’s Organ goes beyond those planets as he raises the temperature level up for Moore and Chlanda to come up with some of these amazing riffs between the two of the them as the band members head back down to Earth with Ryche’s killer improvisation on his guitar.

Devil’s Door as I’ve mentioned earlier, starts off with Roye Albrighton’s guitar introduction. It’s almost as if he’s right there with them. And while they’re keeping his legacy alive, they both know they’re making sure they haven’t forgotten his spirit in the track. This was an old song that Nektar did back in 1974, which I believe it was during their Down to Earth-era that they performed in concerts, but never got around to finishing it.

But listening to this track, it is a knockout. It deals with the subject of flying away to get away of making a deal with the devil himself which is beyond the other side. Because you may never know that he may have a card underneath his sleeve. And not knowing what kind of bargain he would fool them with. It is hard, punchy, and featuring this rising rhythm section as Scott’s synthesizers take a dip into the king of twilight that await our fellow comrades to see what the future has in store for them.

For me, this was a welcoming return for Nektar to have all their energy juice’s go up to 100. And I’m really looking forward to their new album next year. I think in 2020, they might return for another Journey into the Centre of the Eye once more.

Roland Buhlmann - Crucial

I don’t know how this came to my earphones attention, but this here is a guitarist that has taken the structures of minimal, progressive, and jazz like no other. His name is Roland Buhlmann. When I first heard his music on his bandcamp website, I was quite taken aback. It was like something had landed and taking the temperature levels up a notch by making it, a big challenge for me to tackle.

Roland isn’t just a guitar player, but he’s also a composter and a photographer. According to his biography on his website, he’s been doing photography since the early ‘80s by using Pinhole Cameras. Roland would later start taking these abstract photos in 1992 as he would make arpertures with several holes and different formats. But let’s get straight to his third studio album released this year.

With Crucial, he combines the ingredients of Sonar, Robert Fripp, Markus Reuter, and Gyorgy Ligeti by honoring the master’s work as he steps upwards to the big bright light and seeing what is about to happen next behind closed doors. And with a little help from Mark Wingfield, who has mastered the album, you can imagine that David Lynch himself might need him to score hopefully the next season of Twin Peaks.

Uvkal takes us into the land of the rising sun for the first minute and forty-eight seconds before changing gears into something that has a mysterious vibrant landscape that can be quite unexpected for going into that location while Roland uses his Aeon Sustainer on Higgayon. He creates a surreal effect on his instrument by painting this structure as if he’s honoring three of the masters; Stephan Thelen, Salvador Dali and the early years of Tangerine Dream from their Ohr-era.

Buzzing walks you through this dangerous maze that takes you inside the catacombs with some snarling and eerie consistency’s that feature the sounds of someone being tortured with some clanking effects and fast-sped guitar lines. You begin to find out that this is something that will keep you guessing until the very end with some unexpected plot twists.

Roland travels to the Middle-East with Arabon with another slice of the mysterious locations that are forbidden, but capturing the darker areas in which they’ve become abandoned for centuries as he uses the Aeon Sustainer to create this wandering scenario of what has happened while the title-track sees him honoring the two masters with a different tone, early Black Sabbath and King Crimson.

Crucial is quite a surprise this year that Roland Buhlmann has taken us into those different locations by punching through those doors that have now been opened widely. So for me, this was quite an adventure that I’ve embarked on, and I hope to hear more of Roland’s music by finding out by seeing and hearing from what happen next.

King Crimson - The ReconstruKction of Light

In the year 2000, King Crimson released their 12^th studio album on the Virgin label entitled, The ConstruKction of Light, a follow-up to their 11^th studio release, THRAK. By this time Bill Bruford and Tony Levin departed from the band. From a double trio to a double duo, Bruford formed a second mark of Earthworks in 1997 while Levin worked Dream Theater members Mike Portnoy and John Pertucci on a project called, Liquid Tension Experiment (LTE) in the same year also.

The quartet during that time frame considered Fripp, Belew, Gunn, and Mastelotto. The album goes into some deep darker territories with nightmarish landscapes. When it was released in May of 2000, Robert wasn’t too happy of the way the album was completed. According to his diary on October 10, 2011 on the Discipline Global Mobile website, Robert believed that “it doesn’t convey the power of music, to a greater extent than any of the King Crimson studio albums.”

Both Robert and King Crimson’s manager David Singleton couldn’t find the original recordings of the album to make another 40^th anniversary reissue. So Pat Mastelotto returned to re-record the material on both his electric and acoustic drumkit. Remixed by Don Gunn from the multi-track tapes, except the ProjeKct X track by Pat and Bill Munyon, The ReconstruKction of Light is a return to the forbidden wastelands once more.

And with an incredible artwork by P.J. Crook, it makes you want to go back and revisit this album once more. This was also my first time listening to this album. Around that time in the early to mid 2000’s, I was only focusing on their golden period from 1969 to 1974. But then I began to realize that it was more than just their golden-era, but moving forwards into the ‘80s, ‘90s, and early 2000’s.

But listening to The ReconstruKction of Light, it takes a few listens that might just knock your socks off. The opening track of ProzaKc Blues, sees Adrian Belew delving into the voices of Captain Beefheart, Howlin’ Wolf, and a robotic version of Tom Waits. The World’s My Oyster Soul Kitchen Floor Wax Museum sounds almost like a Monty Python sketch. But you could tell that Robert has a surreal sense of humor in the realms of Dadaism.

You have this militant section from Pat, intensive guitars from Adrian and Robert while Adrian sings through a megaphone about the dystopian ‘50s kitchen frame by honoring the Grand Wazoo. There are some elements of the Post-Rock structures from the ‘80s era as Crimson goes into uncharted waters as Fripp lays on some monstrous growling as if he had unleashed the Beast unexpectedly to reign more terror again before the piano goes into off-key section honoring a hay-wiring effect of George Gershwin’s concerto.

The ConstruKction of Light starts off with Trey’s incredible Warr chomp as he becomes this private detective by capturing the criminal by leaving more difficult clues that he’s left behind for him to solve more unexpected changes between Mastelotto, Belew, and Fripp. The second part is delving into the crunching melodies that crosses barriers of The Mars Volta’s Frances the Mute-era.

Belew sings back and forth in this chanting mode and sings once more for Fripp to climb up and down the ladder to see what Adrian will come up with next. FraKctured sees Robert returning back to the roots of the John Wetton period during the sessions of Starless & Bible Black by continuing by extending the classic, Fracture with a little twist of lemon.

Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Part 4 keeps the engines revved up by increasing the intensity level up to 180 degrees by adding these click-clacking effects with another militant march on the first section. The second segment sees Fripp going into this gigantic tidal wave by delving into the world of the Red period before he closes the gate into the third and final section for the stomp to happen more with extending the nightmarish details that aren’t going to be pretty.

The closing track features one of the pieces by ProjeKct X entitled Heaven & Earth. Now the ProjeKct X recording took place during the sessions of The ConstruKction of Light. Now the ProjeKcts started back in the late ‘90s and as a spin-off to King Crimson right up into 2006. And this was one of the first times I’ve listened to one of the ProjeKcts and I thought it was very interesting to go beyond the structures of going from atmospheric, ambient, and industrial.

The DVD contains the full-length album of ProjeKct X’s Heaven & Earth, including the original mix of The ConstruKction of Light along with a PCM 2.0 New Stereo Mix, and the Surround Mix in 5.1. It also contains a 15-page booklet with liner notes by King Crimson expert Sid Smith, who will be releasing a forthcoming revised edition of his book, In The Court of King Crimson that was originally released in 2002.

It also includes in the booklet, photos of the band both performing and at Studios, concert poster for the German leg during their 2000 European tour, lyrics, and a digital audio tape with track sheets during the recording sessions of the album. Now The ReconstruKction of Light is a return to hear King Crimson of what was from their original release.

Alongside Lizard that Robert Fripp has reconciled over thanks to the incredible mix by Steven Wilson ten years ago, Don Gunn’s mix of The ConstruKction of Light is quite good and I think Robert has finally given a change of heart on a new light of King Crimson’s 12^th studio album.

Cedric Hendrix - I Can't Be the Only One Hearing This: A Lifetime of Music Through Eclectic Ears

Now it’s been a good while since I wrote another book review. On my blogsite, Music from the Other Side of the Room that has been going on for 11 years. I’ve done two book reviews which might be true or not. The first one I did was back in 2011 of Mark Powell’s Prophets & Sages: An Illustrated guide to Underground and Progressive Rock 1967-1975. And Anil Prasad’s book, Innerviews: Music Without Borders. So it’s time to do another book review. And this one is a real special treat for you.

Cedric Hendrix is a name you may or may not recognize. But for all of us, music has always been a part of the soundtrack of our lives. Cedric has always provided the music in his life also. For nearly four decades, Cedric is more than just a geek, but he’s always searching for real good music that will be his next cup of coffee.

And his new book released last year entitled, I Can’t Be the Only One Hearing This: A Lifetime of Music Through Eclectic Ears, he takes us on a journey that makes us want to go through our CD/Record collection that has been with us for the rest of our lives. Published by Global Publishing Group, the book travels through 449 pages of the bands/artists he grew up on.

From the realms of XTC, King Crimson, Genesis, Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, and Joni Mitchell, Cedric takes the reader through a trip down memory lane. Born in Arkansas and settling in St. Louis, Hendrix grew up with his parents collection of listening to the soul/R&B sounds of Motown, Stax, and the Philly sound they would listen to the radio and then buy the song from the stores after liking what they heard.

When he was five years old, after getting his first record player and listening to the stories of Jack and the Beanstalk and Rumplestiltskin, he discovered perhaps one of the true visionaries which was the late great David Bowie. After hearing Space Oddity, his life changed. But for him, its more than just a trip down memory lane. He talks to people including Radio DJ Randy Raley, and his discussion of various record stores and the subject matter on downloadable music.

Not only that, but he talked to musicians from Markus Reuter, Adrian Belew, Chick Corea, and journalist Anil Prasad. When you read some of the topics he talks about, you can understand why its been going on during the times now with commercial radio, his brief period working in a record store and the changes between Best Buy and F.Y.E., and what is happening now, you could understand that Cedric is giving the readers a chance to open their eyes right now.

And after reading the book, it shows that Cedric shows no sign of stopping of listening to real, real good music. So if you’re sick and tired of watching and hearing things that are on MTV, VH1, and on commercial radio nonsenual bullcrap, then this book is worth checking out. He also runs his own blogsite entitled CirdecSongs in which he does interviews, stories on the open road, and reviewing classics and new gems. So in the words of Jack Kerouac, “There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.”

Please check out his website CirdecSongs:

https://cirdecsongs.com/ 

Travis Benson - Travis Benson

Travis Benson is a name you probably may not be familiar with. He was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He has a different way to write and compose his own music. It has this structure that goes beyond by pushing the envelope with the release of his sole self-titled debut album release this year.

And with a little help from Bent Knee’s Courtney Swain who appears on the opening track of Sun Song, it shows that Travis has got a long way to go. And throughout the four centerpieces that are on his debut release, shows that he can go as far as he can go.

On Sky & Weather Travis channels the late great Harry Nilsson during his Nilsson Schmilsson-era by going through this playground slide of his guitar the sounds like an arpeggiated carousel by making it lift through alternative routes that opens up various locations of these doors for Travis to embark on. Braindead Megaphone has thumping bass', harpsichord, punky chords, and eerie punches that give Benson real jolts of electricity.

The midsection goes through some Clockwork Orange territory as the sounds of TV’s showcasing the news, protesters rioting and running amok while showing the listener of what America has become. And it isn’t pretty. As I’ve mentioned earlier, the opening track of Sun’s Song has a happy-go-lucky unexpected rhythm that he does to go into some alternative, finger-picking fanfare’s, intensive, punchy, and going into the roots of Bent Knee’s music thanks to Courtney’s amazing background vocalizations.

There are some stronger elements that have some sort of dysfunction between happiness and insanity by showing us the darker side of the picture that the public aren’t allowed to see, but Travis goes in there by bringing us this glass onion-like globe to say “Look in here, this is what’s happening, this is what we’re dealing with.”

Reaping Memes have disturbing imagery of what is to come in the 22^nd century that is continuing to grow with some electronic trip-hop beats on the drums with a dosage of the 8-bit sounds from the Nintendo system that swirls in unexpectedly. Travis Benson’s debut release may take a few listens.

But there is something special about this music. Is he the greatest singer of all time? No, but Travis has got a lot of ideas that he wants to bring in. And I hope the next release will be even more surprising than ever. So if you think he’s going to pull a Ariana Grande or sing a Justin Bieber ballad, think again. He’s got more doors to open, and they’ll be opened up very widely.