Magna Carta releases-Niacin, Steve Morse, Vapourspace
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Available now in The Artist Shop from Magna Carta
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Niacin/Time Crunch
Niacin's music is a delicious combo of rock and jazz sounds which are
tantalizing on their own, gut-punch powerful when properly combined:
the thick and rich atmosphere of John Novello's B3 organ, Dennis
Chambers' locomotive-with-an-intelligent-mind-of-its-own drumwork, and
the finger-breaking bass work of the legendary Billy Sheehan. On Time
Crunch, their fifth album and second for Magna Carta, they shatter
preconceptions of the jazz/fusion trio just as swiftly as a hammer
shatters a watch. Prog-heads will be delighted to see that one of the
two covers on this album is the legendary King Crimson tune "Red."
(The other, by the way, is Jan Hammer's "Blue Wind.") The song always
carried a good deal of menace, but filtered through the thick Niacin
tone, it sounds positively terrifying. "Red was an interesting tune,"
says Novello. "Billy wanted a very distorted B3 sound, and so we went
in that direction. Reminds me of Mike Ratledge's organ tone from the
band Soft Machine." Time Crunch will take you through a dozen moods,
leading you firmly, sometimes gently, through soundscapes that are
nostalgic and retro, and yet, at the same moment cutting edge and
modern. It will lead you from the power-funk of "Elbow Grease" to the
elegance of "Glow" (a song dedicated to John's wife, Gloria Rusch
Novello, who lost her battle to breast cancer last year), and back
again.
soundbite - <http://www.artist-shop.com/magna/crunch.ram>
Coming soon in The Artist Shop from Magna Carta
<http://www.artist-shop.com/magna>
Steve Morse Band/Split Decision
The Steve Morse Band; Steve Morse, Dave LaRue and Van Romaine have
recorded a brand new project for Magna Carta. Through an esteemed
catalogue that includes records with Dixie Dregs, Kansas and Deep
Purple, as well as solo works and man-to-man collaborations, Morse has
coursed a lifeblood through the art of the guitar. And lifeblood is a
strangely fitting term; given the man's good-natured, eager and lively
sound, his enthusiastic, amiable and nimble steps up the fretboard
into the upper echelons of the guitar's hallowed halls. According to
Brian Moritz, assistant engineer on Split Decision, "What's most
interesting to me is that compared to the other SMB CD's released so
far, they've kind of leaned towards doing material that they could
play live as a three-piece, and this time there are some way more
densely orchestrated songs. Steve plays some upfront keyboards on a
couple of songs, and there are several songs with numerous guitar
tracks where there are lots of counterpoint melodies happening - way
cool stuff. Steve said he really tried to push the boundaries, and he
certainly did... You'll definitely be surprised."
soundbite - <http://www.artist-shop.com/magna/split.ram>
Vapourspace & Various Artists/Sonic Residue From Vapourspace
That's right, a remix project !! Our friend Vapourspace (Mark Gage)
has been remixing tracks from many of our artists into a brand new
album. Tracks from Steve Walsh, Niacin, Tempest, Liquid Tension
Experiment, Bozzio Levin Stevens, Steve Morse and Attention Deficit
have been transformed into brand new pieces of music. Here is a bit
of what our friend Jedd wrote for the Ytsejam website: The record
starts simply enough-it ploughs its way through three brilliant takes
on three brilliant tracks: Attention Deficit's "Girl From Enchilada,"
Niacin's "Blue Mondo," and Steve Morse's incomparable "Led On," and
sends them into a new existence where they become extended, layered
head trips that will please even the purest purist proggie. You get
the feeling, listening to these tracks, that they were all born this
way, brought into the world amidst the funky noise and late-night glow
that Gage places upon them and that's as it should be. Like an artist
taking on a cover tune, Gage makes these tunes his own: Liquid Tension
Experiment's "Another Dimension" and Tempest's "Jenny Nettles" also
take on previously inconceivable dimensions as Gage works his magic
with machine, tape, and counsel. And, while those are but two of his
masterworks (check out what he does to "Melt" and "Dark Corners," both
from Bozzio Levin Stevens) the real stunner here is Steve Walsh's dark
epic "Kansas," a piece that, in its new state, takes on the deepest
meaning.
soundbite - <http://www.artist-shop.com/magna/vapour.ram>
Gary
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Gary Davis
The Artist Shop The Other Road
http://www.artist-shop.com art...@artist-shop.com
phone: 877-856-1158, 330-929-2056 fax:330-945-4923
INDEPENDENT PROGRESSIVE MUSIC!!!
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