Nickie’s NIches #22: October 2023

by | Oct 3, 2023 | Podcast, Prog Rock for Beginners | 0 comments

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Start Artist Song Time Album Year
0:02:19 Materialeyes Longship 5:25 Inside Out 2023
0:08:20 Ivan The Tolerable String To Ball 4:26 Ritual In Transfigured Time 2023
0:13:10 Steve Broomhead Sun – Moon 4:25 The Night the Stars Fell from the Sky 2023
0:18:01 Flaer Follow 3:49 Preludes 2023
0:22:17 Dengue Fever Wake Me Up Slowly 3:21 Ting Mong 2023
0:25:58 Fearful Symmetry Shifting Sands Extended Play 14:56 The Difficult Second 2023
0:41:26 Hanford Flyover Shallow Waters 6:07 Source 2023
0:47:56 In The Labyrinth Sanctus 3:18 To our rescue 2023
0:51:42 Olivia Cheney Montagne que tu es haute 2:43 Six French Songs 2023
0:54:59 Rafe Pearlman Awen 4:06 Kanu 2023
0:59:41 Quicksilver Night Ft. Dikajee For You 6:44 P’tichka 2023
  1. Inside Out
    by Materialeyes

    Manchester trio Materialeyes return with another fine offering of progressive music, played as it should be. The pieces are mostly epic in length, complex, and each one tells a story. True to the story-teller’s pantheon, you’ll hear tales of caution, haunting history, and even a recitation of a nightmare apparently caused by a Wensleydale cheese.
    1. Ritual In Transfigured Time (LP/DL, Echodelick/Worst Bassist/We Here & Now, 2023)
      by Ivan The Tolerable

      Ambient psychedelic with severe lashings of jazz from the UK. This is the brainchild of Oli Heffernan on bass, guitar, drum machines, synths, with additional players providing drums, vibraphone, sax, flute, trumpet, and French horn. Perfectly hypnotic and addictive
      1. The Night the Stars Fell from the Sky
        by Steve Broomhead

        These pieces are all rather dark and moody, precisely what I enjoy. You get a sense of eavesdropping into the sessions within this multi-instrumentalist’s studio, perhaps as the music drifts from an open window long after midnight. Synths, impassioned guitars and hushed vocals add to the feeling of intimacy and desolation
        1. Preludes
          by Flaer

          These are just beautiful short pieces by a painter and multi-instrumentalist from London, Realf Heygate. They are comprised of acoustic guitar, piano, and cello, along with some field recordings which draw the mind to eerie pastoral settings. Best listened through in their entirety, the only quarrel I have with this debut is that it is all too short. I hope that we won’t have to wait too long for the next one.
          1. Ting Mong
            by Dengue Fever

            Hailing from Los Angeles, this multicultural foray espouses the members’ Cambodian roots with 60’s and 70’s pop, psych, and other World music elements. Sung in both English and Cambodian, it’s simultaneously quirky and charming. I love the very Cambodian Silver Fish, but it’s too short, and pivoting between the opening and closing tracks, I’m going with the closer, Wake Me Up Slowly, to illustrate the gist of what you’ll find to enjoy here.
            1. Shifting Sands – Extended (2023)
              by Fearful Symmetry
              Suzi James and company have released an extended version of my favourite track from their Difficult Second release of last year, over three times the length of the original. And it is even better than it was before. This version extends itself with guitar, oud, violin and flute solos and is an absolute delight.
              1. Source (Album 2023)
                by Limited vinyl and CD release Autumn 2023

                Duo from the UK brings us neo-psych with folk and electronica elements. Very washy and effected vocals, with wavery, quavery instrumentation. The music is lush and dense, yet it remains airy and light. Lysergic lyrics weave their way amongst the curtains of sound. The guitars in particular often veer into heavy territory, and satisfyingly so. I love the whole thing, the more I listen to it. Shallow Waters should lure you in.
                1. To our rescue
                  by In The Labyrinth

                  A long-awaited recording for me is this gem from Sweden’s Peter Lindhal, with his array of too many ethnic instruments to list, and talented friends on several others that he has brought on to round out the project. The sound is psychedelic folk, with forays into early and medieval music, but often tackling more contemporary themes.
                  1. Six French Songs
                    by Olivia Chaney

                    Olivia Chaney’s brought her beautiful voice to France this time, in an EP spanning the time from medieval ballads to a bit of 1960’s pop. The arrangements are simple, as suits this material, letting her voice shine, and lending an air of small villages, cafés, and bucolic countryside charm. My only complaint is that six is not enough.
                    1. KANU
                      by Rafe Pearlman

                      This recording is positively unearthly, with an introduction to the artist reading that he “started his singing career with the wolves, ravens, and sled dogs of the Alaskan wilderness.” A majority of the instrumentation is acoustic, and some are exotic, such as kora and tablas, but there is one rocker on it. The tracks shimmer with the hushed vocals and lyrics that speak much of nature, reverence, and eternity. My favourite track is the heartbreakingly resplendent Awen
                  1. Ptichka
                    by Quicksilver Night feat Dikajee

                    This collaboration of Warren “Chip” Russell and Dikajee finally see daylight. The music all emanated from Chip, lyrical duties were split between he and Dikajee. The trio of guest guitarists were perfectly chosen to make the material shine, and grandmaster Russell’s production is flawless. As expected, the vocals are superb, as Olja Dikajee proves she can be forceful as well as delicate and complex in her delivery, utilizing her impressive full vocal range. This was entirely worth the wait.

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