ELLA BLAME

ELLA BLAME has an incredible vocal range: her voice covers the entire baritone, tenor and contralto ranges and exceeds the upper limit of the soprano range. She can produce sounds that are very similar to synthesizers, with no effects. Sometimes angelic, sometimes satanic, the many colors of her voice can be described as Billie Holiday meets Bjork and Loreena McKennit… yes these three names together sound very absurd, you just have to hear it for yourself... more

Kevin BARTLETT

This month's interview guest is KEVIN BARTLETT, musician, composer, bassist and guitarist extraordinaire, founder of the record label "Aural Gratification". Most of you know him as the co-producer of 9 Happy Rhodes albums. He lives in Woodstock, NY where he owns a newly built studio. He recently released his second CD "Glow In The Dark" as a follow up to his first album "Near Life Experience" which was released in 2003... more

Kate BUSH / Never For Ever

1980‘s “Never For Ever” is Kate’s 3rd album. The album was co-produced by Jon Kelly & Kate herself. One of the most interesting things about this album is that it is the first record by a British female artist to top the UK album charts. (Wikipedia). Kate’s progressive approach to music reaches its peak with Never For Ever. She tastefully blends different genres including folk, oriental, rock, classical and jazz. Unlike her first two albums which she wrote on piano, this one was written on synths... more

DAVID PALMER / THE QUALITIES OF SILENCES

This album was recorded in 2007 at, for the most part, the Pfeiffer University in NC. David Palmer wrote all the songs and the lyrics. It sounds like a live recording, not a lot of production went into it. I would not call this album “progressive”, what Palmer was trying to achieve in my opinion was experimenting with different genres like folk, rock, jazz, classical and ambient. Each song has a different atmosphere in this sense.

The first song “Resolve” is a bit ambient. The only problem with this song was that the bass and percussions in some parts sounded a little cluttered. The song itself is well written and has a nice intense atmosphere.

My favorite songs on the CD were “The Moon in July” and “Somnolent Exaltation“, on which Palmer tried a bit of jazz. These are most definitely the better performances on the CD. One song however was quite different then the others, and that was “Der Doppelganger“. It was influenced by classical music. The vocals (Steve Harrill) were especially good.

“Too Metallic To Smile” and “Wal-Mart Chronicles” were on the hard rock side. The problem with those tracks is the vocals. They sound too dry and they were overly dominant in the recording. Although this was a live recording I would like to see some production work, especially a better studio mix, this would really make a big difference.

Hande BURDG