This seems to be the last piece of the mystical-musical puzzle started by Zorn. I’m still in love with the insanely brilliant “Ipsissimus” released in 2010, followed by “Templars-In Sacred Blood” in 2012.
Zorn formed in 2006 the hardcore voice/bass/drums trio of Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn, and Joey Baron which became known as the Moonchild Trio.
Moonchild is the title of a novel written by Aleister Crowley in 1917. Its plot involves a magical war between a group of white magicians, led by Simon Iff, and a group of black magicians over an unborn child. In the novel, numerous acquaintances of Crowley appear as thinly disguised fictional characters. Crowley portrays MacGregor Mathers as the primary villain, including him as a character named SRMD, using the abbreviation of Mathers’ magical name. Arthur Edward Waite appears as a villain named Arthwaite, and the unseen head of the Inner Circle of which SRMD was a member, “A.B.” is theosophist Annie Besant.
Same year two albums of Zorn’s compositions performed by the trio were released: “Moonchild: Songs Without Words” and “Astronome”. Read more John Zorn (Moonchild) – The Last Judgement (2014)
How old you are? “I See You” will be probably the swan song of this legendary band which spinning around for the last 47 years. Brain-child of Daevid Allen, other notable band members include Tim Blake, Didier Malherbe, Pip Pyle, Gilli Smyth, Steve Hillage, Francis Moze, Mike Howlett and Pierre Moerlen. Others who have briefly played in Gong include Bill Bruford, Brian Davison, Don Cherry and Chris Cutler.
Dance-punk? In the good old days when punk (rock) actually meant something, I mean more then a dress code or a hair style, dance-punk would be an insult or a blasphemy, but those days are long gone and the whole idea was diluted and our perception distorted. There is no more ideology, no moral concepts and generally, no content, substance in the music – and arts – generally.
Originally named Hug The Retard, Dog Fashion Disco was formed in 1995 by Todd Smith, Greg Combs, and John Ensminger in Rockville, Maryland. Tod, Greg and John were high school colleagues. Combining many different music styles from the 70’s psychedelic, through jazz to heavy metal and circus music, Dog Fashion Disco was categorized as avant-garde metal band being heavily influenced by Mike Patton’s Mr. Bungle. The band’s lyrical content is often highly esoteric and satirical, with constant tongue-in-cheek references to the occult, drug use, and other oddities.
If Syd Barrett would still be around and doing records, probably he would play the things John Frusciante play. A brilliant, but sometimes disturbing game of motions and emotions beyond the horizon we generally dare to explore. Sometimes there is no line between madness and genius.
“Psychomagia” is the new album by the fabulous quartet of Abraxas, the follow up of the 2012’s “Abraxas: Book of Angels Volume 19”, the debut album by led by Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz performing compositions from John Zorn’s second Masada book, “The Book of Angels”.
It is the third album by instrumental progressive (metal) group Animals as Leaders, introducing new drummer Matt Garstka along guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes. Three years after “Weightless” the band sound fresh and feels explosive. Wicked riffs, complex rhythmic structures and build-up, nice harmonic breakdowns and surprising turns are all part of their arsenal. Although I like jazz and instrumental jazz albums, I generally don’t like instrumental rock albums. Animals As Leaders have the creativity and intensity to capture my attention and it’s always a pleasure to take the ride through their albums. Song by song they build-up vivid, unexpected spaces and the mixture of sounds and styles their perform it’s outside the box, above genres. Between the subtle shades of “Air Chrysalis” and the heavy tones of “Tooth And Claw”, Animals As Leaders mix and merge 
“Taming the Dragon” it’s the debut album from the electric duo Mehliana made of Brad Mehldau (synthesizers, Fender Rhodes and piano) and Mark Guiliana (drums and electronics). Because the dense electronics this have a powerful jazz-rock sound, but it’s a vividly groovy, experimental and breath taking experience throughout with space-rock inspired soundscapes and exciting jazz improvisations. There is an extremely refreshing balance between all the flavors, sounds, elements and moods of the album. Mark Guiliana delivered some extremely tasty drums while Brad Mehldau added dimensions and colors. A perfect mixture of passion, energy and experimentation with tasty melodies, meditative searching and emotions.
Label Cynic as a metal band it’s at least ignorance. They grew out of that box pretty quickly and although they merged technical death metal and influences with jazz and progressive rock elements, their music was always something special and different. “Kindly Bent to Free Us”, their third full-length album, it’s a flawless mixture of modern sound and classic, progressive rock flavor with some jazzy reflections. Have some sort of King Crimson and Pink Floyd type of timeless and shiny (brilliant 🙂 ) feel.
