Nearfest 08 -> Saturday : Discipline

I first saw Discipline at my first prog fest, Progday 95. Since then, I've seen them throughout the years and their brand of neo-prog gradually grew on me. At times, Matthew Parmenter channel's Peter Hammill/Fish. Jon Bouda reminds me of Steve Rothery--only more technically proficient. Mathew Kennedy and Paul Dzendzel provide solid and interesting bass and drums. Their album Unfolded Like Staircase represents the best of American neo-prog.

They played, among other pieces, Crutches, Into the Dream, and of course, Cantov IV--all their best works. In fact, I still have Crutches going around and around in my head.

Nearfest 08 -> Saturday : Koenji Hyakkei

A veteran of Salma Mammas Manna, Yoshida Tatsuya's drums were blazing. Yabuki Taku's keys were awesome. Samamoto Kengo was no Jannick Top, but he knew how to play the bass. Komori Keiko's reeds provided the finishing touch. In all, the musicianship was top notch.

It was terrible.

While Nami Sagara proved she could sing well within human ranges, albeit operatically, most of her vocals were too high pitched. This group wears their Magma influences on their sleeves, and that's just fine with me. However, they took all the worst vocal aspects from MDK--the screechy section--and stretched it out for two hours. It was cringe worthy. As much as the musicianship and composition was a big plus, the vocals were a far, far bigger minus.

Progressive Rock--My subjective take

In the late sixties to the mid seventies, it was vogue for all music to reach out, blur the lines, and fuse with other forms. Jazz leaned toward rock to form fusion. Funk was essentially progressive soul. Music in general seemed to be progressing toward a meta-genre and it seemed that perhaps the artificial distinctions between people and cultures would vanish as well. When it came to music, people were more open-minded back then, and had longer attention spans. Commerciality existed, but it was not the tyrannical force that it became later on.

Essentially, what became known as progressive rock began as a branch of rock music that aspired to incorporate elements of jazz and symphonic/chamber(aka classical) flavorings. Thus, in many cases, it featured songs in the form of long suites, with meters outside of the common 4/4, and complexities not typical of rock.

There were various "schools" of progressive rock, many that did not recognize each other, but became grafted together because of the eclectic tastes of listeners, and because of being more complex and/or experimental than the mainstream.

There was what we now call the "symphonic" branch: Yes, ELP, early Genesis, Gentle Giant, Gryphon, Happy the Man, very early King Crimson, the Moody Blues, early Jethro Tull, Van Der Graff Generator, Camel, PFM, Banco, ect…

There was a conglomeration of groups that originated from the Canterbury region of England that had a more jazzy sound: Soft Machine, Egg, Gilgamesh, National Health, Hatfield and the North, Caravan, ect…

And then there was a more experimental school, one that disliked the more assessable and popular "symphonic" groups. They incorporated such elements as avant-garde and 20th century chamber music. Henry Cow, Univers Zero and four others joined in a festival called Rock in Opposition. Eventually, RIO became common nomenclature referring to avant rock groups with similar leanings.

The lines though are blurred. Camel is from the Canterbury region and shares some of the same Canterbury roster, but leaned "symphonic". Henry Cow started as a Canterbury group, but branched into more and more experimental music, until it became the core of the international RIO movement. In many cases, it's impossible and futile to pinpoint where jazz-fusion ends and Progressive rock begins. In that time of open mindedness, it was not unheard of to like different groups such as Yes and Magma. Even though there were vast differences, both were distinct from more typical rock music, and thus the tastes of fans adopted both.

However, a terrible train wreck occurred on the road to meta-music: Punk, totalitarian commercialism, and racism. Punk was the anti-Prog, a regressive music where not knowing how to play became celebrated. Record companies began the downward spiral into the cookie-cutter abyss. For the most part, rap, like punk, was regressive, devolving from its party music origins, devoid of technique and musicality, focusing solely on a spoken word that too often glorified violence, greed, crime, guns, pride, and self-imposed segregation rather than the dream of uniting with one's fellowman based on common humanity.

Eventually, punk progressed into new wave, leaving its caveman trappings for the synthesized flavorings found in electronica. By this time, Progressive rock had essentially crystallized as a sound, and what remained of it had been driven underground. Some groups looked back to more symphonic times, to the golden age of Yes and Genesis, while lacking their technical virtuosity. Thus began a blend of new wave with progressive seasonings, groups such as Marillion and IQ, who began "neo-prog", the Second Wave of Progressive Rock.

In many ways, neo-prog was not truly Progressive Rock. It did not reach to the same heights or depths or textures or complexities, it did not fuse jazz or symphonic works. Neo-prog represented true Prog about as much as a bag of Doritos represents Mexican food--it was mainstream rock with progressive flavoring. However, that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't good music. In fact, albums such as Script for a Jester's Tear and Misplaced Childhood were quite stellar. Many progressive rock fans adopted neo-prog into the genre and the tent and definition became larger.

In the nineties, while the mainstream was flirting with Grunge/Alternative(which was essentially a regressive revival of Punk), true Progressive rock experienced resurgence, a Third Wave. Groups such Anglagard, echolyn, and Spock's Beard brought Prog into the present. They went beyond mere neo-prog, but approached the technical complexities of Prog's Golden Age. At the same time, many RIO-like groups such as 5uu's, Thinking Plague, Tipographica achieved something similar for the avant wing as well. The internet, progfests, albums reissues and a plethora of smaller labels contributed to this music boom.

Will there be a Fourth Wave? Will more mainstream groups like the Mars Volta and Radiohead embrace Prog, making it acceptable once again? Will post-rock groups like Tortoise keep arising and reinvent the wheel, reverse engineering prog-like sounds? The common wisdom is that these things go in cycles. Sometimes music fatigue weigh on both fans and groups. There are commercial pressures and unforeseen developments. It's hard to say what the future will bring. But the one thing we know for now: The music is out there.

Ticky Tacky Dough--and how many men could a Pacman pack if a Pacman could pack?

I found an old CD with some of my old home projects, written in Visual Basic.

First is a shoddy version of Pacman. If you're wondering why it looks so much like the arcade version--I screenprinted the real thing and used the bitmap as a background. (Hopefully this snapshot is not violating copyright--if it is, tell me and I'll take it down.)

To the right is a behind the scenes look at how the program works. Basically, Pacman, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde ran on "rails".

Unfortunately, the backup wasn't up-to-date. It only encompassed Pacman running the maze, while moving his mouth. Later versions had his enemies, working power pellets(that is the ghosts turned blue when they were eaten), dots, and I had the ghosts regenerating in the ghost box. What I had not perfected was how the ghosts hunted or fled Pacman--and even the disembodied eyes had a time getting back to the ghost box.

As with many home projects, I got to the point where I saw I could do the window dressing. But then, what? The mountain was basically climbed at that point. I moved on.

In the bottom righthand corner is a screenprint of the obligatory Tic Tac Toe program. If memory serves me correct, it was just a matter of a few sittings to code. If you're interested in the code, navigate over to my Livejournal.

Feeling B.L.U.E: Bruford Levin Upper Extremities

Here's a photo I dug up from nine years ago. Bill Bruford and Tony Levin holding a signing in Of Sound Mind, in support of their album Bruford Levin Upper Extremities.

For any who are drawing a blank, Bill Bruford is a progressive rock legend, the former drummer of Yes, King Crimson, UK, and National Health as well as his own groups, such as B.L.U.E., Earthworks, and Bruford. After Peter Gabriel left Genesis, he also helped Phil Collins on drums for a tour.

And, of course, Tony Levin has been anywhere and everywhere, from King Crimson to Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (that is, "Yes-East"), to touring with Peter Gabriel, as well as a host of session work. Tony Levin pioneered the use of the stick, a variation of bass guitar that utilizes two handed technique.

That evening, after the signing at Of Sound Mind, they played a great gig at Orion Studios. Bruford Levin Upper Extremities is a good album, mixing the sound of 80's King Crimson with equal parts of jazz, ambient, and experiemental music. David Torn's aggressive guitar looping was a challenge for me originally, however, Chris Botti's smooth trumpet offset and balanced it out. It's an album that can be puzzling at first listen, but it grows on you, and then it becomes addicting.

The Elements of Style

Style is not the only dimension to writing, however, for an aspiring writer, it is just as essential as plot, pacing, setting, and characterization. The good news is: it's not rocket science. One of the best aids is The Elements of Style by Strunk & White. Originally, Strunk wrote the core text in order to teach his English courses, and even though it dates from around World War I, it's been amended--and it is not only easy to follow, but very relevant to modern writing.

Newer writers should, in particular, pay attention to the sections:

• Use the active voice. [as in not in the passive voice]
• Use definite, specific, concrete language.
• Omit needless words.
• Write with nouns and verbs. [as in not with adjectives and adverbs]
• Do not overwrite.
• Do not explain too much.
• Do not construct awkward adverbs.
• Avoid fancy words.
• Be clear.
• Use figures of speech sparingly.
  

Usually I find that I forget the majority of the recommendations, but I think if at least some of it is applied, the writing improves dramatically. And, as with anything, advice can be taken too far, but if taken in context, the recommendations are reasonable.

Realms Of Fantasy : The Envelope Please . . .

After "The Azazel Tree" ended up a non-winning finalist in WOTF, I sent the story to Realms of Fantasy. As with "Foregleamer", I received the The Yellow Form of Promise. Doug Cohen said that he liked the concept and pacing, however the milieu didn't feel fully realized. At last, a clue as to why my story didn't win WOTF!