Monday Threeway Super Fun Time

     Why hello there. Fancy meeting you here. I took a couple of days off over the weekend for my girlfriend's birthday yesterday, but I'm back at it today with a trio of tunes for your earholes to get us back on track. Have at 'er!

     First up is Dutch instrumental fusion band Exivious. I've written about them before, but now that I've spent some serious time with their album Liminal I feel better qualified to recommend another tasty track. By now you should know I like proggy, jazzy stuff and instrumental stuff, so if you like this kind of stuff too, check out Liminal's closing track "Immanent". It's epic, but not overbearingly so, and it's a great showcase of Exivious's melding of heavy and melodically proggy.

     So that's Saturday out of the way, now for Sunday. My girlfriend is a big Headstones fan, so my big birthday present to my girlfriend this year was tickets to see Headstones right here in Kingston at the end of the month (stayed tuned for a pit report, probably in the new year). Headstones were a solid rock band back in the day, and their new record Love + Fury proves they've still got it. So if their "it" is something you're into, check out "Far Away From Here".

     And that's Sunday. What about today, Monday? Well, we're going to commemorate the new A Perfect Circle best-of disc Three Sixty and go with "Weak and Powerless" as today's song. Originally from 2003's Thirteenth Step, "Weak and Powerless" is a perfect example of what A Perfect Circle can do when they're not at "Judith" levels of aggression. Mer de Noms is still my favourite, but "Weak and Powerless" is just one of several great tracks to be had on Thirteenth Step.

     And that's me caught up. Your turn.

Monday Afternoon Double Feature

     Sure, I missed doing a song yesterday, but you know I've always got your back. Eventually. So this afternoon we've got another double header. Two new songs, no reloading. You're welcome.

     First up are the tech-metal nerds in Dissonance in Design. You make feel like I'm flogging a dead horse, since I've been saying this a bunch lately, but I'm nevertheless going to make the point again: sometimes iteration beats innovation.The word"progressive" gets thrown around a lot these days, and often the bands to which this label is applied aren't exactly pushing too many musical boundaries -- and that's completely OK. Sometimes you want to hear something outrageously avant garde, and sometimes you just want something to kick your ass.

     That's where Dissonance in Design comes in. I don't know if I agree with Heavyblogisheavy's assessment of Dissonance in Design's Sentient as being super progressive and genre-boundary-pushing, but I certainly do agree that the musicianship and technicality is top notch. But rather than split hairs overmuch I'll just step aside and let you be the judge of all things progressive. Have a listen to "Entwined in Aether" and see what you think.

     And speaking of progressive, your second song today (call it your Monday pick-me-up) is the latest from jazz fusion outfit Exivious. "Deeply Woven" is yet another example of why the forthcoming Liminal is shaping up to be a tasty treat that's right up my alley: proggy, jazzy instrumental metal (aka instrumetal) that's got a little heavy and a little mellow, and in this case a healthy helping of sax solo to boot. Yum!

     For my money, Exivious is the more genuinely progressive of the two, but maybe that's just my personal jazzy tastes talking. That's the beauty of the Interwebz though: YOU get to choose which you like better! We live in an age of wonders, no?

Song of the Day: Exivious - Entrust

     Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...