I've written about Boston progressive metal band Native Construct before, back in the spring before their latest LP Quiet World came out. But now Quiet World is out there in our world, and the band has released a video for new single "Mute".
It's basically a band-playing-the-song-in-a-studio-style video, but that's not going to matter to you one bit when you hear the song itself. "Mute" is six minutes of techincally proficient prog of the epic variety -- all the symph(onic)/synth touches make me think Dream Theater meets Between the Buried and Me at times. But there's more fusion going on here than that, and more laid-back electro-prog-pop grooves (how's that for an adjective?)
Personally I'd say the strings are a little dominant in the mix at times, but that all gets washed away in the tasty jams of the last minute or so. In fact, "Mute" might just have the slickest little ten or fifteen seconds of outro I've heard in a while. Check it out for yourself, but don't just skip ahead!
Showing posts with label Native Construct. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Native Construct. Show all posts
Friday, 27 November 2015
Saturday, 12 September 2015
Wednesday: With A Smile - Take the Wheel
Time for something a little different for your belated Wednesday song, in the form of some laid-back, vaguely-jazzy instrumental work from James Knoerl and his new project With A Smile.
If that name James Knoerl feels a little familiar to you, you might be acquainted with some of his great drumwork with acts like The Omega Experiment and Native Construct. But With A Smile is all James compositionally, with only a little help from his friends to round out the instrumentation. The result is a four-track EP of instrumental jazz-prog that manages to be at once chill and heavy, relatively relaxed and laid-back but never boring.
Case in point: Never Listen's closing track "Take the Wheel", a wild ride chock full of crazy keyboards, demented drums, and other insane instrumentation. The rest of the EP is good, but in many ways it's all building to this titan of a track. Check it out.
If that name James Knoerl feels a little familiar to you, you might be acquainted with some of his great drumwork with acts like The Omega Experiment and Native Construct. But With A Smile is all James compositionally, with only a little help from his friends to round out the instrumentation. The result is a four-track EP of instrumental jazz-prog that manages to be at once chill and heavy, relatively relaxed and laid-back but never boring.
Case in point: Never Listen's closing track "Take the Wheel", a wild ride chock full of crazy keyboards, demented drums, and other insane instrumentation. The rest of the EP is good, but in many ways it's all building to this titan of a track. Check it out.
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Tangled Thoughts of Leaving - The Albanian Sleepover: Part One
How did yesterday's epic Native Construct progathon treat you? If "The Spark of the Archon" was a test of your stamina, I've got some bad news for you: today's song also approaches saga-length. But maybe it's just ten minutes or so of funky prog-jazz that's not your thing. Maybe you'll do better with some slow-burn instrumental post-rock/metal/whatever?
Australia's Tangled Thoughts of Leaving are getting ready to release their latest album Yield to Despair in a couple of weeks, but you don't have to wait until the 17th of April for a taste... or a long, lingering chug, such as the case may be. The full ten minutes of album opener "The Albanian Sleepover: Part One" is currently streaming on Tangled Thoughts of Leaving's Bandcamp in all its vaguely melancholy glory.
It's a moody musical journey of build and release in the tradition of bands like favourite of mine Russian Circles, so if you've got another ten minutes to spare, I encourage you to strap on some headphones and take a trip. They won't all be this long from now on, I promise.
Australia's Tangled Thoughts of Leaving are getting ready to release their latest album Yield to Despair in a couple of weeks, but you don't have to wait until the 17th of April for a taste... or a long, lingering chug, such as the case may be. The full ten minutes of album opener "The Albanian Sleepover: Part One" is currently streaming on Tangled Thoughts of Leaving's Bandcamp in all its vaguely melancholy glory.
It's a moody musical journey of build and release in the tradition of bands like favourite of mine Russian Circles, so if you've got another ten minutes to spare, I encourage you to strap on some headphones and take a trip. They won't all be this long from now on, I promise.
Monday, 30 March 2015
Native Construct - The Spark of the Archon
By this point you should all know that "proggy" and "jazzy" are two flavours I enjoy the taste of very much. Throw in "funky grooviness", and you've got the makings of a pretty epic meal. Seen in this light, today's marathon of proggy goodness from Boston's Native Construct is a multi-course smorgasboard.
"The Spark of the Archon", the first single from Native Construct's upcoming debut LP Quiet World, is nearly nine minutes of smoothly flowing ideas and instrumentation. The mostly "proggy", "jazzy" and "funky" grooves are further supplemented by some blast beaty flashes of metal and some orchestral flashes of cinematic grandiosity.
You shouldn't be bored at any point during the running time of "The Spark of the Archon" (especially since the guys in Native Construct have put out a guitar/bass playthrough video so you can watch the magic unfold) but things aren't ever disjointed enough that you find yourself lost and confused. You prog fans should get familiar with these guys before Quiet World drops, so get started right this minute.
"The Spark of the Archon", the first single from Native Construct's upcoming debut LP Quiet World, is nearly nine minutes of smoothly flowing ideas and instrumentation. The mostly "proggy", "jazzy" and "funky" grooves are further supplemented by some blast beaty flashes of metal and some orchestral flashes of cinematic grandiosity.
You shouldn't be bored at any point during the running time of "The Spark of the Archon" (especially since the guys in Native Construct have put out a guitar/bass playthrough video so you can watch the magic unfold) but things aren't ever disjointed enough that you find yourself lost and confused. You prog fans should get familiar with these guys before Quiet World drops, so get started right this minute.
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