Album Available for Digital Download!

Stream it for free or purchase a variety of file types (mp3, FLAC, Ogg) for $5 or $.80 a track.

Dried By Soundwaves - My New Electro Ambient Music Collection

This is an album of seven electro-ambient tracks created over the last year and a half or so. Fans of Radio Massacre International, Zombie and Boards of Canada, as well as, classic electronic artists like Tangerine Dream may find something to like. These pieces where all done using soft synth emulations of such classic instruments as sequenced mini moogs, mellotrons, rare tape effects, combined with Fender jazz bass and a variety of shortwave, field and ham radio recordings. "Big Birds and Moms For Peace" was inspired by a poem "The Big Birds" by Jane Piirto, my mother, who's also the one reading the poem on that track.

Steam it HERE for free.

Adrian Belew Power Trio 10-25-09

Never got around to posting the show pics and accounts here.
I have a nice album of pics with descriptions over on my photosite.

Shot some video too and made a couple YouTube vids also.

Beat Box Guitar Part One:


Beat Box Guitar Part Two:

My Top Prog Artists of the Decade

A request for members to post a list of faves on the Colorado Art Rock Society's Yahoo Group was requested by one member. This list is based mostly by the Prog artists I seemed to focus on the most over the decade:

1-Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson - In Absentia is THE top album. I have 17 separate Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson related playlists on my iPod alone...more than any other group...that's sayin' something....not sure what exactly. lol

2-King Crimson / solo band members - The Power to Believe is wonderful and I pretty much follow and collect many of the KC related artists as well; Belew, Levin(favorite bass player), Mastelotto, Gunn, etc. I read Fripp's online diary about everyday. He is "The most interesting man in the world of "prog" ! lol

3-Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Their live shows are probably the main reason I like them so much...oddly compelling to watch, but generally very entertaining. I have to be in the right mood to listen to the albums, but when you are hankering to listen to a track like "1997 (Tonight we're gonna party like it's...)" you know you're in THE mood for nothing else! (I have a couple of past SGM show overviews here also)

4-OSI/Kevin Moore/Chroma Key- Just love the vibe and modern rock/prog/electronic stylings. OSI's debut is a top release of the decade.

5-Kino/John Mitchell - "Picture" maybe a perfect blend of pop and prog. Mitchell's voice goes into my ear just right with Kino and projects/tracks like It Bites, Frost and Blind Ego...all stand out in my book.

6-Riverside - Love the Realty Dream Trilogy. Duda's voice may the my fave of the decade. Their new one continues the strong trend. Duda's solo album Lunatic Soul ain't shabby either.

7-Marillion - I actually enjoyed all four studio releases this decade, unlike many. Marbles is the standout though.

8-Zombi/ Steve Moore - Wonderful collection of old school style Tangerine Dream like synth tunes done up all modern like.

9-Umphrey's McGee - Good thing they came out with their proggiest album to date this year in Mantis or I was going to write them off a little. Regardless, their game is their live shows. They are one of the bands that probably got many new people aware of "prog" this decade and they added their own twist to the genre too.

10-The Flower Kings - This one might be a bit sentimental, but when you work with them a couple times up close you realize what good souls and genuine people they all are. Oh, guess they put out a few "OK" albums in the last ten years too. ;-)

Runners up (maybe not "prog" per say) : The Future Kings of England, Ozric Tentacles, Tortoise, Pat Metheny, God is an Astronaut, Radiohead, Massive Attack

Cuong Vu and 9th + Lincoln @ Dazzle

Had the pleasure of seeing a very cool show here last night. Vu (Pat Metheny, Laurie Anderson, David Bowie and others) is working with Tyler Gilmore and the 9th + Lincoln jazz orchestra. They did three shows and are recording a CD at a separate studio this week.

Gilmore composed four new pieces for these shows with Vu that incorporate popular melodies from the '30s and '40s but with a modern spin. Gilmore in Westword: "Its going to be a sound combining these standard melodies with my electronic and chamber music influences along with some very Cuong Vu-ish moments. It will be a departure for the band toward a more textural and dynamic sound."

Imagine Vu's electronic trumpet pallet playing with a modern age, experimental big band who at times aren't afraid to go a bit abstract with their sound. It was very inspiring! Tears were brought to my eyes a couple times. Really. (OK, a couple yummy vodka martinis may have helped). They closed the show playing one of Vu's original pieces but arranged for the big band. Gilmore described Vu's trio recordings as some of his favorite music on the planet. Nice to see more fans around here.

For more 9th + Lincoln info and sound samples click here for MySpace

I have a set of photos up HERE.



I got Vu's autograph on the show poster too. Yay! Nice guy!



Really looking forward to hearing this CD!

Moonspeed 12-5-09 @ Larimer Lounge

Really neat to see a project such as this coming out of the Denver indie-music scene. They are an indie rock symphony, so to speak, in that each member performs the parts as written by frontman Jeff Suthers. Nine of their eleven members were on stage, in sit down fashion, to perform their debut CD "Flowers Of the Moon" in it's entirety, plus one "new" track. I have a collection of PICS most of which were taken while holding the camera over my head because the room was so packed so some aren't the most stellar in quality. Good to see such a great turnout! The band did a great set. Looking forward to more from this ensemble. Check out their MySpace for more info.

There's also a YouTube Video:

Best of My Concert Photos

Arpil 9th, 2002 marked the 7th year I've been taking digital concert pics of Prog Rock bands and progressive artists. I decided to make a best of compilation. Check it out on my Photo Website.

Bands/artists include:

Tony Levin Band
Porcupine Tree (multiple shows)
Acoustic Asia
Marillion
Umphrey's McGee
Adrian Belew Trio (with Mikes)
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (multiple shows)
Secret Chiefs 3
Zorn Patton & Frith
Spock's Beard
Carl Palmer Band
Ozric Tentacles (multiple shows)
The Flower Kings (multiple shows)
Green Milk From The Planet Orange
BX3 - Hamm, Berlin and Sheehan
Court
Tortoise w/ Lichens
Bob Drake and Friends (Hamster Theatre members, etc)
Fish
Peter Hammill
Thinking Plague

New song and video

Peter Hammill::Soiled Dove Underground::10-3-08

Impressions from a Peter Hammill Noob:

I have to admit that prior to this week I was a borderline Peter Hammill/Van der Graaf Generator fan. That is until I won some free tickets from Twist and Shout to go see PH in person. I wanted to hone up on some of his solo material, but was advised by those in the know in regards to his extensive back catalog I'd probably be rather overwhelmed in trying to do so, especially since PH usually changes up his set lists night to night making it nearly impossible to familiarize oneself with any of his material he might pull out. So, I found a few of his solo albums online, "Singularity", "Enter K" and "Patience" just to get a flavor of his style. I gave them many spins over the week and have to admit I found them really enjoyable. Where have I been in regards to Hammill's music?

I was also advised to just go and get in the mindset of seeing a master singer songwriter. Robert Fripp is quoted as calling PH the Jimi Hendrix of vocals so expect some extreme vocal acrobatics. OK, I can hear that in his recorded material for sure, how will it translate live? I'm not much of a singer songwriter guy, that is I generally find attending shows where it's just one guy and a piano, or in this case, also a guitar, to be rather boring. Chalk it up to my short attention span I suppose. Give me a band with lots going on. Well, that concern turned out to be rather non-valid to say the least. Peter Hammill is no standard singer songwriter guy! His performance was very captivating. His use of dynamics and nuance is top notch and lyrically I found myself really engaged. A standout example lyric for me was, from which song I have no idea, "The birds don't know which way to sing, my friend, and neither do I". I found myself applying many of his lyrics to the current world and political situations. I'm sure many of these songs are 30 years old or so, but still have a certain timelessness. I am definitely looking forward to exploring more of his back catalog.

Overall, Hammill seemed very appreciative of the audience. Sadly, there was only about 50 folks there, but it didn't deter him from playing his heart out. After the show he came out and signed autographs and was very fan friendly mingling and even joked around with us. He mentioned to us this was his first time in Colorado, believe it or not considering his long career.

I have a collection of photos on my photo site and have three digital videos shot with my digital camera, so they are nothing too fancy, on my YouTube Station.

Streaming Audio

Some of my original music:

Shortwave IraQ (2003) 19:09
M2 Dreams(2003) 11:35
Demo of 2006 Project Idea Side 01 17:32
Demo of 2006 Project Idea Side 02 10:31
Tutelary Authority(2008) 10:28

(Hit the "play" button. A media player will automatically pop-up)



Shortwave IraQ: "Shortwave Iraq" is a piece I did during the first week of the war on Iraq. I recorded Bush's speech and various shortwave radio snippits from around the globe over a couple nights right after the war was launched and added electric bass, programmed rhythms, field recordings and real percussion instruments to make this, perhaps reactionary piece of music.

M2 Dreams: "M2 Dreams" is an experiment with an old Hammond M2 organ I acquired for $35 at a local thrift store. All the organ parts/sounds are from this 50+ year old treasure in which I recorded a ten minute organ part holding down various chords and then utilized the draw bars to give the amazing textures. I then added programmed beats, field recordings and a former bandmate, Wayne Martein added the guitar part.

2006 Project Demo: The first three pieces on Side 01 are "Are You Popular", "Pixel Shift" and "Epiphany". They are a combination of synthesizer swatches I developed then added various other elements to them, such as, recordings from old stock movies and ham radio recordings, programmed drums, etc. The rest of the project consists of untitled pieces/sketches segued together. Unfortunately, this project won't be completed due to a surprise hard drive crash. These mp3's are all that remain. The project was tentatively called "Enigmatic Oddysses".

Tutelary Authority: An electronic/ambient piece I've been working on over the summer. It combines shortwave radio recordings, synthesizer pads, Jazz bass, tubular chimes and percussion loops. It's also the soundtrack to the "A Kite's Plight" video below.




A Kite's Plight by Steve Navarre from Steve Navarre on Vimeo.

Lunar Jam: An original, partly improvised electronic spacey piece performed live with a couple Pindral bandmates:


Lunar Jam @ 5th C.A.R.S. Prog Music Fest. 11-18-07 from Steve Navarre on Vimeo.

Steve Navarre: Bass, synths, effects
Gretchen Kunz: Guitar, flute, vocals
Jamie McGregor: Drums

Awe Shucks!

What a great guy Fish is! I'm honored to be mentioned in his thank you note in his blog after the 2008 North American tour:

want to sincerely thank everyone who bought tickets for the shows and the shirts and albums as you made it all possible. I especially want to thank Mo and everyone who put together the meet and greets which added another dimension to the tour. Special mention goes to Carlos Loera, Steve Cozart, Larry Schorr, Scott (Fish forum: raingod42), Steve Navarre, Jeff Kuhns, George Soltis, Rich Catena, Brian J. Walton, Denise (Fish forum: jigsawangel), Frederic Thaure, Richard (Fish forum: ranger), Shanley Driscoll, Mel Huang, David Gargano and everyone else who played a part in setting up and organising the meet and greets. I thought they were a huge success overall and I sincerely appreciate all your efforts.
Thanks also to Lori Hehr for working the media so well and giving us the umbrella coverage and the reporting on the achievements we managed on the tour.
A huge thank you goes to Rob LaDuca and Chad Hutchinson and all the guys at NEARFest without whom we would never have been able to get across, to Larry Webman for putting together a great tour and to Yatta who did a fantastic job holding it all together in the paper and form blizzard and in organising all the nuts and bolts that kept the ship together when we were out there. He is the master! =D>
Finally thanks to Frank, Gavin, Foss, Chris, Vince, Paul, Billy and Steve, who went through the pain barrier to create some memorable shows on an unforgettable tour!

Let's all do it again next year! ;-)

Fish's entire BLOG entry

Monofog Live @ The Hi-Dive Denver 5-10-08

Zombi Love Song by Monofog @ The Hi Dive Denver 5-10-08 from Steve Navarre on Vimeo.

Pindral Is Opening For Fish!

RIP Gary Gygax. Dungeons and Dragons co-creator

I remember the first time my friends and I first heard of D&D. It was probably 1976. I was at Mike Jones' house, my best bud back in the day, and he got this phone call from a friend of ours who had moved from Bowling Green, OH. to Ann Arbor, MI. Kevin was the guy's name and he was describing to Mike how he was playing this game and they were battling orcs and shit in a dungeon. It was the craziest thing we'd ever heard! We had to find out what the hell he was talking about. Next time Kevin came down for a visit he taught us how to play...there was no turning back after that! The love affair/obsession lasted until 1982, when we graduated from high school. Life changed somewhat for our core party of gamers. Some had somewhat steady girlfriends, some joined the military, some found other activities, not to mention we became of legal age to buy alcohol.

At the peek of our gaming years in Jr. High and High School, my mom predicted we wouldn't be playing D&D into our adulthood. I remember looking at her as if she was speaking in a foreign tongue or something. "Impossible! What are you talking about? D&D is the coolest game ever!" was probably my reply. It was a lifestyle really. At that time I could not imagine life without D&D and the other Role Playing Games we played such as Traveller(Star Wars like game), Boothill(western gunslingers), Top Secret(James Bond-type action) and the countless other strategic board games. Of course mom ended up being right, but the six or seven or so years we immersed ourselves into the games was pure geek heaven. On March 4, 2008 D&D co-creator Gary Gygax passed away. Thanks for the great times Mr. Gygax. Even though it's been 25 years since I've played I still hold those memories in very high regard. I have an album of photos of the original D&D books and other items we used in the mid-1970's over on my Photo Web Site.

Bob Drake's Cabinet of Curiosities 1-19-08

First show of 2008. Very fun evening at The Mercury Cafe!
Blapathy, with members of Hamster Theater et al, opened the show with an all improv set followed by Bob, Dave Kerman and Dave Campbell and others performing Bob's songs.

Check out Bob's blog for details and links to pics and videos I took.

Goodbye Film - End Of An Era

I've worked in the photo lab industry for over 20 years. The last 12 at a pro photo lab Qube visual, formerly know as Cies Sexton or Photobition. The other day was the last run of film processing for this business. I wrote this note to the other employees who may not have realized how much the photo industry has changed because of the digital revolution.

Hey, all. Thought I'd share some history of this place we call the Qube.

As most of you know the film department is being shut down today for good. It’s truly the end of an era for this place, and Denver really. Sign of the times though, like the music industry facing changes with digital music, the photo industry must change also. Face it, our life styles are ever changing as certain aspects become more and more convenient with digital cameras and mp3 players, etc.

(If some of my numbers are off here I apologize-Ray and Brent can maybe correct me). This place has been one of the most respected and largest professional photo labs in the country for the last 25 plus years. The film processing and photo services carried this place financially a good deal of that time. When I started working here 12 years ago we had 5 people working 2 shifts in the film department alone. I believe we averaged taking in $100,000 a month at times...just the film department! We had over 100 employees here, about half of which worked only in the photo side of things processing film, making photographic prints or taking in film related orders. The Customer Service department had over 10 folks (?) alone mostly taking care of the 100’s of photographers that used our services. I just checked that plastic slide mounter in the film department and over 58,600,000 35mm slides had been mounted on that machine alone in the last 10 years. Holy crap! That’s a lot of film! That’s not even counting the other formats that have gone through those machines.

So, I bid the end of that era a fond farewell here and look forward to what the future brings us. I’m still proud to be part of this place even though the times, they have a changed...and will continue to do so. Change is good as they say. :)

Best of 2007

Happy New Year! To wrap up the year thought I'd list some favorite recordings:

In no particular order:

Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet (Another classic in my book)
Porcupine Tree - Nil Recurring EP (Fantastic companion release to FOABP)
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - In Glorious Times (Perhaps SGM's "proggiest" release yet)
Future Kings of England - The Fate of Old Mother Orvis (Their 2nd CD. A wonderful blend of early era Pink Floyd and Gabriel era Genesis)
Ian Neal - The Lake EP (Prog-tronic? Cool blend of prog and modern electronic stylings)
Saturation Point - Three (Post-rock with electronic elements)
Riverside - Rapid Eye Movement (Wow! These guys can do no wrong. Bookend to their Reality Dream Trilogy)
Saga - 10,000 Days (Send off to Michael Sadler. Done right!)
God Is An Astronaut - Far From Refuge (Post rock with keyboards and piano added)
Radio Massacre International - Rain Falls In Grey (Tribute to Syd Barret. Awesome!)
Flower Kings - Sum of No Evil (Roine said they were going to do an overtly prog album...nicely done!)
Marillion - Somewhere Else (Another fan polarizing CD. I' m on the side who likes it!)
Tuner - Pole (Pat Mastlotto and Markus Reuter's latest. "Modernistic rock")
Steve Moore - The Henge (Zombi Keyboardist's first solo CD. Great electronic effort)
Hiromi - Time Control (Super fusion album for this Japanese keyboardist)
Alan Pasqua - The Antisocial Club (Another great fusion album)
The Gourishankar - 2nd Hands (Interesting modern prog from the Russian Federation)


Best show would have to go to Genesis. Never seen them in person before. The guys can still bring it. Even though we sat way in the back of the Pepsi Center, the sound was great and the visual effects mind boggling. I thought they did a fantastic blend of their pop and more "artful" material. The Rockies won their playoff round against the Phillies that night too, making the evening even more enjoyable!

Great new prog band!

Band: Baron Rootes

Baron Rootes is a post-prog band out of Ishpeming, Michigan. Formed in the winter of 2006 this talented quartet of brothers decided to hole themselves up out in a remote hunting camp/recording studio in the backwoods. The Piirto brothers (grandsons of Finnish immigrants) stocked with an ample supply of vodka, beer, baked beans, eggs, pasties and deer jerky, took an oath not to come out of the woods until they had an album. Mission accomplished! While their album will surely go down as a prog classic, their live show is even better. It's a must see!

Album: Eudoxus (crater)

Tracks:

1-Nigel Payne - hectic opening instrumental track which features their now famous ax-and-saw-to-guitar solo...ya gotta see them perform this one live to appreciate the nuances.

2-Fred Ottman - 70's era King Crimson and Gabriel-era Genesis influences can be heard on this mini epic of sorts. Combine those classic prog elements with the sounds of farting and we have truly original piece...again live...well, the smell is definitely one of the important features missed when just listening to the album.

3-Watts's Spiny Rat - Another instrumental that takes the listener on what the band describes as a sauna induced trip. Apparently vodka and 140 degree sauna's can induce quite the hallucinogenic trip, as all the member swore they saw giant rats coming out of the sauna steam at one point.

4-Emperor Rosk - After one heats up in a sauna, am told running out naked and rolling in the snow to cool off is a tradition and can produce a euphoric feeling. It's all the band would offer as an explanation regarding the title of this quirky number which features a solo section of an odd sounding sort of rhythmic skin slapping. Again, seeing this one done live...well lets just say, while seeing drunk men run around on stage naked may not be that desirable to most, the skin slapping section will all make sense.

5-The 411 - The band set their instruments up in the cabin's kitchen and in this avant-garde tour de force. Clanging, banging, strumming, and striking everything within reach, including the kitchen sink for 45 minutes...well lets just say you've probably not heard anything quite like it. A few of my friends, after hearing this piece told me they wanted their 45 minutes back. You're mileage may vary. My fav section would be the frying egg on the stove solo at the 30:32 minute mark. The puking/heavy vomiting solo that end the album is one of music history's finest moments imo. This piece is a fan fav in concert because the audience gets free fried eggs at the end of the show. The guys are pretty good cooks I must say! The audience is encouraged to join in on the ending puking section. What a way to finish the evening!

Move over Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, these guys can perform a live set like none other.





Ok...if ya can't tell, this is a bit of a spoof...duh! The idea comes from Word magazine. The game is WikiProg. Make your own fictitious prog band by using Wikipedia.

1) go to Wikipedia.
2) click 'random article' - this is your band name
3) click again - this is your album title
4) repeat for album tracks
5) embellish

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Aug. 30, 2007

SGM kicked ass as usual. This is the second mid-size theater in row they played here in Denver. I'd guess over 300 folks showed up. So nice seeing them on a big stage and with a big PA again over the couple dive clubs they've played here in the past. I think it took Olivia their sound person a couple tunes to harness the PA, but it ended up sounding pretty good.

Highlights:

Tub Rings's keyboardist doing keyboard stand acrobatics. He'd jump on his stand and play the keyboard, then jump high into the air doing some leg kicks. Prog keyboardists should take note...we need more of this! ;) Also, these guys spit a lot. Another thing more prog bands should incorporate. ;) OK, I liked maybe half of what Tub Ring did...the best part of was their version of Blue Moon (?) from the movie Three Amigos.

During an intermission in Tub Rings set, SGM came out and set up chairs and proceeded to shave all the beards and mustaches off the Tub Ring members to commemorate the last show the two bands would do together on this tour...pretty hilarious stuff! I have some digital videos of this in my pic link below.

SGM's version of Bring Back The Apocalypse was mind blowing. What a great groove they brought that raised the ceiling and tears to my eyes...never heard that tune groove and jam so much.

They played mostly new stuff but mixed in a couple classics and a new tune Dan wrote about his dying father. They ended with 1997 (Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's...).

The show started with Tub Ring about 8:45. SGM played from 10:15-11:35...not too late!

After the show I got to present Nils with a DVD I made of their last show here in Denver. I mentioned this was my 4th time seeing them here and thanks for coming back. I told him I posted versions of some of the videos on YouTube to help spread the SGM word and asked if it was OK to do that. He said, "Yes, people like you are all we have." And, " thanks". I got my pic taken with him...very cool!


Link to the album of pics and digital videos of Tub Rings's keyboardist and the shaving and a few of SGM. I didn't go crazy recording this time...it was nice to mostly enjoy the show without worrying about photographing/videoing/recording for a change.

Tortoise ~ June 18, 2007

For those who might be uninitiated regarding Tortoise, I lifted this description from their Wikipedia page: Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in various indie rock and punk groups. Tortoise was among the first American indie rock bands to incorporate styles closer to Krautrock, dub, minimalism, electronica, and various jazz styles, rather than the standard rock and roll and punk that had dominated indie rock for years.

Some have cited Tortoise as being one of the prime forces behind the development and popularity of the so-called "post-rock" movement. Others, however, have criticized Tortoise's music as being derivative of progressive rock.

Arriving a half hour before the doors opened it appeared that the crowed might be rather thin as there was no line at all out front of The Bluebird at all. I decided to take advantage of the nice evening and cheap micro brew prices across the street and headed to the Goosetown Tavern's patio until the doors opened. At 8:30 a few of us filed in and waited for Lichens to start (see my review below). I snagged a prime second tier rail spot right in the middle of the floor. Thoughts of poor audience turnout soon were put aside as a really nice size crowd began to showup right before Tortoise's set.

Tortoise came out about 10:20 and proceeded to wow us with an incredibly tight set of tunes. One thing really interesting about these guys is they are all multi-instrumentalists and they tradeoff on almost every song. They actually have two drum kits setup up face to face and on several of the songs have duel drumming. Three of them handled the kits. All the members played their two sets of xylophones eventually and all of them played some sort of keyboard during the course of the show as well. Three of them traded off on guitars and basses too. One could tell they really enjoined playing together as there was tons of grins at each other and they totally fed of the crowd's exciting reactions. We coaxed them out for two encores...they were extremely deserving! Throughout the show they had projected images which were mostly moving abstract, contemporary painting type of visuals...very fitting and not too distracting.

This was my first time seeing them live in person and it will not be my last. It's amazing how their live music grooves, because on CD a lot of the tunes don't really come off that way, but live they seem to improve the studio versions somehow that makes things even better...highly recommended if one wants to see a very tight band who's music isn't so ordinary, highly creative, but at the same time somewhat accessible.

I have a photo slideshow with music recorded that night on my YouTube Station (here).

Also, I have the complete set of photos on my Photosite (here).