Gavin Harrison's Desert Island Drums
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sun., Feb 17, 2013
Gavin Harrison has been discussing his favourite drumming albums with the folks at MusicRadar. 

Stick Men Extracts
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sat., Feb 16, 2013
Tony Levin has posted some extracts of the forthcoming Stick Men album, Deep. You can listen to them here. Nude Ascending Staircase was also featured in a recent podcast over on the blog. 

Crimson To A Tee
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sat., Feb 16, 2013
Burning Shed are now offering officially-approved King Crimson T-shirts. Their first batch includes Court, Larks and Discipline. Also in the Burning Shed KC Merch store there's a series of mugs sporting the covers of some of your favourite albums. Find out more underneath the T-shirts. 

Travis & Fripp's Follow Followed Up
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sat., Feb 16, 2013
A couple of new reviews of the the most recent Travis & Fripp album, Follow, have recently been published. Sputnik Music’s write-up reckons "Follow is beautiful. Sad without sounding bleak and uplifting without sounding joyful, the simple-sounding exterior of the album masks the complicated moods underneath. These men have over 70 years of professional experience pouring into this record and with these calming, ephemeral layers of sound serving as the backdrop for their expertise, it’s no wonder Follow is one of the best ambient albums I’ve ever heard."

The album is also the subject of consideration here and there's an extensive review over at the Dutch Progressive Rock Pages by Raffaella Berry.

When The Pot Calls The Kettle Black
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Fri., Feb 15, 2013
My thanks to the mighty Anil Prasad for the heads-up on the news that Pirate Bay are suing a competitor for, ahem, copyright infringement. Read more here. 

Review of Songbook #1
:: Posted by David S on Fri., Feb 15, 2013

A very detailed description of one writer’s journey of discovery with The Vicar Songbook#1 on Altrockchick.com

It is difficult to describe the importance for all those making music that there are the discerning ears necessary to complete the cycle. This one review completely changed atmosphere within the office.

"Songbook #1 has everything to do with talent, everything to do with musicianship and everything to do with artistic integrity."

Keeling Brought To Book
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Fri., Feb 15, 2013
Andrew Keeling has a second volume of his diaries published this week.

In The Shadow Volume Two collects Andrew's online diaries between 2006 - 2012, building up into a fascinating insight into the creative decisions facing a contemporary composer. You can find out more about the book by visiting Spaceward's website.

Meanwhile, Andrew's rock project with Otherworld is releasing a single soon. You can find out more details here. In case you missed it Andrew has also collaborated with King Crimson's David Cross for an album entitled English Sun. Released in 2009 you can buy a copy here and read my take on the album over on the blog.

Orchestral Reuter
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Thu., Feb 14, 2013
There's an orchestral version of Stick Men's Markus Reuter's extended composition, Todmorden 513 in the pipeline but the Colorado Chamber Orchestra, who are staging a performance and recording of the piece need your help. Find out more by visiting their Pledge Music site and see how you might make it happen. 

Stick Men Go Deep
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Thu., Feb 14, 2013
You can now preorder the new Stick Men album, Deep, directly from the Iapetus Records website where you can also listen to several tracks. 

And The Winner Is...
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Thu., Feb 14, 2013
Three names were pulled out of the hat today. Step forward Steven Leak of Ontario, Carlos Romeo of Madrid and Errol Tout of Western Australia. They each get a copy of the Guitar Circle of Europe album because a) they were plucked from the fickle fedora of fate and b) they were able to tell me that director of the GCE is Hernan Nunez. Thanks to everyone who took part and stayed tuned for another great giveaway soon.