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Hi there,

I've been waiting to share the news about the other September release on my little label
Generation Prog Records with you. I'm really glad to be working with the Austrian octet
Circle of Illusion on their debut album Jeremias - Foreshadow of Forgotten Realms:



Jeremias is an epic concept album four years in the making. The band really filled the
CD to the brim (80 minutes!) and added an elaborate 36-page booklet on top of that.
The music is best described as symphonic progressive rock with some heavier parts
here and there - I always tend to say it sounds a bit like Neal Morse's more symphonic
compositions with a bit of a DT edge (some parts also remind me of Haken). I don't
like hyperbole, but I think quite a few people will be positively shocked by the quality.

But as usual, don't just take my word for it - we've put together a nice trailer for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKOUX4K5iA8

The album will be released September 9, 2013. It can be pre-ordered here:
http://www.generation-prog.com/?page_id=1172&lang=en

Until then, enjoy these samples!


All the best,
Michael

Hi everyone,

my band Relocator had the chance to open for Flaming Row and Haken in Rüsselsheim this past Saturday and to our delight several people in the audience were filming. Check out these videos, covering most of our five-song set in chronological order:

Red Vibes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1uQVD-Qn7c

Aavishkar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faVAndiEYrg

The Alchemist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiAqmy9--rQ

Relocator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1dhYUfs7vI

Enjoy!

And as a bonus, here's a recording of the song that closed the evening, Haken's massive 20+ minute song Visions!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KCBRi4aYgU

Hi everyone,

I'm a bit late with these news, but even with the delay I really wanted to share them with you:

Effloresce will be playing this year's Fused Festival in Lydney, Gloucestershire, UK! They will play on May 26, the second of three festival days. Other bands featured include Subsignal, Andromeda, Leprous and Stream of Passion (and many more) - it's gonna be a blast!

http://www.fusedfestival.com/
Note: The site seems to be down at the moment, but I'm sure it's only temporary.

In addition to their first ever UK performance, Effloresce have two gigs in Germany coming up:


April 13 -
Nürnberg, Luise - The Cultfactory: Generation Prog live
with Dreamscape, Counter-World Experience and Relocator
(check my previous thread about upcoming Relocator gigs for details!)

May 12 -
Groß-Gerau, Kulturcafé
with Arven

So quite a few opportunities for you to see them live, and not just in the Nürnberg area for a change!

Hi guys,

with Relocator just being a part-time project, I am very happy to have joined a regular working band last week. Especially since it's a band that I've been a fan of ever since I saw them live around 2004, performing material from their then-new EP Ages of the Sun. I loved the mix of 7-string riffing, double-bass bursts and some proggish tendencies (odd meters here and there, some cool rhythmic ideas) with really catchy songwriting and great lead and backing vocals. They have released two albums since: Oceans and Waves (2006) and the new disc Floor 29.

You can listen to their entire discography on Bandcamp (downloads and CDs are available there):

http://migod.bandcamp.com

This is the first time that their new album Floor 29 (that I had nothing to do with, btw) is made available to a wider audience. As it should be - in my opinion it's an excellent disc!


Enjoy!

Hi everyone,

it's time for Relocator to hit the stage again! We have two gigs with some fantastic bands coming up:

April 13: Nürnberg, Luise - The Cultfactory  - a Generation Prog live event - http://www.generation-prog.com
Dreamscape
Counter-World Experience
Relocator
Effloresce

April 14: Rüsselsheim, Das Rind - a Progressive Promotion live event - http://progressive-promotion.de
Haken
Flaming Row
Relocator

I hope to see some fellow forumers there!

Btw, the Nürnberg show will be a CD release gig both for Dreamscape and Counter-World Experience, so check out their new stuff:
Teaser for Dreamscape - Everlight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNF1ugfPfOo

Teaser for Counter-World Experience - Music for Kings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkrPaiigRUk

And since I think they deserve more attention, here's a teaser for Flaming Row - Elinoire as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrYpPs-hfyM

This album will be released on my new label Generation Prog Records on February 10. It will also kick your ass!

Hear lots of samples here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97JxiFjYJts

Hear a complete song here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wulLYABlQs

Connect:
http://www.facebook.com/effloresceonline

http://www.facebook.com/GenerationProgRecords


Looking forward to your feedback!

Hi there,

when you're staging a prog festival for modern and somewhat obscure prog bands, you try to think of ways to make those bands more popular to maximize your audience. But of course there's nothing quite as persuasive as the actual music those bands are playing! I am very happy that thanks to the help of Prog Sphere and the bands and labels involved I was able to put together this awesome compilation:



Free download here: http://www.prog-sphere.com/2011/08/31/a ... on-of-prog

Over 68 minutes of hand-picked modern classics (or at least they should be!) from some of my favorite modern prog bands. There is some mindblowing stuff here: "The Point Of No Return" from Haken's celebrated debut Aquarius (over 11 minutes!), Andromeda's incredible 17 minute epic "Veil of Illumination", Exivious' awesome "Waves Of Thought" - in my opinion it simply doesn't get any better! And of course I hope you'll also enjoy the track that my own band Relocator contributed - our fan favorite Aavishkar, another track that's over 10 minutes long!

Enjoy and spread the word  - or in this case, the link!


All the best,
Michael

Judging from the quality of Nocturnal Conspiracy and Insomnia, which were played live at Night of the Prog in July, this should be really, really good:


1. Premonition - 4:10
2. Nocturnal Conspiracy - 13:08
3. Insomnia - 6:06
4. The Mind's Eye - 4:05
5. Portals - 5:27
6. Shapeshifter - 8:08
7. Deathless - 8:04
8. Visions - 22:25

The US release has been announced for October 25. If you want it earlier, you'll have to attend one of Haken's September live gigs, either at ProgPower USA in Atlanta or at the Generation Prog Festival in Nürnberg, Germany.

Oh yeah: In addition to the 22 minute title track, songs no. 4, 5 and 6 are connected, creating a ~18 minute suite.

If you like your music a bit heavier, this will kick your ass! Sweet 8-string stuff with lots of melody, an awesome singer and great songs!
http://soundcloud.com/sha...d-skies-reanimation-ep
 
My favorite track is the last one, This Is What We Built. But they're all good, really!
 
Since there is a download limit on the Soundcloud site, the band has made the EP available via MediaFire:
http://www.mediafire.com/?38s6dj2s3f7noq3
 
Enjoy!

[Haken and Exivous confirmed for Generation Prog Festival 2011!]

Good evening,

some of you have probably heard of the first Generation Prog live event we did in February - one evening, three prog bands, lots of fun. Well, when the opportunity to stage the next event at the awesome Luise in Nürnberg presented itself, I decided that we should turn it into more than just a bunch of German prog bands playing. And, lo and behold, my plan has come together! We're still waiting for some paperwork to be finalized here and there, but the Generation Prog Festival 2011 will take place on Friday and Saturday, September 23rd and 24th. It will feature four international and four regional bands - and instead of Genesis cover bands or old guys performing Marillion songs from the '80s you'll get to see young bands that are shaping the prog scene *right now*!

We will be announcing the full lineup soon, but until then I'm really looking forward to the initial reactions to this announcement - in my opinion the first two bands to be confirmed are amazing! More about them in our English press release (a work-in-progress version) below.

Here's the (German) official website for the festival:
//http://www.generation-prog.com

And here's the (English) official Facebook page for it:
//http://www.facebook.com/GenerationProg


All the best,
Michael

---

Haken and Exivous confirmed for Generation Prog Festival 2011!

The first Generation Prog Festival will be held on September 23rd and 24th at the Luise in Nürnberg, Germany. The event brings together some of the best young prog bands from various European countries and local talent from the Nürnberg area for an exciting weekend of progressive music!



The first two bands to be confirmed are perfect examples for the festival's focus: Haken from England and Exivious from the Netherlands may have released just one album each so far, but both got rave reviews from all over the world and both are not just seen as promising young talent, but already considered to be two of the best bands on the prog scene.



Haken's debut album combines such diverse influences as Dream Theater, Danny Elfman and Frank Zappa into a unique musical rollercoaster ride. The songs are filled with so many ideas that they never get boring despite their length and the arrangements are so elaborate that even with two guitarists and keyboardists at their disposal (main writer Richard "Hen" Henshall switches between the instruments on the fly), the six members of Haken have their hands full in a live setting. Even though the band was founded in 2007, this year marks the first time they will play live in Germany!



Exivious have dubbed their music "fusionmetal" - the purely instrumental mix of styles fuses the musical vocabulary of metal with the improv culture of jazz. Given the band's lineup, it's not a surprise that this happens on a stunningly high level: Drummer Stef Broks is also active in the Dutch metal band Textures while bassist Robin Zielhorst and guitarist Tymon played with legendary band Cynic until just recently. The performance at the Generation Prog Festival 2011 will be Exivous' live debut in Germany!

More bands and further details regarding the festival will be announced in the coming weeks.


Who: Haken, Exivious and six more bands
Where: Luise – The Cultfactory, Scharrerstraße 15, 90478 Nürnberg, Germany
When: Friday and Saturday, September 23 and 24, 2011, doors open at 18:00
How much: Ticket prices will be announced soon

//http://www.generation-prog.com
//http://www.facebook.com/GenerationProg

Disclaimer: This is a shameless cross-post to several forums, but since my original post generated a lot of very interesting discussion with lots of good stories and valuable comments from other musicians, I thought I'd just go ahead and post it here as well:

I'd like to share this little list of things I learned in the six months following the release of my band's debut album.


When you release an album, you will realize that...

1. ... relying on online acquaintances to help promote your music (e.g., by writing reviews if they like it) is mostly futile. This can even harm your however loose relationship with people when they disappoint you for no good reason.

2. ... on the other hand, sometimes perfect strangers can become untiring champions of your music which feels just great.

3. ... some magazines and review pages can't even be bothered to reply to a promo offer via e-mail. Makes you really want to send them a CD just like that, eh? :|

4. ... a large part of many reviews is just a slightly re-phrased version of your official band biography. So better make sure it's well-written.

5. ... a surprising percentage of positive (!) reviews doesn't include a single nicely quotable sentence.

6. ... even when your guest star is very obviously featured on your entire album, some "professionals" will still write that he "guests on a couple of tracks".  :roll:

7. ... you were clearly influenced by <insert band you've never heard in your life>.

8. ... some people buy your album (thanks!) but then share their download link with all their friends (WTF?!). It's one form of "support", I guess...  :x

9. ... quite a few of your online acquaintances don't legally obtain music at all (they might make an exception for their favorite band).

10. ... you shouldn't expect people to stick to public announcements like "I will buy this ASAP", especially coming from other musicians.  :lol:


To be continued...

Hi there,

after my initial comment in the Haiti Projekt thread an introduction is in order!  

My name is Michael and I live in the area of Nuremberg in the South of Germany.
I've been a prog fan for over a decade, but I listen to all kinds of music. To quote
the official bio on my band's page: "Michael's musical interests range from acoustic
jazz and pop (but not the stuff you usually hear on the radio) to Meshuggah-level
metal with a little bit of everything inbetween (just as long as it isn't dull)."  :lol:

I play bass in an all-instrumental prog/fusion project called Relocator. We
have just released our self-titled debut album. Former Dream Theater
keyboardist Derek Sherinian recorded all the keyboard parts for the CD
as a special guest, contributing some fantastic playing. Another special
element is our electric violinist who plays on our album's opening track
and our two 10+ minute pieces. The album has been getting very good
reviews so far (among them an amazing "9 out of 10" from the famous
DPRP.net website) and you can check it out in its entirety on MySpace:
//http://www.myspace.com/relocatorproject

More info on the musicians (and where to get the album) here:
//http://www.relocator-project.com

Let me know what you think!


All the best,
Michael