A new King Gizzard album has been spotted !
As you know, KG&LW allows fans and independent labels to press and sell physical copies (vinyl, CD, cassettes) of the downloads that are offered by the band.
As long as they send a fair trade of copies back for the band to sell.
"Europe '25 Vol II" is such a release. It has been made available by the Reverberation Appreciation Society in July as a 3 LP set.
From 7D Media
Santa Fe, NM — 7D Media is proud to announce Solace, a dynamic new set of wholly improvised works from Jonathan Crossley, David Kollar and Lukas Ligeti. Recorded in June 2024 during an artistic residency at the University of Liverpool, the project captures three singular musical minds in deep, real-time dialogue.
On this recording, the digitally enabled guitar practices of Crossley and Kollar intersect with the polymetric, Africa-inflected drumming of Ligeti, generating environments that move between ambient, pulsating and rhythmically intricate states. Crossley's playing fuses guitar, synthesis and real-time digital control into an expanded, gestural improvisational language, while Kollar treats the guitar as a vehicle for expansive, genre-defying expression, ranging from tonal abstraction to avant-garde interplay. Ligeti's drumming draws on experimental, jazz, contemporary and world traditions, weaving overlapping polyrhythms and cross-cultural influences into a percussive approach that is both grounded and exploratory.
from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Heroes
From the original soundtrack: 'Fire and Regeneration'
Tom Penaguin.
If the name doesn't ring a bell, you're missing out.
(I only learned about Tom Penaguin last week when I received a digital download of the album.)
This is spectacular.
Contemporary Canterbury scene instrumental progressive rock.
Composed,
played, recorded and mixed by Tom Penaguin...
French multi-instrumentalist Tom Penaguin (known for his work with psych-rockers Djiin and avant space-rock outfit Orgöne) surprised everyone in 2024 with his spectacular self-titled debut solo album.
For this project, Penaguin locked himself away in his home studio, surrounded by a mountain of vintage analog hardware, and recorded every single instrument himself. The resulting thirty-seven minutes of music act as a direct portal back to the golden era of the 1970s Canterbury Scene.
The album kicks off with 'The Stove Viewpoint Introduction', a short, electronics-laden piece full of modulated oscillations that feels very much like an invitation into a strange new landscape.
This effortlessly crossfades into the album's centerpiece, the magnificent 14-minute epic 'Housefly Leg'. Here, Penaguin showcases a staggering grasp of jazz-fusion and progressive interplay, calling to mind Bundles-era Soft Machine, Egg, and Hatfield and the North, while retaining the complex rhythmic vocabulary of Frank Zappa's Waka/Jawaka period. The shifting odd meters, heavy organ pads, and fluid guitar work are brilliantly executed, yet always maintain a playful, melodic accessibility.
'Aborted Long Piece No2', is a tight, classically influenced exercise driven by a syncopated drum beat and a heavy bass line that cuts out right before it overstays its welcome.
It breaks for 'Arrival of the Great Hedgehog', where Penaguin layers beautiful, understated electric piano chords before absolutely tearing into a soaring, emotional guitar solo that nods toward Steve Hillage.
Finally, 'The Stove Packed Up and Left' closes the album with a wonderfully pastoral, acoustic-leaning atmosphere reminiscent of Caravan or Camel.
This is an exceptionally strong, vibrant debut from an artist who doesn't just copy the past, but breathes fresh, imaginative life into it.
Highly recommended for any fan of classic progressive rock, complex jazz-fusion, and vintage Canterbury sounds.
You can listen to and purchase the album directly via the áMARXE Bandcamp page.
Ruins.
Not the Japanese, Magma-inspired duo, but the Italian duo that has been producing experimental music since 1978.
Featuring Alessandro Pizzin (who you might also know as Alieno de Bootes and who released the exiting "Unconventional Residents" Tribute-To-The-Residents-series) and Piergiuseppe Ciranna.
They have just released a new album on the Klanggalerie record label: "Cosa ? (Experimental Works)
'RefleKtions II'
by Eidon
dedicated to Bill Bruford
a journey to the French music scene by Alieno De Bootes.
00:06 - 03:24 - Moving Gelatine Plates - Memories (1971)
Released in different versions, some of which have been slightly delayed.
But the Japanese (SHM)CD is out !
Selections from David Greenberger's archive !
13 different versions of 'Tramps In Bloom' by Men & Volts.
Live and rehearsal sessions.
In 1966, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention released the album that started it all. Sixty years later, the Freak Out! 60th Anniversary Edition is officially unleashed and ready for pre-order.
The brand-new 60th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition presents 5 CDs of material, featuring the newly remastered 1966 stereo mix, a previously unreleased pre-master mix, the long-awaited mono master mix, The Mothers live at The Fillmore, 1966 rehearsals, demos, rarities, vocal reference mixes, session outtakes, and a cornucopia of bonus material. It’s the mother lode of mother lodes.
In addition to that glorious monstrosity, the Blu-ray contains ATMOS, 5.1, and high-res audio options. The set is rounded out with an expanded booklet with rare photos, new essays, a very special new section of even more “Relevant Quotes,” and an original double-sided fold-out Freak Out! Hot Spots Map.
Also available on a 5LP Box Set, as well as a multi-colored 2LP vinyl edition. Arrives everywhere on September 25th.
“The Plaster Casters” album by The Plaster Caster Blues Band did not include the actual Plaster Casters Of Chicago (Cynthia Albritton and her assistant(s)) but was a group of session musicians improvising on a number of blues themes.
The album included ‘You Didn’t Try To Ball Me (Dedicated To Frank Zappa)’, a track that also got released on the B-side of their only 7” single release.
The LP got re-released in 2024 on a Russian (?) label.
American DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper Madlib, released a follow-up to his 2013 ”Rock Konducta Pt. 1” album in 2014.
"Rock Konducta - Part 2" included :
In 2023, "Rock Konducta - Part 2" got re-released on smoke vinyl.
Starting the day with the latest album by the Michael Moore Universe Quartet is always a pleasure. Reed master Michael Moore, a crucial component of the ICP Orchestra, has delivered another beautiful album, "Listen !".
Michael Moore's warm, melancholic alto saxophone tone, combined with Guillermo Celano's guitar lines are joy to listen to.
On the Bandcamp page, Michael adds:
The rather presumptious title, the 'Universe' quartet, has to do with it being an exploration of my universe. It's a repertoire band, these guys are ready and willing to play anything I give them, and I am grateful for that.
My intent is, rather than break new ground, to explore older forms and make enjoyable music.
The advantage of being DIY one's whole life is that you have total freedom from commercial pressures; I can follow my muse anywhere, and this is where it has taken me!
The result is a beautiful album.
Take the album title as a strong recommendation and "Listen !":
-- info: Danny Mathys
The hyper-kinetic wunderkinds are back, and they are willfully testing the limits of what a "jazz duo" is supposed to sound like. Following their Grammy-nominated 2022 debut "NOT TiGHT," keyboardist Domi Louna and drummer JD Beck return with their sophomore effort, "Who Asked ?".
This time around, the duo has locked themselves in their Dallas home studio to emerge with an ambitious, highly structured, and downright dizzying slice of avant-garde chamber pop and maximalist jazz-prog.
Unlike the loose, improvisational grease of traditional fusion, "Who Asked ?" was completely meticulously mapped out on notation software before a single instrument was touched. The result is an album that feels entirely intentional—and completely unhinged. The duo handles vocals on nearly every track, creating an intricate web of "indietronica" sliced with Zappa-esque rhythmic sharp-turns and Carl Stalling-level cartoon logic.
Tracks like the fanfare opener 'Epiphanie' and 'Concertino (for Piano, Drums & Orchestra)' weave in a small sinfonietta of seasoned classical players, transforming their signature 1,000-notes-per-second velocity into full-blown orchestral madness. Meanwhile, tracks like 'Small Eyes' slow things down just a hair, blending a blue-mood jazz atmosphere with J Dilla-inspired drum deconstructions.
Beautiful, chaotic, and relentlessly demanding of your attention.
"Walden consists of a series of musical sketches inspired by the 1854 novel of the same name by Henry David Thoreau”, thus reads the short description of this project by Heiner Goebbels. But those familiar with the oeuvre of the German trans-media conceptualist and composer know that with Goebbels it’s never quite that simple. In his 1998 creation Walden, composed for expanded orchestra with speaker, Goebbels incorporates a wide-flung stream of inspirations and approaches, spanning excerpts from Thoreau’s “Walden”, soundscape-design in the spirit of audio plays, arsenals of outlandish instruments and sonic layouts as much at home in the avantgarde as they borrow from popular music, all brought to life with Peter Eötvös conducting and Bob Rutman a main figure in this project – in the role of the narrator.
-- info: Jan van Kemenade
June 26 to July 3, 2027, Steve Vai will participate in a cruise on the river Rhine, travelling from Basel to Amsterdam.
https://toursandwine.com/svrhine1/
Chanan Hanspal (guitar), Sunny Mohindra (tablas) and Andy Edwards (drums) recorded a beautiful John McLaughlin tribute.
The Vandals' "Fear Of A Punk Planet" featured Dweezil Zappa, Moon Zappa, and Scott Thunes as special guests, although not all on the same track.
Orginally released on CD and on LP in 1991, it got some some exiting re-releases :
The Japanese edition, from 2001, had different artwork:
Here's 'Hey Holmes', feat. Dweezil Zappa:
A couple of years ago, the Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes albums that were originally released on the Frank Zappa co-owned Discreet Records (in 1974) have been re-issued by the Purple Pyramid / Cleopatra Records label.
"Call Of The Wild" album got a vinyl re-release both on black and on white vinyl, next to a remastered CD edition.
"Tooth, Fang & Claw" got a vinyl re-release on red marble vinyl, next to a remastered CD edition.
Earlier this month, John Tabacco released "Jukebox Oracle".
The fantastic Doom Gong concert from Zappanale 2026 turned up at YouTube.
We had just arrived when they started with the intro to 'Strictly Genteel'.
And then they kicked off with 'King Kong' only to continue with some hyper-energetic original material.
Goosebumps all over again.
Tim Motzer:
here’s a fun and energizing chat with bassist Julie Slick on "Searching for Sparks" covering her latest news including an upcoming November-December 2026 tour with Emma Ruth Rundle, and many other new projects. We talk about her work with Adrian Belew, Crimson Projeckts, and Jerry Harrison’s Talking Heads tribute.
How did this escape me?
Agitation Free has a brand-new album out !
Recorded live in Berlin in 2025:
True, I missed the Agitation Free concert at Zappanale.
According to some who were there, it was a highlight.
Well, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I was able to catch the Rockradio broadcast afterwards.
It looks like I really did miss an impressive concert.
In the meantime, however, I was also able to enjoy one of Agitation Free's recent albums: a 2013 concert, released on CD in 2016, as a digital download in 2023.
Instrumental, psychedelic rock with lots of improvisations.
Great !!
Here's the Zappanale show:
The (Belgian) W.E.R.F. Record label has just released "Sketches Of Belgian Summers", a superfine sampler / introduction to the Belgian jazz artists that they have been releasing.
Highly recommended.
00:27 - “Love Anthem”
06:54 - “LAS TROMPETAS DE NAEL”
15:35 - “The Smile of Rita”
'Time Out (featuring ialive)' is track from Darko the Super's upcoming album "How to Play Basketball in the Rain and Not Get Wet" !
"Harmonic Mind"
To be released in September.
LP on standard black vinyl, but also announced an purple vinyl, and on CD.
A lot of people probably saw the picture of Frank Zappa sitting on the toilet before they had ever heard his music. Let alone that they knew who he was.
Taken by photographer Robert Davidson in a London hotel room in 1967, it became one of the best-selling rock posters in history. Zappa himself famously noted that he was more famous for sitting on the toilet than for his music.
I must have seen the picture before I started listening to Frank's music but, for me, that wasn't what triggered me to find out who the man in the picture was.
I got hooked when I found "Weasels Ripped My Flesh" and "Burnt Weeny Sandwich" in the public library. The album artwork pulled me in and the music blew me away.
Still, I can imagine that many people found the photo funny and subversive and thought it embodied the counterculture.
It is an iconic picture and the story behind it is fascinating to say the least.
And that's what the upcoming "Zappa And Me" documentary will be about.
Although the Zappanale festival had existed for quite some years, the first 'international edition', with invited guests from all over the world and the inauguration of the statue, took place in 2002.
It's no surprise that the poster referred to the famous picture.
My previous post on Patáx reminded me of the beautiful version of 'Man In The Mirror' by Lari Basilio !
feat. Siedah Garrett/Greg Phillinganes/Vinnie Colaiuta/Nathan EastRecommended by Alfred G.: the flamenco funk Afro-Cuban mix of Patáx.
October 16 Colos-Saal, Aschaffenburg, Germany
October 17, 2026 - Leibniz-Gymnasium in Altdorf bei Nürnberg, Germany
(The Alberto Diaz Trio will be opening.)
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https://mvdshop.com/products/the-residents-eskimo-folk-tales-10-inch
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I enjoyed the four days of music by making choices. I picked out the bands that I really wanted to see and I deliberately stayed away from other ones.
Not because they did not sound interesting but only to avoid an overload.
Also, with Rockradio streaming the concerts on YouTube, I was hoping to catch up with some of the concerts I missed at a later stage.
Zappanale's Sunday morning started with Dutch band HALA.
I skipped seeing them live, but looking at the video, they sure sounded fine.
Contrary to Friday and Saturday, where we had high energy bands kicking off (respectively Doom Gong and Octafish), Sunday went for a softer approach.
Here's HALA, performing at the smaller Arf Stage.
If you want more HALA, check out their Bandcamp page:
https://halabandpage.bandcamp.com/
At 14h00, the Hilo Jazz Orchestra took the main stage.
This was something I really wanted to experience live and I enjoyed it a lot !
The band played a very long set but it felt like it was over in a flash.
Great vocals, excellent solos and superb musicianship.
Happiness all around. Both on stage and in the audience.
Top !!
After the Hilo Jazz, it was time for the Miserablen Husos on the Arf Stage.
Zappa in Hessisch (German).
We had already seen most of the bandmembers on Saturday as part of the Filthy Brillos band.
I only caught part of this concert as we also mixed and mingled (and got something to eat) but what I heard and saw sounded great.
With Chato Segerer on bass !
Great fun. And these guys can play !!
And then, it started raining again. It wasn’t raining as heavily as we’d seen earlier but it did mean that we had to watch the Mahavishnu Project show from in the big tent.
Still a nice view and excellent sound.
Having seen a large part of the amazing Mahavinshnu Project's Saturday show, where they performed the music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, I guess my expectations were set a bit too high.
Sure, an excellent performance, but I would have preferred a bit less Jan Hammer & Jeff Beck and some more fusion Zappa, although the rendition of 'Cause We've Ended As Lovers' brought tears to my eyes...
Anyway, the nitpicking aside, it was great to see this live.
The YouTube broadcast got cut halfway through the show, which is a pity, but it will give you a taste of what it was like:
The Mahavishnu gig was followed by the Goodbye Session.
Gregg Bendian (Mahavishnu Project) who was asked to lead the session, mentioned that the wanted to avoid having forty musicians on the stage.
He also would like to know in advance who would be participating so that he could discuss the pieces that he would like to perform, for which he would prefer a piece by Jeff Beck, one by Mahavishnu and one by Frank Zappa.
I guess not all musicians were that familiar with the music that Gregg proposed, so he switched it to an improvisation, leading into a FZ guitar piece.
An excellent decision.
Next to the Mahavishnu Project, we recognized members of the Hilo Jazz Orchestra, and Fred Händl.
Completely saturated, we did not stay for Putan Club.
Nevertheless, happy.
Very happy.
Glad to have seen these beautiful concerts live.
And to have shared this experience with some fine people from around the world.
Zappanale rules !
Saturday, July 18, 2026,
Dear diary,
I enjoyed another episode of "Peter's Adventures in Zappanaleland".
The Yo Cats trio started the festivities over at Café Zikke.
Keyboards, guitar and drums.
Playful and funny.
Fred (on keyboards) had brought along a new album. Sort of a bootleg. Solo piano performing Zappa. More on this later.
The second morning event saw Pamela Des Barres reading from her "I'm With The Band" book.
I've read the book and I expected translations into German (which is nice but also very time consuming), so we skipped this.
In all, the Café Zikke location was very nice. It's sort of a pedestrian passageway to a parallel street where the Café Zikke terrace and some additional benches give room to the audience and the band is staged on the other side of the passageway.
Lovely.
Our afternoon started with Octafish on the Arf Stage on the festival ground.
An energetic and powerful opener. Exactly what a festival needs.
Next, the Hilo Jazz Orchestra brought the energy level down again with their Hawaiian reggae, only to revive it with some Frank Zappa tunes. Nice.
At 16h30, the highlight of the day: Tante Tofu performed their rock opera.
We've seen Tante Tofu in several incarnations but this new band is the best we've seen so far.
Great vocals, two guitars, a great sounding electric wind instrument,...
Loved it.
Being all mesmerized, I forgot to take a picture but I'm sure some will turn up soon.
Also right up my alley was Mentat Routage.
Vocal artist (and jazz cornet player) Médéric Collignon lifted the performance to an extra level.
I loved their improvisation and the way that they approached the Zappa compositions. My only remark would be that they shouldn't have used the lyrics of the Zappa songs. It sounded a bit sloppy (and even onomatopoeic most of the time).
But as I said, I did like their improvisations and the way the approached the compositions. A lot.
And then, the Filthy Brillos took over the Arf Stage.
Energetic, chaotic, funny, and musically brilliant.
Born out of necessity at a previous gig, the band featured members of Yo Cats & the Husos (MSRBLN HRNSN).
This was FUN (in capitals).
There were too many great moments: Christian's guest appearance on vocals, the a cappella version of 'Happy Together', the switching of instruments, the amazing guitar solos,...
Friday morning felt like Saturday morning. But that was because of the extended pre-party on Thursday.
It was an additional day to the festival that took place at the Arf Stage, a very nice gift from the Arf Society.
Friday morning started with two concerts in the center of Bad Doberan, at Café Zikke.
Smalltape was the first one to take the proverbial stage. Performing a solo set, we heard more intimate versions of some of the songs that had been performed by the larger band on Thursday.
I really like it.
Philipp (Nespital) made great use of his loop station, resulting in optimal use of guitar, keyboards and vocals. Progressive rock in a solo setting. Very nice.
Smalltape performed at 11h00.
At 12h00, the (Petit) Halo Jazz Orchestra was up.
Lounge jazz, a couple of Frank Zappa tunes ('I'm The Slime' and 'Road Ladies'), and a handful of Hawaiian reggae tunes.
A fine start of the day.
And, yes, the Mexican Pope was there as well :-)
Around 14h00 Doom Gong set things in motion on the festival ground.
We walked in just in time to hear a snippet from "200 Motels" after which they switched to an exhilarating version of 'King Kong'. Goosebumps.
Doom Gong's original material is pretty high-energy. Great to listen to and great to watch as well.
I'll be on the lookout for some video snippets...
"VKB Plays Tom Waits" was nice. Great voices, lovely harmonies, surprising instruments and sounds.
Lovely. And they performed a Zappa tune. I can't stress enough how much I like that bands do the effort to add a Frank Zappa tune to their setlist when performing at Zappanale. That's what makes the Zappanale experience even more special.
And the expos, of course. Here's Angel with the expo on his latest project, which started as a t-shirt design.
And shortly after the concert had finished, we were informed of the upcoming storm. It would be short and powerful, but it would also be gone within an hour, so everybody was advised to leave the festival ground and to take shelter.
The schedule was moved back with one hour.
We didn't stay and drove back to the hotel.
So we missed Agitation Free and their video show, but that's OK as we were more than happy with what we had seen and heard.
What a joy it is, to arrive in Bad Doberan.
All friendly faces.
The festival started with Superthousand, a band with a Pink Floyd vibe. They sounded great.
Next up was Smalltape. Melodic progressive rock. Loved it. Perfect festival vibe.
In between, I did have a short chat with Gregg Bendian and Neil Alexander from the Mahavishu Project.
Ben Rubie was still in Hamburg as his violin needed repair, but everything should be fine before they hit the stage on Saturday (and Sunday).
Two different sets. I'm really looking forward to this.
We also ran into Turbulator (who performed at Zappanale last year). After his move from Australia to the UK, he's finished the work on his studio and he's making progress working on original material as well as working on some Zappa material. Sounds promising.
I also talked to Fred Händl who shared the reason for the delay of his "Zappa Album": the artwork is being done by none other than Cal Schenkel (and that takes time). Wowie zowie !
And shortly thereafter, a heavy downpour and accompanying thunderstorm took over the festival.
Despite the changing weather conditions, Icarus Burns had taken the stage. Don't know what happened to Black Zappath...
As the rain didn't stop, we headed back to the hotel. I'm also curious to find out if Chato performed at the Zappateers tent later on...
Anyway, it's Friday now. The weather's looking good and today's line-up is very promising.
To be continued.
