MORGAN ÅGREN - BATTERIE DELUXE

In 2015, Morgan Ågren released "Batterie Deluxe" on Bandcamp, but also on CD (in Japan) and on LP (in Europe).

I bought the CD at the time, but with the upcoming 'Remastered' version, I couldn't resist and got the LP as well.

• Morgan Ågren: Batterie Deluxe
      (2015, lp, Europe, transubstans records transv31)

So beautiful...

MORGAN ÅGREN - BATTERIE DELUXE

Soon to be released on CD, but one can already enjoy the Bandcamp download:
Morgan Ågren's remastered version of "Batterie Deluxe".

Originally released in 2015 and made available on LP in Europe and on CD in Japan, this is one exceptional release.
Superb drumming, beautiful melodies and guests who spice up things with their distinctive sound (just check out Neyveli Radhakrishna on violin on 'Isarn' !!).

Brilliant !

UPDATES FROM MORGAN ÅGREN

Excellent news from Morgan Ågren:

"Make Mats/Morgan Great Again" has been made available on CD,
and the 2025 remastered version of "Batterie Deluxe" is also getting a CD release !!

Both are also available for digital download / streaming.

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MORGAN ÅGREN RELEASED A REMASTERED VERSION OF HIS "BATTERIE DELUXE" ALBUM

A message from Morgan Ågren !

Hey all! My upcoming solo album "Sorry I'm Late, I Saw a Dog" WILL finally be released a few months into 2026, can't wait, SUPER EXCITED!!! 

In the meantime, here is a new version of my debut Batterie Deluxe, remastered a few days ago, w. greeeeat sound!!! Really wanted to do a remaster of this. The order of the songs has been changed too. (Hard copies will be available in a few weeks months too) MERRY X-MAS ALL ! ! Cheers / Morgan

A NEW (LIVE) ALBUM BY MATS/MORGAN

• Mats & Morgan: Make Mats/Morgan Great Again
      (2025, download/streaming, --, bandcamp)

“Make Mats/Morgan Great Again” presents the recordings of the Mats Öberg and Morgan Ågren concert at Fasching, Stockholm on November 24, 2023. Next to Mats on keyboard, harmonica and vocals, and Morgan on drums, the band featured Dan Berglund on double bass.

The album title sets the tone. I need a red baseball cap that says MMMGA.

This is a joy to listen to. From the first seconds of 'Propellerhäst', you enter another universe.
The rhythm, the phrasing, the melodies,...
AMAZING !

For those of you who keep track of this:
The album included ‘Sylox’, a piece with a reference to an unreleased Frank Zappa riff that had previously been used by Steve Vai on his “Flex-Able” and his “Passion And Warfare” records.

But even more important, the show will be released on video as well !!
Can't wait to see it.

-

THE BANNED FROM UTOPIA - - - INCA ROADS (LIVE 2013)

Recorded in Frankfurt.

• Robert Martin - vocals, keyboards, sax, French horn
• Ray White - vocals, guitar
• Ed Mann - mallets, Percussion
• Tom Fowler - bass guitar
• Albert Wing - tenor sax, soprano sax
• Mike Miller - guitar
• Morgen Agren - drums

 

JIMMY AGREN, SCOTT COLBY & HENRY KAISER PROMOTIONAL CD

Jimmy Agren, Scott Colby and Henry Kaiser have been releasing several pieces of music on YouTube for the last year or so.
Some have been selected and are being offered on a promotional CD that one can get with an order over at Wayside Music and at Squidco.

The amazing news is that the track list looks incredible !!
Wait. I'll say that again: INCREDIBLE !!

With Mike Keneally and Morgan Agren as special guests on 'Trouble Every Day'.

1. Plastic Factory (Don Van Vliet)
2. Your Mouth (Frank Zappa)
3. Sun Zoom Spark (Don Van Vliet)
4. Walk It Off (Scott Colby)
5. Funeral Hill (Don Van Vliet)
6. Today Gluggo, Tomorrow The World (Lionel Rubin, Pete York)
7. New Values > When Big Joan Sets Up (Don Van Vliet, Iggy Pop, Scott Thurston)
8. Ride On (Angus Young, Bon Scott, Malcolm Young)
9. It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal (Frank Zappa)
10. Howlin' For My Darlin' (Chester Burnett)
11. That's The Way The Cookie Crumbles (Scott Colby)
12. On The Road Again (Floyd Jones, Tommy Johnson)
13. Trouble Every Day (Frank Zappa)

Goosebumps !!

A MESSAGE FROM MORGAN AGREN

Morgan Agren says:

Another "tiny desk video" ready! I love these sessions and what comes out after Jimmy's awesome post-production. This time we invited Sten Sandell for some special low notes

Me and Jimmy will make an album out of these sessions (and more) asap!
I love it! Check it out!

MATS ÖBERG - VISA FRÅN INNERÖRA

• mats öberg: visa från inneröra
      (2023, cd, sweden, mcbuddha records)

Eight tracks.

Eight beautiful tracks.
Eight beautiful, original tracks that display Mats Öberg's unmistakable sound.

I imagine that this is what contemporary Swedish folk music must sound like in Mats' head. I'm glad we can enjoy it with him.

Morgan Agren can be heard on the drums on a couple of tracks, and Mike Keneally plays the lead guitar in 'Dream Loops'...

I'm glad that this album got released on CD. There's nothing wrong with Bandcamp, but nothing can beat listening to a CD while browsing the booklet and fully enjoying the album artwork.

"Visa fr​å​n Inner​ö​ra", "View From The Inner Ear".

A MESSAGE FROM MORGAN ÅGREN

A message from MORGAN ÅGREN

Hey all, just want to mention that Mike Johnson (of Thinking Plague) is working on a solo album. Many people are involved, I play on a bunch of tracks, my buddy Simon Steensland is involved a lot too. It will be a great album! Mike Johnson is a great and pure composer/musician! He have a crowdfunding thing up right now, so if you want to support him - click on the link! (28 days left) 

crowdfundr.com/52DLS2?

 

NEW DEVIN TOWNSEND ALBUM

The latest Devin Townsend album features Mike Keneally and Morgan Agren.
They're also pictured on the album cover.

Recorded during the 2020 US tour.

Devin Townsend - "Empath - Live In America"
CD and vinyl release.

the teaser :

PHI YAAN-ZEK - INTERDIMENSIONAL GARDEN PARTY

• phi yaan-zek: interdimensional garden party
      (2022, cd, uk, geomagnetic records)

Let me start by saying that Phi Yaan-Zek's "Interdimensional Garden Party" is a top album. I had enjoyed the digital download, the amazing compositions, the outstanding technical performances, the interconnectedness of the different pieces,...
And then the physical copy of the album arrived, adding that extra level of intensity from enjoying the artwork, browsing through the booklet and figuring out the musicians on the different tracks while listening to the album again (and again).
We're Only In It For The Music, and Music Is The Best !!

"Interdimensional Garden Party" is a top album.
Wait. Let me rephrase: "Interdimensional Garden Party" is a TOP ALBUM;

With notable guest appearances for Lalle Larsson, Morgan Agren, Bryan Beller, Marco Minnemann and (the amazing) Mike Keneally.

Highly recommended !!

DEVIN TOWNSEND / MIKE KENEALLY / MORGAN AGREN NEWSFLASH

a message from Devin Townsend:

Hello everyone :)

Continuing in the ‘Devolution’ series of albums (which has been an avenue for us to release cool little curiosities on the side of regular releases) we bring you ‘Devolution #3 - Empath: Live In America’.

This was a very unique tour for me, and one that was regrettably cut short by the pandemic. It was a stripped-back version of the ‘Order of Magnitude’ band (without choir and a few other members…), but as I try to do with each tour, the goal was to make this a unique and special night. Therefore, this tour marked a ‘free form’ version of the material. There were no backing tracks, click tracks, or even a setlist, so every night was unique and different. The audience yelled out requests and we just rolled with it. The material was therefore interpreted in unique ways and the experience was a very special ‘fly by the seat of our pants’ musical night.

It’s a raw and off-kilter performance and I’m thrilled to have documented it. Until the next ‘real’ release, I hope you enjoy this rarity from a special, albeit ill-fated tour.

"Devolution #3 - Empath: Live in America" will be released worldwide by InsideOut Music on August 4th, 2023.

 -- info: Harald Häring

JIMMY ÅGREN - BELGIAN BLUES

• Jimmy Ågren: Guitar
• Rolf Hedqvist: Bass
• Morgan Ågren: Drums

recorded live 21/5-22 Umeå Sweden

MORGAN ÅGREN

Morgan Ågren's promotional video for Istanbul/Agop cymbals !
Wow.

 

MORGAN ÅGREN

Morgan Ågren contributed to Anatole Muster's 'Layers'.
The track has been made available on Bandcamp.

MATS & MORGAN - LIVE 40! - THE VIDEO

What better way to come home from the Zappa festivities in London than to find a Mats & Morgen concert waiting on your hard disc. Especially since I had a nice chat with Hans Annéllsson about this Swedish dynamic duo.

Is this what they call decompressing? Or am I recompressing after the dull train ride?

The audio album was released earlier this month and the video streaming followed last week.
As I wasn't home to catch the stream, I was glad to learn that the video would be made available for download afterwards.
The link arrived in my mailbox on Friday.
Quite a surprise as it was a total of 9 Gigabyte (!!) as a zip file. Good of Morgan to mention it in the message as I needed twice the space as to unzip this monster. Had to move some stuff to an eternal hard drive but it was worth it.

Beautiful!  BEAUTIFUL!!

'Sylox' !!  'Akash' !!  Breathtaking.
I guess I'll be listening to 'Akash' first thing every morning the coming week. What an amazing piece of music.
And I haven't even mentioned the guest appearances by Kriter Jonsson (guitar!!), Tommy Tordsson and Henrik Linder (both on bass) during 'Palstug' and again during the 'Baaderpuf' encore. 

Recommended listening. (of viewing if you go for the video).

MATS & MORGAN - LIVE 40!

I received the following message from Morgan Ågren's Bandcamp page :

MORGAN ÅGREN just released Live 40! by Mats/Morgan, check it out.

“Dear all, here is the album download of Mats/Morgan "Live 40!" - The upcoming livestream of the same content will be aired MARCH 16 at: CET22:00 on bandcamp. Stream-link here:

morganagren.bandcamp.com/merch/mats-morgan-live-40?

And again; the livestream ticket will include the album download, and the album download will include the livestream video in case you miss the livestream date. You will receive a download link shortly after the livestream. ($9 in total) I forgot to mention that we had some cool guests that joined us at the end of this concert, our original magical bass player Tommy Tordsson, another great bassist: Henrik Linder and guitar hero Krister Jonsson. - D I G ! !

Peace please // Mats & Morgan”

MATS & MORGAN UPDATE

The Japanese edition of Mats & Morgan's "40th Anniversary Box Set" presents 7 CD's.
That's one more than the European version.
The Japanese box sets that can be ordered from Morgan Ågren's Bandcamp page, will also include the bonus disc that came with the Japanese edition of the "35th Anniversay Colletion" set. So that's 8 CD's in total...

The bonus discs:

MATS & MORGAN

Mats & Morgan's "40th Anniversary Box Set" came with a bonus disc in Japan.
Morgan has now made these recordings (demos from 1987-1989) available through Bandcamp.