Spleen Arcana

Playlist February 2010

// February 28th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Music

Still into Transtlantic and Magma last album which are absolutely great. I bought Talk by Yes and if it’s not a masterpiece and I’m not really a fan of this era, “Endless Dream” is a great epic track.

I played for the first time 666 by Aphrodite’s Child from Spotify, great to find this album there, it’s an awesome album! I enjoy a lot Bat For Lashes as well, her two albums are really beautiful, emotionnaly creative.

And I play a lot Neal Morse’s albums, Sola Scriptura is so great! It’s probably my favourite album from him. I came back to his last one, Lifeline, which is not as good but its eponym epic track is still awesome.

Feel free to share your playlist…

Playlist January 2010

// January 17th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Music

Still a lot of music to start 2010 in the best possible way! So as you can see, Transatlantic’s new album is still on “heavy rotation” here! Sure it’s maybe not as good as the first two albums but it’s still my favourite 2009 album and a great epic progressive rock opus. Crises by Mike Oldfield… I didn’t like it in the past… Not really but somehow, I learnt to like it and now I can say that “Crises” is one of my favourite epics from Mr Oldfield. Elegant Gypsy by Al Di Meola is one of my favourite album at the moment, the guitar work is really awesome! I came back to The Incident by Porcupine Tree and I like it better than before, when I bought it. And there’s always some great classics like Pink Floyd’s albums…

As always, feel free to share your playlist…

Playlist November 2009

// December 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Music

Obviously, heavy rotation of November is The Whirlwind by the giant Transatlantic and the new release by the mythic Magma called Ëmëhntëhtt-Rê. Easily two of the best albums of this year in my opinion. The Whirlwind is a huge epic prog party with a fantastic production (Pete Trewavas bass sound is excellent, as his playing of course), I had a lot of expectations regarding this release and I’m not disappointed at all! Ëmëhntëhtt-Rê is a great release too, from the darkest side of progressive world, otherwordly enigmatic.

And I’m still listening to the last Porcupine Tree, Guilt Machine and some other titles :
- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John
- Tommy by the Who
- Cosmic Egg by Wolfmother
- The Scope by Subaudition
- And a huge revival for the Flower Kings : Flower Power, The Flower King, Retropolis, The Sum Of No Evil, Back In The World Of Adventures…

Epic November, isn’t it?

What about your playlist?

Playlist October 2009

// October 22nd, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Music

October 2009 : Some old prog rock classic of course… Moving Waves, great album which is not just the crazy “Hocus Pocus” song, the 23 minutes long epic “Eruption” is just excellent! QE2 by Mike Oldfield became one of my favourite albums from the artist, his guitar sound and playing are fantastic. Some vintage electronic prog with Force Majeure by Tangerine Dream (one of my favourite) and Heaven and Hell by Vangelis (epic!!). There’s always some place for an Iron Maiden album and actually, it’s Dance Of Death, not my favourite one but still good (and the classic Live After Death which is great!). At last but not least : The Incident of course! Album of the year? One of the great albums of 2009 for sure!! (I have to wait for Transatlantic’s album to talk about “album of the year”, or not…). I can’t tell that it’s my fav Porcupine Tree album but again, high quality modern prog rock, I love “Kneel And Disconnect/Drawing The Line” – Perfect!

I just discovered Bat For Lashes and I can’t stop listening to Two Suns on Spotify. A multi-instrumentalist/songwriter/visual artist with a great voice, beautiful melodies and arrangements.

As usual, I’d be curious to know YOUR october playlist…

Playlist September 2009

// September 13th, 2009 // 11 Comments » // Music

These days, I mostly listen to the last cds I bought, all the albums in the picture on the left are new in my cd collection. I received my signed preorder of Guilt Machine. I was really curious to hear this new Arjen Lucassen’s music. Well, it sounds like Ayreon with one voice (a great, versatile, voice by the way) and a different, more subtle, drums playing. It’s not so different and I like it for being not so different!

Beside Guilt Machine, I’m in a Santana’s mood. I’ve always loved his guitar playing and all those latin percussions everywhere… It sounds like nothing else! Festival is not his best one but I like it, it brings some light when needed and Moonflower is fantastic!

Still into vintage epic synths music too with Force Majeure by Tangerine Dream (strangely one of my favourite), Heaven And Hell by Vangelis and Oxygene by Jean-Michel Jarre. Epic, spacy and organic… I can’t get enough of this music!

Feel free to share your playlist!

Playlist July 2009

// August 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Music

A quite eclectic playlist isn’t it? I’m really into L’Histoire de Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsbourg these days. I’m not really into french music but we still have some classic albums and this is one of them. And I love how this album sounds! My other last discovery is Moondawn by Klaus Schulze. You must think I’m a bit late but I was more into Tangerine Dream before I started to listen to Schulze. Moondawn’s atmosphere is really mysterious, dark and beautiful – really inspiring!!

I’m still listening a lot to Mike Oldfield and QE2 is my favorite album by him at the moment, I love so much “Taurus I”, “Conflict” and “Arrival”, great music featuring his beautiful SG Junior guitar… The last Tori Amos’s album is really good. There’s some filling here and there but I find it’s so much better than her previous album. The opening song “Give” is really impressive, dark and so beautiful! You can see in the picture on the left some other albums I listen to these days.

Feel free to share your thoughts about these albums or share your playlist ;)

Do you buy music which can be found for free?

// July 26th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Music

Free music becomes like a new model today. A lot of independant bands (and even some famous bands actually) offer their music for free and you have been 1100 people in two months to download Spleen Arcana’s first album. I don’t know if some of these people, who downloaded my album for free, bought it on CD, well, I know some of you did to support my project (thanks again) but it’s hard to know what happened behind this “1100″ number. Please answer this poll even if you didn’t download my album, your opinion on this topic would be really interesting. Thanks

Feel free to explain your choices in the comment form below

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Playlist June 2009

// June 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Music

I found those albums on the left picture in Paris in June. As I move to Paris without all of my CDs, I have to find some new ones to feed my musical needs.

So I’m still listening a lot to Iron Maiden. Virtual XI is not really their masterpiece but there’s some good songs and I find that Bayley is a really good singer, he just has a different voice comparing to Bruce Dickinson. Anyway, Brave New World and Dance Of Death are great but I still prefer the last one, A Matter Of Life And Death which I consider to be their best one since Seventh Son…

A Night At The Opera by Blind Guardian is a crazy album, so powerful and complex at the same time!! It’s not epic in the same way as Nightfall In Middle Earth but it’s epic in its own way, so many vocal layers!! “Precious Jerusalem”, I love that song!!

Ans some classics with The Doors first album, Caravan second album or the famous Freak Out!

Stay tuned

Playlist May 2009

// May 5th, 2009 // No Comments » // Music

As you can see in the picture, my current playlist is rather eclectic! I’m still discovering old progressive rock with some all time classics lice Valentyne Suite by Colosseum, En Regardant Passer Le Temps by the french band Carpe Diem (this album is really fantastic!! Great dark prog rock), Bill Bruford, Can or the first album from Yes which is really better than in my memories.

I just found Radiation by Marillion, their true masterpiece. I’m joking but I like this album. It’s not the same Marillion, but there’s still some great tunes, “Cathedral Wall” is great in my opinion. I prefer this album to Somewhere Else.

Some Slayer to add some power to this playlist. I admit that I didn’t really know this band, I just had my opinion about it thinking that it was a lot more “dirty”. But it’s just powerful and I love the atmosphere of this Seasons In The Abyss!

The Decemberists are played a lot as well. Their last album, Hazards Of Love, is really good and I wanted to know more about this band. The Crane Wife is beautiful too, nice voice, nice keyboards and folk prog atmosphere.

Stay tuned – Feel free to comment and/or post your own playlist

Playlist March 09

// March 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // Music

As you can see, I’m still wandering on Kobaïa with three albums from Magma which are played over and over again here. MDK, Kohntarkosz and Attahk for the moment. Fantastic albums!

A new Archive album comes out very soon, so time to listen to You All Look The Same To Me which is a great album. My favourite one from the band. Beside this, This Strange Engine by Marillion, which is really underestimated in my humble opinion, Animals by Pink Floyd, well a classic album for sure, Night Of The Stormrider by Iced Earth, a great heavy metal album, I really like this band even if I don’t really listen to metal anymore, and some other great albums as you can see in the picture.

There’s the long awaited Pain Of Salvation’s new dvd in my player too, great performance! “Nightmist” is a masterpiece isn’t it?