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Dear MoonJune Friends
2013 was great for MoonJune Records, and I would like to remind You about 10 label's releases that came out past year. MoonJune is about friendship and personal relationship with all musicians involved. It's a label – a labor of love – releasing progressive music that explores boundaries of jazz, rock, avant-garde, ethno & the unknown. That philosophy will continue in 2014, and my next newsletter will reveal MoonJune's upcoming highlights.
If You click on the cd cover of each release, You can get more info about each album on MoonJune's website. Additionally, You can stream fully and for free, complete albums on MoonJune's BandCamp page.
For those who are still into buying physical cds, MoonJune
has a special cd sale until January 15: If You purchase 3-5 albums, You
can receive additional album of Your choice for free. If You purchase
6-10 albums, You can receive additional 2 albums of Your choice for
free. If You order more than 10 albums, the shipping is free and You can
get additionally 3 albums of Your choice for free.
__ Yours in Music Happy New Year Leonardo/MoonJune |
DEWA BUDJANA "Joged Kahyangan"
Boasting
a stellar lineup of modern jazz icons (Larry Goldings, Bob Mintzer,
Jimmy Johnson, Peter Erskine, Janis Siegel), Indonesian guitar icon Dewa
Budjana's sixth solo album is a progressive jazz gem.
To stream the whole album please click => here.
"There
are whole passages where Dewa is notable by his absence, letting the
rest of the guys take his music on a journey and he joins in with
wonderfully fluid Metheny/McLaughlin style at just the right moment. It
is a wonderfully restful album, one where time and space disappears and
is replaced instead by a world filled with harmony, delicacy, and
restrained power. Every piece is a classic in it’s own right, while the
restraint of everyone involved in the vocal “As You Leave My Nest” is
superb." - Kev Rowland, Jazz Music Archives (5 stars)
"From
start to finish, the album is arrayed with beautiful compositions and
arrangements. Each musician is the perfect fit and Budjana shows himself
equal to his company." - Travis Rogers, Jazz Times
"All those guys can really play, and Budjana is quite impressive!" - Thierry Giard, Culture Jazz (France)
"While the jazz-rock often lacks in melody, that's not the case with Dewa Budjana." – Harry De Vries, Proglog Afterglow (Holland)
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DUSAN JEVTOVIC "Am I Walking Wrong?"
The
international debut of Serbian guitarist based in Barcelona, Spain, is
an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride: full of twists & turns you never
see coming.
To stream the whole album please click => here.
"Jevtovic
is a guitar hero for those with little patience for the cliché
histrionics that have come to define the field. While most ultra
practitioners continually punctuate bold statements with speed and
excess, Dusan tickles the ears with an overabundance of surprises and
restraint." - Rob Hudson, ModMove (Australia)
"Revelation!
Totally undefined genre, trio's music alternates contemplative
atmospheres ethereal sonorities and meticulous overtones, furious odd
rhythms with sharp dissonances and unleashed riffs." - Felix Marciano, Jazz Magazine (France)
"Jevtović’s
snarly tones and abrasive textures combined with his amazing fretwork
are often reminiscent of the late Jimi Hendrix, perhaps without as much
blues grounding, but still without being derivative in any way. His
free-wheeling approach to guitar is intentionally thrashy and seemingly
cavalier, but he nonetheless presents ten convincing instrumental
compositions that cover a variety of styles that will have the listener
hooked after the very first listen – guaranteed." - Peter Thelen, Exposé Magazine (USA)
"With
a sense for building dynamics, of rising from quiet to raising the
roof, guitarist Dusan Jevtovic leads a trio around the paths blazed by
Robert Fripp. … "...The sonic paths lead into the zone where dark
metallic rock scrapes against jazz in a fusion more combustible than
most of the music once marketed as fusion…" – Morton Shlabotnik, Shepherd Express(USA)
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I KNOW YOU WELL MISS CLARA "Chapter One"
The adventurous young quartet from Indonesia: an unpretentious exploration into the nature of music & musical expression.
To stream the whole album please click => here.
"It's
another nascent progressive jazz-rock band from Indonesia—with the
idiosyncratic moniker—brought to us by Moonjune Records. The group sound
and makeup tenders yet another slant from this region that to varying
degrees, impart ethnocentric folk with Western musical concepts. With
its debut, the young quartet's rite of passage is largely centered on
climactic buildups, spiced with dense and haunting phraseology, where
they entwine an aggregation of moody passages and breezy interludes
before zooming in for the kill." - Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz
"..quartet
led by guitarist Reza Ryan distills the influences of the UK Canterbury
Scene, American fusion, and surprisingly so for a rock-jazz band,
posseses a whole lot of straight jazz sensibility. Even more astonishing
that these guys are mastering the most perplexing, sophisticated
corners of prog-fusion with this debut release. The unity and
melodiousness of this group throughout the unprectible turns they take
is startling. Moreover, the music has real emotion and organic flow.
Chapter One is the beginning of some fantastic sonic book." - Victor Aaron, Something Else Reviews (USA)
"..intelligent, layered jazz rock…melodic, rhythmic ingenious, melancholic and exciting. Beautiful!" - Holly Moors, Moors Magazine (Holland)
"Chapter
One discloses the type of child-like wonderment that pushes a grouping
of musicians to deliver themselves from the “constriction of belonging”,
for they easily survive tough tests most everywhere as far as multiple
genres are concerned. Technically speaking, the guys are
good-to-brilliant; and if a few imperfections are detectable here and
there, they enrich the formula with a measure of healthy
non-pretentiousness. " - Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes (Italy)
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simakDIALOG "The 6th Story"
The
Indonesian psychedelic progressive gamelan-jazz legends deliver their
most powerful tale yet: an exquisite master-class rendering of equal
parts elegance and intrigue. Riza Arshad drives the music on his magic
Fender Rhodes followed by one of the most talented fusion guitarists
today, Tohpati.
To stream the whole album please click => here.
What a great album this is. If you like Canterburyesque jazz rock but with a twist proceed with haste!" – Sid Smith, Sid Smith's Postcards From The Yellow Room (UK)
"...the
Sundanese kendangs are the real stars of the show. They don’t merely
mold the rhythms, they’re very much involved in the harmonies, too,
often playing along to the entangled sequence of notes that Arshad
devises. The 6th Story is world-class world fusion because of the potent
unifying of rhythm with harmony, composition with improvisation, and
East with West." - Victor Aaron, Something Else Reviews (USA)
"..exploratory
solos from Arshad and Tohpati, the latter's effects-laden axe breathing
fire one moment and spacy the next. But even when the keys, guitar,
bass, and metallic percussion accents knot up or jab outward, those
complementary kendangs (which Afro-Caribbean and Latin jazz fans would
likely find akin to congas), hard right and left in the stereo field,
drive the music forward more understatedly than a conventional jazz or
rock drum set, giving simakDialog's fusion an utterly unique, intimate
flavor. - Dave Lynch, All Music (4.5 stars review)
"..each
of simakDialog’s members is a virtuoso of his own instrument, the band
emphasize ensemble playing at its finest rather than technical flash,
with individual skills put at the service of the composition rather than
the other way round. (…) band features a trio of percussionists in the
style of the traditional gamelan ensembles. The result is a uniquely
warm sound with a remarkably natural flow, capable of flashes of
angularity and even brief forays into noise, yet never overwrought. In
addition, though each of simakDialog’s members is a virtuoso of his own
instrument, the band emphasize ensemble playing at its finest rather
than technical flash, with individual skills put at the service of the
composition rather than the other way round." – Raffaella Benvenuto Berry, Fire Of Unknown Origin (USA)
"Marvellous
stuff! (…) some stellar individual playing and a lot of tight ensemble
interplay, and it seems that here is yet another must-buy jazz fusion
album." – Roger Trenwith. DPRP (UK)
"Throughout
the disc the musicianship is scintillating. The interplay between
guitar and Rhodes piano is often quite riveting as the complex fills of
both instruments compete for space usually with the percussion providing
a steady backdrop. Often the band explores their improvisational side
which contrasts nicely with their compositional form." - Jon Neudorf, Sea of Tranquility (USA)
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THE WRONG OBJECT "After The Exhibition"
The
Belgian prog heavyweights return triumphantly to center stage,
shattering the progressive jazz template and dancing madly on its
remains.
To stream the whole album please click => here.
"The
sonic spectrum will be filled by devices that make sounds, bold sounds.
Musical notes from vibrating steel and fibrous material. Notes from
zeroes and ones and tangible forces being applied to all manner of
receptive surfaces. It will redefine the term elasticity and the
physical phenomena associated with the presence and flow of an electric
charge. It will also groove. The groove just mentioned with keep you
rapt with counts not always divisible by even numbers and detours to
unexpected realms of both wild and wilful origin. Through all this there
will be a logic that will emerge and then settle in a previously
unknown region of your mind. When all this is done and the change has
been absorbed by both direct report and osmosis there will be the
opportunity to live what you have learned. The next time you pick up
that plank that you are so enamoured with, the one that you spend days
with to the exclusion of all else, it will speak to you in a new voice." - Rob Hudson, ModMove (Australia)
"With
avowed influences including everyone from Mingus to Bartok, Soft
Machine and Gong to Terje Rypdal, The Wrong Object are quintessential
MoonJune artists, and After the Exhibition, with its rumbustious,
uncompromising, full-on jazz-rock sound, could not reasonably be
mistaken for the production of any other label. (…) tricksy ensemble
passages, skilfully negotiated by a sharp-eared, fiercely interactive
band, giving rise to a series of blisteringly eloquent Delville solos as
well as powerful, gutsy contributions from the saxophones and
keyboards. (…) this is an unequivocally enjoyable album from a
full-throttle band at the top of its game." – Sebastian Scotney, London Jazz News (UK)
"If
ever there was an example of progressive music making that shows
evidence, if any were needed, that long rambling excursions on barely
developed themes are not necessarily the best way to grab a listener's
attention, then this marvellous record is it. If you are a fan of music
that revels in the sheer joy of its creation without appearing in the
slightest bit boastful or self-aggrandising, then you need to buy this
and treat yourself!" – Roger Trenwith, DPRP (UK)
"After
the Exhibition is as lively, intricate, vivid as anything else you've
likely ever heard. There is an issue of meandering repetition (which
seems to be inherent in the style), but if you're into this kind of
music, you'll no doubt find The Wrong Object to be one of the most
engaging acts still keeping avant-garde jazz alive." - Jordan Blum, Sea Of Tranquility (USA)
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DIALETO "The Last Tribe"
A
"take no prisoners" progressive rock steamroller. From the opening
chords, guitarist Nelson Coelho gives clear evidence that the band is
ready to tread over new ground -- and fully prepared to take it by
force!
To stream the whole album please click => here.
"The
Last Tribe (mixed and mastered by fellow paulista Fabio Golfetti of
Violeta de Outono, who has recently joined Gong) will not fail to appeal
to lovers of instrumental progressive rock, especially those who set a
great store by technically proficient yet soulful guitar playing rather
than lightning-fast shredding." – Raffaella Benvenuto Berry, Fire of Unknown Origin (USA)
"A neat and essential album in terms of harmonic progressions, in many points it's reaching spectacular sonic impact." – Alfonso Tregua, La Luna Di Alfonso (Italy)
"An enjoyable album that puts Dialeto in the center of attention in progressive rock circuits." – César Inca Mendoza Loyola, Autopoietican (Peru)
"Dialeto
appears to have settled into a well defined sound as of 2013, utilizing
a fairly vast canvas to craft their own brand of harder edged,
instrumental progressive rock. Economic, sparse and effective on one
hand yet richly layered with plentiful of details on the other, they
merrily wander wherever they want to go, to the enjoyment of listeners
with a taste for easily accessible music and challenging escapades both.
A CD that should appeal to fans of progressive rock looking for
something subtly different and occasionally demanding, especially those
amongst that crowd who prefer their music to be of the instrumental
variety." - Olav Bjørnsen, Progressor (Norway)
"...another
significant offshore discovery produced by [MoonJune] to complement its
roster of well-established performers and time-honored bands.
Nonetheless, Dialeto is a trio that possesses the goods to make a
substantial impact." – Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz (USA)
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ALLAN HOLDSWORTH "FLATTire"
The
ultimate guitar maestro's album is subtitled "Music From A Non-Existent
Movie," and easily qualifies as one of his most mysterious, yet
introspective works, and possibly one of the least appreciated and
understood.
To stream the whole album please click => here.
"Acquiring a new multitude of voices, fusion master unfolds one of the most unusual vistas of his career." - Dmitri Epstein, DMME (Israel)
"Compositions
are agile and highly melodic. Their allure can be quite infectious as
the tunes unfurl their upbeat selves. The songs pursue a meandering
path, toying with each inherent melody through animated diversions. A
jazzy undercurrent can be found lurking in the structure of most of
these tunes, lending a sobering element to the otherwise jovial mood the
music has." – Matt Howarth, Sonic Curiosity (USA)
"With
his synthaxe, [Allan Holdsworth] emulates strings and horns with dusky
chord-like voicings and employs a polyrhythmic digital drum groove that
establishes a hearty momentum via a progressive- rock modality. With
polytonal accents and instances of lament and jubilance, he injects
trinkets of sound-sculpting maneuvers into this deceptively complex
piece, paced with sinewy lines and his renowned legato phraseology.
Holdsworth is a master at surging into perilous flights, while tempering
the waters with mournful hooks. Indeed, it's a many-sided piece that
showcases one of several noteworthy compositions. This proficiently
remastered product tenders an engaging alternative to his familiar
artistry. It's an album that fell through the cracks back in 2001 and
thankfully available in its multihued splendor for the present." – Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz (USA)
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SOFT MACHINE LEGACY "Burden Of Proof"
Infectious
grooves, undeniably hip vibes and sizzling performances dominate the
outing, as the veteran British jazz-rock masters continue to break new
ground and offer listeners yet more previously-unseen facets of their
dynamic musical persona.
To stream the whole album please click => here.
"The
combination of thoughtful improvisations, weighty themes and punchy
arrangements suits John Etheridge (guitar), Roy Babbington (bass), John
Marshall (drums) and Theo Travis (sax, flute, keyboards) very well
indeed on their first studio outing. The brooding chug of Pump Room or
Pie Chart’s bluesy growl find Babbington getting deep down into the
groove with Marshall’s dead-on drumming. The joy in much of this album
is in the rhythm section’s ability to find the heart of a piece. The
simmering rise and fall of Crimson And Black is a masterclass in
expressiveness without ever getting in the way. Etheridge’s potent mix
of acerbic angularity lend a spritely yet raucous edge, offering a rocky
counter-balance to Travis’s jazzy cogitations. _
The fingerprints of SML’s past is found on Hugh Hopper’s
elegiac Kings and Queens. Welcome though it is, its inclusion raises the
question whether this group need to reference its lineage at all.
Burden Of Proof would in no way be a lesser album were this deservedly
venerated composition omitted from the running order. It’s a confident
band with nothing to prove; having found their own distinctive voice
there’s no longer any need for them to be looking over their shoulder."_
– Sid Smith, Sid Smith's Postcards From The Yellow Room (UK)
(5
stars) "Burden of Proof is, to put it mildly, absolutely exquisite.
These are four musicians who are masters of their craft, and truly at
the top of their game, not only as soloists but as contributors in an
actual band. They've put together here a collection of songs that
basically has something for everyone; challenging jazz-fusion,
adventurous prog-rock, bits of chaotic free-jazz, atmospheric
instrumental pop-jazz, and even a little hard rock. Extraordinary!" – Peter Pardo, Sea Of Tranquility (USA)
"The
Soft Machine Legacy satellite moves anyway on its own revolutions,
broad in its scope and ambition, impacting the new with no fear and a
considerably contagious strength of life fueled by a surprising juvenile
joviality. What's their secret? Probably how to handle the burden of
proof!" – Pierre Tassone, Music By Mail (Denmark)
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DEWA BUDJANA "Dawai In Paradise"
International
and MoonJune Records debut for the Indonesian guitar icon. Dawai In
Paradise is a celebration of life through music. Like the paradise of
Budjana's native Bali, its beauty is equally compelling and
awe-inspiring.
To stream the whole album please click => here.
"Dawai in Paradise is a skillfully-crafted collection of tunes by an amazingly talented, ambitious, and multi-faceted musician." – Dave Wayne, All About Jazz (USA)
"Dewa
uses an impressive array of guitars, including acoustic, electric and
synth guitar which he uses to emulate the sitar and other marvelous
sounds. At times, his music is delightfully melodic. Other times he
ventures into dazzling improvisation. Stylistically, you can hear traces
of Pat Metheny and John McLaughlin, but the Indonesian flavor makes
Dawai in Paradise unique. Dawai in Paradise features Dewa Budjana along
with a cast of skilled international jazz musicians, including Peter
Erskine (Weather Report; Steps Ahead); multi-instrumentalist Howard Levy
(Bela Fleck & The Flectones); Indonesian jazz keyboardist and
producer, Indra Lesmana; notable Indonesian pianist Ade Irawan; and the
late legendary jazz bassist, Dave Carpenter. Dawai in Paradise presents
an outstanding mix of progressive jazz and traditional sounds from
Indonesia and clearly demonstrates that guitarist Dewa Budjana is a
significant composer and graceful improviser." – Angel Romero, Progressive Rock Central (USA)
"Although
Budjana is quite capable of shredding on the guitar, his main passion
is for melody, development and orchestration, and he is a master of all
three. Budjana’s use of rhythm is also nice, with so many modern “jazz”
artists turning to heavy handed and simple rhythms, its nice to hear an
artists who is finding new ways to “swing”, but not just swing, as
Budjana’s music often soars." – John Sanders, Jazz Music Archives (USA)
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MARBIN "Last Chapter Of Dreaming"
The hardest working progressive band in the USA!
This album is like a profound conversation with a stranger in the middle of the night, like falling in love at first sight, or like a great book that you can't seem to put down and you never want to end. To stream the whole album please click => here.
"Marbin’s third album delivers track after track of spirited performances". – Barry Cleveland, Guitar Player Magazine (USA)
"Dani
Rabin throughout is a talent not to be missed, whether it be on
electric or acoustic guitar. At times reminiscent of Holdsworth,
Henderson, as well as Carlos Santana, he has an explosive style but yet
his more laid back passages are equally as mesmerizing. Jazz-fusion,
rock, folk, blues, prog-rock, bits of heavy metal, and straight
jazz...it's all here folks in one nice little package. Last Chapter of
Dreaming is a sizzling collection of music from a band that needs to be
on your immediate radar if they aren't already." – Peter Pardo, Sea Of Tranquility (USA)
"Marbin
is the hardest working band in the country, if not the world. If they
are not touring, they are recording, and vice versa. "Last Chapter of
Dreaming" is their third album, and by far this is their most aggressive
album to date. Having followed Marbin closely since their first
release, one can't help but notice the superb musicianship emerging out
of the two main players. The months of constant touring paid off in a
big way. If Marbin were great players before, they've graduated to a
phenomenal level, and something tells this writer this is not the stop
either. (…)There is a special spiritual connection between these two
main players, and this is certainly not the first time this writer
mentions it, yet it continues to get deeper on a very artistic level.
Marbin are capable of composing the pieces that shatter your soul to
pieces, and then rebuild it with a fortress-like strength. Apart from
the usual instrumental nirvana, the band adds some very interesting
vocalizations by various guests. All of which adds to the overall charm
of the songs. Marbin continues to set the bar very high, and their music
is pure beauty. – Mark Kadzielawa, 69 Faces Of Rock (USA)
"Last
Chapter of Dreaming is an album of contrasts, where musicians of class
play many styles, one moment a roller coaster ride, the next a gentle
settling down to sleep before shaking awake with riotous anarchy." – Sammy Stein, All About Jazz
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