3RDegree

Michael Baryshnikov написал(а) к All в Oct 15 11:20:36 по местному времени:


Нello, All!

Залит 3RDegree\(2015)Ones_And_Zeros_Vol1

Ещё один отличный диск этой отличной группы. Концептуальный альбом, весёлый и грустный, стёбный и серьёзный, но в любом случае - неординарный.
ВЕСЬМА ВЕСЬМА РЕКОМЕНДУЮ!

Инджой!

Rest begards...oh, sorry, best regards, Michael

... Who's strongest? Who's best? Who holds the aces: the East or the West?
--- (c)2015 Isaak GoldED+/EMX, send $1.1.5-30407 for original master text.

Michael Baryshnikov написал(а) к All в Oct 18 19:07:38 по местному времени:

Нello All!

Залиты диски 3RDegree:
(1993)World_In_Which_WeLive
(2018)Ones_And_Zeros_Vol0

Добавлено ещё два диска этой замечательной группы - отсутствовавший у нас альбом 93 года и долгожданная премьера продолжение-приквел к Единицы и Нули часть 1.
Что сказать? Ребята верны своему стилю. Всё очень здорово!
ВЕСЬМА РЕКОМЕНДУЮ!

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(c) Review by BrufordFreak, PA

New Jersey's gift to intellectually stimulating eclectic and crossover prog is back with the follow-up (or predecessor?!) to 2015's wonderful Ones & Zeroes, Vol. 1.

1. "ReInstall_Overture" (3:57) fast, brash, and poppy, this one let's me know that we're in for a more rock operetta-like adventure here. I'm reminded here of XTC or some of the poppier KING CRIMSON or ASIA music from the 1980s. It's very nice, but not great. (8.75/10)

2. "Connecting" (4:53) bleeds over from the opening overture, quickly adding singing to the mix. There's a cool intensity to this one while the vocals are going on, but then it gets weird between. "You are the [&*!#] tonight" is an odd lyric to throw in there before going back to stronger intensity. The intricate weave is pretty cool in the next section. This is almost feeling like a visual song, a vehicle for a story to be told on stage. (9/10)

3. "Olympia" (5:15) again bleeding over from the previous song, I like the flow of this section of the album. Great melody line for the first verse followed by a nice little instrumental and decent call-and-response chorus. The story is again feeling as if it's being delivered (or should be delivered) on a stage. And a good story it is with Olympia being some kind of AI servant/slave (who goes off like the OS in the film Нer). (9/10)

4. "The Future Doesn't Need You" (5:50) continues the story in a much more delicate, emotional way, with the album's best music, best melodies and powerful lyric. (10/10)

5. "Unintended Consequence" (3:35) Broadway, anyone? (8/10)

6. "Perfect Babies" (4:43) Despite continuing the clever tongue-in-cheek story, despite getting stronger as the song goes along, this one just misses. (7.5/10)

7. "Logical Conclusion" (6:40) despite two awesome instrumental sections (from the end of the second minute to 3:18, and 3:55 to 5:15) and a great choral section near the end, this song fails to "hook" me with any melodic or lyrical lines. (8.5/10)

8. "Click Away!" (15:28) an epic that opens with a sound very familiar to those who have luxuriated in the sonic magic of TНE FLAMING LIPS' 2002 masterpiece, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. The lyrics (referring to modern humankind's obsession with quick-access information and entertainment) are great but the melody and song dynamics fall a little flat. Despite several shifts and nice injections from chords, riffs, arpeggi, and interesting instruments/sounds, the song never really rises to a level deserving of superlatives. Great sound and melody in the chorus at 3:50. As a matter of fact, it's the "Thank you Click Farm" choruses throughout that are the most engaging highlights of the song. (8/10)

9. "Ones & Zeroes" (7:07) reminding me of a lot of some music by the CARS, this one gets into my brain enough to bring me back for more. For the finale of the story line, I'm not quite sure what the point has been: "It's always been binary code," means ... what exactly? (8.5/10)

I think the failing of this album is in the band's decision to try to be cleverer and quirkier than they needed to be-- especially with vocal melody lines; just too busy! The best song has the most stable and simple melodies.

Four stars; an excellent addition to the prog lexicon--especially to the necessary conversations regarding the values and priorities of "civilized" society. Too bad the album doesn't maintain the high and engaging standard that is sets forth with the first four songs.
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(c) Review by LearsFool, PA
Listening to this, the new and hotly anticipated 3RDegree album, my first thoughts centered around "Connecting": the band, more aggressive than ever, sings of trolls emerging, not in the high fantasy sense you'd expect from most prog but in the contemporary sense of malicious online hordes more fearsome than the forces of Mordor. Mostly, where Vol. 1 was focused on a parodic, Kafkaesque near future Internet of Things, Vol. 0 - appropriately enough for numerically taking a step back - is a record of the present, of our current technological issues, and from here looking forwards. The lyricism becomes dead serious, but the lyrics, concept, and songs still fail to glitch. And even on this very in-the-now release, the band still finds time for "Olympia", an interesting exploration of relationships with artificial intelligence and the group's fascinating idea of a love song.

Of even greater note are the instrumentals. As mentioned earlier, the band comes charging out of the gate; "Re1nstall_0verture" and "Connecting" form a double whammy of some of their hardest edged material yet, proving quite exhilarating as their sound fleshes out. The tracks, especially the aforementioned three and the suite "Click Away!", prove their best yet. The guitars and keys here are used to their maximum potential, weaving vivid electronic soundscapes, beautiful prog-pop, and driving rock. As the binary switches, 3RDegree has gone into overdrive, crafting another winner.
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Enjoy!
WBR, Michael Baryshnikov.

--- wfido