Thirty-ninth music presentation session for the blind and visually handicapped took place this time in two locations. Ostrava: 18th of May 2022 in Stará aréna Ostrava theatre and in Prague on 24th of May 2022 in the presentation room of Czech agency SONS (Czech Blind United). You can find the background of this project in an article about the first session here.
Ostrava: Congratulations to Kae Tempest, Storm Corrosion, Greta Van Fleet & Philm
Prague: Congratulations to Nika, Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys, RATH & Adele
Ostrava playlist:
| Songs | Score |
| 01 – Audrey Horne – Devil’s Bell | 3.5 |
| 02 – Storm Corrosion – Drag Ropes | 6.5 |
| 03 – Point of Few – 3Stories | 3 |
| 04 – Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys – Mary (Live) | 2 |
| 05 – Kae Tempest – Salt Coast | 8 |
| 06 – Audience Choice #1 – BadBadNotGood – Signal From The Noise | 1 |
| 07 – Philm – Held In Light (Live) | 5.5 |
| 08 – Helms Alee – Tripping Up The Stairs | 3 |
| 09 – Adele – My Little Love | 3 |
| 10 – Brass Against – Killing in the Name Ft. Sophia Urista (Live) | 2 |
| 11 – Audience Choice #2 – Greta Van Fleet – Black Smoke Rising (Live) | 5.5 |
| 12 – Bonus: Nika – Over The Sea | 4 |
Ideal openings of these sessions seem to be energetic heavy rock tracks. In the case of Norwegian band Audrey Horne, it’s was a great choice for a number of reasons. I am mainly happy that one of my most favorite bands released such a great album lately. Not disrespecting their last releases, but this is their best album since Youngblood from 2013. I discovered them in 2009 at Masters of Rock festival. After an amazing first day, I couldn’t fall asleep. So I went for a walk around the festival grounds around 5am. There was nobody around, so the only thing “sticking out” were promotional flyers all around. For some reason, the one with Audrey Horne got my attention, plus they were saying that from a gratitude that people will check them so early in the morning, they will be throwing t-shirts. I checked few songs and convinced my buddies to have the first beer on their show. Amazing and energetic performance. I even caught one of the t-shirts and as I remembered a few words from one of the tracks, singer Toshie, while he was running under the stage, he joined me in singing forehead on forehead. Many great tracks and interviews since. The peak was around Youngblood, which was simply amazing. Their releases since didn’t really click with me, but the latest Devil’s Bell, where they even decided to extend the length of the tracks and add melancholic progressive touch is epic Audrey Horne of the modern twenties.
Our recent interview here
During these events, I try to concentrate on three areas – New releases, anniversaries and upcoming cultural events. Storm Corrosion, which is a project of Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield) and Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) was an incredible moment in progressive rock/metal world in 2012. Especially, as they didn’t give a damn about the expectations and released an atmospheric album. Plus a breathtaking video for the track called Drag Ropes.
As a member of Český rozhlas Jazz radio team, I am happy that I come across new releases within local jazz scene. In the case of the first release of Czech instrumental quartet Point of Few, it was an instant click and I truly believe their debut album Open to Closeness is one of the best Czech releases of the year. So, how to promote it? They sound as if they played for decades already and if you like the sound of David Bowie’s Blackstar, you will love this as well. With their amazing writing talent, they managed to invite keyboard player Jason Lindner on a couple of tracks. Performances of all members are so amazing, you will have a feeling Donny McCaslin joined them as well.
Almost after every session in Ostrava, we have a final drink in a bar called U Zrzavé Mary. Nice underground place, close to a tram stop, so I can always easily get home afterwards. They are so amazing, not only for the location/drinks/atmosphere and service, but also for letting me place a poster of a future event on their front door. I shared this spot for months with a psychedelic music festival – Psychedelic Umami. Therefore I gladly checked sth from their line-up and I must say Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys from Germany are an amazing band with a number of cool tracks. To make a compromise between choosing a great song and a video, I went for a live version of Mary.
Kae Tempest is one of the artists that break boundaries between genre preferences and it’s really worth traveling to see live. I first heard about Kae from an avant-garde space jazz trio The Comet Is Coming and their epic track – Blood Of The Past. (When I start talking about this, I always play a few moments of this track). Absolute masterpiece. If I would ever recommend a track to NASA for their videos about wind storms on Jupiter, this would be the one. So many compliments for Kae during our interview with TCIC keyboard player Danalogue and as I discovered recently, I have many fans of Kae among my friends. Therefore I gladly checked the latest album The Line Is a Curve during my longer walk outside of Prague. Album consists a wisdom of a multiple lifetimes. It’s a mix of in-your-face poetry, psychedelic rock, hip hop and ambient music. Salt Coast, These Are The Days and by Grace, you will reach enlightenment. Whatever you are going through, this album will offer a solution, hint or a reminder.
Audience choice #1
As the first choice from an audience, in Prague one of the most stable guests and my friend Vladimír asked for a song called The Other Side of Me from Fish, to bring some prog art. In Ostrava, Radim Přidal from Point Of Few wanted me to play sth from BadBadNotGood. As we already played a track he wanted quite recently, I gladly recommended Signal From The Noise.
Prague playlist:
| Songs | Score |
| 01 – Audrey Horne – Devil’s Bell | 8 |
| 02 – Storm Corrosion – Drag Ropes | 3.5 |
| 03 – Point of Few – 3Stories | 6.5 |
| 04 – Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys – Mary (Live) | 11 |
| 05 – Kae Tempest – Salt Coast | 5 |
| 06 – Audience Choice #1 – Fish – The Other Side of Me | 5.5 |
| 07 – Philm – Held In Light (Live) | 4.5 |
| 08 – Helms Alee – Tripping Up The Stairs | 2.5 |
| 09 – Adele – My Little Love | 9.5 |
| 10 – Brass Against – Killing in the Name Ft. Sophia Urista (Live) | 1 |
| 11 – Audience Choice #2 – RATM – Killing in the Name | 9.5 |
| 12 – Bonus: Nika – Over The Sea | 15.5 |
After The Break
Philm is a project which was established by drummer Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Fantômas, Suicidal Tendencies) and a guitar player and a singer Gerry Nestler number of years ago. During breaks between Dave’s projects, he returned to it, but their cooperation ended in a quite unfriendly way and I doubt it will ever continue. Philm plays with a different drummer now, but the trio including a bass player Pancho Tomaselli ,was epic power trio I went to see with my friends in Bratislava. There was only a few us (which might give you a hint about one of the reasons for a break-up of the band), but it was an amazing show. In the final part, we were asked to pick a bonus track. I was begging for Mezzanine from the first row, but Dave denied it. Second option was also amazing Way Down. To present this insane energy between the members, I played a live version of the track called Held In Light. Till this day, their albums Harmonic and Fire from the Evening Sun are my most favorite albums for driving. I also love the videos from the recording of the albums. “Is it normal to record twelve songs in one day?” plus the epic final part of the video followed by the credits.
For years I follow activities of Sargent House label. I am a massive fan of Emma Ruth Rundle, Chelsea Wolfe, Russian Circles and many more. Therefore I gladly checked a recommendation from the label on new Helms Alee album. Keep This Be the Way was an instant click and they were also great live supporting Russian Circles.
Our interview here
In Český rozhlas Jazz I prepare every month a one hour profile about a modern jazz artist. This time it was about Chris Dave who played on both pop icons as Adele or Ed Sheeran, as well as jazz giants as Robert Glasper or Kenny Garrett. I was very positively surprised how many cool very melodic/poppy, yet deep tracks he played on. One of the examples is My Little Love from Adele. I try to be up-to-date with all major latest releases, but this was honestly the only track from Adele’s latest album I really liked. I am extremely impressed with the honesty, emotions and power of this track. It might be shocking to play this kind of a track for rock or metal part of the audience, but the beauty of the song truly deserves it.
One hour show about Chris Dave in Czech and extensive Spotify playlist here
I kept the next track on the side for a long time. As for me, half Yugo and metal/jazz fan, Brass Against band is an epic solution. These guys combine brass band, rock/metal sound through covers and bring a guest vocals. Their cover of Killing in the Name Ft. Sophia Urista might not get better for me with every listen, but I must say the concept is very catchy. They were supporting Tool in Prague, which is truly huge and they also had a solo show in Olomouc.
Audience choice #2
As the second choice from an audience, in Prague everybody wanted to get reminded how the original version of the previous song sounds.
In Ostrava, my uncle asked for a love version of Greta Van Fleet’s track Black Smoke Rising.
Bonus: Nika – Over The Sea
I honestly believe, where there is a huge talent, it deserves a support from music journalists and promoters, as much as we are able to help. I came across Ostrava’s singer NIKA through recommendations from a few sources I really respect and it worked again. Impressive talent. Simply said: Markéta Irglová meets Nikol Bóková.
