Not a wasted word: Reviews, Pt. 1

Today's writing soundtrack brought to you by Guthrie Govan.

"Not a wasted word.  This has been a main point to my literary thinking all my life.”

—Hunter S. Thompson

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Since the beginning of March, I've been writing music reviews for a website called The Phantom Tollbooth (yes, named after that book) -- thanks to the encouragement of a friend and the desire to stretch myself as a writer.  To write for this website, I basically find music I enjoy, type approximately 1.5k words about it, submit an unspecified number of these articles per month (March was, uh, busy), and sometimes do a little editing for other writers on the site.  Simple, painless, stimulating.

There are a number of perks to this little side project.  The Phantom Tollbooth is a Christian website, so the community is largely positive and wholesome.  They are also completely open to secular content, so I'm not shackled to Michael W. Smith releases.  In that regard, this is the type of writing gig where I get to choose my own material.  It's been a great experience to reach out to bands with whom I'm already familiar and others with whom I'm not, interact with them personally, and engage their music on a level that supersedes a cursory listen.  Thus far, my reviews have been of independent releases from unsigned bands, known well only in the prog community.  Some of these acts are people I've met via The Twenty Committee, others are relationships I've gleaned thanks to prog forums, and others still whom I've just happened to stumble across.  This writing venue allows me to write supportively of these undiscovered musical acts, offer them a bit of exposure in my tiny corner of the internet certainly, and - more importantly - give them quality reviews that they can repost in various forums to endorse their material.

So what does this mean for me?

For one thing, it's been great for musical and professional relationships.  I've already received followup from some of these artists asking for me to tackle other material they're part of.  I've also been able to open dialogue about The Twenty Committee with some of them, since my band's music is in similar categories to theirs.  Furthermore, for unsigned bands in my corner of the music industry, there is a strong "love one another" mentality: support each other, return favors, pay it forward where you can.  This writing venue has been (and will continue to be) a great opportunity for me to do my part.

Tollbooth also serves as tremendous writing incentive.  I've been markedly more productive with Häxprocess (well, with the exception of this past month -- see busy), as well as with the book(s) I'm in the process of writing, in addition to miscellaneous creative projects for my job.  In any occupation I've held, I've made the attempt to incorporate writing into it, as that is probably my greatest strength.  Since I was a kid, creative writing was what I did for fun.  I graduated slowly from crude sketches with captions on construction paper to 100% recycled Meade tablets to the trusty MacBook, always entertaining the notion of someday writing at a professional level.  Writing for Tollbooth has renewed that desire and given me a leg-up in that direction, in addition to giving me motivation to seek out what writing opportunities are available to me now.

The bottom line is that God has -- as always -- been unspeakably gracious to me.  He's allowed me the opportunity to do something I enjoy.  For that reason, whether or not it can one day be a lucrative pursuit, I will remain thankful.  After all, my future is His written text, not a draft yet to be revised, so I can rest in His sovereign, benevolent hands.

So that's where I am.  The reviews I've published to date are listed below.  If you are an artist, a member of a band, or simply know someone who could use a little free publicity, contact me.  I'd be more than happy to give your/his/her material an honest listen.

~*~

Part 2 -- Part 3 -- Part 4 -- Part 5 -- Part 6 -- Part 7 -- Part 8 -- Part 9
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Elephants of Scotland - Execute and Breathe

Execute and Breathe is a great sophomore release from a band who never stray from a songwriting mantra. Elephants of Scotland write prog with hooks and flavors: songs with loose thematic connections that can stand alone while still contributing to the whole.

Dream the Electric Sleep - Heretics

Dream the Electric Sleep have put out a masterful sophomore album which demonstrates their dedication to originality and to the concept album.

John Basset - Unearth

Unearth is a great solo album. It's a break from John Bassett's typical work and an opportunity for him to expand different avenues of writing. Melodic, haunting, and soul-searching, this is one that will both please your ears and leave you with plenty to think about afterwards.

Rick Miller - Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness is a spooky, dark, and melancholic concept album with lots of fantastical elements. There's guilt here and regret – dregs of human emotion which ensnare and debilitate, and ultimately provide the fuel for the bitter love story which unfolds.

Druckfarben - Second Sound

Druckfarben are a talented group of musicians who write classic 70's prog with modern flavors. Second Sound is a fantastic response to their debut album and will garner interest with fans of Yes, Rush, and Kansas.

Hibernal (Mark Healy) - Replacements

In Replacements, we enter a stark, dystopian world where “greater good” mentality has drowned society with melancholy.  This is a fantastic piece of multi-genre art, incorporating elements of musical composition and talented voice acting, though at its conclusion, you might find yourself with more questions than answers.

Octopie - Octopie EP

What Octopie excel at doing is writing catchy and interesting music that ventures into the progressive territory without losing accessibility.  The writing is superb, and this EP boasts a dynamic blend of timbres.