Fantasy Orchestra - The Bear And Other Stories - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Indian Askin is multi-instrumentalist and producer Nelson InchChinoInch Ayala. In 2020, the previous band formation announced it's breakup, leaving Nelson at a pivotal turning point musically, and more broadly, in life, to determine what came next. Over the next couple of years, Ayala grappled with issues of loss, addiction, coping with pain, relationships gone awry, and relationships anew. He also experimented more sonically, spending countless hours in the studio jamming with friends and using (Covid) boredom as an incubator for creativity. The result of this time period is Lonely Citizen, Indian Askin's third album. Lonely Citizen finds Nelson exploring his own personal story in perhaps the band's most intimate work to date. Musically, he nods to his Latin roots, with a focus on percussion and groove being a thread throughout the record. Simultaneously, the lyrics find Ayala taking a magnifying glass to his personal reflections on his hometown, Amsterdam. He says on the album, InchIt's about feeling sick and tired, and maybe even ashamed, of the place I grew up in and what it's become. And especially what I've become while living my life here. I was born in this machine and I will forever be a part of it, yes. I just can't shake the feeling that I need to leave this noise behind.Inch

Minus the Bear is a product of the first two decades of this century. From their first show in 2001 to their impending dissolution at the end of 2018, the Seattle band thrived on the musical awakening in the era of the MP3, the internet, poptimism, and the crosspollinations generated from an expanded consciousness of new music forms. With their final EP, Fair Enough, Minus the Bear closes the book on their hybrid of art-rock, indie pop, and warehouse party appeal. Opener InchFair EnoughInch went through a variety of permutations before the band found new meaning in it's lyrical lament of lost passions and finding Inchthe exact moment we turned it off.Inch The other songs are a continuation and culmination of Minus the Bear's diverse sounds. The up-tempo drumbeats, rich electronics, and nimble guitar work that initially set them apart are on full display during InchViaduct.Inch InchDinosaurInch has the groove of early hits, but is crafted with the understated Steely Dan-eque delivery of their more current slow jams.

CD reissue. No Rewind is the debut album by The Orchestra, released in 2001. The band is comprised of the former members of ELO and Electric Light Orchestra part 2. The album was recorded without financial support from any record labels and was produced by Eric Troyer, Parthenon Huxley and Jim Jacobsen. Ten tracks and more were recorded in studios in Los Angeles and New York over a 2+1/2-year period. No Rewind contains the Bev Bevan co-authored composition InchOver London SkiesInch, InchThe Diary of Horace WimpInch soundalike InchJewel & JohnnyInch, and a cover of InchTwist and ShoutInch which begins in a slow, plaintive minor key with arpeggiated chords before building to the familiar, rocking major progression.