Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Surprising Unorthodox, and Massive: acoustic bass guitar and electric guitar meeting somewhere outside and beyond the doors of perception….
Some links:
Sandy Ewen interview and solo performance on this channel:
youtu.be/6eRzqX9WsyY
sandyewen.com
youtube.com/@CuneiformRecords/search?query=Henry%20Kaiser
waysidemusic.com/Music-Products/Ewen-Sandy-Henry-Kaiser-Lake-Monsters-CD__BPALTD606.aspx
sandyewen.bandcamp.com/album/lake-monsters
Surprising Unorthodox, and Massive: acoustic bass guitar and electric guitar meeting somewhere outside and beyond the doors of perception….
Some links:
Sandy Ewen interview and solo performance on this channel:
youtu.be/6eRzqX9WsyY
sandyewen.com
youtube.com/@CuneiformRecords/search?query=Henry%20Kaiser
waysidemusic.com/Music-Products/Ewen-Sandy-Henry-Kaiser-Lake-Monsters-CD__BPALTD606.aspx
sandyewen.bandcamp.com/album/lake-monsters
![AINT NO BLUES [MU cover] by Jimmy Ågren, Scott Colby, Henry Kaiser](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/saks7PbsOF4/mqdefault.jpg "AINT NO BLUES [MU cover] by Jimmy Ågren, Scott Colby, Henry Kaiser
An affectionate cover of a Jeff Cotton tune from the 1971 album by the band MU.
Jeff Cotton was known as Antenna Jimmy Semens during his years in Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band.
Jimmy Ågren vocal + harmonica + drums
Scott Colby slike guitar + keys
Henry Kaiser bass + guitar
more Ågren-Colby-Kaiser videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ongm9xbfHw
some links to enjoy and to learn more about Jeff Cotton and MU:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxlnquUDFos&list=RDfxlnquUDFos&start_radio=1
https://www.beefheart.com/mu/
https://madfishmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-fantasy-of-reality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c3rwchYymY&list=RD8c3rwchYymY&start_radio=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZNAgY8xqq8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPOlf5L5OpQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3PGXn-SOI4&list=RDt3PGXn-SOI4&start_radio=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4UcbM4AdaU
https://www.discogs.com/artist/548049-Mu-7
https://www.discogs.com/artist/407002-Jeff-Cotton?redirected=true&superFilter=Credits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRCsnrhVGdU&list=OLAK5uy_lWT8ivTDrSrPzBBxvYOnLNOJt1L7y0TKQ")
![Miriodor - Le Dresseur de Chenilles (Official Audio) from Live 97 [Cuneiform Records]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tuPlhHNApwI/mqdefault.jpg "Miriodor - Le Dresseur de Chenilles (Official Audio) from Live 97 [Cuneiform Records]
Easily purchase Live 97 by Miriodor, here: https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/live-97
Released on February 13, 1996 by Cuneiform Records, ‘Elastic Juggling’, Miriodor’s 4th album, brought international recognition at a time where the band was undergoing internal changes.
This was the album that really got the band the attention of fans of ‘Rock In Opposition’ and ‘progressive’ music. Miriodor’s audience got bigger and so did the attention of the specialized press. The band unique music style made them truly stand apart and earned them a reputation.
Acclaim for Elastic Juggling came immediately from the North American music press:
“Their sound is rooted in the chamber rock one might associate with bands like Univers Zero and Henry Cow (circa Western Culture), with touches of folk and other elements. There are wild mood swings and time changes, odd angularities and dissonant incongruities that together make for some great listening. Fans of seventies Crimson, UK, Zappa, Gentle Giant, and Van Der Graaf should find plenty of interest here.”
– Exposé, Peter Thelen, 1996-03-01
Acclaim also came from abroad:
“Miriodor have established themselves as prime Canadian exponents of the complexly classical French twist on the RIO sound, notably with a side-step from Art Zoyd and Univers Zero, with many a unique twist of their own…a dynamic, intricate and beautifully crafted blending of rock-fusion, classical, folk and avant garde musics. “Elastic Juggling” is all the fun you’d expect it to be!”
–Audion [UK], Alan Freeman, reviewing Elastic Juggling
Elastic Juggling was also a milestone in the band’s history, marked by the closing chapter of a long and very fruitful association with Sabin Hudon (saxes, accordion) and the opening chapter of another very productive association, this time with Bernard Falaise (guitar, bass), who remains with the band to this day. This is in fact the only Miriodor album where these two worked together.
Elastic Juggling is also the only album of the band that can be called a ‘concept album’ with many pieces relating to the circus world, albeit a demented one. Several circus characters are portrayed, with pieces like ‘Three Clowns’, ‘Tight-rope walker’, ‘Igor, the Motorbike Bear’, ‘The Caterpillar Tamer’, ‘The Knife Thrower’, ‘Strong Man Ring a Bell’, and there’s even one about a fortune teller, ‘Mrs X’. The cover shows the band as three clowns with a huge variety of instruments.
For the live renditions of Elastic Juggling repertoire, some changes took place as well. In 1995 and early 1996, the live band consisted of Rémi Leclerc (drums), Pascal Globensky (keyboards), Bernard Falaise (guitar), Bernard Poirier (guitar, bass, clarinet) and Stéphanie Simard (violin). By mid 1996, the live crew was composed of Rémi, Pascal, Bernard, Stéphanie, plus Nicolas Masino (bass, keyboards) and Sabin Hudon on one occasion.
Fans of the band will be pleased with this live, tight-as-a-knot, fired-up performance, including alternate and extended versions of Elastic Juggling material!")
![French TV - The Spanish Caper (Official Audio) from The Spanish Caper [Cuneiform Records]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vaCvfSip2hE/mqdefault.jpg "French TV - The Spanish Caper (Official Audio) from The Spanish Caper [Cuneiform Records]
Easily purchase French TVs The Spanish Caper by clicking this link, here: https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-spanish-caper
-
French TVs The Spanish Caper is the 16th in their long history and their 2nd for Cuneiform.
Disc One is new songs recorded in Spain featuring charter member bassist/composer Mike Sary, guitarist Kasumi Yoneda (also from the Japanese band TEE), long-time drummer Jeff Gard, plus members of the French band Mentat Routage (who also make up French TVs line-up when touring Europe).
The second disc is a collection of somewhat-obscure rock covers from the late 60s-early 70s. Songs featured include deep tracks from Iron Butterfly, Kinks, Mountain, Spirit, Procol Harum, Traffic, Steppenwolf, The Guess Who, James Gang and more The line-up on this includes Sary, Yoneda, Gard, plus keyboardist Patrick Strawser (best known for his work in the 90s band Volare).
Blending elements of progressive rock, fusion, cartoon music, and Rock-in-Opposition, the music of French TV can be simultaneously hilarious and highly challenging, making it one of the most original American prog rock outfits and also one of the longest lived, having created 16 albums as well as having toured Europe and the US, along with many major festivals since their formation in 1983.
“Now that Im well into “bucket list territory” age-wise, this new French TV album knocks a couple items off that collection of chores.
CD1: Throughout the 70s as a starry-eyed bass acolyte I would pour over lp liner notes and try to picture what it was like to hole up in some remote farmhouse in the country and crank out a masterpiece like my heroes. 50 years later, my cohorts and I finally took the plunge and ensconced ourselves in a small village in beautiful Northern Spain for two weeks in July 2024. In that not-so-distant future when Im in a hospital bed surrounded by overworked nurses and machines that go PING! Im certain Ill be dreaming about that music-and-merriment-filled half-month as they fluff my pillow.
CD2: Yet more nostalgia: also been wanting to record a covers record for quite some time and devised the following criteria:
1) deep cut rock music from my sweet spot, the aforementioned late 60s-early 70s,
2) bands/musicians who havent been active (or breathing) for a few decades, and
3) tunes with instrumental sections that could be argued as to be “progressive” in nature, in most cases songs that were a little outside the more well-known pop tunes those artists were known for.
I look at these recordings as performing a public service, as the notion that the cultural evaporation of these gems from me younger days is an inevitability I find disturbing, and hopefully this delays it slightly.
My suggestion for an optimal listening experience would be listening to this around 10:30 at night on a transistor radio (preferably with the album introduced by a DJ named Doctor Danger) while in bed on a school night.” – Mike Sary")
