The Flower Kings Release New Album Teaser on YouTube

My favorite progressive rock band The Flower Kings uploaded a trailer for their forthcoming album, which now has a name: “Banks of Eden”. During the 1 minute and 20 seconds preview we hear snippets of the new album. And I can tell you that I like what I am hearing so far!

The text below the YouTube movie gives away that the album will last for 55 minutes. That’s almost short for the Kings’ standards, considering that they released four double albums in the past and the single disc releases were always filled to the brim with music.

The album is scheduled for release on June 18th.


The Flower Kings – New Album Trailer for “Banks of Eden”

 

The Flower Kings Will Reunite in 2012, New Album and Tour on the Way

Photo by Per Nordin

The Flower King’s mailing list was buzzing for a few days already with rumors, with guitarist, writer and producer Roine Stolt steering away from acknowledging them. But last Friday the official news was out: The Flower Kings are reuniting in 2012 after a five year hiatus. A new album can be expected in June and a European tour will start around September. Their first re-union gig will be at the Sweden Rock Festival on June the 7th.

A quote on the new album, taken from the press release on the band’s website:

The yet unnamed album has a 23 min epic centerpiece and the material is all classic Flowerkings style with all the dreamy melodic & cinematic elements that the bands fans has come to love over the years, but also contain some heavier psychedelic music and some darker hi energy material.

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Listen to New Yes-Single “We Can Fly” on RollingStone.com

Update: “We Can Fly” is also available on Spotify in a high-quality stream. Click here to open.

RollingStone.com has an exclusive stream of Yes’ new single “We Can Fly” available on their website. The track is a section of the long epic track “Fly From Here” that will be the first track on the new album with the same name. The new album has been produced by Trevor Horn, who has been a part of Yes on one album called “Drama” and produced the band’s two albums that followed: “90125”, with their number 1 hit “Owner of a Lonely Heart”, and the album “Big Generator”.

The new album “Fly From Here” will be the second album in the history of Yes that does not feature singer and co-founder of the band Jon Anderson. The new singer is Benoît David who has been picked up from a Yes tribute band. He has been touring with Yes for over a year now. Keyboards on the new album are played by Geoff Downes, who collaborated with Trevor Horn in the past with The Buggles and also played on the “Drama” album with Yes.

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My Top 10 Amplify Posts for May 2011

Next to the website you are looking at right now, there is an other blog I maintain that resides at Amplify.com which is called an Amplog. This website enables you to curate and clip content from the Internet, add your take on the subject and add it to your Amplog.

Posts you create can be shared on Twitter, Facebook, Ping.fm and other social media sites. You can also follow other people on Amplify as news sources, which generates a news stream on the site. And of course you can fire up a discussion by commenting on posts.

Below you will find a top 10 of  the most popular posts from my Amplog from May 2011.

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Interesting Times for Yes Fans

A lot is going on in the world of Yes and their current and former band members this year. A few months ago I discussed the excellent Yes Union deluxe box-set. But that was only the beginning. Check out this round-up of releases that I am looking forward to hear and have been released lately or can be expected in the next few months.

Yes – Fly From Here

Of course there is the new Yes album titled “Fly From Here” that was announced end March. The album was co-written and produced by Trevor Horn, who also produced their hit album “90125” and their less successful “Big Generator”. The new album won’t feature Jon Anderson on vocals but their new singer Benoît David. This release also marks the comeback of Geoff Downes (The Buggles, Asia) behind the keyboards who has been a part of the band together with Horn when they recorded, released and toured with the “Drama” album.

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The Flower Kings’ New DVD Available for Pre-order

Great news for fans of The Flower Kings: the new DVD which has been announced a few months ago is now available for pre-order from Reingold Records.

The DVD has been titled “Tour Kaputt” and contains the live show that was recorded in 2007 at the Boerderij in Zoetermeer in The Netherlands. The show features drum maestro Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson, Mr. Mister) and has a running time of 142 minutes.

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The Flower Kings to Release New DVD This Spring

Update April 26th, 2011: The release date of the new DVD has been mentioned to be May 23rd.

Update May 9th, 2011: The DVD and a double-CD can now be ordered from Reingold Records. Click here for more info.

A new DVD by The Flower Kings is currently in the works. The DVD has been dubbed an official bootleg and will feature the show that was recorded at De Boerderij in Zoetermeer (The Netherlands) on November 17th, 2007.

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Meditation Really Can Change the Brain, Study Finds

The following article encourages me even more to attend meditation classes in the near future. If an eight-week meditation program already generates measurable effects, I am curious what the results would be like if you followed a regime of meditation for one year, a few years or even more.

I haven’t decided yet which kind of meditation I would like to go for. Suggestions anyone?

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