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November 2023

• High Spirits: Safe On The Other Side
• Signum Regis: Undivided
• DGM: Life
• Soledriver: Return Me To Light
• Care Of Night: Reconnected
• Secret Sphere: Blackened Heartbeat
• Seventh Crystal: Infinity EP
• Angra: Cycles Of Pain
• Hugo's Voyage: Inception
• DMJ: Sophomore
• Temple Balls: Avalanche
• Ignescent: Fight In Me

October 2023

• Pattern-Seeking Animals: Spooky Action At A Distance
• Overland: S.I.X
• Vitalines: Wheels Within Wheels
• Lynch Mob: Babylon
• District 97: Stay For The Ending
• Lalu: The Fish Who Wanted To Be King
• Entierro: The Gates Of Hell
• Nitrate: Feel The Heat
• Kings Crown: Closer To The Truth
• Theocracy: Mosaic
• Edge Of Forever: Ritual
• Ronnie Atkins: Trinity

September 2023

• Rockett Love: Galactic Circus
• Kerrigan: Bloodmoon
• Taz: Shipwrecked, Vol 2
• Taz: Wake Up & Sweat, Vol 1
• Ronnie Romero: Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters
• The Flower Kings: Look At You Now
• Vega: Battlelines
• Blackbird Angels: Solsorte
• Primal Fear: Code Red
• Eclipse: Megalomanium
• Seventh Wonder: Mercy Falls (Reissue 2008/2023)
• Seventh Wonder: The Great Escape (Reissue 2010/2023)

August 2023

• Hurricane: Reconnected
• U.D.O.: Touchdown
• Streetlight: Ignition
• Sarayasign: The Lion's Road
• Neal Morse: The Dreamer - Joseph - Part One
• Rian: Wings
• Icon Of Sin: Legends
• Lancer: Tempest
• King Kobra: We Are Warriors
• Dark Sky: Signs Of The Time
• Hell In The Club: F.U.B.A.R.
• Kent Hilli: Nothing Left To Lose

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Ceramic: The Past Ain't Far

Alt/Indie/Roots Music

4.0/5.0

Mother West Music
Website Twitter MySpace
by Craig Hartranft,  01.31.2011

Ceramic is Pennsylvania raised, now Brooklyn based, singer songwriter John Schaeffer, and The Past Ain't Far is his debut work. With influences that pass from 60's pyschedelia to 70's pop to American roots of country and blues music, thanks to his father's diverse 3000 LP collection, Mr. Schaeffer weaves a diverse tapestry that is both creative and entertaining. Pinning, or labeling, his sound down becomes precarious endeavor.

On this short disc, only ten songs, you might hear Wilco (early) and Beck if he wanted to indulge into folk or roots music. Schaeffer himself reminds of Dylan and Petty made smooth by Arlo Guthrie; this is most noticeable on folksy Blue Comet. The texture across the song is almost a dreamy, post 60's pyschedelia: You Give More than Enough, Who's Gonna Guide the Night, or How'd You Get So Down are characteristic. Yet, there's certainly no redundancy here, all the songs have a character of there own. Schaeffer/Ceramic gets a bit more lively on title track and later Velvet Coat, two of the best cuts here. At the end, Lose the King is clever being unpredictable and moody. But those three words might best define John Schaeffer's Ceramic.

Ceramic and John Schaeffer's The Past Ain't Far would probably find a place on the modern hipster's fickle iPod, but his music is larger, deeper, and more creative than most alt/indie music. The Past Ain't Far has a depth of character and sound that charms and prevails over current trends. Though not overtly accessible, The Past Ain't Far is persuasive and entertaining. Recommended!

Ceramic and John Schaeffer's The Past Ain't Far would probably find a place on the modern hipster's fickle iPod, but his music is larger, deeper, and more creative than most alt/indie music. Though not overtly accessible, The Past Ain't Far is persuasive and entertaining. Recommended!

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We haven't had a new studio album from Brazil's Angra since prior to the COVID pandemic, 2018's Omni. But the quintet has been busy. In 2021, they released Omni Live in Japan where they have a huge fan base ... [ Read More ]