December News Bytes

• Atlanta Technical Progressive Metal Band Canvas Solaris have split up.
• British project Magenta has re-recorded the Emerson/Lake/Palmer track "Lucky Man" and can be found on their website at http://magenta-web.com/
• Swedish band Beardfish are getting ready to release their new album for 2011 titled "Mammoth" to be released on the InsideOut label.
• Opeth will start the recording of their 10th album on the 31st of January 2011. The band has picked the legendary Atlantis studios (ex Metronome studios) in Stockholm and will once again work with Jens Bogren engineering. Mixing duties will be handled by Steven Wilson (Porcupine tree). Possible release worldwide in the fall of 2011, through Roadrunner records.
• A new Jaco Pastorius two-CD boxed “audio biography” is being released and provides a seamless account of Jaco’s development from his very beginnings as a musician all the way through his tenures with Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell, and the ‘70s super group Weather Report. It includes an 80-page full-color booklet and over two hours of never-before-heard music including Jaco’s very first home recordings, solos, sessions, record dates, and earliest original compositions. Includes, spoken words from family, friends and music luminaries.
• Stan Whitaker of "Happy the Man" - now "Oblivion Sun", and Ray Bennett of "Flash" are both finishing new CD's for their respective bands, and are considering a joint tour in 2011.

Canvas Solaris To Perform at ProgDay 2008

CANVAS SOLARIS have defied the constraints of their beginnings in the death/mathcore scene to evolve into one of the most cutting edge instrumental bands to hit progressive rock in many years. Initially a vocal quartet playing an unusual and experimental form of death metal, by the time they recorded their first official release they had shed their vocalist and shifted focus to intricate instrumental arrangements. TRIBUNAL RECORDS called it "...genius level stuff." The evolution continued as CANVAS SOLARIS incorporated additional elements in their work. Their sound became eloquently expansive as more prominent keyboards, integral acoustic arrangements, and ethnic percussion widened their musical vocabulary.
Signing with SENSORY RECORDS (The Laser's Edge) in 2005, they began a series of releases that has shown just how far they have come from their origins. Contrasting intense hyper-technical passages with introverted, spacey, quiet and acoustic-based interludes, today CANVAS SOLARIS have established themselves as one of the bands pointing a new direction for the heavy progressive and progmetal scenes. As Tribunal Records has said, "We guarantee it will blow your mind!"
ProgDay, the world’s longest running progressive rock festival, takes place this year on August 30th and 31st at Storybook Farm near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Other bands announced so far are Ain Soph (Japan), CHEER-ACCIDENT (US), Holding Pattern (US), and VonFrickle (US). To hear music and get information about all the bands, please visit the Progday website at http://www.progday.com.