The 15 Albums that changed my life!!!

1- Jethro Tull - Aqualung

"This album is really my first introduction to progressive music I think, my father played this album everyday in the car in a cassette every morning in the way to the primary school".

2- Peter Gabriel - Secret World Live

"Despite this is a live album, it was another cassette my father had, the music made a HUGE impact on me...musically and emotionally".

3- Dream Theater - Images and Words

"Without a doubt an album that made me realize that I was going to be a musician AND a guitar player, those Petrucci lines were totally inspiring to me, I remember that after discovering this album by a friend at school, we played it from top to bottom in repeat doing homework!"

4- Joe Satriani - The Extremist

"I started to play guitar at the age of 12, I learned my first chords on an acoustic obviously but hearing at this music and discovering G3 (that one with Eric Johnson) by other guitarists pals, I was totally inclined by the electric guitar, rock and metal music!! but, I entered this realm of instrumental electric guitar extravaganza, and of course Joe Satriani and Steve Vai came into play here, this particular album, changed the way I saw the guitar, and the things you can do with it!!!"

5- Rush - Exit...Stage Left

"Another live album, and my first introduction to this great band, I've became fan after that, I remember hearing it for the first time in my headphones in a crappy CD player, those that you carried like ipods now, LOL the discovery of this band and this music was made by an older brother of a friend at high school, he was a drummer, and he was a BIG Rush fan, despite is NOT a music of my generation really I became totally hooked and found a LOT of similarities in Dream Theater's music as well. With tracks like YYZ, La Villa Strangiato, and Tom Sawyer, my musical life changed!"

6- Tool - Lateralus

"This album, was one of those albums that impacted me in so many ways, I remember the packaging, really amazing, it became a trademark in the way I saw a band, rock music, the presentation, lyrics, everything... suck a great album"

7- Jordan Rudess - Feeding the Wheel

"Back to the prog world, I discovered this album surfing the web, and so Magna Carta (label) artists as well, this album was TOTALLY shocking for me, it was like "music like this exist in this world??" I discovered lots of things with this albums, time signatures, rhythms, sounds, I mean something totally new to my ears!, it changed my musical life, and was my first introduction in discovering old progressive music like Genesis, Gentle Giant, Yes etc."

8- Leonardo - The Absolute Man

"One of my favorite albums of ALL time!!, this album is a very special one for me, it grew so much in me, it was a very fine discovery and redefine the way I saw music. It was a music so amazing and well produced, and something I've NEVER encountered before, those layered voices, orchestration, the concept, the story-line, the characters, it is a various artist album, just looking at the sleeves I discovered new artist and music. My first introduction to concept albums was with Dream Theater's Scene from a Memory album, and Rush's 2112 after that, but, this one, was like a WHOLE Opera!!!"

9- Spock's Beard - Snow

"This particular album was also so new to my ears, lots of counterpoints, fine arrangements, eccentric songwriting, and lots of musicianship, my first introduction to Spock's Beard and neo-prog stuff and to Neal Morse, one of my favorite songwriters and composers of ALL time, this was SO new to my ears, and shocked me in every sense of the word, and let's face it, I was born in 1987, so MY generation of progressive music is: Dream Theater, Spock's Beard, The Flower Kings, Fates Warning, for this guys it's obviously the 60's and 70's so everything is like a timeline!"

10- King Crimson - The Power to Believe

"This was my first introduction to what it is my FAVORITE prog band ever! and it is its latest work, but this Crimson line-up was the one I've drowned to, of course I dig more its classic albums!, this was another album that changed the way I saw progressive rock and music in particular"

11- Frameshift - Unweaving the Rainbow

"A fantastic, cool and under-grounded progressive rock album, I discovered it through research in LaBrie (Dream Theater's vocalist), it made think more in production and in writing more progressive music, it changed lots of things in my musicianship too!"

12- Planet X - Moonbabies

"Another "this album is gonna blow your mind" album, this opened up lots of different senses of what was music for me, so eccentric, and out of the box, Donati's musicianship and drumming totally was a huge evolution of what i thought of rhythms, syncopation, ostinatos etc.

13- Mattias "Ia" Eklundh - The Road Less Traveled

"This is a guitar oriented album, but this album was special for me, it opened up so new boundaries for me, both on the music and in the instrument, this guy later will be one of my guitar heroes."

14- Magellan - Impending Ascention

"I bought this album after digging almost all Trent Gardner discography, but this one in particular is old, and was one of the proggy things that I dig the most, such a great album and songs, it is truly a prog masterpiece"

15- Tribal Tech - Illicit

"Later on I was interested in jazz music specially in fusion (rock with jazz) and this album was the one that made me enter in that complex world, it changed me in every sense of the word and made me a better musician after digging it!"

Why I've become a multi-instrumentalist musician

People that know me well know that the guitar is my instrument of choice, why? I simple love the instrument, some musicians friends have asked me several times what would be my instrument of choice instead of guitar?...my answers vary from "I think saxophone" "maybe drums?" but, over the years I've grown musically in every aspect of it: knowledge, experience, highs, lows, facts, etc.

In my early years entering to music and learning to play guitar I just couldn't have enough, for some fellow guitar players friends and musicians this was very egocentric and ambitious, I remember clearly some people telling me: "sooo now you want to be like a Mozart or something right? tsk tsk, ridiculous" I remember those days, but, I'm always searching for evolution, and doing things in the way I like it, that is why I learn others instruments. It's not something in thinking to be just a "one-man band" is more deep than that, for me, it's more musical knowledge, to know the different sonic possibilities that an instrument could add to your music, however, now I see that almost every composer should have a certain piano skills, for example, piano (the instrument) is in EVERY song that I write, could it be a tender ballad or a crazy avant-garde heavy thing! just saying!

All this come to my mind because of my musical heroes, they all can write music, and use other instruments as well, , people like Steven Wilson, Neil Morse, Frank Zappa etc. and is not just "learning to play well others instruments" is knowing how to use it and what its functions are! so, a person like me, could not just stand there and play guitar only all his life!! don't get me wrong, I LOVE the guitar and playing it, but music is more than that you know...learning other instruments give you more musical freedom, be able to write a cool harmonium part, or a groovy bass line, without depending on others to do it, it's so great! be able to write a whole song playing and experimenting with instrumentation and arrangement is a part of music that is so damn exciting to me, simply as that!

Later!

Master Ires Video Series!

Hello fans, followers and friends:

I´m here posting this to inform you some of my new parody and funny videos I´m creating and producing with my good friend Angel Ramos!! it´s funny because this whole idea of making a character named ¨Master Ires¨ in a very humorous way, right now, there´s a youtube channel created named ¨MasterIres¨and even a Facebook fan page! LOL!, I suggest checking that out!!

The first video is up! and it talks more about the Portnoy Drama, presenting some news about the progressive world and some other stuff.

In the future we are thinking in producing a series of 4 videos called ¨Why Master Ires haven't established a band yet!?¨ describing real band situations in form of parody, portraying why it´s so difficult and inconvenient to form a band in here, stay tuned for that!!

Right now, the creative progress is only focused on parody and humorous stuff, but you will be expecting others things like, interviews, documentaries, and of course, videos of me, playing, singing, covering both, covers and own material!

In case you had missed it, there´s our first video:

The Hermit

Hi all again!

Today I'm finishing up a new song that I wrote, I'd simply called it "The Hermit", I'm working in lyrics right now, and I have to marry the words with the music, because this song, was inspired on a concept first rather than making the music, still...I knew the direction I wanted for this song though. Talking a little bit more of it, muse came fast on this one, picked up my guitar, I was alone in my room, and began with a few chords, this song is special to me in a way, it talks about me, I mean, the lyrics portrait something about ME in some way, I'm experiment using a Capo, I used it in the 3rd fret, and it was pretty cool!!

The song is in Gm, (because of the capo) but I wasn't focusing in keys at that moment, just in chords and rhythm, the song came out in 6/8 feel, (I'm using it a lot in my songs now) is a great feel for songwriting and rhythm, rather that the fancy 4/4, the song is melancholy in some way, I'm still humming some melodies, its ending up like a Cerati meets Steven Wilson type of melody, but, the 6/8 feel give it a more of like, let's say...dramatic touch I think... Musically the song came out to be very unique in terms of harmony, I experimented a lot in some bridges, using minor chord substitutions, (sounding very Mikael Akerfeldt) I recorded the whole idea, intro, verses, chorus, bridges, outro, all in a straight line, now, I'm working on arrangements and structures, and I am very undecided in all this things! specially the arrangement!, well...but this is the fun part right?

I will try to buy some equipment for Christmas to see if I can record songs and stuff, so you will be able to hear it as I post some update, I will work that out, so don't worry! I will post the final cut of lyrics later on, and maybe give it the meaning if it if its not coming too metaphorical (which I don't think so), right now, I'm going for a very direct, lush and simple lyrics...but, who knows...

I will say goodbye for now...

More updates later!

Stay tuned!

Iros RR

Progressive Music of Our Era

Hello to all followers, fans and friends!

I've been absent a lot lately, let's say my life has changed, a new job, a lot more of responsibilities, no so much time to spare, you know...but well here I am, in this post I will be rather talking a few things about how progressive music has been in this late year, and maybe do a little recap on some albums that make me feel in that way.

Of course prog fans out there know more about the topic and can argue about this, but I will express despite my knowledge in the topic. First of all, progressive music, is turning now in 2011 to be different, to be more accessible and not so under grounded as 10-15 years from now, with albums like Grace For Drowning, and Heritage, is obvious that prog/art rockers and music composers are reviving the whole prog scene of the 70's (best times for prog music, period), and I base my ideas in this, there are two lines: the first is the idea of making progressive music more mainstream, is really a challenge, but bands like Gazpacho, Porcupine Tree, Pinneaple Thief, just to name a few, are mixing in terms of music, songwritting, production and musicality influenced in mainstream succeful bands like Radiohead or Muse, for example, why? b/c these bands are modern, mainstream but have that progressive music touch and/or influence. Pinneapple Thief for example, is a mix of good song writing, Radiohead, and a little bit of art rock of the 70's. This is emerging its own name, and it is called "Post-Prog".

Despite all this, progressive music now, is tending to sound more fresh, lush, orchestrated and relying on improvisations and more experimentation (Experimental giants right now, is Mars Volta), is the real new approach of what Progressive Rock is becoming nowadays, the music is tending to be modern, but, is making its foundation on the 70's scene, with bands like Pink Floyd, King Crimson, and Jethro Tull just to name a few, however, the music is tending to sound more jazzy and more eclectic, making it what progressive rock/music truly is!

I could hear this new approach in the newer Steven Wilson music, and the latest Opeth album, I mean, take Opeth for example, a death/prog/metal band, difficult to hear by some people, but do you realize the change? yeah, that's ladies and gentlemen is the approach of progressive rock of our era...and maybe, others will hate it, others not, in MY particular case I love it, it evokes the artistic feel, less compressed, more dynamic progressive rock that I love!

Later!

Iros RR

A Band Request?

I´ve been asked to join a band, yes, it was requested by an good friend of mine in terms of musicianship, (can´t give the details now), he is forming a band and he just thought about me and ask me, he said that I will be taking the singer, front-man, songwriter, background guitars job, I´m sharing the songwriter job with other dude though.

Is kind of a interesting request I think, but, some people always complain about me, because how control freak I am in terms of music, yeah, I am, and that is why I´m going solo, you know to do whatever the hell I want to do with my music, and my stuff, which is pretty a good way to be free and not sticking so much on other decisions.

I´d always considered myself very self-indulgent and very self-dependant in almost every aspect of my life, so that´s why I trained so hard to be a well-rounded musician and be able to make music by my own, but that doesn´t mean that I can´t be in a band environment, if the roles are well taken, then no problem. In a band, is different, is all about collaborations, roles and consensus, opinions are important, you are in a band because you want to interact with others musically and let them apply their talents, is rather easy...

I can´t give you to much details now, but I´m kinda tired with these highs and lows in the music department, a band? well...we have to clear up some things at the start of all this...

What I think of this?, well. is a great opportunity, a great vision, but, I will be realistic, a band for me, is like building a empire, a company, it is motion, feel, compromise, it is like building a family and most important time consuming, I compare it with relationships, LOL.

I don´t know where this could get, but it is decided that I will go for branching, and have my own stuff down my sleeves, you´ll never know what will happen....In the worst of the cases, I have my own stuff, this, will be like just giving out some of my talents and some of the things I can do to the band. In fact, some of the last things I wrote was my first contributions with the band.

I will get with all of them together, talk about stuff and see what happens, still, if this is for me, no problem, if not, I´m sticking in with my beloved stuff!

Later!

Prog Metal as my signature sound?

For me, it has been difficult to establish a certain style of music to be focused on, if you know me personally my musical visions changes every time, and that’s not new, back in the 90’s and my teens I spend lots of time hearing a totally different music that I’m hearing now, that was before I discovered Progressive Rock music back in the start of the second millennium.

From that inception I’m still sticked to it, and yeah God bless prog music, really, I thank myself for discovering it and embracing it, it definitely changed my musical formation dramatically. Needless to say, I’m stick to any kind of good music, not just progressive music, in fact I enjoy Jazz a lot, fusion, orchestral film soundtracks, metal music, I mean every type of music that is “good” despite the style, so, however I knew from the beginning that I was preparing myself musically to actually write, compose and even produce music, I knew that one single project can’t cover all, so my mind was set in multiple projects, you know, projects and side projects that cover the passion for other musical styles.

But, since the “Titan Atlas” inception, it was a band inspired in the type of music that “flow” naturally within my veins, having a musical project and a band is hard, that’s why the monster called Titan Atlas was annihilated, sadly, but, sure, I have this new project called “Skies Of Mars” that it’s centered to be my main focus and main stuff, aside from other side projects that I worked on, (Square Motion, Atomic Tangerine), I was aside all metal stuff for one purpose, metal music blinds you from things like arrangements, production, songwriting, so for 2 years now, I’ve been out for metal, because of this, and this 2 years I was having a blast hearing things like, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Steven Wilson, Blackfield, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Zappa, Minus the Bear, Billy Joel, Pete Townshend etc. even trying things in local pop rock stuff like Zoom and Bocatabu, you know to get this “feel” about songwritting and production, which is veeery important.

I have lots of stuff written here but is pretty much in a approach of good songwriting, vocal/piano and vocal/acoustic guitar kinda songs, ballads, love songs, and psychedelic/space/ambient rock things, which I learnt a lot of important stuff about chords and arrangements in that time, that for me, it’s necessary…

But yeah, since the Titan Atlas inception and creation, this is the kind of style that fits well in me, and the one who I must attain my main focus on, progressive metal and progressive rock can get up a little too extreme at times, it is intended to be a “virtuoso-shit” kind of music, and with this, looking up for musicians in DR to play this stuff is staggering and the hunt can get infinite in a way, so that’s why one of the reasons I wanted to lay low on that, and do something more “accessible” to the players…

In fact, in a band situation is normal that you end up playing others parts, and riffs, but looking for musicians who are aware of that and are at the same page of you, IS HARD!