MP3 3RDegree - Narrow-Caster

Song-based, "hook"-filled, heavy, melodic and dense Progressive Rock with great vocal performances

10 MP3 Songs in this album (46:53) !
Related styles: ROCK: Progressive Rock, ROCK: Album Rock

People who are interested in Rush Todd Rundgren Gentle Giant should consider this download.


Details:
REVIEWS:

â¢"The artists I buy without a thought to hearing first are those tried and true pioneers who more often than not succeed in gifting my life with songs to cheer my heart on a cold and dark day or make savoring the good times that much sweeter. I now have to add 3RDegree to that pantheon..."Lots of bands write by acting like blenders for their various influences & crossing their fingers for a good result;3RDegree revel in their mastery of colliding feels & sounds you'd never think to put together & somehow manage to smack it out of the park every time...Don't miss out on this one."
USA PROG MUSIC.COM JULY 2008

â¢"So many semi-pro bands are killed by sub-par, amateur-sounding vocalistsâespecially some "prog" bands who opt for wailing, Geoff Tate/James LaBrie imitators who do justice to neither. None such here...3RDegree knows when to come up for air, and Narrow-Caster never bogs down or takes itself too seriously, either. It's timely, progressive, literate, and has a lot of integrity. The more I listen, the more I like it."
SEA OF TRANQUILITY.ORG JULY 2008

â¢"3RDegree works in everything from grunge, hard rock, even a bit of rap, but also west coast sounds, soft electronica loops in their own cocktail of modern prog. 3RDegree are not as complex as Echolyn but have a sufficient supply of gimmicks and ideas ready so that the songs donât get boring. Their sound is fresh and new and has a whole lot of vague back-references to classical prog times."
BABY BLUE PROG REVIEWS.DE (Germany) AUGUST 2008

â¢"I liked this very much because while listening to it I didn't get the sense that it was a band trying to BE something. Rather I thought they had their own signature. While certainly having been influenced by myriad groups/artists from the past they have managed to carve out a little niche all their own."
ZNR CDS.com OCTOBER 2008

â¢"George Dobbs is praiseworthy: he knows "release the dogs" in the way of a metal singer...but is equally at ease in times of acoustic delicacy and knows how to adjust his interpretation to each song, which is very rare. The diversity of influences makes "Narrow-Caster" unpredictable, even after several listenings...One of the most exciting albums of the year."
HARMONIE MAGAZINE (France) NOVEMBER 2008

PRESS RELEASE:

3RDegree to Widely Release Long-Awaited Third Album
âNarrow-Casterâ on December 2, 2008 as deluxe âEco-Walletâ

New Jersey, USA - November 12, 2008 - After months of limited availability, including a âmeet & greetâ table at Nearfest 2008 and sales on its own website, progressive rockâs best-kept secret 3RDegree releases their first studio album in 12 years in a deluxe, plastic-free âEco-Walletâ. After receiving unabashed praise in many reviews since itâs June unleashing from websites on both sides of the Atlantic, band leader Robert James Pashman started receiving large orders from Europe for the album which caught him off guard and largely unprepared. Having made modest amounts of CDs âDIY styleâ on nicely printed upon CDRs, the band found itself having to make a slew of new and ârealâ CDs to be ready for prime-time so to speak. This new âre-imaginedâ CD gives the songs the packaging they deserve as the band puts its money where its mouth is, using no plastic and forsaking the heavy and wasteful jewel case. To use a Seinfeldian description: âtheyâre real...and theyâre fabulous!â

The 10-song CD (or download) was started just over 2 years ago when the band reformed after a long hiatus. It is a mix of songs, some started at the end of the quartetâs first tenure and some fresh compositions upon the bandâs restart. The collection is a real tour-de-force through the different types of songs the band have shown capable of pulling off: from the intense odd-timing of âApopheniaâ-a song about humanityâs tendency to look for patterns and meaning in the seemingly meaningless-to the pastoral, gentle delivery of âSceneryâ-a grand addition to the bandâs canon of melodic and accessible songs with long multi-part lead ups to great payoff choruses. Sandwiched in between is âCautionary Taleâ, taking on the subject of militant religiosity in all its forms and in a musical delivery no less intense than the subject deserves, âYoung Onceâ with its synthesized, other-worldly respite-an oasis on the way to the album ending âThe Last Gaspâ, which features full orchestration along side the band calling out âsing on!â until the band and orchestra break down in an almost exhausted fashion.

The concept of Narrow-Caster has to do with how we-with the help of technology- can now focus in on the art, entertainment and perhaps soon-people-that interest us while cutting out the things we donât like or donât think we like. While this makes it easier for us to find what we want to focus in on (like those things we know we already en-joy), we are losing the common experiences we used to all share like watching the final M*A*S*H, or hearing the songs of the Top 40. Since we can narrowly cast a line out to those things tried and true, we may suffer from an inability to be exposed to something outside our sphere like jazz or a different kind of beer or a unique movie. While itâs certainly not the end of the world, the internet is changing how we are exposed to art and possibly what we would even classify as art.


BIO:

3RDegree began when founder/bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Robert James Pashman met with drummer Rob Durham in December of 1990 with a common love of the progressive rock bands they had grown up with & in hopes of picking up where Pashmanâs last band had left off. A six month union with a guitarist didnât pan out until new guitarist Pat Kliesch was added in the summer of 1991 & the band played its first show that November. Klieschâs hard driving off-kilter riffs & juxtaposed melodic acoustic writing gelled with Pashmanâs soaring hooks within strange meter: all this thrown in with the most capable Durham who reveled in the challenge of holding it all together. This would be the bandâs mantra to the present day: create challenging music to play but always with a memorable, singable calling card. The first chapter would be THE WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE-a 10 song collection which was played all over New Jersey & New York City in rock venues from 1992 through 1995 alongside the much more interesting & refined tracks that would be its epic follow-up.

But one piece of the puzzle would be imperative to getting the band more noticed than ever before: a world-class lead vocalist. George Dobbs, who would be added in the summer of â95 would be that man. Also a keyboardist and bassist, the bandâs live shows would be a much fuller affair & the studio album a much more polished & diverse one. HUMAN INTEREST STORY was released & well received in April of 1996, but frustration with the bandâs inabilities to find its market niche & fan base in a pre-internet age would make a January 1997 CBGBâs performance its last.

In December of 2005, the three original members of the band met in a NYC bar with the idea of reforming. Demos were made of new & old songs left on the cutting room floor that the band had always thought were their strongest. Their singer would be found by July & the backing tracks for a new album recorded by October. April of 2007, would see the band playing their first live shows in over ten years at NJ Proghouse-a venue that would definitely have saved the band from its earlier demise. The event & previous nightâs acoustic show would be captured in high definition & later released on DVD & double CD. The internet would also figure largely into 3RDegree redux finding new fans & even re-connecting with the original ones so that by summer 2008 when the band were ready with NARROW-CASTER-it wouldnât fall on deaf ears at its Nearfest (Bethlehem, PA progressive rock festival) debut. The reviews of this CD would herald that it was nothing short of the bandâs âmasterworkâ & possibly even worth the wait! A new plastic-less "Eco-Wallet" © version is due for the Christmas â08 season.

3RDegree plan on writing & recording new material in early 2009.