New Music Review: Jason Rubenstein - New Metal From Old Boxes / This Is Not A Love Letter

The first thing you notice about keyboardist Jason Rubenstein is he is VERY talented. It turns out he also a really nice guy. I suppose that makes it easier not to hate him for being so damn talented. Jason can play prog, jazz, and can improv with the best of them. That's all well and good but can he write songs?

On his album "New Metal From Old Boxes", Jason states he is going back to his prog roots. We are all lucky he has. The songs are there, tightly arranged and with plenty of hooks. The thing that can happen with instrumental albums is that a sameness can creep in and the songs blend together. Jason makes sure the songs all stand on their own with his amazing playing, loud and aggressive. Think Keith Emerson joining Planet X. Nothing against Derek Sherinian but it sounds more like an album that Virgil Donati wrote with Emerson. Heavy prog!

Stand out tracks for me? The Steppes Of Sighs Part 2 (nothing wrong with Part 1!), A Burden Of Secrets (epic prog at its best), his cover of The Barbarian, and the heavy organ of Frankenstein On The Red Line. But the whole album just rips. How to make a piano sound heavy!



But wait! There's more! Prior to releasing this album, Jason released an EP called "This Is Not A Love Letter." The title reminds me of when Robert Fripp was speaking about the VROOM EP that was the prelude to the album Thrak. He basically said the EP was a "calling card and not a love letter." While Jason's EP might not be a love letter, there is a LOT to love in a tight space.

The title track and The Curmudgeon Invents The Future could have been on the album. Ok maybe any of the tracks could have. For me the EP is a companion piece to the album. If you have the album, you NEED the EP. Jason has a back catalog that needs to be checked out...by me as well! If I can actually stop enjoying these two, maybe I will look at the many sides of Jason Rubenstein!

A tale of 2 Dream Theaters: The old vs the young

Lately, I've noticed that I am pissing people off with what is basically an "anti" Mike Portnoy attitude. The truth is I do appreciate everything that MP did for Dream Theater but I get very annoyed by the people who seem like they are blindly following him and love anything he does. They also shit all over the last 2 post MP Dream Theater albums.

So it got me thinking, why is there such a strange division. This might not be the answer but it did occur to me that we have really 2 different Dream Theater bands in play and with these 2 bands, we also have 2 very different minded Dream Theater fans.

 Being an old fart of 48 years old, I got into Dream Theater waaaaaay back in 1992. Images And Words had just come out and I got it the week it came out. Many fans did the same back then. The band was VERY different. It was basically the John Petrucci/Kevin Moore show. They did the bulk of the song and lyric writing. MP was the very friendly and talented drummer but really nothing more. 2 amazing albums, then Kevin leaves. Things BEGIN to change but not completely.

Falling Into Infinity was really the last time that DT took outside advice and that came in the form of Kevin Shirley. Not long after that Jordan Rudess came on board but he has always yielded to JP and MP when it came to matters of DT. MP inserted himself more and more in the music related decisions. He also became the face of the band by doing all the interviews.

Round the turn of the century, the internet became important to the band. MP took to MySpace and then Facebook and then Twitter. He was the fan favorite and at that point the band added MANY newer and younger fans. The older fans were happy that their band was finally getting noticed. But more and more MP was steering DT away from the more balanced style into a more direct metal style, which added more fans who worshiped him. He saw himself as the official leader of the band.

It wasn't until he asked the band to take some time off that the band decided he was NOT the leader. MP left, Mike Magnini joined and the shitstorm began! Old fans who remember how balanced the band dynamic was (which included John Myung's lyrics!) were happy that he left. The fans that got into the MP-led band were pissed off and wanted no part of a DT without MP. It doesn't help that MP is very opinionated and he becomes a very polarizing individual. That just adds fuel to the fire.

I'll admit that I am way way too hard on MP. Am I happy he isn't in DT now? Yes I am. I also wish MP nothing but success because no one works as hard as he does. There's no question about that. I think DT fans would do well to consider that the history of the band have led us all to where we have a great band. It is what it is. They aren't perfect, but they never were. That's fine!