Brent Magstadt

"Brent Magstadt may be the most significant and innovative artist that you have never heard."

Full Text Here:
http://www.progressiveworld.net/magstadtb.html

(Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck also selected Brent Magstadt's Debut CD for his Pick of the Week for November 4-11, 2005 on www.muzikreviews.com) - Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck

"Brent Magstadt describes his latest work as a progressive styling encompassing elements of rock, jazz and folk; music that will darken the room with an acoustic séance, or light it up with intense electric passages."

Full text of the press release here:
www.vibe-rate.com/displayarticle.php?article=178&PHPSESSID=e333bed9b406961608601e91b8b530ad - Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck

Online link here:

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060302/ENT02/603020311/1007/ENT
- Bellingham Herald

Brent Magstadt gathers some of his most gifted friends to showcase the healthy diversity in this talented musician/composer’s musical garden.

The Afro-spatial “L’Inizio” opening grabs the ear with a percussive chant that morphs into the dynamic jazz fusion “Percolator,” Brent’s signature personality piece – and a powerful introduction to Magstadt energy.

In the captivating “Samba De Los Rockos” he synthesizes grand and picante Latin melodies and rhythms that draw an irresistibly sensuous samba line straight South across the border. No body part can remain motionless when this tune is in the air. Uncharacteristically simple rock beats carry the hard-driving “Journey” from an innocent genesis through pounding adolescent vitality, into sweetly sophisticated electric guitar riffs…and back again.

His ballads punctuate the CD with sometimes plaintive, often sharp, social commentary, and melodies as simple as the fusion pieces are complex. In these pieces, Magstadt injects dissonance with lyrics in place of the tonal and rhythmic intricacy of his instrumentals.

Passionate diversity – at once rhythmic and joyful -- describes Brent Magstadt’s latest musical iteration. Play it often. Play it loud.

-- S McCabe
- Voice of Vashon Radio (voiceofvashon.org)

Full text can be found here:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/bands/band.asp?bandID=364
- Seattle Post Intelligencer

Brent Magstadt has created a very eclectic sound on this CD. His background in music melds his classical compositional skills with his love for jazz, funk, and rock. The rock influence, mainly a crunching 4/4 beat, underlies most of the tracks on this CD. Most songs gravitate toward a “latino-Santana-istic” groove such as on Percolator, Hairball, Samba De Los Rockos, and Ami Grooves, however Brent’s own guitar solo work borderlines faster, Satriani-type melodies. Anyone that knows Brent also knows his humorous side as revealed in the prelude L’Inizio and the postlude L’Estremita…both being unique instrumentation as well as using Italian words to open and close his fabulous work in between. - Jeffery Wehr (Wehrd Music Company)

This cd rocks! Totally amazing. Remember doing things like following around the Dead or Neil Young during summer tours? I swear when I listen to this, I feel like a summer night on a hill somewhere just trippin' out to Neil. Plus mixed with Pacific NW island life somehow, too, though. There's one track with rain -- then the next track with the diggeridoos. The digggs sound like fog horns after a hard rain. It's the musical sound of life on Puget Sound in the more magical vortex areas! I love it! - KotaPress