You can watch my video review of "MindsEye" below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF9D1UL649o

1. MindsEye by british rock/pop and experimental artist Benjamin Teacher. Released
in June of 2013, this is his debut studio album.
Artist Background
• Benjamin Teacher is a multi-instrumental musician (he•s a self-taught
guitarist, keyboardist, bassist, drummer and singer) as well as a songwriter,
producer and co-founder of Room 106 Productions in East London, UK.
• As a self-taught guitarist since the age of 15 ,Benjamin has made his mark
in the professional music world by catching the attention of major music
industry acts such as former •Yes• band member, Billy Sherwood, and Lady Gaga
who picked Benjamin to be featured in The Edge Of Glory advertisement for Google
Chrome • Ill put that video link below.
• Currently Benjamin is a street performer in London•s Tube Stations, where
he plays both original music and covers from classic bands and current popular
artists such as U2, Coldplay, Adele, Radiohead & Pink Floyd.
• Some of Benjamin•s inspiration as a musician include bands such asU2,
R.E.M, Coldplay, Rush, Iron Maiden, Dream Theater, Radiohead, Trent Reznor,
Linkin Park, Pink Floyd, Steve Vai, Tom Petty, Eric Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Daft
Punk, Yes, Joe Satriani, MAB. He also finds inspiration in movies and their
musical score; his favorite being Vince DiCola•s 1986 movie •Transformers The
Movie.
Album Background
• As I said before, Benjamin•s full length debut album entitled •MindsEye•
was released worldwide in June of 2013 via all major digital download sites;
this includes iTunes, Spotify, AmazonMP3, Google Play, Rhapsody (I•ll put the
store purchase links for the album in the description below)
• This album has a very spacey, cosmic theme; that is inspired by Benjamin•s
•personal passion for the unknown and the grandiosse. To think how significant
we are as humans on a tiny blue planet in an ever expand universe, that's the
mindset I wanted to put into music and have people use their own imagination of
how it would feel to be flying through galaxies, hence the title MindsEye. It's
truly down to personal perception, a sense of when fantasy meets reality.• The
individual song meaning also revolve around the comic theme. •Stratmospgere is
Ambition, Luna is perspective, Cosmic Love Web is lust, Purplexion is
realization and Between Earth is love. All similar themes, but are all
essentially different.•
Track by Track Review:
1. Stratmosphere • This song is almost completely hard rock based. This song
opens with a very up tempo drum beat and a groovy/distorted guitar and
instrumental mix that flows nicely into an interesting chorus and instrumental
pairing that features any entire array of instruments including the cowbells,
horns, drums and an awesome ending guitar solo• The one downside I have to the
track is the production; to me the vocals are slightly overshadowed by the
instrumentals throughout the entire song, especially the chorus.
2. Welcome to the Galaxy • This song is the first of many guitar-based
instrumentals on the album. It opens with a very generic beat that sets the
stage for the song but is then followed by series of guitar solo and riffs that
are some of the best on the album.
3. Venus Loves Jupiter • This track features some very swingy, well preformed
•piano bar• piano ballad. For me this track is a bit of a mystery, I realize
this song is extremely short but I feel that this track impacted my view of the
overall album in two ways; The first of way was I noticed this track did a nice
job of calming me down and preparing me them for a hard rock guitar-laced
journey through the second half of the album. The second way I feel that it
changed the tone of the album so the listener doesn•t know exactly what expect
during the rest of the album; doing this really showcasing Benjamin•s
versatility as a musician.
4. Luna and Her Eclipse •This song starts with a very loud electric/acoustic
guitar and instrumental pairing that continues during the entire track. This
leads into some very relaxed, mellow vocals that sound similar to James
McCartney in style. Behind the vocals there was a bunch of backing
instrumentals that really brought a rather interesting element to the song.
5. S.A.N.D.S (Suspended Animétion - Ninja Death Stars) • This song opens with
a very psychedelic and spacey or •trippy• guitar solo; which is simply amazing.
After a brief pause the guitar takes center stage, this time paired with a nice

2. drum beat to create a one long shredding that sounds like something you would
hear as a fighting video games background. The guitar work is honestly the best
at this part of the album.
6. Evolution – This song acts as another interlude on the album. This track
has a very spacey, airy overall calm feel that really gives off a sort of eerie
vibe that reminds me of the music that is played during the death scene of a
scary movie.
7. Spectrum III - Shapes And Shadows – This song features a very dramatic and
low piano and airy happy chirping bird noses that give off both a
–lost/confused– vibe while still maintaining a happy, levelheaded, controlled
feel. For some reason this track reminds me of a person who suffers from a bi-
polar disorder, where one minute they are happy /carefree and the next minute
they are mad at the world.
8. Cosmic Love Web – This song is one of my favorites on the album. It is a
very simple ballad that features Benjamin on lead vocals, in a very relaxed tone
as he describes a man–s quest to find love, through the good time and the bad
times- I really found the dueling vocals during the body of the song to be a
nice touch. Also included in this song is a series of simple yet complex and
catchy guitar riffs that really caught my attention.
9. Riding The Rings Of Saturn – The track starts out with a couple distorted
riffs then seems to quickly explode into a fast-paced guitar solo that gives off
the feeling of racing up a hill or being on a fast stomach churning roller
coaster.
Purplexion – This song is an acoustic song that once again features Benjamin
singing in a faster upbeat tempo song about maybe not be respected. I enjoyed
this song because of its different style, upbeat fast tempo that was capped off
by song interesting tambourine.
10. Spectrum V - Colors Of A Dream – This track starts out again with a very
slow spacey, psychedelic feel that gives way to a low piano and echoy low
guitar pairing that still send off a very eerie, almost creepy vibe.
11. Between Earth, Neptune And Mars – This song opens with a charging acoustic
and electric guitar solo that really sets the pace for a very cheerful, happy
track about Benjamin–s love for this wife Valerie. The up-tempo background
instrumentals really caught my attention on this track, especially when they
were paired with Benjamin–s very enthusiastic, heartfelt lyrics.
12. Multiple Revolutions (Round The Sun) – This song opens with an interesting
–alien spaceship– beat that you would see in the movies. The beats are then
paired with a heavy overall guitar (great solo and opening riff) and upbeat up
tempo –racing drums to create an interesting track.
13. (Light Our Darkest Hour) The Final Revolution – This song opens as another
guitar lead track, this time starting off extremely slow then exploding into a
series of head turning riffs abnd solo that poular metal bands such as Avenged
Sevenfold & Black Sabbath would write. If you add the guitar work and the heavy
drums together you get a song that screams –End Of The World–
14. Number Won – This song really finishes off the album nicely. It features a
electric beat and guitar pairing that team up to create a very melodic –Victory–
sounding track.
Favorite Songs:
(Light Our Darkest Hour) The Final Revolution, Multiple Revolutions (Round The
Sun), Between Earth, Neptune And Mars, Purplexion, Cosmic Love Web,
Stratmosphere
My Thoughts
– I liked the fact that this album seems to be built around very loud, long
solos and sharp riffs that really around showcase Benjamin–s incredible
shredding guitar playing and the awesome drum work
– I said this before but I also really liked how this album showcases
Benjamin–s versatility both as a musician and producer; Whether it be the upbeat
hard rocking guitar, drum work or the interesting beats and instrumentals used
throughout this album everything seems to be tracked and preformed perfectly so
there are no awkward gaps between the tracks that you sometimes here on a mainly
instrumental album.
– Another thing I liked a lot was Benjamin–s willingness to experiment a lot

3. with different instrumentals (electric sounding drums, beats, chimes, triangles,
symbols, horns, guitars) on this record. This can be heard not only on the
backing beats of every song but even during the chorus of several songs (Luna
and Her Eclipse, Stratmosphere); The use of those sounds – while sometimes
overpowering (on Stratmosphere)really added another element to my listening
experience as I was waiting to hear what instruments would be used next.
Upcoming reviews include: Aerosmith, Eric Church, J Cole, Toby Keith, Jukebox
The Ghost, Imagine Dragons, Daft Punk, Skillet, Jimmy Eat World, Randy Houser,
AC/DC, Theory of A Deadman
(Light Our Darkest Hour) The Final Revolution, Multiple Revolutions (Round The
Sun), Between Earth, Neptune And Mars, Cosmic Love Web, Stratmosphere Aerosmith,
Eric Church, J Cole, Toby Keith, Jukebox The Ghost, Imagine Dragons, Daft Punk,
Skillet, Jimmy Eat World, Randy Houser, AC/DC, Theory of A Deadman