New/Improved PROG/KRAUT/SPACE/PSYCH ROCK Listening Club - New albums every Friday!

yeah, definitely! i'll find some links.

A Strung Out Deeper Than The Night
B1 The Night Collectors
B2 Night Of The Assassins
C1 Enter The Mirror
C2 People Can Choose
D Ice Fire

as for the phoenix records owner being a terrible asshole thing, yeah, i get that. i'm not sure how much of money ever goes to the band anyway, considering that their entire output appears to be really sketchy bootlegs. but i understand not wanting to send money to phoenix records, even if that comes in the form of the $0.000000000000000000000000000001 per play that they would receive per song play on spotify.

check out Live '77 instead, which features almost the same tracks and has been released (unofficially, of course) by a number of labels

I prefer '77 live to this simply because they cut my favorite track! that screeching monster of a solo on "a memory is far" is one of my all-time faves:
http://youtu.be/w_GV74hlPO0

the part where that wailing distortion pedal finally gets stomped, man, what a heavy moment

I am very familiar with this album but I don't think it's ever a bad thing when LRD gets mentioned anywhere. Love these guys.

wha'happen?

whose turn was it?

Here I am! 3 days late, apologies! I think I slept all day Friday after working 24 hrs straight.

Paris 1942 - Paris 1942

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/couldyoudefine/Paris1942Cover_zps78c23131.jpg

Sun City Girls + Mo Tucker = Paris 1942. Maybe I was the only one who missed out on this; but the aforementioned mathematical equation is about all you need to understand what's going on here. Thin & tinny production just makes this as scuzzy as it needs to be. From yowled, wounded ballads ("Long Gone") to what-coulda-been post-VU burners ("Move Out Of Wichita") to noisy, skronk workouts ("Exit", "Headhunter"); this one really does it for me. Primitive yet still a little brainy, garage-y but distinct, a measured, dark wildness. It's not kraut, but it definitely enters a zone.

http://www.mediafire.com/?i13us8xgys3o3bz

Hat-tip to FM Shades, I think that's where I first heard this: http://fm-shades.blogspot.com/

Here's the first track for the curious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1w1yAYiv38

Never heard this before but it's great and a very appropriate follow up to LRD. Very crappy recording but it seems to suit these guys very well. Lots of good tracks on here. "Hex" was a standout for me.

http://youtu.be/Stl6jsvJXf4

nice one. I can't say I like it it all but the stuff that hits is nice. and I like the recording a lot, actually. definitely suits the material and gives emphasis to the fun, tossed-off, skuzzy vibe. "smoke filles room" is very pretty.

i'll take yesterday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_124160&feature=iv&src_vid=UICq6qserG8&v=jv8cK_MO1bY

hey, whoops. I think it's my turn now?

so, I choose... the first shizuka lp 天界のペルソナ

this is a recent discovery for me but it hit real hard. as you might guess from the PSF connection, it's sorta like fushitsusha (and they share band members). but as much as it pains me to say and as incredible an achievement as fushitsusha are, I'm not always up for an intense journey into the haino-san null space. much like swans, I gotta be in a specific mood. this one goes down a little easier but it's still potent stuff. not unlike "ここ" off the first double live lp reconfigured to play like a more trad downer psych record. and much like that one - the solos on here!! so beautiful.

seems to me like their live ep is the one that gets written up the most but I lean towards this one due to the production. sparse but everything sounds as it should. the levels are right, the guitar tones are gorgeous, and the noisy parts pack a whallop.

sadly, miura shizuka took her life a few years ago. a real shame. r.i.p. at least we have this beautiful record.

well this is odd, Swans reference is right on

I took me a few listens but I'm really getting into this Shizuka record. The Fushitsusha connection is pretty obvious in the sound. The trad side sounds a lot like Les Rallizes Denudes.

To me, a Fushitsusha/LRD/Swans similarity would make for a pretty great record in most cases.

glad people are digging this.

yeah, the fushitsusha connection is undeniable but I don't see shizuka as a straight copy either. it's a gentler sound. obviously, the vocals are also different and I think they're pretty powerful in their own way. and yeah, can def hear LRD in the mix too.

an embarrassment of riches

http://nursewithwoundlist.blogspot.com/2009/03/introduction.html

can't wait to get home for this one. sounds right up my alley.

no relation to steven?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8E9kQg9gCU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyGHcLrknEo

Are we out of people? I can't remember. If anybody wants a go or to go again let me know!

I will :)

I'll do one, if required

ok great!

so then how about:
11/01 - frogbs
11/08 - Tom D

Figured I'd get mine up a little early. I debated between two albums and figured, why not do both?

The first one is from a band called Setna. They are a modern Zeuhl fusion group out of France, led by their drummer (sound familiar?). Their first album, released in 2008, seemed to be widely acclaimed, but they didn't release their follow-up until this year. For my money I like this one better, it's a little more upbeat than Cycle I (which struck me as being quite similar to Third-era Soft Machine). This one is still rather laid back but the melodies strike me as being better and a little goofier. It is rather close to say, "Kohntarkosz". The music definitely seems ripped straight from the 70's, but there's some really great production here. This is the kind of music that simply isn't made that often anymore, sad to say. If you like it, definitely check out Cycle I, along with the side project Xing Sa which is very similar.

Setna - Guerison

Second one is an album called Switched-on Lotus by Susumu Hirasawa, a dude I post about an awful lot. Considering his main style is closer to techno-pop I wondered if it really belonged in a thread like this, but I feel it fits the description well. This really is not an electronic album - it's Hirasawa at his most theatrical, with lots of strings and a big, larger-than-life sound. It's really one of those albums that explodes over and over again - kind of a mindfuck at times. The compositions themselves are mostly beefed-up versions of songs from his Thailand-inspired albums, Sim City and Siren, but there are also some earlier ones. This is something I've been listening to a lot lately. Enjoy!!

Susumu Hirasawa - Switched-on Lotus

never heard of em but setna sounds right up my alley. thanks!

don't think I've heard that hirasawa either.

"archetype engine" is kind of unbelievable

OK you can probably get both of these on Spotify, because they're not that obscure (you might even get the extended version of the Residents' album with longer versions of the songs (cripes)).

Lard Free - s/t (1973)
Debut album for the French band led by drummer, Gilbert Artmann. Prior to this Lard Free seem to have been a sort of Henry Cow-like avant skronk amplified bassoon in 7/4 type band, but they'd dropped all that by the time of this album. Instead this album is admirably minimalistic - in fact, in the era of "Tales of Topographic Oceans" (or whateva) it was pretty ballsy to put out an album as sparse as this (frinstance, the last track is just some low grumbly synth lurking around menacingly before being joined at the end by a piano tinkling off distractedly in the distance). Later albums are good but different again. Great gatefold sleeve too (inner and outer)!

The Residents - Not Available (1978)
This is their "prog album", meaning there's some sort of vague concept about something or other and there's multi-part 'suites' as opposed to songs and there's pseudo classical pianos and blaring string synths and mincing mediaeval woodwinds etc. Supposedly recorded in 1974 (if you believe the Residents - which I don't) but instead probably old recordings tarted up to fill in the gap while they finished the "Eskimo" album. Oh yeah, prog, did I mention a mock portentousness - though not ironic or sarcastic like (their erstwhile hero) Frank Zappa but more cock-eyed knock-kneed bandy-legged - with words that hint at profundity before collapsing into dadaist rhymes. Like a lot of the best of the Residents, the aggressive absurdity is undercut by a strong sense of melancholy. (The usual sticking point for the Residents is the vocals, but if you can live with the track, "Ship's A-Goin' Down" then you can deal with anything the Residents can throw at you).

nice to hear "Not Available" again. I've kind of soured on the Residents even though I remain oddly curious about them. "Aggressive absurdity" is damn right! For me this is linked with Wyatt's Rock Bottom as the yin and yang of 70's nightmarish oddness.

listening to Lard Free now - really hard to classify thus far

I love Not Available. I'll always remember the first time I heard "Making Of A Soul" and I wouldnt be surprised if nothing else of theirs ever topped that for me. That was years ago and I still only have that album.

Loving that Lard Free album which led me to their other albums which are all pretty great. It's some weird stuff that can fall into some pretty fantastic grooves.

This one is from a different album but totally sucked me in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z_c3JcbVhY

that song is awesome, like a krautier GONG, or a GONGier HELDON

end of the year approaching, i'm curious about people's current favorites. motorpsycho/supersilent's death defying unicorn was my 2012 favorite (best symphonic prog album since the '70s?) and steven wilson's way up on the list this year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4ZqgOnhFT0

Yeah that Steven Wilson album is so terrific.

remastering all those king crimson albums seems to have rubbed off nicely on SW

I haven't kept up with much modern music as exploring the treasure trove of the past keeps your hands full; but Field Music's Plumb is great. Previous albums had tiny bits of prog sprinkled around but this one seems like a conscious attempt at a prog album.

I suspect the upcoming Frost album might be a favourite. The first time I heard them, the pop plasticity of it totally put me off (the lead member has a day job as a producer of singles chart pop) but they seriously grew on me and "Milliontown" became one of my all time favourite prog "epics".

Mew also might have an album out soon. They need a b-sides/rarities compilation urgently.

whoa, I am SUPER into that lard free track! big heldon fan, so I suppose I would. have to investigate further!

steve wilson one seems cool too and I rarely go for modern prog

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/11/19/special_prog_rock_programming_note.html

Not sure about those articles, he says "This is what fascinates me about prog. The music is relentlessly futurist, with no nostalgia for anything in rock", which doesnt sound accurate in the slightest and his comments on Lisztomania dont sound entirely positive (it's one of my favorite films).

Dave Weigel wtf? What a bizarre convergence of two spheres of my daily reading material

just happy's someone's got something to say about the good stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHML3RX7O0g

so museo rosenbach's back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tBqmYt-k_Q

Love for Supersister?

I've been checking around the forum and there are a few mentions but mostly for a hit song (did they really have a hit?) included in a Joy Division film.
I've been meaning to listen to them for years. I heard some fabulously complex samples of them years ago. I heard they were very young too, like Semiramis were young.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JxN5yP9SwA

awesome. love supersister. greg weeks of espers turned me onto them in this interview

http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/01/all-the-news-that-s-fit-to-sing/greg-weeks-of-espers-and-language-of-stone-records-chats.html

Thanks for the link, Saint Just sounds very interesting.

Supersister has loads of offshoots and it looks like some members did lots of new wave and pop. I'm curious about how proggy these other efforts are, but as usual I'm reading extensively into side projects of bands I've barely even listened to yet.

Some of The Enid's new stuff sounds incredible and I listened to samples of Robert John Godfrey's new piano music which sounds really lovely.

Been listening to Moody Blues - Days Of Future Passed. Just wonderful. I really think Moody Blues and Procol Harum deserve to take away the standard story of King Crimson having the first prog album. Sgt Pepper is important but I just don't feel comfortable calling it the first somehow.

Just saw a clip of Robert Fripp and Toyah on a husband and wife gameshow quiz on youtube! They just refer to him as "Robert", talk about the bands he has played with but don't mention King Crimson.

I dunno if I'd even call the Moodies "prog" - hard to explain why exactly but IMO they're a different kind of band than the Crimsons and Genesises of the world.

The "first prog album" as far as I can tell is the Nice's Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack. Which, of course featured Keith Emerson himself.

Personally, Days Of Future Passed fits my idea of the genre very well. It does the symphonic orchestral stuff beautifully mixing with the rock elements, a concept album too. I havent heard them yet but dont the later albums sound more like the genre?
I remember the first time a heard them was actually in one of the prototype Prog magazine issues and they were featured at the start and I think the writer was trying to establish they at the beginning of the canon. At the time I was put off by their Austin Powers costumes, but then heard some of their tunes and watched a long documentary on Sky Arts about them which was very good.

Although I listed being a concept album as a qualifier, I dont think there are really that many prog concept albums; more albums like ELP's Tarkus and Rush's Hemispheres and 2112 are mistaken for concept albums beause of the vinyl sidelong track represented by the cover art.

Real prog concept albums? Is Yes's Close To The Edge a concept album? I dont think a bunch of ideas running through or unified mood or all tracks being inspired by a particular thing makes a concept album, otherwise most ambient albums would be concept albums. I'm not sure Tales Of The Topographic Oceans really has much more than a few ideas holding it together. Rick Wakeman's Six Wives Of Henry VIII and The Enid's In The Region Of The Summer Stars are both (great) instrumental albums linked by a story but you wouldnt know it by just listening to the music without the song titles or art or sleeve notes.

I'll see how many I can remember that are blatant concept albums that you can easily tell by listening with no song titles or art or notes to help you.

Moody Blues - Days Of Future Passed
Genesis - Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick
Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
Voivod - Dimension Hatross
Camel - Snowgoose
Porcupine Tree - The Incident
Vangelis - Heaven and Hell (maybe)
Jon Anderson - Olias Of Sunhillow
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon (havent heard The Wall)

I've read that Guided By Voices - Mag Earwig was a concept album but it sounds nothing like it. I'm tempted to put in Aphrodites Child - 666 because it has a lot of stuff you'd expect from a concept album but I'm still not sure I would have guessed by just listening to it.

If anyone wants to join in, please only list stuff you have heard and think fits the bill from sounds alone (including lyrics you can descipher).

When I said "including lyrics you can decipher" I dont mean it has to include them; Snowgoose certainly doesnt.