strawbs, yes, gentle giant, and crimson in 'the raven'?
djmartian how crucial that piano riff is to "forever" makes me think you might dig "empire of the clouds" on the new IRON MAIDEN album (which i feel like voluntary street team for at this point, it rules that much -- up the irons!!!). lady/dude duet reminds me a little of AINUR, one of the hardest of hardcore current italian prog rock bands. all of their songs are based on 'the silmarillion'! not even zeppelin went there
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 9 September 2015 21:14 (eight years ago) link
that song 'forever' is approximately as boring as this steven wilson album
everyone listen to the things i posted
― imago, Wednesday, 9 September 2015 21:32 (eight years ago) link
regarding Iron Maiden - it's not something i would normally check but i have added that track to my private to listen list on spotify.
Ainur - i looked them on rateyourmusic.com - not previously listened to them
the closest in spirit to Lethe that i have come across in 2015, is this album: (that i recommended on the rolling metal 2015 thread earlier this year)
Amiensus - Ascensionhttp://amiensus.bandcamp.com/album/ascension
― djmartian, Wednesday, 9 September 2015 21:34 (eight years ago) link
re: steven wilson,
his best stuff is always, always the poppier material, the stuff that embraces its own softness as a primary component― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Monday, October 6, 2014 2:22 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalinka whole album of ambient pop a la Glass Arm Shattering wd be good― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Monday, October 6, 2014 2:23 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Monday, October 6, 2014 2:22 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
a whole album of ambient pop a la Glass Arm Shattering wd be good
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Monday, October 6, 2014 2:23 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― imago, Wednesday, 9 September 2015 21:35 (eight years ago) link
Agreed - his longform stuff is sometimes alright but his real "spaced out" compositions sound like a dude who listened to a lot of Floyd at The Orb and just wanted to connect the dots. When I first heard "Lightbulb Sun" (the song, not the album) I was floored by it because I didn't know he could write songs like that so well.
Thus far not much mention of two of my favorite working prog groups, Echolyn and Motorpsycho, both of which have been around for over two decades at this point but still are producing some real top-quality work. Echolyn may be one of my favorite prog groups of any era, just astounding how well these guys write and play together. Nothing particularly wild or innovative about 'em but they make really great albums that hold up over many many listens. Definitely influenced by classic prog but they sound modern; some songs even have a bit of twang or some funk to 'em that you don't associate with prog rock. Some songs I've particularly been into:
The End is Beautifulhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gnnFfpLh8E
Human Lotteryhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgUsnR9_1ro
― frogbs, Wednesday, 9 September 2015 21:48 (eight years ago) link
MOTORPSYCHO albums poll
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 9 September 2015 22:06 (eight years ago) link
Recently saw one of the new Battles music videos. Really loved it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 14 September 2015 13:49 (eight years ago) link
valuable classic discussion
Prog-Core Is Sweeping The Nation!
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 17 September 2015 02:28 (eight years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=4&v=bMgFI84X5PA
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 17 September 2015 21:28 (eight years ago) link
^^^yes
came up in the time travel thread to hearty acclaim
extremely great
― jordan amavero (imago), Thursday, 17 September 2015 21:38 (eight years ago) link
that's perhaps an exaggeration
i'm listening to the full album now and it's a little bit dull in spots, but the highs (opening track + that one, chiefly) are very high
― jordan amavero (imago), Thursday, 17 September 2015 22:07 (eight years ago) link
hells yeah
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 17 September 2015 22:16 (eight years ago) link
the opening track is my favourite i think ('babel') - check it out ppl
― jordan amavero (imago), Thursday, 17 September 2015 22:17 (eight years ago) link
http://thequietus.com/articles/18778-john-stanier-battles-favourite-albums-interview?page=12
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 18 September 2015 22:52 (eight years ago) link
weather report and rush. maybe that's why i don't like battles!
― rushomancy, Friday, 18 September 2015 23:15 (eight years ago) link
I took you for a Rush fan because of your name.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 19 September 2015 16:41 (eight years ago) link
nah, my username is a joke that ceased to be funny probably a decade ago, if it was ever funny at all. i don't hate rush anymore, but i also don't really ever listen to them.
― rushomancy, Saturday, 19 September 2015 22:38 (eight years ago) link
The most 'prog' new bands I'm into right now are Mammatus and Perhaps. Mammatus is more spacerock than anything but the music is intricate enough that I think it passes muster. After the discussion, I'm a bit worried they might be too cheesy for this thread but imo they are a total blast:
https://youtu.be/M4ksZet5P0k
(Dont know why the Youtube volume level is so low though)
― cortez the sissy (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 20 September 2015 09:38 (eight years ago) link
MAMMATUS kills it. EARTHLESS and ASTRA are up their space alley if you haven't checked them out
V2.65?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp2mem73WKY
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 23 September 2015 15:53 (eight years ago) link
suck it, non-believers
http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/news/a38266/pope-prog-rock-album/
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 25 September 2015 23:43 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LiW6OKHLaU
― reggie (qualmsley), Sunday, 27 September 2015 22:32 (eight years ago) link
prog v2.82?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEdLMkyeoJ4
― reggie (qualmsley), Saturday, 3 October 2015 20:53 (eight years ago) link
anyone into those Deluge Grander tracks above, check out "Aggrendizement" from Form of the Good - absolutely bonkers (the whole album is great, but this is the centerpiece)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zsi8Iy7Zah8
― frogbs, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 19:38 (eight years ago) link
Interesting Quietus piece on 80s UK prog. Kinda makes me want to hear Twelfth Night. The rest, I'll skip.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 13:59 (eight years ago) link
never really got into most of that stuff, though IQ can be pretty decent . . . except for the dude's singing sometimes, when he sounds like the british sea power guy's hectoring knowitall older brother, deserving mention here
Problematic vocal styles
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 14:38 (eight years ago) link
Good article, made me interested in Twelfth Night/Geoff Mann and Pallas.
I really like IQ. Had no idea about that film based on their album or that the keyboard player retired (from music altogether). Wonder what their new album sounds like without him.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 27 October 2015 17:14 (eight years ago) link
That whole ripper act Pallas done onstage sounds nuts too, the song is genuinely unsettling.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 27 October 2015 17:16 (eight years ago) link
Well Progarchives has the new IQ in their top 50 of all time, and I've read a lot of overwhelmingly positive reviews - I ought to get a copy myself.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 27 October 2015 17:59 (eight years ago) link
"ten out of ten for clearly not giving a shit what anybody thought"
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 19:09 (eight years ago) link
Also didn't know about Niadem’s Ghost having Peter Nicholls. He actually left IQ because of a really bizarre misunderstanding. Wishbone Ash's manager (possibly Miles Copeland) told the other members that Peter wanted to leave when he'd never said such a thing. I don't know why it taken them years to straighten that out.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 27 October 2015 20:10 (eight years ago) link
hah, never heard that. those two interim IQ discs get slammed but Nomzamo is pretty good even if it's not really prog. Menel really was the Collins to Nicholls' Gabriel.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 27 October 2015 20:36 (eight years ago) link
curious why joe didn't include discussion of CAMBERWELL NOW, even if discovered later on
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 21:31 (eight years ago) link
Camberwell Now were really from more of an experimental / improv background (This Heat connections etc). I can't imagine anyone in Marillion would have even heard of This Heat - most of these bands were pretty mainstream in their influences (IQ and Twelfth Night excepted maybe). It was mostly cup-of-tea prog rather than absinthe-psychosis prog a la VDGG, Magma etc.
― めんどくさかった (Matt #2), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 21:51 (eight years ago) link
CAMBERWELL NOW were an amazing british neo-prog band active from the early to late 1980s. whether or not MARILLION listened to them is neither here nor there; inclusiveness is a goal in the canon formation of other musical nooks and crannies, no?
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 23:11 (eight years ago) link
meanwhile keith levene -- steve howe's erstwhile roadie -- played "poptones"
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 23:32 (eight years ago) link
if camberwell now are neo-prog then the cowsills are space rock.
― rushomancy, Thursday, 29 October 2015 10:55 (eight years ago) link
well then set the controls for the heart of the sun, captain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xTpYB3FgiY
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 29 October 2015 15:49 (eight years ago) link
that is not neo-prog
― schlep and back trio (anagram), Thursday, 29 October 2015 16:04 (eight years ago) link
Lovely track, thanks.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 29 October 2015 16:45 (eight years ago) link
would you feel better if it were called "avant-prog"? let's pretend charles heyward wasn't in QUIET SUN or GONG either
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 29 October 2015 17:21 (eight years ago) link
charles hayward was in gong for approximately 3/5 of a second, and by that standard genesis is jazz fusion. yes, i would prefer it if it was called "avant-prog". genre labels are generally stupid and meaningless and i don't have much use for them, but when they do have use it's for describing bands that sound similar. since camberwell now's records sound roughly as similar to pallas as, say, scott walker's "climate of hunter" does, it is actively misleading to imply that they exist as part of the same genre.
― rushomancy, Friday, 30 October 2015 10:17 (eight years ago) link
he was the drummer of QUIET SUN for all of QUIET SUN's existence, and so by that standard yes, genesis is jazz fusion. it is actively misleading to suggest that 'climate of hunter' sounds more like PALLAS than CAMBERWELL NOW does. in the mid to late 60s, all sorts of bands sprang up all over america, playing in their garages, few of whom knew each other. we call it "garage rock". there are similarities and differences among all of these bands. in the mid to late 70s, all sorts of bands sprang up all over america and england, with torn shirts and short spiky haircuts. we call it "punk rock". there are similarities and differences among all of these bands. in the early 80s, all sorts of bands sprang up after punk rock that were less frightened of "prog" / unashamed of their instrumental virtuosity. PALLAS and CAMBERWELL NOW were two of them. there are differences and similarities between them. this pedantic rant of mine stems from a desire for more knowledge about these bands and prog in general, since they have been effectively written out of official rockist/popist history of the culture of the last four or so decades, or when mentioned, reflexively dismissed, which is a phenomenon interesting in and of itself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvXH6ycOtzE
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 30 October 2015 11:15 (eight years ago) link
i listened to that camberwell now track and it was amazing
iq sound like porcupine tree, this sound just makes me queasy now
― twunty fifteen (imago), Friday, 30 October 2015 11:49 (eight years ago) link
the Quietus article was very specifically about the growth of a subculture/community, not just a list of bands. at the risk of sounding presumptous, given I was a toddler when this stuff was kicking off, I'm confident that the Venn diagram of ppl who liked Pallas (etc) and ppl who liked Camberwell Now is basically an eight
― Sheriff U. Agri (DJ Mencap), Friday, 30 October 2015 13:05 (eight years ago) link
there's a lot of value in eking out the secret prog (or whatever) influences in music that sprang up in other scenes, I think ILM does or can do that v well. not really a failing of the piece that it doesn't get into that too much, though
― Sheriff U. Agri (DJ Mencap), Friday, 30 October 2015 13:08 (eight years ago) link
not saying it's a failing. the piece was great. i wish there were more like it. i was genuinely curious why CAMBERWELL NOW wasn't included, because of the chronology, not that they ape IQ or whoever. ILM has a very active 'balearic revival' thread where hey, if it sounds vaguely balearic, then great. meanwhile the resistance to all things prog in 2015, to the point where saying anything at all about it is liable to provoke discipline of some sort or outright dismissiveness, is a confounding phenomenon. 1977 was a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 30 October 2015 13:34 (eight years ago) link
I don't really see the IQ -> Porkie resemblance
― frogbs, Friday, 30 October 2015 14:02 (eight years ago) link
I don't really know what you're talking about, there is plenty of love for prog of all kinds on ILM, not least this very thread. But to complain about the exclusion of a very obscure avant prog/improv band from an article that specifically focused on another sub-genre of prog altogether is .oO
― schlep and back trio (anagram), Friday, 30 October 2015 14:18 (eight years ago) link
xp
there was zero complaint about the exclusion. there was genuine curiosity after having enjoyed a really nice refreshing article. how the two are conflated is as oO to me as not hearing how proggy CAMBERWELL NOW are
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 30 October 2015 15:04 (eight years ago) link