pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

thing is, i don't really see any of these bands as influenced by prog

not even like, black midi? i don't particularly hear it with squid but it's certainly more prominent in other acts in that whole scene

squid are easily my favourites though, but they're more firmly in the post-punk revival bucket (& their take on it is particularly strong), rather than the skronk of black midi etc who are maybe more distinct and experimental but less compelling

Ruins are the missing link between prog and pigfuck / Skin Graft-style post punk imo

otm, amazing band

Keith Levene was a Yes obsessive, Lydon a Van der Graaf Generator and Can aficionano, This Heat of course, Robert Wyatt, arguably Eno, Henry Cow / Slapp Happy fades directly into postpunk-type stuff, Peter Hook was way into the Groundhogs, Conny Plank produced early Ultravox and Phew, the connections were direct and real.

Gang of Four is one example where it doesn't work as they were more into Free and Dr. Feelgood along with funk

There were a lot of genre vectors washing around in postpunk - reggae obviously and pervasively, britfolk (Green Gartside loved Steeleye Span), hope taping weirdness etc. But to treat "prog" and "postpunk" as wholly discrete forms that the band Squid is uniquely connecting in 2021 is only possible if your historical grasp on postpunk starts with the Rapture and Hot Hot Heat.

Squid mention Neu! as an influence in interviews

To me Squid sound like a band based 90% on side B of Remain in Light

(Another link: Adrian Belew went from playing with Talking Heads to being a member of King Crimson mark 2 iirc; Fripp's path in this era is another case in point)

Devo's first album was kinda proggy too. there's a straighter line here than a lotta people think. P-Model started as a prog group called Mandrake that was way into Yes. if you listen to their (very proggy) demos, you can hear a lot of the stuff that made it to their hyperactive Zolo pop debut.

Didn't he come to Talking Heads from Zappa's band to begin with? So prog->new wave->prog/new wave crossover or something? Also that was surely at least mk 3!
xp

I haven't heard Squid, though.

Iirc, Rush were one of the only contemporary mainstream rock bands Carducci praised in Rock and the Pop Narcotic.

& fripp played on fear of music a little too

squid's key influences are very obviously like, talking heads, neu! and the fall. not really anything people haven't heard before but they're particularly great at it to my ears

good posts

it would be a miracle if there weren't any influences or overlaps in personnel between post-punk and prog bands, just due to it all being all of a broader rock scene in a particular time and in a small number of cities with a lot of open minded people in it. still, if you put Rush and Joy Division side by side on a mixtape it would be jarring eclecticism. krautrock is way more simpatico with post punk imho

I'm pretty sure I have done that.

Fantastic posts Freeze Instr.

My main problem with any of these Windmill Scene writeups is that they treat all the bands as equals when they're clearly going for distinct things. Squid do feel very Krauty/TH-y but for every successful Paddling or Pamphlets (which are both very good) there's a GSK or Narrator to induce terminal cringe. They're young though, they'll improve. It's imo scary how good Black Midi are already.

Also, if you want good proggy postpunk from recent years, I could make a playlist from The Fall's final lineup that would best anything else, they really were the gold standard right to the end

Rush were themselves prog/new wave crossover by 1980.xps

I made jarring mix tapes, though, tbf.

Anyway, I should listen to these bands. Kalakendra festival on rn tho.

Some great posts, I probably overstated my case it just really raises my hackles when writers throw out "prog" lazily anytime something is vaguely technical or non standard

I don't see these kids sitting around listening to Gentle Giant

I can very easily see Black Midi doing that tbf!

https://www.talkhouse.com/morgan-simpson-of-black-midi-talks-with-bill-bruford-king-crimson-yes-on-the-talkhouse-podcast/

i stand corrected!

Travis Scott’s Cacti Hard Seltzer Discontinued

Really good review of King Sunny Ade's Juju Music today. I disagree with the idea that Synchro System or Aura are inferior, but otherwise it's dead on.

I prefer Aura but JM was an essential intro.

xp I found all three of those LPs a couple years ago, about $30 for all three, great shape. It was a wonderful and upbeat week, musically

When I think "marrying the rhythmic economy and literate alienation of post-punk with the instrumental dexterity and formal ambition of prog," I think of Wire's "154." Meanwhile:

Fripp's path in this era is another case in point

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

BadBadNotGood’s Matthew Tavares Shares Statement on Departure From Band

To be unfollowed by the Instagram you made is a funny feeling.

HERE'S WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT YOU

hahahahahaha

Hahaha bravo

X-post - those into King Sunny Ade should check out a movie doc on old school Nigerian musicians called Elder’s Corner that is now at some online and in person film festivals or one off events. The youngish Nigerian Director doesn’t have much of a budget. The film covers Ebenezer Obey , Fela, and more obscure musicians but Ade is in there for a bit .

I like the idea of a catch-all list of random stuff that may have otherwise escaped notice, but cringe at "progressive pop music"... no one says that.

progressive pop music is Supertramp

good list that

ok, I would have rather seen a deep dive on The Chinese Album but still nice to read about Spacehog again. I always found them so much more charming and enjoyable than 90% of the other post-grunge alt-rock radio fodder of the same period.

really great caspa/rusko review today.

i know, the writers don't choose the score. still, i love that "being submerged in a warm bath for 95 minutes" is a 7.0 experience, lol

i guess you would start to get all pruned up after a while. maybe a 95 minute warm bath really is a 7.0

The final Audioslave album is like being a slave to audio for 48 miunutes

Heyyyyyoo

The Worst Party Ever album is like

Five Takeaways from Clicking X on the Full Page Ads Pitchfork Loves

good lord the number of proper nouns in this review made me dizzy: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/yard-act-the-overload/

also a funny read after spending time in the british expressions thread

Good call on the proper-noun barrage. Also:

How you feel that he shares the same last name as Mark E. Smith—fun happenstance, insufferable media bait, a shrug—will probably tell you how much you’ll enjoy what Yard Act is selling.

(I do like the extended talk about a particular song to end the piece, though)

My Bloody Valentine Call Out Spotify for Sharing “Incorrect and Insulting” Lyrics

^they’re reporting on a tweet, by telling you what the tweet says (and that they have no more info to share). That is not news

i mean fox news does it . . . why not pfork?

The inexplicable historical revisionism of Third Eye Blind being good is baffling: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/third-eye-blind-third-eye-blind/

Why? The earth belongs to the living and not to the dead.

they were always good

It’s a good piece. I also didn’t know what a huge dick Jenkins apparently was to the guitar player etc., until I read this last night (and then some other stuff)

I acknowledge their existence