MUSIC REVIEWS/GENERAL NEW (OR OLD) MUSIC DISCUSSION

Treedweller · Post by **Treedweller** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:49 am

Did anyone listen to Björk's surprise release Vulnicura yet? It's a dark and beautiful separation album, and I got chills listening to it. I never paid much attention to Björk (besides wondrous singles Hyperballad and Pagan Poetry), but I've listened to Vulnicura front to back at least five times since yesterday. I'll have to listen to the rest of her albums too, now.

'Lionsong' is probably my favourite track, just because it contains so many emotions in a few lyrics with her meandering and thoughtful string accompaniment. Like, when she opens with 'Maybe he will come out of this/ Maybe he won't/ Somehow I'm not too bothered either way', you feel Björk's uncertainty despite the words' surface simplicity. She wrote the song some months before her breakup with Matthew Barney. She captures indifference, anger, and hope for her failing relationship in three bitter lines (you have to hear her sing the words), then the song unfolds.

Is she actually not bothered? Is she angry about how he holds their relationship in the balance as he works out his hang-ups? Or is she putting on a facade of maturity and serenity while her future's uncertain? 'Once it was simple/ One feeling at a time/ It reached its peak then transformed/ These abstract complex feelings/ I just don't know/ How to handle them' - yeah, neither do I, Björk.

Arca (famed for working on Kanye West's Yeezus and FKA Twigs' stuff) also helped produce the album, and you can tell - especially on the bizarre 'Notget', another album highlight. Arca and Björk are an ace combination.

I also loved Sleater-Kinney's No Cities to Love, but I've put listening to that again on hold while I think more about Vulnicura.

Sniffit II · Post by **Sniffit II** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 7:54 am

Gentleman Of Dread: You were completely right about Hand. Cannot. Erase. It is wonderful. It's got those lovely, beautiful, melancholic Wilson bits, with some great monolithic, dark and creepy The Wall era Floyd-esque synths, and everything else between.

Oh. Oh. Oh. The title track and Happy Returns are so catchy too. This album is heaven.

The art and artefacts in the special edition too. This thing is art. Beautiful, sad, dark, wonderful, glorious art.

Gentleman of Dread · Post by **Gentleman of Dread** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:09 am

And it's so very vague on how the story ends too and that just gives it relistenability.

Sniffit II · Post by **Sniffit II** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:12 am

I love the detail on the newspaper clippings too, such as bits on the back.

The problem is though that the birth certificate does have a habit of falling out.

Post by **HPD** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 5:52 am

Sniffit II wrote:Gentleman Of Dread: You were completely right about Hand. Cannot. Erase. It is wonderful. It's got those lovely, beautiful, melancholic Wilson bits, with some great monolithic, dark and creepy The Wall era Floyd-esque synths, and everything else between.

Oh. Oh. Oh. The title track and Happy Returns are so catchy too. This album is heaven.

The art and artefacts in the special edition too. This thing is art. Beautiful, sad, dark, wonderful, glorious art.

This just arrived in the mail. So excited!

Sniffit II · Post by **Sniffit II** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 7:32 am

How are you finding it?

Gallant · Post by **Gallant** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 11:53 am

I'd want to know. Does anybody here have good recommendations of some good progressive rock? I'm having a hard time finding bands with this genre. My favorites are Renaissance and that's it. I'm afraid there's more to it than I know, as my knowledge with music is short.
Any suggestions?

scraggypunk · Post by **scraggypunk** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 3:03 pm

pink floyd

Post by **Linkman** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 3:16 pm

PK and company used to sing the praises of DreamTheater, and classically there's Rush and Yes.

Pkdragon · Post by **Pkdragon** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 4:08 pm

van der graaf generator is my newest prog rock favorite, pawn hearts, h to he, and least we can do is wave to each other are fantastic albums that totally took me by surprise. yes is also great but takes a certain mood/ state of mind to truly get the most out of. fragile is the easiest album to get into imo, and close to the edge is generally considered their masterpiece (honestly i'm not a huge fan but its a good starting spot).

also been loving thick as a brick by jethro tull and tarkus by emerson, lake, and palmer recently.

not a huge fan of dream theater anymore, mostly because i listened to them to death back in the day. but they're a good "intro to prog metal" band. images and words and octavarium are probably dt at their proggiest.

Post by **Linkman** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 11:13 pm

Jethro Tull is good fun, yes!

Gentleman of Dread · Post by **Gentleman of Dread** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:06 am

I'll thrown in Steven Wilson (and his band, Porcupine Tree) for any Prog discussion. He is a must. King Crimson, too.

Post by **HPD** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:47 am

Prog rock eh? I'm an expert there

Stuff to check out besides what's already mentioned:
Transatlantic, Spock's Beard, Neal Morse, Flying Colors, Amplifier, Oceansize, Anathema, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Arena, Ayreon (and other Arjen Lucassen projects), Enchant, The Gathering, OSI, Pain of Salvation, The Pineapple Thief, Vanden Plas

That's just a bunch of prog I happen to enjoy.

McTool · Post by **McTool** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 2:05 am

the tiering on this is horribly off, but ProgPower posted it on their facebook a few days ago and I chuckled

"irrimediabile"

McTool · Post by **McTool** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 2:10 am

also for what it's worth the only bands on there I don't recognize are New Trolls and Area

also it is a good list

Pkdragon · Post by **Pkdragon** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 3:03 am

well as long as we're covering every prog band ever i'll just throw out marillion because i'm pretty sure that the only band we're missing

Gallant · Post by **Gallant** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 6:18 am

Well, this is certainly a lot. I'll give it a try. I'm interested on Genesis, Gentle Giant and King Crimson. I've heard about them several times, but I was way much lazy back then. But I'll definitely try the others. Thanks!

Gentleman of Dread · Post by **Gentleman of Dread** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 6:58 am

Pkdragon wrote:well as long as we're covering every prog band ever i'll just throw out marillion because i'm pretty sure that the only band we're missing

we've missed a lot don't worry

Pkdragon · Post by **Pkdragon** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 7:43 am

are you like, super-irrimediabile level?

Dragonite · Post by **Dragonite** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:12 am

Probably. Sniffit too, if not worse.

Gentleman of Dread · Post by **Gentleman of Dread** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 9:18 am

totally

Post by **HPD** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 9:30 am

completely

Sven · Post by **Sven** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 9:59 pm

i only know the normal level bands because of rock band

the other bands i know are from the now playing topic

Sniffit II · Post by **Sniffit II** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 9:36 am

My prog senses are tingling.

While not strictly prog, I would reccomend Popul Vuh for the "I'm not really quite sure what the hell this is".

Otherwise: I dig King Crimson a hell of a lot, as well as Pink Floyd, Camel, Genesis, and Steven Wilson project that I've so far heard (Porcupine Tree, solo work, Storm Corrosion, Bass Communion - not prog; drone/ambient, No-Man), and I really like Opeth when going for the more metal style of things (I'm not a massive metal fan, but Opeth are very uncompromising in their "I'm going to play nothing you expect" ethic).

I've only heard one Caravan album (In The Land Of Grey And Pink) which is pretty catchy as well as having some epic bass and keyboards, and I also really enjoy Khan and Gong. Gong are pretty odd, but pretty fun.

It's not really prog, but Hiromi is pretty hard on the proggy side of instrumental jazz. My favourite of her albums is the Voice album from her Trio project. It's got really brilliant piano playing, as well as great structural composition and arrangement, and DAAAMN that rhythm section.

The Besnard Lakes sort of count as new prog, and they're really atmospheric in a driving wall-of-sound way, which I really enjoy, particularly the album The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night, and Warpaint are pretty proggy at times (and holy balls, Jenny Lee Lindberg is one hell of a bassist).

I remember HPD recommended me Astra a while back, which is another band I really enjoy. They're very retro sounding with lots of lovely mellotron and hammond organ. Frank Zappa isn't really prog, but his Hot Rats album is really good and shares a lot in common with prog.

Van Der Graaf Generator is a band who are... experimental in their approach, as they go from really beautiful movements to scary-wierd noises and back again very frequently. Their album The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other is a good start, and Pawn Hearts is pretty much considered their best work by many.

Gentle Giant is also a very interesting band from the prog-spectrum. They never did any epics, as such, however they go from funk to medieval recorder music and cello and violin driven stuff seamlessly. I really like the album The Power And The Glory.

Also, I've been listening to Tricot a bit recently, which is not really prog, they're more math-rock/ pop-rock with unusual song structure and time signatures, but I really enjoy their stuff. The EP Bakuretsu Tricot-San is nice and short and has some really neat moments.

But uh, yeah. That's my reccomendations for you on the start of your prog journey.

Gentleman of Dread · Post by **Gentleman of Dread** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 9:51 am

To go a bit more European with some recommendations, White Willow from Norway are an amazing listen, but they are the pinnacle of "Autumn" music. Poland gives us the great and more rocky-than-proggy band Riverside who are probably the next step of a Pink Floyd sound. For a symphonic look at Prog, Flower Kings from Sweden are fantastic.

Oh, and if you want more Pop-Prog Rock, Coheed and Cambria are just fantastic.

Sniffit II · Post by **Sniffit II** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 10:09 am

Gentleman of Dread wrote:To go a bit more European with some recommendations, White Willow from Norway are an amazing listen, but they are the pinnacle of "Autumn" music. Poland gives us the great and more rocky-than-proggy band Riverside who are probably the next step of a Pink Floyd sound. For a symphonic look at Prog, Flower Kings from Sweden are fantastic.

Oh, and if you want more Pop-Prog Rock, Coheed and Cambria are just fantastic.

How could I forget WW? Storm Season and Signal To Noise are fantastic.

Incidentally, with King Crimson places to start - In The Court Of The Crimson King is straight up prog, it's pretty much the invention point of prog. Lark's Tongues In Aspic is very improvisational with some lovely violin and has a fair amount of heavy metal going on, and Discipline is very much rock-gamelan.

My favourite Genesis album is Nursery Cryme, and I really like the stuff that the guitarrist Steve Hackett did as solo stuff (mostly after his time in Genesis, but the album Voyage Of The Acolyte is glorious).

I really like Purson's album The Circle And The Blue Door from the retro prog angle too. They're a very new band, so we'll see how they develop.

Cold Fairyland are interesting from a more dream-pop-sort-of-prog-very-definitely-Chinese sort of angle, and their frontwoman Lin Di has some very interesting work, particularly Bride In Ledgend and The Gossypium Era. The latter of these is something very different to anything else i've heard. It's not really prog, but it doesn't really fit into any genre.

I don't know how much Steely Dan count as prog, but they have some nice albums, such as The Royal Scam and Aja.

Full points on the wierd would go to The Amazing Blondel, who were a sort of proggish renaissance folk band. I don't listen to them often, but they're nice for when I want something different.

Oh hell, while I'm on the not-really prog, but still kind of wierd and awesome, Wu Man's album Pipa: From A Distance is wonderful in experimental glory.

... I need a new CD rack, I've run out of space. You might be able to tell.

Edit: OH OH OH I FORGOT MORE THINGS.

Leprous are very fun. They're metally but also operatic and just very I don't even, but their album Bilateral is REALLY good.

Maschine are also very nice. While some of their stuff is standard prog metal, they have a habit of going into jazzy, slightly pop-ish sections sometimes, so I'd recommend the album Rubidium. I enjoyed seeing them, and I do like that album. It's one of those ones where the first two songs are fun but pretty standard, but then things get harmonically interesting, and then it gets good.

I have also just ordered an album by Iamthemorning, who are a Russian duo, who also have people like Gavin Harrison playing on their album. They consist of a female singer and a terrifyingly good classical pianist.

Actually, The Man Who Sold Himself by Gavin Harrison And 05Ric is... really wierd. yeah. Really. Really. Wierd.

Post by **Linkman** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 10:57 am

I thinked you asked the right question if there is one, Gallers

Joey · Post by **Joey** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 11:50 am

To Pimp A Butterfly is one of the greatest AND most significant albums to come out in a very, very long time.

Treedweller · Post by **Treedweller** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 11:56 am

I have to admit that I wasn't really feeling Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d. city when it first came out, besides the poppy singles 'Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe' and 'Swimming Pools (Drank)'.

But To Pimp A Butterfly earned my instant adoration. It's amazing from start finish. Lamar is a fudge poet, and one of the best rappers ever. The rest of 2015 is gonna have to work hard to beat both To Pimp A Butterfly and Vulnicura as my favourite albums of the year.

Sniffit II · Post by **Sniffit II** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 7:13 pm

Yeah, sorry, I kind of end up happening when people ask for recommendations for prog. It also doesn't help that one of my collegues (who joined my office in December) has a huge music collection, so we've been lending each other CDs in a "You've probably not come across these bands/artists, but check them out, they're pretty cool", so I'm currently having a crash-course in Krautrock.

Pkdragon · Post by **Pkdragon** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 4:02 am

I'm actually on a pretty big prog kick and have figured out how to use Allmusic to track albums I want to eventually grab, so I don't mind the massive list.

Would like to emphasize that my favorite band right now is Van Der Graaf Generator, and my favorite album is probably actually H to He. Definently think that one's worth listening to, even if just for the album opener "Killer", which is probably my favorite VDGG song. The album itself is just a very dark, heavy album but unlike other dark, heavy albums, it never looses it's catchyness (though the last song is difficult, no doubt about it). They just have a very fun, memorable vocal style that makes it entertaining to listen to even when things get grimdark. Pawn Hearts and Least We Can Do are both excellent albums too, and there's like, only two songs between the three albums that I'm not super fond of (and they're both shorter pieces).

Sniffit II · Post by **Sniffit II** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 6:00 am

I have to admit, of late I have been really into Public Service Broadcasting. I really like the fact that rather than vocals, they tend to use samples as the focus of their music.

That and their latest is all about the Space Race.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY-kAnvOY80

McTool · Post by **McTool** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:02 am

So how about Beat the Champ? Wrasslin' and Mountain Goats, together... again. AND IT'S SO GOOD

McTool · Post by **McTool** » Tue Jun 09, 2015 12:32 am

SHAMEFUL ADMISSION TIME

I LIKE THE NEW MUSE ALBUM

Gentleman of Dread · Post by **Gentleman of Dread** » Tue Jun 09, 2015 12:33 am

THANK GOD SOMEONE ELSE SAID IT
I DON'T KNOW WHY I LIKE IT

McTool · Post by **McTool** » Tue Jun 09, 2015 4:58 am

To be fair you put tapped arpeggios in your album and you are automatically at a B- for me

Sniffit II · Post by **Sniffit II** » Tue Jun 16, 2015 5:58 am

I have had this stuck in my head all day, after not having heard it for a couple of years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_3Dix8vHQg

Bonesy · Post by **Bonesy** » Tue Jun 16, 2015 1:59 pm

lisa has the best ost ever

Sniffit II · Post by **Sniffit II** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 11:43 pm

So, I've decided to try learning to play classical-esque piano by learning things from the pokemon games (mainly the first two generations) on piano. I've so far got the hang of Pallet Town, and today attempted to start learning the Violet City theme.

http://www.ninsheetmusic.org/download/pdf/877

Bar 6 is fun.

Sniffit II · Post by **Sniffit II** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 6:43 am

So over the weekend, my cousin, who currently works in France, introduced me to the music of this singer (don't worry, it's actually not prog).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jepILTkRybI&app=desktop

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