Table of contents for Issue 85 in Prog

NEXT ISSUE ON SALE Apr 5 Welcome to the latest issue of Prog magazine. The big news in the music world as I write seems to be the impending retirements of some of the music world’s most-loved characters. Paul Simon, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Slayer have all announced that the end of the road is nigh, in some form or another. And here is Prog magazine, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jethro Tull on the front cover. Shunting the semantics aside for a minute, Tull in the form of mainman Ian Anderson are still a going concern, as he makes patently clear in Philip Wilding’s excellent examination of the enduring appeal of Jethro Tull, which begins on page 34. If you think about what the band achieved…

A Perfect Circle release Eat The Elephant on April 20 via BMG, as confirmed by Tool’s Keenan. The 12-track is co-produced by Dave Sardy (Slayer) and it’s the band’s first full release since 2004’s eMOTIVe, but anyone expecting to hear the alt-rock strains of Judith is in for a surprise. Taster tracks The Doomed, Disillusioned and TalkTalk have showcased a moodier and more complex sound. In addition to CD, digital and vinyl, the long-awaited album will also be available as a box set with a prism and a custom playing card deck. A white vinyl version will also be released in time for Record Store Day on April 21. A Perfect Circle will be heading to Europe for the first time in 14 years this June. Dates include three sold-out…

GQT REEL-TO-REEL Regular readers will have sensed my antipathy towards overlyexpensive devices that promise audio perfection, but sometimes people build things so magnificent you can’t help admiring them. Kostas Metaxas describes his GQT reel-to-reel player as a “kinetic art object” which “happens” to play and record analogue tape. He also says this format is by far the best way of recording live music. “This is a fact not open for discussion,” he adds. I’d best shut up. www.metaxas.com NOD BANG Analyst and engineer Andrew Lee had an idea back in October. “I’m planning to use this as an exercise,” he wrote on his blog, “to apply the ideas and concepts from my interaction and physical computing classes. I’m not sure if this is really possible.” Two months later, he proved…

“I started taking cooking seriously in my late 20s. I’d been served some real quality stuff while I was on tour, and when I came home I was no longer prepared to go back to old habits. I think my parents’ generation really subscribed to the convenience boom of the late 20th century, but almost everything I make now is from fresh, and that’s how I came up with this recipe. Don’t be fooled by its simplicity – it has big, bold flavours but zero guilt. It combines salty, sweet and spicy into one warming meal that can be used as a healthy side to a cut of meat or served alone as a meat-free dish. Trust me, I’m a ninja in the kitchen... I also cook karate chops!” Ingredients…

Fleet Foxes’ creative leaders Robin Pecknold and Skyler Skjelset have always acknowledged their love of proto-prog works such as The Beach Boys’ Smile or Van Dyke Parks’ Song Cycle, but their ambitions towards a similarly ambitious patchwork quilt of songs weren’t fully revealed until last year’s third album, Crack-Up. The opening track (intimidatingly titled I Am All That I Need / Arroyo Seco / Thumbprint Scar) seems to make a clear statement: ‘Our days of easily digestible folky paeans are behind us. Goodbye chamber pop, hello folk prog.’ Midway through typically harmony-drenched, richly melodic swells, they cut abruptly to softly plucked guitar and a vocal is whispered under Pecknold’s breath, as if he were recording introspective song ideas into a Dictaphone. Later in the three-part track, the listener is repeatedly…

This column came about initially because of a Facebook post by one of the gentlemen to the right of this page, Stephen Lambe, discussing the abundance of 90s music available in charity and stock clearance shops compared with prog music. My ideas have since been enhanced by social media interaction with Prog readers, and then, lastly, Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson recently brought up the subject of the worth of music in the face of current streaming trends, illegal downloading and the perceived worth of music. “People will pay for a book. But they won’t buy an album. That is really sad and that is wrong,” he said. Alas, I’m not going to come up with the answer to the woes facing recorded music here. It will take a seismic…

“What most people found amusing about Focus, I was drawn by.” “My first proggy record came from junior school. Rather than reading a book, we were given Jeff Wayne’s The War Of The Worlds on vinyl. It introduced me to this kind of musical landscape and also this incredible artwork. It got me into reading sci-fi and I became a Star Wars and Doctor Who kid. That record followed me around: there’s a group of guys I work with on most of the films and The War Of The Worlds is a soundtrack to the model-making at Aardman. It would be played over and over on any new format as the years went by. Another formative childhood thing is seeing Labyrinth, aged about 10 or 11. This was an accessible…

Mostly known for his work with Deep Purple and Wishbone Ash, producer Derek Lawrence recalls how he first encountered Jethro Tull. “It was Ronnie Beck at Feldman Music who suggested I might like to work with a band called John Evan Smash. So, I booked time at Columbia Studios in New Bond Street, London, and that’s where we recorded the Sunshine Day single and the B-side, Aeroplane. I have to admit that I wanted them to be more of a rock band, but they were determined to be more left field.” Lawrence subsequently worked with the young band on four more tracks at Abbey Road Studios, by which time they’d changed their name. “I suggested they become Candy Coloured Rain. It seemed to fit what they were trying to do…

This Was (1968) “It’s all in the title, isn’t it? This was Jethro Tull. That’s no accident because when we were recording it, the one thing I felt sure about is that if we were lucky enough to make another album, I knew it wouldn’t be like this one: based on blues elements and black American folk culture. That’s not part of my life and I couldn’t keep doing that – I’d look like a complete twit. The cover had no logo or anything and people were telling me we couldn’t do that, but we did it, of course.” Stand Up (1969) “The coming of age, in a way. The birth of more original music for us. It was then that what was referred to as progressive rock music was…

W riter’s block is the scourge of creative ambition. Returning home to Sweden after touring her last album, 2015’s The Miraculous, Anna von Hausswolff underwent an artistic slump. “I’d been playing and talking about that record so much that I fell into this place where I totally lost contact with my own creativity,” she tells Prog. “I had this extremely passive, kind of hopeless and neutral state of mind. My dark imagination was projecting ideas onto me, telling me that I didn’t have any. So it was kind of degrading itself. This dark force was pushing out the lighter ones.” Von Hausswolff decided to respond by doing what she does best – making music. “I think I was suffering from exhaustion,” she says. “I’m a very sensitive person and need…

“THE WORLD IS ALWAYS DIMINISHED BY THE LOSS OF A GOOD MAN, AND RAY THOMAS WAS A FINE HUMAN BEING.” Mike Pinder Listen to Nights In White Satin again. Seriously, don’t just play it, but listen. Do you know part of the reason why it’s so iconic? There’s a flute solo in the middle by Ray Thomas. “Ray’s contribution to the song was so important,” says Moody Blues bassist John Lodge. “The solo he did was so haunting and magical, and added so much to the atmosphere. Ray played the flute differently to anyone else. Maybe that’s partly due to the way he breathed, and he was also self-taught.” Lodge had known Thomas since 1959, when they formed El Riot & The Rebels in Birmingham, a band that also featured…

Seas Of Change AVALON The UK veterans return to neo-prog in style. The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union was the biggest political and social story of the past five years. Each of us has a viewpoint on Brexit, and some of those opinions are as toxic as it gets. Any band choosing to address such a divisive subject takes their metaphorical life into their own hands, but that’s exactly what Galahad have done with their 10th studio release, Seas Of Change. “Just like Brexit itself, Seas… is sprawling and complex.” Just like Brexit itself, Seas… is sprawling and complex. Lasting for a few seconds short of 43 minutes, it’s a single conceptual track, broken down into three song suites. The laid-back, shorter tunes featured on 2017’s Quiet Storms…

Solitude SELF-RELEASED Midlands prog masters enter darker territory. Anew IO Earth album is always a matter for rejoicing. Not only have they produced symphonic prog of the highest order for the best part of 10 years, but they’ve built a fan base that’s more like a family than a conventional audience. Solitude, however, is particularly welcome as it’s new vocalist Rosanna Lefevre’s debut on an IO Earth record. “Solitude is unquestionably their most affecting record.” Lefevre has an immediate impact. Where previous vocalist Linda Odinsen brought clean Scandinavian precision to recordings, Lefevre brings darker rock and blues sensibilities to bear. On the serious and heavy Breakdown, Lefevre demonstrates that she has technique to spare – few could so easily reach a note so high it might shatter glass, but it’s…

Lest we forget, the wonderful Big Big Train don’t have the monopoly on English history! Back in 2015, Bristol’s Pagan Harvest gave us a promising eponymous debut with a profound Anglo aesthetic, and the follow-up shows they’ve only grown in confidence and ability. Sacred River (www.paganharvest.com) draws on the rich banks of lore around the River Thames, and it’s a thoughtful album that’s dramatic, atmospheric and deftly performed. Jon Bickley’s engaging blend of spoken-word and dour melody is set to fascinating, folk-inspired arrangements from Lawrence Reed. Steve Daymond’s bass work is eccentric and well judged, and with added depth from co-vocalist Debbie Hill, this is interesting, clear-eyed prog from a band who deserve to reap what they’ve sown. If you enjoy the post-Eno school of moody, electronica music with a…

It Shall Be – The Ode & Epic Recordings 68-72 FLOATING WORLD/ESOTERIC Pigeonhole-defying West Coast pioneers revisited. Living in the age of the digital cornucopia, listeners are used to being able to hear anything at the click of a button. But it wasn’t always like that. When Time Circle 1968 - 1972 was first issued in the early 90s, the West Coast outfit, whose electric creativity sparked between psychedelia, pop, jazz and proto-prog musings, had fallen into relative obscurity, with only one of the four albums featured on the two-disc compilation being in print at the time. “Spirit show they have an ear for adventure as they evolve.” The fact that Spirit never fitted into a pigeonhole perhaps explains their relegation to rock’s margins. The straightforward reissue of Time Circle…

VENUE THE GREEN NOTE, LONDON DATE 19/01/2018 “Enhanced by violin and double bass, they reduce tonight’s audience to reverent silence.” Are the inhabitants of Camden ready for a Friday night of intense, florid chamber pop? Prog should rococo. Beatrix Players don’t have the SOUND Choir accompanying them tonight, as they did at St Pancras Old Church last November. Nevertheless, pianist Jess Kennedy, cellist Amanda Alvarez (both seated) and singer Amy Birks, whose voice does all the moving for her, create a sound as richly textured and smoothly enveloping as the red velvet curtains behind them in this intimate north London space. Enhanced by violin and double bass, they reduce tonight’s audience to reverent silence, only the occasional whoop breaking the mood. Rushlight is first, all mournful majesty and baroque curlicues,…

VENUE THE UNION CHAPEL, LONDON DATE 20/01/2018 It’s cold and grey and everyone’s skint and/or ill. Welcome to January, the worst month for live music anywhere in the UK, even in the bustling capital. But what’s this? Free (ish) music? On a Saturday lunchtime? In a warm, accessible venue, with tea and biscuits? Daylight Music is almost a gift from God. For several years, the promoters at the Union Chapel have put on autumn and winter seasons of pay-what-youlike gigs. This week it’s a triple bill headlined by Judy Dyble’s new project with producer-bassist-DJ Andy Lewis. Bridging a 20-year age gap, their 2017 debut album Summer Dancing united the two in attitude, intellect and psychedelic experimentation, Dyble’s archive of unfinished lyrics paired with Lewis’ multi-layered arrangements. The ‘band’ – Papernut…

NEW ART BOOK FROM LASSE HOILE Steven Wilson collaborator Lasse Hoile will publish a retrospective of his visual work this spring. The coffee table-style hardback Portraits is published by The Flood Gallery on March 26. The Danish artist, photographer and film maker has played an important role in Steven Wilson’s visual imagery, from Porcupine Tree’s 2005 album Deadwing right up to his current projects. Hoile has also worked with Dream Theater and Anathema. Signed copies can be pre-ordered from thefloodgallery.com.…

“There’s more chance of Donald Trump having sex with Kim Jong-un than a Yes reunion… No, I don’t mean the hymn (or the Def Leppard song); I’m referring to the number of us who’ve somehow survived in this wonderful industry of ours and are now officially old. I think there are around 37 bands celebrating their 50th anniversary this year and I’m beginning to wonder if anyone really cares. How will a 50th anniversary tour differ from those that have taken place during the previous 49 years? Do these anniversaries celebrate the fact that the surviving musicians can still walk unaided, have their own hips and still string a sentence together? The answer to the last one is… no! I think we’ve all survived because we’re good; we’re accomplished musicians…

“I was listening a lot to ELP, and those in the know will probably be able to spot a few licks here and there.” JONNI TANSKANEN IS a proud city man, born and raised in Helsinki. He even jokes that whenever he spends too much time outside of the city, “All this empty space with just cows, fields and not much more just drives me nuts!” Despite this, the music of Malady will transport you instantly to the bucolic Finnish countryside, even if you haven’t yet felt the serenity of watching the sun go down on one of the many beautiful Finnish lakes. The quintet have now returned two years after their self-titled debut with Toinen Toista, an even more grandiose work, thanks to the presence of both a 23-minute…

“I’m not a religious person. I don’t even like the word ‘religion’.” During Gordon Giltrap’s half century in the music industry, the guitarist has released a diverse range of albums spanning acoustic, electric and orchestral styles, establishing himself as a uniquely gifted musician along the way. He has also worked with a wide variety of talented people, including Wakemans Rick and Oliver. Giltrap kicked off 2018 with the release of Peace Will Fall, which is essentially a reworking of his 2012 album Echoes Of Heaven. The new release sees him working alongside vocalist Carol Lee Sampson and multi-instrumentalist and minister Reverend Martin Green. What’s the difference between Peace Will Fall and Echoes Of Heaven? We originally had a vocal version of Heartsong on the album [Peace Will Fall], but that never really worked.…

The name itself suggests a strong connection to Jethro Tull, and it’s certainly true that the festival – now in its third year – carries this through in their choice of artists. “I’ve run A New Day, the Jethro Tull fan magazine, for over 30 years now,” says festival co-founder Dave Rees. “What happened was that I was involved with another festival called Weyfest for about 10 or 12 years, but then it began to change. The organisers wanted to attract a younger audience, and I didn’t agree with the type of bands they were booking. So, I decided to bail out.” In 2016, Rees and Frank Smith began running their own festival. “We didn’t know what to call it, and then agreed that A New Day was as good…

“For me, disco is the natural progression from Krautrock, but it’s funny how people into space rock or prog look down on it because they don’t like to look outside of their little pigeon box.” Pete Bingham As a passionate watcher of the progressive rock skies for over 50 years, this writer has long regarded Sendelica as the UK’s foremost proponents of the music’s original spirit. Evocatively bathed in mystery and imagination, the Welsh band possess that open-minded ethos that can see them embracing electronic music, even disco, while never forgetting their core influences of Dark Side Of The Moon Floyd, Funkadelic’s cosmic jams and Krautrock. Unbothered by music industry ignorance, Sendelica have spent 12 years building a stunningly prolific cottage industry in far-flung west Wales, releasing 18 studio albums,…

Oceanography SUPERBALL MUSIC Powerful third from prog pop wunderkind. With 2015’s More Stately Mansions, electronic singer-songwriter Charlie Barnes went full band in an attempt to realise the towering ambition left to him by his principal influences, bands like Radiohead and Oceansize. However, stepping away from the oddball electronic prog pop of his debut full-length Geekk was also deeply reflective of his life at that time: living in Leeds, working as a roadie for prog heroes Amplifier, playing shows with his live band and musing on the weight of balancing life, work and creative effort. “Straightforward pop sections crave a little bit more weirdness.” Oceanography in a sense is the same, in that it’s a product of his circumstances. Around the time that More Stately Mansions was released, Charlie became the…

Howling Sycamore are the brainchild of Davide Tiso, best known for his work with various disparate incarnations of jazz metal experimentalists Ephel Duath. Far closer to more recognisable forms of prog metal than anything the Frenchman has done before, their self-titled debut (Prosthetic) brings Tiso together with legendary ex-Watchtower vocalist Jason McMaster and extreme metal drum hero Hannes Grossmann (Obscura/Necrophagist). The results are stunning, McMaster’s imperious bellow adding genuine drama and embattled soul to Tiso’s complex but weirdly memorable flights of heavy me(n)tal fantasy. For a debut, Howling Sycamore is frighteningly good. There’s no denying that French hash-tronauts Stonebirds’ second album Time (stonebirdsarestone.bandcamp.com) possesses plenty of Sabbath-saluting riffing, but this is doomy post-metal of a psychedelic and expansive nature. It’s full of jaw-dropping dynamic detours, fizzing ambient wooziness and an…

An unreleased track by an undisputed progenitor of British folk demands top billing. Shirley Collins’ romantic declaration Wondrous Love completes the soundtrack of Tim Plester and Rob Curry’s fine documentary on this anchor of English song, The Ballad Of Shirley Collins (Earth Recordings), which plots her emergence, years lost to dysphonia and her return. It also accompanies Collins’ new autobiography, All In The Downs: Reflections On Life, Landscape And Song. Scottish adventurer Alasdair Roberts continues the work in his own name that followed initial years as Appendix Out. What News (Drag City), in collaboration with Concerto Caledonia director David McGuinness and sonologist Amble Skuse, keeps the focus on history, but this time with keyboards at the core. He visits Scottish ballads learned from such singers as Betsy Whyte, Duncan Williamson…

Heavy Horses UMC 40 years of ploughing their own furrow. Like some lordly pied piper, Ian Anderson has led Jethro Tull’s legions of followers through many changes in style across 50 years. Having marched them from relatively simple rock songs through to extended suites and concept albums, the release of Heavy Horses followed Songs From The Wood, journeying into a folkloric landscape filled with bucolic tales and a hearty song. Appropriating the kinetic energy of jigs and reels and harnessing it into Tull’s music seems natural now, but it wasn’t to some folks’ tastes back in the day. Forty years on, as this five-disc demonstrates, Anderson was right to follow his own instincts. “Experience the full force of Tull live in your own home.” “It’s not what you look at…

Rich Wilson ROCKET 88 Essential reading for fans of the dormant prog rockers. When Rich Wilson opens his Porcupine Tree biography Time Flies with an account of the prog rockers’ inconspicuous debut gig in a small pub in 1993, it nails this project’s authenticity from the get-go. Wilson was one of the lucky few there, eyes and ears taking it all in, and the author – who regularly writes for this publication – was also at Steven Wilson and co’s last show at the somewhat more palatial Royal Albert Hall in 2010, and no doubt many concerts in between. It’s this first-hand knowledge that lifts Time Flies beyond being just any other biography, with the book – which also includes a series of rare images – feeling comprehensive and compelling.…

VENUE THE BLACK HEART, LONDON DATE 27/01/2018 As someone once sang, ‘Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.’ Well, making a name for yourself in today’s online world takes a bit of doing too. Picking a distinctive band name that will allow people to find your music has never been more important. Prog metallers Agent have decided not only to change their generic-sounding name, but have undergone a line-up change and taken a slightly different musical direction. Tonight, Agent relaunch their career as Temples On Mars with this debut performance, ahead of the spring release of their self-titled first album. Gods & Kings is a promising start. Agent always had a knack for writing a hook or two, as evidenced on their 2013 album Kingdom Of…

VENUE XOYO, LONDON DATE 04/02/2018 The small spot beam lights that are strategically placed behind the band are conspiring to not only reveal Moon Duo – all three of ’em! – as silhouettes, but also to beguile the wide-mouthed audience watching on. As the shards of probing lights alternate from white rays to all colours of the spectrum, hands instinctively shoot up as if to grab something that can never be held. And as those beams strafe and hypnotise, it becomes hard not to utter the words, “My God! It’s full of stars!” while recalling Dr Bowman’s intergalactic trip through the star gate at the climax of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The notion that Moon Duo have nothing left to offer so soon after last year’s promotional campaign…

VENUE OSLO, LONDON DATE 21/01/2018 At one time, Blackfield appeared to be an equal collaboration between Aviv Geffen and Steven Wilson, but it’s evolved into something more akin to a Geffen solo project, with Wilson’s name shoehorned in wherever possible to lend a commercial, credible weight to proceedings. Last year’s Blackfield V was sold as a joint venture, but while Wilson’s sonic signature was very much in evidence, his input elsewhere was minimal. Tonight he’s nowhere to be seen, and this is reflected in the audience, which seems to be composed of fans of Geffen’s solo work – even though the set is entirely made up of Blackfield songs. It’s a perplexing gig. Occasionally it seems like the band’s ambition isn’t quite matched by their ability, as the backing vocals…

VENUE ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALL, LONDON DATE 03/02/2018 Thirty years on from Therion’s genesis, the Swedish symphonic pioneers have created one of their most ambitious works to date. Having indulged in classically inspired metal for the past few decades, incorporating neoclassical elements as early as 1993, they’re no strangers to the concept of combining orchestra and opera with guitars. As such, it’s perhaps surprising that Beloved Antichrist is their first rock opera, spanning three CDs. Indulgent? You betcha. But Therion have been doing this long enough to pull it off… almost. Tonight London gets to experience a taster of Beloved Antichrist just before its release. Newness considered, extracting 90 minutes of its three hours for the purpose of a tour is a brave thing. Doubly so when budget – or lack…

follow us on twitter.com/progmagazineUK CHARLOTTE HATHERLEY @CHatherley79 So excited to be a part of Space Rocks. Alongside music and art there’s astronaut @astro_timpeake, rocket scientist Matt Taylor and @markmccaughrean. Come on! MATT STEVENS @mattstevensloop How do we feel about 5:1 mixes? Is it important for you? NEAL MORSE @nealmorse Mike and Casey backstage on Cruise To The Edge. They have all kinds of crazy costumes. I think they’ve found their new look! GEOFFREY DOWNES @asiageoff Now on board @cruisetotheedge Great to meet up with all my progtastic friends again! Let’s have a ball! GLASS HAMMER @GlassHammerProg Glass Hammer roasting in the sun! #CTTE CRAIG BLUNDELL @craigblundell Last night was my 150th show with @StevenWilsonHQ Some are more happy than others. It’s been quite a ride #tothebonetour…

Marillion mark their latest reissues campaign with an expanded edition of Brave. It’s out via Rhino on March 9 and is packaged with previously unreleased live recordings from the accompanying show in Paris. Brave was a very strong artistic statement and it was probably the reason we got dropped by EMI,” says guitarist Steve Rothery. “It was a dark, impenetrable album for a lot of people and, after the pop sensibilities of Holidays In Eden, it was maybe a bit of a shock.” The deluxe package includes a new mix from Steven Wilson who Rothery says has brought more clarity and separation to the album’s reverbheavy atmosphere. Meanwhile, the band will release Unplugged At The Walls and Tumbling Down The Years on March 23 via earMUSIC as part of a…

“We’re very inspired by the Cardiacs – the way they made music was so out-of-the-box, it’s so hard to describe what they actually did.” CREEPY WHISPERS, ATMOSPHERIC synths and theatrical weirdness pervade Major Parkinson’s fourth album, Blackbox. It’s like being trapped inside a dizzying lucid dream – and it’s all part of the Norwegians’ grand plan to create a “cinematic experience”. “Very early, I was hooked on progressive music from the 70s, like Genesis, Gentle Giant and Emerson, Lake & Palmer – all the big ones,” says vocalist Jon Ivar Kollbotn. “I really loved the way they integrated the good melodies from the 60s within this experimental universe. And we’re very inspired by the Cardiacs. The way they made music was so out-of-the-box, it’s so hard to describe what they…

Can founder Irmin Schmidt has co-authored the influential band’s definitive story and it’s out this spring. The two book package, All Gates Open: The Story Of Can is published by Faber & Faber on May 5. It contains unseen images and art. Ayreon’s Ayreon Universe – The Best of Ayreon Live is out via Music Theories on March 30. The double album features material from the Arjen Lucassen (left) project’s first tour last September. It’s also available on triple vinyl, DVD and Blu-ray.…

“I just started learning how to make electronic music again.” BEST KNOWN AS the frontman and driving force behind Helsinki’s premier electronic space cadets K-X-P, Timo Kaukolampi has spent a great deal of time pummelling people into a state of euphoric submission with a relentless and trippy percussive assault. As a result, the Finn’s first bona fide solo venture comes as a pleasant surprise. Simply titled 1, its evocative electronic soundscapes delve deep into the atmospheric potential of old school synthesisers, proudly tipping a hat to pioneers like Vangelis and Klaus Schulze along the way. For Kaukolampi, this shift of focus originally stemmed from practical rather than creative concerns. “I was living in Berlin between 2012 and 2015 and when I moved there, I rented out my studio space in…

Post-rockers God Is An Astronaut (right) release their ninth album, Epitaph via Napalm on April 27. The seven-track sees the trio change musical direction from 2015’s Helios | Erebus with ex-member Jamie Dean guesting on keys. Enslaved’s Hordanes Land is to be reissued on CD on March 2 and on vinyl on April 20 via By Norse. The remastered EP originally came out on 12-inch in 1993. The new package includes revised sleeve notes and the bonus track Enslaved. Wooden Shjips’ V is out via Thrill Jockey on May 25. The laid-back seven-track was written by frontman Ripley Johnson, who’s also half of Moon Duo. The sevenminute lead single Staring At The Sun is now available to stream on Spotify. Seventies aficionados Boss Keloid have signed to Holy Roar for…

“XTC are one of my all-time favourite bands – I just love their melodic sense.” IF YOU GREW up in 1980s Britain, you might remember a bright green puppet with appalling nasal hygiene. Gilbert the Alien spawned a surreal Pythonesque series of sketches about British POWs in World War II called How Far To Hitchin?. You’ll certainly remember a singles chart graced by art pop gems from the likes of XTC, Talk Talk and Jellyfish. Paul Dews, aka How Far To Hitchin, is a multiinstrumentalist operating from his basement studio. He takes his cue from those acts for his subversive slices of clever, darkly humorous progressive pop, while adding a modern sheen that will appeal to fans of Everything Everything and Bat For Lashes. “XTC are one of my all-time…

Seasons Unite (Sahara, 1994) Orphaned Land’s 1994 debut might lack the full musical scope and masterful production of their later releases, but it showed what they were capable of as players and songwriters with this impressive union of progressive and death metal. Find Yourself, Discover God (El Norra Alila, 1996) From the folky opening to the frantic metal onslaught that follows, this was another early example that points the way forward for Orphaned Land’s ambitions. Norra El Norra (Entering The Ark) (Mabool: The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven, 2004) A perfect example of Orphaned Land’s range, Norra El Norra has crunching death metal riffs alongside Middle Eastern folk instruments and a piano solo. Farhi showcases his facility with quarter tones, which give his vocals their unique flavour. The…

We could have been bigger had we had an amazing manager. We’re our own worst enemies.” Phil Manzanera “Bryan [Ferry] has been doing it for bloody years,” says Phil Manzanera of the longawaited, super deluxe edition of Roxy Music’s 1972 debut album, which includes a 5.1 mix of the record by Steven Wilson and sleevenotes by Richard Williams, who first wrote about the band in 1971 for Melody Maker’s Horizon – New Names That Could Break The Sound Barrier section. “We’ve been going bonkers: ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake. Get it out!’” Manzanera adds of the reissue. “But Bryan’s done a brilliant job: the sleevenotes, the [fashion designer] Antony Price sketches. We’ve been talking about it for eight years. But that’s Roxy for you: the career strategy is non-existent.” The Roxy…

"Very fond memories of her Voices album from 1986, using her voice as a musical instrument without words. My wife and I saw her perform some of those songs as part of a vocal group which featured Enid Williams from Girlschool! Great songwriter, and a versatile, emotive voice." David Elliott "I only really know her more commercial work such as Touchpaper. Great album. But she has worked with the likes of Nick Magnus and there are definitely prog-like tendencies." Phil Morris "Great vocals for Wishbone Ash, and a lovely lady to chat to." Steve Lord "Met her recently. She was singing in the bar at the end of my road. Got her to sign one of my Ash CDs." Darren Johnson "I would include her before many that you already…

Protocol (Protocol, 1988) Searching for a record label willing to support his instrumental, genre-blending style, Phillips wound up playing every one of the instruments on his debut album himself. The title track from his solo debut still pops up in live sets, a showcase for the drummer’s remarkable fluency on his instrument. Wildfire (Protocol II, 2013) The first version of the band, with Andy Timmons, Steve Weingart and Ernest Tibbs, set out their stall with the opening track of Protocol II, which arrived a mere quarter of a century after the first Protocol album. Wildfire is a knotty slice of syncopation built around the groove laid down by Phillips and Tibbs while Timmons busts out guitar licks over the top. Enigma (Protocol II, 2013) A track that starts with a…

Génération sans Futur (1980) Featuring the sometimes unsettling topography of uneven time signatures, caustic harmonies, unexpected chordal emissions, shrieking notes and skronking brass, it’s this wild, haywire eclecticism that exemplifies Art Zoyd’s singular approach to music-making. An undoubted standout moment, however, comes in the title track. Adding fire and devastating precision bombing to Thierry Zaboitzeff’s brooding, complex piece is guest drummer Daniel Denis, best known for his percussion and keyboard work with fellow RIO comrades Univers Zero. The contrasts in tight control and energetic freedom may seem unlikely, but it’s pulled off with an exhilarating panache. Phase IV (1982) The band’s fourth release and their first double album is a favourite of Zaboitzeff’s. Beginning with the alarmed screaming of a distant crowd and a doom-laden fanfare, the irregular march underpinning…

Automata I SUMERIAN Progression, yes, but with unfinished business. Between The Buried And Me aren’t ones for standing still. Constantly evolving their sound, the North Carolina five-piece’s brutal blitz of gung-ho riffery of the early 2000s has shape-shifted over the last decade into a more daring, progressive sound, showcased by the bold Colors and Parallax II. And when the prog metallers released their brilliant seventh album Coma Ecliptic in 2015, things were done a little differently, with dialled down song structures allied to more clean vocals, in addition to a ‘rock opera’ tag that no doubt struck fear into their more burly followers. “There’s less overt exhibitionism, each soundscape more considered.” So how could they move forward this time? Automata I is the first part of a double LP –…

Decadence SELF-RELEASED Bass is the place on Gong men’s reunion. Having cut his teeth as a jobbing jazz bassist in New York’s club circuit, Hansford Rowe knows how to make things happen within a song. It’s a capacity that propelled him onto the international stage after his recruitment to Pierre Moerlen’s Gong in the mid-70s. “A gentle exploration that sparkles with a bewitching intensity.” A universe away from Daevid Allen’s playful Pot-Head Pixies, Moerlen’s iteration of the franchise delivered vibrant, high-octane jazz fusion, with Rowe’s sinuous playing providing the spine to their work. In recent years, in addition to exploring microtonal music, Rowe has quietly moved into jazzier territory via his Moments duo and HR3, the latter featuring guitarist Julien Sandiford. Rowe’s brand new reunion with fellow PM Gong alumni…

Dead Magic CITY SLANG Bright sounds from a dark heart. Anna von Hausswolff is one of the most underrated young musicians around today. Like her father, the controversial sound artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff, this Swedish organist and singer has little regard for rules and prefers to create experimental sounds that are immersive but accessible. Since her 2010 debut Singing From The Grave, she’s embraced art pop, drone and post-metal, yet her fourth studio album is a juxtaposition of dark and bright. “Captivating – each note rushes straight to the amygdala.” Whereas 2015’s predecessor, The Miraculous, regaled in gothic splendour, Dead Magic skips along to a brighter, poppier beat, guided by the sonic limitations of her choice of organ: a mid-20th-century instrument housed in Denmark’s Marble Church. And the listener…

Still There’ll Be More: An Anthology 67-17 ESOTERIC Birth of prog and its inventors’ trail-blazing evolution. In this magazine’s tradition, we’ll avoid well-trodden paths when considering this stellar overview of Procol Harum’s 50-year legacy and take the scenic route after those two first hits instead. Although their self-titled first album surfed 1967’s psychedelic tidal waves with grace, elegance and imagination, classical-referencing instrumental Repent Walpurgis confirmed Procol were busy inventing modern prog as we know it before any usually-cited bands, Gary Brooker singing Keith Reid’s surreal lyrics at the core of their sound. “A stellar overview of Procol Harum’s 50-year legacy.” After 1968’s Shine On Brightly boasted one of nascent prog’s first epic suites with the 18-minute In Held ’Twas In I, A Salty Dog stands as their greatest achievement in…

VENUE BUSH HALL, LONDON DATE 21/01/2018 There’s real love here in a completely rammed Bush Hall for Francis Dunnery and his band, and the anticipation generated by the promise of hearing the whole of the Eat Me In St. Louis album is palpable. While Dunnery still seems to have a nuanced relationship with his It Bites past, fans demonstrably suffer from no doubts or cynicism in their enthusiasm for the music as the opening salvo of a storming Positively Animal and Underneath Your Pillow, a highlight of the night for many, washes across the room. It’s clear that Dunnery has lost none of his astounding abilities on guitar, and his voice is in good shape too. Musically, it’s as fine a demonstration of great ensemble playing and respectful interpretation as…

VENUE THE FILLMORE, PHILADELPHIA DATE 26/01/2018 SUPPORT NICOLE ATKINS Indiana sextet Umphrey’s McGee have been a staple of the American jam band/progressive scene for roughly 20 years, blending the laid-back vibes of the Grateful Dead and Phish with the intricate eccentricities of Mahavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa, Dream Theater and King Crimson. Of course, their concerts best represent how imaginative and skilful they can be, and this one – which commemorates It’s Not Us, their new studio album – is no exception. An extensive set adorned by vibrant theatrics, melodic comforts and instrumental wackiness, it’s a thrilling evening, even if it’s slightly repetitive and exhausting. American singer/songwriter Nicole Atkins’ retro fervour provides a lively warm-up. She features several tracks from her latest album Goodnight Rhonda Lee – including bittersweet ode A…

VENUE THE BLACK HEART, LONDON DATE 02/02/2018 “Darkher’s powerful vocals are a constant soft melody of gentle melancholy and lingering sorrow.” Performing as part of underground promoters Chaos Theory’s 8 Years Of Chaos anniversary, Yorkshire singer Jayn H Wissenberg is back in London, one year after her sold-out acoustic act at the Union Chapel, opening for Norse folkers Wardruna. A glimmer of red flowing locks hidden under a hood appears on the stage. The singer of dark and atmospheric prog has arrived, surrounded by amps and with black guitar in hand. However, this time she’s not alone, as tonight she’ll be accompanied by drummer Christopher Smith. This is a nice evolution, from the calm of her previous church surroundings to a busy pub at the heart of Camden Town. Darkher’s…

Where’s home? Nashville, Tennessee. I grew up in LA but have been here since 1995. Your earliest prog memory? Seeing Yes open for Black Sabbath at the LA Forum in 1972, when I was 12. Fragile had just come out, Rick Wakeman was there in his cape, at the Mellotron and the grand piano. Jon Anderson’s voice was incredible, Bill Bruford was on drums. I liken it to the glass shattering in Tommy – a whole world of possibilities opened up before me. First prog record bought? Fragile and, around the same time, ELP’s Tarkus. There was a local record store in California that my brothers and I would go to We bought a lot of records, so we’d go in on them together. Then we’d listen to them on…