Table of contents for Issue 120 in Prog

Hello, and welcome to the new issue of Prog. By the time you read this, if the government’s roadmap out of lockdown holds, we’ll be moving out of Covid-related restrictions. Our attention will return to the potential for gigs once more. Our upcoming report on what this means for progressive music of all levels will feature in issue 122, by which time we should have a much clearer picture of how the live landscape may look. One of the great things about working with music with as rich a heritage as prog is that even though you think you might know everything, you’re always learning something new. The years between King Crimson’s explosive debut album and their ‘rebirth’ with 1973’s Larks’ Tongues In Aspic was a fascinating time for the…

The past year’s unprecedented events have weighed heavily on Big Big Train. That’s why, instead of their epic historic narratives, their 13th studio album Common Ground looks through the lens of the pandemic, drawing on influences closer to home. It’s released via English Electric Recordings on July 30. Last year also saw significant band departures, the unit reduced to four core members – vocalist David Longdon, bassist Greg Spawton, drummer Nick D’Virgilio and multi-instrumentalist Rikard Sjöblom. Spawton and Longdon set up home in Real World Studios, with long-distance input from their colleagues. New bandmembers Carly Bryant (Freakpower) on vocals and guitarist Dave Foster (Steve Rothery Band), together with fiddler Aidan O’Rourke from folk group Lau, also made contributions. For the live shows next year, they will also be joined by…

Gentle Giant co-founder Derek Shulman says he can’t wait to enjoy the reissue of the band’s 1975 album Free Hand before its release on June 26 via Alucard Music. With Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround sound mix extras, a Blu-ray with visuals accompanying each track and the original quadraphonic mix, even Shulman is longing for physical copies of the fully buffed Steven Wilson remix. “The Atmos and 5.1 mixes are extremely successful in emphasising the album’s quality, the Blu-ray has some beautiful illustrations and stories, and an added bonus is the limited edition red vinyl, which I can’t wait to get my hands on!” he says. Originally released as the band’s seventh studio album and their first for Chrysalis, Free Hand followed a relatively brief yet deeply unhappy period with…

Dream Theater (right) will release a “treasure trove” of material based around their Ytsejam Records catalogue via InsideOut. The Lost Not Forgotten Archives will launch with Images And Words – Live In Japan, 2017 on June 25. Multi-instrumentalist and Syd Arthur member Raven Bush releases debut album Fall Into Noise on August 13 via PRAH. He says it “looks to document living in the moment, allowing listener to find their own meaning.” facebook.com/allsoundismusic Carl Palmer has edited the first official book about Emerson, Lake And Palmer. ELP is published later this year via Rocket 88. “This is the story as it happened, as the group told it, because it’s in our own words,” Palmer says. See www.elpbook.com. The Resonance Association (right) end a four-year hiatus with new album You Will Know…

Father and son Kristian and Benjamin Mølgaard are totally inseparable musically. When Benjamin was just eight, Kristian took him to an Iron Maiden gig, then to an Opeth concert in their native Denmark the following year. Now aged 52 and 17, they’re both drummers and write for a Danish metal magazine. Just over a year ago they founded Opeth’s fan club, which they’re now planning to expand. “When Benjamin turned nine, I was going to interview Mikael Åkerfeldt so I asked Opeth’s tour manager if I could bring my son to the gig,” recalls Kristian. “We met them again six months later at a Hamburg gig where keyboard player Joakim Svalberg made horns at Benjamin because he was wearing red earphones. We met them outside afterwards and he said, ‘Hey,…

It’s been a labour of love, but finally Alex Winter’s Zappa documentary is now out and to celebrate we have three sets of Zappa goodies to give away to three lucky readers. Each comprises a copy of the Zappa soundtrack on double vinyl, a poster and a free code so you can watch the film in the comfort of your own home. (Or in your garden, if you prefer!) Winter was given unlimited access to the Zappa Vault to create the critically acclaimed documentary, which includes contributions from Zappa bandmembers Ruth Underwood, Mike Keneally, Steve Vai, and Bunk Gardner. The result is a modern exploration of an artist who was ahead of his time. To be in with a chance of winning this bumper prize, visit www.bit.ly/zappa_doc and answer the…

The colourful history of Strawbs contains a vast array of contributors who’ve left a distinctive footprint on the chronicles of modern British music. But they’re not a band focused on celebrating their past. The energy and imagination running through current release Settlement would give artists a third of their age a run for their money. It’s also been made by a line-up whose contribution to the band’s story is indisputable. Long-servers Dave Lambert, Chas Cronk, Tony Fernandez and more recent addition Dave Bainbridge are accompanied by, among others, former members John Ford, as guest vocalist and writer on one track, and Blue Weaver, who gathered together and produced its distanced components. “We’ve had such longevity because people identify with the lyrics, and the atmospheres.” Let’s talk about how you make…

Having stayed in the USA with Ian Wallace and Mel Collins as members of Alexis Korner’s new band Snape, Boz Burrell enjoyed renewing his relationship with some of the blues-based music that had very much been part of his early career. In 1973 he became a founding member of Bad Company. His rocksolid bass playing provided a strong foundation for the best-selling stadium-friendly rock band comprised of ex-Free members Paul Rodgers (vocals) and Simon Kirke (drums) and ex-Mott The Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs. Famously describing King Crimson’s music and lyrics as “airy-fairy shit”, Boz had found his natural comfort zone and would remain with the band until their initial split in the early 80s. Although he briefly rejoined Bad Company in the 90s, in the aftermath of the group he…

“In some ways, doing covers during lockdown was great because you don’t have to worry about the words and the melody, but on the flip side, you have this huge responsibility to honour the song.” During the first UK lockdown, AA Williams soothed us through our screens with a regular series of cover versions from Nick Cave to Radiohead. Filmed in Williams’ London home and stripped back to just piano, guitar and her haunting voice, the songs felt warmly familiar, yet unique – just what the world needed in lockdown. “At the beginning, I just wanted to do some videos – there was no goal of it being an album,” AA Williams says of the music that’s now been released as a full album, Songs From Isolation. “A lot of…

Ubi Maior man’s piano-led, symphonically inclined solo project returns. Eight years since his gothic-themed second solo set, Gabriele Manzini has taken time out from his day job with Italian prog stalwarts Ubi Maior to create a more conventional symphonic prog set, albeit still centred around his florid way with the ivories. Technological Anguish offers a misleading opening as dark techno textures introduce a protagonist darkly intoning man vs machine anxieties. But as Manzini’s keyboards edge towards the foreground, they’re joined by gutsy guitar motifs that veer into more familiar AOR-prog territory. Frustratingly, the apocalyptic lyrical themes are hard to pick up on in detail, as the cloudy production tends to submerge Giancarlo Padula’s vocals. There’s more to be had on the many instrumental passages, when Manzini tantalises us with evocative…

A chance to check the credentials of a varied and engaging project. Multiple guest artists can result in quality control sometimes being sidelined in favour of filling out an album’s credits. There’s no hint of such issues here. In fact, conceived and directed by the multitalented Jon Farley, there’s real consistency in both delivery and composition that actually speaks more of a band than a glorified solo project. For instance, it might take a couple of listens to realise that the female vocals on Stillborn, the revelatory cover of Frost*’s Saline and the gorgeous folk-tinged piano and voice of When Tomorrow Comes are actually courtesy of Dandelion Charm’s Clare Shorthouse Fowler, Fearful Symmetry’s Yael Shotts and Elaine Samuels of Kindred Spirit Band rather than one singer. This isn’t to suggest…

A collectors’ club for Can fans. The first in a promised series of live concerts curated by keyboardist Irmin Schmidt, the sole survivor of the quartet appearing here, makes quite an entrance and sets the bar for future releases very high indeed. Five tracks vibrate with varying degrees of throbbing intensity, constantly in motion thanks to Jaki Liebezeit’s pulsating drums and Holger Czukay’s unflappable bass. Such is the nature of collective improvisation, players occasionally fall back on holding patterns, catching their breath as they resume their forward trajectories; this is mesmeric and utterly fearless. Themes from Bel Air, Quantum Physics and others blur in and out of focus. Michael Karoli’s guitar stands at the centre of the maelstrom, disseminating a skewed and skronky rock’n’roll while Schmidt’s keyboards shimmer behind it…

The Dutch Masters’ celebratory exhibition. Prog performers can be broadly divided into two camps: showpeople (Gabriel, Wakeman, Ian Anderson) and discreet artisans (Fripp, Rutherford, etc). Focus leader Thijs van Leer straddles both camps: at once studious behind his keyboards, providing the spine of his mighty ensemble’s work, then offering vocal acrobatics and flute work, leading like the best of them. Recorded in Rio in 2017, Focus 50 captures the current line-up offering their hot and spicy fusion of classical, hard rock and jazz with incredible elan. The 18-minute Hocus Pocus does not disappoint. Hearing Van Leer doing his thing today is akin to an uncle’s party piece at a family do: you’ve heard it before, but it’s always a delight. He isn’t the only remnant of that fabled ’73 line…

Agreeably bleak, low-profile European soundscapes. In this largely mystique-free age, it’s refreshing to be given a record that offers little information beyond the basics, and a few faintly cryptic comments. What we know about Kinoscape’s first mini-album is that it’s instrumental “music made in quarantine”, self-written and performed without lyrics, but accompanied by a few gnomic statements, such as: “Kinoscape is a playlist for when the world is falling apart around you”. There’s certainly a claustrophobic feel to the minimal techno textures of Dark Orange, in which only skittering beats, an austere synth melody and a forlorn guitar figure cut through the gloom. The Japan-like soundscape of Chasing The Ghost is all eerie electronic echoes and squelchy synth until bolder guitar patterns and airy atmospherics open up a crack in…

Iamthemorning piano man returns with understated solo pieces. Iamthemorning pianist and songwriter Gleb Kolyadin’s second solo album comprises spontaneous sketches and cinematic pieces. He’s at pains to emphasise it’s “a serene pause” and selfreleased fundraiser while he prepares the next “big” album. In fact its sparse beauty is emotionally huge, and fans of his Russian chamber prog duo will embrace its melancholy magic as another golden dawn. Its quietness speaks volumes. Images of water and the creative flow helped him along, and the music, collectively, does what the best instrumentals do: conjuring up in the mind’s eye a film not yet made. With Kolyadin effectively playing a solo concert, he’s joined fleetingly on guitar by co-producer Vlad Avy. The result is personal, yet deeply resonant. There’s an accumulative effect to…

Sweet capture of the renaissance of Renaissance. For anyone who has never dabbled in the curious, baroque world of Renaissance, Ashes Are Burning – Live In Concert is a great place to begin exploring. Leader Annie Haslam’s voice is in fine form and keyboard player/musical director Rave Tesar (who has been with them since 2001) ensures an authenticity to the original records that’s admirable. Backed by a full orchestra, this show offers an overview of Renaissance’s entire career. Although they have experienced a great deal of personnel turbulence across the years, each new member has added to their own unique texture. Opener Out/Day Of The Dreamer from 1978’s A Song For All Seasons evokes Genesis so much, it’s little surprise that the track’s original producer was David Hentschel. There’s added…

By definition, prog metal is all about looking for new and imaginative ways to make heavy music. With that in mind, London’s Urne may be the best thing to happen to the genre in years. The trio’s debut album Serpent And Spirit (Candlelight/Spinefarm) brings past, present and future together, with strong shades of …And Justice For All-era Metallica, early Mastodon and the dark, outer limits of post-hardcore, but with a brutal, imperious atmosphere all of its own. These are huge, skilfully constructed epics with colossal melodic payoffs and a ludicrous number of addictive riffs: in particular, Desolate Heart is an instant prog metal classic. Brazilians Pentral have a similarly sturdy knack for riffs: debut album What Lies Ahead Of Us (pentral.bancamp.com) noisily salutes the prog metal old school, via burly…

Israeli seven-piece attempt familiar peaks in varied garb. Prog metal has become a catch-all term that arguably doesn’t communicate much. It’s reasonable to label Israel’s Subterranean Masquerade in this way, but it doesn’t sum up everything they do. Mountain Fever, the band’s fifth album, draws on the writing and playing of all seven of its expanded membership, resulting in symphonic metal rubbing shoulders with Middle Eastern rhythms and sounds in the opening couple of minutes of Somewhere I Sadly Belong, klezmer music suddenly dropping in the midst of in the title track’s classic rock workout, and theatrical vocals washing across the dark ballad The Stillnox Oratory. Vocalist Vidi Dolev cruises chameleon-like throughout, shifting his delivery from James LaBrieesque dramatics to flashes that evoke Saga’s Michael Sadler, while occasionally summoning up…

Ex-Queensrÿche man plays to his strengths by keeping it old-school. Nine years after his acrimonious firing from Queensrÿche, Geoff Tate recaptures the sound of his old group on his second album with Sweet Oblivion. Recorded in Italy with a different line-up to 2019’s eponymous debut, Relentless is built firmly around Tate’s voice; his range and power seem undimmed even in his early 60s. Aldo Lonobile, from power metal band Secret Sphere, serves as guitarist and producer, favouring a bright, slick production style. Like a lot of late-80s and early-90s heavy music, it’s a very compressed listen. There’s not a lot of space in the mix but Tate has the power in his pipes to cut through. The arrangements of Let It Be and Anybody Out There almost demand comparisons with…

Formidable live performances from ex-Karnataka singer’s latest band. Hayley Griffiths first came to the prog world’s attention during her six-year stint fronting Karnataka. After her departure from that band in 2017, the classically trained singer put together her own eponymous group – one that’s on a par with her previous outfit, as this two-disc DVD recorded in Holland and France during the Hayley Griffiths Band’s debut tour in 2019 proves (a separate CD recorded, Live At t’Block, is also available). The title is the only perfunctory thing about Live. Featuring more than three hours of material, it showcases Griffiths’ bubbly personality and stellar voice, the latter blessed with grit, vulnerability and sensitivity. But while it’s her name on the marquee, she has a way of engaging with the other musicians…

Whopping 864-page story of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band. John French is a devout Christian and was prompted to rejoin the Magic Band for the recording of Doc At The Radar Station in 1980 by a voice in his head from God telling him that Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart was in need of help. His immediate reaction was, “No! I’ve tried working with him too many times! This can’t be God!” “A colourful picture of the freak scene around Frank Zappa.” But he dropped round to Van Vliet’s trailer in Lancaster, California and found that one of his guitarists had quit. French played guitar on that album, as well as some drums, but jumped ship when Van Vliet gave him an unnecessarily long list of tracks to learn on…

KINGFISHER SKY ON THE RISE Kingfisher Sky will release a new EP, Rise, on June 18. “It’s four songs about hope, love, nuance and unconditional understanding and respect for one another, or lack thereof,” the band report, adding that the music features a “vivacious, symphonic and sometimes folky sound.” For more, see www.kingfishersky.com MICHAEL WOODMAN'S SINISTER NOSTALGIA Michael Woodman of Thumpermonkey will release solo album Psithusism via Believers Roast on August 6. Filled with “sinister narratives and the warm, sad ochre of nostalgia,” it features bandmate Sam Warren on bass plus sax by Knifeworld’s Josh Perl and drums from producer John Simm. For more, see www.thumpermonkey.com…

Styx continue the journey back to their early prog/pomp years with new album Crash Of The Crown, released on June 18 via Alpha Dog 2T/UMe. Just like its predecessor, 2017’s The Mission – which related the sci-fitale of a voyage to the planet Mars in the year 2033 – the group’s 17th studio set is conceptually based. Its 15 songs cover an amalgamation of historical events from 1066, 1455, 1775, 1861, 1941, and even 2001. It was written before Covid-19 struck and recorded at the Nashville home studio of guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw, with players rotating during the pandemic. Chuck Panozzo, the co-founding bassist who has been living with HIV since 1991, appears on the songs Our Wonderful Lives and Lost At Sea. “I travelled over 900 miles by car to…

POCKETGUITAR “The most attractive portable guitar ever,” runs the blurb for Aeroband’s Pocketguitar, although a pedant might argue that guitars are already very portable. Anyway, this comes in the form of a giant plectrum (about two inches across) which connects via Bluetooth to your smartphone. It then enables you to play a constrained form of air guitar. If you hold it and strum up and down, chords or notes selected on your smartphone (using your other hand) will sound. Playing the more traditional air guitar is probably more fun, but it may not teach you quite as much about rhythm. www.aeroband.net KALIMBAGO Kickstarter seems to be rammed with clever devices that teach you how to play instruments via flashing lights: put your fingers here, now! We’ve featured a bunch of…

THERE’S SURELY NEVER been a better time to do it yourself. With you-know-what reducing face-to-face interaction, record labels preferring low-maintenance solo acts, and technology making self-production easier than ever, it’s a tempting option for any aspiring musical visionary. But great work can also be achieved by careful delegation, and proof of that can be found in the debut album by Ole Michael Bjørndal, aka Caligonaut. “I’m not a full-time musician,” he tells Prog, “I’m more of a hobby guitar player who plays for enjoyment.” For an enthusiastic amateur, he’s made some useful friends. The four lengthy compositions on Magnified As Giants journey through symphonic prog via bucolic folk, space rock, dreampop and pastoral psychedelia, creating musical visions coloured by the contributions of some notable backing musicians. Aficionados of Norwegian prog…

LAURE LE PRUNENEC’S haunting work has often been placed in the realm of funeral opera. As Rïcïnn, her mysterious compositions each tell a story, blending deep melodies with lighter notes. Asked to describe her sound, she replies: “I would say come and listen, but it won’t give the exact picture because I do it instinctively. The music is a mix between something tribal and something dreamy. It’s a dialogue with the universe, the result of everything that nourishes me.” Le Prunenec traces this instinctive ability to her early experiences of music. Her mother’s passion for it played a part and music lessons built a solid foundation. “It’s like I always had this ability,” she muses. “I started the piano early, so I was in the context of music very young.…

THE BRITISH ART-POP/prog lite duo League Of Lights are back with a third album that was conceived largely during lockdown. The husband and wife team of keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist Richard and singer Farrah West set out to cheer up their fans, and consequently themselves, via Dreamers Don’t Come Down. “The album was mostly written and recorded during those months of ups and downs,” comments Farrah West. “It’s sometimes annoying but I have this habit of maintaining hope, which never dwindles, even when things look really awful. So it would be great if somebody listening got the sense that there is light at the end of the tunnel, even if it’s a really, really long one.” The album’s birth certainly proved therapeutic for the Wests. “The first lockdown was a blur…

“When I was still at school, I remember buying Hawkwind’s Warrior On The Edge Of Time.”Youth “It’s all about Nik for me,” raves Youth. “He’s the great time lord of space and cosmic psychedelia, one of the true 60s innovators and pioneers. I love his egalitarian passion for music. And let’s not forget that he’s in the tradition of the great British mystics, there’s a magical energy around him that’s very powerful. He’s a space warrior, a grand old wizard of the cosmos.” It’s fair to say that Youth is enthused. The celebrated producer and Killing Joke bassist is talking up his latest collaboration with ex-Hawkwind magus, Nik Turner. Backed by The Space Falcons, Interstellar Energy sees the pair voyage deep into heliospheric space rock, fuelled by rhythmic kosmische and…

“Never heard of them. Him? Her? It?”James Spencer “Crass were very progressive.”Matt Stevens “No thanks.”Brian Stanbrook “One can draw a straight line from Crass to Andy Tillison and The Tangent. Christ – The Album was as progressive as anything released in 1982 (or any other year for that matter). A true artist that Penny Rimbaud.”Wedgepiece “Before my prog awakening when I saw Marillion on Top Of The Pops, I was into punk. I was a big fan of Crass. They made double albums and concept albums in the middle of their anarchist dream. Crass and particularly Rimbaud never saw the hippies as the enemy, in fact before Crass Rimbaud was a co-founder of the Stonehenge Free Festival, that hosted bands like Hawkwind, Gong, Man, Wishbone Ash, The Enid, Ozric Tentacles…

Impressive unadulterated live thrills from Finnish prog metallers. Recorded in December 2019, just months before touring ground to a halt, this double live album from Amorphis captures the band in front of a notably responsive hometown crowd. Where 2017’s An Evening With Friends At Huvila featured an intimate acoustic performance, this is the full-blown prog metal experience. The setlist isn’t quite a career retrospective; while they go as far back as 1994’s Tales From The Thousand Lakes, nearly half the tracks come from 2018’s Queen Of Time. Older tracks like Against Widows and Black Winter Day highlight their folk metal influences, while the newer material steers more towards melodic death and symphonic prog metal. Although Amorphis aren’t a band for extended instrumental workouts, keyboardist Santeri Kallio impresses throughout, with spirited…

Rip-snorting, genre-mangling set from the prodigious power trio. As The Aristocrats turn 10, FREEZE! finds the trio of Guthrie Govan, Bryan Beller and Marco Minnemann as exuberant as ever, captured live in Spain near the end of the tour for 2019’s You Know What…? They kick off with the freaked-out funk of D Grade F*ck Movie Jam as Beller lays down a bassline too dirty to ever come out in the wash. Spanish Eddie is a mutant hybrid between flamenco and Frank Zappa, and When We All Come Together is a twisted hoedown with Govan blending chicken-pickin’ country guitar with fusion. The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde is a punchy rocker, followed by Get It Like That, the only selection from their selftitled 2011 debut, which features Minnemann’s drum solo.…

Lush neo-prog from Candian trio. Francophone Canada remains a hotbed of progressive rock, with the charge led partly by the Unicorn Digital label run by Mystery leader Michel St-Père. Code 18 are a Québecois trio helmed by keyboardist Johnny Maz (who also plays alongside St-Père in Huis) and supplemented here by various guests, including St-Père himself. Despite toiling away since 2008, Human Error! is Code 18’s debut album, so they’ve had plenty of time to work up these 10 songs. In truth, it sounds like it could have been recorded any time since the early 1980s as it’s a slice of neo-prog owing much to the likes of IQ and Arena in terms of influences and sonic palette. Opening track Crystal Of Time launches the album with gusto. But there…

Anarcho-punk orch-prog collective return with soundtrack for our times. As Godspeed You! Black Emperor reflect in the communiqué that accompanies their latest album, the world has finally caught up with them in 2021, their shortwave radios full of “apocalypse pastors… yelling END TIMES NOW”. The Canadians’ seventh album is less formally melodic than 2017’s Luciferian Towers and less nakedly aggressive than 2015’s Asunder…, harking back to the eerie chamber rock of their earlier releases. GY!BE often feel like they’re building some intuitive sonic monument. The long-form composition that begins with A Military Alphabet emerges from the alien transmissions of a numbers station: a guitar blurts out a motif like a wounded foghorn, a decaying drone leads into a nervy Morse Code riff, a shuffle on the drums maintains the tension…

First up are Floridian shoegazers Her New Knife. With elements of post-rock and even the heavy atmospherics of doom in their sound, their debut EP Destroza (hernewknife.bandcamp.com) is a welcome break from the swathes of first wave imitators out there. Check out lead track Piled Up for a sense of their sound. Destroza is a strong debut, and it’ll be interesting to see how they build on it in future. More in the lo-fi realm, another project making waves in the shoegaze space is South Korean artist Parannoul. He’s just released To See The Next Part Of The Dream (parannoul.bandcamp.com). It’s a fantastic record about dreams and nostalgia, lived out through an imagined or semi-imagined version of the 2000s indie scene. Although a bedroom album in production value, the rough…

A trip through the dark side of space from experimental Italian techno rockers. ØR is the third album from this Italian avantrock trio led by Marco Campitelli. There’s a dense, hypnotic vibe to their sound, which swings between terror and ecstasy, but it’s never just a droning wall of noise – the songs are driven by a complex internal mechanism, even if it’s occasionally overwound. Space Is The Place epitomises the album’s cosmic atmosphere, though this is the void as a black corridor rather than trippy adventure. Campitelli breathily intones the title against an astro-Eastern riff, the guitar burning through the music in a way that recalls proto-shoegaze titans Loop. Zenith is a thrumming, driving slab of bassiness, its whispered incantatory vocals and sense of claustrophobia referencing Massive Attack’s Mezzanine.…

A vivid and wistful journey from Italian keyboard wizard. Beyond The Illusion is a mostly triumphant comeback for keyboardist Stefano Panunzi, as it sees him picking up from where 2009’s A Rose left off by once again using the talents of a few guests to craft eclectic arrangements and elegant songwriting. The former is demonstrated almost immediately by The Bitter Taste Of Your Smile, a quirky and inviting instrumental dominated by touching piano chords and energetic rhythms. The subsequent Acid Love goes for a more sorrowfully orchestral and weighty vibe, while Mystical Tree and The Bench conjure the coarse flamboyance of early Porcupine Tree and Devin Townsend. Guest singers Grice and Tim Bowness bring a longing and hookiness to several songs, such as the contemplative The Awakening and the soothing…

Stunning concept album from long-running German proggers. Sylvan have never lacked ambition. Across their previous nine albums the Hamburg band have assembled a rich, diverse musical catalogue that naturally includes forays into the concept arena. With their 10th album they show no sign of dumbing down any time soon. At the heart of One To Zero lies a concept that’s purportedly the autobiography of an AI told from its own perspective over 10 songs. But even if listeners are left cold by the idea, the music is right up there with the very best that Sylvan have produced during their lengthy career. There’s plenty of diversity here too. Opener Bit By Bit has some intense riffing and darker hues, while by stark contrast Unleashed Power is a beautifully understated and…

Ex-Curved Air man’s instrumental journey across the planet. Darryl Way’s 2019 album Destinations was a musical interpretation of a variety of places he’d travelled to around the world. With the follow-up, he revisits even more far-flung locations. From the beatific Mother Earth to the bohemian Café De Paris and the gentle flow of Ocean Blues, it’s all beautifully realised. The passion and admiration Way feels for the distinctiveness of each stop along the way is evident. Musical motifs reflect each locale: Fiesta Mexicana has the whirl of a Mexican festival and Vegas is glitz and jazzy glitter, while Hungarian Rhapsody acknowledges classical composer Béla Bartók. Every track is accompanied by detailed written explanations of the inspirations behind the composition. But while they’re insightful, the music is as evocative and all-encompassing…

Norwegian jazz prog linchpins bow out to a disco beat. Karisma conclude their run of Ruphus reissues with the Norwegians’ sixth and final album. Released in 1979 on Polydor, Manmade saw the return of vocalist Gudny Aspaas, who previously appeared on their debut, New Born Day, and 1976’s Let Your Light Shine. By this point, Ruphus had been through multiple incarnations with only guitarist Kjell Larsen and bassist Asle Nilsen remaining from the original seven-piece line-up. They’re joined by newcomers Bjørn Jenssen on drums and keyboard player Kjell Rønningen, both former members of jazz rock band Saluki. On what proved to be their swan song, Manmade sees Ruphus migrating further away from their roots in prog. Instead, the music favours the jazz rock of their later output like 1978’s Flying…

Well-packed live DVD and more from masterful Canucks. Like 2019’s Live In Poznan, this new Blu-ray from Mystery was captured on the band’s Live And Butterflies tour, so while there’s a different running order, there’s a lot of overlap in the setlist. Filmed at the Boerderij Cultuurpodium in the Netherlands, this a marathon performance, running to nearly three hours of music, and is available as a standalone Blu-ray or deluxe edition with three bonus CDs. The presentation looks and sounds great, multiple camera angles cover all six band members and the mix is crisp and clear. The running order strikes a good balance between longer-form works such as Looking For Something Else or Shadow Of The Lake, and shorter tracks like How Do You Feel? But even at their most…

Tom Newman will release a follow-up to his album Faerie Symphony through Tigermoth on May 30 – 44 years after the original. A Faerie Symphony II was recorded during lockdown. “I don’t have a copy of my 1977 Faerie Symphony,” says Newman. “But because somebody mentioned it on Facebook, I downloaded it and that’s when the idea for this came to me.” Aside from Newman, the album also features vocalist Jennifer Banks (his partner), bassist Jim Newman (his son), flautist Jon Field, guitarist Zak Sikobe and Magenta keyboardist Rob Reed. “Jon hasn’t record anything fresh,” Newman says. “I found an unused snippet for the first album. Jennifer and I developed a faerie language for the record.” Newman has also recorded an EP called Dance Of The Stems at Reed’s suggestion,…

Nicolas Nikolopoulos, the flautist-keyboardist and founder of Greek band Ciccada has, alongside his bandmates, had to balance work with music. Their third album, Harvest – a mystical menage of classic prog influences à la Jethro Tull and Gentle Giant with classical, jazz and folk textures – comes 16 years and many line-up changes after their formation in 2005. “Greece will never have a huge progressive rock scene,” says Nikolopoulos candidly. “It’ll never be like what you have in the UK or the USA, but there is a small ascending scene here. The paradox, though, is that while people buy progressive music, they don’t make it to the gigs much. Most bands play to 70 to 100 people, maximum. “We’re good friends with some excellent Greek artists. We support each other…

Once upon a time in the 1970s, fans could only contact their musical heroes through record companies or fan clubs. As this writer fondly recalls, the distance invoked an air of tantalising mystery and secrecy around prog bands – while the internet was a distant spark in the ether. More recently, meet-and-greets have offered a contact bridge between concert going fans and bands, albeit with a measure of control required when fans feel entitled to more than their allotted face time. What’s completely changed in this post-major label epoch is the digital genie being let out of the bottle, enabling fans to continuously press their noses up against artists’ online windows. Bands have greater control and more channels to sell their art to wider audiences but do they feel, as…

Compiled by April 2021 1 JEAN-MICHEL JARRE Amazonia (RCA) 2 JETHRO TULL A (A La Mode) (RHINO) 3 FIELD MUSIC Flat White Moon (MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES) 4 LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT LTE3 (INSIDEOUT) 5 BIG BIG TRAIN The Underfall Yard (ENGLISH ELECTRIC RECORDINGS) 6 GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR G_d’s Pee At State’s End (CONSTELLATION) 7 MOGWAI As The Love Continues (ROCK ACTION) 8 THE ORB Abolition Of The Royal Familia – Guillotine Mixes (COOKING VINYL) 9 JON ANDERSON Olias Of Sunhillow (ESOTERIC) 10 STEVEN WILSON The Future Bites (CAROLINE INTERNATIONAL) 11 AL STEWART Year Of The Cat (ESOTERIC) 12 JANE WEAVER Flock (FIRE) 13 PORCUPINE TREE Octane Twisted (KSCOPE) 14 NAD SYLVAN Spiritus Mundi (INSIDEOUT) 15 JON ANDERSON Animation (ESOTERIC) 16 RUSH Permanent Waves (MERCURY/UMC) 17 NIGHTWISH Human. :II: Nature. (NUCLEAR BLAST)…

MUSICAL PRODIGY CHRISTIAN Richet enjoyed a classical training but it was discovering Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma in his dad’s record collection that provided him with the musical epiphany that set him on his way: “It’s the record I would take to a desert island,” he says. He grew up in Eaubonne on the northern outskirts of Paris during the 1970s and learned piano from the age of seven. Once he reached his teens, Richet enrolled in piano and percussion at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique. When not creating percussive dreamscapes, he now teaches music professionally. But growing up in France, the young Richet had little time for ‘popular’ artists like Jean-Michel Jarre or disco king Cerrone – instead he tapped into something profound when he discovered Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze,…

“I feel terrible about the political situation. There’s a new paradigm of political action where essentially it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you don’t take responsibility for it. People say that’s a terrible immoral thing that you did, then you say, ‘Well, I didn’t do that. And if I did, it doesn’t matter, let’s talk about something else.’”David Brewis “I’m gonna go home and listen to Broadsword And The Beast. That was one of the big albums in our house when we were little,” laughs David Brewis, sat in the Field Music studio as Prog wraps up a Zoom session with him and his brother Peter, who’s at home in his kitchen. In an enjoyable 90-minute chat, today has mostly been an amble down memory lane, reminiscing…

Sicilian brothers’ spacey soundtrack to sci-fi favourites. Alessandro and Marco Barrano obviously spent their formative years devouring science fiction of all stripes, judging by this debut LP that’s based on weighty tomes by everyone from John Wyndham to Dean Koontz to Valerio Evangelisti. So far so prog, but the Barrano brothers also took a keen interest in vintage electronic technology, resulting not only in a collection of analogue keyboards, drum machines and tape recorders, but also an array of sound devices they made themselves at home. It’s the latter factor that makes their debut album sound like little else out there. The anthemic synth washes of Electromagnetic Playground jackknife into avant-garde ambient space noise. Swirls of something resembling a fairground steam organ punctuate Aerial Steam Horse before macabre-sounding synth grunts…

Spacey solo debut from Edison’s Children man. Aside from being astronaut Neil Armstrong’s son, Rick Armstrong is known chiefly as the guitarist in Edison’s Children. His fine solo debut is rooted in the style of Tangerine Dream, and even Ozric Tentacles at their mellowest, possessing an epic soundtrack feel that conjures memories of the rippling musical backdrop to Blade Runner. Armstrong’s keyboard prowess is showcased on atmospheric opener Hypernova and pulsating Chaos Theory, which have an airy swagger rare in the electronic genre. The doom-laden keys on Timespiral provide a sense of imminent foreboding, with the mechanical Sunstorm being similarly engaging. Armstrong shows restraint in unleashing his guest musicians, with contributions from Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery, John Mitchell and King Crimson bassist Tony Levin only appearing on the final two…

Former Styx keyboardist/vocalist ends his musical half-century. Save for the announcement that it was bringing down the curtain on his career, the first volume of 26 East – the street in Chicago on which DeYoung and fellow Styx co-founders John and Chuck Panozzo grew up – ranked among 2020’s most pleasing surprises. Understandably, given they were conceived as a pair, Vol 2 is a comfy, entertaining companion to its predecessor. DeYoung had been cajoled into a formal sign-off by ex-Survivor man Jim Peterik, whose thumbprint decorates four of these dozen tunes. Progressive music played a healthy role in the development of Styx, but DeYoung is no fool and for the most part he chooses to stick with what his audience expects – the theatrically despatched pomp-meets-AOR that once sold by…

Atmosphere and woe from the Helsinki shadows. The road from doom metal to prog has been walked a few times over the years, and Hanging Garden are doing it with more style than most. There are prominent echoes of the Finnish band’s heavier past throughout Skeleton Lake, but the overriding impression is of a group with extremities planted firmly in goth, shoegaze and windswept, post-Floydian grandeur, too. Choking swathes of reverb enshroud stirring opener Kuura, as co-vocalist Riikka Hatakka soars across strident riffs and densely layered keys, her growling counterpart Toni Hatakka, a commanding but hostile presence. Even the most straightforward songs are rich with atmosphere: Nowhere Haven is a thunderous metal tune at heart, but with a chorus that would grace any 80s goth compilation; Winter’s Kiss is a…

Italian prog inspired by Orwellian premonitions. The follow-up to 2018’s The Day Is Done, Karmamoi’s fifth album uses the concepts of George Orwell’s iconic novel 1984 as the backdrop for their symphonic theatricality. This fusion is realised especially well on opener Memory Holes, its operatic melodies and vibrant prog/folk rock timbres decorated by chilling ambience and lyricism while guest vocalist Sara Rinaldi coveys power and vulnerability over the dynamic arrangement. The same holds true for the invigorating Drop By Drop, as well as the fittingly grandiose closer The New World. Dark City, in contrast, prioritises sparse atmospheres and punchy industrial instrumentation over anything else, whereas the wordless Newspeak juxtaposes classical strings and piano with the textures of Ayreon and modern Marillion. They embody the anxious spirit of Orwell’s story before…

Spacey Canadian quintet make a return trip. When a band cites King Gizzard, Thee Oh Sees and Miles Davis as references, it’s worth taking notice. So here’s a hello to Canadian quintet Possum, who, from opening track Clarified Budder could easily be initially mistaken for one of the colourful new Aussie crew alongside Pond and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. Yes, there’s the breathless and playful garage-ness of Oh Sees/Gizzard style in their canon with some electric Davis squawk, but also jazz fusion in Heywood Floyd, Zamrock In Moonjuice, Dance Of The Eclipse and the excellent Leyline Riders, and stoned Canterbury touches in Lunar Gardens. The musicianship is good – drummer Bradley Thibodeau serves up some nice rolls, fills and motorik beats – but not super-slick, and all the better for it.…

Coheed frontman’s solo project shines bright despite dark roots. Last March was a devastatingly perfect storm for Coheed And Cambria leader Claudio Sanchez. Not only was coronavirus becoming a household name, the musician’s grandfather fell ill and his wife began her battle with an autoimmune disease. Looking within, Sanchez revisited his solo project The Prize Fighter Inferno for catharsis. The result is, on the surface, paradoxically brimming with good-time vibes. Amplifying Coheed’s hooks while ditching the rock attack, The City Introvert can be joyously sunny; More Than Love conjoins auto-tuned vocals with balmy synth, while the zippy chorus in Roll For Initiative would fit snugly on a Taylor Swift LP. The bait for prog fans is the ease at which Sanchez layers his tracks, but the heart here is a…

Magic in the air at early Soft Machine reunion. Back in 2003, the idea of a touring group of ex-Soft Machine members drawn from different points in the band’s history seemed fanciful. Yet this archive recording of Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper, Allan Holdsworth and John Marshall demonstrates what an inspired idea it was. Newer material serves the quartet well. Marshall’s ever-inventive drumming maintains a tight framework through which Dean’s lofty sax scratches fiery trails and dreamy lines. Holdsworth provides tonal contrast against Hopper’s probing bass, laying down elegiac folds of synth-enhanced chords from under which his legato playing scuttles free. Nods to their vintage repertoire, including a glowering reworking of As If from 1972’s Fifth, gives them a foothold to explore their collective past without being overwhelmed by it –…

Ex-Earthling Society chairman’s lockdown fever treat. Formed in 2018 by former Earthling Society composer/multi-instrumentalist Fred Laird and named after Nikolai Gogol’s 1835 novel, Taras Bulba follow up 2020’s Soul Weaver with an album that melts hallucinogenic pagan psych into shimmering dream gumbos of lockdown exotica. Inspired by a socially isolated diet of rockabilly cabin recordings, Nick Cave, and kung fu, horror and noir movies, Lancashire native Laird laid down cinematic mood pieces on a 24-track recorder in his spare bedroom, coating atmospheric panoramas in crackling electronic swells. Several songs are bolstered by drums and sax, while Daisy Atkinson’s spectral vocals turn the epic title and Cocteau homage Orphée into shimmering David Lynchevoking dreamscapes. Many of the tracks are begging for movies to accompany. One More Lonely Angel’s pastoral piano is…

They may be from Caen, France, but Veik’s heart lies in Berlin. This hip trio’s debut album, Surrounding Structures (Fuzz Club), is a deep dive into kosmische, kraut, new wave and postpunk. Wonky analogue synths, crunchy bass guitars, and a plethora of cool grooves build into their wry examination of the modern world. Drummer/vocalist Boris Collet is almost horizontally laconic, but run him through a vintage echo unit and he becomes an enthralling presence on the likes of Political Apathy and Life Is A Time Consuming Experience. Inaugurated in 2003, Kentucky’s Chest Rockwell have always had a little filth in their sound, and they’re focusing on big riffs on their latest. The Existentialist (chestrockwell.bandcamp.com) is strong, grinding, garagey stuff, owing a big debt to 80s metal, but with Rush and…

Introduction to folk trio led by former Steeleye Span man. It’s a bit baffling how a lot of British folk remains ghettoised, as if existing in an alternative universe to rock and pop. Then again, you could say the same about a lot of modern prog. And the folk music former Steeleye Span violinist Peter Knight has created with his own trio since 2008 has been of a distinctly progressive, ruminative variety. The name Gigspanner may not summon images of captivating, evocative instrumental beauty, but across this nine-track, hour-long compilation of their three albums to date, there’s an intoxicating atmosphere created. All but one of the tracks here are arrangements of traditional songs, but they’re a diverse-sounding collection, and unlikely to be much like versions the listener has encountered before.…

Alt-prog heroes unearth lost treasure for 18-disc box set. When Clouds Hill acquired the rights to The Mars Volta’s back catalogue, a grand vinyl reissue was inevitable. And this is truly grand: across 18 remastered vinyl LPs, La Realidad De Los Sueños lays bare the band’s fantastic discography and acts as a reminder of just how potent their music was. “A reminder of just how potent The Mars Volta’s music was.” Each of the six studio albums they made between 2003 and 2012 are included. Received ambivalently at the time, their dense and contrarian third LP, Amputechture, has aged well, while most recent album Noctourniquet is also overdue a re-examination. The latter is their most ambitious release besides 2003’s Rick Rubin produced debut De-Loused In The Comatorium, yet it stays…

Warm and richly detailed biography of The Orb’s mastermind. The Orb was, of course, the brainchild of Alex Paterson. His journey is fascinating: after a traumatic childhood, he used his intelligence, connections and talent to create the genre of ‘ambient house’ virtually single-handedly, patchworking together snatches of Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield, dub and Minnie Ripperton in a manner that was uncommon in the early 90s. Prog writer Kris Needs is the perfect biographer for this tale, as his career intersects with Paterson’s at so many points. One of Paterson’s oldest friends, Needs first met him while interviewing Killing Joke in the late 70s. Paterson had been at school with KJ bassist Martin Glover (Youth), and Paterson was to become their roadie. Needs was part of The Orb’s circle, DJing for…