Progged Out!
Every so often I need a break from listening to prog. It’s a bit like eating too much chocolate. It’s sweet and tastes great, but too much and you kinda feel a bit sick! I just need another flavour for a while. To cleanse the palate.
So I have been listening to some other stuff, which seems to be taking the shape of more psychedelic rock, for want of a better term. I latched on to a Canadian band called Black Mountain who have just released their second album, “In The Future”. This is a cracking album. It’s a bit bluesy, a bit late 60’s/ early 70’s retro heavy rock. Lots of fuzzy guitars, you know the kind of thing. But then they go and add some mellotron and wobbly synths just to throw you off kilter a bit. The keyboard player, Jeremy Schmidt made a comment recently in an interview about the days when the mellotron was heavily used in rock music: “That period is a touchstone for all of us,” Schmidt says. “We all went through our dire goth phase in junior high school, and we listened to a lot of punk and alternative. But as we got older we came to appreciate the music that all that stuff was supposedly rebelling against.” That’s a very interesting comment by a young musician. Are musicians who are interested in doing something more adventurous seeing beyond what punk and journalists were supposedly trying to irradicate. Anyway, the album is not prog as such (I said I am having a break), but the song structures, arrangements and use of those keyboards does bring proto-prog to mind. They even have a 16 minute plus song on the album. I think this is a band with great promise.
Here is a list of some other stuff I have been listening to. But I will soon be back to prog as there is a new album from Beardfish coming up. Their last was one of my favourites from last year. There is also a new band called Demians who have received the Steven Wilson stamp of approval (which is good enough for me) and received an excellent review in the latest Classic Rock Magazine.
Howlin Rain ~ Magnificent Fiend
Six Organs Of Admittance ~ Shelter From The Ash
Battles ~ Mirrored
Earth ~ The Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull
Comets On Fire ~ Avatar
So I have been listening to some other stuff, which seems to be taking the shape of more psychedelic rock, for want of a better term. I latched on to a Canadian band called Black Mountain who have just released their second album, “In The Future”. This is a cracking album. It’s a bit bluesy, a bit late 60’s/ early 70’s retro heavy rock. Lots of fuzzy guitars, you know the kind of thing. But then they go and add some mellotron and wobbly synths just to throw you off kilter a bit. The keyboard player, Jeremy Schmidt made a comment recently in an interview about the days when the mellotron was heavily used in rock music: “That period is a touchstone for all of us,” Schmidt says. “We all went through our dire goth phase in junior high school, and we listened to a lot of punk and alternative. But as we got older we came to appreciate the music that all that stuff was supposedly rebelling against.” That’s a very interesting comment by a young musician. Are musicians who are interested in doing something more adventurous seeing beyond what punk and journalists were supposedly trying to irradicate. Anyway, the album is not prog as such (I said I am having a break), but the song structures, arrangements and use of those keyboards does bring proto-prog to mind. They even have a 16 minute plus song on the album. I think this is a band with great promise.
Here is a list of some other stuff I have been listening to. But I will soon be back to prog as there is a new album from Beardfish coming up. Their last was one of my favourites from last year. There is also a new band called Demians who have received the Steven Wilson stamp of approval (which is good enough for me) and received an excellent review in the latest Classic Rock Magazine.
Howlin Rain ~ Magnificent Fiend
Six Organs Of Admittance ~ Shelter From The Ash
Battles ~ Mirrored
Earth ~ The Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull
Comets On Fire ~ Avatar
posted by Barrie Sillars at
12:26 PM
3 Comments:
I know what you mean - I listen to a lot of other stuff apart from prog as well. At the moment, I am listening to Louis Armstrong and Blue States, which are not prog.
Black Mountain is on emusic and I've seen a few people refer to it. Some people have even put it in their prog lists!
Beardfish - I listened to one of their songs last year and it didn't grab me but I'll give them another try.
Other stuff I have been listening to ... Oblivion Sun, which is done by 2 members of Happy The Man. That's a good album. Also, I have been listening to the new live album by Izz - that's a very varied one. It has some very good parts but sometimes it's a bit too intense and eclectic for my tastes though.
I remember Happy the Man from a long time ago and got their recent one which was on InsideOut. I have seen mentions of Oblivion Sun, so will check that out. Izz I haven't come across yet!!
I do recommedn Thieve's Kitchen which I mentioned in the blog. This is a very unusual but satisfying release. Lots of Anglagard style keyboards with a National Health type vibe!
Izz are an American prog band that do a lot of prog festivals in USA.
Thieve's Kitchen - I will keep it in mind. I liked the album artwork.
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