progressive
Selling Insincerity | Abigail’s Ghost
Have you ever heard a short clip of a song from a new band a knew immediately you were going to buy the album and love every second of it? Isn’t that a great feeling? See for me, that’s as good as it gets. It’s my crack and iTunes is my dealer. Honestly, shit this good can’t be legal. If you like Porcupine Tree, Riverside, Dream Theater… buy this album and see how quickly Abigail’s Ghost floats to the top of your progressive rock recommendation list. These guys are already on my Favorite’s Page.
Danger Invites Rescue
It’s no secret, I’ve clearly got a fetish for progressive/post-rock/metal or whatever us kids are calling it these days. Isis, Pelican, Del Rey, and Russian Circles are among my favorites… but these guys are all pretty well known at this point (some more than others obviously). I’ve recently found another band among this genre that brings a fresh look.
Salival | Tool
Yes. We all know who Tool is. Yes. We know Dan loves Tool. Yes. We know Dan is in fact a tool himself. No. Dan didn’t know that Salival (2000) was a limited edition. If you want to find a brand new copy of this box set, you’ll have to fork out at least a couple hundred bucks or settle for a used copy for about $60. Is it worth it? You’re damn right it is. Let me tell you why.
Liquid Tension Experiment
What happens when you toss some of the most technically articulate progressive rock musicians in the studio at the same time to both write and record an entire album essentially on the spot? This is the premise of the Liquid Tension Experiment.
Seer
I have a habit of trying to ascertain the essence of a band’s sound by mixing sounds well defined by two or three artists. I recently ran into a band with the most peculiar mix bands… Tool, Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, and Coldplay. Four completely different sounds merged to form a unique, yet familiar sound.
No World For Tomorrow | Coheed & Cambria
There’s something about being an obnoxious listener that you’re never short of few bands you’ve chosen to ignore for years and years just because everyone told you they were good. We’ve heard this story about me before, and you’ll here it again. The particular band of interest this time around, Coheed & Cambria, has just put out their fourth full length… and I just now gave them on honest shot… and four more sales.
Gently Disturbed | Avishai Cohen Trio
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have an unhealthy obsession with a little place I like to call NYC. That obsession just sky-rocketed. Today, I fell in love with the NYC jazz scene. How could I have been missing out on this for so long? The band that triggered this notion was The Avishai Cohen Trio… absolutely incredible. Gently Disturbed is the kind of album that makes me wish I could write jazz.
The Mars Volta
You’re either going to love or hate this band. The Mars Volta is on a fine line where the music snob is likely to say they’re too commercial and structured, while the common listener is likely to say they’re too unconventional and off the wall. I think their music near blissful and they’ve got just the right amount of experimental in the mix.
In Absentia | Porcupine Tree
For some reason Porcupine Tree seems to be only known to the music elitists, and not even all of them. They are one of the few bands out there that have managed to blend superb composition with accessibility and top notch recordings. In Absentia (2002) is widely regarded as Porcupine Tree’s masterpiece and belongs in the library of any self-respecting obnoxious listener.
Resonance | Mad at Gravity
If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s finding good bands after they’ve broken up. Maybe the majority of Americans don’t like good music, or maybe I’m just slow to catch on to things. Mad at Gravity’s story goes something like that described in my last post on Pulse Ultra. Good band, wrong exposure, no more band. But that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on them completely.
