Month: May 2023

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[Article] Omega — “Utazás A Szürke Folyón”/”Journey on the Grey River: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 20, 2023

As I will be busy on Sundays for the forseeable future, I will be posting articles on other blogs, or podcasts I find on Youtube, for your entertainment.  Today’s installation comes from the blog Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations, a great read for those of you who like weird psych music.  Today’s installment covers Omega, Hungary’s greatest progressive rock band.  You can read the article here.

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JOHN 3:16 – The Pact

Folks, we have a very long wait for JOHN 3:16’s next opus (April of 2024), but judging based on how good the samples have been so far, this is going to be the band’s most profound release yet.  The tension on the album reminds me of early, more Industrial-era Laibach with elements of the Swans, but with a more cinematic feel to it.  Be patient, the whole thing will come to be soon enough.

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Sinners Club and Groove Paradise – CHROMESOUL

I have to admit ignorance to what is known as barber beats, a sub-genre of Vaporwave, but if Sinners Club and Groove Paradise out of Spain are an example of what can be done with the genre, I quite like it.  The beats are infinitely more sophisticated than what you hear on most vaporwave releases (why most of these are given away for free), and the bass-heavy sound and relaxed groove makes for a chilled-out listening experience.

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Kuba Płużek Quartet – Froots

My first morning in Beijing gets its soundtrack thank to my friend Slava in Kazakhstan, who shared this slightly haunting bit of jazz fusion by polish bandleader Kuba Plużek. The swing on this album is dark but hip, and reminds me of the bands of his countryman, the long-departed Krzysztof Komeda.

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Ivan Grebenschikov – The Endless Winter

I’ll be in-flight over South Korea by the time you’re reading this post, and I thought I’d leave you with an incredibly rich and diverse album by Russian pianist Ivan Grebenschikov and his group.  The Endless Winter is his latest work, and it is a seamless combination of art-rock, contemporary classical music and prog, though more discerning ears might even find correlations to artists on the ECM and Enja Records stable.  Stunningly good.

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Omar Ahmad – Inheritance

Judging by the sole track available from AKP Recordings artist, the Brooklyn-based Palestinian-American Omar Ahmad, this album should be considered one of those albums you listen to at 3 a.m. in order to relax and be at one with God.  The chilled out atmosphere of the track Lapses is shimmering, but not overly so.  What won me over to this release was the interesting one-sheet I received with the promo kit:

“At times recalling the emotional landscape of Fennesz and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Cendre, Inheritance weaves an auditory narrative that evades genre constraints. Enveloping orchestral ambience gives way to hypnotic Arab poly-rhythms, dewy and playful nostalgic electronica, and shines a bright light into the dark depths of experimental meditations. One may note affinities with the work of Palestinian DJ Muqata’a or Kuwaiti experimental musician Fatima Al-Qadiri, but while Ahmad’s work may share some elements, both aesthetic and ideological, with these artists, his is entirely his own, marked by a particularly tender approach.”

High praise, but well-deserved so far.

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Amoeba Split – Second Split

Of all the scenes I’ve always felt was neglected in prog, it was the Canterbury scene.  That sub-genre which gave us Soft Machine, Caravan, National Health, Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers is of course big with specialist fans, but as the years have passed, it seems fewer and fewer listeners are hearing that wonderful sound.  Thankfully, there is Amoeba Split, a Canterbury-inspired band who hail from my ancient paternal homeland of Galicia in Northern Spain.

The band mix jazz fusion and progressive rock expertly, and the sound is so authentic that I had to remember the release date of this album (originally pressed in 2020).  What really makes this album a keeper is the brass arrangements, which remind me of bands like National Health.  Amazing.

Thanks to Rafa Dorado of áMARXE Records who advised me to listen to this.  I’m indebted to him for the experience.

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bu.re_ – dream sequence ii

Too dense and sumptuous to be labeled ambient music, what Los Angeles’ own bu.re_ offers is a ride on the clouds on your way to something approximating Heaven.  The drones emanating from these works are some of the warmest tones I’ve heard this year.  Bravo.