Roz Vitalis are a progressive rock band out of St. Petersburg, Russia, who have wowed audiences worldwide by blending symphonic prog with slightly more avant-garde tendencies. The tracks here are recorded live, but don’t let that dissuade you from trying out this album. The sound is crisp and full, and the performances are a nice development from their studio work.
Frutería Toñi seem to be the one band I’ve heard which balances the Rock-In-Opposition sound with symphonic rock. Quite an impressive feat.
Cuneiform Records has a great program where they announce that an album in their back catalogue gets offered at half-price, and as I had been wanting to hear this band (they feature drummer, composer and friend Lukas Ligeti) for a long time, I decided to risk it. It was well worth it. From the release’s Bandcamp site: “The Austrian five-piece band, Kombinat M, was founded in 1987 by Walter Hollinetz, Andreas Leikauf, and Erwin Redl. The group’s members, all of whom are trained in music or visual arts, share an interest in rock and jazz-based music, classical minimalism, and fine…
24 Rush Hours is a series done by Zga composer and multi-instrumentalist Nick Sudnick, and this is #15 of 24. The two long pieces are a pastiche of art-rock (think Rock-In-Opposition like Art Bears or the composers Alfred ’23’Harth and Heiner Goebbels). Add an element of Bertolt Brecht-like lyrics for theater and you have a fine series of avant-opera Sudnick keeps producing..
Ángel Ontalva is a Spanish guitarist who spends a great deal of time working in Russia whom we’ve featured here in the past, and he surprises us with a release of an album full of Rock-In-Opposition and chamber-rock influences. From his Bandcamp site: “The origin of this album is in the Rock In Opposition Festival 2014. For our participation I wrote new arrangements for some of the group’s compositions that, due to the difficulty of the scores and the lack of time to prepare them properly, were discarded. During these years I have fantasized about the idea of recording these…
We had the pleasure of reviewing a soundtrack by former Art Zoyd composer Thierry Zaboitzeff in August, and now we’re happy to announce that he has a 20-minute EP now available to peruse. The title track, Pagan Dances, will sound somewhat familiar to Art Zoyd fans, but he has added much better recording. The spirit of avant-progressive rock, dark and brooding, enriches the track. There is Zaboitzeff’s trademark cello work all over the piece, and this work would have fit well in a rescoring of The House Of Usher starring Vincent Price. Creepy, yes, but engaging. The second track, La…
Ángel Ontalva is a welcome site on this blog, and he has a new release to share with us. He continually surprises us by mixing a Rock-In-Opposition sound (think Samla Mammas Manna) and jazz-rock (maybe a touch of National Health). It’s unique, taking cues, of course, from some of his influences, but with guitar playing that sets it apart from other proggers. Another solid release by Ángel.
As a cellist, bassist, composer and former member of Art Zoyd, I’d venture to say that Thierry Zaboitzeff needs no introduction. However, what I didn’t know about him over these past few years was that he has been active making soundtracks. This particular one is for the movie Winds of Sand, Women of Rock, which is a film about a group of Tubu women traveling the Sahara Desert selling dates in Agadez, Niger. The film looks fascinating, but the music is equally so, bringing to mind a lot of modern minimalist composers (the usual suspects, like Philip Glass and Michael…
I have been a fan of Alexei Aigui’s ensemble work for at least 20 years now, going all the way back to his appearance on the excellent, though now defunct Russian label SoLyd (see the release here). He has become even more innovative, more progressive, and this latest album, Alcohol, will be appreciated by those who like chamber-rock, symphonic rock or even those into avant-progressive / Rock-In-Opposition-style music. You can purchase the album over at Apple or check it out on various streaming platforms by clicking this link.
I wish to thank my friend Slava, who is based in Kazakhstan, for introducing me into this avant-prog treasure. The Onségen Ensemble are a Finnish group who have a rather open personnel, which is in keeping with their mission statement. The sound is a mix of heavy progressive, psychedelic rock and a bit of raw, old-school metal. I think a band like this would feel at home with American labels like Cuneiform Records, but they want to forge their own path, and it’s a very, very loud one.