Lotus are an instrumental post-rock/post-metal band out of Pune, India. They have a pleasantly heavy groove that has a lot of more modern progressive rock influences. A solid EP.
-
-
Mexico’s new music scene is criminally underrated, which is a shame considering the immense talent hidden there. Yes, of course, we love boleros, the folk songs out of Veracruz and Yucatan, and the insanely good psychedelic music of the 1960s and 1970s, the Rock-In-Opposition of bands like Nazca, Decibel and Banda Elástica, all worthy listening. Let us introduce you to a new group called Muva. They evoke a cinematic aesthetic which combines atmospheres of many national cultures (think Scotland, Mali and Israel) surrounded by elements of rock, electronic, classical, tribal music and jazz improvisations. It’s not quite any genre, but…
-
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…
-
Peter Zinovieff passed away on June 23, 2021, but he left quite a mark on avant-garde music. The British-born son of Russian aristocrats, he sold his wife’s tiara for his first computer, and from there, he would work with some of the greatest bands of the 20th century including Pink Floyd and David Bowie, Todd Rundgren and a host of Krautrock groups before going into composing for computer on his own. This compilation of artists pay homage to the little-known but highly respected performer. All this came together, apparently, as an idea to give Peter a proper sendoff on Facebook. …
-
The spirit of Krautrock has spread well beyond the German-speaking world, and has for some time now. Primitive Air is an American collaboration between Drew Piraino, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Emil Amos reminds me of the more freaky (yet still gentle) parts of bands like Popol Vuh and modern bands like The Myrrors. This is a blissful little record, and it would have sit comfortably among the greats of German psychedelic music of the late 1960s and early 1970s had these folks been around during those heady days.
-
Igra Staklenih Perli were one of the greater monster progressive/psychedelic rock bands to come out of Yugoslavia (the band themselves were Serbian) during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and though some of their work could be seen as taking cues from legendary western groups like Pink Floyd, I hear elements of Can, Hawkwind, Jimi Hendrix and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, about the only metal period I like short of Black Sabbath. The only gripe I have with the album is the low mix. Music like this should be listened to at high volume, so the punch…
-
What a remarkable work this is. The Hauchzart Ensemble includes our dear colleague Wilfried Hanrath, who plays guitar, bass, drums, beats, synth and electronics on this album, along with Matt Getchell, who also provides electronics, synthesizer and beats. This album takes quite a journey, starting off with a track that, if you can believe it, reminded me of the better aspects of bands like Michael Cretu’s seminal electro-pop band Enigma. It sounded like a very accessible piece of electronic pop, which was a good start, but then the musicians started to really surprise me with elements of bands like Tuxedomoon…
-
The Doubling Riders were one of those bands that came out of 1980s Italy who were criminally neglected. It’s great to see this published digitally. This reissue came out today, and it was considered a big score in my collection when I had the vinyl version. From the Bandcamp site: The Doubling Riders were born in the middle of the ’80s from the ashes of the great experimental / minimal wave project A.T.R.O.X. around the trio of Francesco Paladino, Pier Luigi Andreoni, and Riccardo Sinigaglia (Professor of Electronic composition at Milan’s Conservatory). Starting from an electronic music approach and working…
-
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.
-
I seem to be running into a lot of Berlin-school style musicians recently, but this is the first one I’ve run into who is actually from the Berlin area. From Psycho & Plastic‘s Bandcamp site: Award-winning German author Dalibor Marković commissioned Psycho & Plastic to create an original soundtrack for his debut novel ‘Pappel. Die Geschichte eines Herumtreibers’ on the heels of their 2020 ambient masterpiece ‘Placid House’ and ‘Soundtrack 1: Schwelen’. Scheduled for a simultaneous release, book and album are deeply intertwined in form and content. ‘Soundtrack 2: Pappel‘ follows the novel’s tree-turned-human protagonist Konrad Pappel on his tour…