# Progressive-Avant Rock and Beyond



## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

_A place for likeminded individuals to explore modern/contemporary progressive rock music and beyond..._


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

*SONAR (Sonic Architecture)*












> Sonar is a progressive, post-minimal band from Switzerland. Their name stands for SONic ARchitecture, a name which alludes to their intention of creating polymetric and highly structured avant-rock. Static Motion is their second full-length release, and their first release outside of Switzerland. - Cuneiform Records
> 
> "...Sonar's idiosyncratic sound world...once you are in, you don't want to leave..."
> - Nik Bärtsch (pianist, composer and ECM recording artist)
> ...


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## Guest (Dec 17, 2014)

You're whistling my tune.
In 5/4.

Guapo.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

*Zevious*












> Zevious used to be a jazz guitar trio. Their 2007 self-titled debut CD featured a set of knotty jazz compositions and technical soloing that the group performed at jazz clubs. Very quickly thereafter, by the beginning of 2008, the band had broken away from the bonds of tradition and were developing a sound that had been developing and incubating since their first album. Mike ditched the jazz guitar for a Telecaster and DeBlase replaced his upright with an electric bass and they both picked up distortion pedals and cranked them up. Zevious began combining progressive rock grooves, tech metal, structured group improvisation, and complex song forms with a conventional jazz sound, creating a unique compositional style. - Cuneiform Records
> 
> Zevious split the difference between the Tony Williams Lifetime and the 80s Downtown scene...[they make] algebraic music feel wholly organic , almost swinging." - Jazz Times


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

*The Claudia Quintet*












> Formed by composer / drummer / arranger John Hollenbeck in 1997, this NYC ensemble's sound explores the edge without alienating the mainstream, proving that genre-defying music can be for everyone. Over the past decade, the group has released CDs that are critically acclaimed worldwide and whose appeal extends well beyond, as well as including traditional jazz audiences. - Cuneiform Records
> 
> "Rich with ambition and empathetic interplay...the Claudia Quintet doesn't...sound like anybody else. Which is exactly what makes them worth seeking out." - Los Angeles Times


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

*Miriodor*












> As of 2013 and the release of Cobra Fakir, Montreal avant-prog group Miriodor were still carrying the flag they first hoisted over 30 years earlier as one of the first groups on the "rock" side of the Quebec-based musique actuelle equation. At their inception, Miriodor could also be viewed as North American practitioners of the Rock in Opposition (RIO) style pioneered by such European groups as Henry Cow, Etron Fou Leloublan, Débile Menthol -- instrumental prog rock with the requisite technical skill and virtuosity but none of the pomposity that dragged down better-known prog outfits. Thanks to a quarter century of continued support from the Cuneiform label, Miriodor have documented their steady artistic growth on one CD after another, without the need to compromise their music according to popular tastes in the rock music marketplace. - Allmusic


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

*Bill laswell, raoul björkenheim, morgan ågren : Blixt*












> ...it's beautifully brutal and scintillatingly snarling, an arctic blast of synapse-cleaning, focused, furious racket with some capricious serenity here n' there. The players: An American-raised Finnish guitarist; a jack-of- all-trades American bassist/producer, and a Swedish prog-rock/jazz fusion drummer so good Frank Zappa asked him to join him for a Swedish tour, respectively. Björkenheim has a fever- ish, bittersweet tone with some judicious sustain (evoking John McLaughlin and late-period Jimi Hendrix); Ågren rumbles and rages with subtle flair, and Laswell's lithe, rubbery throb is the glue holding it together. Blixt is a zone where jazz erudition, punk/metal aggression, and intuitive free improvisation come together with the harmoniousness of a honey badger honeymoon. - Icon
> 
> Blixt is the first release by a phenomenal new power trio of three seasoned, world class musicians. Their music touches on many aspects of the most creative history of the power trio in rock music; the unbelievable sounds wrested from normal instruments that the Jimi Hendrix Experience gave to the world, the singular freedom used by Guru Guru and the grafting of together of rock, progressive, jazz and punk that was pioneered by Massacre (and the group in which Bill pretty much began his career). If Cream was the first guitar-led supergroup, Blixt is its present-day aftershock. Five decades on, the sound is heavier and darker, the mix of ingredients more transgressive, the origins of the musicians more global, and the harmonic and rhythmic palettes more complex. But at the core of both Cream and Blixt is an unholy marriage of rock and jazz, riffs and improv, the viscera and the cerebrum. And both bands, at their most confrontational, can peel the ears clean off your head. - Cuneiform Records


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I'm a Hollenbeck fan. I have several of his large ensemble albums. As for bands such as Miriodor, they just don't do much for me. Same for Univers Zero, Present, etc. I'd rather listen to contemporary chamber music.

Some albums I do enjoy:
5uu's-Hunger's Teeth
Dave Kerman-Abandonship
Thinking Plague-A History Of Madness
Mike Keneally-Scambot 1
Ben Monder-Hydra


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Does Arcade Fire and Wilco count as prog rock?


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

Wilco-the last great band!^^^^^^


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

Morimur, thanks for hipping me to _The Death Defying Unicorn_ by Motorpsycho & Ståle Storløkken.

Coolest stuff in that vein that I've heard in a long while...


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

albertfallickwang said:


> Does Arcade Fire and Wilco count as prog rock?


Uhm.......... no.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Speaking of Stale Storlokken, he's on a cool box set I picked up.
Released under the drummers name, but it's Terje Rypdal's music.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

That ^^^ looks very cool indeed, starthrower.

Hmm. I need to pull out Rypdal's _Odyssey_. Haven't played that in a long time.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

nm, something goes wrong.

Here is the link to the song:

Steven Wilson - The Raven that Refused to Sing.

That whole album is brilliant.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

JACE said:


> That ^^^ looks very cool indeed, starthrower.
> 
> Hmm. I need to pull out Rypdal's _Odyssey_. Haven't played that in a long time.


This link has samples of the Paolo Vinaccia set. http://www.gubemusic.com/label_1?grid=37&album=16359


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

This is a thread right up alley!

So many great bands in this arena.

Here's one on the more milder side of the avant-prog genre, but still plenty creative.

Aranis from Belgium -








Art Rock said:


> nm, something goes wrong.
> 
> Here is the link to the song:
> 
> ...


I am a huge fan of the entire "Raven That Refused to Sing" album. It sits squarely in the traditional prog genre, not too avant. But yeah, it's pretty close to brilliant.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Some old favorites:

Massacre: Killing Time (1981)















Fred Frith: Guitar Solos







Reeves Gabrels: The Sacred Squall of Now


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2014)

Swans.

Anybody want to sell them to me?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I'm kind of old school, but I do love me some Miriodor, Univers Zero, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, etc. 

Perhaps my favorite lately is Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Astonishing rhythmic complexity if you don't mind the occasional cookie monster vocals. I'll try to find a link when I get home.


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## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

Art Rock said:


> nm, something goes wrong.
> 
> Here is the link to the song:
> 
> ...


My whole family love that video and song. 
My five year old always wants to watch the one with the bird


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Weston said:


> I'm kind of old school, but I do love me some Miriodor, Univers Zero, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, etc.
> 
> Perhaps my favorite lately is Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Astonishing rhythmic complexity if you don't mind the occasional cookie monster vocals. I'll try to find a link when I get home.


Sleepytime Gorilla Museum was a very creative band.

Also worth checking out is some of the related bands: Charming Hostess, Species Being, Moe!kestra, Immersion Composition Society and several others.


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## samsondale (Nov 22, 2013)

Morimur said:


> http://miriodor.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/copy-053_laROQUE_cobrafakir-e1378776891348.jpg[/IMG
> 
> [MEDIA=youtube]7icnfCK-7JA[/MEDIA][/QUOTE]
> 
> Miriodor has been in my Amazon cart for years now. Which album do you suggest one should start with Them?


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

^^^
I have the 2 CD Parade/Live At Nearfest, but I find their music unsatisfying. They don't have any good melodies among the two albums. They are skillful musicians, but the music doesn't inspire me at all.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

gog said:


> Swans.
> 
> Anybody want to sell them to me?


The band is essentially just one guy: Michael Gira. I was an unrepentant fan in my early 20s but now I just find the music bereft of any creative or interesting ideas. The music certainly doesn't lack intensity and conviction, but it's just so dammed repetitive / primitive -- maybe that's the point, though I don't think Gira is capable of sophistication or complexity; he's a very limited 'musician', even within the confines of rock music.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

I started this thread because upon discovering the band 'Sonar' I became interested in progressive rock music again. Unfortunately, 99% of this music goes nowhere; the musicians can certainly play their instruments but can't compose anything remotely worthwhile. On a positive note, this musical ineptitude helps me appreciate Classical music all the more.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

You just have to listen to the right people.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

This is one of the most inventive 3 minute prog compositions I've ever heard.
Great lyrics too! It's about looking at a certain portrait in an art gallery.


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