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Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

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Available online from Issue 30

Azigza - Kriya

Cover art Combining influences from around the world can be a dangerous enterprise for musicians. There will always be some who call foul at the “appropriation” of sounds from other cultures, preferring...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Big Brother & the Holding Company - Live in San Francisco, 1966

Cover art Live in San Francisco 1966 is an early recording by the band, from July 28th, only about six weeks after Janis joined the band. The fourteen songs presented here are loaded with energy, great...  » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 2004-09-01)

Can Atilla - Omni

Cover art Here we have the new album by Can Atilla from Turkey. But before I go on with the music, I have to mention the again amazing cover made by Pablo Magne. Most albums which this great artist has done,...  » Read more
(Posted by Roel Steverink 2004-09-01)

Centrozoon - The Scent of Crash and Burn

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Centrozoon represents the combined talents of singer Tim Bowness together with the German duo of Markus Reuter and Bernhard Wösteinrich. The trio does a fine job navigating around...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2004-09-01)

Cursive - The Ugly Organ

Cover art Last year many in the prog community embraced The Mars Volta and their infusion of prog ideas (and excesses) into alternative/indie American rock. Cursive is another band making the same kinds of...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Daimonji - Improg

Cover art We really shouldn’t be surprised at the number of different projects involving keyboardist Hoppy Kamiyama and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida. After all, back in the 60s, nobody thought it was odd that...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Dave Sinclair - Full Circle & Into the Sun

Cover art Dave Sinclair has long been known as the main keyboardist in Caravan. During recording for the group's The Unauthorized Breakfast Item CD, a rift between Sinclair and longtime bandleader Pye...  » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2004-09-01)

David Bedford - The Odyssey

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Bedford reached a new high with The Odyssey from 1976. It's based upon the Odyssey which Odysseus undertook in the eponymous book from Homer. When you look at the back of the CD, among...

 » Read more
(Posted by Roel Steverink 2004-09-01)

David Bedford - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Cover art I never had the pleasure to hear this album when it was still only available on LP. The transfer to CD is fine, the noise is not disturbing this time. The subject of the album is the famous poem from...  » Read more
(Posted by Roel Steverink 2004-09-01)

Deborah Martin / Cheryl Gallagher - Tibet

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In 1999, composers Martin and Gallagher took a trip to the “land above the clouds” — so inspired they were by the experience that they composed an entire album which attempts to...

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(Posted by Peter Thelen 2004-09-01)

Eccentric Orbit - Attack of the Martians

Cover art Eccentric Orbit was founded by bassist Bill Noland, and includes Mark Cella (Pye Fyte) on drums and Madeleine Noland and Derek Roebuck on keyboards. The keyboard sounds veer heavily towards the 70s,...  » Read more
(Posted by Sean McFee 2004-09-01)

Frigg - Frigg

Cover art Not to be confused with the German Frigg, a jazz quartet led by guitarist Bert Wrede, this Finnish seven-piece is an acoustic fiddle orgy. Five members play fiddle at least part-time, bringing to mind...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Gentle Giant - Artistically Cryme, The Missing Face & Playing the Cleveland

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Gentle Giant’s headlining and support tours are further documented in three more marginal bootleg renditions from Voiceprint in the UK. Artistically Cryme is the first release, and a...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2004-09-01)

Heart - Little Queen, Dog & Butterfly, Bebe le Strange

Cover art Out of the Pacific Northwest, the two rockin' sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson and their band hit American radios in early '76 with "Crazy on You" and "Magic Man," two hits with a sound that combined an...  » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 2004-09-01)

Iconoclasta - Live in France

Cover art Is it amazing that the Mexican band Iconoclasta is still around? Yes, but on the other hand with the passion founder member Riccardo Moreno shows to keep the torch of prog rock in Mexico burning, it's...  » Read more
(Posted by Roel Steverink 2004-09-01)

Jeff Beck - Jeff

Cover art It’s hard to believe that Jeff Beck is pushing sixty. After successful recent endeavors incorporating techno, sampling, and tribal rhythms into his grab bag mix of backing tracks, the guitar slinger...  » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2004-09-01)

Joe Jackson Band - Afterlife

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This is not Joe Jackson’s first live album. There was Live 1980/86 and Summer in the City (2000) and (for the really dedicated fans) Joe Jackson Live (aka Two...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Kampec Dolores + Grencsó István - Koncert!

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After seeing the name Kampec Dolores around for several years, I finally get to hear them. While I’m still unfamiliar with their studio work, I’m happy to report that they put on an...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Kansas - Kansas & Song for America

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The first two Kansas albums contain some of the group's best material and show a band on the way up in their formative years. Commercial success for the band would not arrive until two albums...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Grimes 2004-09-01)

Larry Coryell / Badi Assad / John Abercrombie - Three Guitars

Cover art Larry Coryell and John Abercrombie have long been at the forefront of international jazz guitar, utilizing both acoustic and electric formats. Badi Assad is a Brazilian ace performer who had not...  » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2004-09-01)

Lesli Dalaba / Fred Frith / Eric Glick Rieman / Carla Kihlstedt - Dalaba Frith Glick Rieman Kihlsted

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Another super group of improvisers meet at the crossroads with this collection of seven dialogs. Fred Frith is well known to our readers as a proprietor of real time inspirational chaos while Lesli...

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(Posted by Jeff Melton 2004-09-01)

Magma - Rock Duo »Magma«

Cover art As the story goes, this German duo was unaware of a French band with the same name, and they certainly bear no stylistic resemblance to their more widely known and prolific namesake. Drummer Siegfried...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Mani Neumeier + Friends - Terra Amphibia: Deep in the Jungle

Cover art Terra Amphibia is the project which occupies Mani Neumeier during time away from Guru Guru. World music and East Asian culture appropriation are Mani’s hobbies, which find him jamming and flirting...  » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 2004-09-01)

Mar de Robles - Mar de Robles (MdR)

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This Chilean four- or five-piece (depending on where you look in the booklet) was a pleasant surprise. A rhythm section of fretless bass and subtle drum kit, along with congas and other assorted...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Matraz - Gritaré

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I’m a big fan of many female vocalists, with Tori Amos, Björk, Kate Bush, Jane Siberry, and others high on my all-time favorite artist list. It’s always been a disappointment to me...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Nautilus - In Search of Castaways

Cover art The Prudence label based in Germany is well known for their output of nice, romantic music. This new release by a young band called Nautilus (Martin Ludwig: Keys, synthesizer and sequencer; Werner...  » Read more
(Posted by Roel Steverink 2004-09-01)

Németh Gábor Project - Könnyü lépések (Easy Steps)

Cover art Németh is a Hungarian drummer and employs a large number of sidemen on this collection of ten tracks on the Periferic label. The music here is post-bop, or whatever one wishes to call music with a...  » Read more
(Posted by Sean McFee 2004-09-01)

Paul Rucker & Hans Teuber - History of an Apology & Oil

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Like Nels and Alex Cline, Satoko Fujii, and even Henry Threadgill (all with their various ensembles), Paul Rucker produces music that is usually referred to as jazz, but has such far-ranging...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Persuader - Evolution Purgatory

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Everybody has dark moods. It’s part of being human, and – let’s face it – this world is a pretty screwed up place. Those of us who don’t have lighter moods to offset...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Pineapple Thief - Variations on a Dream

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I hope I don’t turn anyone off by saying Pineapple Thief has as much in common with Radiohead, Coldplay, and Smashing Pumpkins as they do with anyone in the prog community. In my book,...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Poetica in Silentio - What Do Fish Know?

Cover art Over the last few years, a number of bands have tackled the problem of applying the best features of classic progressive rock to more modern sounds, and other bands seem to have achieved the same sort...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Quique Berro García - Sueños

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Is beauty enough? Good music can have many other qualities we love it for – power, originality, complexity, emotional impact, and so on. But is beauty alone sufficient to recommend a...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Satoko Fujii Quartet - Zephyros

Cover art Maybe it’s meant as a challenge to the listener, maybe not, but pianist Satoko Fujii has placed the most difficult track on her latest quartet offering first in sequence, as if saying, “You made...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Shine (Buckethead, Bill Laswell, Shin Terai) - Heaven and Hell

Cover art Given the list of participants in this recording (Buckethead, Bill Laswell, and Shin Terai with Nicky Skopelitis, Bernie Worrell and Robert Musso), several possibilities come to mind. It could be a...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Vanderhoof - A Blur in Time

Cover art Those who have heard of Kurdt Vanderhoof will know him as a member of the band Metal Church. I’m no fan of that band (or metal in general), but I had heard his other-band-cum-solo-project Vanderhoof...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2004-09-01)

Various Artists - Modern Drummer Presents Volume One - Drum Nation

Cover art Magna Carta has aligned with Modern Drummer magazine to bring you the best of who’s out there pounding the skins in the music world today. Eleven drummers on twelve tracks give a severe cerebral...  » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2004-09-01)

Various Artists - Ryko Twentieth Anniversary

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It's surprising that Rykodisc is still around, considering that the advent of digital recordings and CDs has now evolved and been relegated to old school. Since it is a year of anniversaries,...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2004-09-01)

 

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