In his previous releases, Tom Dyer has produced music in a wide range of styles, from melodic rock (with the True Olympians and New Pagan Gods) to art-punk (with
Rosenthal is best known as the founder of Projekt records and the leader of the band Black Tape for a Blue Girl, but Tanzmusik pre-dates both, released in ‘85 when Rosenthal was...
» Read moreGuerssen has been reissuing a number of obscure albums of music by artists I have never heard of or music that does not necessarily interest me. Case in point is the reissue of the Dutch minimal...
» Read moreThis is a compilation made largely redundant by the reissue of Vitale's first album, Sobre Miedos..., and although I'm not familiar with the bulk of Vitale's later work, the...
» Read moreFrom 1980 through 1984, the St. Louis Missouri based guitarist’s recorded output was mostly through collaborations with various other local musicians: Gale Ormiston, Walter Whitney, David...
» Read more[Regarding the Deluxe Edition]
Misplaced Childhood, Marillion's third album and usually the one everybody considers their masterpiece, was a really important album for...
» Read moreBased on a March 9, 1985 concert, Inner Landscapes has had two incarnations, both of them different enough to be notable. After (or around the same time as) his first three studio-based...
» Read more[Regarding the 1998 reissue]
Marillion's opus Misplaced Childhood is about as perfect a specimen of the neo-progressive genre as you'll find. I am no adherent of...
» Read moreThe first half of the 80s were troubled times for Wishbone Ash; the band that had created classics like Pilgrimage, the mighty Argus, and There’s the Rub only a few...
» Read moreGenerally speaking, spin-offs are never a good idea, but if you count Present as a Univers Zero spin-off then it's a terrific exception to that rule. Le Poison Qui Rend Fou was the...
» Read moreThere is a wealth of music to be found on Audion / Ultima Thule’s Auricle cassette label. Right off the bat, there are the Peter Frohmader classics Jules Verne Cycle and Orakel /...
» Read moreThe Monochrome Set is a band that I had heard the name of but never encountered their music. I believe that I first read about them through Archie Patterson’s early efforts with Paradox Music...
» Read moreYou'd really never know what a classic early 80s Marquee-era progressive rock album The Jewel is by the opener, "Higher Circles," a really abysmal, cheesy number that I'm...
» Read moreFor the uninitiated, The Muffins were a Washington DC based band who existed from about 1973 to '81. Despite that many years, they only released three regular albums during their career...
» Read moreSerenity... calm... stillness... These are the virtues most strongly imbued in the music of Takami's first recording Y. de Noir II, an album that is almost completely dominated by...
» Read moreCabo Verde aka Cape Verde is an archipelago of 10 volcanic islands 350 miles off the coast of West Africa. It was uninhabited until Portuguese explorers discovered and colonized it in the 15th...
» Read moreYet another crazy band. Establishing their premises strongly in the RIO realm, Etron Fou Leloublan's crafters weave intricate lines putting forth saxes in the forefront while silly lyrics...
» Read moreRevisited Records continues its reissue of the Klaus Schulze back catalog with another 12 CDs. I haven’t quite figured out their rationale, but they are releasing 12 a year covering the...
» Read moreBertrand Loreau is a French synthesist who has been composing and releasing music for the past 30 years. Listening to and learning from the masters Klaus Schulze and Vangelis, Loreau has an...
» Read moreBeta-lactam Ring Records has just reissued Edward Ka-Spel’s classic second solo album from 1985, Eyes! China Doll. This reissue is its first proper CD reissue and it comes in a...
» Read moreOriginally released in 1985 as a cassette on the ADN Tapes label, this was Sinigaglia’s first solo release after having been a member of the experimental world music trio Futuro Antico. The...
» Read moreSince 1984, Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard have created seven albums that stand the test of time: Dead Can Dance (1984), Spleen and Ideal (1985), Within the Realm of a Dying...
» Read moreThis French avant-garde troupe has been around for a while, and though I’ve seen the name around for ages, this odds-n-sods collection is the first I’ve really heard of their strange...
» Read moreThe release of Pneuma's CD represents a much-needed effort at filling the gaps in the huge hole that has opened up in Japan with this genre: that of the solo electronic / synth. artist. For...
» Read moreLacrymosa is a collective of musicians loosely organized around bassist Chihiro S. (see also Golden...
» Read moreIn the early 80s, performance artist Anna Homler crossed paths with avant-garde composer Steve Moshier, and this collaboration was the result. Moshier took recordings of Homler’s wordless...
» Read moreReleased in 1985, Mythes et Légendes, Vol. 1 is essentially a condensed overview of the Kobaïan story. It features extracts from several early compositions tracing the...
» Read moreThis incarnation of the band is the same as the one that released Church of...
» Read moreThis is the second album by this outstanding Estonian ensemble, probably better known as The Girl on the Beach (based on the photo on the front cover, all information on the original LP...
» Read moreMcLatchey's Second Tier
If Morning Jewel was about the slow album-side rise from silence to peak, Planetary Unfolding worked a similar magic with smaller...
» Read moreA repetitive pattern recalling the spirit of "Tubular Bells" introduces the listener, continuing long after its worn out it's welcome, creating a nervous tension – nothing could...
» Read moreMusea continues to unearth the most unknown and rare albums from the annals of obscure progrock history. Outer Limits were a pretty original Japanese band from one of the darkest times in prog...
» Read moreAfter the death of progressive rock at the end of the 70s, some of the survivors kept their band names and turned to more commercial endeavors, or else they were driven deep underground where...
» Read moreLegend has it that the idea for Urban Sax came into being around 1973, when the town of Menton in the south of France commissioned Gilbert Artman to reverberate the town with four amplified fixed...
» Read moreEveryone should at least be aware of who Kit Watkins is. His first gig was keyboardist with the acclaimed Happy the Man, who released two outstanding albums in the late 70s, for which Kit penned...
» Read more
2020-12-09
Harold Budd RIP –
Harold Budd, one of pre-eminent American composers of avant-garde and minimalism, has died of complications from the coronavirus. Budd came to prominence in the 70s, championed by Brian Eno on his Obscure Records label, with music that blended academic minimalism with electric jazz and electronic music. Much of Budd's best known work was done in collaboration with other artists, including Eno, Daniel Lanois, Robin Guthrie, Andy Partridge, John Foxx, Jah Wobble, and many others. »
Read more
2020-11-20
25 Views of Worthing Finally Gets Released –
A while ago, we wrote about the discovery of a "long lost" Canterbury-style gem by a band called 25 Views of Worthing. And now we're pleased to find out that Wind Waker Records has released their music on an LP. »
Read more
2020-10-14
Audion Is Back in Business –
Our esteemed colleague Alan Freeman has restarted Audion Magazine after a seven year hiatus. The new incarnation is available online on their Bandcamp site. Audion's history goes back to 1984, and included 58 issues up to 2013. Issue #59 is available now, and #60 is in the works. »
Read more
2020-10-06
Romantic Warriors IV – Krautrock (Part 2) Is in the Works –
Zeitgeist Media, the people who have brought us the great series of documentary films chronicling the history of progressive rock, are working on the second installment of their examination of German music. Krautrock 2 will focus on artists from Münich such as Guru Guru, Amon Düül II, Xhol Caravan, Kraan, Witthüser & Westrupp, and Popol Vuh. »
Read more
2020-09-09
Simeon Coxe RIP –
Simeon Coxe, best known for his experimental electronics in the band Silver Apples, has died at the age of 82. The band's 1968 debut album set the stage for both German electronic music and experimental punk music a decade later. Coxe died on September 8 from pulmonary fibrosis. »
Read more
Tokyo Jihen - Sports – Since its founding in 2004, singer Shiina Ringo's band Tokyo Jihen (The Tokyo Incidents) has been a very eclectic and creative entry in the Japanese rock scene. Their latest effort is no exception, a... (2011) » Read more
Release Music Orchestra - Bremen 1978 – Judging by the number of excellent recent releases, Radio Bremen must have been quite a treasure for European music lovers back in the 70s. This CD is a prime example. I’m not familiar with the band... (2005) » Read more
Claudio Rocchi - A Fuoco – Although Rocchi is probably better known for his earlier material on other labels, his offering on Cramps from 1977 A Fuoco (originally Cramps CRSCD 023) is a good showcase for his own talents... (1995) » Read more
Legend - Triple Aspect – Move over Annie Haslam. Legend is a British Pagan prog-rock band, fronted by the amazing voice of Debbie Chapman. In fact this writer heard their first record Light in Extension about five years ago,... (1997) » Read more
Strawbs - Ghosts – At long last, the Strawbs catalog is given proper treatment by the band’s first label, A&M, as one of five albums getting a much needed overhaul, Ghosts was the seventh album overall by the... (1999) » Read more