Exposé Online » Reviews of releases for 2009

Steve Roach / Erik Wøllo - Stream of Thought

Roach should be well known to Exposé readers, and in fact Wøllo should as well – he’s a Norwegian guitarist who, at least these days almost always relies on...

Música Urbana - Música Urbana

Música Urbana was an eclectic Spanish fusion band who recorded this gem in 1976. With its sudden rhythmic and melodic changes, and rapid alternation between composed ensemble sections and...

Kevin Kastning / Sandor Szábó - Nógrád

This international duo of guitar explorers offer here a collection of fourteen compositions that they recorded on September 22, 2009 in Nógrád, Hungary. By my count,...

Amy X Neuburg & The Cello Chixtet - The Secret Language of Subways

Putting cellos and Amy X Neuburg’s amazing voice together seems like a great idea, and by the end of the opening track, “One Lie,” I was hooked. On it Neuburg lays bare the lyrics...

Demon Fuzz - Afreaka!

Demon Fuzz was a brass septet hailing from the UK, led by woodwinds man Paddy Corea, who spent time on the UK jazz circuit most notably backing Wilson Pickett on his British tours. An electric fuzz...

Steven Wilson - Insurgentes

Steven Wilson has single-handedly re-shaped modern prog rock through his various bands and projects that include Porcupine Tree, No Man, Blackfield, Bass Communion, IEM, etc. So for him to take...

Steven Wilson - Insurgentes

Porcupine Tree leader Steven Wilson is a shrewd businessman in this era of file sharing and limited edition recordings. His first official solo recording under his own name (aside from a few...

Moraine - Manifest Density

Moraine is a new Seattle-based five-piece led by guitarist Dennis Rea (please refer to our feature on Mr. Rea in issue 23 for more background), joined by a rhythm section of bass and drums, plus a...

Mike Keneally - Scambot 1

This is the first installment in a three-volume cycle, about a guy named Scambot, his cat Chee and the evil Boleous T. Ophunji (among many others). Mike Keneally is a triple threat as a musician,...

Mamabaoyou - Moni Rensheng (Analog Life)

Mamabaoyou is an instrumental band from Dalian in northern China, which is also home to the more well-known Wang Wen. Oddly enough, although the band’s name sounds Chinese, it is never...

Quicksilver Messenger Service - Reunion

Forty years after Quicksilver’s heyday, this 2006 live show recorded at The Sweetwater in Mill Valley featuring original members Gary Duncan and David Freiberg plus four more recent additions...

Yang - Machines

Some five or six years ago, French instrumental quartet Yang released their outstanding debut A Complex Nature on Cuneiform, then promptly disbanded, before playing even a single concert....

The Ukrainians - Diaspora

Hard to believe it’s been 18 years since this band’s first release. While they’ve hardly been prolific – only four studio albums in that time, along with a couple of live...

Hawkwind - Love in Space

A live album from the Alien 4 tour, featuring Dave, Alan, Richard. and Ron Tree. Judging from the photos in this neat little package, the tour props were pretty good. A Terminator...

Fast 'n' Bulbous - Waxed Oop

Fast ‘n’ Bulbous is one of several tribute bands that Cuneiform has been nurturing in the last few years (along with Mahavishnu Project, Yo Miles, and Ed Palermo’s Zappa tribute...

Taipuva Luotisuora - IV

One of the absolute greats of Finnish space rock and one of the best releases of 2009, IV, Taipuva Luotisuora's third album, was a clinic in how to push the genre in a new direction....

Big Big Train - The Underfall Yard

Years ago after a discussion on a list, the topic of Big Big Train came up and I ended up listening to the first part of English Electric and it didn’t go down so well at the time (I...

Radio Noisz Ensemble - Yniverze

I've always been drawn to one thread that came out of 60s music, a thing we often call world fusion or a hundred of other terms more or less meant to distill the essence of music that tends to...

SBB - Live in Theatre 2005 & New Century

They began life as the Silesian Blues Band in 1971, and shortly after became the backing band for Polish superstar Czeslaw Niemen, returning as simply SBB in 1974 to ultimately become one of the...

Polytoxicomane Philharmonie - Go Ape

It seems that this modern German outfit transmuted into the Chickencage Experience and never went back, but they went out on a high point with this radical and surprising double album. In a genre...

Blackfield - NYC - Blackfield Live in New York City

This is probably the way all concerts should be released: as a double disk with an audio-only version as well as a DVD concert video. One or the other will likely pop up on a torrent site or...

Indukti - Idmen

This Polish powerhouse’s earlier album S.U.S.A.R. from a few years ago blew a lot of minds wide open, as did their captivating performance at Baja Prog 2007. This writer was more...

Anthony Phillips - Missing Links Volume 4: Pathways & Promenades

Subtitled Missing Links Volume IV, this is the latest in that series, which I suppose supersedes the Private Parts and Pieces series. Similarly, though, this is a collection of...

Bill Mumy - The Landlord or the Guest, Speechless & Carnival Sky

If his name sounds a little familiar, it may be because many will remember him from his appearance on numerous television shows going all the way back to Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone...

Bill Mumy - The Landlord or the Guest, Speechless & Carnival Sky

If his name sounds a little familiar, it may be because many will remember him from his appearance on numerous television shows going all the way back to Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone...

Strawbs - Dancing to the Devil's Beat

I’m not sure what the dog licking a red popsicle on the cover represents, but this latest release by the full five- piece Strawbs celebrates 40 years since the release of the band’s...

Sándor Szabó / Kevin Kastning - Parabola

Like the previous Szabó/Kastning duets, Parabola consists of improvisations utilizing different kinds of acoustic guitar other than the standard variety – 6- and 12- string...

Pentatonic - If You Don’t Understand Then I Can’t Explain to You

I had never heard of this band before I saw them play live, opening a show for Wang Wen, China’s best known...

Ourself Beside Me - Ourself Beside Me

This oddly named band is a mainstay of the Beijing avant rock scene. They take their name (an old song title), and one of their members (guitarist Yang Fan), from Hang on the Box, a pioneering...

St Vincent - Actor

Imagine if Enya and Adrian Belew had produced offspring. Annie Clark (St. Vincent is essentially Clark plus guest musicians) has the former’s angelic voice and mesmerizing vocal arrangements,...

Saga - The Human Condition

The Human Condition is Saga’s debut release with new vocalist Rob Moratti. Not surprisingly, the group’s sound has changed with Moratti’s addition. After all, in addition...

Kansas - There's Know Place Like Home

Classic Kansas with an orchestra! Kansas celebrated their 35th anniversary in February 2009 by appearing with the Washburn University Symphony Orchestra in Topeka, Kansas. Unlike many rock /...

IQ - Frequency

Frequency is an important IQ album, since it’s the first time two new band members were on board since the early 90s. But rather than propel their sound forward, as they did with...

Pendragon - Concerto Maximo

Neo-proggers Pendragon seem to have taken a cue from Yes, with five DVDs on the market since 2002. So why another one? For one thing, this commemorates the band’s 30th anniversary, plus it...

Transatlantic - The Whirlwind

The Whirlwind was one of the most anticipated CDs of the year and it does not disappoint. Disc one is a 78-minute piece which is broken out into 12 sub-sections. Many people are concerned...

Phideaux - Number Seven

It’s been a few years since Steven Davies-Morris handed me a copy of Ghost Story on a rained-out Sunday at Baja, but as soon as I listened to it, it was evident that the songwriting,...

Karda Estra - Weird Tales

For his eighth album, Richard Wileman has turned to familiar and not so familiar topics, with pieces inspired by vampires, Max Ernst paintings, actor Peter Cushing, and the short fiction of...

Kenso - Sparta Naked

Fans of Kenso will certainly be familiar with the band’s album Sparta from 1989, a bold step in a more jazz-rock / fusion direction following their first three studio and double-live...

Flamborough Head - Looking for John Maddock

This Dutch outfit has been active since the early 90s, inspired by both 70s symphonic prog and 80s neo-prog. Their sound straddles the two, though for the most part they echo the warm and engaging...

RPWL - The RPWL Live Experience

German band RPWL have secured a devoted following over the past 10 years and five studio albums, due to a likeable sound that blends Genesis and Pink Floyd inspired prog with a modern aesthetic...

Unto Ashes - The Blood of My Lady

If you can imagine a medieval fantasy made for the Sci-Fi Channel – yes, it’s overwrought and romantic in a neo-Gothic sort of way, and frequently anachronistic – this could be...

Between Interval - The Edge of a Fairytale

It’s been a few years since 2006’s Autumn Continent, but this latest release – his fourth altogether – is well worth the wait. Between Interval is the creative...

Terra Ambient - Wanderlust

“Ambient” gets thrown around quite a lot, and both understanding of the term and of the genre seem to have finally and completely dissipated into catch-all meaninglessness... an...

The Tunnel Singer - Beyond Stillness & Dreams without Words

The Tunnel Singer is Lee Ellen Shoemaker, San Francisco based vocalizer with a long string of releases to her credit, most employing nothing but her voice and lots and lots of reverb, either...

Jon Hassell - Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street

Jon Hassell's first ECM recording as a leader is long overdue, but it is an understated ambient percussion mix consistent with the acclaimed trumpet player’s most pervasive recordings....

Ergo - Multitude, Solitude

A trio of drums, electric piano and synths, and trombone, although trombonist and bandleader / composer Brent Sroka spends at least as much time creating and processing sounds on the laptop, which...

David Parsons - Earthlight & Jyoti

Parsons is a New Zealand based composer with fifteen or so releases to his credit going all the way back to the early 80s; his work tends to draw its inspiration from his extensive travels...

Ars Nova - Seventh Hell

The opener “Seventh Hell” presents twelve minutes of intensely convoluted frantic bombast, busy and chaotic at every melodic intersection, though sensibly arranged; in short –...

Iconoclasta - Resurrección

If anything can be said about this long-running Mexican progressive band, it’s to expect the unexpected. The band has been going in various forms since the early 80s, and no two consecutive...

Panic Room - Satellite

The follow up to Panic Room’s 2008 debut Visionary Position builds on their strengths of solid songwriting, intrinsic melodicism, and intelligent arrangements, all supported by...

Judy Dyble - Talking with Strangers

For those of you not old enough to remember, Judy Dyble was Fairport Convention’s original vocalist who left after their first album. She then hooked up with Ian McDonald and the original...

Black Tape for a Blue Girl - 10 Neurotics

Well, I have to be honest right out of the box, here. The lyrical content of this disc is so intense, permeated in dark sexual fetishism and disturbing first-hand details of troubling personal...

Killick - Exsanguinette

This represents the beginning of a whole new chapter in Killick’s body of work, although there have been many chapters before, so one shouldn’t expect that this will be the last....

Trusties - Human Wheel

The last time we heard from this excellent Finnish band was their previous album We Just Want to Rule the World from 2003 (review in issue #29). At that point Trusties was a trio, with a...

Lava-Ox-Sea - Next Episode: Lord Smart vs Dr. Jin

This band from Hefei in the Anhui province of Eastern China (not exactly a hotbed of music as far as I'm aware) occupies what could probably be an uncomfortable spot that doesn't exactly...

Magma - K.A.

If the Theus Haamtahk Trilogie was Magma's live return to form, than surely K.A. was the group's return to form in the studio. The music from K.A. was all written...

Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin - Green and Blue & Hour Moon

The first new set of music in over 15 years from sophisticated pop duo keyboardist Dave Stewart and vocalist Barbara Gaskin is a strong reason for celebration. The two have not lost step with their...

Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin - Green and Blue & Hour Moon

The first new set of music in over 15 years from sophisticated pop duo keyboardist Dave Stewart and vocalist Barbara Gaskin is a strong reason for celebration. The two have not lost step with their...

Mystery - Destiny? 10th Anniversary Edition

This is a reissue of Mystery’s second disc, Destiny? Originally issued in 1988, it features original singer Gary Savoie along with main song-writer and guitarist Michel...

Rebuilding the Rights of Statues - Watch Out! Climate Has Changed, Fat Mum Rises...

The band with the awkward name has released an album with a name even more awkward. The band is generally called Re-TROS, and I'll call the album Watch Out. Since their 2005 release...

J21 - Yellow Mind - Blue Mind

J21 is the stage name of a Spanish guitarist who, judging from the list of collaborators here and on his other projects, is getting a lot of attention in musical circles. This CD features Trey...

Holloway - Illusions

Holloway is a new band from Michigan, currently operating as a quintet, though the band that recorded this debut was just the threesome of Ross Morgan (guitar, vocals, drums), his brother Josh...

Soft Heap - Soft Heap

Another splinter project of the Soft Machine / National Health ilk, Soft Heap was described as the "living evolution of the Softs" going forward into the present day (even though Gowen...

Contraction - Live 1974

Like many fans of 70s Canadian progressive rock, I really enjoy the first two Contraction albums, but I really had no idea from those how truly professional and what a peak level the band was in...

Happy Birthday Secret Weapon - Ground Floor Coming Up

This Seattle-based band takes an interesting turn away from standard guitar power trio sounds. Certainly more complex (especially rhythmically) than your standard rock fare, they haven’t...

Odyssice - Silence

Dutch band Odyssice’s new album has been several years in the making, but it was worth the wait. The band has gone though some changes since 2000’s Impression, most notably the...

Stefan Poetzsch - Light On

Born into a family of musicians and artists, Stefan Poetzsch started studying classical violin at music school in Magdeburg, East Germany in 1970. In the mid-70s he heard a radio broadcast of music...

Peter Gach - Fresh Piano

Californian pianist Peter Gach here presents a set of pieces by five different contemporary composers from his home state; a variety of styles are represented, from decidedly lyrical to angular and...

Polytoxicomane Philharmonie - Go Ape

Apparently this is the fourth release by this German five-piece that’s somehow flown under my radar since their 2003 debut. The fact that there are only eight tracks spread across these two...

Twelfth Night - Smiling at Grief & Art and Illusion - The Definitive Editions

Those interested in discovering the roots of neo-prog owe it to themselves to explore the music of Twelfth Night, and I can’t think of a better place to start than here. Smiling at Grief...

Haiku Funeral - Assassination in the Hashish Cathedral & If God Is a Drug

At hand we have the second and third releases by Haiku Funeral. The nine tracks of Assassination in the Hashish Cathedral explore dark grotesque soundworlds, laced with disturbing gothic...

Lalo Huber - Lost in Kali Yuga

Lalo Huber is the keyboard player for Nexus and this is his first solo album. This 79-minute disc is mostly instrumental with a couple of vocal songs. The centerpiece of the disc is the four-part...

Flood - Tales from the Four Seasons

Flood is a one man band who plays all the instruments (acoustic guitar, keyboards and clarinet, among others) on this CD which gives us four tunes, one for each season. The entire CD is a tranquil...

Fibonacci Sequence - We Three Kings & Numerology

This Milwaukee-based band’s name may have you expecting some sort of robotic math rock, though there’s little in the way of Frippian interlocking guitar patterns here. Instead these two...

Esthema - The Hereness and Nowness of Things

This American band features a trio of guitar (electric and acoustic), violin, and oud / bouzouki backed by electric bass and drums, plus guests on percussion and cello. The lead role is most...

Engineers - Three Fact Fader

Engineers were a band many pegged to go big, but the implosion of their label after the release of their 2004 debut threw them into limbo. The time off allowed them to slave over these 13 songs,...

Eidôlon - Dreamland

Eidôlon is a French band consisting of a keyboardist / guitarist, violin / bass, and a drummer. Dreamland is a seven-part 50-minute piece based on a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. The disc...

Distinguished Panel of Experts - Trans-Indulgent

These experts are well known to most Exposé readers: bassist and primary expert Mike Sary (French TV), keyboardist Guy Leblanc (Nathan Mahl, Camel), guitarist Shawn Persinger...

Chance:Risiko - Sleep Talking

The first thing I’d have to say about this four-piece from Bologna is that they really don’t sound Italian, which of course is an absurd thing to say, since a whole country can’t...

Celestial Oeuvre - This Mortal Coil

The story around this album is a sad one. New Yorkers Celestial Oeuvre had just finished work on the follow up to their 2004 debut Second Chance when keyboard player / bassist / guitar...

Magma - Merci

With a seven year hiatus since Magma's previous studio album, Merci finds Vander pushing a completely new sound for the band. The influence of early 80s pop music is fairly strong...

Gunda Gottschalk / Xu Fengxia - Youlan

Here we have a set of live improvisations with Gunda Gottschalk, a German violinist, and Xu Fengxia, a Chinese guzheng player; both of them also provide vocal sounds. The guzheng is an ancient...

CJ Boyd - Aerial Roots

I previously encountered C.J. Boyd with his group Sexxxtet (reviewed last issue), and while this recording features him without the cellos, there are definitely some musical similarities. The...

Asia Minor - Between Flesh and Divine

If symphonic rock is defined by keyboard sounds that sit in for groups of strings and larger groups then it might be arguable if Crossing the Line truly fell in that category due to the...

Asia Minor - Crossing the Line

Hailing from the same year and country as my previous selection, Asia Minor were actually formed by two young Turkish men in Paris, and despite their love for the English symphonic and progressive...

Porcupine Tree - The Incident

The Incident is Porcupine Tree’s tenth studio album. The double vinyl limited edition comes housed in a PVC slip case including a 48-page 12” book with the usual artsy photos...

Gong - 2032

In 2032, or so the legend goes, Planet Gong finally makes contact with Earth. And I guess that you can consider 2032 to be the fourth part of the Radio Gnome trilogy. This new release is...

Magma - Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré

Listening to the new Magma album is kind of like visiting an old town you used to live in thirty years ago. As you walk around you see some of the old landmarks you used to know, but there are many...

Robert Normandeau - Figures

Clocking in at exactly 60 minutes is Robert Normandeau’s latest release of acousmatic music. The opening piece is "Le Renard et la Rose" ("The Fox and the Rose"). This is...

Area - Caution Radiation Area

McLatchey's Second Tier

I've noticed on many Area fans' lists this one tends to drop a bit lower and I'd even put it in third place in their catalog. But it's...

Jesca Hoop - Kismet & Hunting My Dress

I missed this extraordinary songwriter's debut back in 2007, but when I heard her second effort I immediately sought it out. Kismet is a stunning entry into what might be called the...

The Allman Brothers Band - Eat a Peach

McLatchey's Second Tier

I always felt this was a bit of a sister album to At Fillmore East even if its studio record was more of a follow up, but this was essentially...

Various Artists - Hur! Hommage à la Musique de Christian Vander

On the occasion of Magma’s 40th anniversary as a band, Soleil Zeuhl has assembled this excellent tribute compilation featuring an array of artists, including several former members of the...

Yochk'o Seffer - Condor

That’s not a typo, this is a whopping three discs of essentially free-folk-jazz sax playing with varying levels of accompaniment, purely instrumental with the exception of one spoken poem on...

Faust - C'est Com... Com... Compliqué & Is Last

Beginning in the lush, disco-free Eurozone of the 70s, beneficiaries of finally reliable synthesizers, a well-defined tradition of art music tape experimentation, post modern euphemisms, and a...

Gong Global Family - Live in Brazil 20 November 2007

November 20th, 2007 is the date, one of three shows in Brazil that year. Daevid Allen and Josh Pollock (University of Errors) are joined by a number of Brazilian musicians (members of the Invisible...

Morbid Angel - Blessed Are the Sick

McLatchey's Second Tier

Within the death metal genre this is easily considered one of the prime classics, but outside of the field, its high musical pedigree and unusual...

Sophya Baccini - Aradia

Hers was one of the most powerful voices in Italian rock when she fronted the band Presence in the mid-to-late 90s, with albums like The Sleeper Awakes and Black Opera to their...

KTU - Quiver

The follow-up to the first effort from the partnership of latter day King Crimson rhythm section (Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelloto) with accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen is a must for fans of Crimson and...

Lee Abraham - Black & White

On this album Lee Abraham is treading a similar path as countryman Steve Thorne (see Roundtables, this issue), though overall these songs have a stronger metal quality to them, especially in the...

Nevärlläjf - Klusterfloristen

Nevärlläjf is a young Swedish quintet of synths, guitars, bass, and drums. By young, I mean that these guys were in high school in 2005. Yet their music belies their age with its...

Delta Red - Gama de Espectros

Delta Red is a progressive jazz-rock trio hailing from Querétaro, Mexico who play aggressive instrumentals heavily influenced by King Crimson’s Red. The title track opens the...

Bertrand Loreau - Réminiscences

Bertrand 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...

Garaj Mahal - More Mr Nice Guy & Discovery

Garaj Mahal takes some of the classic elements of 70s fusion and makes them work in today’s musical climate. While the music is sometimes on the funky side of rhythm, the jazz feel always...

Magenta - Home, New York Suite & Night and Day

My goodness this band has been busy. Or I should say: Rob Reed has been busy, since he’s the creative engine that runs this group. He’s had time to do all this plus the Chimpan A side...

Fred Frith - Nowhere. Sideshow. Thin Air.

As one might guess from the title, this is a three-in-one – in this case three commissioned dance pieces by three different choreographers (one recent and two a bit older) that coexist...

Osada Vida - Uninvited Dreams

Poland is bursting with talented groups these days and I’d put this quartet near the top of that list. Their sound is similar to countrymen Riverside in that they can delve into heavy duty...

Steve Howe Trio - Travelling

Steve Howe’s jazzy organ trio plays with the entire groove that this traditional jazz configuration demands, and then some. Together with his oldest son Dylan on drums and Ross Stanley on...

Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship

What if Can and Cluster merged? Grinding retro-sequencers and synthesizers have an old eight-bit tone to them on this record – the funny result is like Kraftwerk totally rocking out. Yes, the...

Volcano the Bear / La STPO - The Shy Volcanic Society at the Bear and Bird Parade

No, it’s not a collaboration between these two BLR mainstays, it’s a split realease with five VTB tracks and four by La STPO. Volcano the Bear take us on a journey to a farm — I...

No Name - 20 Candles

No Name may be the only prog rock band from Luxembourg. They currently have four studio albums under their belt, their most recent being the creatively named 4 from 2006. 2008 marked the...

Lisa Gerrard - The Mirror Pool

Lisa Gerrard is the prime mover behind 4AD trailblazers Dead Can Dance. Her sometimes spooky, sometimes playful vocals have earned her a modest following in the art-rock crowd, often evoking the...

Bacamarte - Depois do Fim

Let me just begin this by saying this album is unquestionably the best Brazilian symphonic progressive rock album. Keep also in mind that it hasn't had much competition until the last few...

Honeyelk - En Quête d'un Monde Meilleur (Stoyz vi Dozévéloy Reissue)

An almost legendary album in French rock, Honeyelk's Stoyz vi Dozévéloy was originally released in a limited pressing of only 1000 copies. The band was a quintet of bass,...

I Numi - Alpha Ralpha Boulevard

Probably the only thing interesting about this album is that the cover is a photo by Nagel. Everything else is typically average beat / psych rock heavily influenced by the Beatles. Lots of short...

Hawkwind - Chronicle of the Black Sword

This incarnation of the band is the same as the one that released Church of...

Dedalus - Dedalus

Dedalus were the jazziest of the Trident groups and this, their debut, has been the only one reissued of their two albums. Dedalus were very similar to the laid back fusion of Perigeo, with spacy...

Christian Vander - Wurdah Ïtah

Originally released as a film soundtrack credited solely to Christian Vander, Wurdah Ïtah was recorded by a quartet extracted from the 1974 lineup; one of the smallest incarnations of...

Deborah Martin / Erik Wøllo - Between Worlds

The worlds in this case are the spirit world and the physical world, the bridge between them according to Native American beliefs are the ritual, the healing and the magic, and on the music...

Sebkha-Chott - De la persistence & Niglah

Sebkha-Chott is a band of wild and crazy young French musicians playing music that is so bizarre and unclassifiable that I do not know where to begin. I reviewed their second release...

Geoff Leigh / Yumi Hara - Upstream

Multi-instrumentalist Geoff Leigh is probably best known for his tenure with Henry Cow, but has also worked with Slapp Happy and Canterbury legends Hatfield and the North; here he sticks mainly to...

The Thurston Lava Tube - The Year of the Dog

As a late-comer to the warped avant-surf world of Alan Jenkins and The Thurston Lava Tube, I’m playing catch-up with the back catalog. I already covered the reissue of

Gilgamesh - Another Fine Tune You Got Me Into

Gilgamesh's second album is a work of rediscovery for the original two lead voices of the band, Phil Lee (guitars) and Alan Gowen (keyboards). Gowen had just returned from a tour of the U.S....

Venegoni & Co. - Sarabanda

The second Venegoni album, Sarabanda, continues onward from the first, perhaps replacing some of the experimentalism with refinement, and some of the subtlety with a willingness to rock....

Itoiz - Itoiz

While the Basque country is politically part of Spain, Itoiz gives plenty of reason to count it as a separate entity. There is an influence in this music that is definitely indigenous to this small...

Carsick Cars - You Can Listen, You Can Talk

I wrote about this Chinese band’s debut recording back in #36, and their core esthetic...

Zao - Ethnic-3 Live

Since the band was founded in the early 70s by ex-Magma members François Cahen (piano) and Yochk'o Seffer (saxes), theirs has been a constant evolutionary path, with no two consecutive...

Various Artists - Psychedelic Underground 11 - 15

Beginning with its first year of operations, Garden of Delights has released a yearly limited edition Psychedelic Underground sampler containing the best track from each of their 9...

Cathedral & Rum - The Moon Is the Lord of Twisted Trees

The Brimstone Solar Radiation Band - Smorgasbord

Runaway Totem - Manu Menes

The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

Necronomicon - Strange Dreams

Rick Miller - Falling through Rainbows

Josiah - Procession

Area - Arbeit Macht Frei

McLatchey's Top Tier #3

The singular Italian jazz rock band of the 70s created classics after this one, but I'm not sure any of their other albums had quite the grooves this one did....

Neil Rolnick - The Economic Engine

Three Shanghai Bands

These three bands hail from Shanghai, a city known for avant-garde music, and they certainly fit that categorization; they share members, several of whom have also worked in other prominent...

Three Shanghai Bands

These three bands hail from Shanghai, a city known for avant-garde music, and they certainly fit that categorization; they share members, several of whom have also worked in other prominent...

Ange - 1995 Musea Reissues

These seven titles by the legendary Ange represent part of Musea's big score from absorbing the Baillemont label late last year. Although most of these have been released on CD before — not once,...

Gentle Giant - King Alfred's College

Gentle Giant - 2005 DRT Remasters

[Note: This review was written upon the release of the albums on DRT in 2005.]

DRT is Derek Shulman’s US based label, which has taken ownership of the band’s North America CD...

Gentle Giant - 2005 DRT Remasters

[Note: This review was written upon the release of the albums on DRT in 2005.]

DRT is Derek Shulman’s US based label, which has taken ownership of the band’s North America CD...

Gentle Giant - 2005 DRT Remasters

[Note: This review was written upon the release of the albums on DRT in 2005.]

DRT is Derek Shulman’s US based label, which has taken ownership of the band’s North America CD...

Gentle Giant - 2005 DRT Remasters

[Note: This review was written upon the release of the albums on DRT in 2005.]

DRT is Derek Shulman’s US based label, which has taken ownership of the band’s North America CD...

Gentle Giant - In a Glass House

[Note: This review was written upon the remastered release version of In a Glass House from 2000]

Having owned the re-issue of this album by the Terrapin Trucking Company, I...

Retsam Suriv - Exégesys

Peter Hammill - Thin Air

Nels Cline - Coward

Steve Roach - Destination Beyond, Afterlight, Immersion: Four

Steve Roach released these three CDs as an individually numbered boxed set or as separate items. As with any minimalist music, you are not on the fence: as you either love it or loathe it. All...

Steve Roach - Destination Beyond, Afterlight, Immersion: Four

Steve Roach released these three CDs as an individually numbered boxed set or as separate items. As with any minimalist music, you are not on the fence: as you either love it or loathe it. All...

Steve Roach - Destination Beyond, Afterlight, Immersion: Four

Steve Roach released these three CDs as an individually numbered boxed set or as separate items. As with any minimalist music, you are not on the fence: as you either love it or loathe it. All...

Jeff Greinke - Virga

Peter Garland - String Quartets

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Playing the Piano / Out of Noise

Phased - A Sort of Spasmic Phlegm Induced by Leaden Fumes of Pleasure

Colour Haze - Burg Herzberg Festival 18.Juli 2008

Earthling Society - Sci-Fi Hi-Fi

Knitting by Twilight - Riding the Way Back

Present - Barbaro (Ma Non Troppo)

Crimson Jazz Trio - King Crimson Songbook Volume 2

Piano Circus featuring Bill Bruford - Skin and Wire

Neil Haverstick - Spider

Slivovitz - Hubris

Edward Ka-Spel - The Painted River of Regrets

During the Legendary Pink Dots 2008 tour they were selling Edward’s The Painted River of Regrets as a limited edition of 399 CDr copies. These were rapidly sold out and...

Edward Ka-Spel - O'er a Shalabast'r Tyde Strolt Ay

Edward Ka-Spel records and releases two basic types of solo music, songs and experimental music (collages, found sounds, and electronics). O’er a Shalabast’r Tyde Strolt Ay is an...

Shawn Phillips with J Peter Robinson and Paul Buckmaster - Living Collaboration

Hot on the heels of his Living Contribution concert DVD is Living Collaboration recorded at the Minnesota Zoological Gardens the evening of July 19, 2008. Living...

Shawn Phillips - At the BBC

Back in the early to mid 70s Shawn Phillips was in the heyday of his career. This CD presents three different BBC radio sessions (May 10, 1971, March 7, 1973, and October 1, 1974) from this fine...

Drifting in Silence - Facewithin

Drifting in Silence is the electronic brainchild of composer and multi-instrumentalist Derrick Stembridge and Facewithin is his fifth release of ambient-based dance music. The eight...

Forgas Band Phenomena - L'Axe du Fou

Patrick Forgas is a French drummer who has been releasing jazz-rock fusion gems since the late 70s. The latest incarnation on Cuneiform Records finds Patrick and his band mates Sebastien Trognon...

Syzygy - Realms of Eternity

There is definitely something going on with progressive music these days. As we near the end of the first decade of the 21st Century it appears that we are emerging from the doldrums with some...

Forrest Fang - Phantoms

Copernicus - Disappearance

Brainstorm - Smile a While

The Smell of Incense - A Curious Miscellany

Daemonia - Dawn of the Dead / Zombi

Soft Machine - Live at Henie Onstad Art Centre 1971

Travis Larson Band - Rate of Change - Live

Low Wormwood - We Can't Help Kissing Each Other

Les Anciens - Les Anciens

Salvation - 1st & Gypsy Carnival Caravan

Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette - Somewhere

White - White

Terje Winther - Electronic Regions

Tom Baker Quartet - Look What I Found & Save

RandomK(e) - Waiting

Simon Steensland - Fat Again

miRthkon - Vehicle

Manooghi Hi - Manooghi Hi

Gutbucket - A Modest Proposal

Katzenjammer Kabarett - Grand Guignol & Variétés

Basilwink - Bipolar Bliss

Level ∏ - Electronic Sheep

Procosmian Fannyfiddlers - Requiem Fatigue

Zoppo Trump - Zoppo Trump

Govea - Danza Urbana

Bone Cave Ballet - The Echo of Entropy

Yggdrasil - Yggdrasil