St. Vincent & LCD Soundsystem & Gorillaz - Progressive Rock Music Forum

I got to know both LCD Soundsystem and Gorillaz through BBC Glastonbury coverage years ago. Gorillaz were awesome and LCD Soundsystem pretty good, although I didn't think "prog" when listening to them. St. Vincent is one of these artists who I respect a lot because it's clear that they are creative and do quality stuff, but who don't click with me, due to incompatible musical intuition (similar to most of Bowie's output by the way).

jude111 wrote:

Here's a new question. Besides the 3 I listed, who do you think are the best contemporary purveyors of art rock in your opinion, heirs to the lineage est. by 70s-80s Bowie, Eno, Talking Heads, Kate Bush, et al?

Sufjan Stevens! I also love Foals and Everything Everything but it'd probably be too much of a stretch to include them here. Sufjan Stevens on the other hand seems prog enough for me.

Two contemporary bands that I think are a stretch are the 1975 and Arcade Fire. The 1975's track "Love Me" is totally 70s Roxy Music, but it's not really representative of their sound. I like them, but it's hard to call them 'art rock'. As for Arcade Fire, I loved their first and third albums (Funeral and The Suburbs), and their last two albums had some really good tracks on them. Their art rock credentials: Bowie loved them, and even played sax and sang on one of their tracks; and their album Reflektor (the same one that features Bowie) was produced by LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy (who played on Bowie's last album, and was asked to produce it, but he turned Bowie down [can you believe it?!]). My brain says "yes," but my heart says "no." I like them a lot, and clearly they aspire to "art rock" greatness, but at the end of the day, their music just doesn't sound like "art rock" (which is hard to define) to my ears...

Edited by jude111 - August 07 2018 at 20:00

Here's a new question. Besides the 3 I listed, who do you think are the best contemporary purveyors of art rock in your opinion, heirs to the lineage est. by 70s-80s Bowie, Eno, Talking Heads, Kate Bush, et al?

^Agreed, there's always an exception.

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On the upside, at least the Grateful Dead never were included.

Edited by SteveG - August 01 2018 at 10:14

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There was a time when members could add artists as they saw fit. This is the atfermath.
Talking Heads would never have been included had they been suggested today - mostly because prog related today is reserved for acts that either significantly influenced prog rock or somehow put their mark on it. Talking Heads can’t claim anything of that sort.
But yeah there was a time when prog related simply stood for kinda-proggy sounding.

“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

- Douglas Adams

Talking Heads should never have been included imho, so it would be a poor idea to continue down this path with LCD Soundsystem and St Vincent - two bands I really really dig btw.

“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

- Douglas Adams

King of Loss wrote:

I think St. Vincent is a great musical act! Sadly, I don't think it should get included here on the Archives.

Under the current sub-genre labels, I agree. I wish PA would add an "art rock" section. Then it would make a lot of sense. I think PA's been moving in this direction, with the inclusion of artists like Bjork, Tori Amos, Talking Heads, and Bowie - all of whom seem very out of place with their inclusion in PA.

Larkstongue41 wrote:

LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver has been under heavy rotation for me lately. Very fun album. That being said, I can't really see them being included in the database.

I was a fan of theirs going back to their original singles, but having said that, and I might be in the minority here, but I consider their album last year (American Dream) to be their masterpiece. He's often cited Eno & Byrne as an influence, and you'll hear it all over the new album. And it's such a deep album - rather than being front-loaded, like most albums, some of the best tracks are towards the middle & end (Call the Police, American Dream, Tonite, How Do You Sleep?).

Edited by jude111 - July 27 2018 at 08:31

LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver has been under heavy rotation for me lately. Very fun album. That being said, I can't really see them being included in the database.

Will have to check out St. Vincent.

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