About your native progressive rock bands

progkidjoel wrote: Australia = Inept at listening to or producing decent prog. Its like me and my dad who listen to prog, thats basically it.

Our first ever forum member (the esteemed DUDE) was (and still is) from Australia. We have several Collaborators from Australia (I know at least three).

Australia = Inept at listening to or producing decent prog.

Its like me and my dad who listen to prog, thats basically it.

I'm from Czech Republic, 10 million people, communism history, restricted rock (bad western by their words) music, but some pearls can be found.

If anyone will be interested, I can make mix of songs by different groups as a sample of our music. Get it to some free server and send you link (thru PM, I don't wanna spoil this forum ... or corrupt :-D)
Take it or leave it, I can tell you about great band Synkopy, but if you don't know it, you wouldn't understand.
I didn't believe that italian rock can be good and now, I'm listening it a lot.

cacha71 wrote: In Greece, (not actually my native country but I've lived here long enough!) I wouldn't say there was a very strong prog scene, the obvious band which come to mind are Aphrodite's Child, especially their classic album 666, also Akritas and P.L.J. Band aren't bad.  I recently heard the psych prog band Will-o-the-Wisp, and was impressed.  Another superb band, in the same vein as Will-o-the-Wisp, is Purple Overdose, though not listed on this site.

Strangely, the first post about Greek bands, comes from a non-native... Thanks for that!!! The second comes from a native who lives abroad...

To add to your thoughts, from the 14 bands/artists listed on this site (apart from the ones you mentioned), FRAGILE VASTNESS, HORIZON'S END and WASTEFALL have produced some good albums. In particular, the former have been around for quite a while...

Vangelis has his own history in world music...

Brazil have a lot of good prog bands, but people here have short memory too, and a minimum interest in new things, so the bands suffer a lot, but, hey, just take a look over here (http://www.progarchives.com/Bands-country.asp?country=108) and see how many, and how good our bands are

I am really proud of Prog Rock made in Brazil, the most are really special and fantastic.




Edited by ProgShine - March 28 2009 at 01:59

I think Prog Rock is mainly a Northern Hemisphere thing although I can see South America features strongly. It has never been  huge for bands here, to play prog rock. We have had the odd attempt with Ragnarok(NZ), Airlord who were 70's bands and Split Enz from both 70's and 80's. I am sure there were other prog related bands but they were never established long enough to make an impression here. Most of our talented musicians headed overseas to make their fortune and they still do now. The  New Zealand music scene has always been dominated by popular music and in the past decade or so, has seen a rise in rap/hip-hop of the Polynesian Pacifica variety. We have had a notable number of great post-punk bands and some great heavy metal bands. Unfortunately, the prog scene is rather arid in this country. I have discovered prog by word of email (friends who live in Europe) and from PA. to whom I owe a huge debt for my continued interest in Prog Music.

Eapo_q42 wrote: Micky: Yeah, that sounds prefectly reasonable and I'm a rational guy. The only problem is monetary, really. I've thought about RPI a lot, as so many prog fans put albums from the genre in their top 10's or 20's whatever. But i've just been afraid of spending money on a pricey import (i live in Australia, prog can sometimes be hard to find locally) and then feeling like it's "nice" but not really my thing, you know? So if it's not too much trouble, could you tell me what the general "sound" of some of the premier italian bands is similar to? (example: such and such band has saxophone similar to VDGG, or such and such band has weird percussion similar to KC, etc, etc.) If this is too difficult a task, don't sweat it, I won't mind.

Why don't you start with the MP3 samples here on the site? Go to the main page of RPI, and you'll find a nice selection of songs. From those you should already be able to determine whether the language problem is too much for you, or if you are willing to explore further. We could recommend you a lot of stuff here, but ultimately it is your ear that has to decide what sounds 'right' for you.

Micky:

Yeah, that sounds prefectly reasonable and I'm a rational guy. The only problem is monetary, really. I've thought about RPI a lot, as so many prog fans put albums from the genre in their top 10's or 20's whatever.

But i've just been afraid of spending money on a pricey import (i live in Australia, prog can sometimes be hard to find locally) and then feeling like it's "nice" but not really my thing, you know?

So if it's not too much trouble, could you tell me what the general "sound" of some of the premier italian bands is similar to?

(example: such and such band has saxophone similar to VDGG, or such and such band has weird percussion similar to KC, etc, etc.)

If this is too difficult a task, don't sweat it, I won't mind.

hey Eapo... a novel thought for you... try an RPI album.. and think not of the lyrics... but the voice as an instrument.  You mentioned you liked instrumentals??   The voice is an instrument in itself...

my Italian is limited to understanding when I'm told to f**k off in Italian   ordering a Pizza or a pack of Winstons...  I simply look at the singing... the vocals as an instrument to be taken with some of the best.. most dynamic prog out there.  Try it... you might be surprised.

no shame in that...