So here it is: New Year's Eve. Time for reflection on the past year, part of which is, of course, music!
Please list any new artists and/or albums that you discovered in 2023 that you really loved and had not heard before (not necessarily produced/begun in 2023, but your list can included those albums/artists). Try to keep it mainly Prog, but list non-prog artists as well. Feel free to make any comments on WHY the artist impressed you.
Here's mine: - Mouth - cool modern Krautrock/psychadelic band from Germany that I love.
- Papangu (album: Holoceno) -- SO, Magma-influenced Metal exists! Some great sounds, and I'm looking forward to whatever this Brazilian band does in the future.
- Album: Vigesimus by Cast. Wow! Definitely the best thing I've heard from this band. Sounds like they really have reached a pinnacle with this brilliant album, and I'm a bit surprised that it didn't make more of the collaborators' top lists in 2021.
- Diagonal (album: 4) - So, I realized I didn't have enough newer music--particularly albums from the 2020's; so I did some listening: this was one of the best I found.
- Crack the Sky - 70's U.S. Prog band that I had not heard before. Listened to some samples of their earlier stuff and was impressed.
- Il Volo - (album: Essere O Non Essere) Just listened to this again today: Great Italian, mostly instrumental prog from the 70's: (obviously very jazz-inspired, but not Jazz-rock, necessarily).
- Amarok, by Mike Oldfield. I've been rounding out my Oldfield collection, and found this to be his quirkiest--great stuff!
- ...and, speaking of Oldfield, I really enjoyed hearing Sally Oldfield's semi-epic: Song of the Quendi.
- Kenso II. There's a lot of great Japanese Prog going back many years. This 1982 release is a great example of it.
- Dominion, by Zopp. I fess, I'm a bit of a lagger when it comes to hearing brand new albums (usually wait a couple years). This was an exception--I loved the original Zopp album and just had to give this a spin upon release. No disappointment! Just as good, or perhaps better than the original.
- Finally, I recently listened to Bigger on the Inside, by Rachel Flowers (having heard some of her previous work). I like the fact that this album rocks a bit more than Listen!, and I find her music/style overall refreshing.
And I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking of right now, maybe post some more in the coming days.
------------- Z
|