2000's Prog

in recent times, i have been listening to a lot of prog rock, mostly albums that have come out in the last 3-4 years or so. i personally feel better albums have been coming out as the decade progresses.

some of my current faves are

Umphrey's McGee - "Mantis" (2009)
Dream Theater - "Systematic Chaos" (2007)
The Mars Volta - "The Bedlam in Goliath" (2008)
The Mars Volta - "Amputechture" (2006)
The Flower Kings - "The Sum Of No Evil" (2007)
Opeth  - "Watershed" (2008)
Rush - "Snakes and Arrows (2007)
Garaj Mahal - "Blueberry Cave" (2005)
Pat Metheny - "Day Trip" (2008)
Ozric Tentacles - "Spirals In Hyperspace" (2004)
Planet X - "Quantum" (2007)
Gary Willis - "Actual Fiction" (2007)

not prog, though kind of

Metallica -  "Death Magnetic" (2008)
Michael Brecker - "Pilgramage" (2007)
John Scofield - "This Meets That" (2007)
Stanton Moore - "III" (2006)
Medeski Martin & Wood - "Radioalarms I" (2008)

ive been, for a long time, trying to get into the 'modern prog scene" and just kept getting dissapointed or lost interest. until i realized how many good albums have been coming out since at least '05 or '06. i believe many are embracing progressive music again, and of course this has been discussed many times here. i just wanted to express how much i enjoy modern prog now, and i know the releases i listed probably dont even tread the surface, so any suggestions would be cool. i think '09 will be an excellent year for prog rock and progressive music in general. it's probably no coincidence that this is Prog Rock's OFFICIAL 40th birthday, though i'd say it's about 43 or so...


Edited by darkshade - February 09 2009 at 07:58

cacho wrote: Not sure of your tastes, but still I'll recomend you some that I hope you'll enjoy: Transatlantic - SMPTe (in the style of The Flower Kings, but a bit more eclectic and more virtuosic) The Tangent - The World That We Drive Through (a darker style of The Flower Kings) Pendragon - Pure or Believe (they're not my favorite Pendragon albums, but you may like it, Heavy Neo Prog) IQ - Dark Matter (more Retro Prog, semi-heavy and semi-dark symphonic Prog) Camel - A Nod and a Wink (excellent chilling and a bit depressing Prog, full of guitars and moog)

haha i forgot about both Transatlantic and A Nod and a Wink. i have both Transatlantic albums and they are awesome, even though i dont like Neil Morse's vocals too much. And Camel's A Nod and a Wink is my favorite Camel album since their 70s stuff.

i dont know those other bands well, but im very picky when it comes to retro-prog, and i dont really like neo prog much.

for anyone who wants an idea of my tastes, i like all the classic 70s prog bands (Yes, KC, ELP, GG, etc.etc.) Frank Zappa, jazz-rock/fusion (my fav), funk, jam bands, jazz, classic metal (Maiden, Sabbath, Priest, Metallica, Megadeth, etc.) blues, psychedelic rock, avant-garde, etc.

I heartily recommend Phideaux, especially Doomsday Afternoon and Chupacabras.

If you liked Watershed then you may well like Ghost Reveries. Some percieve them to be very different in style, but I think they are along the same lines musically.

darkshade wrote: LinusW wrote: I heartily recommend Phideaux, especially Doomsday Afternoon and Chupacabras. what kind of band are they?

They, or rather he, is in Crossover, but that only partly describes the music.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2379

Check out some reviews for his higher rated albums (which incidentally are Chupacabras and Doomsday Afternoon)

Trademark wrote: "what kind of band are they?" A very good one.  Read the bio, listen to the sample track and take the plunge.

And if you order some from CD Baby, CD Baby will love you.

http://cdbaby.com/found?allsearch=phideaux&submit=


Edited by Slartibartfast - February 08 2009 at 10:57

Slartibartfast wrote: Well, my new discoveries of this decade are: Of course the aforementioned Umphrey's Crimson Jazz Trio    King Crimson Songbook Volume 1 Talisma    Quelque Part, Chromium, Corpus Pineapple Thief, The    Tightly Unwound and several of their others Gongzilla no-man Jonas Hellborg's Art Metal Supertramp's Crime Of The Century. Porcupine Tree Phideaux Observatory, The Reasoning, The Mr. Bungle Maserati Ozric Tentacles Eluvium Explosions In The Sky Pure Reason Revolution Triggering Myth, A Muffins, The Porcupine Tree along with many other Steven Wilson projects Radiohead Les Claypool in all his incarnations Buckethead Djam Karet Steve Roach As I scroll back to the beginning of the decade primarily artists that I already knew being added to the collection.

how is Pineapple Thief? i only have the one song that i downloaded from this site way back when you were able to download songs instead of stream, and it's a good song. what would you recommend?

There are a fair amount of female vocals scattered over the albums, if memory serves its close to 50/50.

Kayo Dot- Choirs of the Eye, Dowsing Anamone with Copper Tongue. Blue Lambency Downward
Indukti- SUSAR
White Willow- Storm Season
Taal- Skymind
Ephel Duath- The Painters Palette
Cynic- Traced in Air (Jazz metal, though I wouldnt say they had much in commen with TMV)
Between the Buried and Me- Colors
Dark Suns- Grave Human Genuine
Grayceon- This Grand Show
The Pax Cecilia- Blessed are the Bonds (Free to download off their website)
Virgin Black- Requiem Mezzo Forte
Pain of Salvation- The Perfect Element Part 1
Sieges Even- The Art of Navigating by the Stara
Canvas Solaris- Cortical Tectonics
Vanden Plas- Christ 0
Mastodon- Blood Mountain
Zero Hour- Dark Deceiver
To-Mera- Delusions
Guapo- Five Suns
Suspyre- When Time Fades
Giant Squid- Metridium Fields
Symphony X- Paradise Lost
Miasma and the Carousel of Headless Horses- Perils
Lesbian- Power Hor
Wastefall- Self Exile
Cult of Luna- Somwhere Along the Highway

I've kept it to what I think are some of the best albums of the decade, omitting those already mentioned by others, covering a vast array of styles and genres. I'm sure you'll find plenty here that you will like.

darkshade wrote: how is Pineapple Thief? i only have the one song that i downloaded from this site way back when you were able to download songs instead of stream, and it's a good song. what would you recommend?

I got hooked on the streaming track posted here from Variations On A Dream which was my first.  Haven't tried everything in the discography yet, but for what I do have there's not much, uhm, variation musically between them, which can be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your perspective.  Not to say I don't like everything I've collected, but nothing I've heard stands out any more than anything else.  I'd start with Variations or their latest, but you can't go wrong with the other two I have, Little Man or What Have We Sown.