I Recommend...

To continue the reference to others, here is a list of threads that recommend bands and albums from different prog scenes (Spain, France, Scandinavia etc.):

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19836& amp; amp; amp; amp;FID=42 - French

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17840& amp; amp; amp; amp;PN=1 - Spanish

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7256&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=3 - Belgium (RIO/Avantgarde)

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19821& amp; amp; amp; amp;PN=1 - Scandinavia

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18860& amp; amp; amp; amp;PN=2 - Prog Videos on the net

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19749& amp; amp; amp;FID=3 - German Folk Prog

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=20015& amp; amp;PN=1 - Russian prog

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=20019& amp; amp;PN=2 - Hungarian prog

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19927& amp; amp;PN=1 - Japanese prog

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19985& amp; amp;KW=US+ US prog

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=20104& amp; amp;KW=italian

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18490& amp; amp;KW=italian

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17371& amp; amp;KW=italian

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17066& amp; amp;KW=italian

Thanks for these thread starters, for letting us know of lesser and unknown bands!

Suggest you check out Variant - Beyond Jargon...new prog band...nice stuff...

www.cdbaby.com/cd/variant

For some reason it slipped my mind to mention two (of the many) favorite bands of mine.

I'll start with the band I discovered earlier and the second one I'll keep for next time.

The band is WHITE WILLOW. To date they have released 4 albums and they have enetered to the studio to record their fifth on 3/3/06. They are from Norway, and they play this melange of folk, symphonic and lately more hard edged prog rock. Their first album Ignis Fatuus released in 1995 is actually a collection of songs recorded between the end of 1992 and September 1994, recorded by several musicians involved in the band. White Willow is undoubdebtly lead by Jacob C. Holm Lupo who writes most music and lyrics and plays acoustic, electric and bass guitars and keyboards and does some vocals. He is responsible for the many lineup changes in this band. On Ignis this band reveals itself mostly as a folk rock band which creates mellow, slow music with much acoustic guitars, synths and some flutes and violins. Sara Trondal is the main vocalist backed by Eldrid Johansen. Her voice is beatiful while his is more suitable as a background not the main as is the case in "THe Withering Of The Boughts." The songs are all based around a main theme woth diversions from it or additional motifs added to it or there is shifts in the diredction of the music as can be expected from a prog song. But there is no jamming, no pointless playing around, they come and develop their ideas and pass on what they want to portray in this song.

Memorable tracks from this release are "Snowfall", "The Withering Of The Boughts", "Now In These Fairy Lands", "Cryptomenysis" and "John Dee's Lament".

Cryptomenysis is the best track and most proggy here. An instrumental which starts very low with an organ sound opening and then the rest join them with the guitar leading the way for the rest of the song.

This is a very relaxed and melodic album, very good to sit and relax with in winter nights.   

The second album is Ex Tenebris released in 1998. It is considered their weakest album, but I do not subscribe to this. This album is also in the folky vein, however it is more focused the its predecesor and shorter. Memorable songs are "Leaving the House of Thanatos ", "Helen and Simon Magus" and "A Dance of Shadows". Here again the songs are slow, melancholic and don't often get loose and there is a feeling of restraint in the songs, as if the band doesn't want to lose control over them, which leads to a maybe too conservative feel to it, but still a good effort in my book. Again there is no needless experimentation here. This album is the first with Sylvia Erichsen, which was their singer until their latest release. She has  abeatiful voice and it is presented at its best when she sings loudly and even screams a bit as she does in later releases.

The third release, Sacrament, is IMHO their best and their most prog release. In this album the production is made thus that you have to adjust the volume constantly because there is a constant shift from very low to medium and then to loud and back again. But be careful as this album contains many shifts in the songs. I'll give you two songs for example. The first " Anamnesis" starts very quiet with Sylvia singing with an acoustic guitar a tune that at 4:34 changes a bit with an orgue like synth and then at 5:12 the music bursts out with a big energy (do listen to it loud for the correct effect to take place) and the rest of the song continues in this way and with additional layers of music added to the main tune and Sylvia singing aloud, half screaming. Excellent track. Second example is the third track called "The Crucible" which starts with an acoustic guitar and a folk like tune with flute accompanying it. They play with each other and then the synth joins in and gives the music a gloomy feel to it and then the melodica joins for the final melancholic touch. Then at 3:21 the music changes aournd completely and comes in a beatiful ebergetic tune with the flute leading the way.

So you guessed these two are memorable tracks, But so is the two last tracks "Gnostalgia" and "The Reach". Gnostalgia is very relaxed and shows Sylvia performing a beatiful part on her behalf. THe reach starts with the nursery rhyme (ring around the rosies) and develops to a quite heavy prog song. In this album you can hear the start of the sound found in their following release - A heavier sound of guitars and more focused songs based around an idea that either develops and is added more layers to it.

Their last album to date is Storm Season. This is definitely heavier in rock sound. However, the music is still slow, melodic and of course gloomy. I haven't read the lyrics thouroughly but this is a concept album, but I am not faniliar with the details. Here Sylvia really shines. Here also joins Lars Fredrik Frøislie on all keyboards and he is from Wobbler. Memorable tracks "Chemical Sunset", Soulburn", "Insomnia" and "Nightside of Eden". The last one opens up almost like a metal song but proves to be an excellent track.

All in al,l it may not be the most original of bands they are not too complex music wise, but they do deliver beatiful music with much emotion and they play it very well.

BTW Jimbo, I know you don't like this band too much. I'm not saying they are geniuses but they do make very good music.

As I said above, they are currently recording their fifth album. Sylvia is no longer with them if memory serves me right. Anyway, I think it is a band worth checking out, and if folk music does not atract you, then I suggest to listen at least to Sacrament and maybe even to Storm Season.

Goodnight / Good day to all PA community.

Tonight/today I'd like to recommend an Italian band which has released its first s/t album in 1995. The band is FINISTERRE. The two albums to which I will refer are In Limine & In Ogni Luogo.

As always this is gonna be messy and unorganized so my apologies in advance.

This is basically a symph-prog band with some fusion and jazz tendencies and also some experimental character to it (as can be witnessed throughout their songs, as they like to incorporate strange soundscpaes in them or just plain experimental songs like Preludio and Ideenkleid Leibnitz Frei in In Limine and Snáporaz in In Ogni Luogo). I used the word songs but it is mostly instrumentals and some songs sung in English (i.e. XXV  - In Limine) and some in Italian (i.e. Hispanica, Orrizionte Degli Eventi - In Limine).

The music is filled with jazz influences and also some quirky musical moments, all backed up by the symphonic backbone. There is a dominant flute which performs beatiful tunes and an acoustic guitar to add to the folkish mood and guitars that back the whole music altogether. They also have rock melodies driven by guitars like Tempi Moderni in In Ogni Luogo. There is a beatuful songs in In Limine, XXV in which the singer almost whispers in English along side the ,ellow quiet music, a simple and beatiful tune. This is after the beautiful flute lead first songs that has the usual symph base with a jazz/fusion bit inserted inside it in which the band members are free to jam a bit. The third track is suitable to enter an experimental rock album, very hazy and unstructured. I'll stop describing the album cause I think you get the picture.

My impression is that In Limine is more jazz oriented and more of a mellow mood album (i.e. In Limine, Ideenkleid Leibnitz Frei) and In Ogni Luogo has a more rocky nature and an album to get you more involved and energetic (i.e. Tempi Moderni, Ninive, Coro Elettrico, Agli Amici Sinestetici and Peter's House).

I think In Limine is the place to start with Finisterre.

The following is a link to a short bio of the band from Mellow records for anyone interested:

http://www.mellowrecords.com/finis-en.html

A good day / night to all PA community

Assaf

I want to focus tonight (today) on a daughter band / solo project / side project. The band is KARMAKANIC and their two albums Entering the Spectra & Wheel of Life .

This is pretty much a side project of the Flower kings, having there Jonas Reingold the bass player, Zoltan Csorsz the drummer and contributions by Roine stolt and Hasse Bruniusson.

The first release Spectra is more similar in style and spirit to the flower kings. They put some more heaviness to the music, however, and the music is less symph-prog in nature than that of TFK. There are some songs variating away from TFK like The Spirit Remains the Same and Cyberdust From Mars. It a good album , although not essential, as we say in PA. Maybe it'll change, but for now this album is not enough determined on its identity. It is like they were trying several styles of songs to see what would be better and then decide which direction the band would go. Either that, or they were just having fun. That is not to say the songs aren't good, but the album as a whole is not as good as the songs that make it (no synergistic effect ). 

I prefer their second release Wheel of Life, First of all here too there is this sense of trying out different types of songs to come up with the best style, but to a lesser extent than the debut. Jonas Reingold and Zoltan Csorsz propel the rhythm here. Here you have some groovy and jazzy songs like Alex In Paradise & At The Speed Of Light and Wheel Of Life. The opening song Masterplan Pt. 1 is very good, epic track, maybe similar to TFK but differs in heaviness and vocals (Göran Edman). Do U Tango is a good slightly experimental track, weird and great, it is the track I rememberred after first hearing this album. Anyway, I'm tired so I won't elaborate on, but I think that anyone who wants to listen to them should focus, or at least start with Wheel of Life. A more rewarding album. 

Goodnight (gooday) to the PA community, wherever you may be.  

OK, I get the picture, nobody gives a damn.

I guess I'll have to buy all 6 and risk being thrown out of my apartment because my bank will not respect my cheque for the landlord.

This one is not a recommendation but a sort of a poll.

I an going to buy some albums next week and I can only afford 4 out of six albums I planned to buy (gotta pay the rent, unfortunately).

So, out of these next 6 albums, which 4 would you choose? bare in mind I know and love all of them, so its not a matter of buying something unknown for me. So for me its like a contest, but I don;t promise I'll honour the results . Let the race begin:

1. Alphataurus –s/t 16$
2. Wobbler – Hinterland 14$
3. Bubu – Anabelas 18$
4. Moon Safari – A doorway to summer 18$
5. Il Ballertto Di Bronzo – Ys 18$
6. Mezquita – Recuerdos de mi tierra 20$

you can disregard the prices.

Remember choose 4 of these fine 6 albums.

Let me start by saying I tend to choose 1, 2, 3 for sure and I hesitate between 4 and 6.

The albums that loose will be bought next time...

BTW - I recommend each and everyone of these releases.

Not a recommendation, just a short post. On Saturday mornings I somtimes love to make myself a small playlist of somehow related bands, music etc. So this Saturday  (again) choe to make it an Italian morning (did it already some time ago). The playlist includes:

That's it.

Overdose...