RIO Drop-In Centre

avestin wrote: Another interesting band - Vladimir Bozar ’n’ ze Sheraf Orkestär : http://www.myspace.com/vladimirbozar http://zapinfrance.free.fr/FPN6/sheraf.html         I posted about this release and band before but I'll mention it again: RCD 2075 - Elephant9: Dodovoodoo   " Excellent new trio consisting of Ståle Storløkken (Supersilent, Humcrush) on keyboards, Nikolai Eilertsen (The National Bank, Lester) on bass and Torstein Lofthus (Shining) on drums. Storløkken mostly concentrating on organ and electric piano gives the album a late sixtees, early seventees flavour with traces of rock, jazz, prog and psychedelia. The rock solid rhythm section gives it all a contemporary edge and we get an extremely tight little unit with a high degree of great musicianship as well as pure joy in their playing. Already a firm live favourite on the Norwegian scene for a couple of years due to a handful of highly energetic and enthusiastically received concerts, they have transfered their live promise to the recording studio with ease. The album was recorded live to analogue tape in Grand Sport Studio, Oslo. Release: 26.05.08 http://runegrammofon.skryt.no/artists/elephant9/reviews-2075/   http://www.myspace.com/elephant9theband

Well it was re-released a few years back... are you sure Wayside, Greg Walker or Doug Larsen doesn't have it?

I don't have it on CD myself, so if you find somewhere that sells it, let me know.

I'm the same with NeBeLNeST as well.

They're better than Far Corner though.  Far Corner lack soul.  They're music sounds emotionless and as someone else said... like it's digitally composed.  It's not awful but both of their albums are quite lengthy and nothing much changes.

Well maybe I should start making Ahvak a classic by talking about it all the time.  It deserves it, in my opinion.  It's got that fresh sound (Zaar has that too) and never gets boring.  Plus it's well composed and atmospheric.

Another severely underrated band is Pocket Orchestra.  They're amazing.  They again take chamber prog somewhere else.  They also are like Taal in many respects, because they mix different elements from different genres together and make them work.


Edited by James - July 09 2008 at 19:58

NoVa eXPReSS is my personal favorite.  The debut has its moments but it's rough around some of the edges.  Edges that Bob Drake quickly removed from NoVa eXPReSS.  

Pnoom! wrote: James wrote: rileydog22 wrote: Kestrel wrote: Hi, I'm somewhat of a newbie to the genre, being introduced through Univers Zero but mostly the band Far Corner. I was wondering what you all thought of them (Far Corner, I mean)? I streamed a Far Corner track off of Last.FM and found it way too sterile, or artificial.  It sounded like it was arranged and performed by MIDI software, if you know what I mean.  I'd be willing to give them another shot, though. Which album would you recommend?  Both sound sterile. I'd suggest getting NeBeLNeST's ZePTO instead. Pretty sure Jake is the biggest Nebelnest fan on the site.

Lol one of them agreed like three months ago to let me interview them and I totally forgot and never emailed them.  FAIL. 

Pnoom! wrote: Kestrel, here are ten albums to help you discover the best of the genre: Frank Zappa - Freak Out! Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica Henry Cow - Western Culture Magma - Kohntarkosz This Heat - Deceit John Zorn - Naked City Etron Fou Leloublan - Les Sillons De La Terre Faust - Faust Art Bears - Winter Songs Sotos - Platypus Some of the best of the genre, some that should appeal to you as a fan of UZ and Far Corner, and overall albums that will show you the diversity of the "genre"

Pretty much the list that I was gonna post, except that I would probably replace the Etron album with Samla Mammas Manna's Klossa Knapitatet, Sotos with Zaar (personal preference, really), and Deceit with the Aksak Maboul album of your choice.  Oh, and Freak Out is like my least favorite Zappa album ever. 

James wrote: Good list (of those I'm familiar with). I'd also put in: Zaar - Zaar Ahvak - Ahvak

I wouldn't include those for two reasons.  One, Zaar is too closely related to Sotos (similar sound, share members), and so including it would be like having two Sotos albums.  Since Platypus is closer in sound to what Kestrel likes, it's the better of the two to include.

As for Ahvak, ignoring my personal lack of strong interest in the album, I tried to stick to classics that epitomize various aspects of the genre.  Ahvak may go on to be a classic, but atm it's not and I doubt it really ever will be more than an obscure cult favorite.  Worth checking out given Kestrel's tastes but not appropriate for my list.

James wrote: rileydog22 wrote: Kestrel wrote: Hi, I'm somewhat of a newbie to the genre, being introduced through Univers Zero but mostly the band Far Corner. I was wondering what you all thought of them (Far Corner, I mean)? I streamed a Far Corner track off of Last.FM and found it way too sterile, or artificial.  It sounded like it was arranged and performed by MIDI software, if you know what I mean.  I'd be willing to give them another shot, though. Which album would you recommend?  Both sound sterile. I'd suggest getting NeBeLNeST's ZePTO instead.

Pretty sure Jake is the biggest Nebelnest fan on the site.

rileydog22 wrote: Kestrel wrote: Hi, I'm somewhat of a newbie to the genre, being introduced through Univers Zero but mostly the band Far Corner. I was wondering what you all thought of them (Far Corner, I mean)? I streamed a Far Corner track off of Last.FM and found it way too sterile, or artificial.  It sounded like it was arranged and performed by MIDI software, if you know what I mean.  I'd be willing to give them another shot, though. Which album would you recommend?

Both sound sterile.

I'd suggest getting NeBeLNeST's ZePTO instead.

Syzygy wrote: I've got their debut album and I wasn't that impressed to be honest; a good sound and some good ideas, but it seemed to me like 40 minutes of good material stretched out over an hour' long CD. Mind you, I'm a grumpy old git at the best of times and difficult to please.  What UZ have you heard? They are one of the best bands in the genre. If you like them and Far Corner, you should also check out Present (UZ offshoot with a slightly more conventional guitar - bass - keys - drums line up) and Art Zoyd (innovative chamber prog).   From more recent bands, Sotos (the second album, Platypus, in particular) and Zaar, who rose from the ashes of Sotos, may well appeal.

I'm still not too familir with either of their albums, but I know what you mean about the debut. I find it hard to sit through an hour album in general, and this music (so far, in my opinion) can be hard to sit through for that amount of time.

I have heard Heresie and 1313. I'm not too familiar with Heresie though; I usually put it on for atmospheric purposes and tend to not pay too much attention. I've only heard 1313 once and it was pretty interesting. It's hard for me to judge. Thanks for the recommendations though; I'll have to check them out.

rileydog22 wrote: I streamed a Far Corner track off of Last.FM and found it way too sterile, or artificial. It sounded like it was arranged and performed by MIDI software, if you know what I mean.   I'd be willing to give them another shot, though. Which album would you recommend?

What song was it? I can see why you would feel that way about them though. Could you recommend any avant/RIO stuff that you don't consider "sterile"? Since I'm still familiarizing myself with their two albums, all I can safely suggest is to check out the reviews here and their MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/farcornerband   I can try to come up with a preference by the end of the week, if you'd like.

listennow801 wrote: Hi Kestrel, welcome! I liked Far Corner quite a bit myself - on a scale of 1-15 [15 being "One of the best ever, perfect...."], I rated both at a 12, which is pretty damned high. I did prefer one, although I can't recall which...

That's awesome! 

Like I've said, I'm very new to the genre so it's hard for me to say if Far Corner is actually good or not, it's just different from what I normally listen to. I'm having a bit of trouble getting into actually sitting down and listening to them though. With Genesis, I can drop everything I'm doing and listen to them intently and not be distracted (except for maybe the slow part in Get 'Em Out, haha). With this stuff, I'm having trouble doing that even though I find the music really interesting. Even for something like Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, I have a bit of trouble sitting through an entire album even though I love the music.

I suppose it just takes getting accustomed to when all I've ever listened to throughout my entire life is pop/rock and symphonic prog/neo prog/prog metal. Perhaps if I had grown up listening to classical I could accustom much more easily...

Are there any bands that are on the borderline of the genre? Would I be correct in saying "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" is avant-prog? Thank you so much! It feels so good to be expanding my musical taste and knowledge.