Is there still groundbreaking prog these days?

I've been thinking lately: back in the old days (late 60's early 70's) there was so much music around that was truly groundbreaking, new and without precedent (Hendrix, Beatles, Zappa, KC, Magma, Yes, Miles Davis going electric etc). with the second 'wave'of prog late 70's it became (at least to my ears) more of a follow-up ("let's do some of whatever those guys did a couple years ago") rather than experimental truly progressive  (as in giant leaps forward or progress), and now I can't really think of anything remotely groundbreaking, adventurous and exploring truly unchartered territory. The only band that comes to my mind is Meshuggah. Sure they're heavy and noisy, however their main focus lies not in the heaviness but rather in rhythm and groove, using hard-to-figure-out time signatures, strange sogstructures. As usual, the band is criticised by people who don't really seem to understand or feel the music (Of course, I could be wrong here).
Does anyone here know any other bands that are truly innovative, doing stuff that has never been done before?

The Japanese prog band KENSO sound quite original to me. Especially their album FABULIS MIRABILIBUS. I don't think you could call their music genuinely groundbreaking, since they place themselves in the same tradition as Brand X and (ONE OF KIND-era) Bruford. But if you accept that they operate within an existing genre, you'll find they are doing amazing things. Each melody, each solo is inspired and full of surprises. In my opinion Kenso are far more adventurous than the Tangent, Wobbler or other 'retro' bands...

There are lots of prog bands with original ideas, very inventive and adventurous but in my opinion most progheads are focussed on the known bands so it's hard for those bands to survive. A few names of lesser and unknown prog rock bands I would like to recommend (see my reviews):

Gosta Berlings Saga/Szkitia/Karfagen/GOAD/Lost World/Infront/Seven Reizh/William Gray/Nemo/Deluge Grander/Yesterdays/Ex-Vagus/Ashada/Kotobel/Rain/Angulart/Roz Vitalis/Supay/Riverside...

Yes. 65daysofstatic, Hella, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Kayo Dot, Alamaailman Vasarat, and Taal come to mind, and I have no doubt there are many others.

cool! I never heard of most of these bands. I'll be sure to check them out. because of  contemporary prog I basically just Meshuggah. Spock's Beard (in the Morse-era quite derivative of the old symphonic/art prog) ans TFK (who i like a lot at the moment). that's why I asked. other than these it's mostly 70's prog KC, Yes, Genesis, GG, VDGG, Magma, FZ etc and a wide variety of other (unrelated) styles. Seems to me that progressive music isn't quite dying after all (thank god!!! and praise the lawd, hallelujah!! LOL)


Edited by unclemeat69 - April 20 2007 at 16:56

I like the good part of the bands mentioned here, but really, are they as groundbreaking as the ones who started prog?

There is a hell of a lot of groundbreaking music around these days. You just have to search it out a but more 'cos it ain't that popular.

Some of these abdns include:
Pelican!!!!! (saw them recently and they were AMAZING!)
65daysofstatic
Russian Circles
Do Make Say Think
A Silver Mt. Zion
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Hella
Lightning Bolt
I will leave it there for now but IMO the music these days is much more interesting than the golden oldies, E.g. Floyd, Yes etc.

I'm sure that many would argue with me on some or all of the following bands, but I believe all of these bands are examples of true innovators in modern music. Note that these days a lot of the innovation is a matter of fusing disparate genres, which may be less groundbreaking than creating wholly original music, but is still innovative in my opinion:

Tool - created an innovative blend of metal and prog that is really not like anything that came before, in prog-metal or music in general
Opeth - fused extreme metal and soft, melodic, proggy music in a way that was never done before
The Mars Volta - often, they sound like both a punk band and a prog band, two genres previously thought to be polar opposites
Ayreon - with The Human Equation, innovated music by providing the first true rock opera masterpiece (note that I don't consider albums like Tommy and Quadrophenia to be true "rock operas", due to the lack of multiple singers and operatic vocals, both of which are present in Ayreon)
Radiohead - created innovative music (nothing before OK Computer and Kid A really sounded like those albums), and influenced an entire generation of musicians, as shown in the similarities between many modern bands and Radiohead

I'll add my few cents.

Witchwoodhermit wrote: I think rock music has been basically repeating itself over and again for the past twenty years or more. Not that there are not any good bands out there, just nothing particulary groundbreaking.

Pfft you're just closeminded I've recorded 2 albums with 2 different bands that are original, unique and something that has never really been done before. And that's just me some random bum with no musical talent, there are plenty of groundbreaking bands out there you just aren't too likely to hear them, early TMV to me was fairly new and exciting stuff.