Discover an Unfamilliar Artist

So nothing on A.C.T? Is it really just pronounced "act" or A.C.T? By the way, how in the hell do bands as catchy and infectious as A.C.T go unnoticed?

evilromero wrote: So nothing on A.C.T? Is it really just pronounced "act" or A.C.T? By the way, how in the hell do bands as catchy and infectious as A.C.T go unnoticed?

Dirk wrote: Chameleon wrote: Politician wrote: Bacamarte was a Brazilian prog band that cut a one-off album "Depois Do Fim" in 1983. It's a masterpiece of mellow South American progressive rock, with symphonic textures, jazzy edges and plenty of folkish guitar work, with more than half the tracks being instrumentals. The music is complex, organic and involving, but never ostentatious, and the vocals from Jane Duboc are quite superb. The band much later issued a second album, which I haven't heard, but based on the bonus track included on the CD reissue of "Depois Do Fim", I wouldn't expect much of it. Jane Duboc has also released numerous solo albums, but be careful - outside Bacamarte, she was a sort of Brazilian answer to Elaine Paige, issuing middle-of-the-road LPs of classic film themes and that sort of stuff.   Thanks! I'll be sure to check them out as soon as I get enough money for more CDs! If you like symphonic prog  you can't hardly go wrong with them. Politician gave an excellent description of the band imo. Unfortunately they only really became famous here when due to the new top 100 mechanism people started to wonder how Bacamarte could be higher in the top 100 list than all those bands they were used to for al those years  .

That's not entirely true. A while before that, there was quite a bit of buzz going around. That made me want to check it out. It lived up to the hype. This is some great prog. A little surprising too, considering the time of its release. I love the blending of classic symph sounds, while retaining the Brazilian origin. There is a lot of great South American prog out there, and this is some of the best.

One of the most underrated bands in the archive are Embryo. By "underrated" I mean that hardly anyone knows them and even fewer discuss them. They definitely deserve more attention; they are the real inventors of World Music.

Embryo are part of a musical collective that started in the late 60s. This collective chiefly consisted of the bands Embryo, Amon Düül2, Guru  Guru and Kraan; other connected bands were Missus Beastly, Harmonia and Karthago (not in the archives yet, by the way). These bands exchanged musicians back and forth. Embryo started out as a jazz-rock act, but soon started integrating ethnic music from all around the world. In the late 70s they started a trip into the orient into countries like Afghanistan and India. In India they studied Indian music at the Karnataka College of Percussion, with whom they recorded several albums. (The Karnataka Colloge of Percussion is quite famous; two of the best percussionists of today, Trilok Gurtu and Ramesh Shotam, studied there). They also made albums with the African Yoruba Dun-Dun Orchestra and with South-American influences. Important members of Embryo are Christian Burchard, the founder and only constant figure in an ever-changing line-up (drums, xylophone, marimba and other tuned percussion), guitar and oud player Roman Bunka (who was recently added to the archives), Chris Karrer of Amon Düül 2 (who plays guitar and oud too), Edgar Hofmann on violin and saxes and Roland Schaeffer of Guru Guru. A highly recommended album to get into their music is "Embryo's Reise" which documents their trip to Afghanistan and India. Also definitely listen to the only sound example of them in the database ("Radio Marrakesh / Orient Express").

I would like to learn more about Art Zoyd and Discus.

sleeper wrote: I would like to learn more about Art Zoyd

can you tell me how much you've heard by them? they have done work in two major areas, one being dark, RIO chamber rock with symphony-style percussion and the other in orchestrated but somewhat industrial, ambient film scores.

they're... not a happy band. they're comparable to Univers Zero, and I think members of each band maintained an exchange. it's also hard to buy their older work because only box sets seem to be available, and that wouldn't be a good starting point for a new listener.


Edited by laplace - August 07 2007 at 08:16

Can anyone fill me in on (wow, I am quite embarrased to ask this) Spocks Beard?

Now is the turn for a very rare band, just posted about them in the Symphonic thread but really they became an addiction, I'm talking about ABBHAMA, a septept from Indonesia who released one cassette in 1978 or 1979 (the inormation mentions the two years) called "Alam Raya",. which was hard to find until a Japanese label edited a CD.

 

Simply out of this world!!!!!

 

Not because of quality because they are not outstanding, but because of the original of theior proposal.

 

The band is formed by the brain and sould Iwan Madjid a classically trained pianist, ONA a keyboardist who makes miracles with a kit that sounds like a 200 bucks Casiotrone and Dhrama who plays a very sweet flute, the other 4 members play Oboe (Hendro), Robin on drums, bass (Darwin) and Cok B in the guitar

 

But the most incredible fact is the vocals of Madjid, he sounds like a 12 years old Jon Anderson singing for an made in India musical. Their sound is well…..everything combined from Asiatic Disco to Euro Pop with a solid Symphonic structure, Neo Classical touches and Baroque fugues with an ethnic edge.

 

If you add to that a clear Focus and Triumvirat influence, you got a complete salad bar that tastes very well

 

Sometimes it’s hard to take them seriously but I end listening it over and over because the voice is hypnotic, really a great acquisition for any Proghead.

 

 

Iván

 

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - August 07 2007 at 17:27

glass house wrote: schizoid_man77 wrote: Can anyone fill me in on (wow, I am quite embarrased to ask this) Spocks Beard? They seem like a pretty big band, but dont exactly get high ratings.   I have their Beware of Darkness cd and The Kindness of Strangers. I've played the former more than the later one so I'll give you a quick tour of that cd.   The first time I heard Beware of Darkness I was delighted with the Gentle Giant influences. But that's not all, listening more I think they make some really good classic prog with enough modern input ( at that day ) to stay interesting. Influences enough but original in it's own way. The recent stuff is I believe more mainstream rock. Don't know all their releases. Give them a try.