I Recommend...

Cargo Cult Revival - Snakecharmer (Forgotten Empire, 2008)

This album can truly charm snakes

This four piece instrumental band from CT, USA has released so far two albums, of the heavy brand with several underlying elements such as a spacey and psychedelic atmosphere, stoner-rock elements (listen to the last track on Snakecharmer), fusion segments emphasized by the bewitching cello and an overall encompassing and enveloping sound that takes me away while listening to far away places, surrounded by mountains of crushing riffs and deep evoking rhythms and the alternating uplifting or mesmerizing string instrument playing.

The music presents spacey segments and psychedelic elements (“b*****d Son”, “Snakecharmer”), upbeat and energetic melodies (“Divine Machine”), heavy rock with long brooding riffs (“b*****d Son”) and gripping themes (“Snakecharmer”).
Their music involved starting with a fixed theme and then veering out from it into new directions, creating exciting new possibilities for it and occasionally coming back to the original idea.

The first track, “Divine Machine”, starts off bouncy and happily with the guitar and electric cello at the front, playing a catchy melody, greatly enhanced by the rest of the lineup. The track has a propulsive rhythm to it, hard to not be gripped by.
“Divine Machine” links uninterrupted and very naturally into the second piece, “Whiskey and Hookers”, creating a great flow to the album as a whole. It continues with a lighthearted theme that seems to carry on the mood of the melody in the previous track. It does rock, however, as it gets heavier at parts with crunchy riffs surrounded by cello-fronting moments with its delightful charming and happy sound. This alternation between serious and heavy to more lighthearted and fun is another aspect of Cargo Cult Revival’s special sound.

The title track, “Snakecharmer”, is a 38 minute piece. At its core lies a simple slow spacey droning theme with long and heavy guitar riffs, that is the basis for the explorations and different directions the music takes off from and keeps coming back to. The “take-offs” plunge into more dynamic and quicker terrains, very different from one another; this creates the epic proportions of this track, as you get a variety of musical excursions all interconnected by this core theme. The
“excursion” at around 26 minutes and the last one beginning at 30 minutes into the track are beautiful and catchy, hypnotic and even mesmerizing. The last one is the pinnacle of the album with the power it presents and the effect it has on me the listener; a simple, yet evocative melody and dominant line. Well worth the long way it took to get there. This part can indeed charm even snakes as the title of the piece says.

“b*****d Son” closes the album with a noisy, heavy, psychedelic dirty sound, which is moderate in pace but nonetheless energetic and powerful. Though I would prefer ending the album with the title track and not this one, it does fit as a closer as it manages to clear off a bit the effect of the long and hypnotic title track with its more crude and simplistic approach. This is a fun tune with its sludgy sound and the cello part mingles in effortlessly.

Snakecharmer is a highly enjoyable album, recommended if you like instrumental pieces, with a sense of adventure and an experimental edge. Looking forward to more from this band.

www.myspace.com/theccr

It's not new or terribly obscure but I recently discovered the recordings of Jonas Hellborg with Shawn Lane. I like them better than Shawn's solo stuff really. The album "Good People in Times of Evil" is actually a trio with a virtuoso tabla player, so you've got three of the best of their instruments jamming. Probably more interesting for musicians but pretty incredible stuff.

Velislav Ivanov - So Close to the Sky Itself

Not in PA, yet. Still it's some excellent Neo/Xover Prog, with somber climax ala VDGG to a lot of Crimsonish mellotron. Highly recomended!

Here's the free legal download: http://nebosvod.awardspace.com/index.php?p=1

Jordan Rudess - The Road Home



The Road Home is a covers album, where Jordan goes back and covers all the tracks that influenced him in becoming the player he is today. The album features Rod Morgenstein, Neal Morse, Kip Winger, Steven Wilson, Ed Wynne , Bumblefoot, Marco Sfogli, Nick D'Virgilio, Ricky Garcia and Bert Baldwin. He covers greats such as Genesis, EL&P, Yes, King Crimson etc. I actually prefer these versions to the original, he mixes them about in his own way and they're beyond superb. Especially 'Tarkus', his tribute to EL&P. There's also one of his own tracks on there, that's also utter genius.

<a href="http://www.myspace.com/pyramidtheorem1"> <img src="http://www.beloveddesign.net/pyramidtheorem/pt_banner.jpg" border="0"></a>   A young band but i think they have something. guitar is killer

 

I recommend making a VDGG station on Pandora. I've recently done this and for the past 6 hrs consistent great prog. Ranging from J-tull to The Nice, Gargamel ( a nice touch), Gong, GG, and numerous others. 

Lev wrote: Jordan Rudess - The Road Home The Road Home is a covers album, where Jordan goes back and covers all the tracks that influenced him in becoming the player he is today. The album features Rod Morgenstein, Neal Morse, Kip Winger, Steven Wilson, Ed Wynne , Bumblefoot, Marco Sfogli, Nick D'Virgilio, Ricky Garcia and Bert Baldwin. He covers greats such as Genesis, EL&P, Yes, King Crimson etc. I actually prefer these versions to the original, he mixes them about in his own way and they're beyond superb. Especially 'Tarkus', his tribute to EL&P. There's also one of his own tracks on there, that's also utter genius.

Totally agree- this album is amazing!

Arsihsis wrote: I recommend Os Mutantes' 1973 release O A e o Z. They were a prominent figure in Brazil's Tropicália movement. Their early sounds are much more akin to psychedelia & early Canterbury, but for O A e o Z, Os Mutantes went 100% prog

While it's not my favourite Mutantes or prog album, it's still a damn weird and cool listen. Those crazy organ sounds and the random freak-outs... I might just listen to it after I finish playing the second Chac Mool record. Cheers!

EVERYONE has to try Yes Relayer... Its just not open for debate.

avestin wrote: Fun Machine - Sonnenhuhn (BNS Sessions, 2009) New Jersey based band that seem to not take life too seriously, or at least with much humour. This is also evident in their music, but listen carefully to realize how much effort, work and emotion has been put into it. Crazy to a certain extent, Fun Machine “produces” music which is, well… fun! Diverse in their output, this band plays dynamic and upbeat music, quite uplifting in its mood, filled with intricacies, small quirkiness and with changes as the songs go on. There is a sense of humour in their music, as well as a driving force that keeps the music’s fast pace and changes as the tracks move on. In the noisy fast parts I started thinking of The Cardiacs; not to say they have the same sound (though it may serve as a minor reference) but in the spirit of the music, in its intensity. I was also reminded of Make A Rising and their special brand of avant-rock mingled with pop elements and Shining’s and The Mars Volta’s super intense and noisy music. Fun Machine’s music is accessible and catchy. It sounds familiar and yet new and refreshing. It is well played, cleverly composed and a delight to listen to. It is the little intricacies in the songs that add a special flavour to them, make them even more appealing than their basic ideas. Also, the effective interplay of guitar and keyboards, the effects that each one does, provides a wide range of sounds and evoke many different emotions – from aggressive to nostalgic, from sensual to appeasing to sleepy. The sound is very coherent and tight; the complex parts are meticulously done and are a delight to listen to. They do not, however, only focus on making complex and intricate music, but on beautiful and attractive and memorable melodies. Their music writing is very successful in this sense. This is what caught me from first listen, despite the complexity of the songs and the lengths of some. The magic is achieved by efficiently combining those two attributes in their music. A highly enjoyable album, refreshing and familiar at the same time (at least to me); Recommended, particularly if you like any of the band’s mentioned above and also if you like quirky and hyper active complex rock. Listen to them here: http://www.myspace.com/funmachine

"Sonnenhuhn" is German for "Sun Chicken", by the way.


Edited by BaldFriede - March 02 2009 at 09:16