SR XXX: Erasershred

 

Depends on your definition of "heavy".

 

If all we're thinking of is loudness ... it's not worth my time and place to answer. If all we're thinking is some kind of metal ... it's not worth my time and place to answer.

 

If we're talking pure spiritual depth in the work, Popol Vuh is by far one of the most authentic experimenting groups in that area, and they did something that New Age folks didn't like a whole lot ... they added other dimentions of ritual and prayer to the music later.

 

If we're talking outright weirdness and possible bizarre'ness, it's really hard to argue with the long cut in White Noise's "Electric Storm in Hell", because when it comes down to it, and if you try to make up a story along with the effects and music that you hear, you would have something really scary, and weird.

 

It we're talking outright PURE depth of work and meditational value, it's really hard to not appreciate Frank Perry's two massive meditation albums "Deep Peace" and "New Atlantis", both of which are meant for meditations, and the depth and detail in them is massive, and not something that many of us are not capable of even sitting through for one minute, let alone 20.

 

Of all the albums, and all the music, there are two pieces that are pure heavyness for me ... and the visuals are endless and the depth of those visuals has no end ... and sometimes I do not think that this is "music" ... it is something else ... and they are Amon Duul 2's Yeti (the long piece) and then Klaus Schulze's "Sebastian in Traum".

 

There are other things that are quite heavy and very deep and intense ... and they are not necessarily in one area or another. I think Eberhard Schoenner's "Trance Formation" is massive, and it was the first one to put together a screaming guitar with Gregorian Chants and Electronics ... and some of the more meditative pieces in that album are just way out there ... but I am not sure that most people in this board can sit through it and not get ... bent out of shape, because it is a very weird and odd mix.

 

The other one I love dearly and talk about it all the time, is Terje Rypdal/David Darling's Eos album (skipt he first cut - you have been warned!) because it is the most beautiful thing ever done with an electric guitar, but we're not (in general) very good listeners of different things ... and this is chamber music at its best ... but I am not sure that "prog" fans know what that means, or that most "progressive" fans are willing to sit through it ... because they will not be able to classify it in some area or another.

 

Aphrodite's Child's album 666 deserves a mention here, but it is rarely mentioned as a progressively important album and it deserves to be there, but it is way too strange and weird and too much classical and greek mythology for it to be appreciated by a rock audience, and specially one that is into hits. It is a fabulous album all around.

 

Heavy? ... is just another word for ... you can't handle it, I usually say. Has nothing to do with anything else, and specially the loudness and anything else! Or as Guy Guden used to say ... sometimes things are so heavy that they are weightless ... but I get scared when talking philosophy here and people come back with Ayn Rand!