Prog Gone Wild Life, Part 1

You all have heard of the Oscar worthy video series, Girls Gone Wild, so I bring to you a discussion thread/poll for Prog Gone Wild.  I have listed 25 bands from the letters A through E, with animal-ish names.  Same thinking as my food poll/threads from earlier in the week.  I know that there are folks out there with knowledge of these bands.  Please share this knowledge with the rest of the class.  There are a few more recognizable names on this list, so maybe there will be a bit more class participation.  I was going to leave off Blue Oyster Cult because they are prog-related and also everyone knows them, but I needed a 25th to fill the pull so hence, I included them.  Also, please note, the Camel that is listed is not the "Moonmadness/Mirage/Snow Goose" Camel; this is the Psyche/Space rock Camel, that many of you must have been confused about with the recent Camel -vs- ELP poll, and hence why you voted for Camel.

Edited by rushfan4 - March 22 2008 at 12:15

Assaf, You are one of the obvious members of prog fans on this site that like to talk about bands other than the big ones.  I am not familiar with Arachnoid or Camel, the psyche/space band.  Is there anything that you can tell me about them?

I know a few of these bands... Art Bears are one of my favourites and they make sort of polemic avant-pop - realy dissonant but definitely punchy. You can't not *react* to their music. I've wanted to review all three of their albums but Syzygy's thoughts seem definitive on each.

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic is an off-shoot of a band many music-lovers know - Mission of Burma - but they play chamberfied and demanding rock music - I can't recommend them based on anything specific as they seem to have a millions albums and I've only heard two. =P

Deerhoof are cute =) they deconstruct indie and add experimental touches. My favourite from them is Milk Man but whenever I say that, everyone tells me I'm not listening o:)

(Geck0 will come in later and gush over Catapilla...)

Dragonfly sounds like they would be well worth the listen.  I wonder how difficult they will be to track down.  Sounds like step one is a visit to Synphonic.

Hopes and Fears is rather distinct from Leg End - there's less jazz and more drama, and features strong (and divisive) vocals all the way through.

We'll be adding it soon, and then you could add Birds & Buildings to your poll.

Atomic Rooster, a perfect clearence of what is heavy prog about, you will enjoy if you like hammond driven bands, if you like Deep Purple, this is a great heavy prog band to follow, their debut, and In Hearing of the Atomic Rooster are really good, but their most DP stlyish and more hammond driven is their their great Death Walks Behind You.
Then Made In England and Nice an' Greasy are like Stormbringer in some way, with much funk elemnts leaving the heaviness.

tszirmay wrote: sinkadotentree wrote: Arachnoid for me. Dark with mellotron, what else could one ask for ?   I also suggest getting Arachnoid, another one-shot deal from France that has an eerie ,spooky "Metallique" aura to it , very sombre and highly original. sinkadotentree is, as usual , hyper-correct .

It's a wonderful album of the electro-acoustic variety.  In the past, I've usually listed it as my favourite in Symphonic Prog (and, along with Carpe Diem and Shylock, set me off on a French "Symphonic Prog" journey).  Definitely listen to the streaming mp3 here (that's how I discovered it, by going through all the Symphonic Prog mp3s).

It's theatrical, spooky, but also fun, and has avant rock qualities.

SO it would be an easy one to vote for me.  More recently, however, I've been really into Art Bears and related music, so I'll give it to Art Bears. The World as it is Today was the album that got me into the Bears "Out of town, my work takes me out of town.  I empty villages, I burn their houses down..."  It appeals to my RiO and Canterbury side.

I am listening to Toutes Ces Images from Arachnoid's self-titled album from the stream on PA.  It is quite good. 

The track I'd most recommend, generally, to Prog fans from Arachnoid is the first one "La Chamadere" (check out myspace).  It's an album that crosses styles that could be a great gateway into other French bands (and into the more avant side of things).  The mellotron was mentioned, but, although I like many albums that uses Mellotron (and it can be extensive), I'm generally not a mellotron fan (I know that makes me a heretic)... It's the piano which is so enjoyable in that album for me, but it's a good combination of electric and acoustic.

I have drifted from that album somewhat as I got into other music (and that was a fairly early one for me after I got back into Prog in a big way), but a big hand for Arachnoid -->
 


Edited by Logan - March 22 2008 at 16:03