Soft Machine are a band with a complex fifty year history which I will make no attempt to précis here, but the current incarnation has just released a new live album recorded during their 50th anniversary tour last year, and…
View More Soft Machine – Live At The Baked PotatoAuthor: Graham Thomas
Vulkan – Technatura
I don’t know if it’s something they add to the water supply in Sweden, but it has been a hotbed of great new progressive music for years now, with a seemingly endless list of new bands emerging each year to…
View More Vulkan – TechnaturaThat Joe Payne – By Name. By Nature.
This debut from That Joe Payne seems to have been a long time coming. Since leaving The Enid, there have been singles and EPs previewing songs, teasing us almost, and he has been playing some of this material for some…
View More That Joe Payne – By Name. By Nature.Trey Gunn – Punkt / Firma
Trey Gunn should be a very familiar name in Progressive Rock circles, mainly because of his involvement with King Crimson during the ‘double-trio’ years. Since then he has been involved in various projects (including the Security Project, a re-imagining of…
View More Trey Gunn – Punkt / FirmaI Am The Manic Whale – Things Unseen
A gentle piano intro, and the voice intoning a complex and odd melody, “picking melodies out of the black and fumy air” indeed. Then, something stirs, crashing chords, strident bass and drums, and a synth melody soaring aloft; yes friends,…
View More I Am The Manic Whale – Things UnseenSonar with David Torn – Tranceportation (Volume 2)
It’s rather wonderful when discovering music for the first time with which many others are familiar. A bit like finding a new path nearby that you’ve not previously noticed before and discovering new vistas and points of interest on your…
View More Sonar with David Torn – Tranceportation (Volume 2)Ms Amy Birks – All That I Am & All That I Was
Ms Amy Birks will be known to many of us as one third of the Beatrix Players, who came to prominence with their debut album three years ago. I came across them supporting Big Big Train, and a striking act…
View More Ms Amy Birks – All That I Am & All That I WasEchorec – The Island
If you google Echorec, apparently it’s some kind of guitar effect pedal. Well, it could have been worse, they could have called themselves Wah Wah. Anyway, this Echorec are a young trio from the West Country, and The Island is…
View More Echorec – The IslandThe Enid – U
Anyone who has followed The Enid in recent years will know that they have endured a particularly turbulent time, even for a band with their chequered history. They were completely transformed by the arrival of Joe Payne and enjoyed great…
View More The Enid – UZopp – Zopp
There’s something about debut albums isn’t there? Bands or artists that are new to you making their first long-form artistic statement. There are no pre-conceptions, not too much expectation, more hope really, and when they turn out to be impressive,…
View More Zopp – Zopp