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Category: Prog Sub-Genres

Karnataka – Requiem for a Dream a Best of 2023!

So it doesn’t look like I’ve posted anything new on this site since 2020! Wow! And while I’ve listened to lots of Jazz and New Age since then, I have listened to very little Progressive Rock.In order to rectify that situation I went to Progstreaming extended to review albums that were released in 2023. The album that caught my attention was Requiem for for a Dream from Karnataka. Since ekreader’s real name is Edward Karn, you can see why the name stood out! Anyway,  let’s see what I found out about Karnataka! Read More

Marconi Union – Ghost Stations

Marconi Union – Ghost Stations

Sometimes I am not sure that I like ambient music all that much. Many times I’ve heard an ambient track and said, “What the hell was that?” Little did I know that was the reaction that Marconi Union wants from listeners to their latest release Ghost Stations. Here’s what they have to say about the album….. Read More

Running with the Empirical Ghost of Lis er Stille

The Run….

So while Elizabeth conquered the Broad Street 10 miler yesterday, I conquered the RG Riverside half a ten miler on Saturday, running five miles for the first time this year!! I had set out to run a 4.2 mile course I call the Harper Loop. I have not run that course yet this year mainly because it has a long ascent up Pancoast Avenue and then another shorter ascent up Fairview to Harper. Followed by a descent and short ascent along Harper followed by a longer descent down Cranberry Lane.  I did well keeping a slower and steady pace knowing that the hills would be a challenge. The first three miles were 10:44, 11:06, and 10:54 beat you can guess where the hills were!! I slowed down on mile four because I hadn’t really run a four miler with hills and I was tired. But when I stabilized my breathing thanks to the rhythms of Lis er Stille, I didn’t feel too bad, so I thought “let’s see if I can go five”, knowing that Lizzie was doing ten on Sunday! At least I could do a half of that!! Read More

Tangentially Running with A Spark in the Aether

Running Soundtrack: The Tangent A Spark in the Aether: The Music that Died Alone Volume Two

Today’s run showed me the value of running at LEAST twice a week. Last week was busy, making it was very easy to put off running. As a result, I have not run in almost 2 weeks. My last run was on Tuesday the 14th. The lack running was not a problem on the first mile, which was run at a pace of 10:24 min/mile. I started to feel it on the second mile, but I made it through that mile at 10:51 min/mile. I think it was at about the 2 and a third mile mark, that I started to struggle, and actually thought about shortening the planned 4 mile run!! But I finished third mile in a somewhat slower 11:13 min/mile,  still not bad. I continued to struggle through the last mile and ended that mile with an 11:51 min/mile pace!! The final overall pace for the run was 11:07, which really isn’t that bad, but  I just missed my goal, which was to run the four miles at under an 11 minute per mile pace. Read More

Exploring the Ambient,New Age, Prog of Netherlands’ Forest Field- Onwards and Upwards!

On Tuesday of this week the soundtrack for my run was Forest Field’s second release Onwards and Onwards and UpwardsUpwards. According to their website……

  • Forest Field is not a band
  • Forest Field is a project
  • Forest Field is lead by Chinawhite guitarist Peter Cox
  • Expect some guests announcements soon…
  • The music is a combination of ambient, new age, progressive rock
  • with vintage sounds like mellotron, piano and organ
  • but also electric and acoustic guitars
  • and bass and drums where the song needs it

The project is the child of Chinawhite guitarist Peter Cox of the Netherlands. Onwards and Upwards is a combination of instrumental tracks (odd-numbered) and vocal tracks (the even-numbered ones). Central theme is “it´s not the falling down, it´s the getting up again” (from Stronger)..All of the instruments are played by Cox with the exception of the Native American flute on the song “Hope”. The flute is played by Sue Straw. The vocals are ably provided by Phil Vincent. I knda’ like the instrumental tracks more than the vocal ones, but I really do like Vincent’s vocals, so I guess it’s really a toss-up. Cox is more than able on all the instruments, but I do think that he is at his best when his guitar is soaring through a track!! Read More

Prog Rotation Part 2 – Eclectic Prog from Texas’ Herd of Instinct – Conjure!

The other instrumental prog rock band that has been in my listening rotation over the last week or so is the Texas eclectic prog band Herd of Instinct. I have listened to their second release Conjure. The band’s self-titled first release was released in 2011 and was four years in the making. Flashback to 2007 – Wow- that was a long trip – the band 99 Names of  God had disbanded after ten years on the Texas Music scene as an Art Rock band – yeah right?? How do you get beer drinking into that music! But I digress back to 2007 where drummer Jason Spralin and WARR Guitarist Mark Cook are trying to form a new band. Soon they joined forces with ex-Nervewerks guitarist Mike Davison and got down to work!!  Four years later they produced that self titled album (hum about two times as long as the gestation period of the elephant) Anyway, critics praised the album and comparisons were made to King Crimson. The band’s music is drawn from a variety of influences including: multi-cultural music, literary clues, Horror and cinematic film scores, and obscure elements of Rock, Avant-garde, Electronic, Prog, and Psychedelic music. (Horror films and Psychedelic music may survive on the Texas Music scene, no wait – psychedelic music is that hippie music!) Read More

New Prog Rock from Old Friends – Soft Machine now Soft Machine Legacy!

Burden of proofSo tonight I visited the Jazz Music Archives to see what was new. What I found were some old friends. The second review I saw was for the latest release from Soft Machine Legacy, Burden of Proof. Hum, way back in 1970 or so I was a fan for at least one album of The Soft Machine having bought and played many times, their album Third. Anyway I was interested in finding out who Soft Machine Legacy were what I found out was that the original line-up for the band only lasted through 1971 when Robert Wyatt left the band, after that several members revolved in and out of the band through their last studio album, Land of Cockayne released in 1981. Since then many live recordings have been released. In 2002, four former Soft Machine members – Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall and Allan Holdsworth – toured and recorded under the name Soft Works (initially called Soft Ware, debuting at the 2002 Progman Cometh Festival). Read More