Pete Sinfield was in need of an album cover. Having served as roadie, light man, lyricist and a general conceptualizer for a new band named King Crimson, he was now tasked with the matter of finding a way to package the strange music the band was committing to tape in the recording studio. Wasting no…
via In The Court of the Crimson King, by King CrimsonAn album cover art story — The Music Aficionado
When I was growing up and getting into strange music during the early to mid-1980s, I had several resources I would go to monthly (or quarterly, after a while) to find out about anything that had to do with progressive rock: Audion, a magnificent English magazine which covered pretty much everything I liked at the time, and the American equivalent, Eurock. I had the pleasure of meeting Archie Patterson, the mag head, a few times when I was working at a record shop in Los Angeles, and the guy was absolutely brilliant.
Eurock has a 47-year history of giving their readers a peek at the best in avant-progressive music. He is working on a documentary on both the magazine and some of the musicians he has been doing business with for the past 40 years, including Gilbert Artman, Mikhail Chekalin and Luis Perez.
This is a worthwhile cause. Check out Archie’s IndieGoGo page to learn more about this project.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are an incredibly prolific band. Every now and then, they release a crap album like Infest The Rats’ Nest, which is bad metal as far as I’m concerned. Some of their fans like that. Fair enough. This album, however, shows them peaking as a band who can mix prog, psych, boogie rock and some pretty damn good, if weird, songwriting into a coherent bit of listening. I’m happy to have this one in my collection.
Thanks kindly to Cuneiform Records, whose weekly $5 downloads are an affordable way to replace a few CDs lost to time and travel.
Piero Milesi was an Italian composer who started off his career in 1977 with the International Folk Group of Moni Ovadia. His first break came from the now-legendary Cherry Red Records, which originally released this two-piece work in 1982.
The release itself doesn’t sit comfortably in any genre. Obstensibly a classical music record of a sort, it also touches on chamber rock, art rock, jazz, electronic music, progressive rock, avant-progressive, film music and modern composition. It was a breathtaking debut for a composer who would score a few more albums, and even arranging an album for Japanese pop star Kazufumi Miyazawa before succumbing to a heart attack in 2011.
I must have been about 17 years old when a disc called Symphonie pour le jour où brûleront les cités, Musique pour l’Odyssée and Archives 1, performed by a band I had never heard of called Art Zoyd, kept staring me in the face, while I heard voices in my wallet saying, “Take it.” I had just recently discovered Univers Zero, a contemporary band, and was told by the ever-knowledgeable staff at Rhino Records in Claremont, California, that it was a winner. Indeed, it was, and it was unlike anything I had ever heard up until that point. Chamber-rock wasn’t in my vocabulary at the time, but that would be the term which fit the band best. It’s good to see this album in its proper form, but I really do hope that Sub Rosa, who took the time to do such a wonderful job producing this disc, re-releases Art Zoyd’s whole back catalog, including bonus tracks. Each disc has been worth it.
Montreal-based band Gisèle were one of the first purchases I made on Bandcamp, so it’s quite nice to see their name pop up on my feed after a long, quiet absence. It’s a mish-mash of improvisational music, post-rock and progressive rock done tastefully. Two tracks only, but the listening is good and engaging.
The freaks at Höga Nord Rekords release yet another monstrously good EP, this time from Sweden’s mighty neo-Kraut rockers Flowers Must Die. There are pulses and waves of heavy psych that remind one of Amon Düül II and Guru Guru. Lovely stuff.
Many thanks to Audion Magazine legend Alan Freeman for turning me on to this heavy French band who have Faust and La STPO connections. Very loud, and definitely acolytes of Faust!
I don’t know if Säure Adler will ever surpass their Krautrock masters, but on this release, they’re really getting close. This was one of the most enjoyable forays into tripsville I’ve had in a while. It was nice to hear the floaty, beefy, textured tunes over a good set of speakers while relaxing before work. Truly a pleasant experience.
I couldn’t be happier to promote this upcoming show! My old friend and colleague Jeffrey Kinart is pairing with the legendary Adrian Belew on a new podcast called (what else?) Neurotica.
Check out the bumper on the Spotify link to get a taste as to what’s headed your way. It will expand to other services shortly, so if you have any suggestions as to where they should go, send the suggestions my way, and I’ll forward it to them.
Illuminating the Post-Industrial Underground
© P. Robinson 2004-2022
Iberian record label since 2012.
My photos
the greatest songs of the 1960's that no one has ever heard
A Movable Venue
A Tudo o que tiver que vier.
the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance
Discovering the wonderful world of classic actresses and their beauty...
Creative bands of extreme quality and competence
Writing Lostness
Highlighting Progressive, Psychedelic, and Otherwise-Weird and Interesting Music
A History of Spiritual Rock & Roll
Beauty & Art
We are here and it is now. Further than that, all human knowledge is moonshine. - HL Mencken
Rewind the Review
Let Us Attend!
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 