Prog

Stream the Prog 136 playlist at https://spoti.fi/3iF2Ooh SCAN HERE TO GET OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTERH Hello, and welcome to the new issue of Prog magazine. Always a strange issue, this one. It’s officially out in 2022, but already we’re looking to 2023. A

Say “yes” to great Norwegian music! Jansen Records is a leading independent record label based in Oslo, Norway. The label was started by Erik Jansen in 2009, and he still runs it today, alongside his friends and colleagues, Andreas, Eivind and Maria.

Editor Jerry Ewing Deputy Editor Natasha Scharf Art Editor Russell Fairbrother Production Editor Vanessa Thorpe News Editor Grant Moon Reviews Editor Dave Everley Associate Editor Jo Kendall Content Director Scott Rowley Jeremy Allen (JA), Joe Banks

I have been a prog music lover for 50 I years now, buying thousands of vinyl and CDs and attending gigs. But it still ceases to amaze me when reading Prog mag how many new releases come out by bands I have never heard of. Prog 135 is a plethora of ve

A new book is on the way about Hipgnosis, the design group whose catalogue of classic album artwork includes Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon, Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and many, many more. Us And Them: The Authorised Story Of Hip

Australian prog metal champions Karnivool have moved the European and UK dates of their Regeneration Tour again, having already rescheduled them due to the pandemic. They will now play across January and February, opening the European leg in Frankfur

Van der Graaf Generator’s last show from their 2022 tour is captured comprehensively on the band’s upcoming four-disc box set. The Bath Forum Concert is out on Esoteric on March 10, and features two CDs, a Blu-ray and a DVD. The show took place at th

The Alan Parsons Project’s classic fifth album, 1980’s The Turn Of A Friendly Card, will be issued in a limited edition box set by Esoteric on February 24. It features three CDs and one Blu-ray, with the album remixed and remastered by Parsons from t

Australian progressive metal band Ne Obliviscaris have announced details of their new record, and have unveiled their 2023 tour of Europe and UK. Their fourth album, Exul will be released on Season Of Mist on March 24, and track titles include Equus,

Over the years, few might have looked at the keys on an accordion and considered their similarity to a computer keyboard. One person, however, held that thought, got hold of two Commodore 64 computers and assembled an 8-bit musical instrument that lo

John Martyn’s 1990 album The Apprentice is the subject of a three-disc box set, just out on Esoteric. The box includes a CD/DVD of The Apprentice In Concert, which features a guest appearance from David Gilmour. More at www.bit.ly/martynapp. Leprous

This reader thinks they’re a great thing. In 2016 Andy Tillison asked The Tangent Facebook group if anyone out there would be interested in hosting a house concert. My wife and I live in a bungalow in Stretham, a village near Ely (it’s where Pink Flo

Prog metal trio Alluvial and Swedish prog metalcore act Allt have been announced as special guests on all shows on Animals As Leaders’ European/UK tour, which opens in Birmingham on January 10. Full info at www.animalsasleaders.org. French alt-metal/

The prog top 30 albums November 2022 Compiled by 1 MUSE Will Of The People (WARNER/HELIUM-3) 2 PINK FLOYD Animals (2018 Remix) (PINK FLOYD RECORDS/PARLOPHONE) 3 DEVIN TOWNSEND Lightwork (INSIDEOUT) 4 POLYPHIA Remember That You Will Die (RISE) 5 RADIO

It’s that time of year again, folks! It’s been an interesting year too – reflected, I think, in the results of the Readers’ Poll. Some of progressive music’s big guns have slugged it out between themselves at one end and, at the other, one can see th

“When I joined Mike Hart and Alan Day, I had an up-and-running light show complete with artwork, animated slides, projectors, liquids, things like that… I just had to adapt the artwork. We used lots of spacey backgrounds which I had bought from the P

“I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and I knew everybody in the local scene because I worked at [community promoter] the Family Dog. People started asking me to dance for them. So I approached Jerry Garcia and said, ‘Can I dance onstage with the

“My life changed forever on the day I heard The Alan Parsons Project for the first time. At 13 years old I was into pop like Madonna and Howard Jones, and I went to the house of a mate whose parents had this massive hi-fi. When his mum put on Tales O

Born in 1947, in Dublin, Ireland, Sally Oldfield is the eldest of three gifted siblings, all of whom have contributed much to the world of progressive music. Alongside brothers Mike and Terry Oldfield, she grew up in a musical family, studied piano f

Icy, quarantine-inspired escapade from maverick Oslo electronic duo. Brian Eno intended his landmark 1976 album Airports as the first of a “small but versatile catalogue of environmental music suited to a wide variety of moods and atmospheres.” Aimin

Folk veteran releases belated solo debut. In the late 70s when punk broke, interest in folk rock was in decline and multi-instrumentalist and singer David Carroll left his band Spinning Wheel to concentrate on making instruments and playing sessions.

Australia’s prog melody-makers tighten up their schedule – and their anthems. Going down the route of releasing an EP series is the best decision Circles have made in years. Since forming in 2010, the Aussie prog metal four-piece have only made two a

How to shred without sacrificing the songs. It’s tempting to compare Japanese instrumentalists D_Drive to US guitar hero Joe Satriani. Like Satriani, Yuki and Seiji of D_Drive use the instrument in place of the human voice to express the melody and e

Eclectic social commentaries from prog rock collective. Founded by UK prog veteran Guy Manning, Damanek’s third album sees them perfecting their majestic arrangements and catchy melodies. A Mountain Of Sky’s big choruses and energetic instrumentation

Please keep on the grass. Possessing one of the most visually evocative names within the stonerpunk-psych scene, Washington DC trio Dead Meadow return after a six-year gap with their eighth album, Force Form Free. Originated from a series of jams cre

Dutch post-rock project’s third doubles down on the despondency. Since they debuted with 2015’s Tides, the addition of a guitarist has reinforced the potency of noise architects Downriver Dead Men Go. But on their third album they spend long periods

Keen creative methods shape musical madness. Knifeworld keyboard player and multi-instrumentalist Emmett Elvin has steadfastly managed to avoid any easy labelling over his first three solo albums. Shaped by Covid lockdowns and personal upheavals, the

Cosmic mood music from Swedish psych revivalists. Their second album finds Sweden’s Gaupa in unbridled, raucous form. Singer Emma Näslund’s swooping, fluttering voice is bound to invite some comparisons with Björk, but musically her band bear no rese

Veteran singer celebrates 50-plus years in the music biz When Claire Hamill recorded her debut album in 1971 as a teenage singer-songwriter and guitarist, she drew comparisons with Joni Mitchell. She also has prog pedigree, having recorded with Steve

Powerful new album from the genre-defying Nashville duo. In the 18 years since their debut album Kenotic, this hip Nashville duo’s sweeping, swirling, reverbsoaked blend of post-rock, shoegaze and ambient music has justly earned them the endorsement

Longtime Ulver collaborator reunites with one of his earliest loves: folk. Håvard Jørgensen emerged as part of the early 90s Norwegian black metal scene, initially as a member of Satyricon then as part of Ulver as they gradually transformed from snar

Mixed bag from a band in their natural environment. With the reductive view of Hawklords being a cut-price version of Hawkwind, some credit is at least due for pursuing a path that, while not wholly their own, makes good on the explorations of the or

Collage of music and field recordings by the White Willow guitarist. Entire Of Itself is built from sounds recorded by Jacob Holm-Lupo in and around his home on the tiny Norwegian island of Sandøya. His methodology involves a number of recordings in

Sid Smith rounds up the best releases from prog’s jazzier reaches. Chemistry is key when it comes to musicians being able to bounce ideas off each other. On Bleed (MoonJune) the debut album from the trio billed as Reuter Motzer Grohowski (Stick Men’s

Third album as a four-piece speaks volumes. Whether it’s on the bubbling funk intro to the title song, which sounds like a Gil Scott-Heron out-take, or the Eno-esque murmurings of Wake Up Call, The Little Unsaid’s third is a slippery fish, evading th

Maverick guitarist reinterprets his acclaimed solo work live. Jonathan Hultén made his name as the guitarist and songwriter with Tribulation, a hissing metal band caked in corpse paint. But then his first solo album, 2020’s Chants From Another Place,

Bold neo-psychedelic vision from collaborative Milano superduo. Multi-instrumentalists Francesca Zanetta and Niccolò Gallani have merged from their respective Milan-based progressive rock bands Quel Che Disse Il Tuono and Cellar Noise for this enjoya

Demons and chickens and crimson kings – these are a few of their favourite things. Keyboard and drum-playing French brothers Colin and Camille Goellaen Duvivier file a guitar-free but muscular debut, drawing on cusp-of-the-70s psych rock and the work

Veteran oddballs continue to oppose the norm. Reassuringly eccentric since 1980, Miriodor have weathered the death of founder François Émond in 2016 and re-emerged in mischievous mood. With one foot planted in Rock In Opposition territory and the oth

Debut from Canadian shredder and man of many talents. Toronto-born, Germanbased guitar ace Morgan Reid appears to have quite the range of talents. It’s hard to fathom how he finds the time for the practice required to be a professional dancer, choreo

Tense, tired, stressed? Be more Quist. Best known for his YouTube “guitar jams and lo-fi beats”, Jacob Quistgaard is also Bryan Ferry’s touring guitarist. Anyone with even the most basic knowledge of the sometime Roxy Music leader will know that only

Take a trip with Rob Hughes as he seeks out the latest mind-expanding music. Followers of the Californian underground may already be familiar with Hannah Skelton and Chris Niles from respective projects Cassiopeia and Maus Haus. Now they’ve teamed up

Welsh space cadets tackle evolution on concept double. In theory, it’s hard to propound detailed theories about anything without lyrics, but prolific Cardigan Bay psychedelicists Sendelica haven’t let that hold them back. The double album One Man’s M

Three-LP live compendium documents durable outfit. A triple live album from Andy Tillison’s hardy prog perennials, this is every bit as exuberant, melodramatic and committed as might be expected. The Tangent have, in their 20-year existence, been bot

Portuguese riff explorers risk getting lost in space. For Solar Corona’s third full-length album, the trio of Rodrigo Carvalho on guitar and synths, drummer Peter Carvalho and bassist José Roberto Gomes are joined by Nuno Loureiro, whose role is desc

Esteemed prog polymath steps out in style. Masterfully helmed by Tiger Moth Tales’ singer and multi-instrumentalist Peter Jones, this live set was recorded in Abingdon, Oxfordshire last July at Prog For Peart, a boutique festival set up to raise mone

Greek symphonic proggers’ ebullient fourth outing. It’s refreshing when confronted with artists that take audible influence from acts outside the prog pantheon, and so it proves on these Greek mavericks’ first long-player since 2016. Sure, familiar e

Grant Moon has a rummage down the back of the Prog sofa for the ones that nearly got away… Clive Mitten has given the (virtual) orchestral treatment to his former group Twelfth Night (on Suite Cryptique) and his favourite prog bands (Suite Sixteen),

Prog metallers stick to their comfort zone. The fourth album from guitarist Valerio Villa’s Swiss-Italian quintet opens with a bang. Virtual Symmetry, the name of the band, the album and, in this instance, the opening track, is a big, bold prog metal

French synth maestro’s 1981 shows given sonic touch-up. Plenty of musicians are referred to as “groundbreaking”, but when Jean-Michel Jarre played five shows in Shanghai and Beijing in 1981 he really was opening up new territory. No Western artist ha

Vinyl reissues for original Renaissance line-up, reunited in the 70s. It’s easy to forget that, given the band’s immense success with Annie Haslam from 1972’s Prologue onwards, Renaissance were quite a different proposition, line-up wise, on their fi

Remastered 200g vinyl release for unfairly maligned live album. When Earthbound was first released in 1972, many people assumed it was King Crimson’s swan song, with yet another version of the band having just self-destructed. In fact, the group had

The earliest music on Done is a 1965 demo by Magna Carta’s mainstay, vocalist-guitarist and songwriter Chris Simpson. It forms part of a two-CD best-of and also included are a CD of the group’s most recent album, 2015’s The Fields Of Eden and a DVD o

Ed Wynne’s space rock warriors compiled again. In one of the most unlikely brushes with mainstream attention in prog history, Ozric Tentacles enjoyed some bona fide chart success in the early 90s. That golden period was compiled on the recent Travell

Ex-Genesis man’s expanded 2008 TV soundtrack set. Writing TV and movie soundtracks can often be the bread and butter keeping a jobbing composer’s body and soul together. Providing themes, links and musical cues is a noble undertaking rather than some

Perceptive dip into uncalm waters. Van der Graaf Generator In The 70s is an accomplished accompaniment to this most discrete, dense band. Steve Pilkington has a great depth of knowledge, clearly acquired across many years: he’s ready and willing to s

Inessential graphic partner to one of 2022’s most promising prog albums. Designed to accompany this year’s eponymous debut from the Robert Berry-led prog trio Six By Six, The Journey Internal uses the album’s track titles as its “chapters” and weaves

quixotic trip through the career of the iconic singer. Few artists have impacted the collective consciousness like East Wickham’s 19-year-old Kate Bush, who got a whole nation talking when her spine-tingling debut single Wuthering Heights reached No.

Relaxed autobiography from peerless producer. An unpretentious man who’s made some of the most brilliantly pretentious records in history, Trevor Horn offers a thoroughly entertaining memoir, which loosely bases each chapter on one of those records.

VENUE LONDON QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL DATE 26/11/2022 SUPPORT ANNA B SAVAGE, ALBERTINE SARGES Glancing at the ticket, Prog realises something has gone slightly awry. Timings on it say 7.30pm doors and yet it’s 7.20pm and tonight’s first support act, Albe

VENUE GEORGE IV, LONDON DATE 21/11/2022 Gig appearances by Dave Cousins, mainman and founder member of The Strawbs, are rare nowadays – he reminds us more than once, it’s over two years since he last performed live at all. Tonight, though, in what pr

VENUE OVOARENA, WEMBLEY DATE 21/11/2022 You can almost hear 12,500 people heaving out a sigh of relief as they walk into Wembley Arena. Rarely has a gig been threatened from as many angles as this one. Nightwish first announced that they’d be returni

VENUE NEW CROSS INN, LONDON DATE 27/11/2022 SUPPORT THE SITAR SERVICE, THE HIGHER PLANES It’s well accepted that the mark of a good song is one that can be transposed from its electric incarnation to an acoustic delivery, the theory being that, strip