Exposé Online » Issue 21

Date : March 2001
Pages : 88
Summary : ProgDay 2000, Gianni Leone/Il Balletto di Bronzo, Uz Jsme Doma, Azigza, Theo Travis, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Five Fifteen, King Crimson, Spacecraft, Picchio Dal Pozzo, The Tunnel Singer + CD: 'What's New in Baltimore'
Items found : 75

A Hot Date with King Crimson —
Live at the Fillmore 2000

It's been 31 years since the Crimson King appeared at the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco. In December 1969, the original quartet was at the end of their first American tour, tired, spent, and just downright frustrated. The group was on a triple bill with both the Nice (led by Keith Emerson) and the Chambers Brothers (an R&B vocal group), which typified the mixture of musical styles in a Bill Graham venue for the day. Fast forward to the present and although Robert Fripp and his new quartet have adopted many guises, none are more brutal than the projekctized version, which has been successfully redefined for the new millennium.  » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2001-03-01)

Aelian - A Tree under the Colours

Aelain is a five-piece guitar / keyboards / bass / drums Italian band that serves up music in the 80s AOR rock style. The song arrangements are typically neat and clean and there are loads of...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Grimes 2001-03-01)

Alo Mattiisen - Read

After some none-too-fulfilling encounters with the likes of Eloy Fritsch and Artemiy Artemiev, I was becoming weary of what my next task with reviewing synthesizer-based music would hold. Alas,...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 2001-03-01)

Amoeba - Pivot

Without reading the credits, it would be easy to assume Amoeba is a four or five member band, but in reality it’s two guys: Robert Rich (vocals, keyboards, steel guitar, flutes) and Rick...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Amstrong - Sprinkler

Amstrong hail from Copenhagen, and are often compared to massive Attack and Portishead, but I don’t hear much of that. Their sound is a strange mixture of very artificial and organic, with...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Annbjørg Lien - Baba Yaga

The Hardanger fiddle of Norway is traditionally played as a solo instrument, but Annbjørg Lien, one of the more famous exponents of the instrument, here presents it in the setting of an augmented...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Annie Whitehead - Home

Annie Whitehead is a trombonist and composer who has made what I’d characterize as an optimistic revalidation of the roots of early Brit jazz, adding a careful handling of world music themes....

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2001-03-01)

Anscha - Anscha

This is a very good example of good “musical” ideas ruined by an out-of-control singer. “Musical,” here meaning instrumental ideas. The vocalizations of the singer, Andreas...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jerry Baiden 2001-03-01)

Anthony Moore - Reed, Whistle and Sticks, Out & Flying Doesn't Help

Before hooking up with Peter Blegvad and Dagmar Krause to form Slapp Happy, Anthony Moore was experimenting with some very innovative musical techniques. Reed, Whistle and Sticks is one of...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

AoMusic - Grow Wild

Ao, which is a Polynesian word for light and illumination, is the duo of Nahoo (aka Ric Gannaway) and Jojo (aka Jay Oliver), a pair of Mid-Westerners with a strong affiliation for New Age...

 » Read more
(Posted by Paul Hightower 2001-03-01)

Arturo Meza - Borges

It’s been so long since we have heard anything from this Mexican prog man that I was beginning to wonder what happened to him. Outside of various appearances with the likes of Nirgal Vallis...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 2001-03-01)

Ash Ra Tempel - Gin Rosé at the Royal Festival Hall

This CD is a concert by Klaus Schulze and Manuel Göttsching which took place in April 2000 at Royal Festival Hall, presumably the site of earlier Schulze recordings of the same name. Not...

 » Read more
(Posted by Phil Derby 2001-03-01)

Atman Featuring Anna Nacher - Tradition

No newcomers to Exposé, this exotic Polish ensemble check in with another release. Atman’s sound is tough to pigeonhole, their forte being a bent for creating ambient drones...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike Ezzo 2001-03-01)

Audra & Voltaire - Audra & Almost Human

Audra captures the factory sound of the late 70s, of bands like Bauhaus and Joy Division. Their debut CD opens with a tasty little bit of nostalgia. “In All Our Androgyny” features an...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 2001-03-01)

Azazello - Black Day

The electronic drum kit will undoubtedly make or break one’s opinion of this release by Russian prog-metal quartet Azazello, depending on your tolerance for such a mechanical backbone. And if...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike McLatchey 2001-03-01)

B.J. Cole - The Heart of the Moment

Veteran pedal steel guitarist BJ Cole became visible on the UK music horizon within several contexts by this release from his Transparent Music Ensemble in 1995. Since 1989’s Transparent...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2001-03-01)

Bill Nelson - Buddha Head & Weird Critters

Since disbanding BeBop Deluxe more than twenty years ago, Bill Nelson has released more than thirty solo albums ranging from engaging progressive pop to long ambient works written for art...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic - Petrophonics

Ever since I first heard this band back in the early 80s, I’ve been fascinated by their style: rock instrumentation playing challenging music which is not based in the conventions of rock and roll,...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Calix - Canções de Beurin

Cálix is a young Brazilian band that seems to strive for an early 70s rock sound as opposed to strictly prog, with easily grasped melodies and song structures, and a dominant Anglo-American...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mac Beaulieu 2001-03-01)

Car 44 - Platinum Holes

As part of Thirsty Ear’s effort to expand its scope to a varied roster, ex-Rollins Band and Bowie’s recent guitarist Chris Haskett puts on his production hat to produce Virginia...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2001-03-01)

Darren Stroud - Guitar Absolute

On Guitar Absolute Darren Stroud plays all guitars and plays bass on most tracks. Tones range from warm, clean jazzy tones to more distorted offerings. Stroud presents a balanced sense of...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jerry Baiden 2001-03-01)

David Davidson - Celtic Fantasy

There are loads of musicians trying to cash in on the Celtic music craze, and here’s another. This quote found on the web site should be warning enough: “David’s passionate use of...

 » Read more
(Posted by Paul Hightower 2001-03-01)

David Jackson - Fractal Bridge

Utilizing the heretofore-unknown Soundbeam system, Dave Jackson has found a means to incorporate together his love of the spontaneous moment as well as live improvisation. Across the eleven cuts,...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2001-03-01)

Five Fifteen - Silver Machine & I Don't Remember

Here we have two four-song discs from Finland’s psychedelic progressive hard rock masters. The first (I Don't Remember) features a short version of a track from their album...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Fonya - Sunset Cliffs

Those expecting the usual collection of Yes-inspired sci-fi instrumentals from Chris Fournier this time out are in for quite a shock. For one thing, while the overall sound and production quality...

 » Read more
(Posted by Paul Hightower 2001-03-01)

Frank van Bogaert - Docking

Van Bogaert’s electronic leanings remind me a lot of 70s Vangelis and more symphonic-oriented electronic music like Tomita or some Kitaro. Throughout the 11 tracks on the CD, there is a...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike McLatchey 2001-03-01)

Gavin Harrison - Sanity and Gravity

With Sanity and Gravity UK session drummer Gavin Harrison steps up to the lead role with his very first album. Harrison is known for accompanying many divergent artists such as Iggy Pop,...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2001-03-01)

Gjallarhorn - Sjofn

Fans of the progressive strain of Nordic music pioneered by Hedningarna and Garmarna now have another genre-bending band to latch onto. Finland’s Gjallarhorn take some of the elements of those two...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Glenn Hughes - Return of Crystal karma

Glenn Hughes has always been a hidden, overlooked talent in my book. The man came to prominence first with rockers Trapeze, before moving into the high profile of Deep Purple during the...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2001-03-01)

Golaná - Feather on the Wind

Though Golaná (a.k.a. Scott Cunningham) plays handcrafted Native American wood flutes, his compositions have little connection the musical traditions of his Cherokee ancestors. Instead, the...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jim Chokey 2001-03-01)

Guillermo Fragoso - Mexxico

Fragoso practices a brand of swarthy, doomy ambient prog that bears the imprint of Peter Frohmader. Fragoso serves up dark, dank soundscapes with a love of low registers, thick textures, and...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dean Suzuki 2001-03-01)

Guru Guru - 2000 Gurus

I remember Guru Guru from back in the 70s, when I picked up one album on a whim. It was spacey, funky jazz rock done with a sense of humor (I don’t suppose you can be too serious with a name...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Hector Hernandez - La Evocación de lo Sublime

The up side of the modern availability of inexpensive digital recording equipment is that virtually anybody who wants to can put out a CD of their own music without having to go through the...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Hugh Burns - Dedication & Mindwash

For those of you who don’t know him, Hugh Burns is a much traveled and in- demand session guitarist who has played with the likes of Wham, Gerry Rafferty, and Jack Bruce. He is also involved...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2001-03-01)

James Johnson - Entering Twilight

This 66 ½-minute, one track CD reveals a style that may be part of the lineage of positive, gentle, cloudy ambient music that one finds on Steve Roach’s Quiet Music albums and...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike McLatchey 2001-03-01)

Joe Jackson - Summer in the City: Live in New York

Leave it to musical chameleon Joe Jackson to twist the standard pop jazz arrangement of a few well known pop tunes and provide further proof of his oft-ignored creative genius. Dipping into his 60s...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2001-03-01)

Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette - Whisper Not

Recorded in mid-1999 in Paris, Whisper Not is the first recording of the trio since Jarrett took a health break in 1997 and 1998. He suffered from CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome). To do a whole gig...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jerry Baiden 2001-03-01)

Kurgan's Bane - The Future Lies Broken

If you ever wondered what Rush might have sounded like with a female vocalist, wonder no more. Baltimore-based four-piece Kurgan's Bane is a band that obviously idolizes Rush, especially the...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

L'Ange Vert - Vol de Nuit

Following quickly on the heels of Tempête et châtiments (reviewed in #20), l’Ange Vert’s fourth CD showcases live material from their 1999 tour. This French...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jim Chokey 2001-03-01)

Laraaji / Roger Eno - Islands

First of all, this album is not a collaboration between Laraaji and Roger Eno. It is a split live album with separate performances from the two, recorded at the Lanzarote Music Festival in 1989....

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Lester Palocsay - Baby Data Drop

The music on this disc was originally recorded from 1984 to 1990. Nothing is provided in the way of musician credits, but judging from the sound of it, Palocsay worked on his own. Most of the...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Mashu - Elephants in Your Head?

Hugh Hopper’s penchant to seek the unobtrusive collaboration results in another crystal of a project. This improvising trio is based on your typical guitar, bass and percussion scenario,...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2001-03-01)

Micro-Ritmia - Micro-Ritmia

Despite the supposed 1986 release date on this, it must have languished in total obscurity for several years. The first this writer ever heard of this duo was on the Margen sampler, reviewed a...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 2001-03-01)

Mongol - Doppler 444

How this one was missed by Exposé’s radar when it first came out is still a mystery to me, having only been brought to our attention earlier this year. The six tracks herein...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 2001-03-01)

Morgan Fisher - Hybrid Kids 1 & 2 + Miniatures

In the middle of his work as a keyboard player (with Queen, Mott the Hoople, and others) and as a producer (Allan Holdsworth), Morgan Fisher came up with two albums worth of oddities called...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Music from the Future - Mind Trips

Music from the Future is the recording name of Marcel Peelen, a Dutch native who now resides in the United States. A certified therapeutic recreation specialist who seeks to use synthesized sounds...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jim Chokey 2001-03-01)

Mythology Bullfinch - The Age of Chivalry & Songs from the Age of Fable

This oddly entitled outfit seems to get their influences as much from classic and psychedelic rock as progressive rock. The Age of Chivalry is mostly a guitar, bass, and drums affair, with...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike McLatchey 2001-03-01)

Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites - Unis & The Cereal Killer

NLC is a project led by one Julien Ash, who has apparently been at this for some time, although these two releases were my first exposure to his work Their relative anonymity may not last, as they...

 » Read more
(Posted by Sean McFee 2001-03-01)

Peter Frohmader - 2001

Pounding beats, throbbing bass, swirling electronics. Is this latest acid house, acid techno, electro-techno (whatever label you choose) sensation from Germany? No, surprisingly it is a foray into...

 » Read more
(Posted by Henry Schneider 2001-03-01)

Peter Frohmader & Fuchs-Gamböck - Das Ist Alles

German rock journalist Michael Fuchs-Gamböck and Peter Frohmader met at a Faust concert in 1997. Their mutual interest in Krautrock and experimental music led to a lasting friendship and now a...

 » Read more
(Posted by Henry Schneider 2001-03-01)

Peter Ulrich - Pathways and Dawns

To me, at first this sounds a heck of a lot like Robert Wyatt vocally and Dead Can Dance (or other similar 4AD artists) musically. Ulrich has a thin, plaintive tenor voice that, like Wyatt’s,...

 » Read more
(Posted by Steve Robey 2001-03-01)

Preston Reed - Handwritten Notes

If you think that the acoustic guitar is a conventional instrument then you haven’t heard Preston Reed play it. Combining a tapping approach that is considerably evolved from the style of the...

 » Read more
(Posted by David Ashcraft 2001-03-01)

Radiohead - Kid A

OK Computer showed a rock band reaching beyond the conventions of commercial music, yet somehow managing to remain commercial, selling millions of albums and impressing a lot of...  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Remy - The Art of Imagination

The Art of Imagination is a series of six musical images in the European electronic tradition. The first is in a melodic, minor key with shakuhachi-like patches intoning over some deeper...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike McLatchey 2001-03-01)

Robert Carty - The Inexplicable

Robert Carty is an independent musician who runs his own label and releases several CDRs a year in a variety of electronic styles. He has an enormous back catalog that I have only begun to tap, but...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mike McLatchey 2001-03-01)

Russ Tolman - New Quadrophonic Highway

Tolman is a singer-songwriter with a half-talking / half-singing Lou Reed style of vocalization. In other words, he’s got the vocal range of about five half-steps. This is not necessarily a...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jerry Baiden 2001-03-01)

Scenic - Spheres

I haven’t heard Scenic’s previous releases, but from the descriptions I found on the net (“Ennio Morricone meets modern chamber music and Middle Eastern influences”), this CD EP is atypical....  » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Sigmund Snopek III - Trinity Seas Seize Sees (Long Version)

Though best known these days as the keyboardist for the Violent Femmes, Sigmund Snopek’s first and greatest accomplishments have been in progressive rock. A three-act rock opera written in...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jim Chokey 2001-03-01)

Similares y Conexos - De Flora y Fauna

Of the Mexican progressive groups I’ve heard, none attempts to integrate the traditional music of their country as much as Similares y Conexos. The five-pieces ranges from tunes a bit like...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Star People - ...Are Coming

Anyone who’s seen the Ozrics on their last couple US tours may have caught these folks inadvertently as their opening act. Yes, these are those bizarre guys in tuxes that look like some kind...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 2001-03-01)

Stephane Vaillant - Crazy Stuff

Okay, let’s get one thing straight; this guy can play guitar. It’s obvious he can play circles around any of these modern thrashy guitar heroes. Stéphane Vaillant has got very...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jerry Baiden 2001-03-01)

Suzanne Lewis - Suzanne Lewis

Vocalist Susanne Lewis finally steps out into her first true solo album, nearly fourteen years after her most notable stint as lead singer for Colorado’s Thinking Plague. She’s also...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jeff Melton 2001-03-01)

Sviraj - Ciganine

Omnium’s primary mission is releasing “folk music that rocks,” and they turn slightly aside from that with this disc. Though Sviraj (pronounced “svee-rye”) have energy...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Tara Vanflower - This Womb Like Liquid Honey

Miss Vanflower is the vocalist for Lycia, another Projekt band. My favorite tracks on the Lycia I reviewed were the instrumentals, none of those here. Tara “plays” all the instruments:...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 2001-03-01)

Tempest - Live at the Philadelphia Folk Festival

It’s about time that these Bay Area Celtic rockers released a live CD! Impressive as Tempest’s studio releases have been, they’ve never come close to the essence of the...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jim Chokey 2001-03-01)

The Insect Trust - The Insect Trust

This late-60s quintet from NYC epitomized the broad sense of musical experimentation of the era, pulling incongruent forms together, and through a combination of optimism and naiveté,...

 » Read more
(Posted by Peter Thelen 2001-03-01)

The Insect Trust - The Insect Trust

As a longtime fan of Fairport Convention and British folk rock, I had dismissed American folk as being either too cloying or too familiar. Not so with The Insect Trust, who do for American folk and...

 » Read more
(Posted by Mac Beaulieu 2001-03-01)

Theta - Seeds of a Dream

Although the 80s produced a spate of Japanese sympho bands, in recent years one tends to think of Japanese progressive music in terms of zeuhl (Ruins and related Yoshida projects) or the...

 » Read more
(Posted by Sean McFee 2001-03-01)

Thinking Plague - Early Plague Years

The recent resurgence of Thinking Plague has finally yielded the reissue of their (rare) first two albums (both included on this one CD in their entirety), showcasing the beginnings of one of the...

 » Read more
(Posted by Steve Robey 2001-03-01)

Tony Levin - Waters of Eden

Over the last half dozen years, King Crimson bassist Tony Levin has produced a small but impressive body of work on his own Papa Bear Records, including World Diary (1995), a collection of...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jon Davis 2001-03-01)

Twin Age - Moving the Deck Chairs

Ten years ago this would have been right at home on the SI label. For many readers, maybe that’s all you need to know. If you don’t know what that means, well, consider some of the more...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dan Casey 2001-03-01)

Various Artists - E-Progeny

This interesting compilation is the result of a collaboration between members of an Internet mailing list called “e-Prog,” which is dedicated to the discussion of keyboard-led...

 » Read more
(Posted by Sean McFee 2001-03-01)

Various Artists - Looper's Delight Compilation CD: Volume 2

This was an awesome Internet find. I discovered the Looper’s Delight web page one day and am the better for it. A site dedicated to the use of the tape loop; its origins, tech tips and...

 » Read more
(Posted by Dane Carlson 2001-03-01)

Vujicsics Ensemble - 25

Founded in 1974, the Vujicsics Ensemble is perhaps Hungary’s most widely respected folk group. Named for Tilhamér Vujicsics, a composer and musical folklorist in the tradition of...

 » Read more
(Posted by Jim Chokey 2001-03-01)

Wittox O'Hara - Blame: Mascot

This is the second album by the Canadian guitarist, and although it’s getting a bit moldy by now, it does deserve a mention here. O’Hara plays electric and acoustic guitars, and also...

 » Read more
(Posted by Sean McFee 2001-03-01)