Exposé Online

Agalloch - The Mantle

Black metal often joins the wallop of heavy, dense rock and roll with occult overtones that stretch back to 70s Black Sabbath. Because of this very tenet the genre is often maligned and...

Anekdoten - Gravity

The most distinctive things about Anekdoten have always been overdriven bass, Mellotron, cello, and the vocals. This CD answers the question of what happens when you remove two of those elements,...

Ars Nova Biogenesis Project - Biogenesis

Biogenesis is the kind of overblown sci-fi epic that has both a built-in audience and legions of detractors. The fact that it comes from Japan’s Ars Nova, not exactly known for...

Audra - Going to the Theatre

Audra is the stylishly gothic venture of brothers Bret and Bart Helm who originally hailed from Chicago. Going to the Theatre is the trio’s second CD after three West Coast tours and...

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic - The Iridium Controversy

This new offering from my favorite prehistoric animal noise group certainly lives up to the high standards of their previous releases, and over the long term may turn out to be one of my favorites....

Brandywine Bridge - An English Meadow

English trio Brandywine Bridge released its LP, An English Meadow, in 1978. The album, just reissued by Kissing Spell, contained twelve original songs penned in the style of traditional...

Brian Auger's Oblivion Express - Happiness Heartaches

The latter incarnation of Oblivion Express (led by Hammond B3 player extraordinaire Brian Auger) was characterized by soulful blues-rock, percussion, and danceable grooves. Ex-Return to Forever...

Cast - Al-Bandaluz

By this time, many readers will know what to expect from Mexico's Cast: complex, keyboard-heavy neo-progressive with lots of odd meters. They've stuck to that for what seems like twenty or...

Cherno - Missing Illusion, Trigonometric Reactor & Slight Trick All Around

At its core, Cherno is the duo of Shin Sugawara (sax, wind synth) and Junichi Kishimoto (guitar, guitar synths, drum programming), sometimes joined by other players, track and disc depending...

Clear Light - Clear Light

Other West Coast bands like the Doors, Love, and Jefferson Airplane may have grabbed center stage in the history of the psychedelic era, but there were many others, and some of them rivaled the...

Cobra High - Sunset in the Eye of the Hurricane

I have learned to be wary when the mainstream press describes an artist as “progressive” – you never know what they really mean, since the vast majority of progressive music is...

David Sancious and Tone - Transformation (The Speed of Love)

Divided Sky - Spectral

Divided Sky is a Philadelphia based four piece progressive act that relies on heavy riffs that don’t quite fit into technical metal categorization. Phased guitar effects on...

DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid - Dubtometry

Hot on the heels of the acclaimed Optometry sessions (charting high in the Billboard top 100) comes an all-star set of seventeen remixes of samples and tracks from that disc. The...

Drama - Inspiración

It’s only been in the last couple years that I’ve started hearing any of the progressive music originating in South America, and while I’m reluctant to make broad generalizations,...

Eloy Fritsch - Mythology

As far as one-man keyboard-oriented projects go, this is not the worst I’ve heard, but neither is it the best. The closest comparison would be with 70s Vangelis albums, maybe Heaven and...

Fiaba - Lo Sgabello del Rospo

Lo Sgabello del Rospo is a rock opera in eight parts. The vocals are mostly provided by a lead male vocalist backed by a chorus. His voice has that operatic rich tenor quality of many...

High Wheel - Back from the Void

Horace X - Sackbutt

In the mega-genre that is World Music there is a subgenre often called World Beat. Rather than being specifically from any part of the world, either in fact or in sound, World Beat combines...

Ian Carr's Nucleus - Out of the Long Dark & Old Heartland

One of the last incarnations of Nucleus from the late 70s featured Carr along with long-time cohort Brian Smith on reeds. Geoff Castle, Billy Kristian, and Roger Sellers rounded out this version of...

In Cahoots - All That

It seems hard to believe that it’s been over 20 years since Phil Miller formed In Cahoots after the late great National Health disbanded. All That is only the sixth full In Cahoots...

In Cahoots - All That

Guitarist and composer Phil Miller has taken full advantage of a rejuvenated outlook as a result of his band’s acclaimed first West Coast appearance. With the addition of new drummer Mark...

In Cahoots - All That

The brilliant and fluid jazz, rock, and improvisational sensibilities of this outstanding lineup (now featuring new drummer Mark Fletcher, who played with them at Progman Cometh 2002, replacing Pip...

Incandescent Sky - Glorious Stereo

This is the second release by this New England based four-piece, which is a descendent of the group Knitting by Twilight. With standard guitar / keyboards / bass / drums instrumentation augmented...

Jacopo Andreini - VS 900 Vol. 1

Avant garde music is tricky to pull off, no matter whether it’s in the genre of jazz, rock, or whatever. There can be a fine balance between unfettered artistic expression and...

Jet - Jet

The travels of guitarist David O'List (from the Nice to Roxy Music) eventually found somewhat of a home in Jet, a splinter group from the remains of John's Children. O'List fit in well...

Kevin Ayers - Joy of a Toy, Whatevershebringswesing, Shooting at the Moon & Banamour

Ex-Soft Machine bassist Kevin Ayers left that group after their full-on live U.S. assault with the Jim Hendrix Experience in 1969. After that time, Ayers spent the following years putting together...

Korai Öröm - Reflected Remixes

Oh boy, it’s the remix album. I have had exposure to Korai Öröm, so I am not totally unfamiliar with their sound. Typically it’s extended free-form jams; build a theme, expand...

Kraan - Through

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Mahavishnu

I don’t think anyone would argue against the idea that the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s peak was long past by the time John McLaughlin put this version of the band together. McLaughlin...

Mary Fahl - The Other Side of Time

Mary Fahl was the lead singer of October Project, who enjoyed a sizable following among progheads and ectophiles in the mid-90s. The Other Side of Time is her first full-length solo work....

Maynard Ferguson - Carnival

For those of you uninitiated, Maynard Ferguson was part of the jazz-rock scene originating from the stable of jazz players who broke out under the auspices of Stan Kenton's big band....

Miroslav Vitous - Magical Shepherd

For those who have not heard any of the Miroslav Vitouš solo albums, he will be mainly known for his work as the original bassist with Weather Report, on three and a half of their first four...

Moe! Staiano - The Lateness of Yearly Presentations & Two Forms of Multitudes

Some may be familiar with Moe! (not to be confused with moe.) as the waste percussionist in Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Readers who find SGM a little too happy-go-lucky and accessible, or those...

Neuronium - Quasar 2C361 + Vuelo Quimico

Despite the 1998 publishing date on this set, these reissues have not been generally available (other than through pricey bidding wars on eBay) until now. This brings both the first and second...

Nurse with Wound - She and Me Fall Together in Free Death

Olyam - Cristal Rêveur

Olyam is a young French musician working in the realm of New-Age/Pop, akin to other one-name practitioners (Kitaro, Vangelis, Yanni, etc.) though his influences also include Mike Oldfield. His 5th...

Pink Anvil - Halloween Party

Pink Anvil is a duo of Paul Barker and Max Brody of Ministry. Barker is credited with FM radio and patchbay operation while Brody works a delay and some footswitches. Halloween Party was recorded...

Satoko Fujii / Tatsuya Yoshida - Toh-Kichi

When the freewheeling chaos and confusion suddenly takes form and finds order, one has to wonder whether this live set recorded at the Victoriaville festival between two of Japan’s premier...

Seatrain - Watch

The Blues Project is remembered as an innovative, somewhat erratic band of the mid-60s who combined rock with folk, blues, and jazz. In 1967 they split up, with some members going on to form Blood,...

Similares y Conexos - Gallina Negra

Back in #21 I reviewed a CD by a Mexican band called Similares y Conexos. This is the second...

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Live

The Sleepytime experience is one not soon forgotten; part of what makes it special is the banter and humor that inhabits their set between the regular songs. If you're looking for that stellar...

Taal - Skymind

The Building Press - Amplitude of Frequencies over Time

I guess I can’t blame whoever invented the term “math rock”. After all, if you called it what it really is – prog rock, or more accurately, art rock – only people who...

The Dutch Flat - Ghosts

The Dutch Flat doesn’t sound much like the other bands I’ve heard in the post rock genre, but if you have to put them in a genre, that’s probably where they’d go. Tim...

The Hook - Will Grab You

Transitional periods can be very interesting in music. The Hook falls in the transition between 60s garage-psych and 70s hard rock. Reliable information has it that this album dates from 1968 in...

The Mars Volta - De-loused in the Comatorium

The Thicket - The Thicket

The Thicket is the Edmonton-based duo of Andrei Poukhovski and Ivan Poukhovski-Sheremetyev, a father-son combination. The instrumentation consists only of keyboards and Theremin, with programmed...

The Walkabouts - Ended up a Stranger

I first encountered the Walkabouts in 1984 when they put out their debut EP on their own Necessity Records. I was struck with their unique interpretation of American folk rock, and really enjoyed...

Thinking Plague - A History of Madness

Most music critics (and listeners too) tend to get caught up in the genre game when describing music. We think in terms of qualities like loud/soft, electric/acoustic, rocks/doesn’t. But...

Various Artists - The Best of Baltimore's Buried Bands II

This two CD set was produced by OHO main-mover and elder statesman of the Baltimore progressive scene Jay Graboski. Apparently there must have been a “Part I” (maybe an LP?) and this is...

Vermilion - Flattening Mountains and Creating Empires

This album is quite an oddity, coming as it does from a little-known (so far) band on an independent label, for it features a big name producer (Steve Albini) and a big name artist on the cover...

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.

• Release: Steve Roach - Live at Soundquest Fest 2021
  Updated 2021-09-26 01:25:31
• Release: Triptides - So Many Days
  Updated 2021-09-24 12:51:43
• Release: PAKT - Live in Kennett Square, PA
  Updated 2021-09-24 00:39:55
• Release: Monsieur Pompier's Travelling Freakshow - Teatime Terrors
  Updated 2021-09-23 20:29:03
• Artist: Monsieur Pompier's Travelling Freakshow
  Updated 2021-09-23 20:27:53
• Release: Caravan - It's None of Your Business
  Updated 2021-09-23 18:58:37
• Release: Hidden People - Tambour Cloche
  Updated 2021-09-23 15:20:50
• Release: Hidden People - Comment S'Étaient-ils Rencontrés?
  Updated 2021-09-23 15:18:51
• Artist: Hidden People
  Updated 2021-09-23 15:14:18
• Release: Burnt Belief - Mutual Isolation
  Updated 2021-09-23 13:21:03
• Release: Shakespeare & the Blues - e.g., Rhapsodic
  Updated 2021-09-23 00:10:51
• Artist: Shakespeare and the Blues
  Updated 2021-09-23 00:07:20
• Release: Резина (Rezina) - Секрет (Sekret)
  Updated 2021-09-22 18:50:01
• Release: Резина (Rezina) - 1619
  Updated 2021-09-22 18:48:53
• Artist: Резина (Rezina)
  Updated 2021-09-22 18:46:30
• Release: L. Shankar - Christmas from India
  Updated 2021-09-22 18:41:13
• Release: Gong - Live at the Gong Family Unconventional Gathering
  Updated 2021-09-21 20:08:01
• Release: Mujician - 10 10 10
  Updated 2021-09-21 19:06:57
• Release: Mark Murdock - Visitors from Another Planet
  Updated 2021-09-21 18:57:37
• Release: Mark Murdock - The Phoenix Has Risen
  Updated 2021-09-21 18:55:56