Exposé Online » Issue 33

Not Your Average Edgar Allen Poe —
The Red Masque Interview

DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid & Dave Lombardo - Drums of Death

DJ Spooky (Paul Miller) and Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo are the core of this oddly compelling recording. Together with bassist Jack Dangers, this cleverly arranged fusion of samples and hard rock...

Admiral Ted Brinkley (semi-ret.) - Directs the Verrugoso Vista Junior Junior College Grads of ‘77

Here’s something that came right in out of left field; the artist, title, liner notes and everything else about this disc appear to be some kind of prank – except for the music, that...

Adrian Belew - Side One

Adrian Belew - Side Two

Adrian Belew and Man on Fire - Habitat

Vocalist, composer and keyboardist Jeff Hodges is the main man behind the trio Man on Fire. Subject matter for the twelve tracks focuses on the concerns of the occupants of one city block and how...

Aera - Türkis / Live

Ahleuchatistas - What You Will

Ain Soph - Marine Menagerie & Five Evolved from Nine

Alexander Volodin - Reflection of Time

This is the kick-off album from this young Russian composer. It could be a soundtrack to work of Kandinsky. “The Flower Is Growing Up” starts with Schnitzler-esque ping-ponging sounds,...

Alpha Wave Movement - Beyond Silence

Anane - The Evolution Ethnic

Anane is an Indonesian band that mixes traditional indigenous themes with modern western musical styles. Most of the songs are based upon traditional songs of the Gayonese people from the island of...

Andreas Akwara - Synthetic Horizon

Anthony Phillips - Field Day

Four years in the making, Field Day marks Phillips’ return to acoustic guitar work after years of producing library and television work, mostly at the keyboard. The concept is...

Apple - An Apple a Day

Here we have the long-awaited CD release of one of the most collectible LPs of British psychedelia. Those of us who can’t shell out hundreds of dollars (or pounds) to hear the original can...

Arc and Sender - Arc and Sender

Arc and Sender is a noisy little trio from Maryland that spans the genres of indie/alternative rock with experimental lo-fi grunge. This means the trio can hammer away for hours on brutal chords,...

Ars Nova - Sunshine and Shadows

A few issues back I reviewed the reissue of Ars Nova’s 1968 first album. Here we have their second and last...

Art Rock Circus - A Passage to Clear & Tell a Vision

Badirov Project - Greeting from Nostradamus

Vladimir Badirov is a drummer/percussionist hailing from Uzbekistan. Greeting from Nostradamus comprises eleven tracks of ethnic jazz fusion with Badirov’s drums and keyboard...

Barbez - Insignificance

Barclay James Harvest - XII

Barry Schrader - Beyond

Basilwink - Payoffs, Kickbacks, and Other Great American Traditions

Bert Lams - Nascent: Bach Preludes on the Steel String Guitar

Bert Lams has been a personal advocate of the Bach repertoire. By using Guitar Craft tuning and emphasizing steel (rather than nylon or gut strings) he has established himself as a clear...

Bill Frisell - Ghost Town

Bill Frisell - Unspeakable

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic - 2001 Live Birds

Bobby Beausoleil - Dreamways of the Mystic

This aptly titled sprawling two-plus-hour mystical voyage around the world and into deep space was a full eight years in the making; there are 26 tracks in all, but the music rarely breaks –...

Brainstorm - Liquid Monster

Brian Eno - Another Day on Earth

Brian Eno’s first set of new songs is a welcome follow-on to his collaboration with John Cale, Which Way Up. The opening cut, “This,” begins the subdued eleven song set...

Brian Hopper - If Ever I Am

Canterbury fans may recall Hugh’s brother who was a member of the Wilde Flowers and played sax on Soft Machine Volume Two. Since that time Hopper was also involved in the bootleg...

Calomito - Inaudito

Older people will surely remember Rock in Oppossition, an informal gathering of avant-rock groups initiated by Henry Cow in the early Seventies. They were from several European countries,...

Caroleen Beatty - You're Only as Pretty as You Feel

Some may recall Beatty from her association with Doug Hilsinger (both from the band Waycross), who created an excellent cover album of Brian Eno’s Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy...

Carptree - Man Made Machine

It’s a fine art to write big, powerful music without sounding either pompous or foolish, and this Swedish duo pulls it off well. The result is a little like a heavily orchestrated mid-70s...

Carreg Lafar - Profiad

The traditional music of Wales doesn’t get as much attention as that from other parts of the British Isles. That’s a shame because the country’s musical tradition is rich,...

Cerebus Effect - Acts of Deception

This American band works in a complex stream of fusion-oriented prog with a few avant touches. The playing of all participants is stellar, and the compositions show a lot of imagination. The...

Chardeau - Hors Portée Highlight/Instrumental

Jean-Jacques Chardeau is a new name to me. He is a French vocalist and keyboardist who assembled an impressive line up of musicians on these two CDs that were recorded together: violinist Jerry...

Chas Smith - Descent

Chris Cutler - Twice Around the Earth: An Experiment in Listening

Christian Decamps - Mes Vers Solitaires

This region-free NTCS DVD presents the former Ange frontman in a 1993 solo show, performing spoken-word pieces, sketches, and songs. I’m a pretty big Ange fan, and can easily enjoy music in...

Citay - Citay

Led Zeppelin’s “Battle of Evermore”; Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan”; Heart’s “Soul of the Sea”; Uriah Heep’s “The Wizard.”...

Claudia Quintet - Semi-formal

Cluster & Eno - Cluster & Eno

It’s really hard to understand what this music meant at the time it was recorded. Intellectually we can recall that ambient music was in its infancy, with the term only coined (by Mr. Eno)...

CocoRosie - La Maison de Mon Rêve & Noah's Ark

With childlike glee, these sisters embrace one's ear with aural tincture. Romanced beautifully by tiny fragmentary conscious nests, we become ensconced within the folds of their rapturous...

Cousins and Conrad - High Seas

The old Strawbs troubadour is back on High Seas, collaborating with guitarist/keyboardist Conny Conrad. Eleven tracks totaling fifty-some minutes, with Cousins singing over backing guitar,...

Coven - Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls

Crasdant - Nos Sadwrn Bach

Crazy World - Crazy World

What happens when you take the best of Finland’s rock stars of today and yesteryear, put them all together in one supergroup, and have them write and perform a bunch of songs in the style of...

Cream - Disraeli Gears - Deluxe Edition

What comes to mind when you think of psychedelic blues rock? For me, it’s Cream. They were the most important UK rock band out of the 60s besides the Beatles and the Stones. Eric Clapton,...

Create - From Earth to Mars

Why is it, that outside the realm of EM-admirers, few people, even people who do like EM, don’t like Klaus Schulze’s music? The answer lies in its static structure, where other artists...

Crowell, Doles & Quinn - Don't Look Down

This collaborative effort is something of a minimalist supergroup; American composer Dac Crowell and Scottish composer and Suilven recordings main-mover Daniel Patrick Quinn have teamed up with...

Cyndee Lee Rule - UFOsmosis

Cyndee Lee Rule is a new force in the Space Rock arena. She has played with the Philly band Scattered Planets for several years and will appear on Systems Theory’s new CD later in 2006....

Daniel J - Losing Time

Daniel J (Jakubovic) is the lead guitarist of gigging New York based metal quartet Against the Wall. The young fret-bender adopts a mode of self-reliance in the course of thirteen tracks of prog...

David Bagsby - Syllogisms

“I don’t think, therefore I am not.” Bagsby has long been a master of unpredictability and eccentric works that fit squarely into no categories, and his latest,...

David Cross - Closer Than Skin

Ex-King Crimson violinist David Cross is back again with a confident follow-up to his acclaimed Exiles CD. Cross and writing partner, bassist Mick Paul, continue to refine their...

David Pack - The Secret of Movin' On

David Shamrock - Thin Pillow

David Shamrock has drummed for both Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (on their first album) and Thinking Plague (on A History of Madness). This eight track CD is his first solo release. For those...

Dean de Benedictis - Salvaging the Past

De Benedictis, as the title points out, not only refers to the legacy, but even reinvents the past on this album. The stunning opener, “The Tech Atonement of Bilagana,” unearths a...

Death and Taxe$ - The Alaska 12 Expeditions

It would be easy to recommend this album based purely on the circumstances surrounding its release. What started out as the next D&T album turned into a completely different and ultimately more...

DésAccordes (Erik Baron) - In C

Erik Baron is a French bassist we’ve heard from before (his excellent Cordayades CD from a few years ago was favorably reviewed in issue #29), but this time out his primary role is...

Distant Dream - A New Beginning

Djam Karet - Recollection Harvest

I have a dilemma about this CD. The band claims it’s actually two albums: the relatively heavy Recollection Harvest and the mellower Indian Summer. On one hand, this...

Drama - Stigmata of Change

Seven years has passed since this French band’s last release, Flying over the 21st Century. Lineup changes include new vocalist Yvon Lucas, who suits the material well, even if...

Dug Pinnick - Emotional Animal

Dug Pinnick is the voice and bass presence of King’s X. His last two solo recordings under the Poundhound moniker were outlets from the artist’s main gig with his power trio and these...

Dwight Ashley & Tim Story - Standing + Falling

Tim Story has released a volume of minimalist, ambient, and electronic works going back to his early 80s albums on the Eurock label – In Another Country being a standout, later...

East of Eden - Graffito

Echolyn - The End Is Beautiful

I don’t anticipate the releases of many bands as much as Echolyn, and for good reason. For fifteen years they have been evolving continuously, working current musical and lyrics ideas into a...

Edward Ka-Spel - A Long Red Ladder to the Moon

A Long Red Ladder to the Moon is the latest in a long string of EKS solo releases. Considering Edward’s cassette, EP, LP, and CD output since 1984, this is something like number 30 and...

Edward Ka-Spel - Laugh China Doll

Laugh China Doll was Edward Ka-Spel’s first solo release, recorded in 1984. This first release was a limited issue of 2000 LPs on the In-Phaze label that quickly disappeared,...

Electropolis - Electropolis

Ellis Marsalis - Ruminations in New York

Embrase - Dreamworld

Enya - Amarantine

Eric Glick Rieman / Lesli Dalaba / Stuart Dempster - Lung Tree

Although its presence on Recommended tells you something, all three of these musicians are likely little-known outside improvising circles. Rieman is the main force behind Lung Tree, as...

Eric Roberts - In a Silent Place

Erik Hinds - Reign in Blood

On the first few plays through, I didn’t even realize what I was listening to, but I was certainly enjoying it at its face value. Here Hinds plays solo h’arpeggione, an acoustic...

Farpoint - From Dreaming to Dreaming

Fear Falls Burning - He Spoke in Dead Tongues

Fear Falls Burning is a new project from the versatile Belgian composer Vidna Obmana (Dirk Serries). For this album he doesn’t touch his synths, instead he plugs his guitar and processes the...

Fern Knight - Blithewold

Adrift in a general flowery provenance, Fern Knight flies its meticulously winsome banner. Heralding the lost folksy souls from that magical acquiescence of nature that flowed effervescently in the...

FireMonkey - Puzzlebox of Antipop

This is essentially a one-man project operating in the same general realm as Bill Nelson: pop songs with elements of prog and avant thrown in. Lyle Holdahl is the man behind the monkey, covering...

First Band from Outer Space - We're Only in It for the Spacerock

Can anyone hazard a guess as to the type of music on this CD? And the first two don’t count. What a blatant name for a band and their debut release! In actuality, this Swedish band is quite good....

Fish - Fellini Days & Nights, Sashimi & Suits

Flamborough Head - Tales of Imperfection

Flamborough Head’s latest offering is about one woman’s physical imperfection, and the loneliness and isolation she experiences as a result of it. Lyrically it’s direct and to the...

Flower Travellin' Band - Satori

Fluxury - Perishable Goods

Flyin' Ryan Brothers - Blue Marble

The Ryan brothers, Jimmy and Johnny, have been a fixture of the Chicago music scene since the 70s when they were members of competing local bands. In recent years the two have joined forces to...

Förträngt Hushållsarbete - Offret Om Att Älska

It may seem odd that this turns up in our New Releases section – it is definitely not new; fact is that it’s been out there for four years already but hardly anyone (if anyone at all)...

Frameshift - An Absence of Empathy

Frigg - Oasis (Keidas)

Fritz Doddy - The Feeling of Far

Frogg Café - Fortunate Observer of Time

Frogg Café is one of those bands with influences you can probably spot, but whom you’d be hard pressed to describe. Their new one takes its cues from lots of places: classic...

Genesis for Two Grand Pianos - Volume 2

Norwegian duo Yngve Guddal and Roger T. Matte have returned with another collection of old Genesis songs rearranged for two pianos. All their performances were made on Steinway Model D Grand Pianos...

Geordie Haley’s Every Time Band - The Green Suite and Other Stories

Formerly of Fredericton’s tiny music scene, jazz guitarist Geordie Haley now takes up residence in Toronto with the Every Time Band. The line-up is rounded out with vocals, drums, bass, sax,...

George & Caplin - Electronic Eulogy from Morse Code Infinity

Germinale - Scogli di Sabbia

Gert Emmens - When Darkness Falls upon This Earth

One shouldn’t take a title like this too literally when it concerns Gert Emmens. The only darkness that is evoked on this album are the dark coloured synth textures in the beginning of...

Glass Hammer - The Inconsolable Secret

Gogglesphere & Lafcadio - Babies in Hell & Sham Duvet

One might ask why these two discs are being addressed in the same review; it’s because both Gogglesphere and Lafcadio are essentially the same band – or that is to say they have the...

Gongzilla - Live in Concert and the East Village Studio

Bon Lozaga and Hansford Rowe have done a respectable job keeping their fusion offshoot of Gong alive and well and true to their vision. The bottom line is that the group serves up hot jazz-rock,...

Graham Collier - Workpoints

Keith Tippett and ian Carr may be better known, but they were far from the only active jazz practitioners in Britain in the late 60s and early 70s. Bassist Graham Collier was another part of this...

Green Isac - Etnotronica

Green Isac (the Norwegian duo of percussionist Andreas Eriksen and multi-instrumentalist Morten Lund) have returned with the fourth release since their 1990 debut, Strings and Pottery....

Green Milk from the Planet Orange - He's Crying "Look" & City Calls Revolution

This Japanese trio really does seem to hail from another planet. While there are echoes of psychedelic German jams from the 70s and alternative noise acts of the 80s, the mixture is thoroughly...

Gregg Bendian - Jeff Gauthier - Steuart Liebig - G.E. Stinson - Bone Structure

Groundtruther - Longitude

The second installment of Charlie Hunter’s project with drummer Bobby Previte includes New York sampling wizard DJ Logic in the rotating performer chair for a set of twelve sonic groove...

Halloween, Alaska - Too Tall to Hide

It hasn’t been that long since this Minneapolis band put out their debut (reviewed in #32), and here they come with the follow-up less than a year later. Far from merely avoiding the dreaded...

Hamadryad - Safe in Conformity

Hans Fjellestad - Moog

The life of Dr. Robert Moog had always been based on electronic discovery. In the course of his pursuit of engineering analysis, the North Carolina resident amassed a thirty-five-year resume...

Harry Chapin - Legends of the Lost and Found

Harv - Polka Raggioso

It’s been a few years since we last heard from the “cute Swedish boys” of Harv — don’t blame me, that’s how they’re marketed. With Töst in...

Hector Zazou - Sonora Portraits 2: Strong Currents

Henry Brant - Collection 3

With many of the great modernist composers now quite advanced in age, it seems incredible that some people predating the movement might still be creating new works. The venerable Henry Brant (b....

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - The Lonely Bull & Five Others

“You hear three notes and you know it’s Herb Alpert,” remarked Miles Davis in a 1989 interview. That isn’t at all surprising considering Herb Alpert and the Tijuana...

Hiromi - Spiral

Homestead & Wolfe - Our Times

Horace X - Strategy

When last I heard from Horace X, back in 2003 with Sackbutt, I found their eclectic mishmash of influences both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, they didn’t really sound like...

House of Not - The Walkabout Parts 1 & 2

The brainchild of Brian Erikson (vocals and lyrics), House of Not appears to be some sort of concept project, with Lou Roppoli and Ken O’Gorman providing guitars and a host of guests on other...

Hurdy-Gurdy - Prototyp

As medieval instruments go, the hurdy-gurdy is uniquely positioned to be effective in a modern setting. Its gritty droning sound fits in well with drums and electronics, a fact that has been...

If Thousands - I Have Nothing

This ambient duo has now produced six discs since their unusual entry into the ambient music world when this classically trained vocalist/guitarist and punk bassist dropped their known instruments...

Ilitch - Rainy House

The latest release by Ilitch (a limited edition of 250) collects material recorded from the late 70s right up through the present, although many of the older pieces were tweaked, modified and...

Imanissimo - Z's Diary

Imanissimo clearly relishes in the progressive rock zeitgeist, with their website’s numerous references to “prog” and their prideful boast of their 2005 AMI award (don’t...

Incandescent Sky - Paths and Angles

Since their second release Glorious Stereo (reviewed in #28), Incandescent Sky has...

IZZ - My River Flows

You have to hand it to IZZ, five years of hard work is increasingly paying off in terms of recognition. Their third proper studio release, My River Flows, continues their trend of melding...

J. Arif Verner - From a Distant Horizon

The image on the front of the CD booklet illustrates the music herein perfectly: a well-traveled dirt path near a fence follows into the distance through dense fog, fading into pastel colors as it...

Jaga Jazzist - What We Must & Spydeberg Sessions

James LaBrie - Elements of Persuasion

James LaBrie should be well known to Exposé readers by now, either as the vocalist for prog-metal icons Dream Theatre or through his participation in various Magna Carta...

Jane Anfinson - Precious Details

Violinist Jane Anfinson is the answer for those wanting to mix the grrrl-power sensibilities of Alanis Morissette with the experimentalism of Laurie Anderson and the artful electric violin work of...

Jeff Sherman - Gauguin

Jeff Sherman’s role in the resurgence of Northwest band Glass has been nothing short of surprising. First by bringing the band back together from obscurity (the trio has now released two...

Jenny Scheinman - Twelve Songs

Violinist and composer Jenny Scheinman’s latest CD is a trip down memory lane to the deep bayous of the South, emphasizing lazy 30s jazz. She has enlisted a small ensemble to forge her vision...

Jerome Langlois - Molignak

Those looking for melodically colorful transcendental rock with a strong orchestral twist may find something very special and unique in Molignak, the first solo album by...

John Hackett - Velvet Afternoon & Checking out of London

John Hackett has long been in the extended shadow of his brother Steve, who has seen high profile both in and out of Genesis. The flautist has finally stepped out on his own in both duet and full...

John Lakveet - Proportions

John Lakveet is a composer who likes to build his albums around themes. This time he has envisioned the strange and fascinating world of fractals. The melodies Lakveet uses in his tracks are not so...

John McLaughlin - Thieves and Poets

John Surman - Way Back When

K2 - The Book of the Dead

Imagine Progrock Records’ Shawn Gordon’s surprise when he heard from K2 bassist Ken Jaquess that not only Allan Holdsworth but the late Shaun Guerin had agreed to play on his big time...

Kate Bush - Aerial

As listeners and consumers of music, we generally have contact with artists only through their work, and are only aware of their lives outside music as they present it in their recordings (unless...

KBB - Live 2004

Keef Hartley Band - The Time Is Near & Overdog

Upon his split from his high profile job with John Mayall, drummer Keef Hartley had his sights set on making his own group in the English blues rock boom. Both of these recordings are from 1970...

King's X - Ogre Tones

The career of King’s X has been characterized by consistent riffing in standard rock and roll format. Ogre Tones meets the needs of their zealous fan base by emphasizing crafted...

Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht, Dune, Dziękuję Poland, Miditerranean Pads, Sequenced? & Crime of Suspense

Revisited Records continues reissuing the Klaus Schulze back catalog. The past twelve months have seen seven more albums released with another batch due Fall 2006. Revisited is holding true to the...

Klaus Schulze - Moonlake

Moonlake is the latest Klaus Schulze release of new music, and a welcome breath of fresh air it is! The title is not a reference to the classic Schulze of Moondawn or “Crystal...

Knitting by Twilight - Someone to Break the Silence

This liner notes describe this album as “Selections from the forthcoming Knitting by Twilight album, An Evening out of Town together with exclusive tracks.” Since the album...

Koenjihyakkei - Angherr Shisspa

It’s been amusing to read the attempts of reviewers in the alternative / independent press to write about this album. They find the music so strange that they have difficulty describing it,...

Kraan - Wiederhören, Flyday, Nachtfahrt, Live 88, Dancing in the Shade & Live 2001

Recently Revisited Records, a division of InsideOut Music, has been reissuing a number of German bands from the past: Klaus Schulze, Amon Düül II, and Kraan. To date, they have released...

KTU - 8 Armed Monkey

I don’t suppose “King Crimson with accordions” was high on anyone’s list of expected musical combinations, but here we are, and I’m glad somebody thought of it. The...

Kurgans Bane - Camouflaged in Static

Kvazar - A Giant's Lullaby

This Norwegian band’s second album is solid symphonic rock with plenty of engaging twists. “Flight of Shamash” opens with a dreamy sequence, evocative of flight. A chant-like...

Kyle Dawkins - Walls Became the World

Compared to Dawkins’ debut Conesauga (reviewed in issue #28), this is a far more explorative and experimental outing for the guitarist, banjoist, composer, and founding member of the...

La Société des Timides à la Parade des Oiseaux - Le Combat Occulté

This French avant-garde troupe has been around for a while, and though I’ve seen the name around for ages, this odds-n-sods collection is the first I’ve really heard of their strange...

Larry Kucharz - Ambient Green Washes

This is the latest in Kucharz’ Ambient Washes series (following Ambient Blue Washes and Ambient Red Washes, reviewed in issues 27 and 29 respectively), and presents a series...

Legendary Pink Dots - A Dream Is a Dream Is a Dream

This LPD DVD release is the earliest known live concert footage of the band, recorded live at De Vrije Vloer in Utrecht, Holland on January 21, 1987. At that time the LPDs were a six-piece band...

Like Wendy - Endgame

This is the first Like Wendy release to feature new member Mark-Jeroen Heek who has joined fellow Dutchman and founder Bert Heinen as co-composer and instrumentalist (the liner notes equally credit...

Little King - Virus Divine

A rock power-trio from the Southern US, Little King acquit themselves well on debut release Virus Divine. Vocalist Ryan Rosoff, who writes the lyrics, sounds a bit like Daniel...

Louisa John-Krol & Oöphoi - Alabaster & I Hear the Water Dreaming

Australian singer Louisa John Krol has been releasing music for about ten years, although these mark the first time she has been reviewed in these pages. Alabaster is her 2003 solo release...

Lu7 - L'Esprit de l'Exil

Japan’s Intermusic and Musea have been teaming up on a number of releases in the past few years, allowing some obscure Japanese artists to get a somewhat wider audience. One such group is...

Luarvik Luarvik - Passioon & Fuuga

Passioon & Fuuga is Estonian band Luarvik Luarvik’s third release. Founded by Art students Mihkel Kleis and Andres Lõo in 1998, the group takes its name from a character...

Machine and the Synergetic Nuts - Leap Second Neutral

Maestoso - Fiddling Meanly

Woolly Wolstenholme’s phase two of his master plan to return to active duty culminated in this live document from the 2004 UK “tour.” Material ranged from old Barclay James...

Magus - Lucid Dreamer

Lucid Dreamer is a compilation of tracks from the 1997 album Traveller and the follow-up Highway 375 EP, remastered for the fuller sound that Magus guru Andrew Robinson...

Make a Rising - Rip through the Hawk Black Night

Mangala Vallis - Lycanthrope

From the opening rip of “Watcher of the Skies,” Mangala Vallis is here to tell you they are back and have been listening to their favorite prog albums again. With all the classic sounds...

Mantra Sunrise - Mantra Sunrise

Another brainchild from John Miner of Art Rock Circus. The bulk of the sound ekes in time with the style of 80s album-oriented rock and a leaning towards tuneful new wave vocalization. Overall,...

Manuel Göttsching - Die Mulde, Concert for Murnau & E2-E4 Live

As 2005 neared its end, Manuel Göttsching released three new CDs: Die Mulde, Concert for Murnau and E2-E4 Live. Die Mulde is a composition Manuel recorded...

Marco Gallesi - Riff

Fans of Italian outfit Arti & Mestieri will likely find it to be no surprise that long-time bassist Marco Gallesi has a deep fondness for traditional jazz and fusion. Now out on his own,...

Marillion - Marbles on the Road

Marissa Nadler - Ballads of Living and Dying & The Saga of Mayflower May

The voice is crystalline and exhilaratingly haunting, a crisp and refreshing elixir. Her muse is resolute, hewn from emotion, fashioned from a steadfast rock that never falters. Melancholy is a...

Martin Gordon - God's on His Lunchbreak (Please Call Back)

Mask - Heavy Petal

The members of this duo should be familiar to all Exposé readers, although this latest project is quite a surprise. Cellist, synthesist, and composer Marvin Ayres has released...

Mastermind - Broken

The cover says this is a CD single / EP, but the total playing time is 44 minutes – hell, that’s longer than the full length In-a-gadda-da-vida LP, so what gives? As it turns...

Matt Steckler - Persiflage

Meat Beat Manifesto - At the Center

Mediæval Bæbes - Mirabilis

Collecting eight women into a chorus to perform English folk classics and traditional music is nothing new. What the Mediæval Bæbes do differently however is based on their capable...

Meira Asher - Dissected

Menayeri - Futura Historia

Michael Manring - Soliloquy

Michael Manring is simply one of the best bassists playing today. You should have heard about him from his many contributions to new age recordings in the 80s to fusion workouts with Attention...

Might Could - All Intertwined

Mitchell Froom - A Thousand Days

Molca - Super Ethnic Flavor

“Balkan Dawn” opens the disc in fine, atmospheric form, and shortly we’re treated to the unique sound of an Ashbory bass. This rather bizarre instrument is a 30-inch, two-pound...

Murat Ses - Automaton 2

Automaton2 is Murat Ses’ fourth solo release. For those of you not familiar with Murat and his work, Murat is a Turkish electronic musician living in Austria. He spent some time...

MusicAEnchiriadiS - Music for Nikola Tesla

Industrial electronics bearing a modern classical edge for a dark millennium with trip-hop at its heels. Synthetic landscapes give way as the tone is propulsively jettisoned to a danceable future....

Myriad - Natural Elements

Nekropolis 23 - Tidal Shift

Recorded in April 2004 at a studio space in Munich, these ten psychedelic jam tracks show the band at the peak of their intensity, working in a true improvisational spirit. Led by bassist Peter...

Nektar - Unidentified Flying Abstract

Nektar occupies a somewhat awkward place in the history of progressive rock. They don't fit in with the symphonic style of Yes or Genesis, and they're not as elaborate as King Crimson or...

Nerv - Ragam

Since Discus first unleashed itself on the world in ’99, it seems like there’s a limitless number of Indonesian prog rock bands coming out in their wake, and this six-piece...

Niacin - Organik

Niacin is back! For those yet to discover this band, especially those of you with a fondness for the sound of the mighty Hammond B-3, waste no time. As with past efforts, this collection revolves...

Nicholas D'Amato's Royal Society - Nullius in Verba

Bassist Nicholas D’Amato took the title of his Royal Society’s debut album Nullius in Verba (Latin for “On the words of no one”) from the adopted motto of The Royal...

Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites - Friesengeist, Part 1

As soon as I submerge the opening of the first track “Ballade” of Part 1 I’m hooked. It’s this wistful folk mood of accordion, piano, and vocal melody which touches...

Nurse with Wound & collaborators - Angry Eelectric Finger 1-3

Oöphoi & Tau Ceti - Subterranea

This collaboration between Oöphoi & Tau Ceti pre-dates their most recent, and was released on the Czech label Nextera along with reissues of his 2000 releases Mare Imbrium and...

Orme - L'Infinito

Le Orme should win a prize for Most Consistent Band. From Felona e Sorona through to Il Fiume and now with L’Infinito, there’s an unmistakable continuity in...

Osanna - Preludio Tema Variazioni Canzona (Milano Calibro 9)

Oz Noy - Ha!

Oz Noy is another new guitarist to Exposé readers as he has lately been operating in a support role backing trumpeter Chris Botti (B.L.U.E.), as well as vocalists such as Toni...

Ozone Player - Frozen Paint on Boiling Canvas

What an opener for an album! I’m talking about “The Sprawl.” Fine sounds, imaginative sequencing, nimble-fingered playing, stunning composition. Ozone Player is a composer from...

Pak - Motel

Stack rib rack shack shakes a hook a lox, Pak burns with nervy verve enough to crackle their dense skein right out in the open, amidst solar flares. A stalwart trio with brio, knowing full well how...

Pallas - The Dreams of Men

Paul Ellis - Silent Conversations

Ellis was a bit tired of doing all things alone each time, so for his fourth solo album, he looked for outside sources and found them in friends and acquaintances. In fact he was so enthusiastic...

Penny Arkade - Not the Freeze

Phaesis - Puzzle

Phaesis from France is no new band, in fact they can celebrate their 25th anniversary in a few years time, since the band was founded in 1982. This is their fifth release to be precise. They seem...

Pierre Moerlin's Gong - Pentanine

The late percussionist Pierre Moerlen’s last Gong lineup was this outstanding group of Russian musicians assembled for the SKIF festival in 2001; the group recorded these 13 tracks in a St....

Pippo d'Ambrosio - Arte Senza Volto

Sometimes it’s so much more difficult to try and describe a piece of music than it is to just hear it and accept it without analysis and words. Case in point: a disc that is so diverse and...

Premiata Forneria Marconi - Live www.pfm.it (il Best)

Procosmian Fannyfiddlers - Father Dog

Superb synthesis, amazing amalgam, and cheeky chiding are the tools of their flowing trade. Within a context of variegated progressive rock, Procosmian Fannyfiddlers are a bastion of wide-reaching...

Proto-Kaw - Wait of Glory

The history of Proto-Kaw has to be one of the greatest second-chance stories in the history of rock. The band made some demos between 1971-1973, but broke up shortly afterwards when Kerry Livgren...

Ptôse - Ignobles Limaces + Night of the Reptiles

Quartet Noir - Lugano

Saxophonist Urs Leimgruber has an extensive recorded history stretching back to his involvement in the free jazz group Om in 1974. Quartet Noir is his collaboration with past co-conspirators...

Quikion & Lithuma Qnombus - Live

The three members of Quikion join with the two-man rhythm section Lithuma Qnombus for this 72 minute live set from March 2005 in Tokyo’s Manda-La2. Playing acoustic and electric guitars,...

Rain - Cerulean Blue

Rain is the moniker taken by an anonymous British poet as another solo artist who has crafted a minor conceptual masterpiece mostly on his own. The project is staged with recited scenarios by Rick...

Randone - Nuvole di Ieri, Ricordi & Hybla Act 1

Oddly enough, for their first release on Electromantic, Randone was a trio: Nicola Randone on vocals and guitar (who had previously released material under his full name); Marco Crispi on lead...

Ray Weston - This Is My Halo

Receptor Sight - Cycles and Connections

Besides the eight track titles, the CD packaging contains like, zero information. Recall from their earlier disc Undogmamind (reviewed in issue 27), Receptor Sight is an experimental duo...

Richard Leo Johnson - The Legend of Vernon McAlister

Unique among guitarists, Richard Leo Johnson has forged his own sound through years of self-taught study on his instrument, developing unconventional tunings, fingerpicking styles, and various...

Ring of Myth - Weeds

Ring of Myth is not the only band charting a course that combines old-school progressive with elements of metal and fusion, but their take on it is interesting enough to catch my attention....

Riverside - Second Life Syndrome

Second Life Syndrome is Polish band Riverside’s second full-length album. It follows on the heels of their 2003 debut album Out of Myself and the subsequent 2005 EP

Robert Rich - Electric Ladder

Always a beacon of unpredictability, Robert Rich has trained this writer’s ears to expect something unexpected with each new release. This time out it’s a bed of pulsating modular...

Robert Schroeder - Brainchips (Vocal Version)

Robert Walter - Super Heavy Organ

Roger Powell - Cosmic Furnace

Roine Stolt - Wall Street Voodoo

Roine Stolt has certainly been a prolific musician the last several years. The Kaipa, Flower Kings, and Transatlantic guitarist / vocalist has released what seems like a couple of albums per year...

Royal Hunt - Paper Blood

Russell Allen's Atomic Soul - Russell Allen's Atomic Soul

Sadhappy - Outerspaces

Sadhappy hasn’t been heard around these parts for quite some time. Work on the group’s second CD stalled while searching for a replacement to Paul Hinklin, who became ill and...

Saga - Network

Saga just keeps on trucking. Network is like their 947th studio album or something. What’s amazing about Saga is that unlike most bands fortunate enough to have 30-year music...

Saga - The Chapters Live

This is the live album Saga fans have dreamed about. It was only a matter of time before Saga did the obvious – release a live collection of all The Chapters. Saga released two songs on each...

Saturnalia - Magical Love

Scenes - Call Us Now at the Number You Provide

Scott Amendola Band - Believe

Secret Oyster - Vidunderlige Kælling

Shrimp Boat - Speckly

Side Project - Our Last Album

Their first serving is ska jangle sailing right at the edge of Primus in a Sublime bowl on the outskirts of the New York Downtown scene at a soup kitchen. Bad Brains never tasted this good. They...

Sigur Rós - Takk

Sky Cries Mary - Here and Now - Live 2005

For those of you familiar with this Seattle band, you will remember that they disbanded after their 1999 release Seeds to pursue different musical ideas. For example, their female vocalist...

Soft Bounds - Live at Triton 2004

Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper have been involved in so many projects together all it takes is for an alternate rhythm section to assemble under the two musical compatriots and a new project is born....

Soft Machine Legacy - Live in Zaandaam

Moving forward from the Softworks lineup that included Allan Holdsworth, 2005 brought the opportunity to that icon with guitarist John Etheridge for a newer, more vital incarnation with distinct...

Spaced Out - Live in 2000

Anyone familiar with this hotshot Canadian fusion quartet (and shouldn’t all Exposé readers be?) knows that they are above all a musicians’ band – one of those...

Spirit - Son of Spirit / Farther Along & Future Games / Spirit of 84

After Spirit’s first four classic albums, the band entered a period of fluctuating personnel, style, and success. The double-LP Spirit of ‘76 had marked the revitalization of the band...

Spock's Beard - Gluttons for Punishment - Live in '05

These two CDs capture Spock’s Beard on their 2005 Octane European tour. Disk one is almost entirely taken from that record, while disk two pulls from past albums Feel Euphoria,...

Stella Vander - Le Coeur Allant Vers

Stella Zelcer established herself as an artist with an uncompromising independent streak long before the close of the 60s, when she was known simply as “Stella.” Despite having a keen...

Stephen Parsick - Hollenengel

Stephen Parsick, the other half of the well known (in EM-circles) German formation Ramp has made an album that immediately floats into dark realms. Travelling side by side with Vangelis, dark...

Stevan Tickmayer - Repetitive Selective Removal of One Protecting Group

I know what you’re saying, why is this perennial commercial panderer back in the pages of Exposé? For those who think Tickmayer’s work in the Science Group is too...

Steve Howe - Homebrew 3

This is the third edition in Steve Howe¹s collection of archival demo recordings. With this disk the Yes guitarist has pulled together pieces spanning some twenty years, beginning with the...

Steve Roach - Dreamtime Return

The myths and legends of the Australian Aborigines provided the inspiration for this expansive opus that is generally touted as Roach’s first masterpiece. Here it is presented again in 24-bit...

Steve Roach - New Life Dreaming

This is one of the “new” discs in the four-disc Dreamtime box set, that also includes Possible Planet and the remastered Dreamtime Return (all reviewed...

Steve Roach - Possible Planet

Steve Roach in his EM always worked with the benefits of both analog and digital worlds. For this album he not only concentrated on analog, he directed his ideas solely to a new brand of mighty...

Steve Walsh - Shadowman

After 30-some-odd years in the music business (if they’re lucky enough to last that long), most artists have fallen into a comfort zone and their new albums no longer offer any surprises. For...

Stinkhorn - Stinkhorn & Tunguska

Strawbs - Live at NEARfest & Hugh's Room

Strawbs line-ups have undergone quite a few changes in recent years. Having never seen Brian Willoughby, I was happy to view his guitar stylings since they are substantially different from Dave...

Swåp - Du Da

Swåp, you might recall, is the foursome of two Swedes – Carina Normansson (fiddle, vocals) and Ola Bläckström (fiddle) – and two Brits – Karen Tween (accordion)...

Symphorce - Godspeed

Talisma - Chromium

This instrumental trio from Québec specializes in the kind of complex, tightly arranged music that some people love and others can’t tolerate. I suppose there must be a third group...

Taylor's Free Universe - Family Shot & Oyster's Apprentice

The very prolific guitarist Robin Taylor hits us with new offerings from two of his ensembles. Taylor’s Free Universe is Taylor’s improv outfit, featuring Pierre Tassone on processed...

That 1 Guy - Songs in the Key of Beotch

That 1 Guy prides himself on being part Trent Reznor and part Frank Zappa mixed up with a snaky Primus vibe. Spin those disparate concepts altogether and you’ve got a good idea how...

The Fareed Haque Group - Cosmic Hug

Fareed Haque needs no introduction in the closely knit circle of jam bands circling North America. His main band, Garaj Mahal, is a touring fixture at nearly any jam based festival organized in the...

The Gentry - Sweet Gossip TV

The Grand Trick - The Decadent Session

The Holy Fire - The Holy Fire

The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute

The Muffins with Marshall Allen & Knoel Scott - Loveletter #2 "The Ra Sessions"

What does one get when The Muffins mix it up with two great sax players (Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott) from Sun Ra’s Arkestra? That’s right, not two – but four sax players, plus...

The Pineapple Thief - 10 Stories Down

I have been following Pineapple Thief for a few releases, and 10 Stories Down is another offering of alternative-prog fusion. The good news is that Bruce Soord and company still have a...

The Silverman - Nature of Illusion

The Silverman (aka Phil Knight) is The Legendary Pink Dots’ keyboardist. Phil has participated in several side projects over the years such as Mimir and Tear Garden. In 2003 Phil started...

The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Homo Habilis Blues

After a distinguished career with a band called Union Carbide Productions, Ebbot Lundberg (vocals), Björn Olsson (guitars), and Ian Person (guitars) regrouped as The Soundtrack of Our Lives...

The Underground Railroad - The Origin of Consciousness

I found the Underground Railroad’s debut CD to be an uneven affair. Some parts were very good, others less interesting, and in general, the band seemed to be in search of a direction. With...

The Van Allen Belt - Lactater-Tots

Thirteen of Everything - Welcome, Humans

I got the Thirteen of Everything demo back in 2002, so this one has been a long time in coming. A quartet out of Texas with guitars, keyboards, basses, and drums, Thirteen of Everything have sonic...

Thork - We-ila

The French seem to have a lock on dark symphonic prog these days (see Nil elsewhere this issue) – or maybe it’s just those two guys named Maurin (David on guitar and Samuel on bass and...

Tod Dockstader / David Lee Myers - Bijou

Tod Dockstader is one of the grand old men of electro-acoustic music, and on Bijou he is teamed with David Lee Myers, who performs on “feedback machines.” From the cover to the...

Tom Heasley - Desert Tryptich

On his previous recordings Where the Earth Meets the Sky and On the Sensations of Tone (reviewed in #23 and #26 respectively), Heasley’s floating ambient epics were created...

Tomas Bodin - I Am

For his fourth solo effort, Flower Kings keyboard player Tomas Bodin takes a more autobiographical approach, using theatrically conceptual albums like Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Pain...

Trio Fattoruso - Trio Fattoruso

Turning Point - Matador

Umphrey's McGee - Wrapped around Chicago

Under the Sun - Schematism - On Stage with Under the Sun

Under the Sun has been AWOL since the band debuted in 2000 with mixing work done by long time Rush associate Terry Brown on Magna Carta. The band also had some name confusion with the Nova Scotia...

Univers Zéro - Live

I remember back in the day when I first heard Univers Zéro’s debut LP, I just scratched my head in bewilderment; what were these guys doing? It wasn’t until after hearing a...

Unto Ashes - Grave Blessings

Various Artists - Analogy, Volume 1

Listeners who doubt the fact that the majority of music which is made with analog synthesizers sounds mysterious and fathomed, should listen to this album. Several musicians from the Dutch EM-forum...

Various Artists - Flowers Made of Snow

Cold Meat Industry is a label out of Sweden that caters to those who enjoy “the evolving sound of someone else’s nightmare.” The 23 tracks spread across these two disks offer...

Various Artists - Kaleidoscope - Musicians of Door County

This diverse collection spotlights the work of a number of recording artists from Door County, Wisconsin; the eleven pieces herein are clearly inspired by the natural beauty and serenity of their...

Various Artists - Kinections: The ProgDay Support CD

Anyone acquainted with the North Carolina-based ProgDay festival knows full well the challenges this annual event has confronted in years past, having faced its imminent demise more than once. And...

Various Artists - Summoning of the Muse - A Tribute to Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance have had a profound impact upon musicians around the world, with a fame that has grown steadily since Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard issued their first album in 1984. Newly...

Walter Hill - Popjazz

Wendy Carlos - Rediscovering Lost Scores Volume One & Two

Wigwam - Some Several Moons

Jim Pembroke and Wigwam were one of those acts who occupied a welcome place between rock and progressive music in Finland. Pembroke’s songwriting style is an easy match to much of...

William Parker Quartet - Sound Unity

Upright bass icon William Parker has the consistent ability to surround himself with talent, purpose, and purity of vision. Together with drummer Hamid Drake (also one of the stable of the Thirsty...

Willowglass - Willowglass

Zinkl - Temptations of St Anthony

My last encounter with Anton Zinkl-Singer was with Dance Music for Insects back in 2002. For this outing, his seventh, the insectoid clicking that characterized that album is gone,...