If one searches around on the web, most sites will show Bertrand Loreau’s first release as Prière, from 1993 on Musea Parallele, an association that lasted for seven releases...
» Read moreI said it before and will say it again, Potatoland (originally intended to be the follow-up to Randy California’s Kaptain Kopter and the Fabulous Twirly Birds album) is a...
» Read moreAnyone's Daughter was one of a group of late 70s German symphonic bands who brought forth a highly melodic rock, colorful and saturated with emotion. Their vocal harmonies were strong, and...
» Read moreAt long last, a legitimate live release of Pink Floyd’s The Wall is available! The band played this magnum opus in full a mere 29 times, in only four cities. Even bootlegs of it are...
» Read moreZeuhl alert! One of the best, yet little known zeuhl gems has re-surfaced thanks to the specialty label Soleil Atreides, the same folks who recently gave us Archaia. Dün is rather more in the...
» Read moreSynergy is, of course the name of the ongoing electronic music project of keyboardist / engineer / producer Larry Fast, also known for his work with Peter Gabriel, Nektar, and numerous other bands...
» Read moreHere are two more re-releases from electronic composer Larry Fast’s extensive Synergy legacy (see Expose #16 for reviews of the first five Synergy albums). Computer Experiments Volume...
» Read moreI really don't know how fair it is for me to review this. After all, being an album comprised of previously unreleased tracks, it's obviously intended for established fans of the band. I...
» Read moreThis newly re-released version of <185> is an excellent document of the final recordings by this talented Washington, DC quartet. First, a little history: Fred Frith produced the...
» Read moreIn my review of Made in Spokane I mentioned the unlikeliness of its mere...
» Read moreAmerican expat and electronic composer George Speckert worked as a music teacher in Hannover, Germany in the 70s. He wrote and produced music in his spare time, inspired by Tangerine Dream, Klaus...
» Read moreBureau B has released a massive boxed set containing the full versions of Cluster’s official albums released between 1971 and 1981: Cluster 71, Cluster II,...
» Read moreRolf Trostel was a second generation member of the Berlin School of electronic music. In the late 70s and early 80s, Rolf worked as a distributor of the PPG Wave Computer 360 A, which provided him...
» Read moreEstonian soundtrack composer Sven Grünberg began his career while still a music student in 1974 by founding the progressive rock band Mess. After the band broke up he started exploring the...
» Read moreBureau B continues their Kollektion series with this compilation of eleven Cluster compositions curated by John McEntire. John McEntire is a drummer, percussionist, recording engineer, producer,...
» Read morePeru’s entry into the symphonic rock genre came in 1981, when Frágil (named for some obscure British prog album) made their recorded debut, now reissued by Rock Symphony....
» Read moreThis Musea CD is a reissue of both Didier and Francis Lockwood’s first releases: Jazz Rock and Debbi. Due to the loss of the master tapes, Musea had to resort to recording...
» Read moreThis year marks the 25th anniversary of the formation of Magma, without a doubt one of the most innovative and progressive bands of all time. Their music combined very intense and spiritual...
» Read moreThe second album culled from the 1980 reunion concerts is a double, and features breathtaking performances of two of Magma's epic live pieces. The first official release of "Theusz...
» Read moreBack in the late 70s/early 80s was the heyday of big hair and flashy clothes for musicians. By today’s standards they now look pretty silly and sometimes downright creepy. Case in point is...
» Read moreThe reissue of However's classic Canterbury inspired first album is one this writer has been anticipating for many years. The band at this point was a four-piece, featuring Peter Prince...
» Read moreMany fans of art-rock will be familiar with Jane Siberry’s work on a series of excellent albums from the mid-80s to the mid-90s, starting with No Borders Here and going through...
» Read moreHave the Excedrin bottle handy for this one. Actually it's not that bad, and in fact starts to reveal itself after a few listens as being pretty innovative and unique. But the shouted punky...
» Read moreItalian rock from '79 to the mid 80s was very different from the classic 70s period ('72 to '78.) Gone for the most part were the symphonic song structures, heavy romanticism and rich...
» Read moreStern Meissen (originally Stern-Combo Meissen) are universally acclaimed as East Germany's greatest progressive rock band. Not wishing to wait for Amiga to reissue their albums, the band took...
» Read moreMcLatchey's Top Tier #28
I have to admit that Heresie is also very very close, but I'll save it for the next round. Anyway Belgians Univers Zéro are...
» Read moreComing off the success of their first three albums, and facing the rise of the punk esthetic with its corresponding decline in the popularity of complex music, Pulsar began to work within the...
» Read moreRevisited Records continues its reissue of the Klaus Schulze back catalog with another 12 CDs. I haven’t quite figured out their rationale, but they are releasing 12 a year covering the...
» Read moreJanick is back... The monstrous and legendary bassist of the 1973, 1974 and 1976 Magma issues his first solo effort, after years of session-work with variety singers and composing film scores. His...
» Read moreThis two-disc set collects both of Swiss band Debile Menthol's early-80s studio LPs (1981's Emile au Jardin Patrologique and Battre Campagne from '84) into a single...
» Read moreAfter MIA, Lito Vitale launched his solo career with Sobre Miedos, Creencias y Supersticiones, an ambitious album of powerful symphonic rock. Here, Lito plays just about everything: piano,...
» Read moreFrom the ashes of Charisma, the duo of Mutsuhiko Izumi and Kenji Konishi – both on guitars and synthesizers – released two albums during its existence. Their 1978 debut, entitled...
» Read moreI've wished for a CD reissue of this — Patrick Gauthier's all instrumental post-Weidorje album — for many long years. Finally on December 24th I found it in a record store by...
» Read moreIn June of 1980, various Magma alumni gathered in Paris for a series of reunion concerts. The two Retrospektïw albums that resulted present some of the best performances from those...
» Read moreThe latest release on Vander's AKT label is a two CD set featuring live material from 1981. The band at this point was fairly versatile, with multi-keyboards and horns joining the multi-vocal,...
» Read moreNot to be confused with the American early-70s band of the same name, this is the long awaited reissue of the Swiss keyboard masterpiece, with a full 23 minutes of superb bonus material added....
» Read moreFirst, a bit of a history lesson. British band Babe Ruth debuted in 1972, sporting an incendiary hard rock sound ignited by the forceful voice of Janita "Jennie" Haan and jamming...
» Read moreMcLatchey's Second Tier
If Morning Jewel was about the slow album-side rise from silence to peak, Planetary Unfolding worked a similar magic with smaller...
» Read moreBeginning with its first year of operations, Garden of Delights has released a yearly limited edition Psychedelic Underground sampler containing the best track from each of their 9...
» Read moreThese seven titles by the legendary Ange represent part of Musea's big score from absorbing the Baillemont label late last year. Although most of these have been released on CD before — not once,...
» Read moreAqua were a German band who had some success in the 80s as a mainstream hard rock band. What is little known is that they began as a progressive rock band, but unfortunately never released any...
» Read moreBy the end of the 1970s Todd Rungren had done it all, honing his guitar and compositional chops with The Nazz in the late 1960s, ultimately leaving that band to move on to production work for other...
» Read more1977 was the year that Edgar Froese, Chris Franke and Peter Baumann conquered North America and Canada with a massive twenty-plus city tour (and on select dates performing with Laserium). The April...
» Read more1977 was the year that Edgar Froese, Chris Franke and Peter Baumann conquered North America and Canada with a massive twenty-plus city tour (and on select dates performing with Laserium). The April...
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2021-02-14
SoundQuest Fest 2021 –
SoundQuest Fest, first experienced as a live festival in Tucson Arizona in 2010 was created by ambient music pioneer Steve Roach. This 2021 event will unite a worldwide gathering of artists and audience members together for a 3-day online event unique in the realm of ambient music. From March 26-28th a continuous flow of streamed performances, audio-video wonder worlds and deep immersion zones will burn bright on Roach’s YouTube channel. »
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2021-02-10
Chick Corea RIP –
The sad news has reached us that Chick Corea has Returned to Forever, so to speak. The innovative keyboardist and composer died on February 9 at the age of 79. With a career that spanned from the 60s until shortly before his death, Corea touched many listeners with the incredible variety of music he produced in his lifetime. »
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2021-01-18
Asia Minor Third Album on the Way –
On January 29, AMS records will be releasing the long-awaited third album by classic Turkish-French band Asia Minor. Released last year in Japan, this will be the widespread debut of Points of Libration. The album features original members Setrak Bakirel (vocals, guitar) and Eril Tekeli (flute, guitar). »
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2020-12-09
Harold Budd RIP –
Harold Budd, one of pre-eminent American composers of avant-garde and minimalism, has died of complications from the coronavirus. Budd came to prominence in the 70s, championed by Brian Eno on his Obscure Records label, with music that blended academic minimalism with electric jazz and electronic music. Much of Budd's best known work was done in collaboration with other artists, including Eno, Daniel Lanois, Robin Guthrie, Andy Partridge, John Foxx, Jah Wobble, and many others. »
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2020-11-20
25 Views of Worthing Finally Gets Released –
A while ago, we wrote about the discovery of a "long lost" Canterbury-style gem by a band called 25 Views of Worthing. And now we're pleased to find out that Wind Waker Records has released their music on an LP. »
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Alejandro Lomelin - Luz de Intenso Azul – Luz is the instrumental solo project of keyboardist Alejandro Lomelin, of the Mexican band Caja De Pandora. For the most part this is a work of simpler repetitive piano figures and introspective... (1998) » Read more
Michel Zenino - Dérive Gauche – Zenino is a double-bassist, bandleader and arranger, working through a set of French “chanson” pieces arranged for an instrumental jazz quartet (bass, drums, piano and sax). His credentials... (2004) » Read more
Anekdoten - A Time of Day – Anekdoten’s first release in three years finds them on familiar ground. In the 90s they pioneered combining alt rock grunge with the heavy prog of 70s King Crimson. They’re back at it... (2008) » Read more
Catharsis - Le Bolero du Veau des Dames & Et S'Aimer – Catharsis were one of the most esoteric of the French 70s rock groups, combining influences of rock, folk, classical, psych and medieval into an unusual and distinctly individual mold. Led by... (1995) » Read more
Fruitcake - How to Make It – A good first effort from this Norwegian five-piece featuring two guitarists, as well as bass, keys and drums. Vocals are handled by both keyboardist Siri Seland and drummer Pål Søvik, the... (1995) » Read more