Exposé Online » Reviews of releases for 2002

Satoko Fujii Quartet - Minerva

Fujii’s main Japanese quartet is spotlighted in this recent release. In contrast with her previous trio work, this collection of five pieces is a blistering workout of like minded players who...

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...

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...

Dave Kerman / 5uu's - Abandonship

Dave Kerman is making a concerted stab to become the Christian Vander of the Cuneiform banner of groups. Not only is he doubling up between his percussion responsibilities with Present and Thinking...

Dave Kerman / 5uu's - Abandonship

Do you ever wish you could indulge in some honest, healthy, head-banging and rocking out but just can¹t bring yourself to put on any Led Zeppelin or AC/DC? Well your time has come, RIO-freaks....

Dave Kerman / 5uu's - Abandonship

One of the most prolific and highly-sought drummers in avant-prog, Dave Kerman, has returned with an album from his own project 5uu’s. Abandonship features the most stripped-down...

Cyril Achard - Confusion

This is one of those albums that nobody ever seems to know anything about. Presuming that to be the case with most of our readership, the best thing to do would be just to describe the music. From...

French TV - #7 The Case Against Art

You have to hand it to Mike Sary and Co., every French TV seems an improvement on the last, a feat impressive considering the strength of 1999's The Violence of Amateurs. Album number...

Pink Floyd - Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live

At 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...

Djam Karet - No Commercial Potential... and Still Getting the Ladies

In some respects, Djam Karet can be viewed as a band with a split personality. Sometimes they are a tightly rehearsed unit performing composed music; sometimes they are purveyors of ambient...

Neil Haverstick - If the Earth Was a Woman

Out of Focus - Not Too Late

Cosmic Egg is one of the recent CD labels of Audion magazine’s Alan and Steve Freeman, acting sort of as a offshoot to their Auricle cassette line that they have run since the 80s. The...

Focus - Focus 8

Leave it to Thijs Van Leer to recognize the timely need for Focus to return to active duty. Within the past three years he encountered a Focus tribute act in his Dutch homeland and was so impressed...

Satoko Fujii - Bell the Cat!

Pianist Satoko Fujii has done more than pay her dues in her native homeland of Japan. In thirteen previous solo releases the performer has refined her combined style of free jazz interpolation as...

Rik Wright - Isomorphism

Rik Wright is one third of Seattle’s Jackhammer Trio, and in this solo outing he is joined by various players in a decidedly jazzy context. Cohorts along for the ride include saxophonist Dan...

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Mahavishnu

In the late 60s, guitarist John McLaughlin burst onto the jazz scene, playing with Miles Davis and Tony Williams at the very beginnings of jazz-rock fusion. When he formed his own group, Mahavishnu...

XTC - The Big Express

I confess a weakness in reviewing XTC. I've liked all of their previous records. You might say I'm prejudiced, and it's no surprise I like the new release. But after all, it is a very...

Andy Summers / Robert Fripp - Bewitched

When Andy Summers, guitar wizard with the Police, and Robert Fripp, guitar wizard with King Crimson, get together, you have to expect magic. Their first collaboration, I Advance Masked,...

Hoppy Kamiyama - Juice & Tremolo (The Works of Chamber Music)

After having released the last real Ruins album in early 1998 (the incredible Vrresto featuring a new bassist and even more craziness), this young French label issues another true...

Various Artists - Burning Shed Sampler Two

Burning Shed is an independent U.K. label that tries its best to span many genres. The label’s second sampler puts an emphasis on chilling out as ambient is the forte with a few notable...

Saga - Pleasure and the Pain

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Saga. Pleasure and the Pain marks their 12th studio album, and in many ways is an apt title. This release marks a return to the 4-5 minute rock song...

La Maschera di Cera - La Maschera di Cera

When this CD first started spinning in my player I thought there had been some mistake. I was expecting to hear La Maschera di Cera, the new project by Finisterre’s Fabio Zuffanti; this,...

Alice Coltrane - Universal Consciousness

So if there is one quality that ties my various tastes in music together it would be the cosmic quality. It's a hard quality to define, but it's basically a brother/sisterhood of all...

IZZ - I Move

Progressive rock fans seem to be split into two distinct camps when it comes to this kind of prog. IZZ operate in the same general area as Spock’s Beard – a rather poppish modern take...

Spock's Beard - Snow

Okay, so no one is going to accuse Spock’s Beard of laziness. This latest effort, apparently their last with the line-up that has lasted since their second album, presents nearly two hours of...

Pearls Before Swine - One Nation Underground & Balaklava

A slice of the past, but certainly one that shouldn’t be overlooked. Pearls Before Swine was essentially the vehicle of guitarist / composer / poet / singer Tom Rapp, which over the course of...

Pearls Before Swine - One Nation Underground & Balaklava

A slice of the past, but certainly one that shouldn’t be overlooked. Pearls Before Swine was essentially the vehicle of guitarist / composer / poet / singer Tom Rapp, which over the course of...

Keith Emerson - Emerson Plays Emerson

The late Keith Emerson needs no introduction to readers of Exposé; his tenure with The Nice, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Emerson Lake & Powell, 3, and well over a dozen solo...

The Muffins - Bandwidth

The Muffins are back! Really?! Yes, after 17 years of dead silence, they are back from the grave. I’m curious what changes will have taken place. Only few bands are capable of recreating that...

The Muffins - Bandwidth

The Muffins were one of those seminal East Coast US groups who started life entrenched in one style (Canterbury / ReR influenced rock jazz) before migrating into a variant style (experimental free...

The Muffins - Bandwidth

Many bands from the 70s and 80s that reform do so for strictly financial reasons. They might hit the concert circuit to cash in, and the results can range from pleasantly nostalgic to downright...

Exit Kanon - Plays Jazz for Alien Individuals

Exit Kanon is the solo project of one the Famlende Forsøk / The Smell of Incense family member, ChrispH. ChrispH has been working on and off on this music since 1985, only playing excerpts...

Big Brother & the Holding Company - Be a Brother & How Hard It Is

This band will forever be remembered as Janis Joplin’s backing band, though their relationship with the singer only lasted two years and two albums. After Joplin’s departure, they...

Big Brother & the Holding Company - Be a Brother & How Hard It Is

This band will forever be remembered as Janis Joplin’s backing band, though their relationship with the singer only lasted two years and two albums. After Joplin’s departure, they...

Famlende Forsøk - One Night I Had a Frightful Dream

Famlende Forsøk, a Norwegian band (Lumpy Davy, Chrisph, and Brt) with roots in the industrial music scene, has been recording since 1981. But of late, due to a number of side projects, their...

Pure Food and Drug Act - Choice Cuts

Their extended version of "Eleanor Rigby" sounds uncannily like "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" with a splash of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." Preferring jam over...

Yolk - Die Dritte, Die Vierte, Oskivinis, This Is Syd & Fuenftens

This excellent Swiss band has been kicking around since the early 90s (not to be confused with another Yolk from NYC – we reviewed one of NYC Yolk’s live shows back in issue #11) but...

Tony Levin - Pieces of the Sun

Tony Levin’s newest release is a true band effort, the direct result of touring after his previous CD, Waters of Eden (

Flying Luttenbachers - Infection & Decline

So imagine the Fripp / Bruford / Wetton lineup of King Crimson getting getting into a big argument, getting really drunk (I know – it never would have happened, but imagine it) and cranking...

Illegal Teenage Bikini - I Am Not Job

Patrick Ogle (also of Goth outfit Thanatos — not the death-metal Thanatos), leader and chief performer on this project, claims to have come across the three words of its name in an internet...

The Enid - Tripping the Light Fantastic

The world’s premier symphonic group is reborn. With the release of this album, Robert John Godfrey opens up the third chapter in the now over twenty-year history of one of England’s...

John Wetton - Live via Satellite

With his untimely passing in 2017 there’s been renewed interest in all facets of English musician John Wetton’s career, including his work as a solo artist. From his first solo album...

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 Hook - Hooked

One of the best parts of picking up modern reissues of obscurities from the 60s is that so many of them have interesting liner notes detailing the near-misses and might-have-beens of that distant...

Proto-Kaw - Early Recordings from Kansas: 1971-1973

Kansas was pretty widely exposed back in the 70s, and while they were basically similar to other bands of the era, there was a hint of the progressive sound that appealed to many fans of more...

Various Artists - Soupsongs Live: The Music of Robert Wyatt

The label has chosen to list this disc under “Various Artists” but that’s an inaccuracy. All the tracks are in fact by the same band: a rhythm section of Liam Genocky and Steve...

Soft Boys - Nextdoorland

I don’t think I would get much argument if I claimed that the Soft Boys were, in their original incarnation (1976-1981) the prime exponents of psychedelic punk music. The sheer lack of...

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...

Terri Lyne Carrington - Jazz Is a Spirit

The talent of a prodigy does mature after a time, especially if surrounded by competent mentors in the entertainment industry. Terri Lyne Carrington came up from several very notable early...

Frágil - Sorpresa del Tiempo

While they are relatively unknown in most of the world, Frágil must be quite popular in their homeland of Peru. Case in point: this live reunion CD from a concert in 1999, recorded with a...

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...

Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Frozen Corpse Stuffed with Dope

If Agitation Free shows up the sunny side, this practically EP-length release from the...

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...

Bukkene Bruse - Den Fagraste Rosa (The Loveliest Rose)

On NorthSide’s continuum of Nordic music, running from strict traditional to distinctly modern, Bukkene Bruse fall well down on the traditional end. The two fiddles of Annbjørg Lien...

Tone Ghost Ether - Condor Sail Curve, The White Space & Hydrogen 2 Oxygen

Tone Ghost Ether is an improvisational ensemble collaboration between Kit Watkins, John Tlusty, and Brad Allen. Their music is all performed in real time with no overdubs, capturing the magic of...

Tone Ghost Ether - Condor Sail Curve, The White Space & Hydrogen 2 Oxygen

Tone Ghost Ether is an improvisational ensemble collaboration between Kit Watkins, John Tlusty, and Brad Allen. Their music is all performed in real time with no overdubs, capturing the magic of...

Tone Ghost Ether - Condor Sail Curve, The White Space & Hydrogen 2 Oxygen

Tone Ghost Ether is an improvisational ensemble collaboration between Kit Watkins, John Tlusty, and Brad Allen. Their music is all performed in real time with no overdubs, capturing the magic of...

Natasha Barrett - Isostasie

Known for their release of difficult electroacoustic music, Isostasie may be empreintes DIGITALes’ most accessible CD to date. The CD opens with Barrett’s "Three Fictions...

Various Artists - Caged / Uncaged - A Rock / Experimental Homage to John Cage

Produced by John Cale, Caged / Uncaged was created as the 'soundtrack' for the exhibition "Il Suono Rapido delle Cose" in Venice in 1993, and is – as the subtitle...

Fish - Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors & Internal Exile

Ex-Marillion lead vocalist Fish has spent much time floating from label to label after departing his old band for good. Voiceprint took the singer’s back catalog and has done a second...

Fish - Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors & Internal Exile

Ex-Marillion lead vocalist Fish has spent much time floating from label to label after departing his old band for good. Voiceprint took the singer’s back catalog and has done a second...

Murat Ses - Culduz

Murat Ses, a Turkish synthesist, has completed his exploration trilogy with Culduz, his first CD release. I was impressed when Murat released Binfen (part two) several years ago....

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,...

Arti e Mestieri - Quinto Stato

Formed by ex-Trip drummer Furio Chirico, Arti e Mestieri was one of Italy's best jazz-rock / fusion bands (certainly equal to Perigeo and Area), and they launched their career with two classic...

Art Zoyd - Faust

It's been too long since I've heard anything by Art Zoyd. They have continued down their unique path begun on L'Enfer, taking them in recent years to the macabre soundtracks of...

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...

Agitation Free - 2nd

Early 70s Germany provided the environment for a massive number of inventive and experimental albums, but the closest of these to what was going on in the San Francisco bay area had to be Agitation...

Crime in Choir - Crime in Choir, The Hoop & Trumpery Metier

This instrumental San Francisco based outfit started out life in 2000 as a guitar / bass / drums / keyboards quartet, adopting a somewhat psychedelic groove-based jamming style mixed with elements...

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...

Chaos Code - The Tragedy of Leaps and Bounds

I’m fairly convinced that in a blindfold test you could convince many listeners that this album was originally released in 1972. I’m reminded of the time when musicians all around the...

Arjen Anthony Lucassen's Star One - Space Metal

Arjen Lucassen is nothing if not prolific. His main project, Ayreon, has released six albums in the last seven years, including the two-disc concept album Universal Migrator in 2000, and...

Various Artists - Periferic 2002 Space and Art Rock from Hungary

There is a wonderful variety of material on this, the second of such compilations that Periferic has released spotlighting the prog world in Hungary. The CD gets off to a promising start with a...

Various Artists - Manikin Records: First Decade 1992-2002

Though some of the source material dates back as far as 1976, this is a very forward-looking release, much of it recorded new in 2002. There are very beat-oriented energetic affairs, like the very...

Various Artists - Collection 1: Opening

This disc does what all great compilations do, it makes you hunger for more from each artist presented. A globally diverse cross-section of talent is assembled, beginning with one of my current...

Agitation Free - Malesch

Agitation Free was a most unique German band in the early seventies, in that their sound was heavily influenced by Turkish and Arabic themes, although never more so than on this, their first, from...

Spring Heel Jack - Amassed

Coxon and Wales are at it again! The results of their first attempts to assimilate free jazz into techno on their last album only fueled the fire for further attempts to create valid collages...

Dom F. Scab - Analogical Confessions

Dom F. Scab is Spain’s answer for Tangerine Dream fans who wish they still sounded like they did in 1985 or 1986, right when they transitioned from Johannes Schmoelling to Paul Haslinger. His...

Stephen Phillips - Cycles 4

There is ambient, and then there is ambient. This is true ambient, for fans of completely tuneless, minimalist drones and occasional other sounds electronic. For example, after a couple of minutes,...

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...

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...

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...

Hemisphere - Attachment X

Hemisphere serves up another slab of dark shadowy theatrical ambience. Labeled “A Psychedelic Deep Ambient Soundtrack,” it is, I believe, all seeing light of day on CD for the first...

Bondage Fruit - Bondage Fruit

Bondage Fruit were formed in 1989, and have finally released their first CD. Leader Natsuki Kido is also a member of P.O.N. (and other groups unknown outside Japan). Like other bandleaders he...

Bondage Fruit - Bondage Fruit

Having first heard about this band in the fading weeks of 1994 via a bootleg tape of one of their live shows, I was, needless to say, duly impressed, and spent most of '95 looking for a copy of...

Bondage Fruit - V: Skin

These Japanese explorers find themselves in a rather minimalistic mood for their fifth release, presenting two long tracks of fairly sparse music. The title track is nearly thirty minutes of a very...

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...

Ron Boots - Liquid Structures in Solid Form

Ron Boots has firmly established himself as a force in electronic music. His latest release is, as always, accessible top-notch electronic music. The title track gradually unfolds over the...

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...

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...

Groove Unlimited 2002-2003 Releases

The Netherlands’ Groove label, perhaps the premiere label for sequencer-heavy electronic music, has been on quite the roll lately, releasing and distributing a number of albums by newcomers...

Groove Unlimited 2002-2003 Releases

The Netherlands’ Groove label, perhaps the premiere label for sequencer-heavy electronic music, has been on quite the roll lately, releasing and distributing a number of albums by newcomers...

Groove Unlimited 2002-2003 Releases

The Netherlands’ Groove label, perhaps the premiere label for sequencer-heavy electronic music, has been on quite the roll lately, releasing and distributing a number of albums by newcomers...

Groove Unlimited 2002-2003 Releases

The Netherlands’ Groove label, perhaps the premiere label for sequencer-heavy electronic music, has been on quite the roll lately, releasing and distributing a number of albums by newcomers...

The Residents - Petting Zoo

This collection is billed as a collection of the Residents’ more “accessible” tracks. I think it’s safe to say this is not an attempt to grab mainstream mass appeal, for...

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...

Zinkl - Dance Music for Insects

Electronic composer Anton Zinkl is now up to his sixth album, the first I’ve heard. If it’s any indication, I’ve been missing something pretty interesting. On his web site, Zinkl...

Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

With In Absentia, Steven Wilson and company add a few new tricks to their musical bag, the first being really heavy riffing. Not that a heavy riff is anything new to this band, but these...

Terry Bozzio & Billy Sheehan - Nine Short Films

Sometimes the meeting of great talents can produce great results, and other times mostly disappointment ensues. This collaboration between drum-meister Terry Bozzio and uber-bassist Billy Sheehan...

Ozone Player - E

Ozone Player is an electronic project created by Otso Pakarinen, but a real oddball one that doesn’t fit into any of the schools of electronic music. It’s not heavily sequenced,...

Out of Focus - Rat Roads

This is my first encounter with this classic German group, so knowing that the tracks are outtakes from their 1972 sessions for the album Four Letter Monday Afternoon didn’t tell me...

Errata Corrige - Siegfried, il Drago e Altre Storie

In #4 I reviewed the new reformation album by this obscure 70s group. This album was their debut in the mid-70s and is not surprisingly quite a bit different from Mappamondo. This album is...

Peter Hammill - Clutch

You can count on the words to be insightful, sometimes bitter, and never trivial. The music always seems to serve the words, not the other way round. With many songwriters, you find lyrics that...

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)...

Rull's Royce - Rull's Choice

From listening to the music, you would guess that the leader of the band is the guitarist. Not that there are screaming guitar solos all over the place, but guitar does play a significant role at...

Blue Öyster Cult - Secret Treaties

McLatchey's Top Tier #4

If you track BOC back to their early days you can see their strong SF Bay Area roots, but by this point in their career all of the influences from those...

Immolation - Unholy Cult

McLatchey's Top Tier #13

So this will probably be the least liked of all the titles I've been posting, but there's a small wedge of my musical listening that has to...

Xhol Caravan - Electrip

Frigg - Frigg

Germinale - Scogli di Sabbia

Pekka Pohjola - Five Reissues

For anyone not yet familiar with the name of Pekka Pohjola, he is a Finnish composer, bandleader, and bassist among bassists primarily, but also fluent on piano, synthesizer, and trumpet as well....

Frijid Pink - Hibernated

Budderfly - Budderfly

Black Tape for a Blue Girl - The Scavenger Bride

The Residents - Demons Dance Alone

Motorpsycho + Jaga Jazzist Horns - It's a Love Cult, The Stix & In the Fishtank

After hearing the name Motorpsycho for a few years, I was pretty curious to actually hear the band. I did not expect an album of such variety, that combines intensity and subtlety and a wide range...

Xhol - Hau Ruk

Jan Hammer - The First Seven Days

Gjallarhorn - Grimborg

Edward Ka-Spel - O'er a Shalabast'r Tyde Strolt Ay

Edward Ka-Spel records and releases two basic types of solo music, songs and experimental music (collages, found sounds, and electronics). O’er a Shalabast’r Tyde Strolt Ay is an...

Ange - Zenith An II

Tim Bowness / Peter Chilvers - California, Norfolk

Michel Zenino - Dérive Gauche

Kelly David - Broken Voyage

Bill Horist & K.K. Null - Interstellar Chemistry

Roland Kovac New Set - The Master Said

Tony Scheuren - Gaining on You

Billy Currie - Push

Theo Travis & Mark Hewins - Guerrilla Music

Sylvan - Artificial Paradise

Big Brother & the Holding Company - Live in San Francisco, 1966

Iconoclasta - Live in France

The Yellow Balloon - The Yellow Balloon

Haco + Sakamoto Hiromichi - Ash in the Rainbow

The Owl Watches - Tales from the Inflatable Forest

Tim Berne - Science Friction

Avi Bellili - The Power of Balance

Sula Bassana - Dreamer - 10 Year Anniversary Edition

Herbie Kritzer - The Tree Lizard

Mindgames - International Daylight

N.R. Hills - Strange, Like a Scented Stone

Paralell or 90 Degrees - More Exotic Ways to Die

Osanna - Preludio Tema Variazioni Canzona (Milano Calibro 9)

Missus Beastly - Missus Beastly

Annbjørg Lien - Aliens Alive

High Wheel - Back from the Void

Hidria Spacefolk - Symbiosis

A Triggering Myth - Forgiving Eden

Scarlet Thread - Psykedeelisiä Joutsenlauluja

Round House - Jin.Zo-Ni.N.Gen & Wings to Rest

Steve Tibbetts - A Man about a Horse

Stinkhorn - Altered Takes

Steve Howe - Skyline

Azigza - From X to Y

Fish - Fellini Days & Nights, Sashimi & Suits

Fish - Fellini Days & Nights, Sashimi & Suits

Flëur - First Four Albums