Exposé Online » Reviews of releases for 2016

Rez Abbasi & Junction - Behind the Vibration

The interaction of memory and mood can be an interesting thing. There are times, after wading through a stack of less-than-wonderful CDs, that it seems like the world is full of musicians who just...

Josh Green & The Cyborg Orchestra - Telepathy & Bop

No, the musicians are not machines. Their parts are not programmed. They are in fact real musicians playing real instruments together. The combination of instruments is a bit unusual, sort of a...

Various Artists - Psych Fest Volume One & Volume Two

Selections from the bands that played at Psych Fest I and Psych Fest II in Russia, plus some planned for Psych Fest III are contained on this double CD set. Most of the bands are new to me with the...

Various Artists - Psych Fest Volume One & Volume Two

Selections from the bands that played at Psych Fest I and Psych Fest II in Russia, plus some planned for Psych Fest III are contained on this double CD set. Most of the bands are new to me with the...

Syndone - Eros & Thanatos

Syndone appeared on the Italian progressive scene around 25 years ago with their debut release Spleen, and have released five more in the years since, although there was a 17 year gap...

Caudal - Let's All Take the Yellow Pills

Or should that be Let’s Take All the Yellow Pills? I hadn’t heard of Caudal before, but I’m familiar with their guitarist Aidan Baker, from Canada, who has about eight...

Jahroom - Cut-Price Goods

Eleven instrumental tracks with creative titles such as “Cut-29,” “Cut-07,” “Cut-32,” etc. are what you experience on this 2016 release by Russian trio Jahroom...

Pymlico - Meeting Point & Nightscape

This Oslo band plays instrumental music inspired by various forms of classic music, especially 70s soundtrack music, funk, and early jazz fusion. Somehow, they also end up having some features in...

Howard Givens & Madhavi Devi - Source of Compassion

Howard Givens is the founder of Spotted Peccary Music, and although only a few releases outwardly bear his name (or his project Brain Laughter), nearly every release on the label (over 100 now) and...

Karmamoi - Silence between Sounds

The last time we touched bases with Karmamoi was their 2013 album Odd Trip, and at that time they were a full five-piece band with a dedicated singer. The album at hand under review is not...

Satoko Fujii / Joe Fonda - Duet

For the attentive reader of Exposé, pianist, composer and bandleader Satoko Fujii needs no introduction; her work in jazz, classical, and free improv has been documented and...

Petrina - Be Blind

After last year’s collection of adaptations of the music of other composers, Debora Petrina is back with Be Blind, a set of original tunes stylistically reminiscent of...

Basta! - Elemento Antropico

Basta! is another Italian band on the Lizard Records label, and their new album Elemento Antropico is a set of eleven instrumentals. I was expecting heavy percussion or a drum line from...

Eli Gras - Xylotheque

Eli Gras is a Spanish experimental musician exploring electroacoustic music. In 2016 she released Xylotheque, a collection of six different electroacoustic experiments ranging from two to...

WorldService Project - For King and Country

This is one of those cases where I want to write a review that simply says: “Stop reading my review and go get this immediately!” But I realize there are very few people in this world...

Big Big Train - A Stone's Throw from the Line

The Kings Place gigs were the first live performances by Big Big Train in 17 years and of course they were a completely different group back then (you don't even have to backtrack that far to...

Consorzio Acqua Potabile with Alvaro Fella - Coraggio e Mistero

My peak Consorzio Acqua Potabile experience was their Progday performance, whenever it was (2000?). Before that point I found their albums to be good but not compelling; live they were much more...

Martin Turner - Life Begins & New Live Dates - The Complete Set

With the lawsuit over the Wishbone Ash band name finalized in Andy Powell's favor, in 2014 "Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash" became "Martin Turner Ex-Wishbone Ash." Late...

Onségen Ensemble - Awalaï

I was a bit surprised when this one turned up. I remember their 2007 EP HottoïzzoH fondly, and in my review wrote, “Speaking of butts, these talented Finns need to get off...

Vanilla Fudge - Live at Sweden Rocks 2016

Two years ago in the quiet Swedish town of Norje near Salvesborg, 35,000 enthusiastic fans gathered to experience the heavy psychedelic presence of a band formed nearly 50 years ago, Vanilla Fudge....

The Mercury Tree - Permutations

Following this band from Portland, Oregon has been very encouraging. The first album I heard was Freeze in Phantom Form (2012), and it presented a young band with a great sound that was a...

Temnee - Astrodiving EP & Dialectics

Temnee is a hard rock / stoner / psych / instrumental band from Tver, Russia that started in 2013. In May 2014 they released their EP Astrodiving on Bandcamp. On Astrodiving,...

Thumbscrew - Convallaria

This trio’s second album finds the players developing their sound into some new areas. The busy, distorted middle section of the lead track, “Cleome,” brings a different sound...

Third Ear Band - Exorcisms & Spirits

Third Ear Band from the beginning was one of the strangest sounding bands, and remains so to this day. I remember bringing home the LP of the band’s first album Alchemy (bought...

Acqua Libera - Acqua Libera

We have often reviewed albums by bands who were together back in the good old days playing progressive rock, but for whatever reason never got their chance to record or release anything, and then...

Jodie Lowther - Klepsydra, Skeleton Moon & Circles and Holes

Jodie Lowther is one half on London-based electronic band Quimper, whom we’ve been covering for a few years now. Jodie provides vocals and visual art for Quimper, but she is an experimental...

Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass - Volume 2

Over a dozen years ago, the Shout Factory label was tasked to release the entire Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass catalog on fresh new digipak CDs. Mac Beaulieu even

French TV - Ambassadors of Good Health and Clean Living

It’s been a half dozen years or so since French TV’s last one, I Forgive You for All My Unhapiness, and it seems that the longer the wait between albums now, the more difficult...

Ryoko Ono / Rogier Smal - Wood Moon

My previous encounters with the playing of saxophonist Ryoko Ono involved her work with Acid Mothers Temple — she appears on Have You Seen the Other Side of the Sky? and Crystal...

Bent Knee - Say So

I snapped up copies of the band’s self-titled debut and its follow-up, Shiny Eyed Babies, when they were available, and as adventurous as those two privately released albums are (and...

Amoeba Split - Second Split

Musically speaking, Canterbury isn’t so much a place, but a state of mind that can exist anywhere. In the case of Amoeba Split, a six-piece with many guests, the spirit is alive and well in...

Steeleye Span - Dodgy Bastards

Writing about Offa Rex’s wonderful new album sparked a renewal of interest in one of my all-time...

Sherpa - Tanzlinde

Sherpa is a mysterious Italian five-piece (plus numerous guests) making a gentle, folky, psychedelic rock that features guitars, bass, loops, synths, xylophone, harmonium, hand drums and other...

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...

Jerry Goodman - Violin Fantasy

Who out there was asking for a violin legend to do pseudo-orchestral versions of “Eye of the Tiger,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” or “The Final...

Die Krupps - Stahlwerkrequiem

Die Krupps was one of the first pioneers of electronic and industrial music alongside Einstürzende Neubaten in the early 80s. Die Krupps’ first release was 1981’s...

Trusties - Untouchable

This longstanding Finnish quartet has been around since the late 90s, with only four releases to their credit during that time, and as such their sound has changed and evolved over time. Today they...

Asturias - At the Edge of the World

Over the passage of time, since the late 80s, bassist and multi-instrumentalist Yoh Ohyama has led two distinct versions of Asturias, although the early albums made no distinction because the...

Herd of Instinct - Manifestation

The Aaron Clift Experiment and Herd of Instinct played some gigs together earlier this year and Aaron encouraged them to play at this year's Voyager Festival in Austin in September. I was...

David Fiuczynski - Flam! Blam! Pan-Asian MicroJam!

Guitarist David Fiuczynski is probably best known for his acrobatic, highly technical playing, but this release finds him in very different territory. The “Microjam” part of the title...

8x8 - Inflorescence

8x8 is the transatlantic collaboration between musicians Lane Steinberg in New York City and Alex Khodchenko in Kiev. Inflorescence is their third album, the second to be released on...

Bangtower - With N with Out

Judging only by the credits, Bang Tower is not a band, but a project of guitarist, keyboardist, singer, and composer Neil Citron, who also is credited wth production, engineering, mixing and...

Harvey Mandel - Snake Pit

From his earliest days in Charlie Musselwhite’s blues band, and playing for organist Barry Goldberg, guitarist Harvey Mandel has had a very distinct sound, his trademark being a seemingly...

The Lords of Thyme - Pellets

The Lords of Thyme, what a great name, and one the perfectly captures the essence of their music! Joe Woolley, Tali Trow, and Pat Kenneally used to be part of Circulus, the UK psychedelic...

Love - Reel to Real

Arthur Lee and his band Love released two seminal psychedelic rock albums in 1967, Da Capo and Forever Changes. When their fourth album Out Here was recorded in late 1969...

Neuschwanstein - Fine Art

38 years is a long time between albums, and from their 1978 album Battlement, only one member remains, co-founder Thomas Neuroth, with seven more members joining the lineup in the interim....

Gaudi - 30Hz Dub Prelude / Electronic Impromptu in E-flat Minor

This release by Gaudi is a perfect auxiliary to the RareNoise catalog — the music consists of tracks from the label’s vaults mixed and matched by the producer into a coherent pair of...

Stick Men+ - Midori

Stick Men has been a very busy band of late, somehow managing to tour extensively in spite of the other work all three band members do outside the trio. Keeping track of all the different projects...

Stick Men - Prog Noir

From their beginning, Stick Men have included occasional vocal tracks in their repertoire, though they have always been fewer in number than the purely instrumental pieces, and completely absent on...

Patrick Gauthier - Clinamens

French keyboardist Patrick Gauthier is not one to flood the market with product, and when he does release something new, it’s always worthy of note. A former member of Schizo, Heldon, Magma,...

Obake - Draugr

Somewhere in the stack of CDs I’ve got to review, this release from Obake must have fallen down a crack or something. So it’s catch-up time… This band is another project...

La Coscienza di Zeno - La Notte Anche di Giorno

The third album by this outstanding seven-piece plus guests from Genoa presents a full range of emotions in two expansive multi-part side-long suites, and is certainly on par with some of the best...

Harvey Valdes Trio - PointCounterPoint

Recently I read Derek Bailey’s book Improvisation, and one of the things he discussed was idiomatic improvisation, which is improvisation within an established style such as jazz or...

Bi-Ki ? - Quelque Chose au Milieu

Bi-Ki ? is the duo of two alto sax players, Sakina Abdou and Jean-Baptiste Rubin, and in concert situations they typically perform from within the audience, the two players following each other,...

Haiku Funeral - Hallucinations

For four albums of grotesque mutant psychedelic madness, Haiku Funeral has been the duo of Bulgarian vocalist / guitarist / keyboardist Dimitar Dimitrov, a veteran of black metal bands like Glades...

Garybaldi - Storie di un'Altra Città

Most will remember Garybadi as that heavy prog band from Genoa featuring guitarist “Bambi” Fossati that made a couple notable releases back in the early 70s (Nudo,...

Free Salamander Exhibit - Undestroyed

Long-time readers will be aware that Sleepytime Gorilla Museum was the object of near cult-like...

Kevin Kastning / Carl Clements - A Far Reflection

Guitarist Kevin Kastning and woodwind player Carl Clements are no strangers to collaboration. A Far Reflection is in fact their fourth, following Dreaming As I...

Jean-Luc Guionnet - Plugged Inclinations

Here we're talking bloop, bleep, squeak, and buzz electronics, with immense all-consuming textures that highlight sonic friction on all surfaces, without a hint of sequencing anywhere. This is...

Saint Luminus - Illumination

Saint Luminus AKA William Rustrum is a Los Angeles-based musician who left a career in electrical engineering to pursue music professionally. He enrolled in the Musician’s Institute in...

Telescope Road - Telescope Road

From their home base in Marseille in the south of France, they are known for their performances at Prog Sud and Crescendo festivals, as well as other festivals and tours throughout France, Europe,...

Vanderson - Vandisphere

Polish electronic composer Maciej Wierzchowski (aka Vanderson) has something like 31 releases to his name on his Bandcamp page, quite prolific for a 39 year old musician. He released...

Bobby Previte - Mass

Even the non-Catholics among music fans are likely familiar with the structure of a mass, having listened to musical settings for the ritual dating back to the time of J.S. Bach or even earlier....

Kevin Kastning - Skyfields

There is no one quite like Kevin Kastning. Stretching back well over 20 years and two dozen or more releases, both solo and in collaboration with other like-minded players, the gutarist, composer...

Jürgen Karg - Elektronische Mythen

In the 60s Jürgen Karg played bass for Wolfgang Dauner. Then in the 70s his interests shifted to synthesizers and electronic music. Over a five year period he amassed an extensive collection...

Sven Kacirek & Thomas Klein - Rhythmus I-IV

Selekt is Bureau B’s sub-label for releasing experiments, collaborations, and remixes. For its third Selekt release, Bureau B wanted to see what would happen when they brought two...

Garmarna - 6

Back in the 90s, I randomly came across the CD Vittrad at my local public library and checked it out on...

Firmament - Firmament

Heavy metal has always lent itself to what might be called progressive tendencies, and sometimes the dividing line between what’s called metal and what’s called prog is pretty arbitrary...

Corima - Amaterasu

After a band produces an album as outstanding as Corima did with Quetzalcoatl, there’s always a risk that they won’t be able to match it next time round. The good news is that...

Kamp - Clairvoyance

Greek singer John Kampouropoulos calls his band Kamp, which is handy for non-Greeks whose eyes glaze over at the sight of a name with that many letters. He has a very pleasant and engaging voice,...

Fatal Fusion - Total Absence

Fatal Fusion’s third release follows on seamlessly from The Ancient Tale, continuing their brand of contemporary progressive rock. It is deliberately epic in sound and theme,...

Universal Totem Orchestra - Mathematical Mother

Universal Totem Orchestra was a side project of Italian band Runaway Totem, which over the years since their formation in 1998 and two albums is now a full fledged zeuhl band. Their third and...

The Mugshots - Something Weird

Italian dark rockers The Mugshots released their latest opus of progressive / punk / doom metal / soundtrack / black metal / new wave / pop music in October 2016, marking their 15th anniversary as...

Presence - Masters and Following

The gothic Italian neo-progressive band Presence is not a particularly prolific band — Masters and Following is only their fifth or sixth album since forming in 1994, and eight years...

Consorzio Acqua Potabile with Alvaro Fella - Coraggio e Mistero

Consorzio Acqua Potabile (CAP) is an Italian progressive band that formed in the 70s, eventually releasing a handful of albums starting in the 90s. For their latest they teamed with Alvaro...

Peter Baumann - Romance 76 & Trans Harmonic Nights

Peter Baumann was an integral part of Tangerine Dream from 1971 to 1977, which in my opinion was the group’s best period. So I was excited in 1976 when Peter Baumann released his first solo...

Cluster - 1971 - 1981

Bureau 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,...

Glasgow Coma Scale - Enter Oblivion

Two years after their debut EP Apophenia, Glasgow Coma Scale returns with a full album, Enter Oblivion, and a vastly matured sound. It took the band a long time to assemble all of...

Adelbert von Deyen - Sternzeit & Nordborg

Adelbert van Deyen’s first two albums, 1978’s Sternzeit and 1979’s Nordborg, established him as a Berlin school electronic musician, and contain what is probably...

Adelbert von Deyen - Sternzeit & Nordborg

Adelbert van Deyen’s first two albums, 1978’s Sternzeit and 1979’s Nordborg, established him as a Berlin school electronic musician, and contain what is probably...

Pandora - Ten Years Like in a Magic Dream

Pandora is an Italian neo-progressive band born out of love for 70s progressive in 2006 by the father (Beppe Colombo) and son (Claudio Colombo) team with Corrado Grappeggia. This trio of keyboards...

Dieter Moebius - Nurton

Seven years after Blotch, Moebius released his next solo album, Nurton. On this second...

Sølyst - The Steam Age

Drummer for the Düsseldorf band Kreidler, Thomas Klein also records as Sølyst. His latest solo effort is The Steam Age. Based on the title, I was expecting something along the...

Dieter Moebius - Blotch

After Moebius’ passing in 2015, Bureau B started reissuing his final four solo albums. The first in this series is Blotch, curiously named after a dab of paint. Moebius had a long...

Dennis Young - Wave - Electronic Music 1984-1988

In 1983, New York City band Liquid Liquid had a hit with their song “Cavern” that was later sampled by Grandmaster Flash for his hit “White Lines” because of its strong...

Qluster - Echtzeit

Qluster is the third incarnation of Kluster / Cluster, with Hans-Joachim Roedelius as the sole original member. In 1969 Roedelius, Dieter Moebius, and Conrad Schnitzler founded Kluster. Two years...

Mike Oldhill - Dark Matter

It’s been about five years since Mike Oldhill (who releases his material under his real name Michael Altenberger in his native Germany) released his debut album Eleven Explorers,...

Soft Hearted Scientists - Uncanny Tales from the Everyday Undergrowth (Expanded Edition)

There is something endearing about the Soft Hearted Scientists, be it their name, their label name, their vocal harmonies, their whimsical songs, their catchy melodies, etc. I’ve been a fan...

Soft Hearted Scientists - Golden Omens

Those psychedelic gnomes from Cardiff are at it again, this time feverishly working in their lab to concoct a double dose of their signature pop-psych music. Golden Omens is an alchemical...

Arbeit / Schickert / Schneider (ASS) - ASS

The first thing you notice about this album is the delicate crystalline structure of the cover art and then the molecular diagram of aspirin or acetylsalicylic acid. Then there are the track titles...

Circles - Structures - Unreleased Material 1985-1989

At about the same time as Guerssen reissued the first two Circles albums in 2016, Bureau B issued this...

Michel Banabila - Early Works - Things Popping up from the Past

Dutch composer Michel Banabila has been recording and releasing music since 1983 and he has produced musical scores for films, documentaries, plays, and dance. This Early Works...

Michael Bundt - Electri City

Michael Bundt began his career as a bass guitarist and founder the obscure Krautrock band Medusa, which morphed into the second incarnation of Nine Days Wonder. After leaving Nine Days Wonder,...

Rolf Trostel - Inselmusik, Two Faces & Der Prophet

Rolf 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...

Rolf Trostel - Inselmusik, Two Faces & Der Prophet

Rolf 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...

Rolf Trostel - Inselmusik, Two Faces & Der Prophet

Rolf 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...

Sven Grünberg - Hingus

Estonian 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...

I.P.A. - I Just Did Say Something

What’s with the vibes lately? Just a few days ago I reviewed Human Ottoman, and it seems like only a couple of months ago it was Empirical — now I’ve got I.P.A. This Norwegian /...

Corima - Amaterasu

This third album by Corima arrived late last year and here it is May already, and it’s definitely in need of a long overdue review. Their second solidly zeuhl-influenced album...

Greg Segal - Toad Is the Uncle of Heaven

This one is definitely a curiosity, based on the ancient Vietnamese folk tale of the toad’s journey to see the king of heaven to ask for an end to a long drought, along with an entourage of...

Cluster - Kollektion 6 - 1971-1981 Compiled by John McEntire

Bureau 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,...

Matthew Stewart - A World Bathed in Sunlight

Belying the beautiful sounding title, as well as all the beautiful music herein, the theme of Stewart’s instrumental debut album – if one strings the song titles together in the order...

Renaldo & The Loaf - Gurdy Hurding

Back in the early 1980s, Renaldo & The Loaf were like, the weirdest band in the world, sort of like the British answer to The Residents, though somewhat different, without all the anonymity and...

Adelbert von Deyen - Atmosphere

Adelbert van Deyen is a Berlin-based electronic musician who was very active in the late 70s and early 80s. Atmosphere was his third release, issued in 1980 and now reissued on Bureau B....

Richard Franecki & Hadley Kahn - eemn

When guitarist / synthesist Richard Franecki (F/i & Vocokesh) and drummer Hadley Kahn (

Dean de Benedictis - Salvaging the Present

While this is ambient music, and perhaps somewhat electronic based, it’s far more than one guy hiding behind an assumed name layering gobs and gobs of synth overlays on a recording. Dean de...

Mariah Parker - Indo Latin Jazz Live in Concert

One can’t accuse Parker of flooding the market with product; this live set is only her second album, the first in nine years, but after even a single listen, one can conclude it was clearly...

Conrad Schnitzler - Filmmusik 1 & 2

Conrad Schnitzler was one prolific composer. Six years after his passing we are still presented with music from his archives. In 1975 he recorded a number of untitled pieces intended as soundtracks...

Dewa Budjana - Zentuary

The gifted Indonesian guitarist Dewa Budjana is back again with Zentuary, a sprawling 2CD set that follows last years’ Hasta Karma. Here we have a dozen tracks covering over...

Dwiki Dharmawan - Pasar Klewer

Solo (or Surakarta) is a city of half a million people in central Java with a rich history, long a center of Javanese identity and tradition, second only to the better known Yogyakarta. Pasar...

Jodi - Pops de Vanguardia

In the late 60s, two Paraguayan brothers of German descent, Joern and Dirk Wenger, began playing together in a beat / psychedelic band The Rabbits. The Rabbits released a very rare EP and then the...

Oneida / Rhys Chatham - What's Your Sign?

We’ve covered Glenn Branca in these pages before, but Rhys Chatham has so far avoided our attention. Like Branca, Chatham is a modern composer with elements of minimalism to his writing who...

Carl Weingarten - An Endless Premonition

Go back. Go way way back to the beginning. Carl Weingarten has covered a lot of musical territory since the early 1980s, but with An Endless Premonition he takes the listener back to his...

Uwe Cremer / Thomas Rydell - Time Trilogy

Time Trilogy is the second collaboration between Uwe Cremer (aka Level ∏) and Swedish soundtrack composer Thomas Rydell. As suggested by the title, there are three long tracks on the...

WEI3 - Kaliko

At the heart of this jazz trio is Jarry Singla, an Indo-German pianist who also plays Indian harmonium, with influences ranging from European musical traditions and a variety of jazz styles, as...

Tohpati Ethnomission - Mata Hati

Long overdue, the follow-up to Tohpati Ethnomission’s 2010 Save the Planet is here, and I must say this was well worth the wait. Tohpati himself has been active all these years, with...

Weingarten / Charlton - Where There Is Light

This appropriately titled collaboration between guitarist Carl Weingarten and improvisational pianist Catherine Marie Charlton is at once expressive, transcendent, and organic, bringing together...

Ravi Shankar - In Hollywood, 1971

Reviewing an artist like Ravi Shankar is quite a challenge, and this live set from 46 years ago presents the difficulty in a big way. In Hollywood, 1971 gives us four pieces spanning over...

Progress - Tulejää

If you like your progressive rock old-school early 70s style, Progress is the prescription. This five-piece powerhouse hails from Estonia, choosing a song-oriented format with lyrics in their...

Nicholas Chase - Bhajan

Composer Nicholas Chase has a number of releases to his credit, but this is the first time we have reviewed any of his works at Exposé — perhaps all of those six...

Riccardo Sinigaglia - Dimensions

At hand are five compositions in a category somewhere between interesting and magical, originally recorded around 1993, remastered ten years after that, with a couple of the pieces (a purely...

The Chronicles of Israfel - A Trillion Lights, Tome II

The Chronicles of Israfel is the solo project of Canadian guitarist and former Pulse Ultra member Dominic Cifarelli. After the breakup of Pulse Ultra in 2004, Dominic spent many late nights jamming...

Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo - Peace (Tribute to Kelly Churko)

We’ve been reviewing pianist and composer Satoko Fujii’s releases for a number of years, going back to the earliest days of the printed edition, as well as various side projects...

Shaman Elephant - Crystals

From my viewpoint, it seems like there must be almost as many psych bands in Norway as there are metal bands, but my experience is limited to what shows up in my inbox, which is more likely to...

Order of Thieves - Order of Thieves

Hailing from New Hampshire, Rick Habib (drums, percussion, and vocals), Bob Lord (bass and keyboards), and Jon McCormick (guitars and vocals), have released their debut self-titled album, a mixture...

Various Artists - Spheric Music Silver

25 years ago German synthesist Lambert Ringlage formed the Spheric Music label to publish his first solo CD. Since 1991, the label has grown to include the discography of 20 different electronic...

Per Aage Brandt / Karsten Vogel - Cry!

Pianist Brandt and saxophonist Vogel, long before the latter’s fame in Burnin’ Red Ivalhoe and Secret Oyster, played together in the Vogel Brothers Quartet in 1963. Don’t look for...

Luigi Milanese - Closer to Heaven

Luigi Milanese is an Italian guitarist and composer who is just as adept on acoustic guitar and electric guitar as he is with orchestral compositions. His new album, Closer to Heaven, is...

Merzbow / Keiji Haino / Balázs Pándi - An Untroublesome Defencelessness

With the names Merzbow and Keiji Haino on the cover, you’re probably not expecting pastoral compositions for acoustic instruments. Rather, you might even expect a continuous blast of...

Jack o' the Clock - Repetitions of the Old City - I

Sometimes music will hit you just at the right time, when the combination of circumstance, mood, and sound just works, and sometimes the reaction is so subjective it can be hard to work...

Eraldo Bernocchi / Prakash Sontakke - Invisible Strings

I think it’s safe to say that Invisible Strings is the friendliest release on RareNoise to date. This collaboration between sound wizard Eraldo Bernocchi and slide guitarist Prakash...

Ingranaggi della Valle - Warm Spaced Blue

Warm Spaced Blue is the second release by Ingranaggi della Valle. Whereas their 2013 debut release In Hoc Signo had its roots in 70s Italian prog, the band decided to go in an...

Ergo - As Subtle as Tomorrow

One of the promising recent trends in music around the world has been the increasing cross-fertilization of what can roughly be labeled academic chamber music with other styles. Of course this is...

New Zion w. Cyro - Sunshine Seas

If I had become aware of Jamie Saft’s work earlier in his career, maybe I wouldn’t be so surprised every time he shows up on a new release that sounds completely different from what...

Gösta Berlings Saga - Sersophane

This Swedish band has never been prolific, but they compensate in quality what they lack in quantity. It’s been five years since Glue Works, and I’m happy to report that...

Zhongyu - Zhongyu Is Chinese for Finally

What first hits me as a listener on the album opener “Apple of My Mind’s Eye 2” is the strong Chinese influence, in the instrumentation, scales and percussion used, which should...

Nuclearte - Endo

Nuclearte is a Scilian band that began in 1996 as a pure ethno-electro-acoustic ensemble integrating musical elements from around the Mediterranean basin (Spanish-Moorish, Balkan, and Greek). Their...

Esquire - No Spare Planet

Who would’ve expected that after a lapse of 22 years, Esquire, the duo formed by Nikki Squire, first wife of Yes founder and bassist Chris Squire, would resuface with a new album, but indeed...

Various Artists - Tripwave 2: Collection of Modern Russian Psychedelic Music

This “Collection of Modern Russian Psychedelic Music” concentrates on one particular aspect of psychedelia, namely the side that leans towards space rock rather than concise, catchy,...

Alex's Hand - Künstler Scheiße

Seems like it was less than a month ago I was writing about Goblinsz…?!, the improvisational collaboration between Alex’s Hand and Ádám Mészáro....

Richard Palmer-James - Takeaway

Taking a break from all the noise and avant-isms that have crossed my desk recently, I find this very nice release from Richard Palmer-James. This songwriter is best known to fans of progressive...

John Howard - Across the Door Sill

John Howard is a new name to me even though his musical career began in the mid-70s, went on hiatus in the mid-80s, and reignited in 2004. He has some 15-odd releases and Across the Door...

Daniel Bennett Group - Sinking Houseboat Confusion

In this age of cynicism, it’s easy to be suspicious of a person who seems very positive. When you meet someone who is all smiles and bubbly attitude, you wonder if they’re hiding...

Conrad Schnitzler / Schneider TM - Con-Struct

Conrad Schnitzler left a huge legacy of unreleased music. He loved to embark on daily musical excursions through the sonic diversity of his synths, preserving them for use in other compositions or...

Aisles - Hawaii

With Hawaii, Aisles provides a good example of how a tried-and-tested genre can still produce creative gems. In broad terms, the band plays neo-progressive rock superficially like most...

The Basements - Lost & I'm Dead

When I think of Greece, the last thing that comes to mind is 60s psychedelia. But with a steadily growing fan base is this five-person band from Thessaloniki, Greece The Basements. And what a great...

The Claudia Quintet - Super Petite

In the years since its formation, John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet has recorded a series of albums that seem to exist in a world of their own. The two defining factors are the...

Voices from the Fuselage - Odyssey: The Destroyer of Worlds

Voices from the Fuselage (VFTF) is a five-piece progressive rock band from the UK formed in 2010 by vocalist Ashe O’Hara, guitarists Mitch Ramsay and Josh Galloway, bassist Dale Gorham, and...

Spirits Burning & Clearlight - The Roadmap in Your Head

This is the second collaboration between Spirits Burning master of ceremonies and multi-instrumentalist Don Falcone, and Clearlight – or more precisely Cyrill Verdeaux, who is the mastermind...

Automat - OstWest

OstWest is the third album in Automat’s trilogy centering on Berlin’s airports, and their musical interpretation of the impact of the thousands of refugees fleeing to Europe....

Wadada Leo Smith - America's National Parks

A couple of years ago I reviewed Wadada Leo Smith’s Great Lakes Suites, and...

Vectrexcentricity - Lifelike Boy Android

Seeing the names on the cover of this release might very well lead to confusion — at least for those familiar with any of them. To fans of progressive rock, Michael Manring is most likely the...

UTU - Pieces of the Unknown

And while we’re on the subject of inventive combinations of acoustic and electric instruments (see

Slapp Happy - Acnalbasac Noom

After recording Sort Of, a second album emerged but Polydor pulled the plug and Uwe Nettelbeck signed both Faust and Slapp Happy to the burgeoning Virgin label in the UK. They re-recorded...

Slapp Happy - Sort Of

In the early 70s Anthony Moore was exploring different avant garde musical techniques, working in Uwe Nettlebeck’s studio in Wümme. Anthony recorded and released two experimental albums...

Jim of Seattle - Both the Planet Frank and the Chet Lambert Show

When we last encountered Jim of Seattle, he had presented us with the sprawling We Are All Famous, a collection of 19 tracks covering a wide stylistic range with humor and skill. With his...

Soccer96 - As Above So Below

Soccer96 is a duo with a very full sound. Dan Leavers (AKA Danalogue, primarily keyboards) and Maxwell Hallett (AKA Betamax, primarily drums) are occasionally joined by guests on sax, percussion,...

Montage - Metamorphosis

Since their respectable and promising debut two years ago, Helsinki’s Montage have continued forward with a excellent follow-up that brings forward some of the harder rock aspects of their...

MJ12 - MJ12

At first, this album seemed to come out of nowhere, a release from a band I never heard of. But one look at the personnel and my hopes went up. The name Percy Jones jumps out, bringing up all sorts...

Various Artists - A New Career in a New Town: More Songs by David Bowie

For the Fruits de Mer Member’s Club annual freebie last year, Keith Jones produced an exclusive CD of David Bowie covers titled Fashion: Songs Written by David Bowie. Because of the...

Amirtha Kidambi / Elder Ones - Holy Science

It is well known that John Coltrane’s music was influenced by exposure to Indian ragas. Here is a case where some of Coltrane’s ideas are applied back to South Asian traditions. Not...

Terry Dolan - Terry Dolan

Terry Dolan was an East Coast singer-songwriter who took Horace Greeley’s advice and migrated to San Francisco in the late 60s. In 1972 he recorded a full album of songs that was never...

Marvin Gardens - 1968

Considering the first wave of 60s San Francisco bands as Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and of course the Grateful Dead, then...

Various Artists - Cologne Curiosities: The Unknown Krautrock Underground, 1972​-​1976

When the music on this compilation first surfaced in 1996 there was skepticism of its authenticity. Many thought these tunes were recorded by contemporary musicians emulating music from the 70s. It...

Church of Hed - Brandenburg Heights

Church of Hed’s latest involves two side-length tracks of keyboard based electronic rock inspired by the Berlin school of music in its prime over 40 years ago. That’s not to say that...

Sendelica - Nite Flights

Welsh spacerockers Sendelica greet you this Christmas season with a cover of Scott Walker’s (The Walker Brothers) “Nite Flights” from 1978. On the original song you get an...

Cure for Gravity - Cure for Gravity

Cure for Gravity, aside from being a really cool name, is a band from Oakland, California consisting of Joe Markert (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Chris Gamper (drums), and Dave Walcott (guitar). On...

Free Nelson Mandoomjazz - The Organ Grinder

With The Organ Grinder, Free Nelson Mandoomjazz expands their sound further from its base of sax, bass, and drums by featuring more guests than before and varying arrangement structures....

Bobby Beausoleil - Dancing Hearts Afire

In the spring of 2013, Bobby Beausoleil released this as a download, a single 18+ minute piece of music originally written and recorded for his wife of 30+ years, Barbara, who had planned to...

Robert Jürjendal - Lihtminevik / Simple Past

Jürjendal’s latest all-instrumental effort, his third, rides a powerful wave of emotional rock, bringing together brilliant melodic sensibilities captured in soaring worlds of shimmering...

Paul Marcano & Lightdreams - 10,001 Dreams

British Columbian Paul Marcano is an obscure musician who released several cassettes in the early 80s. 10,001 Dreams on C-90 was a sequel to his first release, Islands in Space....

Curved Air - Curved Space & Infinity

The latest in the Curved Air Rarities series (Volume 2) is in fact a two disc set of material that is in fact not Curved Air at all, but instead improvisations by subsets of band members, former...

More Experience - Follow Me

One will be forgiven if they are unable to read the band name and title on the front of this beautiful CD package; just try a little harder to move your mind back to a time when such things were...

Holy Palms - Baba & Tribute to Snake Charmers Music

Many of the Western artists who have been inspired by the music of India and the Middle East have gone the acoustic (or near-acoustic) route, others have infused those sounds into space rock,...

Margorani / Newhouse / Zenoni - Beauty Is in the Distance

Guitarist Luciano Margorani has been active in the Italian experimental music scene since the mid-80s, as a solo artist, as a member of La 1919, Ferdinando Farao’s Archipel Orchestra, and...

Cary Grace - The Uffculme Variations

This past July the Cary Grace Band (Cary Grace - vocals, EMS, VCS3; Andy Budge - bass guitar; David Payne - drums; and Victoria Reyes - keyboards, vocals, percussion) performed live at the Kozfest...

The Honey Pot - Ascending Scales

After eight years as an independent label, Fruits de Mer Records marks its 100th vinyl release with a double gatefold LP by The Honey Pot called Ascending Scales. And in the usual FdM...

Darkroom - We See the Same Stars Differently & The Axe Forgets but the Tree Remembers

In the past, Darkroom has produced music in a variety of forms. There have been songs featuring vocalist Tim Bowness (no surprise given that half of Darkroom is No-Man / Samuel Smiles guitarist...

Darkroom - We See the Same Stars Differently & The Axe Forgets but the Tree Remembers

In the past, Darkroom has produced music in a variety of forms. There have been songs featuring vocalist Tim Bowness (no surprise given that half of Darkroom is No-Man / Samuel Smiles guitarist...

Us & Them - Fading within the Dwindling Sun

Just in time for Christmas Sweden’s Us & Them have a new color vinyl ten inch on Fruits de Mer. And quite an ambitious one as they cover five different songs by the iconic Sandy Denny....

Bushman's Revenge - Jazz, Fritt Etter Hukommelsen & Bushman's Fire

In the world of rock guitar trios, which is quite a large one, there are many examples where the guitar holds the spotlight with flights of improvisation while the guitar and bass hold to solid...

Bushman's Revenge - Jazz, Fritt Etter Hukommelsen & Bushman's Fire

In the world of rock guitar trios, which is quite a large one, there are many examples where the guitar holds the spotlight with flights of improvisation while the guitar and bass hold to solid...

Seven Impale - Contrapasso

I’m not sure how this band got their name — perhaps it’s a joke, since there are so many death metal bands in their part of the world (Norway) with similar names. Maybe the name...

Brian Kenney Fresno - Further Adventures in Fresno

BKF’s latest epic marches onward from his previous, We’ll Always Have Fresno (2013), with a healthy dose of local humor, aggravated madness, inside jokes, and in-your-face...

Rudy Adrian - Coastlines

Hard to believe that Coastlines marks album #15 for New Zealand composer and synthesist Rudy Adrian, but it is in fact so, going back to his Sequencer Sketches and Atmospheric...

Various Artists - Fruits de Mer / Static Caravan Spilt

Having established itself in the brotherhood of independent vinyl labels, this December Fruits de Mer releases its first split single with another independent label, Static Caravan. The FdM side...

Dysehaus - Dysehaus

This CD EP by Dysehaus arrived unsolicited in my mail box the other day with only a small information insert, nothing even approaching a press release. A search on the web showed that there is a...

Esperanza Spalding - Emily's D+Evolution

With elements of classic 70s funk, flighty vocal jazz, and sheer instrumental audacity, Emily’s D+Evolution shows Esperanza Spalding coming into her own as an artist to be reckoned...

Usssy - Usssy

As the music industry has changed over the last few years, some of the functions previously performed by record labels, such as paying advances for studio time, serving singles to radio, and...

Wang Wen - Sweet Home, Go

Just like a typical post-rock track which starts simply and builds gradually to an epic climax, the band Wang Wen started with a few albums of fairly standard (but well done) instrumental music,...

Van der Graaf Generator - Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb is the 13th studio album by the legendary Van der Graaf Generator, and the third studio album since they reinvented themselves as a trio ten years ago (Peter Hammill, Hugh...

Il Rumore Bianco - Antropocene

In November 2013 this young Italian band released an EP called Mediocrazia featuring four...

Van der Graaf Generator - Do Not Disturb

When it comes to the pantheon of progressive rock pioneers, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, and Gentle Giant get the lion’s share of attention. And while their influence on future generations of...

The Allman Brothers Band - Live from A&R Studios, New York, August 26, 1971

McLatchey's Second Tier (Revised)

This is a new addition to my second tier, a live radio broadcast documenting a rare sweet spot in musical history. The Allmans had just come...

Magnet Animals - Butterfly Killer

It seems no matter how many times I listen to Butterfly Killer, it never seems to make sense as an album. The music is very scattered somehow, with elements that seem to be working at odds...

Various Artists - Plankton

In 2013 Record Collector magazine launched a new series of albums focused on labels they rated as “modern collectibles.” Righty they chose Fruits de Mer as their first release...

Kepler Ten - Time and Tide

Kepler Ten is a new melodic progressive rock band formed in 2014 after bandmates James Durand (vocals, bass, and keyboards), Steve Hales (drums and piano), and Richie Cahill (guitars) had teamed up...

Dirk Serries - Microphonics XXVI - XXX: Resolution Heart

Lovers of ambient music are well familiar with the musical output of Dirk Serries AKA vidnaObmana. Since he began experimenting with electronic music in the late 80s, Dirk has been involved in at...

Steve Roach - Live in Tucson: Pinnacle Moments

There’s nothing quite like the music of Steve Roach captured in a live setting. One may hear no audible applause, nothing else that might give away the fact that it was recorded live (in this...

Burnt Belief - Emergent

In the case of Burnt Belief, a small refinement of the sound from their previous album makes for another satisfying set of instrumental rock music. Etymology (2014) was an excellent group...

The Dreaming Tree - Silverfade

The Dreaming Tree exemplifies the personality disorder one finds in some UK bands, especially covers bands trying to create an identity of their own. Writ large this quintet is a pop-rock group...

Alchemy Sound Project - Further Explorations

Alchemy Sound Project is billed as a “composer-performer collective.” It features five principal members, each of whom is responsible for two compositions in the set, along with a...

Silver Apples - Clinging to a Dream

Who would have thought that in 1996, 26 years after their seond album, Contact, hit the cutout bins, that proto-electronic band Silver Apples would reactivate? But indeed it happened....

Human Factor - Homo Universum

This Russian band could accurately be categorized as either space rock or post rock. Their instrumental music grooves along nicely, like good space rock should, and has lots of trippy synth sounds....

The Fast Camels - Tales of the Expected

The Fast Camels is a relatively new band from Glasgow that is heavily influenced by 60s psychedelic rock. Drew Sturgeon (vocals and guitar) and Mark O’Connor (vocals and lead guitar) got...

Radio Moscow - Live! In California

Radio Moscow is a power trio of guitar, bass, and drums originally from Iowa and now hailing from San Diego. Their new album is a live set recorded over two days with no overdubs in December 2015...

Datura 4 - Hairy Mountain

Hairy Mountain is the second release from West Australian band Datura 4. Continuing on from their debut album Demon Blues, Hairy Mountain presents 10 new...

Jizue - Story

This Japanese band has yet to garner much interest outside their homeland, but are certainly deserving wider recognition. The quartet consists of Noriyuki Inoue (guitar), Kie Katagi (piano), Go...

Steve Hillage - Searching for the Spark

On October 21, 2016 Snapper / Madfish released a mammoth career spanning boxed set of Steve Hillage’s music titled Searching for the Spark. This set highlights Steve’s solo...

The Orange Drop - Stoned in Love

Forming in 2007 in the City of Brotherly Love, neo-psych band The Orange Drop has been releasing their special blend of mind altering music on Bandcamp since 2011. On November 4, 2016, Mega Dodo...

Paul Martin - It Happened

Paul Myerburg AKA Paul Martin grew up in Manhattan in the 50s and 60s, spending many of his summers in Baltimore, drawing inspiration from the Rolling Stones, Beatles, and Bob Dylan. In the mid-60s...

Leon Alvarado - The Future Left Behind

For listeners hungering for a keyboard-heavy concept album along the lines of Rick Wakeman’s early work (Journey to the Centre of the Earth or King Arthur) might find some...

Pepe Sánchez y Su Rock Band - Regresión

Pepe Sánchez is a Spanish drummer who began performing in 1959, working for record labels as a session musician and also playing non-stop with orchestras in Casablanca, Tangiers, Gibraltar,...

Chat Noir - Nine Thoughts for One Word

Not long ago I was writing about Naima, a Spanish group with a contemporary take on the classic jazz piano trio. Chat...

Thomas Brinkmann - A 1000 Keys

It takes a special kind of dedicated listener to make it all the way through an ivory tower release like A 1000 Keys. In full disclosure, A 1000 Keys is not for everyone, and if...

Deus Ex Machina - Devoto

Long-time fans of progressive rock will remember the string of outstanding releases by this Italian band. In particular, their third album, De Republica, captured the hearts of adventurous...

J. Peter Schwalm - The Beauty of Disaster

Not so long ago we covered a new release by Brian Eno collaborator Leo Abrahams, and here we have another...

Vivian Stanshall / Big Grunt - In Session

Victor Anthony Stanshall AKA Vivian Stanshall, the eccentric singer-songwriter, author, poet, and wit was best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, his exploration of the British...

Panzerpappa - Pestrottedans

Even someone who spends as much time listening to music as I do can’t listen to everything that comes out, even if you constrain the possibilities to progressive rock and jazz. So I come into...

Syd Arthur - Apricity

English quartet Syd Arthur made clear on 2014’s Sound Mirror that they were OK cutting the cord to the 70s Canterbury sound that gave them a following within the prog community...

Ben Levin - Life and Back

Ben Levin is the guitarist of Bent Knee, and with all the recent buzz about that band, it’s interesting to take a look at what he does on his own. Life and Back is his seventh...

The Absent City - Pain Free?

The Absent City is the solo effort by Ukranian bassist Alex Pustovit. Alex performs in jazz bands and has always been fond of old school progressive and psychedelic rock. Three years ago he decided...

Icarus Peel - Forget-Me-Not under Pussy Willow

Icarus Peel, the leader of the UK’s psych sensations The Honey Pot, is releasing a new solo album this October, Forget-Me-Not under Pussy Willow. This is his fourth solo album and...

Richard Pinhas / Barry Cleveland - Mu

Improvisation is an artform that many musicians attempt to create within, but very few have the knack to master to the point where anyone – other than the musicians creating it, can enjoy....

Syrinx - Tumblers from the Vault (1970-1972)

If anyone had any doubts that the late 60s and early 70s were a time of broad innovation and experimentation, this collection provides ample evidence that even outside the cultural centers of New...

Huis - Neither in Heaven

It seems that reviewing Huis is an occasion to dust off the Old Prog Geek hat and think back on things decades past. Some readers will remember the advent of what came to be called Neo-Prog...

TCP - Temporal Chaos

TCP is the acronym for Temporal Chaos Project, a progressive rock band based in Boulder, CO that formed in 2008 as a studio project. The band is Henry Tarnecky (vocals and keyboards), Blake Tobias...

Armonite - The Sun Is New Each Day

The Sun Is New Each Day starts with a double-bass drum blast and the first thought is, “Oh no, another prog metal clone!” But the next thing you hear is a violin backed by...

Buck Curran - Immortal Light

With the cover art hinting at an occluded blue star deep in space, I was expecting cosmic or space rock music. Instead guitarist-singer-songwriter Buck Curran presents eight moody and introspective...

Vespero - Lique Mekwas

Vespero has been plying the spaceways for about ten years now, though we here at Exposé have only encountered them through a few appearances on Fruits de Mer collections and...

Holon - The Time Is Always Now

Over ten years in writing and four years recording, Holon is the recording project of singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Ronny Pedersen, and The Time Is Always Now is the first...

Barış Manço / Kurtalan Ekspres - Sözüm Meclisten Dışarı

Back 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...

DeeperNET - The Network

DeeperNET is the recording project of one Andrew Miles, Portland, Oregon based electronic musician, and The Network is his third release on Spotted Peccary. The eight tracks here follow a path...

Onségen Ensemble - Awalaï

Onségen Ensemble is a Finnish band with roots in jazz, stoner rock, progressive rock, and black metal. After playing for about 10 years and releasing two EPs, they have released...

Steve Roach - Shadow of Time

Shadow of Time takes Steve Roach’s sound full circle to the mid-80s introspective atmospheric period highlighted by his Quiet Music series and Structures from...

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani - FRKWYS Vol. 13 - Sunergy

I’ll admit to not having heard much of Suzanne Ciani’s recorded work. Lixiviation is a fascinating glimpse into 70s electronic music, but I’ve not delved into her...

Naima - Bye

The piano trio is one of the most standard of jazz groups, and in recent years there have been some notable examples of bringing the configuration out of the era of classic jazz into modern times....

Csillagköd - All the Time

This is the follow-up to Csillagköd’s 2014 Spotted Peccary debut release Silent World, and finds him continuing his exploration of space. The core of his sound finds an...

Erik Wøllo & Byron Metcalf - Earth Luminous

Erik Wøllo is has had a long career that started out as a jazz guitarist and over time has come to favor electronics, using effected guitar, guitar synthesizer and keyboard synths and...

Barton Rage / Toshinori Kondo - Realm II - Parallax

With his second Realm offering, electronic artist Barton Rage teams up with trumpet player Toshinori Kondo, and the result is perhaps even better than Realm I, which featured Bill...

Various Artists - Songs from the Black Meadow

The Yorkshire moors have long been a land of mystery and imagination. The Black Meadow sits atop these moors where strange things have happened over the years. Professor Roger Mullins of the...

Gong - Rejoice! I'm Dead!

With the passing of the Pot Head Pixie Daevid Allen in March 2015, it at first seemed doubtful that Gong would continue. But as the Gong family constantly fractured, reformed, and assumed new...

Yurt - III - Moluskkepokk

Yurt is an Irish rock band that specializes in dark textures, mostly instrumental, with lengthy tracks of crushing riffs just slightly too clean to qualify as sludge. When singing is present, the...

Sidewalk Society - The Action / Bowie

California’s Sidewalk Society returned this August to the Fruits de Mer roster with four cover tunes, two by The Action and two by David Bowie. FdM is noted for resurrecting obscure bands and...

Curved Air - Tapestry of Propositions

“Propositions” was a track on Curved Air’s debut album, at 3:09 a normal-length song, an energetic blast of early progressive rock that features a vocal section at the start, then...

Arjen Anthony Lucassen - Strange Hobby

“Arnold Layne had a strange hobby…” This 20-year-old artifact of 60s covers will surely hit the spot for anyone who grew up in the years from 1966-1970, taking a sampling of...

Mamma Non Piangere - N.3

Near the top of the list of things you thought would never happen: a Mamma non Piangere (“Mama Don’t Cry”) reunion, after some 35 years. The band’s two LPs from the late 70s...

Crystalaugur - Terranaut

Crystalaugur’s Terranaut has been one of those rarities from the 70s that has collectors drooling whenever a copy surfaces. This private pressing of 200 copies has been bootlegged...

Various Artists - Ende vom Lied: East German Underground Sound 1979-1990

In the aftermath of 70s progressive music and the primal scream that was punk, many artists tried other avenues of expression through blending of music with poetry or painting. In the West we had...

Ghost Medicine - Discontinuance

Uranium Club is a brand new label for releasing rock, progressive, and electronica. Their first release is Ghost Medicine’s debut album Discontinuance. Ghost Medicine is essentially...

Daniel Higgs - The Fools Sermon, Part 1

Let me first say that I thought stream of consciousness word-jazz poetry went out of fashion decades ago with poets like William S. Burroughs and Ken Nordine. I guess I am being naive, because...

Cal Rock & Roll - Homegrown

Cal aka Cal Rock & Roll was a mid-70s band from New York formed by some veterans of the club scene: Larry Calabrese (guitar and vocals), Andy Barone (bass), Jerry Joy (drums and vocals), and...

Necro Deathmort - The Capsule

For those of you who do not know, Necro Deathmort is the English synth duo of Matthew Roziek and AJ Cookson, and their goal “to make electronic music that was as heavy as doom metal, wth...

Tyll - Sexphonie

Tyll was a German band formed in the early 70s when Kerston Records approached Det Fonfara about releasing a Krautrock album. Fonfara and former bandmate and ex-Eulenspygel drummer Günter...

The Bongolian - Moog Maximus

Reviewing for Exposé sometimes brings odd music my way. The latest is Moog Maximus by The Bongolian aka The Big Boss aka Nasser Bouzida. Moog Maximus is his fifth...

An Danzza - Whispers of the Forest

Andrés Campuzano has been developing his An Danzza project for quite a few years now — the first album, Last Autumn Tears, dates from 2010, and there have been three other...

Simon Scott - FloodLines

The promo material describes Simon Scott as a UK sound ecologist. Sound ecology appears to be an academic discipline for studying the effects of sound (natural and manmade) on the environment. In...

Astralasia - Cheesy

Astralasia has just released a new CDEP with five tracks of fun and uplifting music. Some of the tracks are brand new and others not so new. All five are to varying degrees cheesy, hence the name....

Focus and Friends - Focus 8.5 / Beyond the Horizon

It was in August 1997 that we learned about the reunion of Focus, with original members Thijs van Leer and Hans Cleuver, and bassist Bert Ruiter who played with them from Focus 3 onward,...

Gadi Caplan - Morning Sun

The last time I heard a release by this Israeli born Brooklyn NY based composer and multi-instrumentalist was his excellent 2011 release Opposite Views. Why it was never reviewed in these...

Darryl Way - Myths, Legends and Tales

Most will know Darryl Way as the violinist and one of the founding members of Curved Air, who was with the band on their first three groundbreaking albums, and then intermittently after that while...

Claire M. Singer - Solas

After exploring acoustic and electronic composition for 14 years, UK composer and Music Director of the Union Chapel in London, Claire M Singer presents her debut album Solas....

The Insekt Life Cycle - Schizodelia

For the first 80 Fruits de Mer fans who purchased the May 2016 singles, FdM threw in a CDEP by The Insektlife Cycle from the Philippines. The CDEP Schizoldelia contains two versions of...

Byl Zamechen... - Stalo Yeshcho Tol'ko Khuzhe (It Got Even Worse)

The warning label on the package says “lo-fi noise” and “stoner” — I swear somewhere there was a sticker that said “sludge” or something like that....

The Fruits de Mer Records Guide to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

I was never an Eagles fan. They were too mainstream for my tastes. So I had no idea that the BBC used their one excursion into space rock, “Journey of the Sorcerer,” as the theme music...

Vibravoid - In-a-Gadda-da-Vida

It is always risky to cover an iconic song, as it invariably draws comparisons to the original. Not one to shy away from iconic psychedelic treasures, Vibravoid’s Christian Koch has...

Various Artists - Space Echo: The Mystery behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Finally Revealed

Cabo Verde aka Cape Verde is an archipelago of 10 volcanic islands 350 miles off the coast of West Africa. It was uninhabited until Portuguese explorers discovered and colonized it in the 15th...

Camera - Phantom of Liberty

Camera’s latest album, Phantom of Liberty, is due to hit August 5. This is another great release by this new band, further establishing them as the musical heirs of...

Red Square - Rare and Lost 70s Recordings

1974 saw the birth of the UK avant-rock band Red Square. Consisting of Ian Staples (guitar), Jon Seagroatt (sax and bass clarinet), and Roger Telford (free-jazz drummer), Red Square shared the...

Nosretep - Nosretep (Limited Edition)

After seeing Nosretep play live several times and talking with them, they have come to exemplify the kind of musicians who play music for the love of it. The “business” side of the...

Kim Seviour - Fantasise to Realise

Kim Seviour, Touchstone’s former lead vocalist, recently signed to White Star Records to pursue her solo career and release her debut album later this year. Along the way Kim recorded a...

Alex Carpani - So Close. So Far.

We managed to miss out on Carpani’s previous release, 4 Destinies from 2014, but I’m happy to report that 2016’s So Close. So Far. is a stellar example of modern...

The Luck of Eden Hall - The End of the Lane

The End of the Lane is The Luck of Eden Hall’s new vinyl single on Mega Dodo Records due for release on August 15, 2016. Side A is the title track inspired, by Neil Gaiman’s...

Sailor Free - Spiritual Revolution, Part 2

I haven’t heard anything by this Italian band since their second album The Fifth Door in 1994; that’s like 22 years ago, but it seems the band was on a long hiatus until 2010...

Empirical - Connection

The vibraphone is an instrument with a distinctive sound that seems to conjure up certain moods. It’s generally bright and happy, even when playing the blues, though at times can lean a...

MacArthur - MacArthur (AKA The Black Forest)

I find it very interesting that obscure musical gems continue to surface and be reissued. Case in point is the US garage-prog-psych band MacArthur, who recorded and released an ultra-rare privately...

Octopus Syng - Hollow Ghost / Rochelle Salt

Just like their previous release Reverberating Garden Number 7, the title of their new release Hollow Ghost / Rochelle Salt is equally obscure, but not the music. The eleven songs...

Sophe Lux & the Mystic - All Are One

Gwynneth Haynes, songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, and de-facto leader of the Portland, Oregon area band Sophe Lux (with a handful of releases to their credit) has turned a new page...

Zhongyu - Zhongyu Is Chinese for Finally

Zhongyu is the musical project of Exposé’s own Jon Davis (noted reviewer and our web master). About ten years ago Jon spent three years living and working in Beijing, China...

Greg Segal - Energies Coarse and Fine & Birds

The master of surprise has a couple more releases for this year, both falling more or less in the experimental electronics realm. For the most part these certainly aren’t your typical...

Greg Segal - Energies Coarse and Fine & Birds

The master of surprise has a couple more releases for this year, both falling more or less in the experimental electronics realm. For the most part these certainly aren’t your typical...

Various Artists - Fashion: Songs Written by David Bowie

This year’s Fruits de Mer Club’s member freebie is a set of David Bowie cover songs. Conceived and recorded months prior to Bowie’s untimely death this past January,...

Jaggery - Crux

We last encountered Jaggery on their 2015 live album, where they presented superb versions of highlights of their studio albums plus a few new tunes. Those new tunes find a home on their latest...

Lost Kite - Remains

Lost Kite is a father-son duo featuring Stefan Carlsson, who was a member of the awesome Kultivator, but if you expect a similar Canterbury-influenced RIO mashup, you’d be disappointed...

Dennis Rea Tanabata Ensemble - Black River Transect

Black River Transect puts me in the awkward position as a reviewer of writing about music created by good friends. So take my words in that light, and I’ll try to describe it in...

Trappist Afterland - God's Good Earth

One of the many joys with reviewing music for Exposé is being exposed to excellent new artists and music. Case in point is the Australian band Trappist Afterland. Hailing from...

Mira, un Lobo! - Heart Beats Slow

Mira, un Lobo! is the musical project of Portuguese artist Luis F. de Sousa as a means of dealing with unemployment, crises, and depression. Mira, un Lobo! allowed him to drift away from his...

Steve Roach / Robert Logan - Biosonic & Second Nature

Long-time floating ambient innovator Steve Roach, the man who nearly single-handedly created this genre, branching out of the electronic music tree now pairs up with British innovator Robert Logan,...

Steve Roach / Robert Logan - Biosonic & Second Nature

Long-time floating ambient innovator Steve Roach, the man who nearly single-handedly created this genre, branching out of the electronic music tree now pairs up with British innovator Robert Logan,...

The Neighbourhood Strange - The Neighbourhood Strange / Wytches Sky

The Neighbourhood Strange is a young new garage-psych rock band that formed not too far from Stonehenge in 2015. Their self-titled debut single comes in two formats, heavy vinyl 7-inch and CD. The...

Peter Baumann - Machines of Desire

Tangerine Dream fans will be ecstatic! Peter Baumann, Tangerine Dream member from 1971-77 has just released his first solo album in 20 years! After leaving the band in 1977, he embarked on a solo...

Savoldelli / Casarano / Bardoscia - The Great Jazz Gig in the Sky

If you’re looking for a stroll down memory lane with this re-interpretation of Pink Floyd’s classic Dark Side of the Moon, you won’t find it here. This is a radical...

Anderson / Stolt - Invention of Knowledge

Suddenly Jon Anderson is bursting with activity (Chris Squire’s passing could have had something to do with it). One of the first projects out of the gate is this collaboration with...

Papernut Cambridge - Love the Things Your Lover Loves

Papernut Cambridge’s fourth album has arrived. Unlike 2015’s Nutlets 1967-80, Love the Things Your Lover Loves is a set of whimsical original songs The twelve songs...

Boolean Knife - Astrid and the Killer Penguin

I haven’t seen them use the term “psychedelic” to describe their music, but Chicago’s Boolean Knife certainly have qualities in common with modern psych bands, most notably...

Sendelica - The Cromlech Chronicles

This year Welsh spacerockers Sendelica turn 10 years old.* And The Cromlech Chronicles is their present to us. Prior to last year’s 13th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus festival, Sendelica...

Zhaoze - Intoxicatingly Lost

With Intoxicatingly Lost, Trail Records gives Guangzhou’s Zhaoze their most prominent international release to date. This collection contains four tracks from 2015’s...

Alex's Hand - Goblinsz...?

With Goblinsz…?1! Seattle’s expatriate musical misfits (now resident in Berlin) present an improvisational collaboration with Hungarian guitarist Ádám...

Dan Pound - Shadows of the Heart

In mid March Dan Pound’s latest album Shadows of the Heart arrived in my mail box. Based on his previous work I was looking forward to this new album with seven electronic...

Hijokaidan x Jun Togawa - Togawa Kaidan

I’m probably not alone in regarding the prospect of a Hijokaidan album with some trepidation. As one of the longest running producers of avant-noise rock, they have an extensive catalog of...

GEPH - GEPH

It’s probably inevitable that a band including two tapping instruments (in this case both Chapman Sticks) and a drummer is going to elicit comparisons with Stick Men, and by extension, King...

Simulakrum Lab - Simulakrum Lab

Simulakram Lab is the electronic duo of Paolo Prevosto (composer and sound designer) in collaboration with Eugène (voice and sound engineering). On their debut album guests Liz Enthusiasm of...

Circles - Circles & More Circles

Circles was the obscure German electronic trio of Dierk Litert (synths, sequencers, drums, bass, guitar, voice, saxophone, and flute), Mike Bormann (guitars, bass, and synths), and Busch Buchweitz...

Circles - Circles & More Circles

Circles was the obscure German electronic trio of Dierk Litert (synths, sequencers, drums, bass, guitar, voice, saxophone, and flute), Mike Bormann (guitars, bass, and synths), and Busch Buchweitz...

Larry Young - In Paris - The ORTF Recordings

As with the previously reviewed Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra release, All...

Thierry Zaboitzeff - Multiple Distortions

Subtitled “Archives 2005-2016,” one might get the idea from that subtitle that this is a bunch of leftovers from the last ten years or so, but that’s certainly not the case...

Roswell Rudd / Jamie Saft / Trevor Dunn / Balázs Pándi - Strength & Power

Look at the list of names on the front cover. Roswell Rudd has been one of the most prominent trombonists in avant jazz since the 60s, having worked extensively with Archie Shepp and many others;...

Tír na nÓg - Live at the Half Moon

June 6, 2016 sees the release of Tír na nÓg’s live performance from last fall, Live at the Half Moon. This acid folk duo were active in the early 70s and then on hiatus...

Herd of Instinct - Manifestation

Three times is the charm, or so it seems for Herd of Instinct’s third full length album, which is nothing short of a Stick player’s instrumental dream with dual keyboards adding a new...

Tommy and the Rockets - Beer and Fun and Rock 'n' Roll

This collecton of ten songs is just like you probably imagine it from the title. The spirit of endless youth collides with a 60s perpetual summer vacation, songs that are to-the-point and loaded...

Krakauer's Ancestral Groove - Checkpoint

In the last couple decades, a lot of bands have mixed klezmer sounds into rock — I don’t know who the first was, but there have been quite a lot — and in jazz there’s a long...

Todd Grubbs - As the Worm Turns

Listening to an album like As the Worm Turns brings to mind a lot of different thoughts. Here’s a Florida guitarist I’ve never heard of putting out an album featuring guest...

July - Can I Go Back Again

July released their self-titled psychedelic masterpiece in 1968 and then disappeared for decades. Due to the reissue of their album and a second one of demos etc. July recorded and released a...

Goblin Rebirth - Alive

The different incarnations of Goblin are about as varied as the Gong family tree. The current band, Goblin Rebirth, contains two members from the mid-70s, Fabio Pignatelli (bass) and Agostina...

John Gregorius - Still Voice

Gregorius’ second Spotted Peccary release captures the essence of stillness, beauty, and tranquility, often brimming with solitude and introspection, in ten highly melodic guitar based...

Greg Segal - Moving

This collection of ideas put to sound is an instrumental concept album about moving, woth titles like “Don’t You Feel at Home?” and “Too Many Addresses.” In the liner...

Ni-Hao! - No Respect

I often find recordings of the “lo-fi” esthetic very frustrating. Bad quality sound in a live situation is something that often can’t be avoided, and is mitigated by the positives...

Ampledeed - BYOB

If I had to pick a short phrase to sum up Ampledeed’s second album, it would be “meticulously complex.” It’s been nearly three years since I first heard this band, and it...

Ded Ringer - Ded End

If the album title and cover isn’t a strong enough hint, maybe the closing track “So Long” is. One would be safe to assume that this is Ded Ringer’s swansong, after eight...

Beledo - Dreamland Mechanism

From reading the credits, Uruguayan guitarist Beledo’s Dreamland Mechanism may seem like a bit of a grab-bag, with differing personnel from track to track, including some with Beledo...

The Galileo 7 - Cruel Bird / Nowhere People

One year after their previous single One Lie at a Time / The God of Gaps, The Galileo 7 are back with two new blistering garage-psych-pop songs. Bassist Mole is bashing away on his drum...

Steve Roach - Emotions Revealed

This latest entry in Roach’s catalog is an archival release of two long (and long lost) recently rediscovered pieces recorded in 1983 during his formative period (around the time of...

Crystal Jacqueline - Morning Dew

On Friday I received the promos for the FdM May releases. Normally I treat my review queue as First In / First Out, but being a fan of Crystal Jacqueline, I just had to listen to her new EP...

All India Radio - The Slow Light

All India Radio is essentially the efforts of Australian musician Martin Kennedy accompanied by an assortment of guest musicians and collaborators. All India Radio has been releasing music since...

Postures - Hallucinda

It’s often been said that progressive rock was a development from the psychedelic rock of the late 60s, but it’s safe to say that much 70s progressive rock had very little of the psych...

Octopus Syng - Reverberating Garden No. 7 / Flaming

Two years ago the Finnish group Octopus Syng released an outstanding album Reverberating Garden No. 7, but the eleven songs on the album did not include the title track. Now Octopus Syng...

Thee Jezebels - Mover and a Groover

One year after their debut single Thee Jezebels return with four new blistering and high-spirited songs. Side A kicks out the jams with the opener “Mover and a Groover.” This is a...

Odin's Court - Deathanity (R3)

When this CD arrived in my mailbox, I had never heard of the band. They’re a Maryland group described as “progressive metal,” so I set my expectations accordingly (which means...

The Luck of Eden Hall - The Acceleration of Time

Chicago’s The Luck of Eden Hall have been playing and recording their special brand of psychedelia for almost 30 years now. They have a respectable discography of nearly 30 releases,...

Gravitsapa - Radio Free Vulgata

This release on Tenzenmen collects together this Ukrainian band’s two Bandcamp EPs from 2013, Radio Free Taxipod (tracks 1 - 4) and Vulgata (5 - 9). Within a few seconds of...

Phall Fatale - Moonlit Bang Bang

In the category of groups with unusual instrumentation, Phall Fatale deserves special mention. There’s a drummer (Fredy Studer), two singers who contribute keyboards and electronics (Joana...

Naked Truth - Avian Thug

This is the third Naked Truth release, and the first I’ve heard. The quartet features what might be considered a standard jazz configuration of keyboards, bass, and drums with a trumpet as...

Vasil Hadžimanov Band Featuring David Binney - Alive

Serbian keyboardist Vasil Hadžimanov and his band have been a going concern since the mid-90s, releaseing a total of six albums since 2001’s Razlooga Za…,and although...

Craig Padilla - Heaven Condensed

Padilla’s latest Spotted Peccary release, Heaven Condensed, his 40th release (both solo and in collaboration) in 20 years, is a swirling cauldron of synths – analog and...

Renaissance - Live at the Union Chapel

Of the bands that combined rock with classical music starting in the late 60s and early 70s, some went the keyboard-heavy route with Mellotrons and the like to add the required grandeur, but others...

Sendelica - Ziggy Stardust

Sendelica provided a live version of “Ziggy Stardust” on the Fruits de Mer 2016 Annual

Jenny Maybee / Nick Phillips - Haiku

I’ll admit to a preference for energetic music, so this collection of tunes by singer / pianist Jenny Maybee and trumpeter Nick Phillips, joined by acoustic bassist Paul Eastburn but without...

Claudio Cataldi - Here She Comes EP

The April 2016 batch of Fruits de Mer singles contains a release by a new FdM artist Claudio Cataladi from Palermo in Sicily. Claudio is a singer-songwriter who combines acoustic guitar and...

Proud Peasant - Cosmic Sound

Back when I interviewed Proud Peasant’s frontman Xander Rapstine in July 2014, he mentioned his love for Krautrock, especially Eloy, and also Manfred Mann’s Earthband. During the...

Ennio Morricone - Paura - A Collection of Scary and Thrilling Soundtracks

For almost 60 years Ennio Morricone has been composing memorable movie soundtracks, perhaps best known for The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. He also has his dark and experimental side,...

Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra - All My Yesterdays

After spending the last few months diving into some classic Duke Ellington and Count Basie recordings, I was excited hearing about this new release from one of the best-known of a later generation...

Papernut Cambridge - Love the Things Your Lover Loves (AKA Valentines Day EP)

In advance of their next album release in May 2016, Love the Things Your Lover Loves, Papernut Cambridge released an EP of three songs in February as a Valentine special. The EP features a...

Simon McKechnie - From My Head to My Feet

I’m sure everyone who read my review of Simon McKechnie’s previous album,...

Uther Pendragon - San Francisco Earthquake

San Francisco in the mid-60s was an incubator for a lot bands. In 1966 a group of teenagers got together and formed a garage band that lasted from 1966 to 1978. Over that 12-year period the band...

The Ed Palermo Big Band - One Child Left Behind

This review could easily become an essay on Frank Zappa’s compositional ideas, since nine of the sixteen cuts here are adaptations of his work, and Ed Palermo’s originals tend to follow...

Forrest Fang - The Sleepwalker's Ocean

Seems like just yesterday I was listening to, and writing a review of, Forrest Fang’s previous release, Letters from the Farthest Star. Not complaining at all, I enjoy his music and...

Ampledeed - BYOB

Three years ago Ampledeed released their debut album, A Is for Ampledeed. 2016 sees the release of their sophomore effort BYOB – so I assume that their next release will be...

Le Super Homard - Maple Key

In 2006 Christophe Vaillant formed the 60s beat music group Pony Taylor in Avignon, France. Then in November 2014 he began work on a solo album by singing all parts and playing all instruments....

Anna Homler / Steve Moshier - Breadwoman and Other Tales

In the early 80s, performance artist Anna Homler crossed paths with avant-garde composer Steve Moshier, and this collaboration was the result. Moshier took recordings of Homler’s wordless...

Endless Tapes - Brilliant Waves

Endless Tapes is a collaboration between Porcupine Tree’s bassist Colin Edwin and drummer / multi-instrumentalist Alessandro "Petrol" Pedretti. Two years ago Colin and Petrol sat...

The Honey Pot - Inside the Whale

Reviewing music is a blessing. I am exposed to various genres and bands. And every once in a while I am blown away when I hear a brand new release. On February 26, 2016 Mega Dodo unleashes on the...

The Honey Pot - Lisa Dreams

Two years ago Brit neo-psych band The Honey Pot felt trapped. They had been playing festivals, making records, receiving airplay, and gaining an international following via Fruits de Mer. They were...

The Chemistry Set - The Endless More and More

After releasing their Elapsed Memories EP on Fruits de Mer in Feb 2015, The Chemistry Set returned to the studio to complete the recording for their next album, The Endless More and...

Slapp Happy - Acnalbasac Noom