Exposé Online » Reviews of releases for 2017

Gaudi - Magnetic

Readers might remember Gaudi’s previous release, a single containing music assembled from recordings spanning the RareNoise label catalog. With Magnetic, Gaudi presents an entire...

Adam Rudolph - Morphic Resonances

With Morphic Resonances, percussionist Adam Rudolph presents a collection of music composed for various small ensembles, none of which fits in with what might be thought of as his primary...

Steven Wilson - To the Bone

British musician Steven Wilson’s stated desire with this album was to pay homage to the intelligent and artful pop music of the 80s (Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, XTC, etc.). Those influences can...

Kalin Tonev - Machine Years

Bulgarian musician Калин Тонев (Kalin Tonev) has been involved in prog rock since 2008, starting as the leader of TravelHouse. He has been working on his solo album Machine Years...

The Dalton Correction - Beware of Yarara

There is not a whole lot of information about this power quartet from Buenos Aires, but Beware of Yarara could be their debut album, and a killer one at that! Like the Ramones, everyone in...

Forest Bees - Forest Bees

Forest Bees is the solo effort of Indian American indie rocker Sheetal Singh, who was a member of The Stratford 4 ten to fifteen years ago. After the band broke up, Sheetal went to...

Gus McKay - Talisman

Never mind that this is a 2017 release, it was just sent to me for review in 2020, it remains McKay’s latest release (and probably will for some time, given his slow release schedule), and...

Gato Libre - Neko

The opening, requiem-like cut “Tama” that starts out the disc with a blast of warmth and beauty seems very appropriate given all the tragedies that have hit this ensemble in recent...

Satoko Fujii / Natsuki Tamura - Kisaragi

Satoko Fujii (piano) and Natsuki Tamura (trumpet) have made several albums as a duo before, but nothing quite like this one. The two are no strangers to free improvisation either, as their primary...

Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York - Fukushima

For her musical meditation on the events that happened in the Fukushima area of Japan in 2011 — the Tōhoku earthquake, subsequent tsunami, and most prominently the nuclear accident at the...

The Spacelords - Water Planet

Tell you what — if I got an album by a band called The Spacelords and it wasn’t at least a bit like Hawkwind, I’d be kinda disappointed. Water Planet gives us three long...

4S'd - Man or Muffin

In the aftermath of The Muffins’ demise as a band, this group stands as a clear successor, with this album growing out of tunes that were originally planned for The Muffins as far back as...

Erik Wøllo - Different Spaces

Norwegian composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Erik Wøllo has close to forty releases out on his own or in collaboration with others, going all the way back to the early 80s. His...

Erik Wøllo - Cinematic

It’s pretty common to describe music as “cinematic” when it has a certain feeling to it, a kind of wide palette that somehow gives the impression that it would work well as the...

The Yardbirds - Yardbirds '68

Few other bands from the 60s have a legacy quite like the Yardbirds, maybe the Rolling Stones and Beatles and a few others, but in those heady four years from their early recordings in 1964 to...

Dave Kerzner - Static

I didn’t know what to expect when I first popped this CD into my player. Dave Kerzner's bio lists work with Keith Emerson, Steve Hackett, Steven Wilson, Alan Parsons, Ringo Starr, and...

Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition - Agrima

I’m going to spare you the comparisons to other jazz sax players and just flat-out say that Rudresh Mahanthappa is one of the best players today in terms of creativity and having a...

Rez Abbasi - Unfiltered Universe

When I last (and first) encountered Rez Abbasi was on Behind the Vibration last year. That release featured the guitarist as leader of a group called Junction. He’s also recorded...

Knekklectric, Trojka, Suburban Savages & Junk Machine

Seems like lately more than half of the new music that comes my way is from Norway. If any of it sucked, it would be easy enough to ignore, but between record labels like Karisma and Apollon and a...

Knekklectric, Trojka, Suburban Savages & Junk Machine

Seems like lately more than half of the new music that comes my way is from Norway. If any of it sucked, it would be easy enough to ignore, but between record labels like Karisma and Apollon and a...

Knekklectric, Trojka, Suburban Savages & Junk Machine

Seems like lately more than half of the new music that comes my way is from Norway. If any of it sucked, it would be easy enough to ignore, but between record labels like Karisma and Apollon and a...

Knekklectric, Trojka, Suburban Savages & Junk Machine

Seems like lately more than half of the new music that comes my way is from Norway. If any of it sucked, it would be easy enough to ignore, but between record labels like Karisma and Apollon and a...

Tatvamasi - Amor Fati

I reviewed this Polish band’s album Parts of the Entirely back in 2014, and saying I liked it a lot would be an understatement. Since then, they’ve released four albums, of...

Various Artists - Music of the Piano Mill 2017, 2018 and 2019

Harrigans Lane Collective in Willsons Downfall, Australia, is the home of the Piano Mill, a center for explorative interdisciplinary projects in rural Australia with a focus on architecture, music,...

Uriah Heep - Raging through the Silence: The 20th Anniversary Concert

By 1989, 20 years on from their founding, Uriah Heep had been through a lot of ups and downs, with only guitarist Mick Box remaining from the original lineup (although drummer Lee Kerslake had been...

Alex's Hand - KaTaTaK

Many years ago, I figured out that one quality of some music that really appeals to me is that it seems to either exist in a world of its own or create a world of its own, aside from the standards...

Charles Brown - Explorer of Life

Guitarist and composer Charles Brown is one of Colorado’s best kept secrets — though he has a half dozen previous recordings to his credit, this is his first time on my radar....

Moby Grape - 20 Granite Creek

Moby Grape was perhaps the most talented collective of all the late 60s San Francisco bands, as one listen to their self-titled 1967 debut or their second (Wow from 1968) will certainly...

Cary Heuchert - Blue Rain

Heuchert is a western Canadian (Vancouver, BC) based singer-songwriter and multi-instumentalist, originally from Saskatoon in Canada’s midwest. Blue Rain, his second full length...

Philipp Gerschlauer / David Fiuczynski - Mikrojazz! - Neue Expressionistische Musik

Last year saw the release of David Fiuczynski’s second album of microtonal jazz with global influences and collaborators. Flam! Blam! Pan-Asian MicroJam! was both a fascinating...

Focus - The Focus Family Album

Focus had a solid string of great releases in the early 70s; any of the albums from In and Out of Focus up through 1974’s Hamburger Concerto is nothing short of a stone...

Cast - Power and Outcome

Seems like it’s been a while since the last release by this outstanding Mexican symphonic prog band, but after further investigation, apparently a couple releases came out in the last few...

Various Artists - Frets of Yore

This is an old one, from 2017, and it’s very likely that the original CDRs with artwork inserts are no longer available anywhere now, but downloads from the Spectropol Bandcamp site are still...

Professor Tip Top - Life Is No Matter

This band from Bergen has been together since 2011, and Life Is No Matter, their fourth album, is the first I’ve heard of them. Their music is a highly melodic take on Camel’s...

Shawn Persinger Is Prester John - Halloween Baptizm

Here’s a gem from a couple years ago that managed to slip through the cracks. Shawn Persinger’s name is well known in certain circles involving progressive rock, going back to his days...

The Thin Cherries - The Thin Cherries

The Thin Cherries is a Chicago band with something of a split personality. The core of the group consists of two songwriters: Mark Lofgren, who is also involved with

Weserbergland - Sehr Kosmische - Ganz Progisch

When you think of White Willow, you think of symphonic progressive rock, so the prospect of a project led by that...

Suld - City Rider & Memory of Nomadism

It might just be my particular circle of music fans, but I’ve noticed a lot of interest in the last few years about Central Asian traditional music fused with rock. This blend isn’t new...

Nick Prol and the Proletarians - Loon Attic

How often does it happen that something wonderful comes unexpectedly out of left field and really amazes you? Probably not often enough. When I started hearing about Nick Prol on Facebook, I had no...

Causa Sui - Vibraciones Doradas

Every time a new album comes out by this Danish instrumental rock powerhouse I expect to be blown away by it, and I always am. Somehow I missed reviewing 2016’s Return to Sky, which...

Nik Turner - Life in Space

After a diversion into jazz fusion on 2015’s Space Fusion Odyssey, Nik Turner is...

Citizen K - Second Thoughts

Under normal circumstances we would review an artist’s releases in the order they came out, but a few months ago I received a promo of Citizen K’s third album, simply titled...

Hats off Gentlemen It's Adequate - Broken but Still Standing

Hats off Gentlemen It’s Adequate is the musical effort of Malcolm Galloway and colleagues wife Kathryn Thomas (flute), Mark Gatland (bass), Rudy Burrell (drums), and Ibon Bilboa (guitar). On...

Hats off Gentlemen It's Adequate - Broken but Still Standing

With Broken but Still Standing, Hats off Gentlemen It’s Adequate once again proves to be a more than adequate band. Following in the path set by the previous album, Malcolm Galloway...

Jeff 'Siege' Siegel Quartet - King of Xhosa

Drummer Jeff Siegel most likely came to the attention of many listeners due to his work with the Levin Brothers, Tony and Pete, but he’s had a notable career of his own, both as a leader and...

The Green Pajamas - Supernatural Afternoon

Supernatural Afternoon is a brand new album on purple vinyl from Seattle’s Green Pajamas. The album is a collection of pop-psych love ballads and protest songs. The opening song,...

Tim Burness - Whose Dream Are You Living?

I was not sure what to expect from Whose Dream Are You Living? when I saw the minimal cover with a white background and a clip art question mark. I was afraid that this was going to be an...

Pekka Tegelman - Pekka Tegelman & Quartegel

Guitarist Pekka Tegelman was one of the founding members of the 70s Finnish jazz-rock band Finnforest; after three albums, they split and Tegelman spent most of the next thirty years being an...

Fraqx - Fraqx

The guitar duo of Frank Crijns (Blast, Blast6tet) and Jacques Palinckx ! (Palinckx, Insect and Western Party, and others) combine their best experimental efforts here as Fraqx. The seven tracks...

Led Bib - Umbrella Weather

Many of our readers should already be acquainted with Led Bib. The People in Your...

O.R.k. - Soul of an Octopus

The first O.R.k. album was a pleasant surprise, presenting an imaginative take on the confluence of heavy rock with atmospheric production and strong vocals. Soul of an Octopus gives us...

Jü - Summa

After the glorious noise that comprised most of Jü’s collaboration with saxophonist Kjetil Møster, I was expecting something similar from Summa. What I got was something...

Cuong Vu 4-tet - Ballet - The Music of Michael Gibbs

The last Cuong Vu release I heard was from his band Indigo Mist, which is heavily electronic. The 4-tet features Ted Poor (drums) and Luke Bergman (bass), who are also in Indigo Mist, but this is a...

Mumpbeak - Tooth

In progressive rock, the quintessential keyboard trio is obviously Emerson, Lake & Palmer. In that group,...

Jamie Saft / Steve Swallow / Bobby Previte with Iggy Pop - Loneliness Road

Among Jamie Saft’s intermittent projects is this trio with Steve Swallow and Bobby Previte. This is a classic jazz piano trio, where Saft eschews any other keyboard instruments, leaving...

Zeelley Moon - Zeelley Moon

Patrick Molesworth is the composer, arranger, keyboardist and singer behind the band named Zeelley Moon, and this is the band’s debut album, released in the UK in 2017, and released in the...

Roland Bühlmann - Bailenas

Roland Bühlmann’s second album is very much in the same vein as his 2014 release, Aineo....

Magic Pie - Motions of Desire, Circus of Life & The Suffering Joy

Following on Karisma’s release of King for a Day in 2015, the label has gone to Magic Pie’s back catalog and re-released the first three albums. In 2005 they put out...

Magic Pie - Motions of Desire, Circus of Life & The Suffering Joy

Following on Karisma’s release of King for a Day in 2015, the label has gone to Magic Pie’s back catalog and re-released the first three albums. In 2005 they put out...

Magic Pie - Motions of Desire, Circus of Life & The Suffering Joy

Following on Karisma’s release of King for a Day in 2015, the label has gone to Magic Pie’s back catalog and re-released the first three albums. In 2005 they put out...

Ape Shifter - Ape Shifter

Jeff Aug is the guitar hotshot in this three piece German instrumental hard-rock / psych / metal outfit. Somewhere I had heard the name before, and indeed after a little research I discovered I am...

Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures - Glare of the Tiger

The title track of Glare of the Tiger starts off this album with more than 13 minutes of pure funky electrojazz bliss, complete with distorted Rhodes, cosmic organ, grooving percussion,...

Wadada Leo Smith - Najwa & Solo: Reflections and Meditations on Monk

These two recent releases by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith present very different sides to this many-faceted artist. Najwa is a group outing with eight musicians; Solo is, as the...

Wadada Leo Smith - Najwa & Solo: Reflections and Meditations on Monk

These two recent releases by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith present very different sides to this many-faceted artist. Najwa is a group outing with eight musicians; Solo is, as the...

Mostly Other People Do the Killing - Paint

Seems like it was only a few of months ago that I was writing about Loafer’s Hollow… oh, it was. That album presented Mostly Other People Do the Killing as a...

Mostly Other People Do the Killing - Loafer's Hollow

It’s been more than ten years since bassist Matthew “Moppa” Elliott formed Mostly Other People Do the Killing as a four-piece with drums, trumpet, and sax. Loafer’s...

Frank Crijns - Shade of Impulse

If the name sounds familiar, many will know Frank Crijns as the guitarist of the Dutch band Blast (including...

Yang - The Failure of Words

When I reviewed Yang’s second album, Machines, back in 2009, it had been a long five years since the band’s 2004 debut, A Complex Nature, and that even included a band...

Nooumena - Controlled Freaks

There is nothing conventional about this second release by French four-piece Nooumena; throughout, it breaks all the barriers and really follows few guideposts of any previously mapped musical...

Vespero - Shum-Shir

Russian psych-space-Krautrockers Vespero (Ivan Fedotov on drums, percussion, and drum machine programming; Arkady Fedotov on bass, synths, and flute; Alexander Kuzovlev on guitars; Alexey Klabukov...

Quad - Quad

Quad was the solo project by Gary Ramon of Sun Dial. He recorded this self-titled album in 1997. Now 20 years later Sulatron Records has reissued this disc. Quad contains three long...

Zone Six - Zone Six

Twenty years ago Dave Schmidt (aka Sula Bassana) created Zone Six, a spacerock group influenced by 70s Krautrock bands. Now their debut album is reissued on Dave’s label Sulatron Records....

Akku Quintet - Aeon

There is definitely some serious magic going on here on Akku Quintet’s latest offering, Aeon, which is at once captivating, free-wheeling, and full of beautiful complex grooves....

Markus Reuter - Falling for Ascension

It’s beginning to look like a reviewer could make a full-time job of just writing about the music Markus Reuter releases. Even taking into consideration that many of them are live...

Thinking Plague - Hoping against Hope

I’m not going to complain about the years between Thinking Plague albums. The gap between In Extremis and A History of Madness was only five years, by far the shortest...

Strawbs - The Ferryman's Curse

The list of bands which got their start in the 60s and are still recording new music is getting shorter every year, and few of them have maintained their level of creativity like Strawbs....

Strawbs - The Ferryman's Curse

The long awaited new studio album from British veteran folk-rockers Strawbs is one that most listeners will surely find to be worth the wait. It’s been a good five years since Hero &...

Marco De Angelis - Next Station

It’s been about four years since the Italian songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, engineer and producer issued his debut CD The River – Both Sides of the Story. On that album, he...

Arabs in Aspic - Syndenes Magi

For their newest album, Arabs in Aspic have diverged somewhat from the 70s hard-rock influences of their previous work, giving us instead three tracks of epic progressive rock. Over the course of...

IWKC - Hladikarna

When we lasted encountered IWKC three years ago, their album Evil Bear Boris featured a playful set of neo-classical, art-rock, and progressive rock tracks. Now with Hladikarna...

Ashley Reaks - Growth Spurts

Musical collage artist Ashley Reak is back with another set of art-rock tunes, and once again he straddles musical streams without regard to how far he needs to stretch his legs. And that metaphor...

Concert Imaginaire - Fortune's Wheel & Passionate Isolation

This interesting and eclectic group has been escaping my attention for many years, in spite of sharing my home town. Musical director David Hahn started Concert Imaginaire in 2011 as an...

Concert Imaginaire - Fortune's Wheel & Passionate Isolation

This interesting and eclectic group has been escaping my attention for many years, in spite of sharing my home town. Musical director David Hahn started Concert Imaginaire in 2011 as an...

The Anthony Phillips Band - Invisible Men

By the early 80s, Anthony Phillips had already recorded seven solo albums, beginning with the heavily orchestrated The Geese and the Ghost in 1977, then moving on to more song oriented...

Luiz Pérez Ixoneztli - The Mountains of Madness

Remember those vintage synthesizers back in the early 60s, before they were attached to keyboards? Those days when electronic music was synonymous with something wildly experimental and free, not...

Ishq - Aquaphonics

It's a little hard to believe this amazing collection of electronic pieces didn't receive a wider release (although a wider release for Ishq usually means 100-150 copies)....

Parafulmini - Tenere Fuori dalla Portata dei Bambini

Here is another oddball release out of Italy. Parafulmini, Italian for lightning rods, has just released Tenere Fuori dalla Portata dei Bambini (Keep Out of the Reach of Children), a set...

NI - Dedoda

It seems kind of odd that I should have two bands with the same name in my review stack at the same time — it’s certainly never happened before. This NI is from Austria, and they seem...

Kauan - Kaiho

Before even hearing the music, the story behind this band is interesting enough to pique the curiosity. Russian musician Anton Belov fell in love with the sound of heavy metal from Finland, feeling...

Josefin Winther - Righteously Wrong

This album is a prime example of music that transcends genre by sheer quality. Josefin Winther is a Norwegian singer with a voice that ranges from delicate melancholy to anguished power, and this...

Jambinai - Différance

Like many people around the world, I first heard of Jambinai when they played at the Seoul Winter Olympics closing ceremony in February of 2018. I was so intrigued by the combination of Korean...

Slap Guru - Cosmic Hill

Slap Guru is a Spanish band drawing heavily on 70s blues rock, with a dash of psych. Cosmic Hill is their debut release and if I could sum up my review in one word, it would be...

Cirkus - Wild Dogs

Cirkus is a progressive rock band from Quebec, not newcomers (there are four songs here – a full half of the first disc, that were written in the 70s when two members of the trio were part of...

Semiramis - Frazz Live

In 1973, a one-and-done group of Italians in their mid-teens formed Semiramis and released Dedicato a Frazz, an amazingly complex and beautiful progressive album classic that no serious...

Blue Dawn - Edge of Chaos

Edge of Chaos is Blue Dawn’s third album and it showcases a maturing band and a very cohesive set of tunes. They continue to be influenced by doom metal, dark gothic, and progressive...

Il Cerchio d'Oro - Il Fuoco sotto la Cenere

Il Cerchio d’Oro continue their musical journey with another excellent album, Il Fuoco sotto la Cenere (The Fire under the Ashes). The lineup is slightly different from...

Deluge Grander - Oceanarium

Deluge Grander albums are always chewy affairs, full of dense and quirky instrumental textures, compositional detours, forays into music hall, classical chamber sonnets, and grooving rock. Fans...

Desert Wizards - Beyond the Gates of the Cosmic Kingdom

Italian band Desert Wizards’ second full-length album, Beyond the Gates of the Cosmic Kingdom, builds upon their 2013 album, Ravens, and shows a more focussed band. Like on...

Muffx - L’Ora di Tutti

Muffx is an Italian prog rock band who just released their fourth studio album, L’ora di Tutti, an instrumental concept album inspired by the Turkish invasion of Otranto in Southern...

Various Artists - A Tribute to the Madmen (Marc Bolan - David Bowie)

Since David Bowie’s passing in January 2016 there has been a resurgence in interest in his music, with his back catalog being reissued on vinyl plus various tribute albums. A Tribute to...

Chromium Hawk Machine - Annunaki

Here is an interesting blend of musicians, music, and influences. Chromium Hawk Machine is the joint effort of Hawkwind founder Nik Turner, Chrome’s guitarist Helios Creed, and Solid...

Johan Agebjörn & Mikael Ögren - We Never Came to the White Sea

The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea, located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia (formerly part of Finland, then an independent republic, then annexed by...

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....

Antoine Fafard - Proto Mundi

It’s only been about a year since Fafard’s last release, Spheres, but the growth and development during that short period has resulted in his finest release to date. His four...

Simon Phillips - Protocol 4

Coming of age as a music listener during the heyday of jazz-rock fusion, many of the classics of the genre made huge impressions on me that have lasted a lifetime. Mahavishnu Orchestra, Brand X,...

Robert Szewczuga Trio - Moonrise

Never heard of Szewczuga before? This outstanding bassist is one of the most promising young jazzmen in Poland today, but to date he has spent most of his career as a sideman or session player,...

Gila - Gila

Gila was a band from the Stuttgart area that played psychedelic and progressive rock music and existed in name from the spring of 1969 until the summer of 1974, although in the spring of ’72...

Steve Hackett - The Night Siren

Steve Hackett has been making music long enough that he knows what he wants and he knows how to get there. And while in his case, that journey doesn’t involve crazy flights of avant-garde...

Rupture - Israel Suite / Dominante en Bleu

Rupture was a one-off French musical project from 1973 that was formed by French songwriter Boris Bergman (France Gall, Dalida, etc.) and drummer / vocalist Sylvain Krief (Airto Fogo, Michel...

Galactic Explorers - Epitaph for Venus

Guerssen has reissued another 70s Krautrock obscurity on their Mental Experience imprint. Epitaph for Venus is one of those mystery albums from the equally obscure Pyramid label produced...

Reaktor 4 - Pannschüppenczewski

The one and only LP by this band from Bottrop-Vanderort in the Ruhr area of Germany exists only as a single copy (dub plate), created by the band as a gift to drummer Reinhold Stania in 1975. Why a...

Vincent Priceless - Hunky Panky

As a follow-up to Black Light Revival (2015), Vincent Priceless gives us Hunky Panky, another collection of catchy, clever tunes rooted in some of the best elements of 60s and 70s...

Bill Nelson - Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights

Since disbanding Be Bop Deluxe, Bill Nelson has maintained a two-pronged solo career, with some releases being song-oriented and others in the vein of atmospheric instrumental music — rather...

Osmosis - Osmosis

It’s a lot easier to make a progressive rock record in 2018 than it was in 1970. All one needs to do is find one or more established progressive artists from decades past and model your sound...

M'Z - Prisme

Next on your list of artists with names impossible to search for online, please add M’Z. Guitarist Mathieu Torres previously appeared on a couple of releases by a band called La...

Eela Craig - Virgin Oiland

This fine Austrian band released their first, self-titled album in 1971, then perhaps more psychedelic rock than the symphonic progressive that they evolved into by their second album One...

Morpheus - Restless Dreams

Who would have thought after all these years, but the band, which essentially began life as Opossum in 1971, is still alive and kicking (and I mean kicking!) today some 45+ years later. Opossum was...

Anthony Phillips - Slow Dance

As it happens, this lavish reissue package arrived in my mail on the same day as the new album by Simon Phillips (

M(h)ysteria - Family Drug

This group is an awkwardly named (how are you supposed to pronounce it?) three-piece that could be described as a very edgy keyboard trio. The man at the keys is Giovanni Di Domenico, who is...

Tandaapushi - Borromean Rings

This trio features the instrumentation of drum kit, bass, electric guitar, pianet electric piano, no-input mixing board, and “amplified objects.” The liner notes are explicit about the...

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...

Nolan Stolz Rock Orchestra - Nolan Stolz Rock Orchestra

Dr. Nolan Stolz is a music educator, an assistant professor of music at the University of South Carolina Upstate, where he teaches courses in theory, composition, popular music studies, and drum...

Tusmørke - Bydyra

In the spectrum of Scandinavian progressive rock, Tusmørke skews generally towards the folksy, pastoral side rather than the heavy, dramatic side. And while members of the band are also...

Dr. Aftershave - In the Diving Bell

After Mussus Beastly split up (for the nth time) in the fall of 1979, bassist Norbert Dömling, keyboard player Burkhard Scmidl, and drummer Marlon Klein, who had just joined Missus Beastly...

Geoffrey Downes / Christopher Braide - Skyscraper Souls

I heard the previous DBA album, Suburban Ghosts, a couple years ago, and honestly didn’t like it that much, so I approached Skyscraper Souls with low expectations. To my...

Breidablik - Penumbra

I’ll admit that the first time I listened to Penumbra, it left me impatient for something more to happen and a little bit bored, but I’m glad I stuck with it. The lesson, of...

Dark Radish - Dark Radish

This French trio fits in with a trend that seems to be bubbling up around the world (primarily Europe and North America) of music that blends jazz and rock in a way that’s different from the...

Distant Horizon - Laniakea

Released in June 2017, Laniakea is the debut EP from Finland’s Distant Horizon. Distant Horizon is a young band consisting of the three Lehto brothers Joona (guitar), Jere (bass),...

Bent Knee - Land Animal

Bent Knee is one of those bands where saying “The new album is more of the same” is high praise. Their music is so distinctive and enjoyable that a substantial change is not at all...

The Luck of Eden Hall / Red Sun - Psychedelic Battles - Volume Four

Italian vinyl label Vincebus Eruptum is releasing a series of split LPs called Psychedelic Battles with one band per side. The first volume featured Sendelica and Da Captain Trips, the...

Michael P. Dawson - Paleozoic

The Paleozoic Era is one of the most important periods in planet Earth’s history, beginning around 550 million years ago, when, due to a slowing of geologic activity, the oceans had cooled...

Vibravoid - Mushroom Mantras

I first encountered Vibravoid about 10 years ago, I think from a YouTube video, but I cannot be sure. I rapidly discovered that no one in the US carried any of their releases, causing me to explore...

Juha Kujanpää Ensemble - Niin Kauas Kuin Siivet Kantaa

Finnish composer and keyboardist Juha Kujanpää’s music straddles folk, jazz, rock, and theater music. His new album Niin kauas kuin siivet kantaa, or in English To...

Hadal Sherpa - Hadal Sherpa

Hadal Sherpa is a relatively new progressive rock band from Finland wih an outstanding self-released first offering. From the city of Vantaa, they’ve been together as a band since the end of...

Dreadnaught - Hard Chargin'

There are a lot of bands out there called Dreadnaught. If you are looking for the metal band from Australia, this is definitely not them. This Dreadnaught’s roots go back to the University of...

Cymbeline - 1965 - 1971

This time Guerssen has unearthed some excellent Swedish DIY psychedelia from the late 60s / early 70s. To give you a bit of history, Cymbeline (aka Motala Ström and W&J) formed in the...

Kai Reznik - Awkward Motions

In the various streams of electronic music, Kai Reznik occupies a distinct area infused with elements of experimental and industrial music, but presented in a more-or-less song-oriented way. There...

Emilio Aparicio Moog - Expansión Galáctica (Música Electrónica)

After the release of Wendy Carlos’ ground-breaking Switched-on Bach in 1968, everyone who had the money bought a Moog and started recording electronic music, some of which was offal....

Moonpedro and the Sinking Ship - Let's Pig

Moonpedro is the musical persona of Chilean-Norwegian writer Pedro Carmona-Alvarez, who has numerous novels and collections of poetry to his credit. For some ten years or more, he’s been...

Embryo - Umsonst und Draußen – Vlotho 1977

Following the Embryo Live album, recorded in February 1976, but not released until 1977, a lot of changes were in store for the band. Both woodwind player Charlie Mariano and...

The Great Harry Hillman - Tilt

Nope. There’s nobody in the band named Harry Hillman. The band is named after Harry Hillman, the American hurdler who won three gold medals in the 1904 Summer Olympics in St.Louis. The band...

Raoul Björkenheim / Ecstasy - Doors of Perception

For the third outing with his Ecstasy quartet, Raoul Björkenheim continues to delve into the possibilities of electric guitar combined with saxophone, upright bass, and drums. This highly...

Trappist Afterland - Afterlander

Sugarbush Records is reissuing the back catalog of Trappist Afterland on limited runs of 180 gram vinyl, the first being 2015’s Afterlander. My first exposure to the band was their...

Hudson-Ford - The A&M Albums

Richard Hudson and John Ford (drums and bass respectively) began as the rhythm section of Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera, who later, sans-Elmer, with the addition of guitarist and singer Paul...

The Green Ray - Half Sentences

Half Sentences is a superb album by England’s The Green Ray issued on lime green vinyl by Sugarbush Records. Dating back to the mid-90s, mates Ken Whaley and Richard Treece formed...

A.R. & Machines - The Art of German Psychedelic 1970-1974

This ten disc box set and companion 96 page LP-size hardbound book is the story of an Akai X-330D open reel tape machine and the man who became its captive, one Achim Reichel, ex-member of German...

Panko - Weil Es So Schön Perlt

I suppose as rarities go, this one qualifies as almost-lost. Panko, or Panko Musik as they were often known, existed from about 1968 until 1972, named after the Pankow area of Berlin where they...

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...

The Ed Palermo Big Band - The Adventures of Zodd Zundgren & Great Un-American Songbook I-II

How big is big? Here, across 43 tracks, arranger and conductor Palermo has mastered the task of adapting works originally created by smaller groups for the big band treatment. He’s been doing...

The Ed Palermo Big Band - The Adventures of Zodd Zundgren & Great Un-American Songbook I-II

How big is big? Here, across 43 tracks, arranger and conductor Palermo has mastered the task of adapting works originally created by smaller groups for the big band treatment. He’s been doing...

French TV - Operation: Mockingbird

For Operation: Mockingbird, labeled “Number Twelve,” veteran avant-prog band French TV consists of founder Mike Sary with Mark L. Perry (drums) and Katsumi Yoneda (guitar),...

Çub - Musique Actuelle (Éducation Civique)

I’d never heard of this French band before hearing this album, but I am certainly hooked now. This is a wild take on tricky odd-meter instrumental rock with a lot of craziness thrown in....

Amy Denio - The Big Embrace

Amy Denio has her musical hands in so many different projects that it’s hard to keep up with her. Between touring and recording with The Tiptons, Kultur Shock, Correo Aereo Trio, Ou, and...

Various Artists - Psychedelic Underground 17 & 18

Since the Garden of Delights label began in the early 1990s (they were originally called Penner Records), they have produced this Psychedelic Underground promotional series, each one...

Bubblemath - Edit Peptide

Listening to this new release from Bubblemath, I couldn’t help but compare it to Cheer-Accident’s Putting off Death. Both groups are American bands with a penchant for...

Machine Mass - Plays Hendrix

Machine Mass regulars Tony Bianco (drums) and Michel Delville (guitar, loops, samples, and electronics) this time have teamed up with keyboard player Antoine Guenet of The Wrong Object and others...

Schizo Fun Addict - The Sun Yard (Special Edition)

US band Schizo Fun Addict first appeared on vinyl on Bracken Records in 2007, Andy Bracken’s indie label that was the precursor to Fruits de Mer Records. Schizo Fun Addict was also the first...

Various Artists - Soft Bodies Bleed Out

There is not a whole lot of information on the net about Soft Bodies Records. When you search for them, all that you can find is blogs with links to their releases, most of which you can download...

Karakorum - Beteigeuze

Karakorum is yet another progressive rock band weaving elements of classic 70s music into a modern style. They’re based in Mühldorf, Germany, though in many ways they remind me of recent...

We Like We - Next to the Entire All

This Danish quartet may have an awkward name, but they certainly have a unique sound. The group consists of Katrine Grarup Elbo (violin), Josefine Opsahl (cello), Sara Nigard Rosendal (percussion,...

Vibravoid - Mushroom Mantras

Vibravoid. Even their name by itself sounds psychedelic, and if that’s what you are looking for you’ve definitely come to the right place. From Düsseldorf, they are a trio led by...

Atomic Rooster - Sleeping for Years - The Studio Recordings 1970-1974

Atomic Rooster was one of the most spirited and pioneering progressive rock units of the early 70s in Britain, and this four-disc clamshell box set certainly goes a long way to offer the evidence...

Jeffrey Koepper - Transmitter

Recorded live for Chuck Van Zyl’s Stars End radio show on WXPN, Philadelphia on June 18th 2017, Transmitter features pulsating rhythms, atmospheric synth textures, and...

Major Parkinson - Blackbox

If you’re fond of figuring out which musical boxes artists should go into, this Norwegian band will drive you nuts. They’re progressive rock, of course. Until they aren’t. Then...

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...

Swunk - Soundscapes

Neapolitan quartet Swunk has released their second album on Italy Sound Lab. Their name can take on several meainings. From Old English, it means hard work, and it also is the conjunction of swing,...

Echo Us - To Wake a Dream in Moving Water

Portlandian multi-instrumentalist Ethan Matthews has been recording music since he was 18 years old in 1996, first in the progressive metal band Greyhaven and now his solo efforts as Echo Us. His...

Michael Trew - Waiting in the Wings

With the five Autumn Electric albums, Michael Trew developed a unique style of music that drew from folk rock and progressive rock with an artistic do-it-yourself attitude. But he always had some...

Electric Orange - EOXXV

Electric Orange, led by keyboard player Dirk Jan Müller, has been around since the early 90s, and have over three dozen releases to their credit, many of which are live CDR releases by the...

Lucille Furs - Lucille Furs

The world of psychedelic rock seems to be having a genuine Renaissance these days, with more groups than I can count putting out music, and luckily a lot of it is good. We’ve got everything...

Deluge Grander - Oceanarium

Deluge Grander is no stranger to Exposé and our readers, but their fourth album, Oceanarium, is my first exposure to the band. Oceanarium is the second in a...

Alan Simon - Excalibur IV - The Dark Age of the Dragon

If you've always felt that Rick Wakeman's epic concept albums were a little too understated, Alan Simon has got you covered. There may be no ice-skating dinosaurs involved (maybe a dragon,...

Alan Simon - Songwriter

If you’ve never heard of Alan Simon before, you are probably not alone, and might well be forgiven unless you are into the very specialized sort of music he does. A French composer who...

The Stratos Ensemble - Accident at Clear Lake

The Stratos Ensemble is a group of highly skilled improvising musicians led by keyboard and electronics player Dean De Benedictis, also known as Surface 10 for his purely electronic endeavors, or...

Deluge Grander - Oceanarium

I know there are a lot of people who listen almost exclusively to vocal music. Songs with lyrics make up the vast majority of most people’s listening. So why is it that the majority of...

Robert Logan - Sculptor Galaxy

Before his latest release Sculptor Galaxy, I had little knowledge of Robert Logan other than his two collaborations with Steve Roach in 2016, Biosonic and Second Nature,...

Frore & Shane Morris - Eclipse

Frore is Paul Casper, a self-taught electronic musician from Virginia; Shane Morris is a multi-instrumentalist who composes ambient, electronic, and world music. On Eclipse, as they did on...

Teemu Viinikainen III - Return of Robert Dickson

Here’s another name for the list of great guitarists you’ve (probably) never heard of: Teemu Viinikainen. Return of Robert Dickson is apparently a follow-on to his 2005 release...

Sound the Bell! - Sound the Bell!

Tampere is Finland’s third largest city, with well over 200,000 people, and among those residents, four have put together a band called Sound the Bell! — complete with exclamation...

Reflections in Cosmo - Reflections in Cosmo

This band with a strange name may be relatively new, but it occupies a spot in a vast web of connections. Ståle Storløkken (keyboards) has been a frequent collaborator of late with...

Eraldo Bernocchi - Rosebud

Whether he’s noisily rocking in Metallic Taste of Blood or providing inventive electronic atmospheres for Prakash Sontakke, one thing you can count on from Eraldo Bernocchi’s music is...

Satoko Fujii Quartet - Live at Jazz Room Cortez

We have reviewed a lot of Satoko Fujii releases over the years at Exposé, some solo, duos with various other players, various trios, her jazz quartet, and many by orchestras she...

Echo Us - To Wake a Dream in Moving Water

The last I heard from Ethan Matthews and his Echo Us project was on Tomorrow Will Tell the...

Unreal City - Frammenti Notturni

It seems like it’s been quite a while since I reviewed an album of classic-style Italian prog, so I’m happy to have this gem come up in my list. Unreal City has been in existence about...

Louis Minus XVI - De Anima

This French jazz quartet from the Flanders region has been around for about nearly ten years, working the live scene and releasing four previous albums on various private labels, beginning with...

Magic Bus - Phillip the Egg

I first encountered Magic Bus via their Fruits de Mer single Seven Wonders / Eight Miles High in...

Kalaban - Turn to Flame (Remastered)

Throughout 1997 and 1998, Kalaban recorded their final statement for the decade, Turn to Flame, and for nearly twenty years until the release of 2017’s Edge of Infinity, it...

Herd of Instinct - Drone Priest

From the beginning of its history, rock music has mostly been about bands — relatively stable groups of musicians who work together over time. Jazz, on the other hand, is largely about...

Jeffrey Koepper - MantraSequent

American composer and synthesist Koepper has been honing his craft over a period of about 15 years and nine previous releases, strongly influenced by the Berlin School sequenced electronics of...

Tony, Caro & John - All on the First Day

The original 1972 private LP pressing of All on the First Day (only 99 copies with spray painted cover) by the psychedelic folk trio of Tony Doré, Carolyn Doré, and John...

The Heliosonic Tone-tette - Heliosonic Toneways, Vol. 1

From the name of this ensemble, you might guess that there’s some kind of connection with Sun Ra, and you would be absolutely correct. The impetus for the group’s formation was the 50th...

Steve Roach - Spiral Revelation

Here we are in a soundworld that lies somewhere between Roach’s floating ambient style and his more sequenced work, one breathing life into the other, shifting as it goes across the...

She Owl - Animal Eye & Drifters

After the lovely debut She Owl album in 2013, I lost track of this Italian duo until the announcement of the new Drifters EP, and I took the opportunity to check out what I’d missed,...

Johannes Luley - Qitara

Many will know German-born, California based multi-instrumentalist Johannes Luley from his band Perfect Beings, and before that, Moth Vellum. Having studied under guitarist Eddy Marron of Dzyan and...

Collapse under the Empire - The Fallen Ones

Collapse under the Empire is a German duo taking an electronic slant on the genre of post-rock. Normally, I’m not one to emphasize genre labels in music, as most of the best music defies easy...

Taylor's Universe - Almost Perfected

It’s been a good two years since the last new release by Taylor’s Universe (and that’s not counting Across the Universe, which was a sort-of remixed best-of release), but...

Security Project - Contact

I’m extremely wary of tribute bands, and would almost always rather listen to musicians doing new material than covering someone else’s music. I won’t argue that there’s no...

Trallskogen - Trollskogen

Trallskogen is an international band led by Swedish singer and composer Annika Jonsson, presently living in Saarbrucken, Germany, which she and the rest of the band call home. Their sound is...

Darshan Ambient - Lingering Day

After a few years as a guitarist, bassist, and vocalist for artists like Nona Hendryx & Zero Cool, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, and others, Michael Allison shifted gears in the mid 90s and...

7C - Compartment C

Fasten your seat belts and secure all belongings — you’re in for a wild ride! 7C is an Italian trio consisting of Davide di Virgilio on acoustic and electronic percussion, Giuseppe...

Pugwash - Silverlake

Thomas Walsh, aka Pugwash, has been recording and performing his unique blend of ELO, XTC, and Beach Boys pop rock for over 20 years. Hailing from Drimnagh, South Dublin, Walsh caught the attention...

Glutton - Outliers

When a new album arrives and you know absolutely nothing about the artist, it’s a very different experience than a new album by someone you’re familiar with. You can never escape some...

Spoke of Shadows - II

At the time of the first Spoke of Shadows album in 2014, it wasn’t clear if there would be another. The group is a collaboration between two musicians who both have other commitments, so that...

Kevin Kastning / Carl Clements - Even This Late It Happens

This adventurous, dreamy and introspective collaboration continues where it left off last time with 2016’s

Kevin Kastning / Sándor Szabó - Invocation

Kastning and Szabó are a team that we have reviewed many times in these pages, and each new release by this duo is incrementally more interesting than the one that preceeded it. For the...

Offa Rex - The Queen of Hearts

It was sometime back in the mid 70s that I discovered English folk rock, though the specifics are lost to the mists of time. It was likely a

Isproject - Archinauts

The Archinauts is the debut album by the Italian neo-progressive rock band Isproject (Ivan Santovito vocals and keyboards and Ilenia Salvemini vocals). Produced by Fabio Zuffanti, the band...

Royal Architect - Et in Arcadia Ego

Royal Architect is a Baltimore based four-piece that, following a couple of singles, has released their first long player Et in Arcadia Ego – a vinyl-only independent release, no CD...

Phlox - Keri

I was surprised to learn that I had never reviewed anything by this excellent Estonian band, even though I’ve been listening to their releases going all the way back to 2007’s...

Quimper - Midnight Snack

The latest Quimper release is a downloadable EP containing four instrumental tracks totaling about nine minutes. The music is dark and sinister. Band member Jodie Lowther, who provides the art and...

Quimper - Wake up Gastone

Hot on the heels of their last release a couple of months back, Quimper has another EP of four tracks, Wake Up Gastone. The title track opens the EP with a slow four-note-phrase to the...

Quimper - Little Legs for Little Eggs

Quimper appears to be on pace to set the record for the number of EPs released in one year. Little Legs for Little Eggs is their third so far this year, pretty close to one per quarter, so...

JADE (Jazz Afro Design Electric) - The Eclipse

Seems like only yesterday, but actually it was seventeen years ago that this band released their first album,

Sonja Kristina - Anthology

Most will know Sonja Kristina from her many years as the singer and de-facto bandleader of Curved Air, the British progressive rock band that broke many barriers in the early 70s and continues to...

Tünay Akdeniz - The Godfather of Turkish Punk

Apparently Tünay Akdeniz cut quite a bad boy image in Turkish music in the mid to late 70s, using slang for the first time in a Turkish song, the first implication of sexual intercourse in...

Djam Karet - Sonic Celluloid

When a band has over 20 excellent all-instrumental releases, and you know them all well, it’s instinctive to compare any new release to those that have gone before it. The first thing one...

Ephemeral Sun - Lørd øf Høunds

I guess for starters, a good question might be, "What is the title of this album?" And that depends on where one looks. On the disc itself, it’s Lord of Hounds. But...

Wingfield / Reuter / Sirkis - Lighthouse

Like a series of dark and menacing dreams, this colllection of improvisations by guitarist Mark Wingfield, touch guitarist Markus Reuter, and drummer Araf Sirkis takes the listener into a world of...

Greg Segal with Friends - Invisible Ground of Sympathy

Have you ever listened to a disc where a couple songs in you have completely forgot what you are listening to? The ten tracks herein are so varied and dissimilar that one can easily be forgiven for...

Various Artists - Tiddlywinks

As we get closer to the end of the year and the Christmas season, Mega Dodo Records is releasing a various artists compilation of reimagined nursery rhymes, Tiddlywinks, on December 1,...

Gustaf Fjelstrom - The Peripheral Arc, Vol.1

Years ago, at the dawn of the age of compact discs, a small music store popped up in a strip mall a few blocks from my house. There was a young man who worked there who had an uncanny ear for great...

The Knells - II

One thing that is sorely lacking in most current progressive rock is any semblance of real originality. What we hear mostly are bands trying to re-create the glory days of the sound as it was...

Ghost Train Orchestra - Book of Rhapsodies, Vol II

When it comes to the music of the 1930s, names like Duke Ellington and Count Basie come readily to mind, and their music is readily available. But during that era, many other composers and...

Daniel Barbiero / Cristiano Bocci - Non-Places

On their last outing together, these two bassists presented a highly abstract, heavily processed set of tracks on Nostos. Non-Places is also abstract and processed, but is very...

Brooklyn Raga Massive - Terry Riley In C

Brooklyn Raga Massive is a nonprofit organization dedicated to artists who both preserve and advance the music of India, often staging performances combining musicians of different backgrounds....

Johnny Unicorn - Heavy Jugs to the Moon

It’s been several years since Johnny Unicorn gave us Angels in the Oort...

John Wetton - Akoustika I & II - Live in Amerika / Return to Amerika

John Wetton, bassist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and a singer way better than most left this world on January 31st of 2017. What he has left behind in a long, varied, and amazing career is...

Cardiacs - Some Fairytales from the Rotten Shed

I had heard a few early Cardiacs albums before I came across a rather shaky video of the Surbitan Assembly Rooms 4/18/85 show. This was the trigger moment for me, I mean it was obvious from...

Fraktal Phantom - Live in the Studio

Fraktal Phantom is a Seattle trio featuring drummer Jack Gold-Molina, who has played on stage and record with Nik Turner and also appeared on Spirits Burning’s Starhawk. He’s...

Nathan Hall and the Sinister Locals - Effigies

Last Spring The Soft Hearted Scientists’ Nathan Hall released an EP of four songs called The Volga Sturgeon Face. Now he has released a full length album, Effigies, that...

Three for Silver - The Way We Burn

When it comes to a band having factors that set it apart from the crowd, Three for Silver has a number of things to offer. First off, you’ve got leader Lucas Warford, who plays bass and...

El Turronero - New Hondo

Who would have thought that Exposé would one day publish a review of disco music? Certainly not I. Be that as it may, this CD arrived in the same package as the Trigal album from...

Trigal - Baila Mi Rumba

And now for something completely different... I am not exactly sure why Guerssen chose to send this release to Exposé, but Baila Mi Rumba is certainly a fun, sexy, sizzling...

Stefan Orins Trio - The Middle Way

As an organic jazz unit, the trio of Stefan Orins (piano), Christophe Hache (double-bass) and Peter Orins (drums) has been together a good twenty years now, with five releases to their credit. Same...

Brian Landrus Orchestra - Generations

In my book, adding orchestral parts to jazz and rock is a risky business. Not only do you have the needs that all genres have of writing interesting music, but the added necessity to make the...

Famlende Forsøk - Return of Monster Attack

Lumpy Davy and Brt from the psych band The Smell of Incense started Famlende Forsøk in 1981, their music inspired by such great bands as Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle. Because Brt...

Himmellegeme - Myth of Earth

Oh, look. It’s another prog band from Bergen. How many of those can there be? How many of them can possibly be good? I’m not sure of the answers to either of those questions, but...

Sacha Mullin - Duplex

When I first started forming my ideas about how music could be divided into styles or genres, I set the general body of rock above what I thought of as pop. It seemed clear that any above-average...

Falter Bramnk - Glassical Music

More an exploration of sound than music per se, what we have here are eleven tracks resulting from glasses rinsed with hot water. The condensation that results between the water, air, and glass...

Howard Givens & Craig Padilla - Being of Light

Craig Padilla has been composing long-form deep space epics for over twenty years, with over two dozen releases to his credit; his first release for the Spotted Peccary label was the ambient...

Raoul Björkenheim Triad - Beyond

Björkenheim is a name you can trust for a healthy dose of intense and powerful jazz-rock, apocalyptic in every sense, with empassioned twists and turns at every juncture. The Triad consists of...

Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius - Guilty of Innocence

Power violinist Joe Deninzon has been leading his band Stratospheerius since the turn of the century and has a solid catalog of releases to show for it. Having recorded as a sideman with just about...

Opposite Day - I Calculate Great

Let it never be said that Opposite Day are slacking in any respect. Since 2008 they have released a string of recordings that have honed their “math-pop” sound to a fine edge. What, you...

Rudolf Heimann - Touch the Sky

Rudolf Heimann is a German electronic musician who released his second album, Touch the Sky, in 1992. It was remastered and reissued on CDr in 2006. Now in 2017, with famed Krautrock...

Opposite Day - I Calculate Great

Austin’s Sam Arnold and Opposite Day are back with a vengeance on their new album, I Calculate Great, their tenth album. Looking at the cover art, I surmise that a couple of panda...

The Galileo 7 - Tear Your Minds Wide Open

On November 10, 2017, The Galileo 7 release their fifth album of garage pop psych tunes, Tear Your Minds Wide Open. There are 12 songs on the album with two of them, “One Lie at a...

Cheer-Accident - Salad Days & Trading Balloons

When I first encountered this band, they were already well into their career — I think Fear Draws Misfortune (2009) was the first album of theirs that I heard — and I quickly...

Cheer-Accident - Salad Days & Trading Balloons

When I first encountered this band, they were already well into their career — I think Fear Draws Misfortune (2009) was the first album of theirs that I heard — and I quickly...

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...

Gentle Giant - Three Piece Suite

The first three Gentle Giant albums occupy a spot in the history of progressive rock that illustrates the transition from 60s psychedelic rock to full-fledged avant-prog. While the band’s...

Stick Men Featuring Mel Collins - Roppongi - Live in Tokyo 2017

The last live recording by Stick Men was Midori, recorded on the 2015 Japan tour, presenting two complete...

Stick Men Featuring Mel Collins - Roppongi - Live in Tokyo 2017

The last live recording by Stick Men was Midori, recorded on the 2015 Japan tour, presenting two complete...

Wobbler - From Silence to Somewhere

Back in 2005, this Norwegian band’s debut caused a fair stir in the world of progressive rock with a take on many elements of 70s symphonic progressive combined in distinctive ways. Of course...

Andreas Spechtl - Thinking about Tomorrow, and How to Build It

Andreas Spechtl is a Berlin-based musician who spent two winter months in Tehran, Iran recording Thinking about Tomorrow, and How to Build It that is scheduled for release on November 10,...

Green Seagull - (I Used to Dream In) Black and White / Not Like You and Me

It was only this past June that Green Seagull released their debut single on Mega Dodo Records. Now, three months later, we have a second 7-inch single. Side A contains “(I Used to Dream In)...

Akikaze - Solstice

Dutch artist Pepijn Courant (AKA Akikaze — Japanese for autumn wind) has been composing and recording electronic music since 1989. His eleventh album, Solstice, is his first release...

Robert Schroeder - D.MO Vol. 4

Robert Schroeder is a member of the second wave of Berlin school of electronic musicians hitting the scene in the late 70s. His first album was Harmonic Ascendant (1979) followed by...

Akikaze - Solstice

Akikaze (a Japanese word for autumn wind) is the electronic project of Dutch synthesist and composer Pepijn Courant. Using synthesizers, keyboards, samplers, effect processors, electronic drums,...

The Chemistry Set - Lovely Cuppa Tea

The Chemistry Set has a new 7-inch EP out on Fruits de Mer Records this September that contains three songs: “Lovely Cuppa Tea,” “The Rubicon,” and a cover of The Moody...

Various Artists - A Spoonful of Sugarbush

A Spoonful of Sugarbush is a collection of tracks from various artists on the Sugarbush label. These tracks have never been released on vinyl before and include songs by Caddy, Andy Reed,...

Paul Butterfield - Live New York 1970

In the last half of the 60s, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was omnipresent, playing every major venue coast to coast, bringing the blues to rock audiences along with artists like The Electric...

Kabaret Makaber - Kabaret Makaber

And now for something completely different… Bergen’s Kabaret Makaber is not the first band to bring together European cabaret music with more modern styles, but they do it in a way...

Magma - Wurdah Ïtah (Expanded)

This stone classic of the Magma canon was originally released in 1974 as a Christian Vander solo album, with members of Magma participating, as a soundtrack for the Yves Lagrange film Tristan...

Wadada Leo Smith / Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii / Ikue Mori - Aspiration

The success of free improvisation, at least from the standpoint of the listener, pretty much comes down to how much time the musicians are airborne versus how much time they are just trying to get...

Steve Roach - Nostalgia for the Future

Belying the beautiful monochrome photos that adorn the cover of this latest release on Roach’s Timeroom Editions label, Nostalgia for the Future is a powerful outpouring of tonal...

We Stood Like Kings - USA 1982

In 1982 film maker Godfrey Reggio released the movie Koyaanisqatsi, a montage of different shots without a plot, but focussed on nature, humanity, and their relationships. Avant-garde...

Chris Richards and the Subtractions - A Smattering of Mystery and Sound

Chris Richards and The Subtractions have been recording for over 10 years and A Smattering of Mystery and Sound is a compilation of songs from their previous albums assembled specifically...

Brockmann / Bargmann - Licht

On viewing for the first time the minimal artistic cover for Licht, I was expecting academic or avant garde experimental music. Instead I was pleasantly surprised to discover that...

Témpano - Nowhere Now Here

This four-piece from Venezuela has a storied past, beginning in the late 70s with their excellent and very progressive debut Atabal-Yémal, then being (mis)managed into being a pop...

Inner Ear Bridage - Dromology

You know how some albums take time to grow on you before you appreciate them? This is not one of those albums. I loved it from the first notes that hit my ears. “Dark Sleep Fortress”...

Yoko Miwa Trio - Pathways

When I think about jazz pianists I’ve covered on this site, I find many who are brilliant technicians capable of great feats of speed and complexity, several who are sonic explorers utilizing...

Oro Cassini - First Impact

Austin is turning into quite the hotbed of progressive rock bands, with Opposite Day, Proud Peasant, Aaron Clift Experiment, and more. Add Oro Cassini to that list. Musically, they’re cut...

The Wellgreen - Summer Rain

Sugarbush Records is a vinyl-only label out of the UK that has been releasing limited edition LPs of power-pop, psych, and indie music since 2012. In the case of The Wellgreen, a Scottish band,...

Glass Mind - Dodecaedro

The name Glass Mind conjures images of fragility and even psychological disorders. Nothing could be further from the truth with this instrumental progressive metal foursome from Mexico City. Their...

Toby Twirl - Toby Twirl

Toby Twirl was a British mod band formed in 1968 that lasted about three years, chasing but never catching that elusive fame. In retrospect, they arrived on the scene too late, considering that...

Oro Cassini - First Impact

I do not understand this trend by some of today’s bands to create music where the vocal line is so “progressive” that it defies what we have come to accept as song structure and...

Balduin - Bohemian Garden

It has been three years since Balduin’s previous release All in a Dream. The new album, Bohemian Garden, reflects his travels between then and now, giving us twelve trippy,...

Lion Shepherd - Heat

Lion Shepherd is a prog-oriented project led by friends Kamil Haidar and Mateusz Owczarek. Though living most of his life in Poland, Kamil spent his early years in Libya and Syria, which brings an...

Forsqueak - FSK

FSK is the debut album by the new Italian progressive jazz band Forsqueak, a quartet consisting of Bruno Pitruzzella (guitars), Sergio Schifano (baritone guitar), Luca La Russa (bass), and...

Colin's Godson - In Silicon Heaven

Looking at the thread running through this Glasgow band’s releases since 2015, you will see a story line of Colin’s Godson’s (mis)adventures. In their last installment, The...

Mordecai Smyth - The Mayor of Toytown Is Dead

In November 2017 Mega Dodo Records will be releasing the new album from the enigmatic Mordecai Smyth. It has been three years since his debut release as the first album on Mega Dodo Records....

Stay - Always Here

These Barcelona psychedelic rockers return to Fruits de Mer with a new EP out on September 25, 2017. Their last release was Mersey Dream in 2013. The new five-track EP features...

Willie G - Vivaldi: Seasons Change

Italian Baroque composer Vivaldi has been an inspiration for many progressive and rock bands, including Curved Air and Pete Sinfield. One of the most popular pieces of classical music is...

Moebius / Story / Leidecker - Familiar

Dieter Moebius was a prolific musician all the way up to his passing in 2015, so much so that new Moebius music continues to be released. In the case of Familiar, Jon Leidecker (aka Wobbly...

Howling Giant - Black Hole Space Wizard - Part 2

What is the sound of a howling giant? I immediately picture the huge warriors supporting the Wildings as they storm the Wall in Game of Thrones, an intimidating sonic reverberating...

Dušan Jevtović - No Answer

Dušan Jevtović’s last release under his own name was Am I Walking Wrong?...

Claude Lombard - Claude Lombard Chant

Claude Lombard is a Belgian songstress active in the 60s and 70s who placed seventh in the Eurovision 1968 song contest and sang songs on many TV cartoon shows. In 1969 she recorded an experimental...

Savoy - Mountains of Time

Here I find myself doing something I never thought I’d do — reference a-ha in an Exposé review. Savoy is a band well-known in certain circles, namely those centered...

Alain Markusfeld - Chaos or Not?

There are changes in musical directions, then there are complete about-faces, and then there are shifts to entirely new musical universes. Markusfeld built a career in the 70s on mind-massaging...

Paul Jones - Clean

With Clean, saxophonist Paul Jones brings together a number of musical threads that are usually considered separately, and puts them into a context that is functionally large ensemble...

Blackfield - Blackfield V

A new Blackfield release isn’t much of a shock. Israeli singer-songwriter Aviv Geffen has been committed to the project since its 2001 inception. The big news here is the return of Steven...

Voigt/465 - Slights Still Unspoken

Voigt/465 was a short-lived DIY post punk band from Sydney, Australia that lasted from 1976 - 1979. In 1978 they self-released one of the first DIY 45s from Australia “State” b/w...

Dafna Naphtali & Gordon Beeferman - Pulsing Dot

Gordon Beeferman is a keyboard player, and one I was familiar with from his excellent ensemble release Four Parts Five released on Innova a few years ago, a four part work composed by...

Cheer-Accident - Putting off Death

It’s been a few years since we had a new release from the weird and wonderful Cheer-Accident —

Yowie - Synchromysticism

Synchromysticism is an EP of high energy craziness from this St Louis trio, five tracks comprising 33 minutes of ever-changing rhythms and riffs tightly coordinated for all their...

Light Freedom Revival - Eterniverse Déjà Vu

Light Freedom Revival is the project of John Vehadija, a singer-songwriter based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Vehadija says of this album, “I believe the force which guided me to record...

Lion Shepherd - Heat

About a minute into the first song “On the Road Again,” I thought to myself "These guys sound kind of like Azigza, but without the violin," then the heavy and crunchy...

Larry Polansky - FreeHorn

I’ve played this a couple dozen times or more, and every time it has hit me differently, sometimes gentle, sometimes overtly avant-garde, sometimes quite ambient and relaxing overall (in fact...

Next Exit - One Way Ticket - 1981-82

For some time now, I’ve been writing about the saga of Spokane’s Sweet Madness, a New Wave-ish art rock band active from 1979-81. Two compilations of their recordings have been...

Chronotope Project - Ovum

In his third album for Spotted Peccary (and at least four more before that), Jeffrey Ericson Allen a.k.a. Chronotope Project brings forth a dreamy and expressive sound based on natural rhythms,...

Evacuate the Earth - Evacuate the Earth

People of Earth, be aware that destruction is imminent, and there is only one hope for the survival of humanity — Evacuate the Earth. This self-titled release starts out with a warning worthy...

Jasun Martz - Solo Exhibition

Composer Jasun Martz has had a career that defies categorization, refusing to reveal patterns or trends - if you could plot his musical works on some kind of stylistic graph, there would be no...

Alwanzatar - Heliotropiske Reiser

Tangerine’s classic albums of the 70s have an enduring appeal that causes them to be influential even 40 years on. Phaedra, Rubycon, Ricochet, and...

Accordo dei Contrari - Violato Intatto

Violato Intatto is my first exposure to this polished and powerful Italian band. Primarily an instrumental outfit, Accordo dei Contrari delivers a blistering set of finely wrought and...

Dante Roberto - Circle

Italian classical composer, music teacher, keyboard wizard, and progressive music lover Dante Roberto has released his debut album, The Circle. The album opens with “Dante...

Stephen Whittington - Windmill

Australian composer Stephen Whittington’s latest release features two extended compositions performed by the Zephyr string quartet, a group based in Adelaide who also compose, improvise, and...

Steve Roach - Long Thoughts

There are some words of wisdom for the potential listener to this on the inside of the sleeve: It’s created for infinite low volume playback listening. This could apply to about half of the...

Miriodor - Signal 9

Yes, this is indeed the ninth Miriodor studio album, coming three decades after their first and four years after the previous effort,

Rahul Mukerji - Ma De Re Sha

Indian born American guitarist Rahul Mukerji has had a 15-plus year career performing live on the US East Coast and in his native India, on numerous recordings as a featured player, and has even...

Talinka - Talinka

This quartet is led by vocalist Tali Atzmon, a deeply personal and soulful jazz singer who guides this group, providing their direction, though this is clearly a transcendental fusion of folk,...

Kotebel - Cosmology

It’s been around five years since Kotebel’s previous studio release Concerto for Piano and Electric Ensemble — I remember it well, and it’s no surprise at all that...

Panic Room - Essence

One might take a look at the track list on Essence and be fooled into thinking that it’s a best-of compilation (initially this writer was), but that would be incorrect. Keyboardist...

Daniel Lentz - River of 1,000 Streams

Lentz has a long history of releases going back to the early 80s (with recordings that reach back even earlier, to the mid 70s) and on almost all of those, the featured instrument is piano or...

Dialeto - Bartók in Rock

One only has to listen to a piece like “Mikrokosmos 113: Bulgarian Rhythm (I)” to realize that Béla Bartók has a direct relation to avant-progressive rock. (You can find a...

Crown Larks - Population

Crown Larks is an American band with a style all its own. They take insistent rhythmic patterns reminiscent of German bands (think Can or Neu!) and combine them with woodwinds and brass more akin...

Enrico Merlin / Valerio Scrignoli - Maledetti (Area Music)

This is both an interesting and an odd release. Based on the music of Italian progressive rockers Area, it is not a set of covers, but instead the eight songs selected for this album are launching...

62 Miles from Space - Timeshifts

On October 20, 2017 Mega Dodo is releasing the first EP from 62 Miles from Space. 62 Miles from Space is a virtual two-piece music project in Moscow, collaborating over the internet though both...

In Gowan Ring - B'ee's Pent Pouch

The enigmatic B’ee (AKA B’eirth) has been composing original acoustic music for the past 20 years as In Gowan Ring. In the summer of 2012 he spent several months constructing a...

Nick Nicely - Sleep Safari

nick nicely’s latest chapter in his sonic journey is Sleep Safari, scheduled for release on September 29, 2017 on German label Tapete Records. This new recording is quite different...

Isaac Vacuum - Lords

This German band refers to its style as “post prog rock,” which is only descriptive up to a point. Genre-coining aside, they play a variety of rock that leans towards progressive metal,...

Dmitriy Fedorov - Consistence

There is a new Russian electronic musician that has come on the scene: Dmitriy Fedorov. He began his solo career in 2014 when he moved to Moscow and built his own studio for sonic explorations. He...

Kim Seviour - Recovery Is Learning

Former Touchstone front woman Kim Seviour launched her solo career as the first artist signed to White Star Records with a single in 2016. On July 28, 2017 she released her first full length solo...

Accordo dei Contrari - Violato Intatto

This exceptional four-piece from Bologna is a force to be reckoned with, at least since their second release, Kublai from 2011 (never having heard their 2007 debut, Kinesis) and...

Eberhard Kranemann / Harald Grosskopf - Krautwerk

Both Harald Grosskopf and Eberhard Kranemann have a long musical legacy dating back to the early days of Krautrock. Eberhard was one of the founding members of Kraftwerk, Neu!, and Pissoff, plus...

Esmark - Māra I & II

Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway. On the island is a glacier named Esmark, the namesake for the electronic...

Esmark - Māra I & II

Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway. On the island is a glacier named Esmark, the namesake for the electronic...

Corciolli - Ilusia

For the past 25 years Brazilian keyboardist Corciolli has sold over 2 million albums of of New Age relaxation music. With Ilusia he explores his progressive rock origins. The eight track...

Eurasia - Ilmondoarovescio

Eurasia is a quintet (+ guests) of experienced musicians hailing from Piemonte in the north-west of Italy, Ilmondoarovescio (meaning “the world upside down”) is their debut...

Eurasia - Ilmondoarovescio

Eurasia is a new Italian band that blends progressive, jazz, and Canterbury sounds in the ten tracks on their debut album Ilmondoarovescio (The World Upside Down). Eurasia features five...

Sidewalk Society - Strange Roads

Having been a teenager in the 60s with high school friends already into Pink Floyd in 1967 and listening to early FM radio stations out of New York City that introduced me to all kinds of obscure...

Fuchsia - Song

Celebrating 50 years of Tony Durant’s (Fuchsia’s main man) recorded music, Fruits de Mer released a double 7-inch vinyl set this July. The first Fuchsia album saw the light in 1971 and...

Anton Barbeau - Heaven Is in Your Mind

This summer’s Fruits de Mer EP is a four track disc by longtime label associate Anton Barbeau. Three of the songs are cover tunes and the fourth is an original. Anton has a distinctive voice...

Hanford Reach - Canyons

When Brooklyn’s Sky Picnic dissolved in late summer 2016, band members Chris Sherman (guitar, vocals, drums, and synths) and Leah Cinnamon (bass, vocals, and percussion) decided to continue...

Der Plan - Unkapitulierbar

Der Plan was an 80s post punk German band consisting of Moritz R, Kurt Dahlke (aka Pyrolator), and Frank Fenstermacher. Their early albums were filled with schizophrenic percussive electronic...

The Keith Walsh Experience - Nebula X

Keith Walsh is a seventeen-piece one-man band from Los Angeles, with Nebula X being his eleventh CD. He states that his music is made synchronically (a linguistic term that I think means...

Kalaban - Edge of Infinity

It’s been around 18 years since the last release by Kalaban, most listeners probably figured they were gone forever, so what we have at hand is truly a surprising comeback. Through a number...

Between Interval - Legacy

Between Interval is the nom-de-plume of Swedish electronic composer Stefan Strand, this being his fifth album for Spotted Peccary, and prior to that he has other recordings under other pseudonyms....

Alison O'Donnell - Climb Sheer the Fields of Peace

Alison O’Donnell was a vocalist in the legendary Mellow Candle and Flibbertigibbet, two 70s folk rock groups. Alison has remained active over the years as the sometimes singer with United...

Electric Swan - Windblown

The first thing you notice about Windblown is the fascinating cover art. There is so much movement in the picture that your eyes are drawn into it. And therefore I was expecting something...

Il Tempio delle Clessidre - il-lūdĕre

Il Ludere is Il Tempio delle Clessidre’s third studio album. On their second album they replaced Museo Rosenbach’s vocalist Lupo with Francesco Ciapica. And on Il...

Yonder Pond - Pondering Aloud

Yonder Pond is the recording project of Swiss drummer and multi-instrumentalist Rémy Sträuli, who first came to the attention of Exposé with his band Yolk back in the...

Ivann Cruz - Lignes de Fuite

French guitarist Ivann Cruz has played with a number of jazz and new music ensembles, including the Circum Grand Orchestra and TOC, among many others. Here, on his solo Lignes de Fuite,...

Ten Jinn - Sisyphus

Back in 1999 Ten Jinn was unstoppable. Their second CD, As on a Darkling Plain, was captivating listeners on both sides of the pond, released on both Musea and InsideOut, and they were...

Monkey Diet - Inner Gobi

When bassist Daniele Piccinini left the prog / jazz group Accordo dei Contrari in 2014 after recording AdC, he and guitarist Gabriele Martelli (PropheXy) were persuaded by a mutual friend...

Panther & C. - Il Giusto Equilibrio

The oddly-named Italian progsters Panther & C. returned to Black Widow Records this spring with a follow up to their 2014 debut album L'Epoca di un Altro. Just like their debut,...

King Crimson - Heroes

When word came out earlier this year that King Crimson would be reconvening for another tour with the expanded lineup which has been touring since 2014, they also announced that there would be an...

Pogo Pops - Love Is the Greatest Compass

If you’re yearning for the Golden Age of 80s pop-rock, when bands like The Church, Style Council, New Order, and Crowded House were at their peak and a catchy melody backed with jangly...

Bjørn Riis - Forever Comes to an End

With Forever Comes to an End, Bjorn Riis presents a set of seven songs very much along the same lines as those on his first solo outing, 2014’s Lullabies in a Car Crash....

The Carousels - Sail Me Home, St. Clair

Scottish Band The Carousels return to Sugarbush with their second album of West Coast country rock, proving that you don’t have to use a lot of studio effects and overload eardrums to be...

Kuhn Fu - Kuhnspiracy

OK, the category is jazz groups with guitarists who venture outside of the clean tones traditionally favored in the genre, who push the limits of their instrument beyond typical jazz politeness....

Magia Nera - L'Ultima Danza di Ophelia

Turning back the hands of time to the late 60s sees the debut of the Italian band Magia Nera (Black Magic) and their brand of dark progressive music. They were active into the early 70s when the...

Phoenix Again - Unexplored

Phoenix Again is an Italian progressive band that dates back to 1981 formed by the three Lorandi brothers Claudio, Sergio, and Antonio plus drummer Silvano Silva. Over the years they’ve gone...

Nick Nicely - Ghostdream

nick nicely has a new album, Sleep Safari on Tapete Records, planned for release on September 29, 2017, just in time for Christmas. To whet our appetites for Sleep Safari, Tapete...

Plurima Mundi - Pecorsi

Eight years after their debut album, Italian prog band Plurima Mundi have released their second album Percorsi. Founded in 2004 by composer, classical violinist, and music teacher...

The NJE - Afloat

Like many band names, The Near Jazz Experience (NJE) came about by chance. The band was trying to explain their sound of horn-led rock/pop instrumentals and the closest description was having a...

Fang Chia - Above Ground

Fang Chia’s second album exhibited a touch of Canterbury influence in its sound, and with this newest release, that aspect of their style is brought more to the fore — not that...

Sam Arnold - Space Taste Race Part Negative Two

This is Sam Arnold’s third Space Taste Race installment. The other two were recorded by his band Opposite Day, while Space Taste Race Part Negative Two, which I am guessing...

Sam Arnold and the Secret Keepers - Listen to Your Mind

The cover art is a nightmare vision of an insane god’s melding of various creatures into a single entity. I’m not exactly sure how this relates to the music, but Austin’s budding...

Pixie Ninja - Ultrasound

Pixie Ninja is yet another in the succession of recent bands from Norway who approach progressive rock in a distinctive way. The group was formed by two multi-instrumentalists, Jostein Haugen and...

The Telescopes - As Light Return

Since 1987, Stephen Lawrie and a variety of different musicians have been performing live and recording under the name of The Telescopes. As Light Return is their ninth album, their second...

The Mothers Earth Experiment - The Mothers Earth Experiment

The oddly named The Mothers Earth Experiment (TMEE) is a young six-piece UK band of friends: Jackson Younger (guitar), Mark Roberts (vocals and guitar), James Baker (keys and vocals), Oliver...

Airto Fogo - Airto Fogo

The mysterious Airto Fogo, pseudonym for Sylvain Krief, which could also been a pseudonym for Brazilian Waltel Blanco, recorded a one-off album in France in 1976 that is probably the ultimate...

Tapiman - Hard Drive

Hard Drive is a collection of unreleased homemade recordings from 1971 by Barcelona power trio Tapiman. The bandmembers were Miguel Ángel Núñez (Man) on guitar, Tapi...

Heat Exchange - Reminiscence

The Heat Exchange were a band from Toronto that began to generate some interest in the late 60s. They played a number of concerts and were pursued by RCA and eventually signed with Yorkville...

Moğollar - Moğollar

In February 2017 Guerssen and Pharaway Sounds reissued the self-titled 1976 album by Turkey’s Anadolu Pop heroes Moğollar. They never had a singer for long, so this album is a collection of...

Cozmic Corridors - Cozmic Corridors

Guerssen and Mental Experience have unearthed one of those Krautrock obscurities recorded and produced circa 1972-73 in Köln, Germany that was purported to have been released as an...

Nathan Hall and the Sinister Locals - The Volga Sturgeon Face

The dark foreboding spiral staircase works its magic and draws you closer and closer. What lies around the bend and on up to the next floor? You cautiously approach, but cannot resist the...

Kuhn Fu - Kuhnspiracy

Kuhn Fu is the brainchild of German guitarist / composer Christian Achim Kühn and an international band based in Groningen, Netherlands. In addition to Christian, the other members are Ziv...

The Neighborhood Strange - Let's Get High / One Last Chance

On March 17, 2017 psych / garage / punksters The Neighbourhood Strange unleashed upon the world their second single (in both 7 inch vinyl and CD formats). Side one is “Let’s Get...

Kepler Ten - Delta-V

Last November Kepler Ten released the debut single, “Time and Tide”, from their upcoming album...

Cosmosquad - The Morbid Tango

Jeff Kollman is a guitarist from Toledo, Ohio best known for his powerful melodic electric guitar playing, fusing elements of jazz harmony into his hybrid melodic hard rock / funk style. He is also...

Kris Gietkowski - Songs from the First Album by Egg

Fruits de Mer Records’ mogul Keith Jones was idly surfing YouTube videos one day searching for inspiration and hidden gems. You know how that goes, falling down internet rabbit holes and...

Élan Vital - Shadow Self

Élan vital is a term coined by French philosopher Henri Bergson in 1907 as a hypothetical explanation for the evolution and development of organisms, life's “vital...

Salim Ghazi Saeedi - United Ubiquity of Flesh

Much has changed since Saeedi’s last album namoWoman (2012), which is hinted at by the empty outline of a man’s body inside the borders of a country, presumably his native...

Robert Schroeder - Velocity

Robert Schroeder is no stranger to electronic music fans. He released his debut album, Harmonic Ascendant, in 1979 on Klaus Schulze’s IC label. 2017 marks the release of his 36th...

Astralasia - Oceania

After Astralasia’s 2014 Fruits de Mer double LP Wind on Water sold out, which tends to...

Cornelius Dufallo - Journaling 2

Dufallo is a violinist and composer who in 2009 began a “journaling” concert series to document the work of living composers, thereby creating a repertoire of 21st century violin music....

Arthur Lee & Love - Complete Forever Changes Live

When Love released Forever Changes in 1967, the critics panned it. But over the years opinions have changed and Forever Changes is now considered one of the top 100 most...

The Flamin' Groovies - Live 1971 San Francisco

When Bill Graham closed the Fillmore West in 1971, there was a solid five days of concerts to honor the venue. Proto-punk garage rockers the Flamin’ Groovies were one of those acts. The band...

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Once upon a Time in South America

During ELP’s heyday they never made it to South America, though they had a relatively huge fan base there. 23 years after forming and well past their prime, ELP made their first tour to South...

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen - Live from Ebbetts Field Denver, Colorado Aug. 11, 1973

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen might seem to be a bit of a stretch for Exposé, but considering in the early 70s there was a considerable amount of experimentation with...

Requiem - For a World After

American expat and electronic composer George Speckert worked as a music teacher in Hannover, Germany in the 70s. He wrote and produced music in his spare time, inspired by Tangerine Dream, Klaus...

Sendelica / Superfjord - Zappa

The spring batch of Fruits de Mer releases includes this little jewel of two Frank Zappa covers. Finland’s Superfjord provides us with a freaky synth-driven cover of “Peaches en...

Cromwell - At the Gallop

Cromwell was an obscure Irish band that self-released an album in 1975, then promptly disappeared. Over the years At the Gallop has become a much sought after collectible, claiming prices...

The Insektlife Cycle - Vivid Dreams Parade

I first encountered Filipino band The Insektlife Cycle in 2016 via Fruits de Mer. They appeared on a couple of FdM releases and also a freebie CDEP. Now Mega Dodo has released a triple gatefold CD...

Nunun - Inner

Nunun is the name used for experimental explorations by the Italian duo of Cesare Discepoli (guitar and effects) and Massimo Discepoli (drums). Five years after their previous album, Seven...

Larkin Grimm - Chasing an Illusion

Question of the day: What would happen if an American folk singer became obsessed with Alice Coltrane’s cosmic jazz? Larkin Grimm’s Chasing an Illusion is one credible answer...

Brinsley Schwarz - It's All Over Now

In 1974 Brinsley Schwarz’s began work on It’s All Over Now, the album intended to relaunch their career in the United States, but things did not go as planned. At that time the...

Kevin Kastning / Mark Wingfield - The Line to Three

Guitarists Kevin Kastning and Mark Wingfield are two very different style players, but in combination (this is their sixth collaboration together) the result is very complimentary and uniquely...

Kevin Kastning - A Connection of Secrets

Like a portal into a catalog of dreams, any recording featuring Kevin Kastning evokes a singular feeling, a feeling not easily described in words but one that knows no other, whether it be one of...

Grant Cutler - Self Portrait

Self Portrait gives us an interesting combination of process-based composition and improvisation. The composer recorded a number of musicians improvising with tape-delayed audio of...

Sverre Knut Johansen - Secret Space Program

This is Johansen’s second release on Spotted Peccary, a follow-up to 2016’s very excellent Earth from Above (followong a half dozen or so releses on Origo Sound and other...

Cantina Sociale - Caosfera

One of the best Italian progressive bands going, Cantina Sociale certainly can’t be accused of flooding the market with product, in fact this is only their third release since their 2002...

Patti Cudd - Eos

Far from the song-based world of rock and pop, far from the emotion, melodies, and counterpoint of clasical and chamber music, is the soundworld of Patti Cudd, where tapping, scraping, striking,...

The Aeon - Songs of the Great Beast

I have to admit that I’ve always found the obsession that some people have with Aleister Crowley somewhat comical, but I guess I’m too much of a rationalist to take that kind of thing...

Cydemind - Erosion

I have a problem with many progressive metal bands. They tend to favor aggressive bombastic drums, bass, and guitar over substance. Not so with the young Canadian band Cydemind, who are releasing...

Richard Bone - Age of Falconry

This July marks US electronic composer Richard Bone’s first release on Mega Dodo Records. Back in the 90s Richard was influenced by Brian Eno and Harold Budd’s explorations into ambient...

Psychic Equalizer - The Lonely Traveller

Psychic Equalizer is the musical project of Spanish jazz pianist Hugo Selles, now living in Copenhagen, Denmark. Hugo started his project in 2011 with the aim of mixing different genres into a...

Ibex - Parthenogenesis

Ibex is a young band from Bellingham, Washington, way up in the far northwest corner of the contiguous states, which is a reminder that in today’s world, there’s no point in saying that...

Zero Times Everything - Sonic Cinema

There’s a long history of progressive rock intersecting with electronic music, going back to Heldon, Manuel Göttsching, and so on, with results of varying quality. The origins of this...

Green Seagull - Scarlet / They Just Don’t Know

Taking their name from a mis-heard Rolling Stones lyric, Green Seagull are the latest band to burst out of London's burgeoning neo-psych scene. A shared love for late 60s baroque psych and...

Faust - Fresh Air

What can I say about Faust? They have been churning out creative music since the late 60s and show no signs of slowing down. Unlike their previous album, Just Us, which they recorded in...

Crystal Jacqueline - Await the Queen

Neo-psych chanteuse Crystal Jacqueline returns this June with a gorgeous new solo double album, Await the Queen, her biggest release yet. Through her exposure via Fruits de Mer and Mega...

Gilligan Smiles - Friends, Away, Aeroplane

It’s sort of amazing that the era of psychedelic rock lasted only a few years, basically 1966 to 1969, and that if someone sounded psychedelic in 1974, they would have seemed hopelessly out...

The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus - Mirrors

With the commercial and critical success of their 2015 release Beauty Will Save the World, their first new album in nearly 20 years, the Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus (RAIJ)...

EchoTest - From Two Balconies

Sometimes an album just takes a while to soak in, doesn’t allow for easy summarization. After multiple listens, I’m not sure I’ve really got a handle on From Two...

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...

The Brainiac 5 - Journey to X

Looking back on the history of The Brainiac 5, there is a clear progression, from psych / space inflected punkish pub rock to more professional-sounding and sophisticated material — though...

Richard Pinhas - Reverse

Richard Pinhas is no stranger to us here at Exposé. He has a very long musical career and at the ripe old age of 65 he continues to push the musical boundaries both as a solo artist...

Escapade - So You Know

For those just tuning in now, Escapade was a New York based free-psych improvisational heavy stoner rock band that operated from the mid-90s until around 2006, with a rotating cast of musicians...

Jasun Martz - Solo Exhibition: Non-Finito

This career-spanning retrospective collection presents a dizzying variety of sounds from composer Jasun Martz. It serves as a sampler from his box set Solo Exhibition, which contains eight...

Lorenzo Montanà - Phase IX

Italian ambient soundcrafter Montanà has released a number of albums since 2009, both solo and in collaborations, most are nearly impossible to find unless one seeks them out. In 2015,...

Kshettra - Five Mothers

Kshettra, named with a Sanskrit word denoting a holy area, is a progressive / experimental / post-rock instrumental band from Moscow. Kshettra has gone through a number of personal changes since...

A Projection - Framework

With today’s resurgence of progressive and psychedelic music I suppose it was only a matter of time before neo-post punk / New Wave bands would appear on the scene. One such is A Projection,...

Schooltree - Heterotopia

There are some who would have you believe that rock music is just entertainment, and that any attempts to make it “art” are pretentious and worthy of scorn. I am not one of those...

Various Artists - Sammlung: Elektronische Kassettenmusik Düsseldorf 1982–1989

In the early 80s, with the rise of affordable electronics and recording equipment, cassette culture took off. Anyone with a few dollars could set up a home recording studio and create music....

Various Artists - Magnetband: Experimenteller Elektronik-Underground DDR 1984–1989

During the five years prior to the wall coming down, East German musicians, painters, poets, filmmakers, and performers began to open up new territory, crossing genres and jumping back and forth...

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...

Wingfield / Reuter / Stavi / Sirkis - The Stone House

In the rock world, music is dominated by bands consisting of a more or less consistent group of players. There are also solo artists, some of whom have set backing bands, but those musicians are...

Jihye Lee - April

The last two large-ensemble jazz recordings to cross my desk were

Steve Roach - Fade to Gray

A Companion release to Painting in the Dark, which I eviewed a couple weeks ago, Fade to Gray is a similar endeavor but without a lot of the melodic color and variation that...

Forrest Fang - Following the Ether Sun

The thing that differentiates Forrest Fang’s music from all the other ambient guys is his extensive use of acoustic instruments. This has always been the case, at least going all the way back...

Steve Roach - Painting in the Dark

Each of Roach’s floating ambient releses seems to fall into one of several categories, one of which is the breathing organic elemental pieces that evolve slowly and push forward, unmasking...

Dieter Moebius - Musik für Metropolis

In 2012 Dieter Moebius was invited to perform a musical accompaniment to Fritz Lang’s sci fi silent film classic Metropolis. His approach to scoring the 2 ½ hour film was to...

Satoko Fujii - Invisible Hand

Among the instruments common in jazz music, the piano occupies a special place as a foundational part of most ensembles. And given the instrument’s wide range of possible sounds, there is a...

Noah Preminger - Meditations on Freedom

Tenor player Noah Preminger’s recorded work only started in 2008, but Meditations on Freedom is his seventh release under his own name — he’s also got a few credits as a...

Erik Griswold - Ecstatic Descent

Griswold is an Australia-based composer and pianist, with a number of previous releases on the Australian experimental music label Room 40. His interests lie in hybrid sound combinations and...

OmnisighT - The Power of One

January 20, 2017 saw the release of Canadian prog metal band OmnisighT's fourth album The Power of One. OmnisighT is the fearsome and intimidating foursome of Raj Krishna (lead vocals...

Club d'Elf - Live at Club Helsinki

Club d’Elf is a Boston area band that’s been around more than a decade, though this is the first time I’ve encountered them. The band is built around bassist Mike Rivard and...

Paolo Siani ft. Nuova Idea - Faces with No Traces

Paolo Siani is the drummer for the Italian progressive band Nuova Idea. Over the years he has pursued a number of different musical projects. Faces with No Traces is his latest solo album....

Mark & The Clouds - Cumulus

On March 10, 2017 Mark & The Clouds release Cumulus, their second album of homespun 60s pop-psych tunes. Extending what they started on their 2014 debut album, Mark & The Clouds...

Sweeney Straddles the Sun - Tarantula

Sweeney Straddles the Sun is the solo project of Glaswegian artist Jason Sweeney. A very strange performing name as straddling the sun can be extremely dangerous, plus I do not fully appreciate how...

Us & Them - When I Was Walking / Green Couch

To both kick off the new year and to follow up their new EP of Sandy Denny covers for Fruits de Mer, Britt and Anders are releasing a brand new single of original material on Mega Dodo. If...