Progressive Rock 31-Day Challenge (Week Two)

Amazing music from week 2.  If I could manage to stay in Atlanta for more than 2 days at a time, I might actually have the opportunity to post about these phenomenal albums in a timely manner.  Alas.

Despite my failure to edit/post these entries in accordance with my self-imposed deadlines, I actually have been listening on schedule!  And keeping up with my drumming commitments… whenever I’m at home.  So, lately, that’s about 50/50.

Anyway, here’s a look at where we’ve been so far this month, and also a peek at what’s coming up “next” week, and by that I mean the week that’s halfway over:

And the past week’s round-up of prog rock goodness:

The Kindred:

My first exposure to The Kindred was when they were on tour with Protest The Hero, The Contortionist, and Affiance last winter.  Are you kidding me with that lineup?  They were the most “junior” of the support acts then, and they’re playing the same role with the current Between the Buried and Me / Deafheaven / Intronaut tour.  So you know that either they have the greatest manager of all time, or they are truly something special, the type of band that emphatically justifies my “get there early enough to check out the opening acts” policy.  (Hint:  It’s the latter.)   Powerhouse vocals with a forceful mix of clean singing and growls; technically masterful but still passionate guitar work; and my favorite part, the integration of piano/keys in a manner that makes me suspect that Handel has been reincarnated as a progressive metalhead.  Definitely check out their latest release Life in Lucidity (which dropped at the end of February 2014), but make the effort to see them live for full effect.

• Link to The Kindred’s facebook page
• Link to stream of 2014 release, “Life In Lucidity”
• Life In Lucidity available for purchase

Caligula’s Horse:

What the heck is going on in Australia?!  Last week, I was swooning over Glass Ocean.  This week, brace yourself for a similar response with respect to Caligula’s Horse.  How great of a band name is that, by the way?!  Their sound is beautiful yet masculine.  I’ve been struggling to find a better-known band to which to compare them, in the hopes of enticing readers to check out their bandcamp page (linked below), but the best I can come up with is a mellower version of Skyharbor (clean vocals songs only) or TesseracT. Although obviously a high compliment to the band as a whole and the vocalist in particular, the comparison is nevertheless imprecise.  But now, I’m frustrated.  Some prog and tech bands could fairly be described as “challenging”; this doesn’t necessarily mean better, but they require more patience, high quality headphones, and several rotations of the album in its entirety (and perhaps even watching play-through videos) to simply begin to appreciate all the nuances contained therein… and if one doesn’t invest that time, the music will be written off as “weird,” or worse, “just noise.”  But as I’ve noted with a couple of bands throughout these 2014 challenges, Caligula’s Horse seems more accessible to a broader audience without losing any of its progressive “cred.”  My satellite radio is currently down (although most of the SiriusXM stations are essentially payola junior at this point anyway), and if I dare to change the station from NPR classical, my eardrums are assaulted with incessant trash.

My point:  I’m convinced that a ton of people would love Caligula’s Horse if they were given proper exposure to it, but instead they’re subjected to nothing but autotuned predictable bullshit blaring through the car speakers during their daily commute.  Aside from being “too long” for FM radio (almost all their songs are over 6 minutes) — and don’t get me started on that — any one of the tracks off The Tide… could be digested and enjoyed as a single, while giving the listener a brief respite from the fifth Linkin’ Park clone to be played before yet another commercial break.  Dammit!  Now get off my lawn!  When I was a kid I had to walk five miles in the snow to school uphill both ways!

• Link to Caligula’s Horse’s facebook page
• Link to stream of 2013 release, “The Tide, The Thief & River’s End” (available for purchase via bandcamp)

Wide Eyes:

I am trying to find a way to justify why this band is included in what is ostensibly a progressive rock music challenge, particularly when I just had an instrumental metal challenge during the month of February.  They have a killer tech metal sound, that I suppose I could argue is more toward the melodic end of the spectrum… but I don’t suppose there’s any way I can fairly classify them as a prog rock group.  Oh well.  I doubt they’ll be the only band that pops up during this month or the next that would align better with another challenge.  But they just released Samsara and if you liked the theme of last month’s challenge — or if you’re a prog rock fan looking to expand your horizons into metal without getting jet-blasted in the face with brutal death growls (but query, why the heck not?!) — you should go check them out.  The album is kickass, regardless of its applicability (or lack thereof) to March’s theme.

• Link to Wide Eyes’s facebook page
• Link to stream of 2014 release, “Samsara“ (available for purchase via bandcamp)

The Flower Kings:

The Flower Kings’ latest release, Desolation Rose, is a two-disc album, which means that it’ll take some effort clicking around youtube to catch all the songs if you stream before buying.  As the vibe varies a bit (albeit not drastically) from track to track, it’s worth the effort, particularly if you are only feeling lukewarm about one song or another.  I selected “Tower One,” rather than the obvious choice of the album’s title track, because I thought the latter better exemplified the general “old-school prog rock with a modern edge” feeling of Desolation Rose as a collective whole.  But hey, if no songs strike your fancy, try another album!  These guys have been around awhile and have built a reputation as staples of the progressive rock scene and sound.  Thus, their appearance on the PNAS ship!  And thus, also, the basis of part of my enthusiasm in including them on this month’s list; seeing them live, but failing to catch the entirety of their set, left me craving more.

• Link to The Flower Kings’s facebook page
• Link to stream of 2013 release, “Desolation Rose”
• Desolation Rose available for purchase

Jolly:

Confession time.  I’m actually almost embarrassed to admit this.  It’s pretty clear that I’m maybe just a tad obsessed with Jolly’s “Audio Guide to Happiness” two-part album set.  Breakout band of 2013?  Number four favorite album of last year (and consider who they “beat” to win that title!)?  Recycled art series?  In two parts?  To say nothing of the fact that their presence on PNAS was, as I have often repeated, one of the major determining factors in booking the trip.  So after all that, you may be surprised to learn that this very challenge was the first time I’ve listened to 46 Minutes, 12 Seconds of Music straight through.  Well, shame on me.  Their debut album is all of the Jolly goodness I expected, and thus has become an immediate — albeit overdue — addition to my album collection.  Replay, replay, replay.  Gahhhh, I love this band!

• Link to Jolly’s facebook page
• Link to stream of 2009 release, “Forty-Six Minutes, Twelve Seconds of Music“
• Forty Six Minutes, Twelve Seconds of Music available for purchase

King’s X:

Yet another prog band for which I have an undeniably soft spot thanks in no small part to PNAS?  Indeed!  My exposure to King’s X prior to book the trip was surprisingly minimal.  They pop up on satellite radio’s classic rock stations from time to time, which I guess is indicative of their potential for broader, non-prognerd appeal.  And the album I chose for this challenge might just be the catchiest compilation of prog rock/metal songs I’ve heard to-date.  Intense and soulful, the songs express so much but in a way that’s more stripped-down than the stereotypical prog act.  If you can listen to this without grooving along in your chair, or at least feel your mood uplifted, then… well, to each their own, obviously, but I can’t understand it!  Incidentally:  I speak with absolute authority that they still absolutely friggin’ SLAY IT live!  One of my favorite memories from PNAS was looking down on the pool deck with the whole crowd singing along, “Music, music, I hear music…”  Damn.  I need to figure out if anyone posted a video (and then berate myself for actually being reluctantly grateful, for the first time ever, of a fan-produced cell phone concert clip).  I’m getting chills from the recollection alone.

• Link to King’s X’s facebook page
• Link to stream of 2008 release, “XV“
• The album”XV” available for purchase

Pain of Salvation:

So I have to start with a negative comment on this one:  the volume on the full stream link is kind of jacked up, to the point that it was distracting me and detracting from the album listening experience.  It should be fine if you are listening via loudspeakers, but it’s not ideal if you have highly sensitive headphones.  In the interest of full disclosure, I don’t own Remedy Lane, so this might be something inherent to the album rather than a faulty youtube upload.  I understand that sometimes an intensification of volume on a track can heighten the emotion of the song, but continual fluctuations drive me crazy.  It’s a subset of a general peeve of mine that also includes radio or television commercials being louder than the actual programming; movie actors speaking in hushed, nearly inaudible voices that are followed by a cacophony of  explosions or deafening clatter; and bass turned up so high that it supersedes every other element of a song and reverberates through your bones.

“Back in my day, children were seen, not heard. And not seen! With your newfangled rap music and rock ‘n roll…”

The fact this album, of all things, is what sparked a tirade, is utterly absurd.  If this darn post wasn’t five days overdue, I’d spend more time contemplating and then delineating some of the reasons why, whether you listen to one song or their entire catalog, the band is so compelling.  And why they attract and deserve such an ardent and loyal following.  Instead, I’ll let their headline billing on PNAS this past February and ProgPower this September speak for itself.

• Link to Pain of Salvation’s facebook page
• Link to stream of 2002 release, “Remedy Lane”
• Remedy Lane available for purchase

I’m not sure if this week’s line-up makes me more or less homesick for the PNAS cruise!  So many great artists and albums, bringing back so many wonderful memories.  Please forgive the choppy randomness of this week’s reviews.  I must post!