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Unsung Forum » Any American Prog Experts? |
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IanB 6761 posts |
Edited Nov 22, 2008, 17:00
Nov 22, 2008, 13:19
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I couldn't be more sympathetic to the 68-75 Prog / Zeuhl / Krautrock project and its utopian and hermetic outlook. That said I haven't found much of anything that is North American (at least not from outside of Quebec and Ontario) that has the same relationship to the Romantic movement, deals with the utopian / dystopian futures of science fiction and also incorporates the influence of electronic music, jazz, psych and minimalism. God knows I've tried and I have spent a fair amount of money unwisely over the years without hitting on anything that's carving out a space apart from the Anglo-Italian idea of prog. Am I missing anything I need to hear that is somehow managing to simultaneously draw on the likes of Walt Whitman, Steve Reich and PK Dick?
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Lawrence 9547 posts |
Nov 22, 2008, 18:49
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Frankly I can't think of any good prog that happened to come from North America. People usually think Styx, Kansas or Rush when they think of prog-rock over these shores...
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Stevo 6664 posts |
Nov 22, 2008, 19:18
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There's a band called Khazad Doom or something very similar that i heard were pretty decent US prog. Name is Tolkien derived & if it's not exactly that it's very close. your last condition reminds me of some of the early Grunt label material. Members of the just defunct Jefferson Airplane doing sci-fi lyric-ed stuff with complex music that may be more prog than psych. Also reminded of MX-80 Sound by some of what you said, though possibly more because of the Forcedexposure band history than immediately obvious from listening. Possibly not though since there are a lot of advanced influences in that stuff. Are the post-Them band Touch remotely what you're looking for? Think they get pretty proggy in places but it's been a while since I listened to the lp. not that familiar with US prog stuff though. Does seem to be most popularly represented by the likes of starcastle , Kansas & Rush as has been said. Stevo Np Todd Rungren Zen archer (verges on the prog too, as does his Utopia band)
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zerkalo 488 posts |
Edited Nov 22, 2008, 19:42
Nov 22, 2008, 19:34
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The closest thing to Prog I've got from the US is Ars Nova's self titled album from 1968, sounds like nothing else I've heard from that era out of North America http://www.sundazed.com/product_info.php?products_id=691 Close to Prog but can also be pigeon holed as psych are The Mandrake Memorial (especially the last album Puzzle) http://faintlyblowing.blogspot.com/2008/02/mandrake-memorial-puzzle-1970.html Ford Theatre are also worth a listen, I see these getting referred to as Prog but it's West Coast psych to my ears, regardless though their debut Trilogy for the Masses is essential listening. http://www.myspace.com/fordtheatre1 These are all acts that recorded their best stuff around 1968 so maybe a wee bit early for what you're asking for in your thread starter, but there's something about Ars Nova and The Mandrake Memorial that's closer to UK prog than their US contemporaries to my ears
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Maldoror 720 posts |
Nov 22, 2008, 20:28
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Muffins, Residents and Frank Zappa are, for instance, prog related in a certain way.
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zphage 3378 posts |
Edited Nov 22, 2008, 22:27
Nov 22, 2008, 21:41
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IanB wrote: I couldn't be more sympathetic to the 68-75 Prog / Zeuhl / Krautrock project and its utopian and hermetic outlook. That said I haven't found much of anything that is North American (at least not from outside of Quebec and Ontario) that has the same relationship to the Romantic movement, deals with the utopian / dystopian futures of science fiction and also incorporates the influence of electronic music, jazz, psych and minimalism. God knows I've tried and I have spent a fair amount of money unwisely over the years without hitting on anything that's carving out a space apart from the Anglo-Italian idea of prog. Am I missing anything I need to hear that is somehow managing to simultaneously draw on the likes of Walt Whitman, Steve Reich and PK Dick? http://www.waysidemusic.com/ Fusion and Art Rock would be the US equivalents to classically based "Prog" as opposed to progressive. That said I assume you have checked out David Borden/Mother Mallard, United States of America, T.o.n.t.o.'s Expanding Headband, Synergy/Larry Fast, Crack The Sky, Baby Grand, Happy The Man, Djam Karet, Black Sun Ensemble, Proto-Kaw, Cartoon, Touch, Mckendree Spring.
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Stevo 6664 posts |
Edited Nov 22, 2008, 23:47
Nov 22, 2008, 23:44
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zphage wrote: Black Sun Ensemble, funny you'd mention them since I just got through listening to the 1st lp for the 1st time in ages. Been sticking a lot of my obscure prog & psych discs on the Sonicstage library so I don't need to find the discs anymore. just upped that one tonight too. So, combined with listening to a couple tracks from Lambent Flame I was wondering if they fit here. possibly a little late though? zphage wrote: Proto-Kaw, are they any good? all I know is they're the band prior to Kansas, not sure if that meant line-up change or anything. But Kansas are not sposd to be that great are they? was also thinking about the U.S.A/Field Hippies stuff which you mentioned. Possibly Lothar & The Hand People too, though they get very countryish. which could also be said for Happy Dragon Band who might fit here too Australia had some interesting bands around that time too. Just got Blackfeather playing on the computer. Stevo
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zphage 3378 posts |
Edited Nov 23, 2008, 03:57
Nov 23, 2008, 03:54
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Kansas, Boston, Chicago, Styx, etc. might be a guilty pleasure. ProtoKaw sounds like earnest Kansas. The Dead, Allmans, Zappa, Steely Dan, PFunk, Mandrill, Santana, Electric Miles, fusion kinda organically processed electronics, avant garde, jazz, etc the way British/European prog bands did, just their own way.
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IanB 6761 posts |
Edited Nov 23, 2008, 12:18
Nov 23, 2008, 12:04
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Thanks one and all. I've tried the Kansas, Dixie Dregs end of the street and been underwhelmed. And I know more than is entirely necessary about the Canadian scene. There is deinitely a connection between the artwork of Roger Dean and that of the 60s electric Miles records, the costumes of Parliament and Art Ensemble of Chicago and the whole shtick of Sun Ra. It's (to be reductive) about space utopianism - one born out of English Romanticism, occultism and Hermetecism and the other out of the politics of race and a refocusing of pre Christian African history and culture. And they both have, beyond nationality, the space race era in common. However there isn't that much shared in the actual music. And the US progressive psych scene seems to me to have a lot in common with Krautrock and the likes of Faust and Can but not much at all in common with English Prog. I guess what I am wondering is if there is American music that idealised the countryside and dealt in a sort of pre-industrial utopian vision the way a lot of the (non Marxist / Spartist) English bands did?
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zphage 3378 posts |
Nov 23, 2008, 13:24
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There were plenty of commune bands most of whom fall into folk or a Dead/Allman's mode, some played bluegrass.
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