Twenty albums entered, but over the course of two-and-half months or so, ten of them have been eliminated. Now we move on to the elimination round.
Jethro kept the same format for this round as Friday had used for last years contest. Our instructions were:
I want you to give your top 4 ranking out of these ten. So if Jono El Grande was your favorite, followed by The Mercury Tree, Pekka Pohjola and Novela, you would say ''1. Jono El Grande, 2. The Mercury Tree, 3. Pekka Pohjola and 4. Novela''. I will weight the number 1 spot over number 2, etc.
Here were the ten survivors from the first round:
Italy is considered a prog hotbed of the very highest caliber, and this one makes no exception. Album is consistent and is centered around electric guitar supported by a variety of synth and keys. It expresses all the emotions found here to the max. Here, it's romantic, there it's dark. There is a sense of tension as well, and it can be hypnotic at times. No necessarily need of vocals for doing so. When the vocals are sparsed, the instruments tightly express. Album is very melodic, and not many heavy parts to be found but heaviness is in their DNA, as shown in their previous albums.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DESnpZqOndg&list=PLuS4U--ALmIFO31OkVeIZTh6s4Fum09K1
track 1 is a teaser. Please skip it.
Why? is a Spanish proto-prog record very heavily steeped in the psychedelia of the era. One wouldn't be shocked to hear the likes of the title track in a 1969 Grateful Dead live performance (with better vocals) as it runs on its acid fueled energy for around 25 minutes. Apparently this album was quite the historical achievement as one of the first of its kind to come from Spain and helped develop the prog scene there. For those who aren't fans of jam rock, this might not be your cup of tea, but there are still plenty of other moments that might satisfy including pretty killer basslines throughout.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yng581COUU
Mezquita were from Cordoba, Spain, so you get what the cool kidz call "Rock Andaluz" (in other words prog rock infused with flamenco + a noticeable north african influence (think morocco etc. ))
What else... Franco is dead (yay!) and burns in hell for all eternity, so different regions in Spain were starting to feel themselves again resulting in a rise of regional pride resulting (among other things) in this: an album that just oozes Andalusia.
tl;dr: a damn good andalusian prog rock record, just bask in the glory of southern Spain
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdChSFgFT2Q
(it's also on Spotify)
SBB
Memento Z Banalnym Tryptykiem
SBB is a criminally slept on polish prog group that have made some of my favorite records in all of music. I love their songwriting and musicianship, and that's on full display on this record in particular. This record is a great show of strength for the group's abilities, from flashy exciting jazz fusion to the somber, Spanish-influenced wails of a lone guitar, these guys know how to make a melody. And I want to make sure everyone knows that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq2WKo5s8e8&ab_channel=EricDeRosaProg
Axis formed in 1970 and served as a backing band for Demis Roussos (Aphrodite's Child). Four years after the seize of power by the junta regime they had to move to France, where they recorded their three albums. Their eponymous album finds them with a different line-up. They play experimental and dark prog incorporating elements of avant-jazz, symphonic prog, and Canterbury. You'll notice how harsh and rhythm-oriented some segments are. The album, released only in Canada and France, is the absolute unit of obscure progressive rock, and one of the most inspiring releases of the Greek scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp4LQr8cAaE
The way the vibrato-filled singing keeps bouncing around may not be every westerner's cup of coffee (tea?), but this Japanese album from 1983 surely deserves to be heard by progheads because of how modern it feels, from the impressively clean production (Wilson-y?) to that rhythmic bass 20 seconds into the first song that sounds like something a modern prog metal band could have come up with. An album that could have come out yesterday.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/MTlONv33Xdk
For his 4th solo album, Finnish composer and bassist Pekka Pohjola (1952-2008), one of the greatest Scandinavian musicians of all time, puts everything he had: his sense of melody, boundless love for jazz and prog rock, Mr. Frank Zappa's teachings and an absolutely unique look at the nature of neoclassical music. This instrumental record is a 32 minute entity joined not only by a brass section, but also by the strings and woodwinds of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. An ambitious album that, for once, achieves its lofty goals, and in spectacular style to thrill.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/13jsiukSg8oNVBKACx3X3f?si=4cZ0GZskTBSc6kFIfAyfog
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVDUIxuUWxE
The Mercury Tree’s latest is a continuation of their last: heavy avant-prog with experimental and math rock tendancies. But Spidermilk is the fruition of their microtonal/xenharmonic experiments, being their first album composed entirely on 17-EDO tuned and fretted guitars. Just as Harry Partch predicted in his manifesto on modern microtonal music, “Genesis of a Music,” what begins as impenatrable cacophany on first listen gradually morphs into a surreal escape into otherworldly songs upon repeated listens. Look no further than “Vestments” for the album’s prog accumen, reappropriating King Crimson’s Discipline era for a brave new world of microtonality. I saw them live and they deftly replicated this microtone for microtone. Certainly the most innovative prog rock band in the United States today.
https://themercurytree.bandcamp.com/album/spidermilk
Jono El Grande
Melody Of A Muddled Mason
Norwegian nutter throws everything into an album that is mad, off the wall (and at times up it) comical, melodic, dark and playful all the while following a proggish forays into melody and rock.
Available in Bandcamp and other streamings.
https://jonoelgrande.bandcamp.com/album/melody-of-a-muddled-mason
Dense ass avant-zeuhl chaos, and way better than a 2000s reunion prog album from an old act has ANY right to be. Band got started by the guitarist from the first two Univers Zero records, and this one closes with a cover/redo of Jack the Ripper off Heresie. Whole things a ride.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAFqDYKKhIM
Only stream I could find is on YouTube. Sound quality there is predictably a bit shit, so if any progheads are savvy enough to use Google drive, I also uploaded my copy into a shared folder for your beautiful ears:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IZRIrhQuCc0_NfWJ2Jfl6EKEaDlV76qZ
So once again, we'll see how it goes.
I've already relistened to all of these and made my vote for next week. (More about that later on.) I'll tell you all about that after all of the voting is in and the four albums moving on to the semi-finals have been declared.
