Prog Contest 2021: Round 1 Match 6

On we moved to Match 6, one of the stranger matchups of the tournament so far. Here were the contenders:

Hercules and Lernaean Hydra - In Other Worlds

"It's an album that bursts with creativity and musicality. It's apparent it was created by people who loved music and paid attention to detail. It's never static in one place and genre, and this fluidity is further highlighted by the numerous different singers that guest here, and the more than 80 (!) different instruments used for the end result. It wouldn't be a 70's greek prog album without numerous references to Greek folk music and of course all the lyrics are in Greek as well." - Mythodea

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mWS8vCSWMAhWCUBG8DVcCDDOji8Tln-GU

vs.

Hermann Szobel - Szobel

"Child prodigy Hermann Szobel composed and produced one album at the age of 18 before he disappeared from the music world completely. The album has a Frank Zappa vibe, with emphasis on piano (Szobel's instrument), percussion, and vibraphone. It was obscure even when it was released in the 70s, but a 2012 reissue has given us a second chance to enjoy it." - TwigTW

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2VUcwcNH6YbFCPfntYcYdG?si=iBz1ZcHoRta7TNbKOWMizg

youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWb59xaXahQpnZs7AjlHhCQ

So it was Greek folk prog vs. Austrian classical/jazz prog, with both albums hailing from 1976. I'll give a day and a half, or maybe two days, before I tell you how this one worked out and bring you up to date and into Match 7. (I'll tell you how it worked out for me -- I had to use Denise's cell phone to vote from my hospital bed. But dammit, I got my vote in!)

Prog Contest 2021: Round 1 Match 5 Results

 This contest was so tight that our host, Friday, let it go an extra couple of days to get a clean result. Here was my take:

I've been under the weather most of the week, which hasn't helped. But this wasn't a good round for me.

I always wondered about Soft Machine, as they seemed to be considered the closest contemporaries of Pink Floyd back in the '60s British psychedelic era. I even picked up their Third album a while back. However, because I tend to prioritize keeping up with new music, it's still in my listening pile somewhere. So this is really my first exposure to this classic band (although I know their personnel is entirely different now).

Unfortunately, this was a disappointment to me. It's yet another album that I hear as well played but mostly uninteresting jazz, with no vocals. There were one or two moments that got through to me - there was a bit of "Moonchild" thing going on at the 30-minute mark or so that I was into briefly. But ultimately, I don't really take any pleasure in this kind of music, no matter how good the musicianship is. And the 59+ minute length didn't help it any.

The Yolk album is definitely a weird-ass LP. There were times where it was way too deep into the Outer Limits for me, but there were at least some other parts that I took some pleasure in. It mostly has vocalizations rather than vocals, but some (though not all) were enjoyable. And it didn't hurt that it clocked in a good twenty minutes lighter than the Soft Machine album.

So my voting preference never changed throughout the three listens. I vote for Yolk.

The group was really torn on this one. The voting stayed close throughout, with some people really loving the musicianship and improvisational skills of Soft Machine and others praising the creativity and innovation of Yolk. After waiting two days to try to get all of the votes in, Friday finally called it.

Final Result: Soft Machine 9 votes, Yolk 10 votes.

Out Sick and Catch Up

 Hi Gang,

As you can see, I'm a little behind in my reporting on the prog rock contest. Part of that is because last week's Round 1 Match 5 (Soft Machine vs. Yolk) ran over because it was extremely close, and the other part is I got sick and just spent five days in the hospital.

Anyway, I'm back now, and much better. I hope to give you the skinny on how Match 5 worked out, then give you the contestants for Round 1 Match 6, and the next give you the final results for that matchup (which just finished yesterday, and for which I had to cast my vote from the hospital. And after that, I'll give you the matchup for Round 1, Match 7, which just began today.

That's the plan, anyway.

Prog Contest 2021: Round 1 Match 5

For this round, our friend Friday has chosen to match up two of the more idiosyncratic entrants. Here's what it looks like:

Soft Machine - Hidden Details

"Soft Machine's latest record is way better than you'd expect, these are experienced prog musicians doing their thing, and it feels almost effortless, even at their current age. This record is packed with some richly atmospheric jazzy tracks, and while it might not be up there with their best, it's still a very strong record that is befitting of the band and canturbury scene's name." - Sharktooth

Youtube: https://youtu.be/uGIf97m243M

vs.

Yolk - Solar

"Incredible fluid layering of sounds with a tricked-out, almost krautrock approach to rhythm. Playful vocals and vibrant atmosphere, whole thing sounds like a wonky prog forest. And they keep it tight, under 40 minutes long, praise be." - porcupinetheater

Bandcamp: https://yolkmusic.bandcamp.com/album/solar

So you have the most recent effort by an elder statesman of the British music scene vs. a French avant-garde band from Dunkirk. I can't wait!

Prog Contest 2021: Round 1 Match 4 Results

This was another round that was pretty tight until the end.

Here's what I had to say:

I've already stated most of my thoughts about he Alas LP. The album annoys me in parts where it gets harsh or very jazzy. It also entertains me in parts where the band enters the ELP-Tarkus zone, or in those quiet parts with the gentle male harmonies and tasteful, quiet synth. It's not totally in my prog sweet spot, but it successfully hits some of the buttons.

On the other hand, I just can't seem to click with the Seru Giran LP. It doesn't have a lot of negatives (except perhaps for having too many high-pitch/fasletto vocals for my taste.) But it also isn't doing anything much FOR me. The musicianship is definitely good, but after three listens, I just haven't gotten interested in the songwriting. (If it moves onto the next round, I'll give it another listen then, as always, and maybe it will start to make more sense to me then.)

So do I go for the one with the higher positives AND the higher negatives, or go for the one that just kind of hangs there for me? In this case I choose passion, both positive and negative. My vote is for Alas.

Of course, it had to happen eventually, and this was the round where the majority was against me. Alas was close for most of the voting process, but it was always a vote or two behind.

Final Result: Alas 7 votes, Seru Giran 11 votes.

Prog Contest 2021: Round 1 Match 4

 So this round, our friend Friday has given a contest between two prog bands from Argentina. Here are the details:

Alas - Alas

"Lovely album from the Argentinian outfit Alas, released in 1976. Brings to mind ELP and Return to Forever, but with a distinct twist." - normaloctagon

Youtube: https://youtu.be/ZfbKolVHgak

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4lXzFUScvOee8H8eUj6xSy

vs.

Serú Girán - La Grassa de las Capitales

"One of the many projects by Charly Garcia, one of the biggest names in latin rock. La Grasa de las Capitales is a slow, bluesy prog album with what feels to me like a very nocturnal and urban vibe. Also a lot of jazz fusion into it, and your classic argentinian vocals!" - MrSirLordGentleman

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm6Qzilw5Cs&ab_channel=Ser%C3%BAGir%C3%A1n

I don't know anything about either of these bands. However, I can tell you MrSirLordGentleman, who recommended the second LP, is the only contestant who has ever won the Prog Contest twice. So I'll be watching (and listening to) this round with special interest.

Prog Contest 2021: Round 1 Match 3 Results

 This round was pretty tight, until it wasn't. 

Here was my vote:

You could probably see which direction I was moving in on this one. After the first listen, I had mixed feelings on both albums. However, after the second one, my feelings started to take shape.

For the Syzygy, I liked a lot of their synth work. However, overall, I liked them best in their "smaller" moments, on tracks like "Circadian Rhythm" and "Beggar's Tale". On many of the longer tracks, they built up compositions which, while fairly complex, weren't necessarily pleasant for me to listen to. Of their longer tracks, I liked "Dreams" the best. As for the vocals, while I was glad they had some, and their singer was certainly competent, I again found him more effective on the shorter, quieter tracks.

As for the Pendragon album, the fist time through, while I liked their overall sound, I wasn't convinced they offered much in the way of songwriting. By the second listen, though, many (though not all) of their songs, began to resonate with me, and this held through during the third listen as well. I also liked a lot of their grand guitar work.

In the end, I had a small but distinct preference for the Pendragon LP, and my vote goes to that one.

Surprisingly (and somewhat frighteningly), for the third round in a row, the majority was with me, only this time by a slimmer margin. 

Final Result: Syzygy 8 votes, Pendragon 11 votes.

May 2021 Song of the Day

Sometimes when I wait a couple of days into the new month before posting the previous month's Song of the Day, info it's just laziness on my part. And sometimes, it's because I'm just too busy with my job to get to it. But this time, I didn't wait for either of those reasons. The truth is, it was just too close to call.

I'm going to tell you guys straight out, I think this was my worst month ever for SOTD, and it had everything to do with the month's theme. But I'll tell you all about it in a minute.

For new readers, this blog entry refers to the monthly Song of the Day list on the Sputnik Music website. Each month, one User hosts the list and names a theme. Everyone then recommends songs in line with this theme, and people rate the various song recommendations. The list of May songs can be found at Sputnik Music Song of the Day - May 2021.

 1. The theme for this months was Songs That Are Under a Minute Long. It was a creative concept, and a good idea in theory. Unfortunately, in practice, it led mainly to two kinds of songs getting recommended: A. hardcore/punk songs, which tend to be shorter than those of most other genre's, or B. Songs that weren't really fully fleshed out songs, but were either just intro's to another song, musical interludes, etc. I can deal with the punk aspect, especially if it's funny punk. The hardcore, on the other hand, with it's growling, shrieking vocals, just kills me. And the intros/interludes/song snippets just frustrated me -- there too many examples of what sounded like good ideas that just never really got developed.

2. We had more than full participation this month, by which I mean not only did we have a different User recommend a song for each of the 31 days of the month, we also had two late comers who were granted bonus recs. But I didn't actually listen to the bonus recs, nor did I include them in my monthly YouTube playlist. (They're listed in the list linked above, though, if you're interested.) In any event, this meant that I got one rec for the month. And it was hard to find anything satisfactory. In the end, I sort of halfheartedly settled on "Generational Divide" by blink-182, which at least: A. Was actually a (sort of) full song unto itself, and B. it was a song for which I liked at least the first part of the vocal harmonies (although it sounds to me like they got slightly out of sync later in the song). In any event, it wasn't well received, and I knew going in it wouldn't be. The Users who regularly rank these songs every month hate pop punk in general, and the Sputnik site as a whole has no love for blink-182's last two albums. In retrospect, I wish I'd chosen "Her Majesty" by The Beatles (but it always feels so bland to rec a Beatles song), or "The Money Song" by Monty Python (which is a novelty song, but a good one). Oh well. blink-182 - Generational Divide

3. Like I said, the nature of theme really limited the choices people could make for their recs, with the result being that my average rating for the month was a putrid 2.62 out of 5. My top pick of the month (which I only gave a 3.5, again an all-time low for me) was a song called "Spiral" by the New Jersey band Pinegrove. It's kind of repetitive, but it gets away with it because, of course, it's only 56 seconds long. Pinegrove - Spiral

4. The winning song, however, was a track by a band called Vansire called "From the Subway Train". (The band is reportedly from Rochester, Minnesota, so what they know about subway trains, I'll be damned if I know. But there you have it.) Vansire - From the Subway Train

5. You can find 30 of the 31 tracks recommended for the month proper on the YouTube playlist I've linked down below. The 31st song, "Do the Moo Shoo" by an artist listed as VeggieTales, is available on YouTube, but because it's a children't song, and there's some kind of strange YouTube policy that won't let you add children's songs to playlists (I don't even want to speculate), it's not on the list below. May 2021 Song of the Day YouTube Playlist

So that's May in the books. I can already tell you that next month's YouTube playlist is going to be really incomplete, and we don't even have all the recs for the month in yet. But you'll have to come back at the beginning of July to hear about it. Until then, be good.

And of course, I'll be back early next week with the result of the latest matchup in the Prog Contest, followed shortly thereafter by the Tale of the Tape for the following week's matchup.

Prog Contest 2021: Round 1 Match 3

 This matchup is a contest between neo-prog bands. Here's the tale of the tape:

Syzygy - A Glorious Disturbance

"Syzygy is an American prog band that began under the name "Witsend" back in the 1980s. By this live album, their last major work before disbanding, most of these middle-aged dudes had been playing unapologetic retro prog for decades, and it shows in the best possible way. Tight harmonies, interesting keyboard sounds, shredding bass and guitar, complex drum rhythms, you know what you are going to get, you just my be surprised how good it is. Songs from their entire back catalog are more than replicated with grooving performances and pristine sound quality, and songs like "Coronation," a new song about the prodigal son story, prove they had the songwriting to be as well known as Spock's Beard or Echolyn." - Friday13th

Youtube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nWf7yGlw6UKvfFS4jxg5HMc5rE9TYJGEY

vs.

Pendragon - Love Over Fear

"A neo-prog gem from one of the most underrated bands in the entire genre who’ve been at it for decades.
Is it a tad cheesy, a bit over produced and lacking a certain something? Yes but I’ll be buggered if it’s not one of the greatest albums of the last few years." - zakalwe

Bandcamp" https://pendragon3.bandcamp.com/album/love-over-fear

Not much else to say. Let's see how it plays out.

Prog Contest 2021: Round 1 Match 2 Results

This round was kind of a slaughter. Not that everyone hated the one album, but there was a clear preference for the other.

Here was my vote:

OK, I'm ready to vote. Given my previously stated preferences and tastes, this one won't be a shock to anyone.

The Moose Loose album is an all instrumental album, which is always a challenge for my teeny tiny attention span. (Yeah, I know, I rec'd an instrumental album last time, what's your point? That was German synthesizer music, a totally different animal.) It's also a jazz album, much more jazzy than it is proggy (to my ears, anyway). Having said that, the playing on the LP is really hot at times, and quite beautiful at others. But it's still outside of my usual taste zone.

The Jordsjo is more to my liking. It's a more traditional prog album (at least the way I define prog), with lots of flute, keyboards, soft guitars, etc. I wouldn't necessarily say the vocalist is a standout, but he's pretty good, more than acceptable.

Stylistically, the Jordsjo LP had a huge advantage for me over the Moose Loose LP going in. I vote for Jordsjo.

This time, most of the group was with me.

Final Result: Moose Loose 4 votes, Nordsjo 15 votes.