This time out, we have a modern (2020) German psychedelic prog rock album going up against an album by a Spanish proto-prog album from 1970.
Here are the details:
Polis - Weltklang
The album is full of elegant, laid back, yet energetic psychedelic, prog rock, from the beauty of the folk lullaby Abendlied to the jammy poetry of Eine Liebe, Taused Leben. Polis seem to love analogue instruments and the production values here are amazing. This is a total anachronism from the 70s. You can picture the band playing in front of you in an old village barn. It's psychedelic, it's prog rock, some people called it kraut rock, something I don't know shit about, and it jams so damn well.
The icing on the cake for me was hearing them sing in German. It's not often good bands decide to stick to their german mother tongue. I was moved in a way that didn't happen to me since I discovered The Hirsch Effekt.
Bandcamp: https://polisklang.bandcamp.com/album/weltklang
Youtube-Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lnhemXfO2DI4svUvZRxQ1Xglp8VusAJKQ
Also available on Spotify
vs.
Maquina! - Why?
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
I've got high hopes for this round. Let's see how it works out.
