Welcome to another Tracks Of The Week. Another five brand new and diverse slices of progressive music for you to enjoy.
Irish post-rockers God Is An Astronaut were the big winners last week, walking off with a massive 59% of the vote for their track Odyssey, followed by London prog metallers Lowen and Kikagaku Moyo frontman Tomo Katsurada in third place.
The premise for Tracks Of The Week is simple - we've collated a batch of new releases by bands falling under the progressive umbrella, and collated them together in one post for you - makes it so much easier than having to dip in and out of various individual posts, doesn't it?
The idea is to watch the videos (or listen if it's a stream), enjoy (or not) and also to vote for your favourite in the voting form at the bottom of this post. Couldn't be easier could it?
We'll be bringing you Tracks Of The Week, as the title implies, each week. Next week we'll update you with this week's winner, and present a host of new prog music for you to enjoy.
If you're a band and you want to be featured in Prog's Tracks Of The Week, send your video (as a YouTube link) or track embed, band photo and biog to us here.
TERAMAZE - CHAOS IN THE WAY
Australian prog metallers Teramaze certainly aren't going to let go of the mantle of most prolific band in prog any time soon. The band have released no less than six studio albums over the past five years! Count 'em: I Wonder (2020), Sorella Minore (2021), And The Beauty The Percieve (2021), Flight Of The Wounded (2022), Dalla Volta (2023) and Eli: A Wonderful Fall From Grace earlier this year!
Now they're back with Teracoustic Sessions: Volume 1, which, as the title implies, is an acoustic album reworking material from the band's extensive back catalogue. Chaos In The Way originally appeared on the band's 2023 album Dalla Volta, and is given the mellow treatment here, showing a more sensitive side to the band.
KANAAN & ÆVESTADEN - VALLAT EFTER C.G. FARJE
Eight and a half minutes of wild, proggy, pysch folk? Now that's a tempting offer! Kanaan & Ævestaden are a collaborative affair that birngs together Norwegian heavy psychedelic, jazz-inspired rockers Kanaan and fellow countrymen, neo-traditional folk trio Ævestaden. The two bands have got together ti record an album, Langt, langt vekk, which will be released through Jansen Records on October 11. The pair meld traditional Norwegian folk music and rock across reworked old traditionals and psalms along with new compositions.
"Vallåt efter C.G. Färje is another old folk tune which has received an extreme makeover," they say. "Ævestaden's etheric neo-folk is combined with Kanaan's crunchy guitars and thundering drums. 8½ minutes of wild, proggy, psych folk!"
JON HUNT - SO MUCH MOUTH, SO LITTLE TO SAY
Jon Hunt is a London-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, and So Much Mouth, So Little To Say is taken from his latest album An Explosion Of Nothing, his fourth album which was released earlier this year through Seven Notch Records. Huntn is an eclectic artists, mixing experimental, post and progressive rock flavours alongside industrial beats, yearning acoustic numbers, and quirky psychedelia.
"Lyrically this song is really an amalgamation of some of the people I’ve worked with over the years," Hunt says of So Much Mouth, So Little To Say. "One often finds that loudest and most arrogant, narcissistic folk are in fact the most boring and vacuous - a highly frustrating combination! More generally, it’s about the sinking feeling you have when you are stuck in a forced situation with a bunch of people you have nothing in common with at all, and the desire for escape that goes with it."
JOE DENINZON & STRATOSPHEERIUS - OUTRAGE OLYMPICS
Joe Deninzon needs little introduction, having recently been announced as the replacement for violinist Dave Ragsdale in US prog rockers Kansas last year. But away from them he also fronts Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius, who have spent six years working on their sixth studio album Impostor!, which will be released hrough Trey Gunn's 7d Media label on October 11.
“Sometimes you write a bunch of songs and don’t see the thread that binds them together until they are all on one album," says Deninzon about the songs on Imposter!, which share stories of emotional battles Joe has observed in his life and the outside world. "Outrage Olympics criticizes cancel culture. It shows both the world at large and his band being spied upon by drones and cameras in a present-day dystopia."
FEN - RITUAL LITE
Canadian prog rockers Fen have returned to active duty after a twelve-year hiatus with the release of their brand new album Dear Mouse, from which comes the impressive Ritual Lite. Lyrically, many of the songs on Dear Mouse explore themes of endings, touching on subjects such as the conclusion of long-term relationships, employment, and even one's physical home.
"Dear Mouse is less a comeback album than a tying up of loose ends," the band state. "The ten songs were all started in 2014 or earlier. They sat as fragments for a long time, but as life pulled the band apart, we couldn’t ignore these unfinished gems—or so we thought of them. We chipped away at them on and off. They dragged us along almost painfully at times. For the final three years, we pushed as hard as our lives would allow. Ultimately, Dear Mouse was a test of our perseverance and of getting out what needed to be said. We can rest now. And we will. We hope you find something in the music to appreciate."
