The label that reinvented progressive rock: 10 albums on Kscope you should definitely listen to

Anathema - Weather Systems (2012)

Liverpool rockers Anathema didn’t make a shit record (right up to their swansong, 2017’s sublime The Optimist)  but their ninth, Weather Systems, is still widely considered ‘the one’. And there’s ample reason for that. An intelligent, heartbreaking musical journey in a career full of them, its huge melodies ride effortlessly on waves of stirring strings, gnarly electronics, driving guitars, delicate acoustic layers and stunning vocals from Vincent Cavanagh and Lee Douglas. 

If you looked up the term ‘spine-tingling’ in a dictionary, opening duo Untouchable Part I and Part II would appear next to it. Were they the closest thing we’ve had to a modern day Pink Floyd? Possibly. It was a sad day for rock when they called time in 2020.

Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories) (2013)

Since 2013 Steven Wilson has pointedly moved between styles (coming back to progressive epics on 2023’s The Harmony Codex), but for a singular expression of musical auteurship The Raven… is still hard to beat. A conceptual love letter to the forefathers of prog rock (inspired by ghost stories from the likes of Edgar Allan Poe), this was Wilson’s first record as an all-out composer, written specifically for his assembled virtuoso band. 

Comprising six immaculate vignettes, it retains a compelling sonic and thematic identity throughout – from the edgy dynamism of Luminol to the taut, hauntingly beautiful title track. All of which was complemented by powerful visuals (album art, merch, videos) courtesy of collaborators Lasse Hoile, Halo Muller and Jess Cope. Music and imagery that’s endured for over a decade. 

The Pineapple Thief - Your Wilderness (2016) 

After 2014’s more ‘pop-minded’ Magnolia failed to take off as hoped, Bruce Soord was seriously considering calling time on The Pineapple Thief. But when prog drummer du jour Gavin Harrison joined the fold, they appeared to both rediscover their old mojo and gain a new lust for life. 

By turns delicate and brooding, light and dark, Your Wilderness was their first album with Harrison on the books, combining his inventive rhythmic dynamics with the band’s existing ear for details, electro-acoustic textures and searing melodies. In Exile and No Man’s Land, in particular, are among the best things they’ve ever done.

The Anchoress - The Art Of Losing (2021) 

Welsh singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Catherine Anne Davies (aka The Anchoress) wrote her second album, The Art Of Losing, during an incredibly tough few years that saw her father die of a brain tumour, while she herself navigated cancer treatment and multiple miscarriages. 

Such punishing context makes the album’s elegance and poise all the more remarkable. Deftly marrying existential pain with synth-bouncing 80s pop (Show Your Face), James Dean Bradfield guest vocals (the soaring The Exchange) and velvet keys throughout, she sings and orchestrates with an assured, almost Bowie-esque auteurship. No wonder Prog named it its Album Of The Year in 2021.

Lunatic Soul - Through Shaded Woods (2020)

The folky prog solo brainchild of Riverside bassist and singer Mariusz Duda, Lunatic Soul draw heavily from the Polish forests and lakes of Duda’s childhood on this commanding, career-topping seventh record. "I think I have always wanted to create an album steeped in nature and woodlands,” Duda said at the time. "These bring to my mind freedom, breathing and a dance ritual of coming back to nature, so I wanted the album to include such ritualistic primal dances, shamanic, Slavic and Viking moods.” 

By turns dark, ancient, earthy and celestial, Through Shaded Woods has an enigmatic quality that rocks out as much as it spaces out, and (more often than not) makes for tracks you can dance to. 

Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase. (2015)

A concept record based on a narrative inspired by Joyce Carol Vincent (a young woman who was found dead in her bedsit in London in 2006, after lying there unnoticed for over two years), Hand. Cannot. Erase is etched into fans’ memories for both its music and its devastating story – one that encourages us to consider the isolation, the strangeness, that so often comes with urban living. 

Sonically it’s perhaps his finest solo sweet spot between pop precision, ambient atmosphere and progressive wizardry, from the cool pallor of Perfect Life to the emotional sucker punch of Routine (a duet with Israeli star Ninet Tayeb, now a familiar face in the Wilson sphere).

TesseracT - War Of Being (2023)

Newcomers to the British prog-metallers could do a lot worse than start here, at their fifth album, which delighted expectant fans – coming out five years and a pandemic after their previous LP, Sonder. It was worth the wait. 

A brilliantly ambitious tour de force that doesn’t compromise on melody or catchiness, War Of Being finds them on livid, powerful form, matching cleverness with thunderous riffs, emotional depth and Daniel Tompkins’ finest vocals yet. Its release also coincided with a new video game, and a general sense of them stepping into a bigger league. A cathartic listen after a tumultuous few years.

Iamthemorning - Lighthouse (2016)

Russian ‘chamber-prog’ duo Iamthemorning first came into the Kscope fold after singer Marjana Semkina befriended Anathema’s Daniel Cavanagh, as they Kickstarter-financed their second LP Belighted. From there they were embraced by the label, who signed them for the release of their game-raising third album Lighthouse. 

Featuring appearances from Porcupine Tree and Riverside members, it finds them channelling their skillset (Semkina’s elfin Tori Amos-meets-Kate Bush soprano, plus pianist Gleb Kolyadin’s modern-classical sensibilities) into their most lavish yet restrained work yet. Think lush orchestration offset with sparseness and quiet places. 

Blackfield - Blackfield (2004)

An early Kscope imprint (and later reissued by the label in deluxe form) from the musical lovechild of Israeli star Aviv Geffen and Steven Wilson. 

For our money Blackfield’s debut LP is their best. It begins with prettily fragile acoustic guitars that smash suddenly into a moody, heavy guitar stomp (Open Mind), before elegantly traversing through alt pop catchiness (e.g. the popular title track), melancholy synths (Glow) and marriages of Geffen and Wilson’s imperfect, heartfelt vocals. 

Gazpacho - Tick Tock (2009)

There’s a sense of macabre story-telling in the work of Norwegian progsters Gazpacho (so-called as it’s “the bastard of soups”, they’ve said). If Jackanory were reimagined for grown-ups, on a dark snowy mountain somewhere, these guys would provide the soundtrack. 

A concept album based on the book Wind, Sand And Stars by Antoine Di Saint-Exupery, Tick Tock is a twisty hybrid of gnarly rock, alternative indie and avant-pop. Its (non-Kscope) predecessor Night was a little more immediate, but this is still highly more-ish (keyboardist Thomas Andersen has also written pop jingles, while Ohme works with popstars at Sony), and the layers at work, we’d argue, make it the meatier, more rewarding listen.

Nosound - The Northern Religion Of Things (2011)

Not so much ‘Avoid’ as ‘Meh’ or ‘Maybe don’t bother’ (especially when from a label that has so much else to offer), this live album from ambient Italian experimentalists Nosound is one of several Kscope records that feels a little nebulous and (whisper it) a bit boring. 

Naturally if you’re a Nosound fan you’ll most likely disagree with that, but for our money this album seems rather innocuous; sliding lethargically through layers of alt.electronica and sleep-inducing resonations. It might be fine if you’re trying to sleep, but there are more compelling examples in this field to be had elsewhere.