Welcome to Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week. Seven brand new and diverse slices of progressive music for you to enjoy.
A huge well done to young UK new prog trio Teoger, who romped home last week with over 50% of the votes. A fantastic effort and great to see a young UK act doing so well. Reunited US melodic prog rockers Days Before Tomorrow came second and Finnish composer and musician Lauri Porra was 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 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.
So get watching. And get voting at the bottom of the page.
DIM GRAY - MURALS
Norwegian art rock trio Dim Gray have returned with a brand new single, the engaging Murals, which also heralds the news that a third album by the band is on the way - a follow-up to 2022's acclaimed Firmament. Written and sung by Håkon Høiberg, with The Pineapple Thief's Bruce Soord behind the mixing desk. It's the first release by the band as a quintet, with Milad Amouzegar (guitars and keyboards) and Kristian Kvaksrud (bass) joining guitarist and co-vocalist Høiberg, Oskar Holldorff (vocals and keyboards) and Tom Ian Klungland (drums).
"I wanted to delve deeper into the Norwegian folk music heritage and was inspired by the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle and its unique melodic sound,” explains Høiberg. “Combining it with a primal, upbeat soundscape to craft the various parts of the song, it resulted in a sound that you rarely hear played by an electric guitar."
SLEEPMAKESWAVES - RITUAL CONTROL
Australian post-rock trio sleepmakeswaves are back with another single from their upcoming album It's Here, But I Have No Names For It, which will be released through Bird’s Robe/MGM and Dunk Records on April 12. Ritual Control is a boisterous slice of careening post-rock, infused throughout with the Sydney boys; inherent sense of melody. They play The Garage in London on May 16.
"Ritual Control was first demoed as Dr. Riff Has Arrived," says bassist and keyboard player Alex Wilson. "I still wonder whether we were mistaken to have not kept the old title. Otto originally presented the song skeleton to us with the concern that maybe the riffs were "too dumb". In fact, Tim and I responded, they are the perfect quantity of dumb. Sure, these riffs aren't going to earn a PhD. But they will hold down a full-time job, get the kids to school on time and read the occasional piece of challenging non-fiction on weekends. Courageous and heartfelt conversations like this are the core of what effective post-rock songwriting is all about. New album out next month!"
BEATRIX PLAYERS - SOMEBODY ELSE'S EYES
The new-look Beatrix Players released their latest album, Living & Alive, last September, and now release their final video shot at at Fenton Town Hall, for Somebody Else's Eyes. The band, led by Amy Birks, now feature Helena Dove, guitarist Tom Manning as well as flautist John Hackett, guitarist Oliver Day (That Joe Payne, Yes Please), drummer Andrew Booker (Tim Bowness) and cellist Jane Fenton (LSO, LCO, RPO, Britten Ensemble etc).
“Living & Alive is an honest album, that explores how life isn’t just about living, but that it’s about having the courage to really be alive and own it," says Birks. "Simply put; you are your best you, and will only ever be second best if you’re trying to be something other than you..."
LETHE - ÉTERNAL
Dark electronic prog duo Lethe, who feature Cellar Darling and Maer's Anna Murphy and Tor-Helge Skei of atmospheric metal band Manes, signed to Dark Essence Records last year, and are readying their third album, Alienation, for release on their new label on April 26, from which comes their rather wonderful new single, Éternel. The band are named after one of the five rivers of Hades in Greek mythology!
"The album is pretty varied, and it's difficult to select a few songs to represent it as a whole," the band say, "but, trying to show some different sides of it, here's a slightly 'sharper' and more energetic song this time, featuring the usual suspects - Eivind Fjøseide on guitars, Tor Arne Helgesen on drums, plus Pierre Ripka on vocals... enjoy! Become Alienate."
RENDEZVOUS POINT - DON'T LOOK UP
Norwegian prog rockers Rendezvous Point return with Don't Look Up, their first new music for five years! The band who feature Leprous drummer Baard Kolstad, keyboardist Nicolay Tangen Svennæs (Ihsahn, Bernhoft, Emilie Nicolas), singer Geirmund Hansen, guitarist Petter Hallaråker and bass player Gunn-Hilde Erstad, released their second album, Universal Chaos back in 2019, but the new single would seem t suggest a follow-up is on the way.
"Regardless of all the warning signs around us, humankind continues to destroy earth’s resources," says singer Hansen of the new single. "It feels like we don’t care about tomorrow as long as our decisions benefits today. Don‘t Look Up is also a story about how our longing for personal glory can destroy our relations to others and the outside world."
THE CASIMIR CONNECTION - DARK MATTERS
It's a pleasant Spring afternoon here in London as I write this, so this little slice of jazzy Canterbury meets Penguin Cafe Orchestra jollity is going down a real treat. Casimir Connection feature saxophonist Diane McLoughlin, internationally renowned pianist Alcyona Mick, award-winning violinist Kit Massey, and acclaimed bassist Tim Fairhall. The quartet will release new album Reflection through Caliban Sounds on April 19, from which comes the single Dark Matters.
"Dark matter, which cosmologists believe exists all around us, is composed of particles that do not absorb, reflect or emit light, and thus cannot be seen," explains McLoughin. "However, without it we are told there would be no life. This, then, is a sure demonstration both of the wonder of the universe and of the immensity of knowledge that we have still to discover. Yet, to step away for a moment from the sciences and take a more personal view, darkness in itself matters to us because without it there would be no light. Of equal importance, dark feelings can sometimes give illumination to what is truly important in our lives, generating personal and creative renewal."
WAXAMILION - NOSEBLUNT
Austrian guitarist Waxamilion is better known as Max Dornauer to his mum and dad, is described as a laid-back jazz-prog guitarist, and he's certainly got the chops if his new single Noseblunt is anything to go by. The new single is the opening cut from his recently released second album Random Notes. We see what he did there!
"Noseblunt is quite similar to the previous single Pawn Island in the sense that it’s also short (2:19) and structured in three different, non-repeating parts," Waxamilion explains. "At the start it is very much sounding like myself again, like my typical catalogue. It then veers into a guitar solo that could as well be AI generated. The outro is very non-typical for my style. It’s based on chopped up samples and features more old school hip-hop sounding drums, instead of the typical modern 808 style drum sound that I usually go for. The sample from Nelly's Dilemma is kind of an easter egg for the more engaged and attentive listener. Noseblunt is the first tune on the album and meant to make the listener curious for the rest of the record."
