Welcome to Prog's Tracks Of The Week. Six new and diverse slices progressive music for you to enjoy.
Congratulations to Welsh proggers Godsticks, whose If I Don't Take It All won last week, ahead of Norwegians AVKRVST, with their fellow countrymen Motorpsycho ranking third.
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.
KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - GILA MONSTER
'Anon, a giant monster roams,' begins King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's latest psychedelic journey. The hard-edged Gila Monster is the first taste of their upcoming double album, PetroDragonic Apocalypse, which finds the group combining their trademark far-out sound with the heaviness of prog metal and thrash.
The fantasy-inspired song is accompanied by a suitably themed video, directed by Aussie video-maker, animator and musician SPOD. He explains: “I wanted to shoot Lord Of The Rings 4 but also make a video game, so I mixed both mediums and came up with this majestic journey for truth and power in a cursed world. I mixed 3D animation, modelling and live footage in a 3D video game program to create this marvellous voyage of man and beast. Friend or foe?”
TOBY PETERSON-STEWART - ENDLESS
He's best known as The Omnific's bass whizz, but Toby Peterson-Stewart's putting his skills under the spotlight with his debut solo EP, Break A Leg. On his second single, Endless, he showcases his playing with special guests Jacob Umansky (guitars, Intervals) and Nathan Bulla (programmed drums, also from Intervals), as well as Alan Hankers from JIA on additional keys. It's no surprise his playing has already caught the attention of Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess and Animals As Leaders' virtuoso Tosin Abasi.
"Jacob and I wrote the song together over the course of two weeks, sending riffs and melodies back and forth on Instagram, bouncing ideas off each other," says Peterson-Stewart of Endless. "This song started with a two-riff idea that I sent to Jacob, and he added another riff and his spin. Before you knew it, we had an awesome song that we are both proud of. It was so much fun to bounce ideas off of each other, creating something unique we both couldn’t have done on our own."
THAT JOE PAYNE - FALLING IN LOVE IS EASY
That Joe Payne makes a welcome return with the 80s-tastic Falling In Love Is Easy and a colourful, retro-themed music video to match. Taking musical cues from Journey and Huey Lewis & The News, with some Asia-friendly melodies, the song is co-produced with his longtime partner in production and former The Enid bandmate, Max Read. It's taken from Payne's upcoming studio album, due for release in autumn 2023.
“Broadly speaking, I’ve always rated the 80s as the best decade for music," says Payne, who sings and plays keys on the track. "Recording artists at that time seemed to be getting the balance between art and entertainment just right, and in the most iconic ways. All that innovation led to so many bangers, how could I not be influenced by that!”
E-MOLECULE - PRISON PLANET
Simon Collins and Kelly Nordstrom are back with the crunchy Prison Planet, taken from eMolecule's current album, The Architect. It's described as "a call to action for those seeking autonomy and true freedom" and finds the former Sound Of Contact musicians tackling some of their darkest, most conceptual material to date.
"The Architect became a vehicle for us finding a way to tell our story,” says Nordstrom, “which we realised as we went along is the retelling of the one human story that we all tell and have told since the beginning of stories, of good and evil, of darkness and light, of transformation and spiritual enlightenment."
GIANT WALKER - KATOOMBA
Newcastle's Giant Walker have combined their love of Karnivool, Soundgarden and Radiohead on the new version of Katoomba, which is taken from their upcoming live reimagining of their debut All In Good Time. Live @ Anarchy was recorded at Anarchy Brewery in October 2022 and will be released on June 7.
Says vocalist Steff Fish, “Even from when we were initially recording the album, we had agreed that we’d love to do a live version, and so we thought the anniversary of the album would be a great opportunity to actually put that into motion. Because All In Good Time was recorded before we’d played any of the songs live, we really wanted to capture how the songs have evolved since we initially recorded them, as well as showcase them in a live format.”
BARRY PALMER AND ROBERT REED - CRIME OF PASSION
It's no secret that Magenta's Robert Reed is a huge fan of Mike Oldfield's music and his latest release pays tribute to the groundbreaking multi-instrumentalist. His stunning version of 1984 hit single, Crime Of Passion features 80s-era Oldfield vocalist Barry Palmer and is taken from the upcoming album, Mike Oldfield – Rare And Reworked, due out on June 19 via his own imprint Tigermoth.
The album is part of an extended celebration of Tubular Bells' 50th anniversary, which also includes a three-day convention at Arlington Arts Centre in Newbury on May 26-28. The programme will include appearances from Tom Newman, Simon Heyworth and Phil Newell, who all worked on Tubular Bells, as well as Reed, who'll perform tracks from his four Sanctuary albums with a 10-piece band. Limited tickets are available from the venue's box office.
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