If the quality of music on ‘Wassail’ is anything to go by, ‘Folklore’ could be a very special album indeed and, whilst I don’t like to make wild predictions or jump to conclusions, we might just be looking at Big Big Train’s best yet. At the very least, I expect the octet to further cement their place within the upper echelons of the progressive rock world, and rightly so. I’m so glad I have Big Big Train in my life. Consider me one very excited and impatient chap.
For all of you who would like to read the story behind the creation of the lovely artwork for Big Big Train’s brilliant new EP Wassail just click here and you will come to the artist Sarah Louise Ewing’s blog! While reading you will hear some heavenly music playing in the background….
With temerity I venture with this post a bit outside the usual norm of classic, neo, and 3rd wave prog. But even as creative pop (Tears for Fears) and space psychedelia (Hawkwind) intersects on the great prog Venn diagram at times, so can some Post-Rock/Metal.
POSEIDOTICA is a four man band from Buenos Aires, Argentina and this is my first encounter with their music which they call “Rock Expansivo.” Prog Archives calls them “Heavy Prog.” They’ve been around since at least 2005 with this album, El Dilema del Origen being their fourth. It’s an 11-track affair which caught my attention by the fairly “proggy” album jacket art. It is a fine spacey affair which reminds me of Jim Starlin’s art when he was doing Warlock for Marvel back in the day (Thanos anyone?)
Though the album’s title makes me think of an early Church theologian and his own dilemma with heresy, the literal translation is “The Dilemma of Origin.” This music is what I’d refer to as post rock/post metal with prog overtones. And as much as I like doing track by track reviews, this album even with 11 tracks is not so much individual songs as an interweaving soundscape. While not rising quite to the levels of American titans ISIS and PELICAN, this is well produced shoe-gazer music that paints mood and atmosphere in a lush template of melody and power. If you like GREEN CARNATION or THE SIX PARTS SEVEN (and you should) you’ll like this disc. Yes there tends to be a sameness to much post rock/metal with the ebb & flow of loud & quiet, but that doesn’t take away from POSEIDOTICA’s clean superb musicianship or this album’s harmonic beauty. All of the tunes are instrumental and flow nicely from one to the next. The band, for the most part, not only integrates tempo and sound in each individual track but also from song to song so as to militate against monotony. From music that sounds at times almost like a science fiction score (track 1) to surging hard rocking metal (Vikings and Cowboys in space; track 4) it’s a little bit of surf reverb meets post rock meets DEEP PURPLE (track 9) sans Hammond. As my favorite all-time Band is CAMEL and their magnum opus The Snow Goose, this kind of cinematic and anthemic instrumental fare is evocative and perfect for background listening. The acoustic guitar pieces as well as the shredding and riffing are ably complemented by stirring drumming by Walter Broide.
So, if you’re looking for a breather to cleanse the palate from the best of the best (GLASS HAMMER, THE TANGENT, BIG BIG TRAIN or MARILLION) this album deserves a listen…and re-listens. I like it and will try to put in on my shelf. No, there’s nothing really new here but at around 45 minutes it does not wear out its competent and well-crafted welcome.
Is it prog? Well, close enough for my taste especially in the near Floydian vibes from track 3, Hologram.
There are times (and listeners) that call for a musical edge, a sense of newness and unfamiliarity that is challenging and unsettling. “Avant garde.” There are times (and listeners) that call for musical familiarity, for a secure homeland, a place to rest and to float in a heated pool of soothing sound. “Accessible.” There are uncanny surprises, and there are “old good jeans.” For three decades now, Ozric Tentacles have been beating a path along the border between these two provinces of desire. With the accomplished guitar and keyboard work of Ed Wynne providing the constant center amid changes in personnel, OT has consistently and recognizably drawn from a wide variety of musical sources, all the while sculpting distinctive aural textures, avoiding a merely “derivative” sound.
Their newest release, Technicians of the Sacred, continues this tradition of calm creativity. Though it never really leaves the moorings built up by a half century of rock, electronica, and various styles that would often be grouped under the term “instrumental prog” (upon which I’ve commented before), it also never settles for the kind of familiarity that allows music to recline beneath the act of listening as if it were a stranger on a brief elevator ride. There is a constant stylistic reverence for architects of psychedelic, “space,” ambient, prog, and other streams, but it always brings something new.
For some readers who are partial to the edge (as I am), this may come across as faint praise, but that is far from my intention. When the exploration of a borderland appears effortless, we should suspect that both the skill and the effort of the explorer are quite considerable.
Brandi Wynne and Ed Wynne of Ozric Tentacles
As was noted in Progarchy’s earlier announcement of this release, Technicians of the Sacred draws thematically from Mayan astrology. The story of the astrologer who pronounced the band “Galactic Activation Portals sent to channel messages of love to the world” lends a stereotypically “New Age” ambiance. But OT does not simply fall back on a stereotype. Here too they continue a tradition, which is that of embracing cultural as well as stylistic openness. Here too they cultivate a balance that is difficult to resist, treating their theme with the right combination of seriousness and sense of humor. (My favorite title here is “Rubbing Shoulders with the Absolute.”) Scholars of religion define “the sacred” as that which is set apart, extraordinary, and in some sense forbidden. It is that toward which the devotee must rightly comport him- or herself, that which gives meaning to the “profane” (here meaning ordinary or mundane). If there is a musical sacred, then it has its prophets and priests. Ozric Tentacles are consistent and effective priests who never lose sight of their roots in (and the fire of) the prophetic.
Those who have long followed OT will not be disappointed by Technicians of the Sacred, and will no doubt welcome their first double-album-length release in years. Those unfamiliar with them will find it a warm welcome into their expansive oeuvre.
There are times (and listeners) that call for a musical edge, a sense of newness and unfamiliarity that is challenging and unsettling. “Avant garde.” There are times (and listeners) that call for musical familiarity, for a secure homeland, a place to rest and to float in a heated pool of soothing sound. “Accessible.” There are uncanny surprises, and there are “old good jeans.” For three decades now, Ozric Tentacles have been beating a path along the border between these two provinces of desire. With the accomplished guitar and keyboard work of Ed Wynne providing the constant center amid changes in personnel, OT has consistently and recognizably drawn from a wide variety of musical sources, all the while sculpting distinctive aural textures, avoiding a merely “derivative” sound.
Progarchy 