Genre: Doom Jazz

Tracklist:

01. Staub [Dust]

02. Karin [Karin]

03. Schwarze Biene (Black Maya) [Black Bee]

04. Unkerich [Unkerich]

05. Still am Tresen [Quiet at the counter]

06. Welk [Limp]

07. Von Schnäbeln [Of beaks]

08. Orgelblut [Blood of an organ]

09. Faul [Lazy]

10. Welten [Worlds]

Released In: 2008

Musicians:

Thorsten Benning: Drums

Christoph Clöser: Saxophone, Piano, Rhodes

Morten Gass: Piano, Mellotron, Rhodes

Robin Rodenberg: Double Bass

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The inventors of Doom Jazz delivered another masterpiece. As the previous album “Geisterfaust” has been considered as too impenetrable, Bohren & der Club of Gore orientated themselves on the old style again and accomplished it again, to create the atmosphere of smoky underground clubs. “Dolores” is 58 minutes of pure darkness, which crawls in every convolution of the brain and bans every positive thought from the mind. The 10 songs from the CD creep out of the stereo like a piece of gloominess and transfer the listener to a world of lonely jazz clubs filled with cigar smoke. The Rhodes Piano is used more exclusively than on the previous records and the Saxophone has been pushed in the background, but this doesn’t affect the ingenuity of this masterwork. Bohren & der Club of Gore know all about making slow and calm pieces, but they are never boring and create a feeling of anxiety and perdition. Doom Jazz isn’t cushy and friendly music and mental unstable persons should stay away from it, but if you like it, there’s nothing better to listen to than “Dolores”.

You can download it here!

I programmed it to help people learn the notes on a guitar fingerboard.  It’s very simple, the program will generate a random string and a random fret on this string and you have to guess which note’s lying there.

It doesn’t have a graphical interface yet, but I’ll make one soon and will publish the program.

In short:

I want to buy all studio albums by Agalloch, Ayreon, Bloodbath, Death, Iron Maiden, The Mars Volta, Mastodon, The Ocean, Opeth, Pain of Salvation, Porcupine Tree, Riverside and Tool.

And quite a number of other CDs.

As you can see, I have quite a diversified taste of music, including all kinds of Metal, Progressive/Psychedelic/Folk Rock, Jazz, Classical and even Ambient.

I’m very interested in discovering new bands and genres, so if you want to recommend a band, feel free to do so!

And by the way, I own Greatest Hits by Santana, a Best Of by The Beatles and Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky on LP

Genre: Avant-Garde, Post-Metal, Experimental

Formed in: 1996

Split up in: 2003

Origin: Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Members:

Jason Byron
Toby Driver
Greg Massi
Maria-Stella Fountoulakis
Josh Seipp-Williams
Jason Bitner
Terran Olson
Sam Gutterman
Nicholas Kyte
Andrew Dickson

Discography:

My Psycho Fruitbells… A Seed Combustible (1999)

Bath (2001)

Leaving Your Body Map (2001)

Most people – that have listened to “maudlin of the Well” before – say, that you haven’t listened to progressive music if you haven’t heard “maudlin of the Well”. They’re the most confusing band I have ever heard, but there music is ingenious. They’re a mix of post-rock/-metal, progressive rock/metal, classical, doom metal, sludge and indie rock.

I haven’t listened to their debut-album “My Psycho Fruitbells… A Seed Combustible”, but the two others are amazing. “Bath” and “Leaving Your Body Map” are companion albums, you realize that even if you’ve heard neither of them, because the cover from “Bath” references to “Leaving Your Body Map” and backwards. There are also musical references, for example “Bath” starts with a post-rock song and “Leaving Your Body Map” with a post-metal song. Although “Leaving Your Body Map” is considered to be the better one, I like “Bath” more. It’s true, that “Bath” is a bit inconsistent, because every song amongs to another genre of music, which doesn’t apply to “Leaving Your Body Map”.

Another interesting aspect is, that they gain there music from ‘Astral Projection’, which basically means lucid dreams, so they don’t compose music, they “find” it.

In 2003 the band lost longtime members, changed labels and decided to disband and reform themselves as “Kayo Dot”.

You can buy “Bath” and “Leaving Your Body Map” on Amazon, but they’re very expensive.

maudlin of the Well – Birth Pains of Astral Projection – Bath

maudlin of the Well on ProgArchives

maudlin of the Well on Last.fm

Genre: Heavy Prog*

Tracklist:

01. Een ode aan Ed van Der Elsken

(An ode to Ed van Der Elsken)

02. Regenbogen stelen van prostituees

(Stealing Rainbows from prostitutes)

03. Jacob Van Lennepkade

(Jacob Van Lennepkade)

04. Vondelpark bij nacht

(Vondelpark at night)

05. Spookrijden op het fietspad

(Ghost Riding on the bikeway)

Released In: 2005

Musicians:*

Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez: Guitar, Sitar, Bass, Gong, Percussion

Adrián Terrazas-González: Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Percussion

Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez: Drums, Keyboard, Gong Percussion

Juan Alderete: Bass

Jon Debaun: Recording Engineer, Bass

Cedric Bixler-Zavala: Tambourine

Eric Salas: Drums

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The term ‘Heavy Prog’ is not really significant, because it just means, that the guitars are distorted. I’d rather describe it as a mixture between Jazz, Latin music and Progressive Rock.

Recently I discovered, that Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez (songwriter for ‘The Mars Volta’) releases solo albums. So I gave the album ‘Omar Rodriguez’ a chance. I came across his work when I heard the song ‘Hands Tied To the Roots Of A Hemorrhage’ on Last.fm. I thought this album would be somewhat similar, but it’s totally different.

The album has 5 songs and a duration of 43 minutes. Except for one song, the tracks are basically jams over a bassline. The first song is an ode to the dutch film maker and photographer Ed van der Elsken. It’s the only non-jammed track and consists only of noises. Omar mentioned that he is a big fan of films, so the title seems logic. The second track ‘Regenbogen stelen van prostituees’ is the best track on the album, if you get the chance, listen to it! The third track is the longest track on the album, it’s 17 minutes long. It’s based on one melody that repeats through the song. The Vondelpark mentioned in ‘Vondelpark bij nacht’ is another hint to Omars love for films, because there actually is a Vondelpark in the Netherlands and there is a film museum in it. If you listen to this song, you can really ‘feel’ the night. The last one is very good too, but I’d rather exchange it with ‘Vondelpark bij nacht’.

‘Omar Rodriguez’ was recorded in the Netherlands and it’s completely instrumental. It’s not a milestone in music history, but it’s worth listening. If you’re a fan of Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez and ‘The Mars Volta’ respectively, you sure’ll like it, but it’s not an essential disc for your collection.

7/10 Points

*according to Progarchives.com

Name in English: Our Everyday Sound*

Genre: Eclectic Prog*

Formed in: 1970

Split Up in: 1976

Origin: São Paulo, Brazil

Members:*

Manito (Multiinstrumentalist)

Pedrinho Batera (Drums, Vocals)

Discography

Snegs (1974)

Som Nosso de Cada Dia (1977)

A Procura da Essência (2004) [Live]

Next Gig

Psicodália de Carnaval

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I discovered Som Nosso de Cada Dia through an online radio, where they were playing some tracks off the selft-titled album and I immediately fell in love with it. I have ‘Snegs’ and ‘Som Nosso de Cada Dia’ and I like both albums equal, although ‘Som Nosso de Cada Dia’ has some boring passages and more Funk influence. I haven’t really listened to ‘Snegs’ yet, but I don’t understand why it’s so much more appreciated than ‘Som Nosso de Cada Dia’, maybe I have to listen to it more often.

You can find ‘A Procura Da Essencia’ on Amazon.com, it has some very good tracks off the two studio albums and the rest is unreleased stuff. ‘Som Nosso de Cada Dia’ is on Amazon as well.

I found some songs on YouTube and picked out one from ‘Snegs’ and one from ‘Som Nosso de Cada Dia’.

Massavilha (Snegs)

Água Limpa (Som Nosso de Cada Dia)

Som Nosso de Cada Dia on ProgArchives

Som Nosso de Cada Dia on Last.fm

*according to ProgArchives.com