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Coda

Coda

Well-known member
With all the prolonged discussions of music/albums/etc. across several different threads over the last week, how's about we have one place to chat about music? Keeping it all in once place makes it more searchable, which might be helpful in discovering new stuff. Use this thread to discuss artists, musicians, music, music genres, recommendations and suggestions...but keep it civil.

I'll start with three seeds. These seeds will either grow, or be replaced by others...

- Favorite Zappa Era Band/studio albums?
- Prog: What are the parameters? Was it real? Is it still?
- Suggestions: who do you consider underrated?
 
Zappa: Weasels Ripped My Flesh, though I have an affinity for it all. A few years back I was working on exactingly transcribing his entire studio and selected live discography, down to sound effects, ad libs, and noises. Barely scratched the surface, but I got a lot done nonetheless. Unfortunately lost most of it to a bad hard drive, and I haven’t revisited the project at all since, though I plan to at some point.

Prog: ideally, progressive rock means that it’s pushing boundaries and moving forward as a whole; not stagnating. somewhat unfortunately, prog fans as a whole seem to be much less open minded to anything outside of the scope of that was progressive from 1969 to 1974, so to call it prog is, at this point, a misnomer. Or perhaps what I should say is that “prog” has removed itself from it’s original definition, and now the term prog stands alone to describe a dated form of rock with certain hallmarks of inaccessibility. I think it’s far more fitting to call St. Vincent prpgressive rock than me to call porcupine tree progressive rock, as Annie is continuously pushing boundaries, exploring new technologies, and embracing new musical ideas, which encapsulated why progressive rock was called such at the time, unlike Steven Wilson who has a much more conservative approach to music, with a strong focus on the musical landscape of a previous time. That said, “prog” and truly progressive music are both some of my absolute favorite types of music, and most of the music I write is styled off of my interpretations of 1970s progressive rock and 1980s new wave approaches.

Underrated: I don’t like to think in terms of things being underrated or overrated, so it’s hard for me to say. I certainly think devo isn’t taken seriously enough though
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
Prog: ideally, progressive rock means that it’s pushing boundaries and moving forward as a whole; not stagnating. somewhat unfortunately, prog fans as a whole seem to be much less open minded to anything outside of the scope of that was progressive from 1969 to 1974, so to call it prog is, at this point, a misnomer. Or perhaps what I should say is that “prog” has removed itself from it’s original definition, and now the term prog stands alone to describe a dated form of rock with certain hallmarks of inaccessibility.
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This is my general feeling on it. You are "progressive" only if you don't keep it moving forward or outward. Stop moving and you are by definition "conservative".
Bricksnbeatles said:
Underrated: I don’t like to think in terms of things being underrated or overrated, so it’s hard for me to say. I certainly think devo isn’t taken seriously enough though
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Underrated is a tough one, it's so subjective. There is so much content out there, it is impossible to take it all in or even know it exists. Now, are there acts out there flying under the radar, who I would like to see go bigger? Sure thing. Are there ones who are apparently rolling in money and attention that I don't get? Definitely.

I look at it this way, some stuff is for me, some is not. If it falls into the "not" category, so be it. I am not gonna argue against it. Hell, some of my favorite music is the response to shit that I, and those musicians, disliked.

On Devo, they are only "Whip It" in yellow jumpsuits and red hats to most people. So, I think you have a point there.
 
It was Hot Rats for me for a decade but it's probably weasels these days.

Is prog still progressive if the sound is defined concretely? Wouldn't it then be "the genre formerly known as progressive?" I guess I fall in the never actually existed camp.

I immediately thought of 10 over rated artists but I'll keep that negativity to myself (cough cough Clapton, cough, Satriani, cough)
 
Zappa is all amazing, Zappateer for life, but I gotta say Joes Garage. Peak of analog mixing, Vince Colaiuta on drums, amazing solos, it’s almost as mainstream as Zappa gets but it’s a pinnacle of so many things.

That and Flo and Eddie. And Aynsley Dunbar. So many moments..
 
Prog for me is music which takes you on a journey with musicianship, with polyrhythms and time signature changes a plenty. You know prog when you hear it, regardless of what genre it’s sitting in.

I think that’s why there are a lot of bands with a prog-X label, they’re carrying that rejection of straight-cut traditional time signature music.

Crossover question. Was Bill the Mountain a prog song? Why or why not?
 
This thread is going well. Good thoughts all around. A word to others: don’t feel obliged to answer all three of my starter questions…1,2, or none is fine too…you can even add something new…

szukalski said:
Crossover question. Was Bill the Mountain a prog song? Why or why not?
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Good question. My answer: only if you consider The Doors prog…
 
Harry Klippton said:
So uhh what's the appeal of prog? What do you like about it?
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it's typically less predictable for one thing. It tends to be more dynamic, more dissonant, more contrapuntal, more rhythmically challenging, etc... I like the way it keeps me engaged. Not that other music doesn't engage me, but its like... I don't know how to explain it really; there's just something about a lot of the prog staples that really clicks with me. I think all things in the universe gravitate towards entropy, and prog tends to feel more entropic despite typically being very deliberate.
 
I would say that, for me, “prog” is all about not limiting influences/styles. Experimentation, being open to new ideas, improvisation. Now, you can fit a ton of stuff into that definition…

I think what attracts me to “prog” stuff is the melange of styles and influences…it reflects my own.
 
Prog: Rush, Yes, Kansas
I loved these 3 bands in high school. Later I got into early Genesis, ELP, and some others but they never really hooked me the way those 3 bands did. My taste tended to the commercially successful stuff over the obscure. My HS friend who was also into these bands went to a different college, where he went deep into a Proghole. He used to send me mixtapes of all kinds of modern prog that he liked, but nothing that sounded exciting to me--by that time I moved on to indie (Dino Jr, MBV). Later I got into some of the indie rock genre Math Rock, that seemed to be heavily influenced by prog, such like Don Caballero, June of 44, Mogwai, Slint, etc. But never went deeper into proper prog.
Those 3 bands still slap for me though.
 
Here's a question: what was the first album that "clicked" for you? Not just the first album you really heard, or the first album you ever had (good questions, but different questions). For me it was Surfer Rosa by The Pixies. It was Summer, 2002. Our family vacation that year was Disney. Sometime in July we piled into the Chevy full-sized van my Mom used to have, and we set off. Around the Florida boarder (you know, that rest stop with the free orange juice), the A/C started crapping out. We spent the next week and a half in Florida, in July, with no AC in the van. We got back home, and it was time to get ready for school: Sophomore year. School shopping was easy: pack of Bic Crystals, big pack of loose-leaf paper, and a new pair of shoes: all-black, low-top chucks. I went to Catholic School, so we had uniforms. School shopping was easy. At some point I got out on my own...and purchased an album that I had heard was very good. From the first time I listened to it, in that van, no a/c, on my Sony Walkman-knockoff, I loved it. As Summer turned to Fall, I started to notice something for the first time: production. The autumn weather, colors, and the angular, echoey, raw Albini genius meshed brilliantly. It is one of the few albums I have never tired of...
 
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