I know what you're saying Francois. There are very few people whose tastes I feel I know well enough to make those kind of recommendations.
Yeah, when your tastes are rather exotic, including prog and related genres, it's really hard to make other people understand what you like, and vice versa. It's not like mainstream music, in which case one can fairly easily say some band sounds like some other popular bands. Well, I guess it can be done with prog as well, but how many people around you can actually recommend stuff, compared to more commercial music? You also don't get to hear it on the radio, and rarely in music stores. Samples can also be hard to come by. Not to mention the fact that since a lot of prog music tends not to follow standard song structure, and the tracks are often rather long, you can't really get an idea of a track or CD just by listening a 30-60 second sample.
But even among prog fans I find it hard to communicate. Like I said before, I went to a local prog and metal store a couple of times in the past, and even though they were supposed to be specialized in those types of music, they just couldn't understand what I really like, despite my providing specific examples. To me, each of their suggestions sounded blander than the one before. Very frustrating.
My tastes are really difficult to describe; it runs from all types of rock and pop music (even commercial music up until the early 80s), all eras of jazz, and European Classical music (particularly late medieval, renaissance, and 20th century stuff).
Interesting variety. In my case, my tastes revolve around prog, but include many related or even totally different genres. My collection includes some goth, metal, ambient, darkwave, alternative rock (Jane's Addiction, Faith No More, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.), new age (including Enya and Lorena McKennitt), as well as a fair number of electronic music bands (some ambient electronica and several EBM/electro-industrial/aggrotech bands). While it's not generalized, I'd say I tend to prefer music with a lot of minor chords. It can be dark, mysterious, melancholy, dramatic, middle-eastern-sounding... I also like trippy, psychedelic, sometimes ethnic music, which is why Ozric Tentacles is one of my favorites. I like both heavy and mellow music, but I have a preference for something that's, well, intense. But "intense" doesn't necessarily mean "heavy", if you see what I mean. The same way "prog-metal" and "heavy prog" don't mean the same thint to me.
I also had a tendency, when I was purchasing a lot of music, to take 'risks' upon hearing short descriptions of bands that appealed to me.
Me too, and I went overboard a number of times in the past when I had more money to spend on music. Especially since I tend to buy CDs in large batches (I once ordered 60 CDs from various online stores in less than a week). I made a fair number of mistakes with some CDs that sounded good on paper but turned out not to be my cup of tea. Thing is, you can have two bands for which the same description can apply, but they can still sound totally different. It makes it hard to choose based on simple descriptions, not matter how hard reviewers try. But I've had a good success ratio by using Expose magazine as a reference.
With regard to R.I.O. bands, my favorite, and one of my all-time favorite bands, is Henry Cow.
You know, as big a name as Henry Cow is in the RIO (and even prog) world, I confess that I've never heard any of their music. Shame on me! I am quite familiar with Univers Zero, Present, Thinking Plague and a few other bands like that. Other RIO/Zeuhl bands whose CDs I have or have listened to include Magma, Eskaton, Archaia, Sotos (back to them later), Weidjorje, Fernandez & Botello (well, they're kind of RIO), Dun, Art Zoyd, Shub-Niggurath, Nazca, Happy Family, Bondage Fruit, Yeti, Gestalt (part of their CD qualifies, anyway), Runaway Totem (not quite Zeuhl but some obvious influences) and Laurent Thibault (not sure why he's usually classified as Zeuhl, but whatever).
Dagmar's voice may take some getting used
That would be Dagmar Krause, right? I've read about her many times, and she seems like a big name in prog, but again, I'm afraid I've never had the chance to sample her work. I'd be quite curious to hear some of what she's done. I'm usually ok with unusual voices. Some I just can't get over, but there are several vocalists whose style makes most people flee in terror but that I like just fine, or at least are of the love-it-or-hate-it type. Mr Doctor of Devil Doll is a good example. What comes out of Christian Vander's throat isn't always for everyone either.
The Art Bears were direct descendants of Henry Cow
Another fairly important band I've heard of but don't know much about. Sorry.
Univers Zero is, for my money, the R.I.O. band that comes closest to the quality of writing that was present in Henry Cow.
Very interesting. Any particular Univers Zero period you could compare their sound to? After all, they've evolved with the years.
I don't know how familiar you are with Gentle Giant. Of the mainstream prog bands, they were the best in my opinion and produced stuff of remarkable quality that was comparable to the non-mainstreamers.
Oddly enough, even though I applaud their obvious talent, I was never really able to get into them for some reason. I don't know why. It's not like I don't enjoy a number of bands who play/sing very "angular" music. But I've had a chance to listen to several of their albums, owned by a guy who lived on the same college dorm floor as I did. In fact, that's the guy who introduced me to prog, although at the time we were mostly into old British 70s classics and neo-prog.
Among the classic bands that were fairly well-known but not quite as much as the really big names like Genesis, King Krimson, Yes, etc. (Gentle Giant being a good example), I'm especially fond of Van der Graaf Generator. I just love Peter Hammill's tortured vocals.
By the way, I can't stand Yes, and that has a lot to do with Jon Anderson's voice. I simply hate it. Go figure.
Of course, the best 70s prog bands aren't all British. The Italians were also very strong in those days. Le Orme, Il Balletto di Bronzo, Semiramis, Biglietto per l'Inferno, Museo Rosenbach, Il Rovescio della Medaglia, Metamorfosi, Area.... Good stuff. I'm not a big fan of PFM or Banco, though, even though they were among the most important 70s Italian bands.
Actually, Italians were just as strong in the 90s, during the prog "revival", with big names like Finisterre, Deus Ex Machina, Germinale, etc. I also like several Italian bands that don't have the traditional "Italian sound". For instance, Garden Wall, which sounds like, well, pretty much nothing else. Or Court, which is like medieval rock. Devil Doll (actually Italian-Slovenian) is one of my favorites. I also enjoy some of the bands on dark Italian label "Black Widow", particularly Universal Totem Orchestra and the aforementioned Runaway Totem. On that label I also have Presence, Malombra and Il Segno del Comando, plus I'm familiar with a few more.
Swedish and other Scandinavian bands were also very influential in the 90s. In fact, many consider that the trio of Anglagard, Anekdoten and Landberk was responsible for the relative boost in popularity of prog during the 90s, which started around 1992. I enjoy the first two, but I admit I was never able to get into Landberk. I'm also not very fond of The Flower Kings, no matter how popular they've been. Other Scandinavian prog or related bands that I have include White Willow, 3rd and the Mortal, The Moor, Garmarna, In The Labyrinth, Therion, Par Lindh Project, Sinkadus and a few others.
Oh, and many very good acts have come out of The Netherlands, including the sometimes cheesy but still enjoyable Ayreon, as well as The Gathering, who made popular one of my very favorite female vocalists, Anneke Van Giersbergen (in that topic, I also love Lisa Gerrard). These include some bands that started as Death Metal but evolved into something more sophisticated, sometimes prog-like. Many Scandinavian bands are like that as well, for that matter. And Germany has produced several excellent prog bands as well, though they haven't had as much impact as the Italians or the Scandinavians.
Of course, when you do a bit of exploration, you find great bands that come from a lot of countries that don't comme immediately to mind. Say Hungary, home of trippy bands like Masfel, Korai Orom and Colorstar, as well as prog legends Solaris and After Crying (I prefer the first category, though). I have four CDs from a very intriguing tribal psychedelic bands from Russia called le Lukkoye. Heck, I even have a CD from a Turkish band (Nekropsi, quite obscure but worth a try), and one from an Armenian band called Rahmann.
Are you familiar with This Heat?
No, I can't say I am. They sound quite intiguing, though. What period are they from?
Do you like Voivod at all (they're from Montreal), or are they not your cup of tea?
Quite interesting technical metal, at least some of their work. I'm mostly familiar with Nothingface and The Outer Limits. Overall I prefer the former (with its excellent cover of "Astronomy Domine", among others), but my favorite track is from the latter: "Jack Luminous", a 17-minute epic that's very prog in structure.
Guapo came highly recommended and I bought Five Suns; it's not bad. I think Sotos "Platypus" was the best of them, but I'll have to go back and listen to it...
Ah yes, I'm familiar with both bands. I have the first CD from Sotos. Great stuff. I'll probably get my hands on "Platypus" when I have the money. As for Guapo, I've read several good reviews and heard some samples, and their CDs have been very high on my "to-buy" list for the last few years. When I have the means I've definitely get a couple of them.
It's interesting how so many RIO and Zeuhl bands have come out of France and Belgium, especially considering how I usualy hate French music (including Quebecois, I'm sorry to say). Japan too, though that came somewhat later. I guess Magma and Univers Zero had a lot to do with it, and it seems a lot of those people know each other, even worked with several bands. As you know, many new bands sprouted from the first few, like what you explained about Henry Cow. Magma is another obvious example.
I don't have many CDs from Japan, but I do have one from Happy Family, one from Bondage Fruit, as well as a little gem from Gestalt, all of which have at lest some Zeuhl/RIO elements to them. And how could I forget Ars Nova, whom I enjoy significantly more than ELP, their most obvious reference. I used to have more, but I haven't kept all of them. I have a tendency to trade or sell CDs that I don't really listen to anymore, which prevents my collection from growing as much as I'd like.
While it's true that it can be really hard to get a good idea of what a band is like based solely on a description, there are a few genres that I feel are low risk (for me, I mean). That is, when a band is categorized as one of those genres, I know there's a good chance I'll like it. Zeuhl and RIO are good examples, even though there are exceptions to the rule. Bands described as something like space-trippy-ethno-tribal-psychedelic music, or simply compared to bands like Ozric Tentacles and the like, also qualify. And Middle-Eastern references almost always grab my attention.
Unfortunately, this doesn't work quite as well for some other bands or CDs that I really like but whose descriptions aren't as distinctive. For example, on the top of my head, I really enjoy "There" by High Wheel and "Unfolded Like Staircase" by Discipline. But I'm quite sure I couldn't have told that they were my style had I just read about them. I get the feeling the reviews would make them sound rather generic, and I may very well have overlooked them entirely. I only discovered them because I was lucky enough to hear them at that exotic prog store I mentioned in a previous post. I find it relatively easy to discover new bands of a few specific, rather unique genres, but other great music passes me by because of what I just explained. It's a real shame.
A few more ideas: Stereolab is a recent band that I love, and it might appeal to people that are into prog. I like many of their albums, but I suppose I would start with Dots and Loops. You may not be into jazz, but there is trumpet player from Canada by the name of Kenny Wheeler of whom I think very highly.
I'll take good note of these bands. But to be honest, I'm not a big fan of jazz. I enjoy the jazz-fusion elements found in the music of many Zeuhl/RIO/avant bands, but mostly because it's mixed with something else. Pure jazz-fusion isn't my thing.
Hmm, well, I really got carried away with this post, huh? Sorry about going on and on like that.
