Welcome to Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week. Six brand new and diverse slices of progressive music for you to enjoy.
Big congratulations to Orion, the one-man prog metal studio project of multi-instrumentalist Ben Jones, who romped home last week to win last week's TOTW. Which just goes to show that it's not always the established artists with the big fanbases who can come out tops here. Irish post-rockers God Is An Astronaut came second with Norwegian proggers Dim Gray in 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.
JORDAN RUDESS - SHADOW OF THE MOON
Dream Theater keyboard player Jordan Rudess releases his latest solo album, Permission To Fly, through InsideOut Music on September 6. He's worked with British vocalist Joe Payne, and drummer Darby Todd as well as Steve Dadaian on guitar, as well as guest guitar solos from Bastian Martinez. The thoughtful Shadow Of The Moon, which features a wonderful vocal performance from Payne, is the second single Rudess has released from the upcoming album.
"Creating the Shadow Of The Moon video with Lightricks was an incredible experience,' says Rudess. "Working with such a talented team and the contest winner, and using Lightricks’ new cutting-edge LTX studio software, brought my vision to life in ways I couldn’t have imagined. This collaboration truly showcases how powerful it is to combine music with innovative visual storytelling."
OCEANS OF SLUMBER - WICKED GAME
Anyone who got into Texan prog metallers Oceans Of Slumber through their 2016 cover of The Moody Blues' Nights In White Satin is likely to enjoy the band's latest take on someone else's song. This time it's Chris Isaak's brooding 1989 classic Wicked Game, made famous by its appearance in David Lynch's Wild At Heart a year later. The song features on the brand new Oceans Of Slumber studio album Where Gods Fear To Speak, which will be released through Season Of Kist on September 13.
"When we were in Columbia, I heard a club remix of Wicked Game while out at a restaurant," explains drummer Dobber Beverley. "It was so bad that I needed to go and make things right in my head."
"We realised that the album needed to end on a note that was still familiar but also a bit unsettling," adds wife and singer Cammie.
SUSANNA - I TOOK CARE OF MYSELF
Norwegian art-rocker Susanna shifts away from her recent obsession with the poet French poet Charles Baudelaire to focus on love and relationships with her upcoming album, Meditations On Love. Her continual search for new sounds and ideas led her to Juhani Silvola, a Finnish-Norwegian producer and musician who moves easily between pop music, experimental sounds, and folk traditions. One of the delights of enjoying Susanna's music is that, while retaining her unique approach, she always brings something new to the table with every release.
"It’s not necessarily easy to stand up for yourself, to leave a situation, a place, a relationship, to say enough is enough, this doesn’t work for me, I can’t take this anymore," Susanna says. "When is the right time to put your foot down? There is an enormous power, almost exploding, in the acknowledgement of the moment.
"My hairdresser through the past 23 years used to play ice hockey for the Oslo team Vålerenga, so I had to ask her: how on earth can we make this happen? Cause it’s absolutely a point to it all that it should be female players, as it’s quite a masculine and brutal sport. The suits, the protecting equipment and that it all goes on at the ice has been an unfamiliar and exciting new environment for me to seek out. What a thrill to meet this team and see them in action.”
TIM BOWNESS - IDIOTS AT LARGE
It's been all change for Tim Bowness recently. He's been receiving great reviews out on the road with his new band Butterfly Mind, he's signed to a new record label, and he releases his brand new album, Powder Dry, through Kscope on August 16. Even the album sees Bowness tackling everything himself, aside from the mixing, which has been handled by his No-Man cohort Steven Wilson. He's even got an angrier, more energetic sound on the new album, typified by new single Idiots At Large.
"The song is partly about eco-apocalypse and partly about someone becoming detached from their family and friends as a result of their increasingly strong beliefs (beliefs reinforced by digging deeper down the internet rabbit hole)," Bowness explains. "This isn’t a commentary on the rights or wrongs of anything, it's an observation about how idealism can alter the course of a life.
"Idiots At Large is definitely a combination of musical extremes - prettiness and viciousness existing side by side - with the atmospheric verses having something of the ambient/minimalist classical about them and the choruses being as close I come to industrial/metal."
JINJER - SOMEONE'S DAUGHTER
Beloved by the metal scene, Ukrainian quartet Jinjer have been pushing their more progressive credentials of late, with the press release for their brand new single even calling them "modern progressive metal icons." Music to the ears of those who enjoy their music at the heavier end of the prog spectrum and unsurprising given the band are big fans of the genre. Someone's Daughter is a brand new single, no doubt the beginning of a new album cycle, which highlights a more commercial side of the band, though remains largely not for the faint-hearted.
"Someone’s Daughter is an artistic attempt to cast the light on the inner world of women, who in various scenarios and circumstances, have had to choose a path that was historically made by men," explains powerhouse vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk. "In a world where women are often underestimated and overlooked, they are still powerful heroes who navigate hardship with strength and resilience, unapologetically becoming themselves and breaking barriers in the face of the challenges that face them.
"Someone’s Daughter celebrates transition from naivety into wisdom, weakness into force, unwavering determination and fearlessness as our mothers, sisters, daughters and wives walk through adversity and fight for better change. These women are often forgotten but they have earned respect. They‘ve earned mine, that's for sure!"
KINGCROW - HOPIUM
Italian proggers Kingcrow's will release upcoming album Hopium, their first release for new label Season Of Mist, on August 23. The slow-building title track is the third single to be taken from the album, following Kintsugi and Night Drive. It exemplifies the diversity of the quintet, something epitomised by the album itself, as they evolve from their former prog metal leanings into something more remarkable altogether.
Kingcrow (Diego Marchesi - vocals, Diego Cafolla - guitars, keys, backing vocals,
Ivan Nastasi - guitars, backing vocals, Riccardo Nifosì (bass, backing vocals) and
Thundra (drums, percussion)) recorded Hopium at Rome's Sound Under Pressure, which was produced by brothers Diego and Thundra Cafolla. The album also features Vikram Shankar of SIlent Skies on piano on the title track.
