Last post of the year. From a music standpoint, it has been one of the best I’ve had in a very long time. Not so much because the music was better than any other given year but rather because I’m in awe of the breadth and depth of the available artists. Remembering back in the days of limited labels putting out the music THEY thought you would want to hear or should hear, the record companies no longer control the gateway between artist and listener. Streaming music, a frightening progression by many artists, is not the threat they thought it would be. A fair formula of compensation based on times played is working and you can see it in how so many artists are able to thrive.
I did attempt to put together a top 10 list of albums for 2022, but realized that it shouldn’t be attempted until April. My main mechanism for finding new artists is through Prog magazine. Right now, I’m a good four months behind, which means it will take another four months (probably more) to get the sizable sampling that makes a top list better represented. Plus, an extended road trip is going to slow my progress down even more.
Best of the Week
Long Distance Calling - Eraser
2022 9 tracks (57:16)
Another solid post-rock progressive rock from Europe. Favoring instrumentals, they are compared to The Ocean and Russian Circles, but I hear a little RPWL and The Pixies as well, sans vocals of course. The first cut is a misleading into of simple piano, but the gasoline is poured onto the fire in the succeeding tracks. Knowing these were going to sound good on my portable player, several were added to the list. A
Major Parkinson - A Night at the Library
2022 11 tracks (1:00:06)
A sizzling album made under unusual circumstances, this Norwegian art-rock group is in wonderful form. This is a product of Covid, thus, this live album features no audience. Maybe because of it, every note, tap, and resonant sound is pure and leaps off the speakers. Plus, guitars and bass are practically not present, giving way to piano and strings. It’s a little weird hearing vocalist Jon Ivar Kollbotn say “thank you” at the end of the song and hear no response from the non-existent audience. His vocals are probably the weakest part of the band, but it’s a small caveat for this pleasant work. A-
Major Parkinson - Blackbox
2017 9 tracks (47:45)
After listening to the eye-opening A Night at the Library, I wanted to get a taste of their studio work. Wow. This is simply some of the most intricate prog rock in recent memory. The song arrangements incorporate a dozen(?) or more different pieces and parts and yet it doesn’t become overburdened and collapse under its own weight. These aren’t just songs, they are pieces of artwork, bursting forth in a cacophony of color and tones. Some of these songs were part of the live set in the Library set. What a performance. A+
Interesting Finds
Green Sky Accident - Daytime TV
2022 10 tracks (50:08)
This band from Bergen, Norway plays dense slow moody rock. If you are familiar with the group Rain Parade from the 90’s, it is reminiscent of their work with a little more growl to the tone. It is pleasant enough for music to relax, as I did nod off during some of its play. That isn’t all bad. B-
Kekal - Envisaged
2022 9 tracks (51:45)
There are bands that are hard to pigeonhole and bands with eclectic backgrounds. Kekal may be the only band that meets both. The band originated in Indonesia more than twenty years ago starting as a metal thrash band. From there they became more avant-garde, throwing in more electronica and odd keying sequences. This is what King Crimson would have become if Robert Fripp created something from an altered state. There are some mind-boggling creations here, none of which is easy to listen to.
Oiseaux-Tempete - What On Earth
2022 9 tracks (1:09:08)
A good many people might ask exactly what the album title is - What On Earth is this music. There are times where I enjoy listening to industrial noise rock with atonal blasts and dark themes. But often as it is here, there is enough of a song structure underlayment, using a variety of rhythms, vocals, and instruments, to create a symbiotic creature that can only work with both parts in place. The 12-minute piece “A Man Alone” exhibits this duopoly perfectly. The album as a whole is mainly an instrumental production by two French artists making soundscapes of an extended period. Not for casual listening, it is capable of entrancing you into a different place. B+
Bing Satellites - Lo-fi Ambient Works
2022 6 tracks (1:17:43)
It is ambient music in the manner of the original master of ambient music, Brian Eno. Electronic music back to the Tangerine Dream 70’s version featured soft soothing sounds, but Eno found that denuding the sound further to a barely listenable level presented a different dimension in music. This is what Bing Satellites have crafted here. Active listening is not required or even desired. The sound engineering is compressed and even has what sounds like manufactured hiss similar to earlier tape cassette days. Play it at low volumes while concentrating on other activities can enhance the environment you are in. For that reason, approaching this album in that context is the only reasonable way to appreciate it. B-
Forgettable
Miira - Wellness
2022 4 tracks (42:37)
Hooboy, this is dark. Dark, dark, dark. Apparently this duo from Germany live in a black hole of life and express it with stringing together ponderous lengthy guitar notes and occasional thunderous drumming. The four tracks are all named Wellness - I, II, III, and IV; they didn’t even warrant a distinctive name like Life Oozing From Your Body or The Dreary Bounds of Hell either which would have been appropriate. Can’t think of who could live through this dreck for very long, but apparently there is an audience for it. Not me. D-
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