Best of the Week
Mammatus - Expanding Majesty
2023 4 tracks (1:09:33)
Long dreamy post-rock prog music with lots of change-ups and delicious segments to lose your mind. Two brothers from Santa Cruz anchor this group but don’t expect surf music. The long songs aren’t jams either, they are meaty and powerful with the use of multiple guitars and keyboards. When groups make long songs, they either need to conjoin a few ideas together or find a way to make an idea flow without sounding repetitive. The latter is how they make this album work. The 22 minute “Foreveriff” does a wonderful job of making small shifts without sounding the same. That also goes for the title cut, “Expanding Majesty”. Excellent. A+
Interesting Finds
Dommengang - Wished Eye
2023 9 tracks (40:53)
These guys have a basic rock style with a bit of soul as if they were Savoy Browns grittier cousin. Grit works, especially on a cut like “Last Card”, where to slow tempo guitar has an earthy feel supported by low key vocals. With swirling guitars and a drum kit set to a very live micing, just relax and listen to the groove. B
Sound of Strangers - Crossing Borders
2023 7 tracks (44:41)
This Netherlands based band is fine, but I didn’t need to hear a part of a Trump speech talking about the need for borders (“Endless Night”). It doesn’t matter they are ridiculing the far right immigration point of view, if you can’t work it in the lyrics, don’t taint your music this way. Outside of that, the music is fine, having some of that European prog elements as heard through RPWL and Riverside. B
Penguin Cafe - Rain Before Seven…
2023 10 tracks (49:10)
Like the multitude of Irish bands, the catchy violin rhythms draw you in. It isn’t folk music though, it’s more like Phillip Glass if he could write a song without sounding like it's on an infinite loop. You listen to a cut like “No One Really Leaves…” with its unremarkable beginning and soon find yourself enjoying how it has blossomed into a lovely song. The songs are bouncy and rhythmic, cute, and beautifully played, but part of me thinks this kind of music helps psychiatric centers keep the attendees in line. A steady diet of this record could do real damage. One really good cut is “Goldfinch Yodel”. Why couldn’t more of them be like that? C-
Solstein - Solstein
2023 8 tracks (36:11)
This group plays a music style closer to jazz fusion than prog rock. Definitely similar to Pat Methany’s period of rock influenced jazz, though these guys don’t have the technical mastery. Still, the airy recording and general playing sounds like it would fit in ECM’s catalog. It’s a nice listen. B-
Immaterial Possession - Mercy of the Crane Folk
2023 10 tracks (37:51)
An artsy prog rock group from Athens, GA, the group uses many different pieces of instrumentation like clarinet and flutes to the standard rock band setups. The female vocalist sounds a lot like Grace Slick, but this is no Jefferson Airplane. Elements of their fellow Athens band scene The B52’s comes through with some retro keyboard sounds (thankfully not Rick Scneider’s vocals). B
Redshift - Laws of Entropy
2023 6 tracks (59:53)
Sporting a power chord rock with Geddy Lee type vocals, you’d think they would be compared to Rush. I don’t think Rush ever had a 21 minute anthem like the song “Blueshift”. Rush doesn’t growl either, but these guys do. A few of the songs are ruined by the death metal growl which is too bad. They have a basic sound set that would otherwise be enjoyed. C-
Forgettable
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