Thursday, January 7, 2010

My Top Prog Artists of the Decade

A request for members to post a list of faves on the Colorado Art Rock Society's Yahoo Group was requested by one member. This list is based mostly by the Prog artists I seemed to focus on the most over the decade:

1-Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson - In Absentia is THE top album. I have 17 separate Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson related playlists on my iPod alone...more than any other group...that's sayin' something....not sure what exactly. lol

2-King Crimson / solo band members - The Power to Believe is wonderful and I pretty much follow and collect many of the KC related artists as well; Belew, Levin(favorite bass player), Mastelotto, Gunn, etc. I read Fripp's online diary about everyday. He is "The most interesting man in the world of "prog" ! lol

3-Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Their live shows are probably the main reason I like them so much...oddly compelling to watch, but generally very entertaining. I have to be in the right mood to listen to the albums, but when you are hankering to listen to a track like "1997 (Tonight we're gonna party like it's...)" you know you're in THE mood for nothing else! (I have a couple of past SGM show overviews here also)

4-OSI/Kevin Moore/Chroma Key- Just love the vibe and modern rock/prog/electronic stylings. OSI's debut is a top release of the decade.

5-Kino/John Mitchell - "Picture" maybe a perfect blend of pop and prog. Mitchell's voice goes into my ear just right with Kino and projects/tracks like It Bites, Frost and Blind Ego...all stand out in my book.

6-Riverside - Love the Realty Dream Trilogy. Duda's voice may the my fave of the decade. Their new one continues the strong trend. Duda's solo album Lunatic Soul ain't shabby either.

7-Marillion - I actually enjoyed all four studio releases this decade, unlike many. Marbles is the standout though.

8-Zombi/ Steve Moore - Wonderful collection of old school style Tangerine Dream like synth tunes done up all modern like.

9-Umphrey's McGee - Good thing they came out with their proggiest album to date this year in Mantis or I was going to write them off a little. Regardless, their game is their live shows. They are one of the bands that probably got many new people aware of "prog" this decade and they added their own twist to the genre too.

10-The Flower Kings - This one might be a bit sentimental, but when you work with them a couple times up close you realize what good souls and genuine people they all are. Oh, guess they put out a few "OK" albums in the last ten years too. ;-)

Runners up (maybe not "prog" per say) : The Future Kings of England, Ozric Tentacles, Tortoise, Pat Metheny, God is an Astronaut, Radiohead, Massive Attack

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome list!

Anonymous said...

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