Prog

Hello and welcome to the latest issue of Prog. It’s our final issue of 2024, which means we cast an eye back over the year and our writers vote for their album of the year. We know how much debate this can inspire among you. The results are on p76. B

Editor Jerry Ewing Deputy Editor Natasha Scharf Art Editor Russell Fairbrother Production Editor Vanessa Thorpe News Editor Julian Marszalek Reviews Editor Dave Everley Associate Editor Jo Kendall Content Director Scott Rowley Contributors Jeremy All

Saucerful Of Secrets guitarist and singer Gary Kemp is set to return with the release of his third solo album This Destination, which is out on January 31 via East West Records. Unsurprisingly, the new album features Kemp’s Saucerful Of Secrets bandm

The recorder gets a bad rap. A recent meme denouncing the way you were forced to learn recorder at school (“It’s really come in handy – I’ve lost count of the times I’ve resolved a difficult situation with a blast of Three Blind Mice.”) failed to ack

“MANY PEOPLE ASK why we’re called Oddleaf, and we couldn’t really explain, so we thought we would do a song about it,” says composer and keyboard player, Carina Taurer. The explanation comes in the hauntingly intricate Ethereal Melodies, signature so

(Atlantic Records, 1998) As soon as Tori Amos released her debut solo LP – 1992’s Little Earthquakes – she drew comparisons to the queen of progressive/art pop-rock, Kate Bush. However, in a May 1998 interview with Q magazine (in support of her fourt

THE CANTERBURY SCENE extends well beyond the usual geographical boundaries and, it seems, is also exerting an influence among an increasingly younger generation of musicians. France’s Tom Penaguin is one such example. The multi-instrumentalist’s self

The prog top 30 albums Compiled by Official Charts Company 1 DAVID GILMOUR Luck And Strange (SONY) 2 SLEEP TOKEN Take Me Back To Eden (SPINEFARM) 3 OPETH The Last Will And Testament (REIGNING PHOENIX MUSIC) 4 SLEEP TOKEN This Place Will Become Your T

PINK FLOYD FANS will prick up their ears at Overhead, The Albatross; their bandname is grabbed from the opening line of Echoes. “Myself and Stevie, the bass player, we would have been massive Pink Floyd fans when we were teenagers,” reflects piano an

DAVE PEN AND Robin Foster first met through MySpace more than 15 years ago. It was the nascent algorithms that brought them together, with the bots frequently suggesting fans of Pen’s band Archive might like the music of Foster, and vice versa. “So w

Progressive rock is always wrestling with its intrinsic duality. On one hand, complex, adventurous music can seem like a largely intellectual, almost mathematical exercise. On the other, and particularly at its best, prog has the ability to reduce hu

1 DAVID GILMOUR Luck And Strange (SONY) 2 OPETH The Last Will And Testament (REIGNING PHOENIX MUSIC) 3 JON ANDERSON & THE BAND GEEKS True (FRONTIERS) 4 PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING The Last Flight (SO RECORDINGS) 5 ELBOW Audio Vertigo (POLYDOR) 6 BEAR

A sensitive behemoth, hulking yet graceful, Mogwai’s 11th album arrives with the Glaswegian band bearing a higher profile than at any time during their three decades of delicacy and disruption. Its predecessor, 2021’s As The Love Continues, became a

The Chaos Emporium ARMYOFMOTHS.BANDCAMP.COM Epic and eccentric journey into sound from escapist chaosmongers. Army Of Moths are a duo based in the north west of England and The Chaos Emporium is their third album. Less prosaically, members Little Mot

While many bands of the early 21st-century indie boom were at pains to emphasise “no nonsense” authenticity, Franz Ferdinand were unafraid to admit they’d heard of a painter or read a book. The Glaswegians return with their first album for seven year

The sterling seventh studio album from Scottish artist Philip Clemo is further proof that he operates on a higher aural plane altogether. Through The Wave Of Blue (All Colour Arts) concerns a father’s response to his daughter’s serious illness and ev

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Joe Banks STRANGE ATTRACTOR More than 30 interviews with Hawkwind’s many minstrels and acolytes. As chronicler of Hawkwind’s illustrious history, Joe Banks has form. As well filling Prog’s pages with features about the long-running cosmic warriors fr

VENUE ERIC MORECAMBE CENTRE, HARPENDEN DATE 08/11/2024 This year, The Zombies’ Begin Here Festival, held in their hometown of St Albans, includes a rare solo concert by the group’s singer, Colin Blunstone, in nearby Harpenden. One of the most natural

VENUE PORTSMOUTH GUILDHALL DATE 12/11/2024 The evening begins with Robin A Smith at the piano playing a theme from Tubular Bells II, and he’s gradually joined by seven other musicians who journey together through themes from Ommadawn and Return To Om

VENUE UNION TRANSFER, PHILADELPHIA, USA DATE 18/11/2024 SUPPORT PLINI Animals As Leaders are the kings of adventurous instrumental prog metal/jazz fusion, and although their latest LP (2022’s Parrhesia) remains worthy of attention, tonight’s performa

VENUE THE FIDDLER’S ELBOW, LONDON DATE 10/11/2024 SUPPORT HAZE “When you walk around dressed like that, you are prog. End of discussion!” That was the reaction of one Prog reader when they spied our opening spread of Haze’s feature from #154 on one o

VENUE O2 ACADEMY ISLINGTON, LONDON DATE 24/11/2024 SUPPORT ORANSSI PAZUZU On first listen, Oranssi Pazuzu sound like someone’s taught the world’s angriest wasps how to play a synthesiser. The Finnish quintet are fiercely amelodic, their stacks of noi

VENUE THE LOUISIANA, BRISTOL DATE 16/11/2024 On a dark November night, Held By Trees conjure light with resplendent sounds weaving magical spells. The Louisiana is sold out with an expectant crowd (amazing what an article in The Guardian can do!). St

VENUE KIRI TE KANAWA THEATRE, AUCKLAND, NZ DATE 16/11/2024 SUPPORT EIVØR Naysayers may dismiss Heilung as pagan cosplayers, and it’s true that this evening’s ritual has attracted the kind of crowd that might attend a pagan cosplaying convention. Ther

VENUE THE SALT SHED, CHICAGO, IL, USA DATE 08/11/2024 Post-rock is a healer. At its most basic level, it is music that enters the soul and pulls out whatever may ail you. And the right band stir that soul, finding a way to convince the listener that

VENUE THE UNDERWORLD, LONDON DATE 30/11/2024 One might say that Israeli quintet Orphaned Land don’t take the easy path. ‘How’s that going then?’ quipped a pal when Prog told them they were off to see an Israeli prog metal band who preach peace and ha

VENUE THE REGENT THEATER, LOS ANGELES, USA DATE 12/11/2024 SUPPORT MIDWIFE The crowd that’s packed out this 1,000+ capacity downtown venue is a crosssection of Los Angeles’ kaleidoscopic music scene. Extreme metal fans in Morbid Angel hoodies bump up