^ You oughtta experience Lofthus in action. I remember hearing that debut Elephant9 and thinking "No way this dude can play like this throughout an entire gig", and yet he certainly does - and more. Amazing. This is how I keep imagining a Tony Williams or an early 70s Cobham.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
I'm not sure I could take it. I would also cite John Bohnam as a reference - the guy is that powerful.Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor
^ Oh yes, certainly; if you'd mutate the power precision of Bonham with the wildman antic of Moon and the technical prowess of Williams, you'd be at least halfway there. I can think of perhaps only a handful other drummers of this awe in rock today, Tatsuya Yoshida and Morgan Ågren being amongst them.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
^Yes to all.
It's one of the main reasons why Psychedelic Backfire blew me away, and ended up buying all 8 sides of it. A huge player.
Add Bozzio with FZ. And Vander.
I catched 3 of the 4 Psychedelic Backfire performance nights. Absurd, and I've seen Vander up close twice too.
If all goes well, Lofthus will record drum lines for my band's sludge prog record later this year
Nice!
Some more Norwegian upper-frequencies.
And by one of the most phenomenally creative, yet thoroughly overlooked Norwegian groups of all time who were also insanely powerful and committed. I saw these dudes back in 1993 when this was released and I later got to know Asgeir, their singer, pretty well. Haven't spoken to him since 1995, though. Albino Slug were highly influential on Motorpsycho and their decision to "let it all out", btw.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
https://ellenandreawangmusic.bandcam...=album_release
Ellen Andrea Wang, bassist for Pixel, has a new album. English guitarist Rob Luft and Swedish drummer Jon Fält spoil the pure Norwegian connection in a jazzy fashion.
https://worldwidefm.net/show/matchfu...tori-handsley/
Premiere of one of the tracks on the new elephant9 album here. It's called "Tales of Secrets" and it's around 1h35m on the podcast.
It sounds like neo-soul tbh
bassist in Papangu, a zeuhl metal band from Brazil https://papangu.bandcamp.com/album/holoceno
Other than elephant9 and the new Needlepoint, seems like this will definitely be a big year for Norwegian prog. Skalstad's WIZRD are releasing their debut; there's a second Krokofant feat. Ingebrigt Haaker Flaten & Ståle Storløkken scheduled for Autumn...
Also, elephant9 are teasing some concert footage on their Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/elephant9theband/
They should announce a live video release soon.
bassist in Papangu, a zeuhl metal band from Brazil https://papangu.bandcamp.com/album/holoceno
...and Ola Kvernberg is working on a new Steamdome album. I'm very much looking forward to that.
One thing is for sure, the sheep is not a creature of the air.
https://sproingg.bandcamp.com/
Haven't read any of this thread yet but hey this is a great (non-prog) performance from Norway, can I squeeze this non-prog performance here into this thread, thanks:
Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra - Wayfaring Stranger
^ That was really good, and the singer is fantastic!
That's great news! I'm bloody in.
The new Needlepoint is indeed very-very good
Elephant 9 - new one
https://soundcloud.com/rune-grammofo...e-of-accession
Yep, if anyone hasn't heard the new Needlepoint yet, they need to. Every album by them is great. This one ups the Canterbury ante quite a bit, and is just a perfectly unified listener experience. Recommended.
Another somewhat Canterbury-leaning album is Mythopoeic Mind's upcoming release. This project led by Panzerpappa sax player Steinar Børve explores the outer reaches of melodic/symphonic prog where it begins to saunter into Canterbury/jazz/RIO territory - a very fruitful expedition.
Then there is of course the hitherto little-known Ingelrii, an offshoot of neo-krauters Weserbergland, but going in a much more trad-prog direction with nods to Nordic forest prog like Landberk. Norwegian lyrics - still a too-rare occurence in Norwegian prog:
For those interested in the more electronic side of Norwegian music, I will be releasing the first album with my project Donner, which is synth-based. Influences include Steve Roach, Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter. The twist being that there are quite a few non-synth musical guests appearing on the album, including Hedvig Mollestad, Marte Eberson (Jon Eberson's daughter and a highly accomplished keyboardist/singer), Georg Wadenius and Keith Carlock. So, synth music infused with some jazz chopsIt'll be out this spring.
Humcrush
Ståle Storløkken – keyboards
Thomas Strønen – drums & electronics
I took a walk down to the Big Dipper store and got the new Needlepoint, and then walked back home again for some Scotch and listening.
It's -very- good and, like Jacob says, notching up the references a bit. More epic and meandering structure as well. I'd say the most intriguing aspect of Klakegg's instrumental formula is that of a peculiar harmonic sensibility, circling around the same bars of pittoresque chord progressions and that inimitably lightweight voice of his - whereas dynamics are much more consistent and almost smooth, rarely gripping any rough edges.
In a way it's strange, because I've become accustomed to listening to new Needlepoint during heat in late spring and throughout the summer. These days are dark and immensely chilly - in so many regards. I only know I'll be listening to this thing for months to come. I enjoy it far more than their previous release, which was fine but somewhat of an anticlimax after Aimless Mary. This one is simply more, er, "prog" as hoped for. Although it's campy to state that, I know.
Awaiting the upcoming Suburban Savages now.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
I discovered Leprous a couple of years back. Some excellent stuff there. Baard Kolstad is a pretty tidy drummer for sure.
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