Les Mouvements – Les Mouvements (2013)

Les Mouvements is a French instrumental jazzu progressive rock duo comprised of a drummer and a fretless guitar-harp player. Yup, an instrument that is very rarely seen or heard, with the added bonus of fretlessness! How does that sound like? Listen to the video of Laminaires below to find out.

For those of you who do not know what a guitar-harp is, it’s a hybrid instrument usually consisting of a guitar, with added strings that are meant to be played openly, as accompaniment or else, and often tuned to form chords. Check out this picture to look at the sweet … Read more

Review: Kes – Kamlama

[Stream album here]

Kes is a band from Turkey, and apparently Kamlama is their debut album. If you’re thirsty for some great instrumental progressive rock not too far off from Indukti, you won’t be disappointed!

The trio is the standard instrumental rock form: one guitarist, one bassist, and one drummer. Each with their standard number of strings and drums parts. I believe it’s quite difficult to acquire music instruments and services in Turkey, at least that’s what I’ve heard, but these guys seem to have some high-end gear and top-notch sound/mix quality. Good for them, and, ultimately, good for … Read more

Review : ni – Les Insurgés De Romilly

French instrumental math-rockers ni have already lobbed at us (across the Atlantic), two great, albeit short, releases: the two eponymous EPs of 2010 and 2012. This year, for the full release, the name ni just wasn’t enough. Les Insurgés De Romilly is a full-length album, clocking at around 40 minutes; 40 minutes of intense mathy prog-goodness!

ni is about intense, mathematical, challenging yet light-hearted music. With Les Insurgés De Romilly, they have achieved an otherworldly balance of dissonant harmonies, catchy odd-time grooves, and psychedelic, sometimes schizophrenic, passages. The voices, too, are in some sort of grey area that will … Read more

Review: Upsilon Acrux – Sun Square Dialect

True math! Upsilon Acrux is one of these bands that really mesmerize you, on every listen. Their music is so dense and complex, both harmonically and rhythmically, that it’s difficult to listen to their album, Sun Square Dialect, as background music, while doing other tasks. You might find yourselves trying to keep track of the changing time signatures or just trying to figure out what’s happening, and how it got there! It’s truly music for the brain.

Using two drummers has many advantages and disadvantages, the formers being for the listener, and the latters being more technical, and for … Read more

Review: Blumen – Press 1 For Music

The first thing I did was to press 1, and I was utterly disappointed that the very title of this album is a big ugly lie. However, I didn’t press the keypad 1 so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. This one-man project originates from Athens (no, not Greece’s Athens), in Georgia (no, not the country), USA, and plays us some really cool progressive rock music, with an emphasis on pianos and keyboards, which is a rarity these days.

The project is really reminiscent of David Maxim Micic’s material, it’s melodic, progressive, and heavy with arrangements of all … Read more