Browsing Tag

prog rock

Cash Machine delivered 70s prog-rock perfection with their soul entwined single, Digital Zeus

Posted on 17 October 2022

After dropping their raunchy funk-sliced prog rock debut single, Promises, the Upstate SC outfit Cash Machine subverted our expectations entirely with the sophomore follow-up, Digital Zeus.

The seamlessly progressive single starts as a smoky, lounge-y feat of late-night bluesy soul before progressing into a riff-led prog rock epic that would leave any Genesis fans kneeling at Cash Machine’s unholy alter.

The screeching guitar riffs to the almost thrashy percussion builds an immersive 70s prog-tinted crescendo before the timbre temporarily winds back down to a Jeff Buckley-style serenade. Naturally, we can’t wait to hear what follows this solid feat of ingenuity and technical ability.

Digital Zeus officially released on September 28th; check it out on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Cagri Raydemir – Unscripted Surrender: Meet Your New Favourite Prog-Rock Pioneer

Posted on 6 October 2022

With vocal reminiscences to Serj Tankian’s softer vocal lines and the gypsy punk rogue Eugene Hütz, Cagri Raydemir’s latest single, Unscripted Surrender, featuring musician Salih Korkut Peker, is a charisma-fuelled feat of intellectually crafted prog rock innovation.

With 12 albums and 5 EPs under his belt, the Munich, Germany residing singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and audio engineer has notably poured blood, sweat and tears into developing a sonic signature that will leave a perpetual mark once you have been exposed to the achingly beautiful motifs that take his sound far beyond the standard bar for independent artists.

While the instrumentals refuse to bow to genre constraints and break the monocultural mould in the process of the progressions, Cagri Raydemir’s autonomously alternative sound compliments the lyricism which operates on a near philosophical level.

Unscripted Surrender is now available to stream on Spotify with the rest of his 2022 EP, Shortage of Identity. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Funk-Rock supergroup Cash Machine have made their raunchily groove-deep debut with Promises

Posted on 27 September 2022

‘Promises’ is the debut feat of filthy prog funk rock from the supergroup Cash Machine, which comprises artists from several of Upstate SC’s most successful bands. Members of The Consumers, The Grateful Brothers and Buffalohead all converged to throw back to the raucous era of funk-rock in one of the grittiest time-hops you could sink into in 2022.

With the ragged vocal timbre of Joe Power raucously grating across the smoky groove pockets carved by guitarists Daniel Collins and Zach Thigpen, Promises oozes raunchy swagger that is slick enough to leave you hot under the collar.

Promises was unleashed on September 9th ahead of their debut self-titled album, which is set to release on October 14th. Funk-rock aficionados will want to head to Spotify to indulge and make radar room accordingly.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Scottish alt-rock pioneers her picture showed us ‘The Nature of It’ with their debut single.

Posted on 26 July 2022

Scotland’s freshest 4-piece alt-rock ensemble, her picture showed us what originality sounds like in 2022 with their debut single, The Nature of It. Their citation of Ben Howard and Pink Floyd as their influences barely scratches the riff-powered surface of their blend of colourful reverb-dripping ambience and intensely overdriven rock.

Just as the records from My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and The House of Love demand to be listened to at maximum volume, the hauntedly beckoning vocals over the artfully proggy instrumentals that throw cataclysmic breakdowns at you at the drop of a hat were built for complete audiophilic immersion. I’m yet to hear another more visceral alt rock debut this year.

The Nature of It is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors delivered a prodigal prog-rock evocative firestorm through their single, MU-TH-UR

Posted on 5 July 2022

I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting a band under the moniker The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors to sound like, but as sexy as Deftones & Kyuss wasn’t high on the list.

Fresh from the release of their MU-TH-UR EP, they sucked us into the atmosphere of the title single, which catapulted us across the spectrum of human emotion with the tightly tumultuous post-rock gravitas.

There is something endlessly sweet about the melancholy-tinged harmonies, which run in the same vein as Incubus, creating a bridge over the proggy furore that can’t be pinned down with any discernable accuracy. MU-TH-ER was the result of pure unbridled experimentation. Yet, with the stellar songwriting talent, The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors makes it easy to enjoy going along with the ride that hits you with crescendo after curveball after breakdown. Considering that gas prices are at an all-time high, you may as well expand your horizons with the hypnotic propensities in the progressions in MU-TH-ER. We know we will. Repeatedly.

MU-TH-ER is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

The Liberace of punk, Cinemartyr, are back in proggy Avant-Garde form in ‘No Legacy’

Posted on 30 May 2022

Baroque folk meets prog rock in the latest single, No Legacy, from the NYC-residing Avant-Garde outfit, Cinemartyr who have lasciviously been stealing the crown of the boldest aural architects since their original formation in 2008.

The doomy, heavy guitars follow the ultimate head-banging formula as the riffs keep on getting brought back slower for the aphrodisiacal angsty effect. While Irish folk nuances, from founding member, Shane Harrington’s geographical ghetto past, sporadically eke in through the pull of classical strings and the tonal shifts in Amber Moon’s vocal eccentricity. The era-hopping vocal lines are enough to put Kate Bush and Dua Lipa in the same league.

Keep them on your radar for the release of their forthcoming album, OPT OUT, which will be available to to stream and purchase from June 17th.

The official music video premiered on March 3rd; you can stream it for yourselves via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Take a psychedelic desert rock trip with Shandri’s latest single, Desert Flower

Posted on 21 March 2022

From the ancient mountains of Central Mexico, the alt-indie psych artist, Shandri, is here with his latest progressively indulgent aural trip, Desert flower. It evades every revival cliché by complimenting the shimmering psych-rock transcendent tones with a touch of War on Drugs and Radiohead art-rock finesse.

For the instrumental interlude, the one-man project surpassed expectations with screaming saxophones and jazzy nuances that will leave any self-respecting desert-rock inclined muso weak at the knees. Yet, Shandri invertedly poured plenty of commercial potential in the single by wrapping it into an addictive 3-minute package that deserves to blow up as much as the Black Keys’ biggest hits. We can’t wait to hear what follows.

Desert Flower is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Volta Nova – Out Where the West Begins: Meet the Fresh Face of Blues Rock

Posted on 5 February 2022

To follow on from their debut Return to Tomorrow EP, the fresh face of blues-rock, Volta Nova, unleashed their college-rock-reminiscent stormer of an extended single, Out Where the West Begins.

With hints of the 90s Seattle sound, prog-rock proclivities, blues rock attitude, swaggering crunchy guitars and nuances of the Offspring in the early days in their vocals, you couldn’t ask for a more dynamically indulgent alt-rock single to add to your playlists. For five unadulterated minutes, Volta Nova pulls from the puppet strings of a myriad of genres to deliver a sound as distinctive as it is familiar. Words alone could never express the innovation encased in Out Where the West Begins that draws you in with its impassioned gravitas.

Out Where the West Begins is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Swimming deliver anthemic indie rock realism in their latest single, Sometimes Things Change

Posted on 26 September 2021

If you are yet to healthily embrace the inevitability of change, the anthemic indie-rock bop, Sometimes Things Change, from up and coming artist, Swimming, might be enough to push your perceptions in a more positive direction.

With tinges of angsty punk and an Against Me! vibe to their lo-fi sound, the energy in Sometimes Things Change comes with a sharp set of teeth. You won’t be left waiting for the hooks; you’ll already be hooked in the full-frontal emotion right from the intro. Swimming’s raucous vibe and conscious lyrics are everything that the airwaves need right now. The shift to disjointing proggy math-rock mid-way through the track proves that there’s plenty more to Swimming than their candour; they are a powerhouse in their own right.

You can check out the official music video for Sometimes Things Change by heading over to YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Shake up your indie post-punk playlist with [glazier]’s prog-rock single, down.up.down.

Posted on 23 September 2021

If your indie post-punk playlists need a shakeup, the jagged, complex time signatures in the standout single, down.up.down, from the three-piece powerhouse, [glazier] will do exactly that.

While most artists experimenting with unorthodox time signatures usually do so with an air of inaccessible pretension, [glazier] take a more affable route by ensuring that there’s as much emotion to connect with as there is experimentation to get excited by.

With drums that will easily win over fans of The Walkmen, the sweetness of Elliott Smith, the hooky magnetism of Queens of the Stone Age and the chill of Interpol, [glazier] really are the entire package. It is only a matter of time before they find themselves presented with a major-label deal.

The official video to down.up.down premiered in May 2021; you can check it out for yourselves on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast