Get your prog groove on with some of what’s been delighting us in the office this week…
EDITOR - JERRY EWING
ELO – Can’t Get It Out Of My Head
This week both a new book on Jeff Lynne and ELO’s Live In Hyde Park Blu-ray landed on my desk, so it seemed pertinent to choose an ELO track for this week’s selection. I once included the band’s 1974 album Eldorado in a list of the 50 albums that built prog rock, so I’ve gone back for the dreamy lead single from that album, a refrain that still acts like one of the best ear worms you could end up with!
DEPUTY EDITOR - HANNAH MAY KILROY
Amorphis – Death Of A King
Don’t let the occasional growls put you off, proggers! Amorphis’ unique blend of fiddly folk and weighty prog all set to delicate guitar passes and powerful vocals is a treat to the ears, and after 25 years together these Finns are only getting stronger.
NEWS EDITOR - NATASHA SCHARF
ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF – COME ANDER WITH ME/DELIVERANCE
This wonderfully eerie 10-minute gem is from Swede Anna von Hausswolff who played at the Royal Festival hall last Friday. It’s hypnotic, sultry, wonderfully infectious and is taken from her forthcoming album The Miraculous, which is out on November 13 via City Slang.
REVIEWS EDITOR - GRANT MOON
CHON – ECHO
This San Diego foursome have an uncanny knack for blending XTC-style songwriting smarts with dizzying, jazzy math-rock guitar lines. If that means they fall between two stools for most audiences, it also means they land right on our turf. If you have time, let their YouTube channel play out from this tasty piece - there’s plenty to tantalise in the run-up to debut album Grow, out on Sumerian on September 25th. They’re touring the UK with The Fall Of Troy this month, with a stop at that post-rock Woodstock ArcTanGent on the August 21st. This mellifluous, knotty stuff might see them steal the show…
LIMELIGHT BAND
JENNY HVAL – SABBATH
Jenny’s described in the latest issue of Prog as a “sexually liberated Scandinavian Portishead after four years studying Creative Arts in Melbourne”. It further adds “…Your mum certainly wouldn’t apporve of her potty mouth though…”. Well!
WRITER– MALCOLM DOME
Spock’s Beard - Minion
From the new album The Oblivion Particle, this brings to mind the glorious days of pomp, when Styx were releasing albums like The Grand Illusion. It has a furtive swagger, with some devastating musicianship based around a simple melody. It’s epic, yet also intimate, which is exactly what Styx were doing at their best. An, every time you play it, you’ll hear something else lurking in the shadows.
