Issue
#117A
Apr. '09
Prog Rock: Progressive Rock, it was born
out of the psychedelic/acid
rock of the late ‘60s and evolved through the early
‘70s as bands/artists
abandoned the standard 3-minute pop, verse-chorus style songs in favor
of
pursuing music on a grander scale. With Prog Rock, the artists would
allow the
song to progress more in manners usually embraced by Classical
compositions
(rigid structures with charted purpose) and improvisational freeform
Jazz,
where the instruments were allowed breathing room in whatever direction
they
saw fit. Combining these elements with song lyrics based upon Fantasy,
Science
Fiction, Medieval, Mystical, Magical, etc. themes usually held together
in
conceptual form, Prog Rockers established the 10-minute opus as a means
of
escapism through music without the commercial aspects normally
associated with
rock. Though considered to be short lived – in less than 10
years, Punk and
Disco ousted Prog as the genre du jour – and by 1977 Prog was
all but declared
dead, but not really. The late ‘70s and early ‘80s
yielded Prog Rock bands more
sales than ever before, but only after they had scaled their overblown,
pretentious, self-absorbed, technical and studio excessiveness back
enough to
fit mainstream popular radio. The ensuing decades have seen their fair
share of
Prog Rock bands carrying the torch, but it is almost regulated to an
underground type of genre. A genre where those who revel in it are
almost
afraid to revel too loudly. A guilty pleasure perhaps? Not here at
IndepenDisc.
We’ve declared April 2009 Prog Rock Month and we’re
featuring two Prog Bands
for your enjoyment – guilty pleasure or not.
Sky Picnic is a PsychProg band out of New York, NY and Oxcart is a
MetalProg band from Portland, OR. (We’ll review Sky Picnic this week 04-01-09,
and Oxcart
next week 04-08-09).
Welcome
back my friends…
Based
out of Queens, NY, Sky Picnic is: Chris Sherman (guitars, vocals), Leah Cinnamon (bass, vocals), and Pete Meriwether (drums, percussion) and Synesthesia is: Modern Psychedelic Prog
Rock at its finest…
Tea
Break opens the
album with a mid-eastern touch thanks to a bit of sitar. As the guitar
and rhythm
burst forth we hear “It’s
getting late
and my mind wanders,” which sets the scene, from
there the Wah Wah pedals
kick in and we’re swept away in a Psychedelic wandering of
wailing. The art of
the mix is ragged but beautiful, it is so right on, so psychedelic,
dancing
upon prog rock territory early, yet staying committed to the
psychedelic
aspect. The ass-kicking reverb inspires a scenario of lava lamps and
melting
liquid projections on the wall – let’s go for a
ride, let’s take a trip…
Half
The Queens Face
then trips us stumbling down the rabbit hole and freaks us out. After
pulling
us into the Psych world and skirting the edge of Prog with track 1,
this warps
everything – melts it – changes it’s size
and dimension, changes everything in
an Alice In Wonderland way, complete with a bridge that distorts and
melts our
brain as a set up for…
Moons
of Jupiter. Here Sky Picnic sends us on a universal
journey outside the mind
and the body – the spirit is being lifted into outer and
inner space. All the
echo, reverb, Wah Wahs, and whatever else they’ve got going
on here is just
mind blowing. Dig the drums, subtle, laying back, playing an important
role as
the guitar’s high notes are picked about and carried by a
droning and thumping
bass to create a song that parallels The Who’s
“Sparks” from Tommy. So trippy,
so cool. This song accentuates it’s Moons
of Jupiter title
perfectly as it gives off stratospheric sensations that tingle the mind
and
soul.
Now take all that Psych and
roll it together with
Prog - the Wiseman Lost His
Head is very reminiscent of the
ProgPopsters of the late
‘70s. Sky
Picnic knows of where
they come from, boiling this stew of Psych and Prog down to under 5
minutes, in
a perfect radio friendly Pop mix.
Using each style to compliment the other, these guys
marry the genres so seamlessly that they are definitely one of the
precursors
of this era’s Modern PsychProg movement. Complete with false
ending and a very
Smashing Pumpkin-ish Coda the Wiseman Lost His
Head sets the stage for the
grandiose final track…
Sequence
IV (sub-titled: I.
Astral Projections II. Magic Spells III. Star Chamber IV. Interlude, or
the
Event Horizon V. Renaissance VI. Mouth of the Vortex) is one cohesive piece of
mind-blowing syncopation
that achieves its goal and keeps on rolling, taking us on an adventure
where
one chapter ends and another one begins. Haunting and surreal, a mellow
build
starts us off, we can feel the Pink Floyd idolization. Very, very
impressive, a
mystical, astronomical, space-out. Jammy, funky, get down bass, Rock
Star, Guitar
God solos that give the illusion of tripping out within a time warp.
Wailing,
wailing, and wailing to parallel levels where our musical picnic climbs
to
heights we can only imagine achieving. Our picnic in the sky soars us
to the
ethereal planes of our subconscious. Our Sky Picnic knows its shit, when you can
jam like this, you
need to know each others moves – not only are they
functioning within
themselves as a unit, but they are allowing each to wander and explore
any and
all territories involved in the music, in pieces or as a whole, while
embracing
improvisational freeform Jazz, where the instruments are allowed
breathing room
in whatever direction they see fit. Using the Psychedelic base Sky Picnic, as true proggers, allow the
music to progress, to
build up, to scale back, to rebuild again and again – and
when they close this
exercise in Modern Psychedelic Progressive Rock with a Gregorian Chant
Style
Choir of operatic vocals, we’re looking for the credits to
role on this science
fiction saga. What a ride, what a trip…
Sky Picnic,
Welcome
back my friends…
Sky
Picnic - Synesthesia
is available now for: $5.98 +s/h*
$5.00 +s/h*
View
Shopping Cart / Checkout
Accepting Credit Cards and PayPal
*Shipping
&
Handling charges:
USA - $3.00
for the first 2 CDs
ordered,
Add $1.50 per each CD after.
Canada - $5.00 for the
first
CD ordered,
Add $2.00 per each CD after.
Everywhere else -$7.00
for the
first CD ordered,
Add $3.00 per each CD after.
|
