Intellectually stimulating/progressive music.

Doctor J

The blue one is the first one. The second one is pretty cool, though I wish the guy would put the stick down every now and then. There's a tune on the second one (A Shaman's Whisper) where all four Cynic members play... doesn't sound anything like Cynic though

The Free Man

can't believe i havn't seen this thread before..
anyway heres my picks

The Mars Volta
Yes (Classic Yes springs to mind)
Jeff Wayne
Kyuss
Mansun (Six)
UNKLE (Never Never Land)


Thats it for now!

bill.

Karl Hungus

Yes are a band I've been meaning to check out at some stage aswell. Probably pick up a couple of albums when I've got the cash to spare sometime. The Mars Volta aswell are a band I've yet to look into, but will at some stage.

We had a thread here about Jeff Wanye's War Of The Worlds if you'd care to look back a page or two for it.

The Free Man

Karl Hungus wrote:

We had a thread here about Jeff Wanye's War Of The Worlds if you'd care to look back a page or two for it.

oh good, what an amazing score it is. just thought i'd give it a mention in here because of its prog like continuous feel.
i strongly recommend TMV, im nuts about them. cant go a day without hearing them!

Karl Hungus

The Free Man wrote:

oh good, what an amazing score it is. just thought i'd give it a mention in here because of its prog like continuous feel.
i strongly recommend TMV, im nuts about them. cant go a day without hearing them!

There was also some threads about The Mars Volta a while back aswell, so you should definetly have a trawl through the last few pages of Rock/Metal to see what interesting stuff you might find.

JoeQ

check out a guy called preston reed, he's often playing around ireland. he plays intricate yet musical intrumental solo guitar, essentially metal riffs, with 2 hand tapping whilst knocking out amazing rythyms on the guitars body. its fantastic to see live. take any opportunity to see him play.
www.prestonreed.com/

Undergod

Do opeth have a place on this thread? Got blackwater park a few hours ago.

Karl Hungus

Undergod wrote:

Do opeth have a place on this thread? Got blackwater park a few hours ago.

Of course they do!

dib

Currently listening to The Sham Mirrors by Arcturus. Brilliant.

Rustar

Might've missed it, but I don't think I saw anyone mention a couple of my favorites, Gentle Giant and John McLaughlin (both with Mahavishnu and Shakti).

Awesome stuff!

Shiminay

I've skimmed through everyone's offerings and I haven't seen anyone mention Fantomas (featuring Mike Patton etc). They will definitely make you sit up and take note!

Someone mentioned S.O.A.D. - for shame. They sully the nature of this thread with their presence. Trust me, there's nothing new there and nothing worth reading into in their lyrics.

Isis and Opeth have been mentioned - fair enough, but I'm not sure if they fit into this thread's category per-se. It's not necessarily progressive (at least not to me) or majorly stimulating - I consider it chilled out relaxing stuff (see also Pelican for more this sort of thing by the way - excellent).

I find music that forces me to listen to it several times to get what's going on can be 1 of 2 things: genius or cock! But sometimes they can be both...
For example (and in my opinion): Devourment is one of these bands - I thought at first, cock. Unquestionibly. Now, after a build up to it, I think it's genius only because I gave it enough listens.

My point - there's always gonna be certain bands that will stimulate people in certain ways (careful now) and make them think "this is the way forward!", but it's all relative to your own point of view and taste.

However! System of a Down will never be one of these bands.

Rua

This is a great thread.
An FYI for most of you - there's a magazine called Classic Rock which goes on sale at the end of every month, and they give great coverage to Progressive Rock type music.

I was a little surprised not to copme across Camel in the posts - their first four albums: Camel, Mirage, Moonmadness and The SnowGoose (nice synopsis here http://www.ytsejam.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=18) are classics and I've being listening to Spock's Beard a lot too (great band - BRUTAL name - best albums to check out imo are Snow and V)

Now, off with me to check out some of the bands that have been namechecked here.

later...

Karl Hungus

Camel are another band I've been meaning to check out, and Mirage, Moonmadness and The Snow Goose are albums that have been recommended to me. Besides, Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt goes on about them a bit, and he's the man who introduced me to Porcupine Tree, so that's definetly worth looking into.

Rustar

Karl Hungus wrote:

...Camel are another band I've been meaning to check out...

Checked out Camel this evening, nice stuff! Here's the recipe:
Throw a bunch of Moody Blues and Alan Parsons Project in a bowl. Add a teaspoon each of Steeleye Span and Jethro Tull. Add a pinch of Mannheim Steamroller.
Almost uncategorizable!

John

I seriously recommend the latest album by Larsen (it's called Play). It's instrumental music (kind of like Godspeed but not quite) and sounds very tasty.

John

I got two records in the post yesterday. Both are by a guy called Sir Richard Bishop who plays with a band called Sun City Girls. Anyone who saw Devendra Banhart might remember him as the support act. He takes a lot of world music type sounds and places them in different contexts. He plays some absolutely amazing acoustic guitar, seriously worth checking out if you're a musician. Listening to Salvador Kali now by him, really great album.

Crucifix

JoeQ wrote:

check out a guy called preston reed, he's often playing around ireland. he plays intricate yet musical intrumental solo guitar, essentially metal riffs, with 2 hand tapping whilst knocking out amazing rythyms on the guitars body. its fantastic to see live. take any opportunity to see him play.
www.prestonreed.com/

I saw him playing 'Ladies night' on tv before. It was amazing to watch, and not too bad to listen to either

adox

Sikth are the most interesting band I`ve heard in a while.

They are a metal band with mostly growling/screaming vocals, but the musical arrangements and indeed musicianship on their first album are a joy to listen to,original,unorthodox and brilliantly executed.

Theres a couple of samples on their site,but to get a real taste of what they are about,go straight to track 2 "Scent Of The Obscene".Its just fantastic

The Free Man

sikth are ok, a bit overboard for me. they slightly remind me of the madness that is fantomas.

wow, how could i forget to mention wishbone ash! they just popped into my head, so i thought i'd give them a mention on this thread....

smackbunnybaby

kayo dot - "the thinking mans tool"

Karl Hungus

Rustar wrote:

Checked out Camel this evening, nice stuff! Here's the recipe:
Throw a bunch of Moody Blues and Alan Parsons Project in a bowl. Add a teaspoon each of Steeleye Span and Jethro Tull. Add a pinch of Mannheim Steamroller.
Almost uncategorizable!

I picked up Mirage and The Snow Goose Yesterday going pretty cheap. Just listening to Mirage now, and I have to say it's some sweet sounding stuff altogether. Definetly a good purchase.

Rustar

Anyone remember a German prog band named Triumvirat?
I seem to remember some cool concept stuff about Romans and so forth.

Whoop, just remembered another one....Starcastle

Karl Hungus

Have to say, I've been listening to Camel a lot the last while. Wasn't too gone on the Snow Goose when I first heard it, but damned if it hasn't grown on me. I'm definetly going to be grabbing a couple more of their albums whenever I can.

BoobC

Mirage is a quality album. You can see a lot of their influence in Opeth.

John

I keep meaning to check Camel out given their influence on the mighty 'peth.

evad_lhorg

Camel are pretty good you shuold check em out.

Actually someone above mentioned the mars volta and I must agree.

and fortuneG was goin on about that Sikth band. sounded ok. not really my cup o tea though. same as meshuggah. i can accept when someone is great at their instrument or whatever but i just can listen to it.

frux

I'm so glad to see that so many people are interested about challenging, unique and intelligent music.
Apart of the many bands you have already mentioned (Cynic, Opeth, Cacophony, Dream Theater, Death, Al di Meola...), I could maybe add a few like Coroner (from Switzerland 80/90s, anyone knows them?), Steve Vai, Paco de Lucia, Jeff Beck, could I say also Paganini, Vivaldi, J.S. Bach...

Actually we can mention music from any age and style because intelligent music doesn't die with time! Don't you agree?

Karl Hungus

frux wrote:

Don't you agree?

Yes. Anything goes really.

Jim_Are_Great

In that case - Muse. Wonderfully progressive, without being silly and overblown. Best .Band. Ever.*



*Above may not strictly be true...

John

frux wrote:

Actually we can mention music from any age and style because intelligent music doesn't die with time! Don't you agree?

I'm starting to get interested in medival music at the moment. So much so I was pricing hurdy-gurdies (£2000 for a beginners one!)