ROUnD-UP: Prog
Hedvig Mollestad Trio Smells Funny ruNe grammoFoN
susanna, Jenny Hval and this writer’s beloved motorpsycho. award-winning guitarist Hedvig mollestad appeared on their roster in 2011 with the superb
shoot!, stamping her stiletto-heeled way through jazz-prog expositions that owed as much to guns n’ roses and melvins as to Johns mclaughlin and coltrane.
smells Funny, her trio’s sixth album, doesn’t hold back (except on the dreamy
Jurasek). opener Beastie, Beastie Firstly, this is a shoutout to norwegian record label rune grammofon, who just turned 20 and have been a home to myriad excellent left-ofthe-dial acts in jazz and rock such as Bushman’s revenge, elephant9, shining, channels sabotage by the Beastie Boys, before things go metallically zep for First
Thing To Pop is an eye and jazz sabbath on Bewitched, Dwarfed and Defeathered, with bassist ellen Brekken burning frets and drummer ivar loe Bjornstad almost levitating his kit. lucidness is the incendiary cherry on this kvaefjordkake
– if you want to know what Hendrix might have done beyond 27, listen to this.
lapis lazuli Brain lapislazuli.BaNDCamp.Com
now trimmed to a fourpiece, there’s still oodles of complexity to this fifth release from canterbury proggers lapis lazuli. Precise cyclical figures, jazzy swing, dubby lolloping… it’s an ozric Tentacles kind of party, with king crimson and Brand X gatecrashing midway. it’s got plenty of clever chops, but presented airily and organically – as they state on track one, low key.
The Hare And Hoofe The Terror Of Melton thehareaNDhooFe.BaNDCamp.Com
Want a mash-up of king gizzard and sparks? Then look no further than this london sextet. Tumbling on to the scene with capes, flutes and platform boots, this eight-part suite isn’t all the full-on glampsych madness of tracks such as chromium Dioxide and The crazy Data, there’s also sweeter scents, such as cold Blows The Whistle lonely nights. exciting stuff.
Pavlov’s Dog Prodigal Dreamer roCKville
it’s 43 years since Pampered menial, and today there’s less electric bleat in frontman David surkamp’s voice, which suits Prodigal Dreamer’s hymnal style. Familiar motifs – abbie steiling’s fluid violin and the theatricality of surkamp in The Winds Wild early – show the six-piece are wearing well, even if this soulful slice of folk-prog americana could signal a winding down.
Pallas Courage And Other Songs Of War And Peace selF- releaseD
many believe that prog has no soul or emotion. no one told graeme murray and co, who present this atmospheric, symphonic free-to-download album based on The great War with empathy and class, very much in line with Pink Floyd’s Final cut. There’s real feeling here, especially on XXV suite. an inspired tribute.