Ed’s Letter

Hello, and welcome to the new issue of

Bloody Well Write

Send your letters to us at: Prog, Future Publishing, 1-10 Praed Mews, Paddington, London, W2 1QY, or email prog@futurenet.com. Letters may be edited for length. We regret that we cannot reply to phone calls. For more comment and prog news and views, find us on facebook.com under Prog. 

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LETTER

How good to see readers recognising Pendragon’s brilliant album

LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT END THEIR 22-YEAR SILENCE

IF IT’S OUT THERE, IT’S IN HERE

COSMOGRAF ALBUM: IT’S ABOUT TIME!

Robin Armstrong clocks five aspects of a metaphor in as many musical styles

STORY OF 3 ENDS WITH THE THIRD IMPRESSION

Robert Berry completes last song with Keith Emerson

RICHARD BARBIERI CASTS A SPELL

Fourth solo album’s “strange dreams and imagery” are fuelled by forest wanderings

WHEEL GET REAL IN RESIDENT HUMAN

Anglo-Finnish collective aim for honesty with their second album , due in March

MÖBIUS STRIP BACK FROM SILENCE WITH TIME LAG

Jazz proggers inspired by support slot with Soft Machine

BTBAM PREPARE FOR “CRAZY RIDE”

“We’re still pushing ourselves,” says vocalist Tommy Rogers of the upcoming album

TUSMØRKE DREAM OF REALMS BEYOND

New album Nordisk Krim explores the world of prehistoric bog bodies

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER IS DAMIAN WILSON ACTION PIC

Bert Treep is named Affinity Photo New Rock Photographer

FAD GADGETS

Rhodri Marsden on three of the latest must-have gizmos currently putting the prog in progress

DAVID ELLEFSON

Inspiring the wider music world…

OUR OCEANS

Shred guitarist Tymon Kruidenier discovers his voice on latest project

THE DOLL

LISTEN TO THE SILENCE  (BEGGARS BANQUET, 1979)

ANNA HARDY

Our far-out trip to far-flung prog

POLYMOON

Finnish space cadets aim to blow your minds and your eardrums

PG.LOST

Swedish post-rock crew aim high with latest release

SCARDUST

Israeli symphonic prog metallers explore estrangement on their second album

MARK MANGOLD

From Valhalla to Cher, the New York-based songwriter and keyboard warrior returns to his prog roots with a new American Tears album. He tells Prog why he’s itching to get back on the road, and why you shouldn’t try to silence artists when it comes to politics!

TWELVE MILLION AND COUNTING: Aqualung At 50!

Half a century on and Aqualung is as relevant as ever. Jethro Tull’s career-defining album explored themes of homelessness, prostitution and religion, yet the band never considered it to be a conceptual release. This year, it celebrates its 50th anniversary, and Ian Anderson and Martin Barre look back on the making of a classic that even caught Jimmy Page’s attention

DAVE OBERLÉ

Every month we get inside the mind of one of the biggest names in music. This issue, it’s Dave Oberlé. As a founder member of Gryphon, the percussionist and vocalist was responsible for helping to bring quirkiness and curiosity to the band’s musical output. Inspired by medieval and renaissance music, jazz, rock, and folk, Oberlé has remained a constant within the band alongside multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Brian Gulland. He’s also guested on albums by Steve Howe, Wire and Gandalf’s Fist. He looks back on a life that even led to him working on a metal magazine

THE ANCHORESS

New spins… 

AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS

We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal  FSOLDIGITAL.COM

TWENTY-FIVE VIEWS OF WORTHING

Twenty-Five Views Of Worthing WINDWAKER RECORDS

ALPHA MALE TEA PARTY

Infinity Stare BIG SCARY MONSTERS

JASON BIELER & THE BARON VON BIELSKI ORCHESTRA

Songs For The Apocalypse FRONTIERS

PETER CHILVERS & JON DURANT

Always Golden Sands/Vista ALCHEMY/BANDCAMP

CULT OF LUNA

The Raging River RED CREEK 

ELEPHANT9

Arrival Of The New Elders

ARC OF LIFE

Arc Of Life FRONTIERS

DOWNES BRAIDE ASSOCIATION

Halcyon Hymns CHERRY RED

FISH

A Fish In The Lemon Tree – Live MMXX SOUNDCLOUD

FOVEA HEX

The Salt Garden (Landscaped) LES DISQUES DU CREPUSCULE

HEAVE BLOOD AND DIE

Post People FYSISK FORMAT

JOHN HOLDEN

Circles In Time JOHNHOLDENMUSIC.COM

PETER HESSLEIN

Night Drive LUCIFER’S RECORDS/CHERRY RED

HOSIANNA MANTRA

Particle Mythology HOSIANNA-MANTRA.BANDCAMP.COM

ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN

The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest INSIDEOUT

LEAGUE OF LIGHTS

Dreamers Don’t Come Down EIGHTSPACE

THE LICKERISH QUARTET

Threesome, Vol.2 LOJINX/STRANGER DANGER RECORDS AND TAPES

ANTONI MAIOVVI & ANTA

Church Of The Second Sun DEATH WALTZ

PROGRESSIVE METAL

Dom Lawson buckles up for a delve into the darker, heavier side

GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT

Ghost Tapes #10 NAPALM RECORDS

MEADOWS

Modern Emotions FREYA RECORDS

NORTHWEST

II TEMPEL ARTS

PLANKTON WAT

Future Times THRILL JOCKEY

PAUL SADLER

Soon To Be Absorbed PAUL SADLER PRODUCTIONS

SAGA

Symmetry EARMUSIC

J PETER SCHWALM & ARVE HENRIKSEN

Neuzeit RARENOISE

POST-ROCK

Alex Lynham guides us through the peaks and valleys of essential post-rock

MEER

Playing House KARISMA

SILENT SKIES

Satellites SWEET LEMON

STEARICA

Golem 202020 MONOTREME

STEPHAN THELEN

World Dialogue RARENOISE

THERION

Leviathan NUCLEAR BLAST

AA WILLIAMS

Songs From Isolation BELLA UNION

JOE WONG

Nite Creatures DECCA

A ND LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Grant Moon has a rummage down the back of the Prog sofa for the ones that nearly got away…

BE-BOP DELUXE

Plastic Fantastic ESOTERIC

CURVED AIR

The Albums 1970 – 1973 CHERRY RED

NIRVANA

Songlife 1967-72 MADFISH

RIVERSIDE

Out Of Myself INSIDEOUT

AL STEWART

Year Of The Cat: 45th Anniversary Box Set CHERRY RED

KAYAK

Phantom Of The Night RENAISSANCE RECORDS

BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST: EVERY ALBUM, EVERY SONG

Keith & Monika Domone SONICBOND

ENCYCLOPAEDIA HAWKWINDIA – AN UNAUTHORISED COMPENDIUM

Dave Thompson LULU

THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK

Gerard Bassols GRUPO EDITORIAL CÍRCULO ROJO

ARENA

From The Beginning – A Photographic History Of The First 25 Years! VERGLAS MUSIC

PROG ROCK EN 150 FIGURES

Dominique Dupuis ÉDITIONS DU LAYEUR

MIKE OLDFIELD

Tubular Bells: From The Manor Born TIGERMOTH

VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR: EVERY ALBUM, EVERY SONG

Dan Coffey SONICBOND 

BARRETT: THE DEFINITIVE VISUAL COMPANION

Russell Beecher & Will Shutes ROCKET 88

MY PROG

Ian Jones (Illuminae/Karnataka)

Travelling With Sound

Last year was one to forget for many, but for French prog rockers Esthesis it was one to savour, with their impressive debut, The Awakening, helping them ensnare best unsigned band in the Prog Readers’ Poll. As mainman Aurélien Goude tells us, things are going to get a lot busier

WISH You Were Here

In his first acoustic album since 2008, Steve Hackett has written a love letter to the rich culture of the Mediterranean.  After all that’s gone on over the last year, it’s a more than welcome sojourn. The former Genesis guitarist tells us more about this celebratory album

The High Priests Of Rhythmic Noise

Ring Van Möbius firmly believe that more is always better. After a two-year gestation period the Norwegian classic prog act have returned with their second album, The 3rd Majesty. Frontman Thor Erik Helgesen tells Prog why he’s definitely not holding back

SLAVE TO THE ALGORITHM

Steven Wilson is no stranger to controversy. Since the early days of Porcupine Tree, he’s refused to repeat himself and has followed the same mantra throughout his solo career.  His latest release, The Future Bites, tackles consumerism, social media and the loss of individuality against an electronic beat. He tells Prog why he’ll never stop embracing change

A Universe Of Their Own

Transatlantic albums come along with only slightly greater frequency than the UK experiencing a total solar eclipse, but with The Absolute Universe, they’ve created a magnum opus that couldn’t be contained in just one version. Prog talks to three-quarters of the supergroup about grappling with too many ideas, creating their own alternate realities, and the art of not compromising

Feel The Change

Aviv Geffen has always embraced change and Blackfield, his art rock project with Steven Wilson, is evolving. As the pair celebrate 20 years of friendship, Geffen reveals the motivation behind sixth album For The Music and tells Prog why he’ll never give up his dream of peace

Old Ways

If any band can transcend the gloom that 2020 left behind, Prog’s bets are on Wardruna. The folk-infused experimental collective might have had their wings clipped with the delayed release of the otherworldly Kvitravn, but they’re now ready to soar. Prog explores old knowledge and new sounds with founder Einar Selvik

Eivør

She joined avant-jazz group Yggdrasil in her early 20s and has since dabbled with folk, tribal rhythms, trip hop, chamber pop and throat singing. A native Faroese artist, she’s collaborated with Wardruna’s Einar Selvik and her otherworldly vocals can be heard in the opening credits of historical drama The Last Kingdom. So we have to ask: how prog is Eivør Pálsdóttir?

SEASON’S END

Now in their 15th year, Frost* have earned themselves a place at the table of modern neo prog. Following the release of the 13 Winters collection, co-founding keyboardist Jem Godfrey surveys the band’s history and offers insight into their future

Breaking News

Thirty years into their career, Jump have made their most charged album to date. In a candid conversation, John Dexter Jones takes Prog to the dark heart of Breaking Point

Ragnarök ’n’ Roll

Written more than 18 years ago, Odin’s Raven Magic is the kind of thoughtful slice of Norse mythology only a band like Sigur Rós could get away with. In the band’s first interview for Prog, bassist Georg Hólm looks back at the making of a remarkable record, their remarkable past, and unclear future

SOLACE IN SOLITUDE

With the world at a standstill, Australian band Teramaze had nothing left to do but write new music. Together and from afar, this is the story of the making of their most emotionally focused album to date