ROGER WATERS

PROG PRESENTS…

Discovering

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INTRO

IF IT’S OUT THERE, IT’S IN HERE

HIGH CASTLE TELEORKESTRA

Estradasphere and Mr Bungle alumni team up for a far-out ensemble!

INHALO

Dutch quartet orchestrate an emotional experience on their debut album.

Official Progressive Albums Chart

The prog top 30 albums

NIGHTLANDS

The War On Drugs bassist Dave Hartley on his dreamy side-project.

THE MIGHTY RA

Aliens, Zappa and Floyd – former Ezra musos embark on an intergalactic adventure.

LISA GERRARD

Australia’s grande dame of otherworldly music discusses her passion for unusual instruments, the late Klaus Schulze and why feminine resilience will save the world.

KARL BARTOS

Every month we get inside the mind of one of the biggest names in music. This issue it’s Karl Bartos, percussionist, keyboard player, composer and one of the key members of Kraftwerk between 1975 and 1991. Bartos’ new biography, The Sound Of The Machine, details his years in and out of Kraftwerk and his negative feelings for the pioneering legends he was once a part of. We look back with him in a conversation that covers Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner, and how a Cliff Richard & The Shadows song inspired a krautrock classic.

DAVID LONGDON

The late Big Big Train singer and multi-instrumentalist’s posthumous solo album stands as a beautifully crafted, bittersweet reminder of one of modern prog’s great talents.

MY PROG

The great and good of progressive music give us a glimpse into their prog worlds. As told to Jo Kendall

STRANGE PHENOMENA!

One of the most heartening moments in the weirdness of the 2020s has been the news that Kate Bush leapt to the No.1 spot, not just in the UK but around the world, with Running Up That Hill, the lead single from Hounds Of Love. The song, originally released in 1985, was revived thanks to the Netflix phenomenon Stranger Things. Prog turns things Upside Down in honour of our cover star.

This Woman’s Work

Across the decades, there have been many contenders

SCORING GOALS

Over the course of 13 studio albums (and counting), Opeth have grown both musically and stylistically. However, Prog never expected their bandleader to write anything with the title Funky Chicken! Mikael Åkerfeldt has dipped his toes into a wealth of genres for his first-ever soundtrack. Here, he explains the allure of creating music for Netflix’s Clark – atrue-crime mini-series based on the life of Sweden’s very first celebrity gangster

Morning Hymns

They were one of the most original British bands to emerge from the 70s progressive rock movement, but Jade Warrior’s experimental sounds never quite reached the heights of their peers. On the 50th anniversary of their third album, Last Autumn’s Dream – recently reissued via Esoteric along with Jade Warrior and Released – founder member Jon Field and latter-day bassist Dave Sturt recount the past, present and future of an underrated band that have inspired countless cult acts.

Treasure Seeker

Welsh electro musician Gwenno is no stranger to crafting songs in the Cornish tongue and she revisits this on her third solo album, Tresor. Prog catches up with her to discuss the unusual mixture of Japanese anime soundtracks, Ennio Morricone, Enya and early krautrock that’s influenced her latest Mercury Prize-nominated record.

TO THE POWER OF SIX

What do you get if you add members of Saga, Saxon and 3? Six By Six, of course! Prog catches up with keyboard player Robert Berry and guitarist Ian Crichton to discuss the new trio’s instant chemistry, and how it led to their unexpected debut album.

IN SEARCH OF SPACE

Never ones to follow the herd, Motorpsycho bucked the recent livestream trend in favour of providing the musical accompaniment to a Norwegian dance performance. But what began as just a glimmer of an idea has since grown into a multimedia excursion. Ancient Astronauts finds the prolific trio on the cusp of becoming accidental movie stars but, as frontman Bent Sæther explains, they’re at their best when not trying to repeat themselves.

A Voice For The Voiceless

Crippled Black Phoenix have never been a band to shy away from divisive topics, and their latest, Banefyre, sees them tackle fox hunting, anarchy and the occult across 13 new songs. Founder Justin Greaves and co-vocalists Belinda Kordic and Joel Segerstedt tell Prog how they’re standing up against bullies and bringing positive dark energy to the world.

Eraser Heads

Long Distance Calling are back with their eighth studio album, Eraser. Bassist Jan Hoffmann and drummer Janosch Rathmer reveal how the fate of the Greenland shark inspired them to make their heaviest, proggiest and most diverse-sounding album yet.

Vortex

Derek Sherinian has again teamed up with drummer Simon Phillips for Vortex, his second solo album in as many years, so the time is ripe for us to catch up with the keyboard maestro. He talks about why the inspiration won’t run dry any time soon, life in Dream Theater and being named one of the best keyboard players by Prog readers.

Searching For The Lost Chord

Three years after their acclaimed album Mesmeranto, Manchester duo The Blackheart Orchestra return with haunting new record Hotel Utopia. Chrissy Mostyn and Rick Pilkingon discuss being taken under Hawkwind’s wing, the influence of John Carpenter and why they chose to explore ideas about the afterlife.