In the 15 years or so of being on clutch fans, I have learned a lot about music and gotten into so many different artists and genres such as: Roxy Music Shoegazing British Post-Punk like Wire, Gang of Four, PiL, etc. Animal Collective Power Pop Sun Ra And on and on and on 3 that I want to highlight for this thread includes Magma (the band), Sparks (the group), and RPI which is Rock Progessivo Italiano. I have been a fan of Magma for a while as I found out about them from a cool website (http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com). They were classified as Zeuhl (whatever the hell that means) and they didn't sing in English (or even in French). They have some similarities to Sigur Ros in that they sing in a made up language but they have some musicians that have serious chops like drummer and leader Christian Vander and bass player Jannick Top. At times they can sound like a Carl Orff Carmina Burana tribute group mixed with fusion jazz! They are an acquired taste but not any worse than Captain Beefheart or some of the more out there Frank Zappa stuff. Their best album is Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh. Fans of the band include Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree and John Lydon of Public Image Limited. Sparks are a duo made up of brothers Russell Mael (vocals) and Ron Mael (keyboards, lyrics). They have released over 20 albums and are still going strong! Their latest album that came out this year was "Hippotamus" and was one of their best albums. Ron was actually lampooned in Paul McCartney's video "Coming Up" with his toothbrush mustache and scowl that he always has. Sparks like a lot of groups were always more popular across the pond than here in the States. They have done many genres including new wave, glam, electronic, hard rock, disco, and even Beach Boys tribute! The best albums are "Kimono My House" (one of the best glam rock albums ever), "Number One in Heaven" (with Giorgio Moroder) and the aforementioned "Hippotamus". RPI aka Rock Progessivo Italiano is a movement within Progressive Rock that featured a myriad of bands performing prog rock during the '70s but in Italian of course. The big 3 were Le Orme, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and the ultimate group Premiata Forneria Marconi aka PFM. They were many of these groups that did just one album but were considered classics of the genre. A great place to learn more about RPI and these groups is the Prog Rock Music Archives (http://www.progarchives.com) What are some of your recent discoveries when it comes to music?
^ yup Banco is something else. Too bad they lost the plot in the '80s. I tell you 2 other RPI groups that I really high on are Area and New Trolls.
